The history of this banner is all on one side. Under it rode Washington and his armies; before it Burgoyne laid down his arms. It waved on the highlands at West Point; it floated over old Fort Montgomery. When Arnold would have surrendered 5 these valuable fortresses and precious legacies, his night was turned into day, and his treachery was driven away by the beams of light from this starry banner. It cheered our army, driven from New York, in their solitary pilgrimage through New Jersey. It streamed in light over 10 Valley Forge and Morristown. It crossed the waters rolling with ice at Trenton; and when its stars gleamed in the cold morning with victory, a new day of hope dawned on the despondency of the nation. And when, at length, the long years of war were drawing to a close, underneath the folds of this immortal ban15 ner sat Washington while Yorktown surrendered its hosts, and our Revolutionary struggles ended with victory. Let us then twine each thread of the glorious tissue of our country's flag about our heartstrings; and looking upon our homes and catching the spirit that breathes upon us from the 20 battlefields of our fathers, let us resolve, come weal or woe, we will, in life and in death, now and forever, stand by the Stars and Stripes. They have been unfurled from the snows of Canada to the plains of New Orleans, in the halls of the Montezumas and amid the solitude of every sea; and everywhere, as 25 the luminous symbol of resistless and beneficent power, they have led the brave to victory and to glory. They have floated over our cradles; let it be our prayer and our struggle that they shall float over our graves. NOTES AND QUESTIONS Biography. Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) was a native of Conaecticut and a son of the famous Lyman Beecher. He was a graduate of Amherst College and of Lane Theological Seminary. For forty years Beecher was the pastor of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, discussing from the pulpit the important problems of the time and championing the rights of men everywhere, particularly the rights of the oppressed. His lectures and sermons breathed a spirit of intense patriotism. Discussion. 1. What may be seen in a nation's flag by a thoughtful mind? 2. Of what is the American flag a symbol? 3. What are the stars of the flag compared to? The stripes? 4. What do people see in the "sacred emblazonry" of the flag? 5. Tell something of the history of this banner. 6. What does it mean to "stand by the stars and stripes"? 7. Do you think the men who fought for us in the World War lived up to the ideals given to us in this poem? 8. Did our flag mean the same thing in the World War that the author, in the third paragraph, says it means? 9. In the second paragraph the author speaks of the Hungarian flag; find out all you can about Hungarian liberty resulting from the World War. 10. Find in the Glossary the meaning of: symbol; tricolor; emblazonry; luminous. 11. Pronounce: insignia; rampant. Class Reading. Bring to class and read "The Stars in Our Flag," Clary (in St. Nicholas, July, 1918). Sea fights and land fights, grim and great, Cheers of victory on dying lips; Days of plenty and years of peace; Stately honor and reverend awe; Sign of a nation great and strong Hats off! Along the street there comes 15 A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums; The flag is passing by! NOTES AND QUESTIONS Biography. Henry Holcomb Bennett (1863- ), an American journalist and magazine writer, was born in Chillicothe, Ohio. He has been a frequent contributor to The Youth's Companion, and to the New York Independent. "The Flag Goes By" is his most popular poem. Discussion. 1. What feeling inspires the cry "Hats off!"? 2. What does the poet mean by "more than a flag is passing"? Compare with Beecher's expression of the same thought. 3. Name historical events that illustrate the different references in the third stanza. 4. How many of the things mentioned by the poet do you see when the flag goes by? 5. Do you think the poem will help you to see more? 6. How did the flag "ward her people from foreign wrong" in the World War? Phrases for Study steel-tipped, ordered lines, 462, 8 strong land's swift increase, 463, 6 equal justice, 463, 7 THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES What flower is this that greets the morn, 5 O tell us what its name may be- It is the banner of the free, In savage Nature's far abode 10 Its tender seed our fathers sowed; 15 The storm-winds rocked its swelling bud; The full-blown Flower of Liberty! Then hail the banner of the free, Behold its streaming rays unite, One mingling flood of braided light- The sister Stars of Liberty! Then hail the banner of the free, 25 The blades of heroes fence it round; It makes the land as ocean free, 5 Thy sacred leaves, fair Freedom's flower, Then hail the banner of the free, NOTES AND QUESTIONS For Biography see page 432. Discussion. 1. What line in the first stanza answers the question with which the poem opens? 2. Explain the metaphor of the "burning star" and the "flaming band," etc. 3. How many "burning stars" does our flag contain? How many "flaming bands"? 4. How far back in history must we go to find the seed time of the Flower of Liberty? 5. Did the Flower of Liberty come to full bloom in a time of strife or a time of peace? 6. What were the "storm-winds"? What blood streaked the opening leaves of the Flower of Liberty? 7. How does the poet show that the North and South unite as one in the flag? 8. How did the American army in the World War show that all parts of our country are equally devoted to the flag? 9. How do the "blades of heroes fence" the flag? 10. Why is the Flower of Liberty thrice holy? 11. Find in the Glossary the meaning of: flaming; dome; sentry; blackening. Phrases for Study sunset land, 464, 4 blades of heroes, 464, 25 savage Nature's, 464, 9 plants an empire, 465, 2 |