Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1898-08-18

accessories which preside over ana minister 70
Latin emotion, and seem Indispensable to its
DEVELOPMENT and it is believed to have derived
as much of its enthusiasm from the wine-cup
as from the drum-beat Keys song was the
very child of battle 1t was rocked by cannon
in the cradle OF the deep. Its Swaddling clothes
were the Stars and Stripes its birth proclaimed
Its coming was heralded by shot and shell. and,
from its baptism Of fire. a nation OF freemeu
clasped il to its bosom. It was to be thence
forth and forever freedoms Gloria In Excelsis.
The Story of the Song.
The circumstances which ushered it into the
world. hardly less than the words Of the poem,
are full of patriotic exhiIaration. 1t was dur
ing the darkest days of our second war OF indie
pendence. An English army had invaded and
occupied the seat of the national government,
and had burned the capitol Of the nation An
English squadron was in undisputed possession
of the Chesapeake bay. There being nothing
OF interest, or value left within the vicinity Of
Washington TO detain them. the British
were massing their land and naval forces
for other conquests. and. as their
ships sailed down the Potomac. DIR.
William Beanes, prominent citizen Of Mary
land. who had been arrested at his home in Up
per Marlboro charged with some offense, real
or fancied, was carried OF a prisoner.
1t was to secure the liberation Of this gentle
man. his neighbor and friend, that Francis
Scott Key obtained leave Of the president to
go to the British admiral under flag OF truce.
He was conveyed by the cartel boat used for
the exchange of prisoners and accompanied by
the flag officer of the government They pro-
ceeded down the bay from Baltimore and found
the British feet at the mouth OF the Potomac.
Mr.. Key was courteously received by Admiral
Cochrane; but he was not encouraged as to the
success of his mission until letters from the
English officers wounded at BlandenSburg and
left in the of the Americans were de-
livered to the friends on the feet to whom they
had been written These bore such testimony
to the kindness with which they had been
treated that it was finally agreed that Dr.
Beanes should be released; but, as an advance
required that the party OF Americans should
remain under guard board their
vessel until these operations
were concluded Thus it was that,
the night of the 14th of September. 1914. Key
witnessed the bombardment Of Fort McHenry
which his song was to render illustriOus.
He did not quit the deck the long night
through With his single companion, the flag
officer. he watched every shell from the mo
ment it was fired until 1t fell, listening with
GREATNESS interest to hear IL an explosion fol-
lowed" Whilst the cannonading continued
they needed further assurance that their
countrymen had not capitulated But"
quote the words OF Chief Justice fancy, repeat
ing the account given him by Key Immediately
AFTER lit suddenly ceased some time before day;
and, as they had no communication with
any Of the enemy's ships, they did not know
whether the fort had surrend cred, or the attack
upon 1t had been abandoned They paced the
deck the residue of the night in painful sus
pense, watching with intense anxiety for the
return of day. and looking every few minutes
at their watches to see how long they must
wait for it; and. as soon as 1t dawned and be-
fore it was light enough to see objects at a dis
lance, their glasses were turned to the fort.
uncertain whether they should see there the
Stars and Stripes or the flag of the enemy"
Blessed vigil! that its prayers were not in
vain; glorious vigil! that it gave US the Star
SpaDgled Banner!
During the night the conce ption Of the poem
began to form itself in Keys mind With the
early glow of the morning. when the long agony
of suspense had been turned into the rapture of
exuItation. his feeling found expression in COM
pleted lines OF verse which he wrote upon the
back of a letter he happened to have in his pos
session He finished the piece on the boat that
carried him ashore, and wrote out clear copy
that same evening at his hotel in Baltimore
Next day he read this to his friend and kinS-
man, Judge Nicholson, who was so pleased with
il that he carried it to the ONCE OF the Baltimore
American, where it was put in type by a
young apprentice, Samuel Sands by name,
and thence issued a broadside. Within an
hour after. it was circulating all over the city
hailed with delight by the excited people. Pub
lished in the succeeding Issue of the American,
and elsewhere reprinted, it went straight to the
popular heart 1t was quickly seized for mu-
steal adaptation. First sung in a tavern adj
joining the Holiday Street theater in Balti-
more, by Charles Durang, an actor, whose
brother, Ferdinand Durang, had set 1t to old
air. its production the stage of that theater
was the occasion of spontaneous and unbound
ed enthusiasm. Wherever it was heard its effect
was electrical. and thenceforward it was uni
versally accepted as the national anthem
Its Expression of Patriotic Feeling.
The poem tells its own story. and never a
truer, for every word comes direct from a
great heroic soul, powder-stained and dipped,
| as 1t were. in sacred blood
20. say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's
last cleaning,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through
the perilous fight,
Der the ramparts we watched, were SO gall
lantly streaming"
The two that walked the deck of the cartel
boat had waited long. They had counted the
hours as they watched the course of the battle.
But deeper anxiety yet is to possess them.
The firing has ceased Ominous silence! Whilst
cannon roared they knew that the fort held out.
Whilst the sky was lit by messengers of death
| they could see the national colors flying
above it.
-"the rockets red glare and bombs bursting
in air
Gave proof through the night that our flag was
still there"
But there comes an end at last TO waiting and
above the horizon and gid to the eastern shore
behold the sight that gladdens the eyes as it
catches the CLEAN OF the mornings first
beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the
stream
for there. the battlements of McHenry,
the Stars and Stripes float defiant the breeze
whilst all around evidences multiply that the
attack has failed. that the Americans have sue
cessfully resisted it, and that the British are
withdraw their forces For then, and fol-
now. and for all time, come the words Of the
anthem
"Oh thus be it ever. when freeman shall stand
desoIation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven
rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and pre-
served US a nation"
| for
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
| Der the land Of the free and the home Of the
brave!"
| The Star Spangled Banneri Was ever flag
| so beautiful. did ever flag SO fill the souls OF
men: The love of.woman; the.sense Of duty;
| the thirst for glory; the eart-tbrobbing that
colors fearless In the defense of his native soil
| and holding il sweet to die for 1.-THE yearning
| which draws him to it when exiled from tits
free institutions and its blessed memories. all
| are embodied and symbolized by the broad
| stripes and bright stars Of the nation s
| and tones OF Keys anthem Two or three
| began the song. millions Join in the chorus