The Little Robber Girl
The Boy Who Cried Wolf
AMERICAN INDIAN STORIES
Animal Sketches And Stories
Blondine Bonne Biche and Beau Minon
BRER RABBIT and HIS NEIGHBORS
CHINESE MOTHER-GOOSE RHYMES
FABLES FOR CHILDREN
FABLES FROM INDIA
FATHER PLAYS AND MOTHER PLAYS
FIRST STORIES FOR VERY LITTLE FOLK
For Classes Ii. And Iii.
For Classes Iv. And V.
For Kindergarten And Class I.
FUN FOR VERY LITTLE FOLK
Good Little Henry
JAPANESE AND OTHER ORIENTAL TALES]
Jean De La Fontaine
King Alexander's Adventures
KINGS AND WARRIORS
LAND AND WATER FAIRIES
Lessons From Nature
LITTLE STORIES that GROW BIG
MODERN FAIRY TALES
MOTHER GOOSE CONTINUED
MOTHER GOOSE JINGLES
MOTHER GOOSE SONGS AND STORIES
Myths And Legends
NEGLECT THE FIRE
ON POPULAR EDUCATION
PLACES AND FAMILIES
Poems Of Nature
RESURRECTION DAY (EASTER)
RHYMES CONCERNING "MOTHER"
RIDING SONGS for FATHER'S KNEE
ROMANCES OF THE MIDDLE AGES
SAINT VALENTINE'S DAY
Selections From The Bible
SLEEPY-TIME SONGS AND STORIES
Some Children's Poets
Songs Of Life
STORIES BY FAVORITE AMERICAN WRITERS
STORIES FOR CHILDREN
STORIES for LITTLE BOYS
STORIES FROM BOTANY
STORIES FROM GREAT BRITAIN
STORIES FROM IRELAND
STORIES FROM PHYSICS
STORIES FROM SCANDINAVIA
STORIES FROM ZOOLOGY
STORIES _for_ LITTLE GIRLS
THE DAYS OF THE WEEK
The King Of The Golden River; Or, The Black Brothers
The Little Grey Mouse
THE OLD FAIRY TALES
The Princess Rosette
THE THREE HERMITS
THE TWO OLD MEN
UNCLES AND AUNTS AND OTHER RELATIVES
VERSES ABOUT FAIRIES
WHAT MEN LIVE BY
WHERE LOVE IS, THERE GOD IS ALSO
The Star-spangled Banner
from Good Stories For Great Holidays
- MEMORIAL DAY
BY EVA MARCH TAPPAN (ADAPTED)
In 1814, while the War of 1812 was still going on, the people of
Maryland were in great trouble, for a British fleet began to attack
Baltimore. The enemy bombarded the forts, including Fort McHenry. For
twenty-four hours the terrific bombardment went on.
"If Fort McHenry only stands, the city is safe," said Francis Scott Key
to a friend, and they gazed anxiously through the smoke to see if the
flag was still flying.
These two men were in the strangest place that could be imagined. They
were in a little American vessel fast moored to the side of the British
admiral's flagship. A Maryland doctor had been seized as a prisoner by
the British, and the President had given permission for them to go out
under a flag of truce, to ask for his release. The British commander
finally decided that the prisoner might be set free; but he had no
idea of allowing the two men to go back to the city and carry any
information. "Until the attack on Baltimore is ended, you and your boat
must remain here," he said.
The firing went on. As long as daylight lasted they could catch glimpses
of the Stars and Stripes whenever the wind swayed the clouds of smoke.
When night came they could still see the banner now and then by the
blaze of the cannon. A little after midnight the firing stopped. The two
men paced up and down the deck, straining their eyes to see if the flag
was still flying. "Can the fort have surrendered?" they questioned. "Oh,
if morning would only come!"
At last the faint gray of dawn appeared. They could see that some flag
was flying, but it was too dark to tell which. More and more eagerly
they gazed. It grew lighter, a sudden breath of wind caught the flag,
and it floated out on the breeze. It was no English flag, it was their
own Stars and Stripes. The fort had stood, the city was safe. Then it
was that Key took from his pocket an old letter and on the back of it he
wrote the poem, "The Star-Spangled Banner."
The British departed, and the little American boat went back to the
city. Mr. Key gave a copy of the poem to his uncle, who had been helping
to defend the fort. The uncle sent it to the printer, and had it struck
off on some handbills. Before the ink was dry the printer caught up one
and hurried away to a restaurant, where many patriots were assembled.
Waving the paper, he cried, "Listen to this!" and he read:--
"O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous
O'er the ramparts we watch'd were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does the star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"
"Sing it! sing it!" cried the whole company. Charles Durang mounted a
chair and then for the first time "The Star-Spangled Banner" was sung.
The tune was "To Anacreon in Heaven," an air which had long been a
favorite. Halls, theaters, and private houses rang with its strains.
The fleet was out of sight even before the poem was printed. In the
middle of the night the admiral had sent to the British soldiers this
message, "I can do nothing more," and they hurried on board the vessels.
It was not long before they left Chesapeake Bay altogether,--perhaps
with the new song ringing in their ears as they went.
Next: The Little Drummer-boy
Previous: Betsy Ross And The Flag