The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-06-30

w for years, though there has been less agitation than uncertainty. Opinion was nearly equally divided between the Star Spangled Banner" and My Country, tis of thee" But about n year ago the secretary of the navy deereed that the stirring tune associated with Francis Scott Keys poem should be played as our national mir by naval bands The army had recognized 1t as such long before and so the dlrgelke melody 10 which Rev. Samuel F. Smith fitted some doggerel verses ought to be left to British bands.
 The tune of America" stately enough to be beloved of Beethoven and Weber, is really that of "God Save the King" It was probably composed and the orig inal words written, by Henry Carey, who also produced that other lyric gem, Sally In Our Alley" Some believe the tune to be of Scotch or French origin, but 1t belongs to England by right of annexation for patriotic purposes, quite aside from the fact that pr. John Bull, another composer of the 18th century, was long supposed to be the author. z Others, with cogent proof, have credited 1t to Lully, and say 1t wns composed in honor of Louis XIV. It was first per formed In England in 174o, and has since been annexed for patriotic songs by France. Denmark, Russia, Germany and Austria. In Paris 1t was "sauyez Ia roi;" in London 1t is God Save the King;' in Berlin 1t is Hell dir i'm siegerkranz;' in Vienna 1t is 70 du mein Oesterreich." It was used for the Russian national hymn until Czar became weary of listening to an imported or stolen tune, and ordered Its discontinuance.
 Samuel Francis Smith was the young pastor of a Baptist church at Andoyer, Mass, in the winter of 1S31-32, when he wrote the words of America" In half an hour, having found the air in German song book. The song was sung in public for the first time on July 4, 1882, by the Sunday school children in Park Street church. Boston Edward Everett Hale has told the story of how he was walk ing along Park street, a boy of 10, and went with the crowd into the old church on that Fourth of July, where he heard the song sung for the first time. 1t be- came immensely popdlnr during the Civil War, and will probably dispute preemi- hence among our national airs for good while with ''The Star Spangled Banner which by its stirring music and poetic words should and will be recognized as our patriotic song par excellence.
 Below Par As Poetry.
 The Rev. Mir Smith, who was a class mate of Oliver Wendell Holmes at liar yard, has written many better poems than "America," and few as bad. That fine missionary hymn, "The morning t. mi from hta If reflects more credit upon that implement than America" the words of which are commonplace and often meaningless. Most of the verses consist of reiterations of the statement that the singer Is singing, which may be necessary to establish tho fact, but cannot be considered as either important or inspiring. Has any one In singing the words ever pictured to him. self how music could swell the breeze" or how rocks could their silence break" ? Of what are "all that breathe" to par take;" how or what does "freedom nng;" and what is meant by Hike that aboye,' which sounds like clause from the speci- ncations for building barn7 There are not more than four lines in the four stanzas that can be regarded as poetry, and many cannot even be regarded as common sense. Moreover the verses abound with hackneyed words like sweet" and "holy," which give the whole disconnected concoction the general tone of a trashy camp-meeting hymn.
 America" Is gradually being appraised at its true worth, as a paragraph shows which appeared in the Bookman magazine during the Spanish American war. We are glad to note," said the writer, speak ing of patriotic music in theaters, that The Star-Spangled Banner is always se- lected as the piece de resistance. and that 1t is always accepted as such by the audi ence. who rise and sing it. We are still more glad that the hybrid fake known as America is distinctly not accepted as na- tional. many of the listeners remaining seated as they ought to do. There is no reason on earth for stealing the English anthem and calling 1t our own just be- cause a certain Mir. Smith once wrote some mushy balderdash to its sonorous music and called the incongruous com pound America
 Story of Keys Great song.
 It may be contended that the music of ''The Star-spangled Banner" also is not American, being originally the tune of "Anacreon in Heaven" song composed by John Strafford Smith somewhere be- tween TITO and 1775. Whatever its origin, whatever its associations, 1t fills the bill' and has found It's proper place at last. Like Handel's Largo" which is the ac- compartment of a song anything but sacred in the forgotten opera of "Xerxes' 1; like many of Luther's and Wesley's hymn tunes. which were taken from very worldly ditties the air of "The Star-Spangled Banner" has at last been fitted to it's ap- propriate environment. As regards It's English origin, President Lincoln's words about Dixie" hold good here also: We have fairly captured it. and may consider 1t our own by right of conquest"
 The story of "The Star-Spangled Ban ner" is as romantic as its words are thrill ing It was born in the battles stress and storm, out of patriots proud heart. It breathes the martial spirit of liberty, the confident hope in the triumph of right. Of all the worlds national airs, there are three that never fail to stir the pulse and warm the blood-the "Marsefllaise," tho Watch on the Rhine" and "The Star spangled Banner;' all three are chants