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A few years before the World War, our country’s flag was not so well known in France as it is today. During the war it floated from many buildings in Paris by the side of the flag of France. But at the time of this story it was a rare thing to see the Stars and Stripes in lands across the sea, and one little American boy travelling in France with me missed the sight of his own country’s flag very greatly. Frank’s adventure in Paris, several years before the World War, is worth telling about.
When the Fourth of July came, we had been in Paris nearly two months, and during that time I think we had not seen a single American flag.
On the morning of the Fourth, however, a number of flags were hanging out from the American shops. They looked strange to us,and the idea came to Frank, for the first time, that the United States was one of a great many nations living next to one another in this world—and that his own nation was a kind of big family to which he belonged. The Fourth of July was a sort of big family birthday, and the flags were out to tell the Frenchmen and everybody not to forget the fact.
A feeling of this kind came over Frank that morning, and he called out, “There’s another!” every time a new flag came into view.He stopped two or three times to count the number in sight, and showed in many ways that he had come to a new understanding of America and the American flag.
That morning Frank’s cousin George, a boy two or three years older than he, came to our hotel, and they went off together to see the sights.
When Frank returned and came up to the room where I was waiting, I noticed a small American flag-pin in the lapel of his coat.“George had two,” he said in answer to my question, “and he gave me this one. He’s been in Paris a year now, and he says we ought to wear them so that people may know that we are Americans.But say. Uncle Jack, where do you think I got this?” He opened a paper bundle he had under his arm and unrolled a weather-beaten American flag.
“Where?” asked I, supposing it had come from George’s house.
“We took it off Lafayette’s tomb.” he answered.
I opened my eyes in surprise and he went on:
“George says the American Consul put it on the tomb last Fourth of July for our government, because Lafayette helped us in the Revolutionary War.
“He says that they ought to put on a new flag every Fourth of July,” explained Frank, “ But the American Consul is a new man,George thinks, for he forgot to do it. So we bought a flag and did it.We went to a store and for twenty francs bought an American flag just like the old one. George and I each paid half.
“We thought we ought to say something when we put the new flag on the tomb, but we didn’t know what to say. George said they always made a regular speech, thanking Lafayette for helping us in the Revolution, but we thought it didn’t matter much. So we just took off our hats when we placed the new flag on the tomb, and then we rolled up the old flag and came away.
“We drew lots for it afterwards, and I am going to take it home with me. Somebody ought to have it, and as we were both American boys, it was all right, wasn’t it?”
Right or wrong, the flag that travelers saw on Lafayette’s tomb that year as a mark of the American nation’s respect for the great Frenchman was the one put there by two boys. Frank has the old flag carefully hung on the wall of his little room in America.
But this particular flag is not the only one that has become dear to him. He now understands that every American flag represents his own nation, which is one big family with liberty and justice for all.
( Victor Mapes )
lapel : the front part of a shirt’s collar
tomb : a place of burial
A) Answer the following questions.
1)Why is the flag of America so well-known now
2) What new idea came to Frank when he saw the American flag in Paris
3) Why did the Consul place an American flag on the Frenchman’s tomb
4) In your opinion, what does the last sentence of the story mean?
5) Who was Lafayette?
B) Wrong sentences—Each sentence contains a mistake. Correct them.
1) On the morning of July 4, many American flags were hung from French shops.
2) The French helped the Americans in the Reactionary War.
3) The flag of Lafayette’s tomb was put there by two girls
4) The two boys were Frank and Paul.
5) The two boys are from France.
C) Summary—Write a short summary of the story.