stars. He's a five-star general," the man with glasses said to the boys.

The General had just seated himself in the grandstand,

when a cheer broke from the crowd. "Who's coming now?" the boys wanted to know. The man with the
glasses told them, "It is President Roxas. He is the last President of the Commonwealth and will be the

first President of the Republic."

"What is the difference between a Commonwealth and a Republic anyway?" asked Rufo. "It still is the
same country, isn't it?"

"Yes," said the man with glasses. "It still is the same country, but there is a lot of difference. As a
Commonwealth our country is still under a foreign power; it is still governed by America. As a Republic
we are completely free and inde- pendent. Do you know why we are here today?"

"To watch the parade," said the boys. "No," said the man with glasses, "we are here to watch our
country get its freedom. When the American flag is lowered and our country's flag is raised, the
Philippines will be a free country."

This made the boys very thoughtful. They had come just to watch a parade. They had not realized before
that this was really a very important day. Now that they knew, they watched all the happenings with
greater interest.

The crowd was suddenly very quiet. A priest who was sitting with the other people in the grandstand
stood up. Soon the boys heard his voice coming over the loudspeaker. He prayed aloud. In a solemn
voice he asked for "God's blessing on this young Republic." The crowd was hushed and most of the
people stood with heads bowed in prayer. Jose felt a tightening in his chest and for some reason he did
not under- stand, tears came to his eyes. He, too, bowed his head.

Then an American dressed completely in white stood up. He was the tallest man Jose had ever seen. He
was over six feet tall, broad-shouldered and white-haired. "He's Paul McNutt, the American High
Commissioner," the man with the glasses said.

Mr. McNutt went down the steps of the grandstand towards a flag pole on top of which flew the
American flag. The band started to play the "Star Spangled Banner." Everybody stood at attention. Then
slowly, Mr. McNutt, pulling at a rope, be- gan to lower the American flag.

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