The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1935-06-06

~ Anthem of the United States of Amer
| 20 lea" He Francis Scott Key, the
| man who gave the name of "The Star
Spangled Banner to the American
flag, the birthday of which we cele-
brate Flag Day on June IA.
The circumstances under which our national
emblem thus christened are familiar, no
doubt, to most Americans. They also know the
name of the man who did the christening. But
it is doubtful if out of hundred could tell
anything else about him-where he was born,
what sort of man he grew up to be and what
else happened to him after that high point in
his career when he stood on the deck of Brit
ish ship and, looking toward bombarded Fort
McHenry by the dawn's early light" saw "that
our flag was still there"
If they want to learn more about him they
can do no better than to get a copy Of the book
"Spangled Banner-The Story of Francis Scott
Key" written by Victor Weybright and pub
hshed recently by Farrar and Rinehart of New
York 1t is the first complete biography Of this
forgotten man." fullength portrait of pa
triot who deserves better than the neglect that
has been his lot.
Francis Scott Key, like Adam, came Of the
red EARTH" says Weybright. He was born
August l, 1779, at Terra Rubra, his family's
country seat in the Maryland redlands." And
although he became a noted lawyer and asso-
ciated with some of the nations greatest in the
National Capital, to the end of his days he re-
manned a son of the soil with passionate love
for the place of his birth.
Key was also a true Son of the American
Revolution. Before he was born, John Ross
Key, his father, marched away to the siege Of
Boston lieutenant of one of the Maryland
companies of expert ri1emen whose coming gave
such a thrill of joy to His Excelency, Gen.
George Washington. After his birth the elder
Key rode away TO Virginia to fight with Lafay-
cite against Benedict Arnold and Lord Corn
wallis.
Curiously enough the man who was to inf1u-
ence Francis Scott Keys life most was not a
Patriot but a Tory-his uncle, Philip Barton
Key, who had been studying law in Philadel-
phia at the outbreak of the Revolution, Joined
the British army there and became officer
in a Maryland Loyalist regiment. So the Revo-
luton was a civil war for the Keys as it was
for many another family.
Francis Scott Key was six when Uncle Philip
Barton Key, the erstwhile Tory, forgiven by his
family and pardoned by the government, came
home from England. 1t a gala day. Uncle
Philip, whom he had never seen, the prodigal
brother of his father, had already visited in
southern Maryland and arranged to read law
with Mr.. Duvau Qater member of the Supreme
court. He had studied in the Middle Temple
in London and wanted only coaching in the new
law of Maryland. Despite his English airs, his
penchant for poetry, his romantic superiority,
and his elegant tailoring, Uncle Philip was an
exceedingly practical man He accepted
John Ross Keys offer of a competent estate,
moved to Leonardtown near Bushwood and by
the time Francis Scott Key entered st. Johns
at Annapolis Uncle Philip was a leader of the
Maryland bar"
1t may have been the influence of Uncle Philip
with his penchant for poetry or 1t may have
been an inheritance from an ancestor, who was
a fifteenth century poet laureate OF England,
but in any case Francis Scott Key began writing
verses as a boy and continued doing all his
life At first he wrote this for the entertain
ment of himself and of his sister, Ann Phoebe
Charlton Key. When, a youth, he began to
fall in love he wooed the girl of the moment
with verse.
Certainly it was the influence of Uncle Philip
which determined that he should become a
lawyer and which sent him to st. Johns col
lege in Annapolis where he could be under the
eye of the uncle who was already one OF the
leading attorneys of Maryland. ION the streets
of Annapolis he met and talked with such emf
nent citizens as Charles Carroll of Carrollton
and Samuel Chase, the Signer, already growing
fat and red-faced and tempting the young bar
risters of the town to call him Old Bacon Face"
After his graduation from st. Johns, it was
the influence of Uncle Philip which placed him
in the office Of Judge jeremiah Townley Chase
to read law. Studying in Judge Chase's office
was another fedgling lawyer destined for fame
Roger Brooke fancy, recently graduated from
Dickinson college at Carlisle, Pa. The two be-
came close friends and their relationship became
even closer when fancy met Ann Key, fell in
love with her and married her. Years later he
was to become the Chief Justice fancy of the
United States Supreme Court who handed down
the historic bred Scott decision.
In the summers Key returned to Terra Rubra
to spend his vacation and there in two success
sive years two significant events occurred. In
1897 he met fourteen-year-old Mary Tayloe
Lloyd whom he married five years later. 'In the
summer of 179S, =. he heard for the first time
a political song to the tune of To Anacreon in
Heaven the melody that was to make him
famous II was Adams and Liberty cele-
brating President Adams firm notes TO France
and England, and it became one of the most
popular songs ever sung in America. Its author,
Robert Treat Paine, had written it for the
fete of a Charitable Fire Society in Massachu-
sets The words were rousing. The tune was
novel Even Jeffersonians sang it Justify"
After completing his studies in Annapolis, Key
went to Frederick, Nd, to begin the practise Of
law. There on February %, 1900, he had a part
in the memorial services. honoring George Wash
ington who had died during the previous De-
cember And this memorial service brings
other famous character into the story of Francis
Scott Key. For "a mock bier was made and be-
hind ii came sixteen young ladies in mourning
representing the sixteen states in grief.
Zone of these girls was Barbara Hauer, who
later married Caspar Frietchie glove-maker. and
during the Civil inspired Winters poem.
She was three years older than Key. He knew
her. and during his subsequent sojourn in Fred
erick he encountered her many times On the
day back in 1871 that Washington had stopped
at Terra Rubra, Barbara had served the Presi-
dent bis coffee at reception in Frederick and