New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-09-13

there was q closer relationship between
the English and American stage and
English and AmeEieah art than there ia
to-day, and ITO Anacreon in Heaven
speedily became known in this country.
As Il was paraphrased In England so 1t
was paraphrased on this side Of the
Atlantic, and for an anniversary meet
ing of the Massachusetts Charitable
Fire Society in Boston on June l, lTSS,
Thomas Paine wrote patriotic ode
called adams and Liberty" which was
sung to the tune Of ITO Anacreop in
Heaven" and which began as follows:
Ys sons Of Columbia, who bravely have
For those rights which unstsind from your
sires had descended.
May you long taste the blessings your Valor
And your sons reap the soil which your
fathers defended.
MID the reign OF mild peace
Nay your nation increase
with the glory OF Rome and the wisdom Of
And ne'sr may the sons Of Columbia be
While the earth bears plant or the sea
rolls It's waves.
A song to the same tune had been
published in New York in the proceed
ing year in celebration Of the French
holiday, the Fourteenth Of July, and
between 1877 and 1914 the original
Anacreontic or psraphrases Of It ap-
peared in nearly y dozen American
publications. Metre and melody were
we'll known when Francis Scott Key
wrote the song which has outlived the
original in the popular tongue.
INSPIRATION OF THE SONG.
Francis Scott Key, born in 1880, died
in 1849, was a young lawyer living in
Georgetown, and had recently joined
battery of light artillery when, in
September, 1914. he Witnessed the en-.
gaRement which inspired him with the
poem which he gave to the world under
the title "The Defence Of Fort Nc
Henry" He told the story of its in
ception and completion to his brother
in-law, Roger Brooke fancy, and fancy
told it to the public forty years after
ward. fancy was the great Jurist VINO
became Chief Justice of the United
States Supreme Court, and in that ga
pacity, in 1857, delivered the famous
Tor infamous) decision in the Dred
Scott case which declared it to be the
law Of tn land that slave was not
citizen of the United States; that
negroes, whether slave or free, had mo
rights which the white man was bound
to respect and that Congress had no
power to exclude slavery from the ter
ritories Of the Union. That opinion
was overruled by the results Of the
war for the Union, but his story Of the
origin Of "The Star-Spangled Banner"
stands unshaken in all but a few
triling details. In brief it Is this:
After the battle Of Bladensburg some
stragglers of the British army follow
ing the main body came into conflict
with band of citizens in the town
of North Marlborough, who had banded
themselves together under a DR..
BeaneS to resist and possibly resent
the unlawful conduct of the strag-
glers. For this DR.. Beanes was ar
rested and imprisoned on one of the
vessels of the British feet in Chesa.
peake Bay. Thither DR.. Besnes and
Mr.. John S. Skinner followed him and
sought his release under a flag of
truce. The application of the commits
sioners was granted after much pro-
test, but they were told that they
would be detained on board the frigate
Surprise pending an intended attack
upon Fort MeHenry and Baltimore.
Just before the beginning Of the at
tack the men and DR.. Beanes were sent
back to their vessel under guard to
prevent them from landing until after
the battle. Their vessel was anchored
in a position which commanded a view
of the fort from it's deck. Now let
Mr.. fancy continue the narrative for a
space:
He (Mr. Key and Mr.. Skinner re-
NAMED on deck during the night
watching every shell, from the mo-
ment it was fred until it fell, listen
ing with breathless interest to hear
if an explosion followed. While the
bombardment continued it was suf-
fcient proof that the fort had not
surrendered. But it suddenly ceased
some time before day; and as they
had no communication with any Cf
the enemy's ships they did not know
whether the fort had surrendered or
the attack upon it had been aban-
doned. They paced the deck for the
residue of the night in painful sus-
pense, watching with intense anY-
iety for the return of day, and look
ing every few minutes at their
watches, to see how long they must
wait for it; and as soon as it
dawned, and before it was light
enough to see objects at a distance,
their glasses were turned to the fort,
uncertain whether they should see
there the Stars and Stripes or the
flag of the enemy. At length the
light came and they say that "our
flag was still there"
WRITTEN ON BACK OF LETTER.
Under the excitement of the bonn
bardmNnt, Mr.. Key told his brother-in-
L. h NkA
lines and notes for others upon the
back of letter taken from his pocket,
keeping others in his mind as he
wrought them out, and finishing the
composition in a boat on the way to
shore and at a hotel In Baltimore on
the night after his arrival. Next morn
ing he showed it to Judge Nicholson,
husband of his wife's sister, who WAS
so greatly pleased with it that he sent
it at once to q printer and had it struck
off as a handful and thus distributed
through the streets. Some time after
ward there the accounts vary from a
day to three months), Ferdinand Dur
ang, an actor, came into possession OF
copy of the song and sang it to a
crowd at q tavern next door to the
Holiday Street Theatre-sang it, Of
course, to the tune of ITO Amaze
the broadside. On October 10, 1914,
MIR. Harding, after a performance of
en- historical play entitled Count Ben
yowski," sang it at the theatre, the an
nouncement in the Baltimore Ameri-
can" of that day describing it as "a
much admired new song, written by a
gentleman of Maryland, in commemora-
ton of the Gallant Defence of Fort
McHenry, called The Star Spangled
Ronnor - IIntil recantly IL was sun