The old Quaker looked up, and saw it. It was like a vision to him. He had dreamed of it through all his life: the fact had been within prophetic sight, but he had never expected it in a vision so glorious.
Could it be true? The flags of all nations filling the air, the sea, the prairie; hundreds of thousands of bright, happy faces passing, their eyes filled with scenes of marvellous beauty, and their ears with the patriotic musical inspirations of struggles for liberty and progress for the ages; and with the crown of the great throne of the Administration Building, the White-Bordered Flag of Peace, floating in the shining sky, radiant, glorious—could it be true!
“Manton,” said the old Quaker, “that is the grandest sight that you will see at the Fair; you need look no further. That is the grandest sight that has appeared since angels sang over the Plains of Bethlehem. I can go home now content, and die in peace. The world is destined to follow that flag!”
“I expect to see no grander sight than that,” said Mr. Marlowe. “I have almost made up my mind that the sympathetic, good-humored laughter in the Street of Cairo is the funniest thing we have seen; the Philadelphia Working-Man’s house, the most useful thing; and I am sure that the White-Bordered Flag in the Court of Honor on this Independence Day, will be the prophetic glory of the Fair. I have now to study the most noble lesson of the Fair.”
The reader may like to know something of the history of the inspired, unselfish, and most earnest woman, Mary Frost Ormsby, whose influence caused the White-Bordered Flag to be raised over the Court of Honor on this thrilling day.
That patriotic magazine “Home and Country” for February, 1893, has an article from Mrs. Ormsby’s pen, in which that lady gives an account of how she carried the White Flag to Rome. We quote a part of the article:—
PEACE CONGRESSES AND THE PEACE FLAG.
As an accredited delegate of the Universal Peace Union, founded by the Quakers, or Friends, twenty-six years ago, also as a substitute for the Rev. Edward Everett Hale, D.D., of Boston, Massachusetts, and Mr. William O. McDowell, of Newark, New Jersey, in representing the Pan-Republic Congress and Woman’s Freedom League, it was my good fortune to carry the flag of peace to Rome.
It was not until the day of my departure I learned that alone and unattended I was to cross the ocean and the Continent with this treble duty intrusted to me. With the New Orleans matter then unsettled, and the diplomatic relations between Italy and America inharmonious because of what to the Italian people seemed an utter indifference on the part of our government officials in regard to the massacre of Italian subjects, it was no easy task to present the flag of our country to a peace congress at Rome. But the influences that emanated from friendly discussions at this gathering, the fact that many of its members were also members of the Italian parliament, and the influence exerted by letters sent to the American press,—all were, in my estimation, most efficient aids in speedily and amicably adjusting the much-deplored New Orleans tragedy. The starry flag was never so precious to me as when it was consigned to my care until it should grace our congress in Rome.
This particular flag was made by American women from American silk wrought by the Woman’s Manufacturing Company of Philadelphia.
Pennsylvania women arranged it: ever from its earliest history this State has proved the power of justice to obtain peace.
After a perilous journey, having encountered a storm at sea, and having been compelled to ride alone all night in a closed compartment while crossing the Continent, I reached the Eternal City on the morning that congress was to convene.
Here at Italy’s capital had gathered a corps of philosophers, scientists, artists, statesmen, authors, and journalists, to advance the cause of peace and prevent bloodshed. They came from different points of the compass, from every form of government, with a variety of aspirations, judgments, and tastes, but with, one common purpose.
THE ELECTRICAL BUILDING.