"Time makes ancient good uncouth," said Lowell, and so it was with the flag. The flag of fifteen stars and fifteen stripes that was decreed in 1795 then represented each State; but in less than one year it was out of date. Tennessee had come into the Union. Then followed Ohio, Louisiana, and Indiana. Here were four States with no representation in the colors of the country. Then, too, people began to realize that in giving up the thirteen stripes they had lost their old significant "Thirteen," and dropped a valuable historical association. At length the matter came before Congress, and for nearly sixteen months it remained there. Occasionally there was some little discussion about it. One member proposed that the matter be postponed indefinitely. "Are you willing to neglect the banner of freedom?" demanded another. Yet another thought it unnecessary to insist upon thirteen stripes, and thought they might as well fix upon nine or eleven or any other arbitrary number as thirteen. The committee pleaded for the significant thirteen, and so it went on. At length Peter H. Wendover, of New York, through whose efforts Congress was held to its duty, called the attention of the House to the fact that the Government itself was paying no respect to its own laws in regard to the flag; that the law demanded fifteen stripes, but that Congress was at that moment displaying a banner of thirteen stripes; that the navy yard and the marine barracks were flying flags of eighteen stripes; and that during the first session of the preceding Congress the flag floating over their deliberations had had, from some unknown cause or other, only nine stripes.

It is small wonder that after such an arraignment as this the lawmakers aroused themselves. The following bill was passed, and was signed by President Monroe, April 4, 1818:—

So it was that the flag of the United States was finally decided upon. Captain S. C. Reid designed it, and his wife made a specimen flag, which was hoisted on the flagstaff of the House of Representatives a few days after the law legalizing it was passed. Forty-one years later, in 1859, Congress formally thanked Captain Reid. The one weak point in this law was that the arrangement of the stars on the blue field was left to the taste of the owner of the flag. Captain Reid arranged them in one large star; but it was evident that if this plan was continued, as new States were admitted, the stars would become too small to be seen distinctly. The Navy Commissioners issued the order that in naval flags the stars should be arranged in five rows, four stars in a row; but for many years merchant vessels paid small attention to this decree. Indeed, in 1837 the Dutch Government inquired, with all respect, "What is the American flag?" Twenty years later an observant man in Jersey City amused himself on the Fourth of July by noting the numerous fashions in which the stars were arranged. He said that all flags had the thirteen stripes—though not always in the proper order—but that he had counted nine different fashions in which the stars were arranged. They appeared in one large star, in a lozenge, a diamond, or a circle, and one vessel in the river flaunted an anchor formed of stars. It was suggested that Congress ought to order some regular arrangement, but Congress did not take the hint. The Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy gave orders in 1912, after the admission of New Mexico and Arizona, that the stars, now forty-eight, should be arranged in six rows of eight stars each. This was approved by the President, but no decree has been passed by Congress.

Until 1866 our country's flag was manufactured in a foreign land. Bunting in a flag has a hard life. It must meet sun, wind, and storm; it must be light enough to float at every breeze and strong enough to endure severe wear. Attempts had been made many years earlier to make bunting in the United States, and flags of home manufacture had been tried again and again, but they had never stood the tests. In 1865, however, Congress put a duty of forty per cent on imported bunting, and also made it lawful for the Government to purchase its flags in the United States. With this duty manufacturers could compete with the lower wages paid in England, and now it became worth while to set to work in earnest. Within a year the thing had been done. A company in Lowell, Massachusetts, presented to the Senate a flag manufactured in the United States. It was hoisted over the Capitol, and for the first time this country, then ninety years old, floated over its Congress a banner of bunting woven and made "at home." This banner stood all the tests, and soon the price of the material was greatly reduced. Since the manufacture of this flag all bunting used in flags for the navy has come from Lowell. It must be of a fixed weight and strength and must be absolutely fast color in sun and rain. These flags are made in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and they must be accurate in every detail. Even the number of stitches to the inch is a matter of rule. After the stripes have been sewed together and the stars stitched upon the canton, the hoist, or end of the flag which is to be next to the staff, is firmly bound with canvas, and the lines, etc., attached. Then the flag is stamped with the date. Many silken flags are used in the navy, but these are made entirely by hand.

A warship must have not only her own flags, but those of foreign countries, sometimes two hundred and fifty or more. Some of these flags are of very complicated design, and the flag-makers tried the experiment of painting the designs on the bunting. This was not a success, because the flags stuck together, and now the whole design is worked out in bunting. The navy makes its own flags, but the War Department buys what are needed. Manufacturers make large numbers for general sale; between nine and ten million a year even in times of peace.

The pet name, "Old Glory," is believed to have been given to the flag by Captain William Driver. He was born in Salem, Massachusetts, became a shipmaster, and at length made his home in Nashville, Tennessee. When the Civil War broke out, he stood boldly by the Union, even though his own family were against him. More than thirty years before this date, just as he was starting on a voyage, some of his friends made him a present of a handsome American flag. When the breeze first caught it and spread out its folds, Captain Driver exclaimed, "Old Glory!" and "Old Glory" it was to him all the years of his life. The flag went to Tennessee with him, and was hung out on every day of public rejoicing. When the war broke out, his Confederate neighbors tried their best to get possession of that flag; but they did not realize the resources of the old captain. Sailors know how to sew, and he had carefully quilted his beloved banner into his comforter. No wonder that he had not the least objection to having his house searched for it. When the Union troops entered the city, Captain Driver asked permission to run up his flag over the State Capitol. This was granted, and with an escort he marched to the building and ran up the flag. As he stood gazing at it with tears in his eyes, he said, "I have always said that if I could see it float over that Capitol, I should have lived long enough; now Old Glory is up there, gentlemen, and I am ready to die." The captain's own particular "Old Glory" was full of years and weakened by service, and on the following day he reverently took it down and ran up a flag that was new and strong. For a quarter of a century he saw the Union flag float over the Capitol of his chosen State. Then, at his death in 1886, his own "Old Glory" was sent to the Essex Institute at his birthplace.