By Mrs. M. J. Preston.



Float aloft, thou stainless banner!
Azure cross and field of light;
Be thy brilliant stars the symbol
Of the pure and true and right.
Shelter freedom's holy cause--
Liberty and sacred laws;
Guard the youngest of the nations--
Keep her virgin honor bright.

From Virginia's storied border,
Down to Tampa's furthest shore--
From the blue Atlantic's clashings
To the Rio Grande's roar--
Over many a crimson plain,
Where our martyred ones lie slain--
Fling abroad thy blessed shelter,
Stream and mount and valley o'er.

In thy cross of heavenly azure
Has our faith its emblem high;
In thy field of white, the hallow'd
Truth for which we'll dare and die;
In thy red, the patriot blood--
Ah! the consecrated flood.
Lift thyself, resistless banner!