creased, the individual stars composing the one large star would be so small as to be almost indistinguishable. The plan of arranging the stars in parallel rows was then adopted, and this arrangement has continued ever since. The fate of the first flag made under the Act of Congress in 1777 is shrouded in mystery. It is not known whether it was ever raised in defense of American liberty. Some very important events of American history have never been made clear. Briefly, the above is the history of the evolution of Old Glory, which is now the emblem of the greatest nation of all the world. It stands for liberty and justice, and wherever it is unfurled the Star-Spangled Banner is supreme and unconquerable. THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER1 FRANCIS SCOTT KEY (1780-1843) Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming; And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, 1 From "Poems of the Late Francis S. Key, Esq." Published by Robert Carter & Brothers, New York, 1857. On that shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep, Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep, As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses ? Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream; 'T is the Star Spangled Banner; oh, long may it wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! And where are the foes who so vauntingly swore tion; No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave; O, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand Between their loved homes and the war's desolation, Blest with victory and peace, may the Heaven-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, HOW "THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER" WAS WRITTEN 1 HENRY WATTERSON (1840- ) Nothing in romance, or in poetry, surpasses the wondrous story of this republic. Why Washington, the Virginia planter, and why Franklin, the Pennsylvania printer? Another might have been chosen to lead the Continental armies: a brilliant and distinguished soldier; but, as we now know, not only a corrupt adventurer, but a traitor, who preceded Arnold, and who, had he been commander of the forces at Valley Forge, would have betrayed his adopted country for the coronet which Washington despised. In many ways was Franklin an experiment, and, as his familiars might have thought, a dangerous experiment, to be appointed the representative of the colonies in London and in Paris, for, as they knew, and as we now know, he was a stalwart, self-indulgent man, apparently little given either to prudence or to courtliness. What was it that singled out these two men from all others and designated them to be the chiefs of the military and diplomatic establishments set up by the provincial gentlemen whose Declaration of Independence was not merely to establish a new nation, but to create a new world? It was as clearly the inspiration of the Almighty as, a century later, was the faith of Lincoln 1 On August 9, 1895, Colonel Henry Watterson delivered the memorial address at the dedication of the monument erected over the grave of Francis Scott Key at Frederic, Maryland. The selection here given is from the address as published in the Louisville Courier-Journal. Used by permission of Colonel Watterson. in Grant, whom he had never seen and had reason to distrust. It was as clearly the inspiration of the Almighty as that, in every turn of fortune, God has stood by the republic; not less in the strange vicissitudes of the Wars of the Revolution and of 1812, than in those of the war of sections; in the raising up of Paul Jones and Perry, of Preble and Hull, when, discouraged upon the land, the sea was to send God's people messages of victory, and in the striking down of Albert Sidney Johnston and Stonewall Jackson, when they were sweeping all before them. Inscrutable are the ways of Providence to man. Philosophers may argue as they will, and rationalism may draw its conclusions; but the mysterious power unexplained by either has, from the beginning of time, ruled the destinies of men. Back of these forces of life and thought there is yet another force equally inspired of God and equally essential to the exaltation of man, a force without which the world does not move except downward, the force of the imagination which idealizes the deeds of men and translates their meaning into words. It may be concluded that Washington at Monmouth and Franklin at Versailles were not thinking a great deal of what the world was likely to say. But there are beings so constituted that they cannot act, they can only think, and there are the Homers who relate in heroic measure, the Shakespeares who sing in strains of heavenly music. Among the progeny of these was Francis Scott Key. The son of a Revolutionary soldier, he was born August 9, 1780, not far away from the spot where we are now assembled, and died in Baltimore January 11, 1843. His life of nearly sixty-three years was an unbroken idyl of tranquil happiness, amid congenial scenes; among kin dred people; blessed by wedded love and many children, and accompanied by the successful pursuit of the learned profession he had chosen for himself. Goldsmith's sketch of the village preacher may not be inaptly quoted to describe his unambitious and unobtrusive career : Remote from towns he ran his godly race, Nor e'er had changed, nor wished to change, his place. Yet it was reserved for this constant and modest gentleman to leave behind him a priceless legacy to his countrymen and to identify his name for all time with his country's flag. "The Star-Spangled Banner" owed very little to chance. It was the emanation of a patriotic fervor as sincere and natural as it was simple and noble. It sprang from one of those glorious inspirations which, coming to an author unbidden, seizes at once upon the hearts and minds of men. The occasion seemed to have been created for the very purpose. The man and the hour were met, and the song came; and truly was song never yet born amid such scenes. We explore the pages of folk-lore, we read the story of popular music, in vain, to find the like. Even the authorship of the English national anthem is in dispute. .. Key's song was the very child of battle. was rocked by cannon in the cradle of the deep. Its swaddling clothes were the Stars and Stripes which its birth proclaimed. Its coming was heralded by shot and shell, and, from its baptism of fire, a nation of freemen clasped it to its bosom. It was to be thenceforth and forever freedom's Gloria in Excelsis. ... It The circumstances which ushered it into the world, hardly less than the words of the poem, are full of patriotic exhilaration. It was during the darkest days of our |