The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-04-10
Frederick Haskin's Letter
tsbecaa Correspondence Of Arrusl
The Original Star SpangEed Banner.
lsbeciai CORRESPONDENTS OF Ths Al

verse. Then it was suggested TIA,
Durang, who enjoyed considerable
local reputation as a singer hs
called upon.
Durang, who was posed of mona
Of that false modesty which sfliefs
many who verge on being vorsi
artists, mounted a chair and ma
his heart into singing The sfsr
Spangled Banner" for the 6rss
time. After he had sung it one6
everybody in the little tavern kans
the song under his leadership. Th5s
singing was kept up for several
hours, so great was the enthusiasm
and patriotic fervor moving IT,
people of Baltimore because OF ths
recent repulse of the enemy foof
OF British ships.
Song Sung in Theatre
The little tavern owned bv Mrs
Berling, which was the setting Tor
this historical scene, was right next
door to the Holiday Street theatre
When the theatre opened for tha
season, the song was made a mart
of every performance However
instead of playing the anthem lust
before the beginning of the per
Torrance, as was the custom In All
American theatres during the
World war, the song was rendered
afterward. It was not merely or
chestral. the entire company of &C.
tors leading all of the audience in
Shooting the immortal words to the
very heavens One Paddy" Me
Farland was the leading man Of the
theatrical company then playing al
the Holiday Street theatre. and il
was he who led the singing.
The tattered old flag now in the
National museum here was care
fully preserved, chiefly because it
was the inspiration of the famous
anthem. Probably it would have
been kept somewhere as a treasur-
ed reminder of the repulse Of the
British at Baltimore, but the whole
nation took an interest in this bat
tle-scarred bit of bunting because
of it's association with Keys in
spired patriotic poem.
Despite the fact that the old Tag
WAS mounted on net and carefully
mended. It still reveals the signs
of age and wear, and plainly shows
that it has been through strenuous
times.
The old emblem of this nation
has little in common with the Tag
Of today except the general plan on
which it is made, with the blue
field dotted with white stars in the
corner and the alternate red and
white stripes. However, where to-
day there are As stars, in six hori-
zontal rows of eight stars each,
there are in the old Fort MeHenry
flag but Is stars all told Begin
ming at the edge which would be
next the fagpole. there are three
stars in row. then a row of two
stars then three. then two, three
more, and two more.
Old Flag Has Is Stripes
In the early days it was custom
airy not only 10 add a star for each
additional state admitted 70 the
union, but to add a stripe to the
flag as we'll When the country
reached its days of real expansion,
this had to be stopped, and the
stripes in the flag were reduced to
ID, to correspond to the Is original
colonies which were formed into
the United States Of America when
this country freed itself from Brit
ish rule.
However, the country had not
gone back to Is stripes for its flag
in 1914, and there were just as
many stripes as stars in the blue
field and the old inspiration for
KEYS poem has Is stripes.
Key was not a Baltimorean, but
was born in Frederick county,
Maryland. He was lawyer. prac-
ticing his profession in Washing
ton and the town of Frederick,
later famous as the home of Bar-
bara Frietchie. Key was buried in
the little cemetery at Frederick
His home in Washington was one
of the sights of the city for long
time, being torn down not long ago
in order that a big new bridge CON
Meeting Washington with Virginia
might have its Washington end on
the site of the old Key home The
bridge is known to Westinghouse
as the Key bridge" because Of this
fact.