The Coconino sun., 1927-07-01
FRANCIS SCOTT KEYS
4TH OF JULY ADDRESS
INCAPITOL JULY A, 1881

Following is part of an Grafton
delivered by Francis Scott Key,
author of the "Star Spangled
Banner" in the rotunda of the
Capitol at Washington on the
Fourth of July, 1881, as trans
cribed from a rare book kept in a
safe of the Library of Congress at
Washington:
We are in a state of unexampled
prosperity, and to nations as to indi-
viduals, great are the hazards and re-
sponsibilities of such state Times
of difficulty and danger give men
their virtues, and prove and exalt
them. We become listless and luxuri-
Gus in times of ease and security.
Men who inherit an estate generally
prize it and enjoy it less than the an
cestor who earned it; and we, who in
herit freedom, may learn to value it
less than the men who won it.
Let us not indulge the unworthy
thought that to us is left the privi-
lege of enjoyment without the obliga-
tions of duty. We are responsible for
the most sacred of trusts-to our
country-to the world-to our God.
Let us not imagine that nothing is
left for US to do. This is never the
condition of an individual or a nation.
Patriotism may still find it's appropri-
ate labors among us. There are yet
things to be done, necessary to be
done for the honor and safety of our
land, left unaccomplished, from neces-
sity, by those who have gone before
us-left for the times of peace and
xxrl1T T1fa 1af&
for us to understand and execute.
Abundant as are the blessings around
US there are evils to be seen-not to
be hid in despair, or mourned over in
heartaess dependency, but to be looked
at, and met, and overcome, with
the spirit of men who think nothing
that concerns its honor and happiness
above the power of such country to
accomplish. Many and great will be
the tolls and triumphs of patriotism,
before our whole land shall present to
the eye of heaven, what heaven has
given US the means of making it,
picture of human happiness without
blot.
The spirit of this virtue still abides
among us. Let US exercise and cher
ish it, and while we frown upon the
men who betray the selfishness of
their aims, let us give our confidence
and our honors to those, and to those
only, IN whose hearts it lives, and in
whose lives it shines.
The present time then is time for
joy; another year has passed over US
and adds its proof to that of those be-
fore it, of the stability of the blessings
of freedom.
1t ought not sensibly TO impair our
happiness, however we may regret it,
that the JOY with which this day is
celebrated is not universal. It can
never be otherwise who look for
causes of discomfort will find them or
make them That some of our coun-
trynnen therefore will meet together
this day in such mood must be ex-
pected. They will pour forth their
lamentations over the wretched state
of the country and the sad prospects
before u.s. But all that is wretched
in the country, or sad in prospect,
will appear to be (when we come to
understand them) that they, and those
they approve of, and who approve Of
them, are not taken to govern the
country; and that they have the sad
prospect before them that they never
will be.
Time is perhaps the only cure for
such a sorrow and we trust they will
long be enabled to see that the coun-
try can live and flourish under the
continuance of this calamity.
The present is time for joy, and
the past shines upon it in reflected
brightness-is there any cloud to be
seen in our anticipations of the fu-
ture?
There is no discoverable cause
that institutions, comforting so much
happiness on a people, and resting on
the will of the people, will be i'm
paired by time. We may rather ex-
pect, from the spirit of the age in
which we live, their Improvement
What is there that is not improving.
Who can look back even for few
years, who can hear or see what is
daily passing in the world, without
astonishment at the increasing intel
lectual power of man? 1t seems as it
we are just now getting dominion
over the world that God made for US,
that we are but now learning how to
use and apply the materials and
agencies of nature.
As men increase in knowledge and
intelligence, will they not increase
their means of understanding and pro-
viding for what constitutes their hap
piness? And is the science of gov
ernnent the only one that admits of
no improvement? May not its princi-
Piles be so modified and applied as to
produce new and great results; so
that all parts of the political machine
may work harmoniously, and the rul-
ing power, the will Of the people, be
brought to bear more effectuaIly upon
all its movements?
Among no people of the world are