HAIL, COLUMBIA!

JOSEPH HOPKINSON

NOTE TO THE PUPIL. — This song was written in 1798, when there was danger of a war with France. It was written to be sung to the music of a piece known as the "President's March," and was first sung for the benefit of a noted actor and received by the audience with the greatest enthusiasm. In a very short time it was sung from Maine to Georgia.

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.
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 gloom obscured Columbia's day,
His steady mind from changes free,
Resolved on death or liberty.

Firm, united, etc.

BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC

JULIA WARD HOWE

NOTE TO THE PUPIL. —Julia Ward was born in New York City in 1819. She belonged to a fashionable circle, but her marriage to Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, of Boston, placed her in a new world. Dr. Howe had enlisted as a volunteer in the cause of Greek independence. He was president of a relief corps in the Polish uprising. He founded the first American institution for the instruction of the blind. He was one of the most active antislavery crusaders. This was the atmosphere into which the fashionable Miss Ward was transferred. She became the eager advocate of the oppressed. Her pen was always busy. The following poem was written at Washington during the Civil War.

MINE eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the

Lord:

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;

He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;

His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling

camps;

They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and

damps,

I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring

lamps;

His day is marching on.

I have read a fiery gospel, writ in burnished rows of steel; "As ye deal with My contemners, so My grace with you shall deal";

Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his

heel, 1

Since God is marching on.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call

retreat;

He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment

seat:

Oh! be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!

Our God is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me : As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,

While God is marching on.

AMERICA

SAMUEL FRANCIS SMITH

1808-1895

NOTE TO THE PUPIL. - Samuel Francis Smith was born in Boston, and graduated from Harvard in 1829 in the same class with Oliver Wendell Holmes who, in his class poem, "The Boys," speaks of him as follows:

And there's a nice youngster of excellent pith,

Fate tried to conceal him by naming him Smith;
But he shouted a song for the brave and the free,
Just read on his medal "My Country of Thee."

Samuel Smith studied theology at Andover Seminary and became a Baptist clergyman. He edited the "Baptist Missionary," was a

prominent contributor to “ Encyclopedia Americana," was professor of modern languages at Waterville College, edited the "Christian Review," and for many years was editor of the publications of the Baptist Missionary Union. He is the author of many well-known songs and hymns, among which are "America," and "The Morning Light is Breaking."

MY country! 'tis of thee,

Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;

Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrim's pride;

From every mountain side,
Let freedom ring.

My native country! thee,
Land of the noble free,

Thy name I love ;

I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.

Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees,
Sweet freedom's song;
Let mortal tongues awake,
Let all that breathe partake,
Let rocks their silence break,

The sound prolong.

Our fathers' God! to thee,
Author of Liberty !

To thee we sing;