On each a seaman, trained and brave,
Stood like a statue, firm and brave,
With lanyard in his close-clinched hand,
Waiting for some quick command,—
Be it whistle of the bo'swain,
Be it trumpet of the captain,-
The flag to "break" from crumpled ball
And send "to quarters" one and all.

With his spy-glass well directed,
And each gun by tars attended,
On quarter-deck of "Ironsides,"
Dreading no fight, nor aught besides,
Watching the rude ball ascending,
Watching its slow unfolding,

The gallant Hull controlled the halyard,
Signal to his brave four hundred.

Then, the shock and roar of battle;
Then, the deadly musket-rattle;
Then, the groans of wounded, dying;
Then, the shout, "The foe is sinking!"
Then, a parting broadside given ;
Exploding fires leap up to heaven,
And the foeman's downward motion
Leaves the victor free on ocean.

The tale is told, and often told,
Yet as our youth this flag unfold,
And blood-red stripes with white unite,
Emblems of peace and love's delight,
The azure 66 field," the silver stars,
So honored once by gallant tars,
Shall speak of tranquil skies above,
The reign of Christ,—the reign of Love.

HENRY B. CARRINGTON.

WASHINGTON AND THE FLAG.

(On a copper plate set in the pavement before the chancel in Brighton Chapel, Northamptonshire, England, the Washington coat of arms is displayed. Three five-pointed spur-rowels (stars, now, by courtesy) upon an azure field, with parallel red and white bands surmounted by a raven, connect the origin of our national flag and escutcheon with the early family of Washington. On the 29th of June, 1892, Quartermaster-General R. N. Batchelder published Lieutenant-Colonel M. I. Luddington's history of the Stars and Stripes, showing that Washington furnished the pencil drawing to Mrs. Ross, who made the flag accordingly, at her home in Philadelphia, during June, 1776. Music by Henry S. Thompson. Oliver Ditson & Co., Boston.)

I.

STRIKE, strike, O Liberty, thy silver strings,
And fill with melody the clear blue sky!
Give swell to chorus full, to gladness wings,
And let swift heralds with the tidings fly.
Faint not, nor tire, but glorify the record
Which honors him who gave the nation life;

Fill up the story, and, with one accord,

Our people hush their conflicts-end their strife!

II.

Tell me, ye people, why doth this appeal

Go forth in measure swift, as it has force,
To quicken souls and make the nation's weal

Advance, unfettered, in its onward course,
Unless that they who live in these our times

May grasp the grand, o'erwhelming thought
That he who led our troops in battle lines
But our best interest ever, ever sought.

III.

What is this story thus redolent of praise?

Why challenge Liberty herself to lend her voice?

"Why must ye Hallelujah anthems raise,

And bid the world, in plaudits loud, rejoice?

Why lift the banner, with its star-lit folds,
And give it honors grandest and the best,
Unless its blood-stripes and its stars of gold
Bring ransom to the toiler,—to weary, rest?

IV.

Ah, ha! there's a secret in the stars and stripes ;
It was the emblem of our nation's sire,

And from the story of his father's strifes

He gathered zeal which did his youth inspire. Fearless and keen in the border battle,

Careless of risk while dealing blow for blow, What did he care for yell or rifle-rattle,

If be, in peril, only duty e'er could know?

V.

As thus in youth he measured well his work,
And filled that measure ever full and true,
So thence to him to lead the nation looked
When all to arms in holy frenzy flew.
Grand faith was that to inspire our sires,
And honor him, so true, with chief command,
And fervid be our joy, while beacon-fires
Do honor to this hero through the land.

VI.

Strike, strike, O Liberty, thy silver strings!
Bid nations many in the contest try;
Tell them, oh, tell, of all thy mercy brings
For all that languish, be it far and nigh;
For all oppressed the time shall surely come

When, stripped of fear, and hushed each plaintive cry,

All, all will find, will find in Washington

The model guide, for now, for aye, for aye!

HENRY B. CARRINGTON.

SONG OF THE FLAG.

(Written for the Columbian School Celebration, 1892. Air, "The Red, White, and Blue.")

CHEER, cheer we the Flag of the nation,

On liberty's breeze unfurled,
The glory of manhood's creation,

The Pilot of Peace in the world.

Cheer the Flag that our fathers, undaunted,
Proclaimed, when the nation was new,
Should float for the freedom they planted,
And be to the Right ever true.

CHORUS.

Cheer, cheer we the Flag ever true!
Cheer, cheer we the Flag ever true!
The Flag by the patriots planted,
The Flag to the Right ever true.

Flag that floats for that morning of wonder
That heard on the ocean impearled

The gun

of the caravel thunder

That shook the new shores of the world;
Flag that floats in its majesty splendid,
And shall float in humanity's name,

For the cause that our fathers defended,
For the Right on the red fields of flame.

Old banners of royalty faded,

The lions, the lilies of gold,

And the Flag no dishonor had shaded,
The stars of the empire enrolled,
And bore it, the pioneers glorious,

The dim forest-ways as they trod,

From ocean to ocean victorious,

For the Right and the freedom of God.

Let the School, for America's glory,
The pledge of the fathers renew;
Four hundred years thrilling with story,
A thousand years rising in view;
And as long as the old constellation
Shall gleam on the Flag of the light,
The School shall be true to the nation,
And the nation be true to the Right.

HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH.

THE FLAG THE EMIGRANTS CHEERED.

GIBRALTAR rose dark, and the sun's disk burned low,
Like a far gate of heaven with banners aglow,
And red o'er the Pillars of Hercules blazed
The star of the pilots of old as we gazed,

And swift the breeze freshened, and deep boomed the gun,
And the ships of the nations swept by one by one,
The Red Cross of England, the Tricolor proud,
And the dark German Eagles in billows of cloud.

Then the Flag of the Stars from the Western waves came,
And passed in review by the old flags of fame.

"Why are the ships shouting?" Our feet forward pressed.
"Tis the emigrants cheering." "Which flag?" "Of the
West."

The Cross of St. George

Floated free o'er the main,

The black German Eagles,
The Lions of Spain,
And the flags of all seas

In the bright straits appeared,

But, oh! 'twas my own flag

The emigrants cheered.