Our American Holidays: Flag Day {Free eBook}

Just in time for Flag Day, here is another free eBook in the Our American Holidays series. Flag Day edited by Robert Haven Schauffler includes poetry and stories that will complement our Flag Day unit.

The subtitle gives you an idea of what you will find in the book: Its History, Origin, and Celebration as Related in Song and Story. The preface describes the intent of the editor:

There is little to be said by way of introduction to a collection of literature on Flag Day. For the festival is one of our youngest national anniversaries, and its annals are as yet meager. The origin, history, significance, and praise of Old Glory are fully set forth in the body of this volume. And it only remains here to say a word about the holiday itself….

To-day there are few public buildings that on June 14 do not display the Stars and Stripes, and few open schools that do not hold appropriate exercises. The trouble is, that so few schools are still open as late as the middle of June. And in order that the children — to whom Flag Day ought to bring one of the most valuable lessons of the whole year — might have the benefit of such exercises it has been wisely suggested that — instead of in June — the day be observed on September 11, the anniversary of the day when Washington unfurled, at the Battle of the Brandywine, the first American flag made according to the instructions of Congress.

You’ll find more about the history of Flag Day in the introduction. The readings that then follow are broken down into the following categories: