1 Great God of nations, now to Thee Our hymn of gratitude we raise;

With humble heart and bending knee, We offer Thee our song of praise. A - men.

1 God of our fa-thers, Who didst guide, O'er path-less seas and 2 In perils of the land and sea, Our fathers were up

To these fair shores, Thy servants' way, To Thee our debt of praise we pay. A - men. And ev ery pass-ing year has brought Its tokens of Thy loving thought.

10

23 6-4

Samuel Arnold

say can you see, by the dawn's ear-ly light, What so proudly we

hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming, Whose stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous

fight, O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallant-ly streaming; And the rocket's red

Dib

glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there!

2 On the shore, dimly seen thro' the mist 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, half conceals, half discloses ?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines in the stream.
"Tis the star-spangled banner, etc.

3 And where is that band, who so vauntingly swore,
'Mid the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,

A home and a country they'd leave us no more?

Their blood has washed out their foul footstep's pollution;
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner, etc.

4 0, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,

Between their loved home and the war's desolation,
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heaven rescued land,
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto, "In God is our trust,"
And the star-spangled banner, etc.

5 When our land is illumed with liberty's smile,
If a foe from within strike a blow at her glory,
Down, down with the traitor, that dares to defile
The flag of her stars and the page of her story!
By the millions unchained who our birthright have gained,
We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained!

And the star-spangled-banner, etc.

Francis Scott Key, 1814 Oliver Wendell Holmes, v. 5, 1861