More Practical than Patriotic

A clergyman was descanting to the boys in a day school on the necessity of growing up good and useful citizens. In order to give emphasis to his remarks by appealing to their patriotic feelings, he pointed to a large flag hung up on the wall of the school, and exclaimed, "Boys, what is that for?"

A little urchin who understood the condition of the room better than the speaker's rhetoric, shouted out, "To hide the dirt, sir! "