Star-Spangled banner; O, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' 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 shall stand
Between their loved home 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,
And this be our motto--"_In God is our trust_"--
And the Star-Spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

JOHN JAMES AUDUBON.

~1780=1851.~

[Illustration: ~Scene in Louisiana.~]

JOHN JAMES AUDUBON was born near New Orleans and educated in France
where he studied painting under David. While still a young man, his
father put him in charge of a country estate in Pennsylvania.
Afterwards he engaged in mercantile persuits in Philadelphia,
Louisville, New Orleans, and Henderson, Kentucky, but unsuccessfully;
for he knew and cared much more about the birds, flowers, and beasts
around him than about the kinds and prices of goods that his
neighbors needed.

His great literary and artistic work is "The Birds of America,"
consisting of five volumes of Ornithological Biographies and four
volumes of exquisite portraits of birds, life-size, in natural colors,
and surrounded by the plants which each one most likes. "Quadrupeds of
America" was prepared mainly by his sons and Rev. John Bachman of
South Carolina. These works gave him a European reputation. He died at
Minniesland, now Audubon Park, New York City.

His style in writing is pure, vivid, and so clear as to place before
us the very thing or event described. The accounts of his travels and
of the adventures he met with in his search for his birds and animals
are very natural and picturesque; and they show also his own fine
nature and attractive character.

A biography arranged from his diary by Mrs. Audubon was published in
New York, 1868. See also Samuel Smiles' "Brief Biographie