The Eagle's Pride As The Bird Of Freedom
: Daddy's Bedtime Bird StoriesOf course, as you can imagine, Jack and Evelyn had been buying all
sorts and all sizes of firecrackers.
"I think the Fourth of July is my favorite holiday of the whole
year," said Jack.
"Yes," said Evelyn, "so do I, except possibly Christmas and
our birthdays."
"I suppose," said daddy, "that you two children will be up bright and
early to-morrow morning, and I have
clothes are all ready to be put on in the morning instead of having to
waste any time in thinking what you will wear.
"I hardly think I had better tell a story to-night," said daddy, "for
you two ought to get some sleep. I am afraid by the time I finish you
may suggest that instead of it being the time for going to bed it is the
time for getting up."
"Oh, no," said both the children. "Please tell us a little story."
"Yes," said daddy, "I don't believe I can let a single night go by
without a story, not even the Fourth of July eve.
"Well, once upon a time--"
"Daddy," chimed in Jack, "I never heard you begin a story that way
before."
"You see, this is a special occasion, so I am allowed these favors.
"But, to continue, there was once a great big eagle who was flying
overhead on the Fourth of July, and when he saw all the firecrackers
going off and heard all the noise and saw the parade with the flags
flying and the band playing, he said:
"'To think that I belong to the family that is taken as the
representative of all that. I mean freedom and liberty and all those
wonderful things. My great-great-grandfathers may not have fought for
freedom as the great-great-grandfathers of the little boys and girls
who are to-day firing off firecrackers did, but they flew overhead and
said to the winds, which whispered it to the soldiers:
"'"The eagles are free--you must be free." And the soldiers whispered
back to the winds:
"'"Yes, as the eagles are free in the air above, so will we be free on
this land below."'
"So, no wonder the eagle is more than proud of being the bird of freedom
and the emblem of the United States."
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