lf for
James Maher, gardener of the White House. It may be worth while to preface
it with certain explanations of his phraseology:

He was describing an actual situation, and he appears to have addressed
the lines directly to his companion, Mr. Skinner. The smoke of battle
explains "the clouds of the fight." The line, "This blood has washed out
his foul footstep's pollution," modified by later editors, was his answer
to the boasts of a British officer, who declared before the bombardment
that the fort would quickly be reduced.

The change of "on" to "o'er" in the common versions of the phrase "now
shines on the stream" is the result of bungling editing. Key was picturing
the reflection of the flag on the water.

In the author's version, here given, the words that have been changed by
compilers are italicized. The references by numerals indicate the
variations of other editions.

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER.

BY FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.

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 _clouds of the
fight_,[1]
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare--the bombs bursting in air--
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
Oh, say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

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, _half_[2] conceals, _half_[2] discloses;
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines _on_[3] the stream.
'Tis the Star-Spangled Banner--oh, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is the _foe that_[4] so vauntingly swore
_That_[5] the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country _should_[6] leave us no more?
_This_[7] blood has washed out _his_[8] foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave.
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh, thus be it ever! when _freemen_[9] shall