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INDEPENDENCE BELL (JULY 4, 1776)

ANONYMOUS

THERE was tumult in the city,
In the quaint old Quaker town,
And the streets were rife with people
Pacing restless up and down;
People gathering at the corners,

Where they whispered each to each,
And the sweat stood on their temples
With the earnestness of speech.

As the bleak Atlantic currents

Lash the wild Newfoundland shore,
So they beat against the State House,
So they surged against the door;
And the mingling of their voices
Made the harmony profound,
Till the quiet street of Chestnut
Was all turbulent with sound.

"Will they do it?" "Dare they do it?"
"Who is speaking?" "What's the news?"
"What of Adams?" "What of Sherman?"
"Oh, God grant they won't refuse!"

"Make some way there!" "Let me nearer!"
"I am stifling!" "Stifle, then!
When a nation's life's at hazard,
We've no time to think of men!"

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So they surged against the State House,
While all solemnly inside,

Sat the "Continental Congress,"

Truth and reason for their guide;
O'er a simple scroll debating,

Which, though simple it might be,
Yet should shake the cliffs of England
With the thunders of the free.

Far aloft in that high steeple
Sat the bellman, old and gray;
He was weary of the tyrant

And his iron-sceptered sway:
So he sat, with one hand ready
On the clapper of the bell,
When his eye could catch the signal,
The expected news to tell.

See! See! The dense crowd quivers
Through all its lengthy line,
As the boy beside the portal

Hastens forth to give the sign!
With his little hands uplifted,
Breezes dallying with his hair
Hark! with deep, clear intonation,
Breaks his young voice on the air.

Hushed the people's swelling murmur,
Whilst the boy cries joyously:
"Ring!" he shouts, "Ring, grandpapa!
Ring! oh, ring for Liberty!"
Quickly, at the given signal,

The old bellman lifts his hand;

Forth he sends the good news, making
Iron music through the land.

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That old State House bell is silent,
Hushed is now its clamorous tongue;
But the spirit it awakened

Still is living

ever young:

And when we greet the smiling sunlight
On the Fourth of each July,

We will ne'er forget the bellman

Who, betwixt the earth and sky, Rang out, loudly, "Independence!" Which, please God, shall never die!

HAIL, COLUMBIA (1798)

BY JOSEPH HOPKINSON°

HAIL, Columbia! happy land!
Hail, ye heroes! heaven-born band!

Who fought and bled in Freedom's cause,
Who fought and bled in Freedom's cause,
And when the storm of war was gone,
Enjoyed the peace your valor won.
Let independence be our boast,
Ever mindful what it cost;
Ever grateful for the prize,
Let its altar reach the skies.

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Firm, united, let us be,
Rallying round our Liberty;
As a band of brothers joined,
Peace and safety we shall find.

Immortal patriots! rise once more:
Defend your rights, defend your shore:
Let no rude foe, with impious hand,
Let no rude foe, with impious hand,
Invade the shrine where sacred lies
Of toil and blood the well-earned prize.
While offering peace sincere and just,
In Heaven we place a manly trust
That truth and justice will prevail,
And every scheme of bondage fail.

Firm, united, etc.

Sound, sound, the trump of Fame!
Let WASHINGTON'S great name

Ring through the world with loud applause,
Ring through the world with loud applause;
Let every clime to Freedom dear,

Listen with a joyful ear.

With equal skill, and godlike power,
He governed in the fearful hour
Of horrid war; or guides, with ease,
The happier times of honest peace.
Firm, united, etc.

Behold the chief who now commands,
Once more to serve his country, stands

The rock on which the storm will beat,
The rock on which the storm will beat:
But, armed in virtue firm and true,

His hopes are fixed on Heaven and you.
When hope was sinking in dismay,
And glooms obscured Columbia's day,
His steady mind, from changes free,
Resolved on death or liberty.

Firm, united, let us be,
Rallying round our Liberty;
As a band of brothers joined,
Peace and safety we shall find.

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THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER (1814)
BY FRANCIS SCOTT KEY

Он, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleam

ing?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous

fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming!

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And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there; 15
Oh, 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;
'Tis the star-spangled banner; oh, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

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