By Martha Quillen Years ago, Art Linkletter, an old variety show host, asked young school children to recite the first line of the Pledge of Allegiance and explain what it meant, and several of the kids called it “one country invisible,” and one thought he was pledging “a legion” of soldiers to protect the flag. That program made me think about the stupid things I’d gotten wrong. For instance, for a long time I wondered why everybody talked about knocking on Evan’s door. “Who was Evan?” I’d ask, and they’d laugh. But no one ever took me seriously enough to ...