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Scene 3.
—A Street in Baltimore.Enter Timothy, Rachel, and Nathan; then Franklin.
Timothy.
It was a day of days, I promise you,
A sight of sights, our Yankee flag's new birth,
At Boston, Dorchester heights, on New Year's Day.
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Yankee—why Yankee?
Timothy.
Yenghees, Redman English.
Rachel.
But we're not English now.
Timothy.
Who told you that?
We're Greater Britain, England magnified,
In origin and laws and soul the same.
What language do you speak? Who were your fathers?
What's your religion, if not Protestant?
Your books, your liberties, your stalwart force
Of independent character, all English;
They fill an island, we a continent;
We are republicans, they monarchists;
But our Head Man looks very like a King,
And their great Ruler is the sovereign people!
The name seems well enough, our Yankee flag.
Rachel.
You saw it, Timothy?
Timothy.
Yes, girl, at Boston;
There first was shown that glorious flag unfurled.
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Yea, friend, I too stood by when they tore down
The Union Jack of England and flung out
Those stars and stripes: tell me why stars and stripes.
Timothy.
It's fair enough; they make a pretty show
Shining and wriggling in the sun like snakes.
Nathan.
That's a poor answer: why choose stripes and stars?
Enter Franklin.
O here comes one can tell us everything.
Goodmorrow, brother Franklin: dost thou know,
And wilt thou say, why they chose stars and stripes?
Franklin.
Yes, Nathan, I proposed it to the Congress.
It was their leader's old crusading blazon,
Washington's coat, his own heraldic shield.
Nathan.
Can this be known? and was it not ambition?
A Cromwell come again?
Franklin.
Listen, good friends:
It is not known, and it was not ambition.
He never heard of it till fixed and done.
For on the spur, when we must choose a flag,
Symbolling independent unity,
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Took up his coat of arms, and multiplied
And magnified it every way to this
Our glorious national banner.
Rachel.
Coat of arms?
What was this coat of arms?
Franklin.
I'll tell you, friends.
I've searched it out and known it for myself,
When late in England there, at Herald's College,
And found the Washingtons of Wessyngton
In County Durham and of Sulgrave Manor
County Northampton, bore upon their shield
Three stars atop, two stripes across the field,
Gules—that is red—on white, and for the crest
An eagle's head upspringing to the light,
Its motto, Latin, “Issue proveth acts.”
The architraves at Sulgrave testify,
As sundry painted windows in the hall
At Wessyngton, this was their family coat.
They took it to their new Virginian home:
And at Mount Vernon I myself have noted
An old cast iron scutcheoned chimney-back
Charged with that heraldry.
Timothy.
Well, this is strange,
And no one knows it; surely such a relic
Must soon be cared for, if not worshipped—
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Sir,
Causes are soon forgotten; consequents
Quickly close-shadow them as plants their seeds.
I wot I am the first to tell you all
This root and reason for our stars and stripes,
Washington's heraldry. Farewell.
Exit.
Nathan.
Farewell, we thank thee.
Timothy.
Well, Nathan, this is grand about those stars;
The stars are now thirteen, each star a state
And may soon be thrice that, say thirty-nine,
With “forty stripes, save one,” to whip the world!
How say you, Quaker friend?
Nathan.
Well, I opined
Friend Franklin must have known; and I perceive
That eagle's head hath pulled a body out
Fullfledged as mounting to the higher heaven
Trailing a mantlet cloud of stars and stripes.
I am a man of peace, I love not wars;
Yet were it well that none should strive with me,
Or touch, unless in love, those stars and stripes.
Timothy.
Well said, old Nathan! but we stay too long
Come to head quarters,—there are all the news.
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