"This cottage, my young friends," Tom said impressively, "should
be--and I trust is--enshrined deep within the hearts of all true
Wintonites. Latterly, it has come to be called the Barker cottage, but
its real title is 'The Flag House'; so called, because from that humble
porch, the first Stars and Stripes ever seen in Winton flung its colors
to the breeze. The original flag is still in possession of a lineal
descendant of its first owner, who is, unfortunately, not an inhabitant
of this town." The boyish gravity of tone and manner was not all
assumed now.
No one spoke for a moment; eleven pairs of young eyes were looking out
at the little weather-stained building with new interest. "I thought,"
Bell Ward said at last, "that they called it the _flag_ place, because
someone of that name had used to live there."
"So did I," Hilary said.
As the stage moved on, Shirley leaned back for another look. "I shall
get father to come and sketch it," she said. "Isn't it the quaintest
old place?"
"We will now proceed," Tom announced, "to the village green, where I
shall have the pleasure of relating to you certain anecdotes regarding
the part it played in the early life of this interesting old village.
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