THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER.
O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming—
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming!
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say, does that Star-spangled Banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
On that shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses!
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
'T is the Star-spangled Banner!—O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where are the foes who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood hath washed out their foul footsteps' pollution!
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave;
And the Star-spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
O, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blessed with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a Nation
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto—"In God is our trust;"
And the Star-spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
F. S. Key.
CLVIII.
ASPIRATIONS OF YOUTH
Higher, higher, will we climb,
Up the mount of glory,
That our names may live through time
In our country's story;
Happy, when her welfare calls,
He who conquers, he who falls.
Deeper, deeper, let us toil,
In the mines of knowledge;
Nature's wealth, and learning's spoil,
Win from school and college;
Delve we then for richer gems
Than the stars of diadems.
Onward, onward, may we press
Through the path of duty;
Virtue is true happiness,
Excellence true beauty.
Minds are of celestial birth;
Make we then a heaven of earth.