AMERICA.
My country, ’tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing!
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims’ pride,
From every mountain side
Let freedom ring.
My native country, thee—
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love.
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills.
My heart with rapture thrills
Like that above.
Let music swell the breeze
And ring from all the trees
Sweet Freedom’s song!
Let mortal tongues awake,
Let all that breathe partake,
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.
Our fathers’ God, to thee,
Author of Liberty!
To Thee we sing:
Long may our land be bright
With freedom’s holy light,
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our king!
Peace follows where it finds the Old Thirteen, the nucleus around which the other stars have gathered in their glory.
—Letitia Green Stevenson,
Honorary Vice President General National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution.
Transcriber's Note: If supported by the reader's device, the above music may be heard by clicking on [[audio/mpeg]] .
The Old Thirteen
A
Patriotic
Song
DEDICATED
TO THE
Sons, Daughters and CHILDREN
OF THE
American Revolution
1. Flag of the free, we hail thee with pride.
Float thou in freedom o’er all the land wide;
Emblem of pow’r where’er thou art seen. Yet
still we are true to The Old Thirteen.
Our fathers who fought a free country to make.
Who suffered and died for sweet liberty’s sake.
What joy had been theirs had they only foreseen
How vast we should grow from The Old Thirteen—
Forty-five stars now shine in thy blue,
Forty-five states to thee will be true—
As heroes of old keep their memory green.
Who marched with the flag of The Old Thirteen.
2. We’ll work for thy glory forever and aye.
We’ll celebrate ever that dearly bought day;
Thy folds floating o’er us in triumph were seen,
So valiantly won by The Old Thirteen.
We’ll rally around thee from near and from far,
Our standard forever in peace or in war,
All nations salute thee, thy stars’ mighty sheen,
Full splendor thou art of The Old Thirteen.
Then hail we our emblem, each daughter and son,
Honor the vict’ry thy fair folds have won;
Tho’ multiplied stars float in freedom serene,
Enshrined in our hearts is The Old Thirteen.
Words By
Corrilla Copeland Lewis
Music By Harriet Hayden Hayes.