THE EAGLE'S PRIDE AS THE BIRD OF FREEDOM
Reading edition
The Eagle Was Flying Overhead.
Of 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 my very great suspicions that your 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."