The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1907-01-05
It seemed as if Providence, having

1t seemed as II providence, having
brought to confusion the designs of
the enemy, and breathed the inspira-
ton that gave the poem birth, follow
ed it to its completion, for day or
two after it was given to the public,
an actor named Ferdinand Durang,
who was soldier, and one of the de-
tenders of the city, hearing it read by
a companion, sprang up and seized
his brothers. music book, used by
both of them in playing upon their
flutes, examined each piece of music
critically, and selected the air of an
old English song, written by John
Stafford Smith in I772, entitled ITO
Anacreon in Heaven" Having Sc
lected the air, he mounted stool and
sang the new song to his comrades,
with all the spirit and pathos of which
he was capable. 1t was said by an
eyewitness that ''the men shouted
and clapped, until they were tired
out, for never was there wedding
of poetry and music made under such
inspiring influences" Securing a
furlough, the Durang brothers sang
it in public places. It was caught
up in the camp, sang around the
bivouac fires, whistled in the streets,
and when peace was declared it was
carried to thousands of firesides as
the most precious relic of the war of
1872.
At the opening Of the New Holi-
day Street Theatre Cor Baltimore
Theatre) October, 1874, an actor
named Hardinge sang the immortal
war-song of the republic to an enrap-
tured audience, the occasion being
auspicious for the introduction of the
song. 1t was repeated many nights
and always evoked the heartiest de-
monstration of delight.
That Mr.. Key was intensely pa
triotic, his writings and speeches
which have been preserved, furnish
ample evidence. Indeed, he seemed
to have been endowed with a pro-
phetic intuition, and in an address to
his fellow citizens at meeting held
in his honor at Frederick on one oc-
casion, after reciting the circumstan-
ces under which he was inspired to
compose his famous poem, he added
the following adjuration, which, in
the light of events that are now tran
spring, and which have aroused pub
lie feeling throughout the nation,
was, indeed, remarkable in its warm
ings against the very evils that are
now the all-absorbing topic of every
communicable aggre G alton of
wealth and the abuses that follow in
train:
'sBut, if ever forgetfnl of her (the
United States) past and present glory,
she shall cease to be the land of the
free and the home of the brave and
become the purchased possession of a
company of stock jobbers and specu-
lators if her people are to become the
vassais Of a great sneaied corporation,
and to bow down to her pensioned
and privileged nobility if the patri-
OTIS who shall dare to arraign her cor
ruptions and denounce her usurpa-
ton, are to be sacrificed upon her
gilded altar; such a country may
furnish venal orators and presses, but
the soul of national poetry will be
gone. That muse will never bow
the knee in mammon's fame No,
the patriots of such land must hide
their shame In her deepest forests,
and her bands must hang their harps
upon the willows"
Francis Scott Key was the author
of many poems, which, after his
death, were gathered and published,
but with few notable exceptions,
there was not in evidence in their
composition the true poetic inspira-
ton that gave "The Star Spangled
Banner to the world.
A daughter of the poet married
Chas. Howard, who lived at the cor
ner of North Charles and Monument
streets, Baltimore, on the site now
occupied by the Mount Vernon Meth
odist Episcopal Church. It was
here that Francis Scott Key died.
He lived in Georgetown, D. c., and
while visiting his daughter, was taken
sick, a severe cold developing in
four days after into pneumonia, which
terminated fatally. He was buried
in Greenmount Cemetery, whence
his remains were subsequently re-
moved to Mt. Olivet Cemetery, near
Frederick, Nd. where they rest be-
side the grave of his wife, at the head
of each grave there being plain
marble slab, inscribed respectively as
follows
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY,
Born August 9th, 1880,
Died January nth, IS4S.
MARY TAYLOR KEY,
Born May 10th, 1884,
Died May 18th, 1859.
In 1874 James Lick, a wealthy
citizen of San Francisco, subscribed
$15o, 900 towards the erection of a
monument to the memory of Francis
Scott Key, which now stands in one
of the parks of that city. A monu-
ment to his memory was also erected
in the cemetery, near Frederick, Md,
the funds for which were raised by
public subscription. *That no monu-
ment has been erected in Baltimore
to perpetuate the memory of the au-
thor of the poem that was composed
at time when the enemy was attack
ing the defenses of the city, is not
creditable, but, to have been the au-
thor of 1.-The Star Spangled Banner, ("
has established for him a fame that
will last as long as the Republic. =
maryland Monthly Magazine.
[*Since this article was written Mr.. Charles
L. Marburg has given $4,000 to erect Key
| Monument in Baltimore.-EDs.]