The National tribune., 1889-07-04
IFor THE NATIONAL TtahuEE.l
OUR COUNTRY's FLAG.


Tread BY The author at LudotU Falls o., july a. 1897
Among the golden stars See banner proud and
fair, uf
50 grsndly Il doth fioat. nethInlks that God hath
placed Ii there, 'if
Forever set In heavens bus. with all It's folds un-
furl'd, ih 1i
The only flag that Freedom e'er bestowed upon
the world.
An hundred years have passed, but still in con-
soious pride it waves
Above the land our fathers won above their sacred
graves;
1t represents that cause for which the best of earth
have died
Upon tho slopes of Bunker Hill and by Potomac's
tide.
Behold II as It floats aoft DER mountain, plain and
gorgei
1t hoated long ago amid tho SHOWS of Valley
Forge;
II was upfurl'd with honor, In light that d.
vine,
Above the clouds Of Trenton and the smoke Of
Brandywine.
On saratogas deathless field It got new needs of
fame,
And Freedom wrote upon its folds old Yorktown's
glorious name.
To-day it foals In splendor Ina the beams OF Free
doms sun.
As once ii streamed aloa above the plume OF Wash
ington.
The sword has writ among It's stars that greet the
Union sky
The names of earths great heroes-names that
will never die;
Remember how our flag was borne thro' battles
loaded rain
How once IL waved In triumph over grand old
Lundy's Lane
How heroes who have passed away stood by IL In
the brake,
How the lips of Perry pressed il on tho war.encir-
ced iakei
Why. unto every star Il bears glory hath boon
given
Like that which always Furnishes the brightest
orb of heaven.
There was a time-forever past when once we
saw II wave
with shame and burning bushes DER the shaclkles
of the slave;
When meath ii WAS the downcast eye, the pale aud
silent lip
When the iulter Of It's folds was but the echo Of
the whip
But now without such stain Il floats in beauty on
the air.
The shacxle has been broken; God hath heard tho
negro's prayr;
And you and can stand erect with pride twixt
aand sea,
For meath its verglorous stars humanity Is freeI
And some who made IL thus sleep in long and
ghostly lines
From old Pcnobscot's frosty banks TO Georgia's
nodding pines;
Beneath the cypress aud the yew, beneath the goI-
den grain,
Upon the rugged mountain, and tho rose-em-
powered plain.
They camp upon the fields OF fame, n grand and
gallant host.
From fair PAeiio's golden sands to wild AtIaniics
coast;
Each year they come. with covers fair to deck the
heros bed
And bend with gratitude above Columbia g gallant
dead.
They fought beneath our starry flag they died on
field aud food
lis stripes of white they erirnsoned with their own
heroic blood;
They loved II as mother loves the only child she
bears.
They've made Il sacred for iii time by loyal deeds
and icarsi
They sent Il back with honor by the comrades who
To tell Us how they guarded Il upon the land
And that Is why IL seems to-day in glory bathed
anew,
And why its stars new iusor have upon their fields
of blue.
thousand banners kiss The winds, but only one
we own:
II droops no. TO foreign foe g flies above nc
throne!
No servlie scrfs beneath It bow, no slaves around
II bleed
But man is wherc'er il floats. no matter what
his creed
For ever let II greet the air from surgIng sea
For ever mHy our banner bc the type of Liberty
Aud we sisiethood of States that never can be
riven
VIII bless the men who set our flag forevermors
in heaven!