A reader observes:
"You wrote about how people are changing the history of the Pledge of Allegiance; from the 1899 picture it also seems that the ‘put your hand over your heart’ part has been re-done as well. As a child in the 1970s, we put our hands flat against our chest over our heart when saying the Pledge. I did not recognize what the children in the picture were doing with their hands until I said the words "put your hand over your heart" and saw that is literally what they are doing. I wonder when/why that tradition changed?"
I’m not sure. But the tradition has been different over the century or so since the pledge was concocted. Here’s another version:
I think we know why that went out of fashion. Wikipedia’s take is here.
The Dish 