THE AMERICAN FLAG. 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. Who rear'st aloft thy regal form, Flag of the brave! thy folds shall fly, When speaks the signal trumpet tone, Like shoots of flame on midnight's pall, And cowering foes shall shrink beneath Flag of the seas! on ocean wave Flag of the free heart's hope and home! Thy stars have lit the welkin dome, And all thy hues were born in heaven. Where breathes the foe but falls before us, And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us. Bear that banner proudly up, young warriors of the land, With hearts of love, and arms of faith and more than iron hand. Thomas Williams. The silken folds that twine about us here, for all their soft and careless grace, are yet as strong as hooks of steel. They hold together a united people and a great nation. The South says to the North as simply and as truly as was said three thousand years ago in that far away meadow by the side of the mystic sea: "Thy people shall be my people and thy God, my God." |