" It was a bargain and they
shook hands on the deal. When George came home he said to mother,
"Where's Maggie?" "Up stairs," was the reply. He came up and said in
an off-hand way, "Maggie, how would you like to make a Bear flag?" I
looked up in surprise and said, "A bear flag? What kind of a flag is
that?" My sister, Mary, spoke up and said, "Why, Maggie, it is the
flag of California. I saw a picture of it in the newspaper, and I cut
it out." She then asked George who wanted the flag. "Well," he
replied, "Captain Charley of one of these schooners said this morning
he would give a fifty-dollar slug to get a Bear flag to float beside
Old Glory, and I told him you would make it for him." A fifty-dollar
slug all my own! "Ha, ha," I laughed in high glee. "I'll make it if
sister will help me." So it was planned I should make the first Bear
flag to fly on any boat up the San Joaquin river.
The next morning sister and I went to the dry goods store at Grove and
Knight streets, and after getting the proper materials we obtained
information in regard to the size of the flag and the bear and other
details. The work began early the next day and my hands were busy
hemming the sides and ends while sister drew the shape of the bear and
cut it out of brown drilling. We got our quilting frame and stretched
the flag on it, and when it was all nicely stretched we laid the bear
on the white surface and began to get it into the right place.
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