Nevertheless she was troubled and worried as to how she could carry out
her plan; but she resolved not to tell Grace.
As usual Flora was waiting at Miss Patten's gate for her friends. She
was wearing a pretty turban hat, and pinned in front was a fine blue
cockade, to which Flora pointed and said: "Look, girls. This is the
Secession Cockade. Ralph gave it to me," she explained; "all loyal
Carolinians ought to wear it, Ralph says."
"What does it mean to wear one?" asked Sylvia.
"Oh, it means that you believe South Carolina has a right to keep its
slaves, and sell them, of course; and if the United States interferes,
why, Carolinians will teach them a lesson," Flora explained grandly,
repeating the explanation her father had given her that very morning.
Many of the other girls wore blue cockades, and a palmetto flag was hung
behind Miss Rosalie's desk.
"Young ladies," said Miss Rosalie, "I have hung South Carolina's flag
where you can all see it. You all know that a flag is an emblem. Our
flag means the glory of our past and the hope of the future. I will ask
you all to rise and salute this flag!"
The little girls all stood, and each raised her right hand. All but
Sylvia. Flushed and unhappy, with downcast eyes, she kept her seat. This
was not the "Stars and Stripes," the flag she had been taught to love
and honor. She knew that the palmetto flag stood for slavery.
Sylvia did not know what Miss Rosalie would say to her, and, even worse
than her teacher's disapproval, she was sure that her schoolmates,
perhaps even Grace and Flora, would dislike and blame her for not
saluting their flag.
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