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Perchance the lion stalking

Still shuns that hallowed spot,

For beast and bird have seen and heard
That which man knoweth not.

5

But when the warrior dieth,

His comrades in the war,

With arms reversed and muffled drum,

Follow his funeral car;

They show the banners taken,

They tell his battles won,

And after him lead his masterless steed,
While peals the minute gun.

6

Amid the noblest of the land

We lay the sage to rest,

And give the bard an honored place

With costly marble drest,

In the great minster transept

Where lights like glories fall,

And the organ rings, and the sweet choir sings, Along the emblazoned wall.

*

7

In that strange grave without a name,

Whence his uncoffined clay

Shall break again, O wondrous thought!
Before the Judgment Day,

And stand, with glory wrapt around,

On the hills he never trod,

And speak of the strife that won our life,
With the Incarnate Son of God.

8

O lonely grave in Moab's land!
O dark Beth-peor's hill!
Speak to these curious hearts of ours,
And teach them to be still.

God hath his mysteries of grace,

Ways that we cannot tell;

He hides them deep, like the hidden sleep

Of Him He loved so well.

-Cecil Frances Alexander.

THE AMERICAN FLAG

Drake's familiar poem is a little sophomorical, but it is worthy of the place it holds in the school Readers. The people of mountainous countries have always been supposed to be more zealous for their freedom than dwellers in the low countries, and this is why the author puts Freedom on the mountain top (first line). He fancies that the colors in the flag all came from the sky-the blue from the azure robe (the sky), the white

from the Milky Way, the red from the streakings of the sunrise, and the stars from the stars of the heavens.

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!
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.

Flag of the brave! thy folds shall fly,
The sign of hope and triumph, high,
When speaks the signal trumpet tone,
And the long line comes gleaming on;
Ere yet the lifeblood, warm and wet,
Has dimmed the glistening bayonet,
Each soldier's eye shall brightly turn
To where thy sky-born glories burn.
And, as his springing steps advance,
Catch war and vengeance from the glance.
And when the cannon-mouthings loud

Heave in wild wreaths the battle shroud,
And gory sabres rise and fall

Like shoots of flame on midnight's pall,
Then shall thy meteor glances glow,

And cowering foes shall shrink beneath
Each gallant arm that strikes below
That lovely messenger of death.

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Flag of the free heart's hope and home,
By angel hands to valor given,
Thy stars have lit the welkin dome,

And all thy hues were born in heaven.
Forever float that standard sheet!

Where breathes the foe but falls before us,
With Freedom's soil beneath our feet,

And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us?

-Joseph Rodman Drake.

Milky baldric refers to the Milky Way in the sky, baldric meaning a band or sash.

In the tenth line, eagle is represented as the flag bearer. The flag is frequently represented as being clutched in the talons of the American eagle—his mighty hand here meaning the eagle's claws.

From his mansion in the sun has reference to the fact that the eagle builds his nest at the highest points.

Battle shroud-the smoke of battle.

Meteor glances-flashings from the flag (not a very good figure, by the way).

By angel hands to valor given refers to the poetic origin of the colors of the flag in heaven as stated in the first eight

lines, and as repeated in the following two lines. The poem closes with a declaration, in question form, that there is no foe anywhere who must not fall before us as we stand with Freedom's soil beneath our feet and the stars and stripes floating over us.

OLD IRONSIDES

Old Ironsides was the frigate Constitution. She was launched at Boston in 1797, took part in the bombardment of Tripoli in 1804, and made a great record in the War of 1812, capturing many vessels. One of her most notable engagements was with the British Guerriere off the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Her good fortune was remarkable throughout her service. "She never was dismasted, never got ashore, and scarcely ever suffered any of the usual accidents of the sea.” Consequently she became a great favorite in the popular mind.

One day, not long after Holmes's graduation from Harvard, he read in a newspaper that the Secretary of the Navy had issued orders for the breaking up of the Constitution, then lying at Charlestown harbor, near Boston. Immediately he wrote his stirring protest in the lines of Old Ironsides. Throughout the country the press copied the poem, it met a quick response in the hearts of the people, the Secretary of the Navy revoked his order, and the gallant ship was saved.

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