To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she can do no other.
We came into this war for ourselves. It is a war to save America, to preserve self-respect, to justify our right to live as we have lived, not as some one else wishes us to live. It is more precious that this America shall live than that we Americans should live.
No nation has a right to its freedom if it is unwilling to fight for the freedom of others, and for its own.
The cost of war is not to be measured in money. It is in the slow paid price of the human heart--in the blood drops, one by one.
It is not a painted rag. It is a whole national history. It is the Constitution. It is the Government. It is the free people that stand in the Government, on the Constitution.
HANNAH H. CHEW, PRINCIPAL CULVER SCHOOL, MILLVILLE
The great war has brought more forcibly to us a realization of the necessity for training the youth of our land to a greater respect for, and a fuller knowledge of our national emblem.
Wherever the flag floats, children must be taught to love it and to respect its significance.
New Jersey long ago required that the flag be displayed on school buildings, and the flag salute be given daily, but no statute can make certain that the spirit of the law is emphasized.
The teachers of the children of the state bear the responsibility of training for patriotism, and the future of democracy depends upon the patriotic ideals nurtured in the public schools. We shall have more patriotic observances than formerly and one of those which we shall celebrate with more interest will be Flag Day.
The date authorized to be observed as Flag Day comes so near the close of the school year that it may well be used as a special occasion on which pupil and parent join in paying tribute to our national emblem.
Flag Day can be made the occasion of raising a new flag, or of taking a collection to provide silk flags or a patriotic picture for the classrooms, thus giving parents an opportunity to contribute to the patriotism of the school. If a new flag is to be presented to the school, Flag Day will be a most appropriate time to receive it, and exercises can be conducted partly or altogether out-of-doors. On the playground all pupils can take part in marches and drills suitable to their grades. In order to have the best effects, some uniformity of costume is best. Any movements uniformly done in mass are pleasing, and teachers can adapt marching figures to their own playground with good effect. The purpose of the teacher of the primary grades should be to awaken love and reverence for the flag and to instill loyalty into the minds and hearts of the children.