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 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,
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!

THE FLAG IN THE DARKNESS

BENJAMIN HARRISON

I was never so profoundly touched with the beauty of our flag as at
night time in one of our immense political demonstrations. One of the
features of the occasion was the sending upward of a mighty stream of
electric light which, piercing the darkness of the night, reached a
large flag which had been carried on cords a thousand feet from the
earth. The scene was too impressive for me to describe. I can only say
that it did seem as though the flag of our country was waving from the
very battlements of heaven.... God pity the American citizen who does
not love the flag; who does not see in it the story of our great, free
institutions, and the hope of the home as well as the Nation.

A SONG FOR FLAG DAY

WILBUR D. NESBIT

Your Flag and my Flag!
And how it flies to-day
In your land and my land
And half a world away!
Rose-red and blood-red
The stripes forever gleam;
Snow-white and soul-white--
The good forefathers' dream;
Sky-blue and true blue, with stars to gleam aright--
The gloried guidon of the day; a shelter through the night.

Your Flag and my Flag!
And, oh, how much it holds--
Your land and my land--
Secure within its folds!
Your heart and my heart
Beat quicker at the sight;
Sun-kissed and wind-tossed,
Red and blue and white.
The one Flag,--the great Flag--the Flag for me and you--
Glorified all else beside--the red and white and blue!

Your Flag and my Flag!
To every