FOURTH OF JULY 199

A STORY OF THE FLAG _Victor Mapes_ 201




=PREFACE=


To most young people, holidays mean simply freedom from lessons and a
good time. All this they should mean--and something more.

It is well to remember, for example, that we owe the pleasure of
Thanksgiving to those grateful Pilgrims who gave a feast of thanks for
the long-delayed rain that saved their withering crops--a feast of wild
turkeys and pumpkin pies, which has been celebrated now for nearly three
centuries.

It is most fitting that the same honor paid to Washington's Birthday is
now given to that of Lincoln, who is as closely associated with the
Civil War as our first President is with the Revolution.

Although the birthdays of the three American poets, Whittier, Lowell,
and Longfellow, are not holidays, stories relating to these days are
included in this collection as signalizing days to be remembered.

In this book are contained stories bearing on our holidays and annual
celebrations, from Hallowe'en to the Fourth of July.