The Washington herald., 1907-10-13
PATRIOTIC SONGS

land and the words were invented by the
British soldiers 10 be sung in derision Of
the raw American troops who joined them
at the camp on the Hudson. below Al
bany, in 1875, during The French and In
dian war Twenty years later the re-
belliOus patriots played Yankee Doodle
at the battle of Lexington. and il became
the first national song OF the United
States.
Now that the United States is in a
controlling position or the Isthmus OF
Panama, it is interesting TO recall that
the words Of God Save the King, which
are sung TO the same old German air 10
which We sing America were written
by Henry Carey, the author of Sally
in Our Alley" TO commemorate the cap
tJVe of PoTtobello by Admiral Vernon in
.I7S9 PortobelIo wassa fourishing city on
the Isthmus of Panama and was the key
by which Spain locked up the treasures Of
the New World for herself. When Porto
helio felI before the English guns the star
of American empire passed to the north
so that the United States has a historical
interest IN God Save the King.
The words of the song. My Country,
Tis Of Thee" were written Dy Samuel
Francis Smith. The song was first sung
at a Sunday school celebration of the
Fourth of July at Park Street Church, in
Boston. It is an interesting fact that one
Of the little boys who helped TO sing
America" for the first time is now the
chaplain Of the United States Senate, the
venerable and reverend Edward Everett
Hale
Hail, Columbia" once the most popu-
lar of patriotic songs. was a result of the
threatened war with France in 179S. It
was written by Joseph Hopkinson, Of
Philadelphia. and sung to the, air which
had been composed by a German music
director in New York under the name
The Presidents March. Another pOpu-
lar American song, Columbia, the Gem
of the Ocean, is but an echo OF the Eng
lish Britannia, the Pride of the Ocean.
Every day in the year an American flag
floats over a grave in a cemetery at Fred
erick, Md. The flag is renewed every
Memorial Day. In that grave rests the
body of Francis Scott Key. Although his
memory has been honored in monuments
Of granite and statues Of bronze what
more fitting memorial than, Old Glory
forever waving over the last resting place
of him who wrote "The Star-Spangled
Banner?" What American schoclboy is
not thrilled by the story of how Key was
a prisoner on a British ship, how he saw
the terrific bombardment Of Fort Ne
Henry. the only protection and hope of
Baltimore? OF how. in that darkest hour
of the life of the young republic. IN, dawn
broke and Fort McHenry still defed the
British, and the Star-Spaagled Banner
still waved?
Time has softened the bitterness of that
day. The stanza in which Key so bitterly
execrated the British is rarely sung now.
The Spanish war proved that blood is
thicker than water" The stanza inter-
polated by Oliver Wendell Holmes during
the civil war is almost forgot in the re-
union of the nation. But the song still
lives, and whenever and wherever il is
sung or played let every American rise
and uncover in gratitude for that life.
liberty, and the pursuit OF happiness"
which is assured TO him as long as
- the star-spangled banner in triumph shah
Ger the land Of the free and the home Of the
brave"
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS co,,s-~ 81 m. :.