The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.

The 4th of July is one of the most important days for America.

by Dessa Rodeffer
Quill Editor/Publisher

30 June 1999

And as we celebrate this weekend, I am in hopes that every yard is displaying a flag somewhere.

In church service, Judy Ann Morse of Burlington, Iowa, told about a stern teacher that never had a lot to say, but she remembered one day that teacher coming into the class room excited with the announcement that Congress had just added the words "under God" to our pledge to the flag.

That was in 1954.

The pledge was written 62 years earlier in 1892 by Francis Ballamy after President Benjamin Harrison had called for patriotic exercises in schools to mark the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America.

The National Flag Conferences of the American Legion expanded the original wording and in 1924 Congress made the pledge part of its code for the use of the flag.

What a privilege it is to live in a country that proclaims it's allegiance as one nation under God., yet a nation that has freedom to choose how to worship.

I was moved by Judy Ann's reminiscing of the book "A Man Without A Country." During a court preceding he muttered that he wished he would never set eyes on this country again.

His words turned out to be his sentence. For the rest of his life he was sentenced to a ship that could not come back to shore nor could he ever see or hear his country's name or have it in writing anywhere.

In the end, when he died, they found a page of his own writings that the guards had not found where he was praying for God to watch over his country."

How much we take our freedoms for granted. Of course, there are a lot of things that are not right in our country. There are drugs, school shootings, racism, lust, greed, abuse of power. But, our freedoms are in tact and a day in court is given to all. With a constitution and a people insisting on freedoms remaining firm, our country is to be revered and regarded with great awe, love, and devotion.

If you haven't flown that American flag lately, isn't it time. It need not be big, a small one in your flower pot, along your walk-way or displayed with proper respect at your home or business , or even little ones set in a cake is way to pass on the pride of a great heritage to other family members.

Talk about it. Have a program around the table. Recite the pledge and sing "America The Beautiful". It would be nice to have a parade and sing again the "Yankee Doodle" song. Maybe you could teach it to your kids or grandkids. The song was sung by the colonial soldiers during the American Revolution. The words of Yankee Doodle was written by an English army surgeon to make fun of the untrained American troops but the American troops liked the song and embraced it.

In fact they sang it in every patriot camp and whistled it so often that the British General Gage is said to have exclaimed, "I hope I shall never hear that tune again. But he did. American troops played it as the British left after the surrender at Yorktown..

Independence Day is a great Day and Yankee Doodle is Dandy!

YANKEE DOODLE

Father and I went down to camp
Along with Captain Goodwin,
And there we saw the men and boys,
As thick as hasty puddin'.

Chorus: Yankee Doodle keep it up
Yankee Doodle dandy,
Mind the music and the step
And with the girls be handy.

And there was Captain Washington,
Upon a slapping stallion,
And giving orders to his men,
I guess there was a million.

And then the feathers on his hat
They looked so 'tarnal finy
I wanted peskely to get,
to give to my Jemina.

And then they had a swamping gun,
As big as a log of maple,
On a deuced little cart,
A load for father's cattle.