"And if Rebecca had loved the rules of the school she would have
controlled her thirst," finished Miss Dearborn with a kiss, and
the two parted friends.

IV
THE SAVING OF THE COLORS

EVEN when Rebecca had left school, having attained the great age
of seventeen and therefore able to look back over a past
incredibly long and full, she still reckoned time not by years,
but by certain important occurrences. Between these epoch-making
events certain other happenings stood out in bold relief against
the gray of dull daily life. There was the coming of the new
minister, for though many were tried only one was chosen; and
finally there was the flag-raising, a festivity that thrilled
Riverboro and Edgewood society from centre to circumference, a
festivity that took place just before she entered the Female
Seminary at Wareham and said good-by to kind Miss Dearborn and
the village school.
There must have been other flag-raisings in history,--even the
persons most interested in this particular one would grudgingly
have allowed that much,--but it would have seemed to them improb-
able that any such flag-raising, as theirs could twice glorify
the same century. Of some pageants it is tacitly admitted that
there can be no duplicates, and the flag-raising at Riverboro
Centre was one of these; so that it is small wonder if Rebecca
chose it as one of the important dates in her personal almanac.
Mrs. Baxter, the new minister's wife, was the being, under
Providence, who had conceived the first idea of the flag.