“‘Oh! say can you see by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose stripes and bright stars, thro’ the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming;
And the rockets, red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro’ the night that our flag was still there!’”
For a few moments every one was still amazed at the girl’s audacity, but as the last strain of the first stanza came from her lips a hoarse, angry murmur went up from the soldiers, and there was a movement toward her. But Jeanne heeded it not and in triumphant tones began the chorus:
“‘Oh! say, does that star spangled banner yet wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!’”
“Chuck that!” growled one of the men.