I see another snarl of men
A-digging graves, that told me,
So 'tarnal long, so 'tarnal deep,
They 'tended they should hold me.
Yankee Doodle, etc.
It scar'd me so I hooked it off,
Nor stopped, as I remember,
Nor turned about till I got home,
Clear up in mother's chamber.
Yankee Doodle, etc.
THE AMERICAN FLAG.
Joseph Rodman Drake (1795-1820) wrote "The American Flag" as a mere fugitive contribution to the Evening Post when he was little more than twenty-one. It belonged to a series of hastily written verses to which the author attached no value. Long afterward a friend of his—a Dr. DeKay—carefully gathered together these stray poems, and showed them to Drake, who said:
"Oh, burn them up! They are worthless."
Fortunately, his friend refused to burn them; and thus one of the finest gems of our national poetry was rescued. Tradition tells us that the last eight lines of "The American Flag" were added to the original draft by Drake's friend and fellow poet, Fitz-Greene Halleck.
By JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE.
When Freedom from her mountain height
Unfurled her standard to the air,
She tore the azure robe of night
And set the stars of glory there!
She mingled with its gorgeous dyes
The milky baldric of the skies
And striped its pure celestial white
With streakings of the morning light;
Then, from his mansion in the sun,
She called her eagle bearer down
And gave into his mighty hand
The symbol of her chosen land!