The Red Flower

Billy didn’t like to dress up. He yelled when he had to put on his nice pants. He didn’t want to wear a good coat. He didn’t like shoes. “I want to run and play outside,” he said. “I want to roll in the flowers and climb trees.”
“Someday, you will be a man,” his father said. “Then, you will have to dress up.”
“Never!” said Billy.
But Billy grew up to be William McKinley, president of the United States. Now, he had to dress up. Every morning, he pulled on pants with stripes on them. He put on a stiff white shirt and a coat. He had to wear a tie and a hat!
Still, Billy never forgot his love for flowers. Every day that he was president, he wore a red flower in his buttonhole. That way, he could remember being a boy.