Let rocks their silence break:
The sound prolong.”
Then the whole assembly arose, and the loud-noise-producing instruments joined in. And the fleas being very vigorous, and fat and strong, lifted up their voices with tremendous energy; and all the salaried barkers, and the police dogs, and all the other dogs that were well-fed and rotund of belly, were in good voice, so that they all sent up a volume of glad sound that made the air shake and caused the great Flag to give an extra flap; but the other dogs, being very weak with hunger, and short of wind, could not do so well, but they, nevertheless, made a very respectable noise and were very happy.
When the singing was over, the Reverend Tee de Little Wit Blatherskite lifted up his right paw, commanding attention, and said: “Brethren, both dogs and fleas—I may call you brethren, for beneath the all-encompassing folds of this glorious Flag, we are all equal [mighty applause from the fleas, echoed by the dogs]—I think it would be very appropriate upon this occasion, and well pleasing to God, to turn this into an experience meeting; and let each of us testify to the blessings of Liberty, that our beloved Flag has conferred upon us. Let any dog or flea get up and speak, for all are equal here. Brother Grandadhat, suppose you cheer us with your experience.”
Brother Grandadhat, being thus exhorted, arose, and bowing low to the Flag, said: “I bless God for that Flag, and I bless God that under its protecting and blessing-scattering folds I was born, as were my father and my father’s father. I am proud to live under it. I am proud to boast that from the very first day, when our fathers first flung it to the breeze, and bade tyranny fly trembling, with its tail between its legs—which it did—it has been giving us more and more freedom every day, until now we are the freest, grandest and noblest nation on the face of the great round globe. Yea, I will go further, and declare that there is no freedom on earth, save here.
“Brethren, all, God gave us that Flag; it was designed in Heaven, and God has been ever with it, and acknowledged it for his own. Never, never, never has it floated—never, never, never can it float—over any wrong, injustice or tyranny. Under the effulgent splendor of its beautiful white spots and red streaks, wrong, injustice and tyranny wither and wilt as would toadstools before the midsummer midday sun. [Tremendous explosion of applause from the fleas, joined in by the dogs.] When God gave us that Flag, he, with it, threw wide open the windows and doors of Heaven, and poured out from his infinite cornucopiæ, such a deluge of blessings upon us as no nation on earth ever got or ever will get, and forthwith made us the pride of ourselves and the envy of the whole world. [A most awful burst of applause from the fleas, all the fleas rising up to give it. Several very weak, hungry and woe-begone dogs, carried away by the whirlwind of excitement, drop dead of heart failure.]
“‘The gifts of God to our people have been so abundant and so special, that the spirit of devout thanksgiving awaits but the appointment of a day when it may have a common expression. He has stayed the pestilence at our door,’ and caused all evil to turn aside from touching us. ‘He has given us a love for our free civil institutions,’ and grace to abhor and hang all who do not believe we are free, and dare to say so. ‘He has widened our philanthropy by calls to succor the distress in other lands; and he has given us’ such ‘a great increase in material wealth, and’ such ‘a wide diffusion of contentment and comfort in the homes of our’ dogs, that we are the wonder of the whole world, and the joy of ourselves. [Grand crescendo of applause from the fleas, and penitent ejaculations from the dogs of: “Lord, forgive our past repinings;” “Lord, help us to feel how full we are;” “Lord, take away our blindness, that our wealth may be disclosed to us;” and much winking amongst the Bamboozling Committee, at the satisfactory working of the Bamboozle.] Oh, beloved brethren, ours is the Flag, the only Flag in the world worth having, and we’ve got it, and don’t you forget it; [Screams, yells, and deliriums of applause.] the world envies us its possession; they would like it, but they shall not have it; for my part, I will never desert the Flag. No! I will never do it. It’s of no use asking me. That Flag has blessed me; it has given me and mine prosperity, so that I am comfortably rotund and fat; it is the object of my love, my adoration, and I never will desert it; no ne—ver. I will not live under any other; so it’s of no use asking me; I would not take the riches of the whole world for the daily sight of it; so it’s no use any one offering them to me. I am perfectly happy now, and I shall go to Heaven when I die. And when the death dew lies cold on my brow, may my last words be:
‘Oh, Flag of the Free! I would die for thee;
Emblem of Libertee, Libertee—ee.’”