the thunders of night meet the lightnings of day.
Noon and past noon--and this is the story
Of the flag that fell not, and they call it Old Glory:

It flapped in the air, it flashed with the blare
Of the bugles so shrill and so true,
It faced quick about and steadied the rout
And halted the lines of blue.
And the _boom-boom-boom_ of the maddened guns
Roared round it thick and fast,
And _dead-dead-dead_ sang the learing lead
Like hail in the sheeted blast,
And up and around it, surge and swell,
Rose the victor waves of the rebel yell,
And Grant's grim army staggered, but stood,
With backs to the river and dyed it with blood
In the shuttle of thunder and drum;
And they cheered as it went to the front of the fray
And turned the tide at the sunset of day,
And they whispered: _Buell is come!_

Spring on the Tennessee; April--and flowers
Bloom on its banks; the anemones white
In clusters of stars where the green holly towers
O'er bellworts, like butterflies hov'ring in flight.
And the ground ivy tips its blue lips to the laurel
And covers the banks and the water-swept bars
With a background of blue, in which the red sorrel
Are stripes where the pale corydalis are stars.

Red, white, and blue--it tells its own story--
But, Spring, Who made it and named it Old Glory!

JOHN TROTWOOD MOORE.

THE FLAG OF THE CUMBERLAND

THE Confederate frigate, _Merrimac_, newly arisen from her briny bath in
the Norfolk Navy Yards, with her sides new coated in an almost
impenetrable mail of iron and rechristened the _Virginia_, steamed
slowly down the river May 8th, 1862, to Newport News, where the
_Cumberland_, the _Congress_, and the _Minnesota_ of the Union fleet lay
at anchor.

The crews of the latter vessels were taking life leisurely that day, and
were indulging in various pastimes beloved of seamen. The _Merrimac_ as
she hove in sight did not look especially belligerent. Indeed she
appeared "like a house submerged to the eaves and borne onward by the
flood."

Notwithstanding her somewhat droll appearance, the _Merrimac_ had
herself well in control and was not on a cruise of pleasure bent, as the
navies well knew.

With steady determination she came on, until within easy distance of the
_Congress_, a vessel which gave her