And where was then thy fearless flight?

"O'er the dark, mysterious sea,

To the lands that caught the setting light,
The cradle of Liberty.

There, on the silent and lonely shore,

For ages I watched alone,

And the world in its darkness asked no more
Where the glorious bird had flown.

"But then came a bold and hardy few,
And they breasted the unknown wave ;
I caught afar the wandering crew,
And I knew they were high and brave.
I wheeled around the welcome bark,
As it sought the desolate shore,
And up to heaven, like a joyous lark,
My quivering pinions bore.

"And now that bold and hardy few Are a nation wide and strong;

And danger and doubt I have led them through, And they worship me in song;

And over their bright and glancing arms,

On field, and lake, and sea,

With an eye that fires, and a spell that charms, I guide them to victory."

JAMES GATES PERCIVAL.

THE AMERICAN EAGLE.

BIRD of Columbia, well art thou
An emblem of our native land;
With unblanched front and noble brow,
Among the nations doomed to stand;
Proud like her mighty mountain woods;

Like her own rivers wandering free;

And sending forth from hills and floods
The joyous shout of liberty.
Like thee, majestic bird, like thee,
She stands in unbought majesty,

With spreading wing, untired and strong,
That dares a soaring far and long,

That mounts aloft, nor looks below,
And will not quail though tempests blow.

The admiration of the earth,

In grand simplicity she stands;
Like thee, the storms beheld her birth,
And she was nursed by rugged hands;
But, past the fierce and furious war,
Her rising fame new glory brings,
For kings and nobles come from far
To seek the shelter of her wings.
And like thee, rider of the cloud,
She mounts the heavens, serene and proud,
Great in a pure and noble fame,
Great in her spotless champion's name,
And destined in her day to be
Mighty as Rome,-more nobly free.

My native land, my native land,

To her my thoughts will fondly turn;
For her the warmest hopes expand,

For her the heart with fears will yearn.
Oh, may she keep her eye, like thee,
Proud eagle of the rocky wild,
Fixed on the sun of liberty,

By rank, by faction, unbeguiled;
Remembering still the rugged road

Our venerable fathers trod,

When they through toil and danger pressed

To gain their glorious bequest,

And from each lip the caution fell

To those who followed, "Guard it well."

CHARLES WEST THOMSON.

THE AMERICAN FLAG.

WHEN Freedom from her mountain height
Unfurled her standard to the air,

She tore the azure robe of night,
And set the stars of glory there.
She mingled with its gorgeous dyes
The milky baldric of the skies,

And striped its pure celestial white
With streakings of the morning light;
Then, from his mansion in the sun,
She called her eagle bearer down,
And gave into his mighty hand
The symbol of her chosen land.

Majestic monarch of the cloud,

Who rear'st aloft thy regal form, To hear the tempest trumpings loud And see the lightning lances driven,

When strive the warriors of the storm, And rolls the thunder-drum of heaven,Child of the sun! to thee 'tis given

To guard the banner of the free;
To hover in the sulphur smoke,
To ward away the battle-stroke;
And bid its blendings shine afar,
Like rainbows on the clouds of war,
The harbingers of victory!

Flag of the brave! thy folds shall fly,
The sign of hope and triumph high,
When speaks the signal trumpet tone,
And the long line comes gleaming on.
Ere yet the life-blood, warm and wet,
Has dimmed the glistening bayonet,
Each soldier eye shall brightly turn
To where thy sky-born glories burn,
And, as his springing steps advance,
Catch war and vengeance from the glance;

And when the cannon-mouthings loud
Heave in wild wreaths the battle-shroud,
And gory sabres rise and fall,

Like shoots of flame on midnight's pall,
Then shall thy meteor glances glow,

And cowering foes shall shrink beneath
Each gallant arm that strikes below
That lovely messenger of death.

Flag of the seas! on ocean wave
Thy stars shall glitter o'er the brave,
When death, careering on the gale,
Sweeps darkly round the bellied sail,
And frighted waves rush wildly back
Before the broadside's reeling rack:
Each dying wanderer of the sea
Shall look at once to heaven and thee,
And smile to see thy splendor fly,
In triumph, o'er his closing eye.

Flag of the free heart's hope and home!
By angel hands to valor given,
Thy stars have lit the welkin dome,

And all thy hues were born in heaven.
Forever float that standard sheet!

Where breathes the foe but falls before us, With Freedom's soil beneath our feet,

And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us?

JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE.

OUR FLAG IS THERE.

OUR flag is there, our flag is there,

We'll hail it with three loud huzzas.

Our flag is there, our flag is there.

Behold the glorious Stripes and Stars. Stout hearts have fought for that bright flag, Strong hands sustained it mast-head high,

And, oh, to see how proud it waves,
Brings tears of joy in every eye.

That flag has stood the battle's roar,

With foemen stout, with foemen brave;
Strong hands have sought that flag to lower,
And found a speedy watery grave.

That flag is known on every shore,
The standard of a gallant band:

Alike unstained in peace or war,
It floats o'er Freedom's happy land.

AMERICAN NAVAL OFFICER, 1812.

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER.

Он, 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 ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rockets' 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 the band who so vauntingly swore,
'Mid the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,

A home and a country they'd leave us no more?

Their blood hath washed out their foul footsteps' pollution: