Page:What to do for Uncle Sam; a first book of citizenship (IA whattodoforuncle00bail).pdf/76

72 It seldom happens that the birthday of an important person is celebrated during his life time and for almost one hundred and fifty years afterward, but that was what Uncle Sam did for George Washington, the first President of be United States. News that his birthday was to be a national holiday came to General Washington at his winter quarters in New York State before he had defeated the British, and he was greatly pleased at the honor. When he was made President, his birthday was kept instead of that of the English King, and we have been keeping it as a holiday ever since.

Washington's birthday is also celebrated in Alaska, Hawaii, Porto Rico, and the Philippine Islands.

You will want to see Uncle Sam’s soldiers parade on Washington’s Birthday. And be sure that your flag, with thirteen red and white stripes and forty-eight stars, is flying to show the growth of the Union since President Washington’s time. Get a good book of Colonial stories from the library to read on this holiday that you may compare your pleasures and comforts with the few that were given the children of the original thirteen states. And if your mother put up some cherries last summer, perhaps she will make you a cherry pie. Whether or not little George Washington cut down his father’s cherry tree, it is