nes as grotesque as 'Yankee Doodle' itself;
yet we have paraphrased it in 'America,' and made it a hymn meet for
all our churches. But the 'Star-spangled Banner' combines dignity and
beauty, and it would be hard to find a line of it that could be
improved upon."

Over the simple grave of Francis Scott Key, in Frederick, Maryland,
there is no other monument than the "star-spangled banner." In storm
and in sunshine, in summer and in winter, its folds ever float over the
resting place of the man who has immortalized it in verse. No other
memorial could so fitly commemorate the life and death of this simple,
dignified, patriotic American.

"A sweet, noble life," says a recent writer, "was that of the author of
our favorite national hymn--a life of ideal refinement, piety,
scholarly gentleness. Little did he think that his voice would be the
storm song, the victor shout, of conquering America to resound down and
down the ages!"

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER

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 rampart 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 the 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 conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on 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 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 death and the gloom of the grave,
And the star spangled banner in triumph shall 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 homes and the war's desolation,
Blest with victory an