fire until daylight enabled him to take possession.

The long hours were nearly unbearable. Key had seen the fate of
Washington, and anticipated the fate of Baltimore.

At seven the suspense was unrelaxed. The firing from the fleet
ceased. The large ships loomed indistinct and silent in the
mist. To the west lay the silent fort, the white vapor heavy
upon it. With eager eyes Key watched the distant shore, till in
a rift over the fort he dimly discerned the flag still proudly
defiant. In that supreme moment was written "The Star-Spangled
Banner."

The British ships slowly dropped down to North Point. Dr. Beanes
went home to Upper Marlborough, very thankful as he saw the
yard-arm of the Surprise melt out of sight, unburdened.

Of all national airs, it breathes the purest patriotism. Those
of England, Russia, and Austria are based upon a sentimental
loyalty long outgrown by this agrarian and practical age. The
"Marseillaise" is a stirring call to arms, and upholds only the
worst--the passionate military--side of a nation's character.
"The Star-Spangled Banner," while it is animated, patriotic,
defiant, neither cringes nor boasts; it is as national in its
spirit as it is adequate in the expression of that spirit.
Believing, then, that Key's poem will be the national air of
succeeding generations of Americans, the facsimile of the
original draft is here reproduced by the kindness of Mrs. Edward
Shippen, a granddaughter of that Judge Nicholson who took the
first copy of the poem to the "American" office, and had it set