The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1898-08-20

Yet &c vas reserved for this constant and
modest gentleman to leave behind him a price
less legacy to his countrymen and to identify
his name for all time with his country's nag.
Gloria In E1celsis.
The Star Spangled Banner owed very little TO
chance. 1t was the emanation Of a patriotic
fervor as sincere and naturalas it was simple
and noble. 1t sprang from one Of those glorious
inspirations which, coming to an author unbid-
den, seizes at once upon the hearts and minds of
men. The occasion seemed TO have been ere
sted for the very purpose. The man and the
hour were met, and the song came; and truly
was song never yet born amid such scenes. We
explore the pages Of folklore. we read the
story Of popular music, in vain. to find the
like. Even the authorship Of the En-
Glish national anthem is in dispute. The
"Marsellaise' did indeed owe its be-
ing to the passions Of war and burst forth In
profuse strains and melody above the clang Of
arms; but it was attended by those theatrical
accessories which preside over and minister to
Latin emotion. and seem indispensable 10 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 freemen
claSped 1t 10 its bosom. 1t was 10 be thence
forth and forever freedoms Gloria in Excelsis-
The Story of the Song.
The circumstances which ushered IL into the
world, hardly less than the words Of the poem,
are full Of patriotic exhilaration. 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
Nn-T=- ID ,--- -.
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, a prominent citizen OF Mary
land, who had been arrested at his home in Up
per Marlboro charged with some oftense, real
or fancicd, was carried of . prisoner.
1t WAS to secure the liberation OF this gentle
man, his n%eighbor and friend, that Francis
Scott key obtained leave OF the president to
60 to the British admiral under a 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 fleet 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 care 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
upon Baltimore was about to be made. it was
required that the party Of Americans should
remain under guard on board their
own 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 no further assurance that their
countrymen had not capitulated. But" 1
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 it had been abandoned. They paced the
deck the residue OF the night in painful sus-
peuse, watching with intense anxiety for the
return of day. and looking every few minutes
at their watches to see how long hey must
wait for it; and, as soon rs it dawned and be-
fore it was light enough to see objects at 4 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
Spangled 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
eXultation, 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 a 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
it 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 as a broadside. Within an
hour after. 1t 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 i'd
joining the Holiday Street theater in Balti- |
more. by Charles Durang, an actor, whose
brother, Ferdinand Durang, had set it to an old
air, it's production on the stage OF that theater |
was the occasion OF spontaneous and unbound
ed enthusiasm. Wherever il 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 q
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,
Ger the ramparts we watched, were so gal
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 a 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
Watching; and as the first rays OF the sun shoot
above the horizon and gid to the eastern shore,
habold tho ci0hr that 0laddapS tho auae a. -