of our stage. I should have told you that the horse under my arm was very spirited, and not above four years old; in making my second spring over the hedge he expressed great dislike to that kind of motion by kicking and snorting; however, I confined his hind legs by putting them into my coat pocket. After we arrived at the inn my postilion and I refreshed ourselves. He hung his horn on a peg near the kitchen fire; I sat on the other side. Suddenly we heard a tereng! tereng! teng! teng! We looked round, and now found the reason why the postilion had not been able to sound his horn; his tunes were frozen up in the horn, and came out now by thawing, plain enough, and much to the credit of the driver; so that the honest fellow, without putting his mouth to the horn, entertained us for some time with a variety of tunes-The King of Prussia's March, Over the Hill and Over the Dale, with many other favorite tunes. At length the thawing entertainment concluded, as I shall this short account of my Russian travels. QUESTIONS FOR STUDY (a) Page 132.- What does the Baron mean by the moon's horns? (b) Page 133. What is the point of this story? (c) Page 133.- How many feet would this be? Which of the Baron's adventures is the most startling? Is any one of them possible of belief? Can you see any possible motive in these extravagant tales other than to amuse and entertain? Could they be a satire upon or a rebuke to any class of people? THE AMERICAN FLAG I When Freedom, from her mountain height, Unfurled her standard to the air, She tore the azure robe of night, And set the stars of glory there! 5 She mingled with its gorgeous dyes The milky baldric1 of the skies, And striped its pure, celestial white With streakings of the morning light; Then, from his mansion in the sun, 1 1 Baldric, belt; Milky Baldric, the "Milky Way." 10 She called her eagle bearer down, And gave into his mighty hand The symbol of her chosen land! II Majestic monarch of the cloud! Who rear'st aloft thy regal form, 15 To hear the tempest trumping loud, And see the lightning lances driven, When strive the warriors of the storm, And rolls the thunder drum of heaven, Child of the Sun! to thee 'tis given 20 To guard the banner of the free, To hover in the sulphur smoke, To ward away the battle stroke, And bid its blendings shine afar, Like rainbows on the cloud of war, 25 The harbingers of victory! III Flag of the brave! thy folds shall fly, 30 Ere yet the lifeblood, warm and wet, Like shoots of flame on midnight's pall, 40 Then shall thy meteor glances glow, And cowering foes shall shrink beneath Each gallant arm that strikes below That lovely messenger of death. IV Flag of the seas! on ocean wave 50 Each dying wanderer of the sea Shall look at once to heaven and thee, Flag of the free heart's hope and home, 55 By angel hands to valor given! Thy stars have lit the welkin 1 dome, Where breathes the foe but falls before us? 60 With Freedom's soil beneath our feet, And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us! JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE. QUESTIONS. FOR STUDY What does the author tell in the first stanza? flag? colors? Line 13. "Majestic monarch of the cloud" means the American Eagle; why is he so called? By what other name is he called? What is the meaning of lines 19-25? What is the flag described as doing in the third stanza? In the fifth? The poet uses many "figures of speech" in this poem. For example, he speaks of Freedom as if it were a person. He says "She tore the azure robe 1 Welkin, the sky. |