ON THIS DAY IN 1896, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle said, “Flag day — the anniversary of the adoption of the Stars and Stripes — will be observed on Monday, the falling of the date on Sunday of this year setting over the celebration. In New York if the weather is fair it is intended that the school children shall be marshaled before their school houses for song and salute. This use of the flag on the schools is recent and it is desirable, inasmuch as it is intended to train the children to a respect for the flag, and of course that means not for a mere piece of cloth on the end of a pole, but for the principles which it stands for. Anybody can make a flag, and artists might design a prettier one than a good many now in use, but to invest it with history, to make it command respect, to weave into its fabric promptings to love and obedience to right and law, those are other matters. The flag is not a thing that the people really love until in their eyes it symbolizes the highest possibilities of the state. Our flag means to us all that such a thing can mean. It has been the rallying point for heroes, it has been torn with shot and dimmed with cannon smoke, the blood of those who followed it has dyed it a deeper red, but every such stain makes it more glorious, and it is for us today the apotheosis of the nation’s courage, fidelity, patriotism, ambition and hope.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1913, the Eagle reported, “‘Is Friday an Unlucky Day?’ will be the subject for discussion by the speakers at the Thirteen Club dinner to be held at the Brighton Beach Hotel tomorrow evening, June 13. The dinner will be the 319th held by the Thirteen Club. It is to be a dinner for women as well as men, with a dance to follow.”…