Page:Handbook for Boys.djvu/352

Rh given to it by the army and navy. It is played on all state occasions at home or abroad and is the response of our bands at all international gatherings. In the theatre, at a public meeting, or at a banquet—whenever it is played, the people rise and remain standing to the end as a tribute to the flag of our country.

The poem itself is descriptive of what the author saw and felt on the 'night of September 13, 1814, as he watched the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British during the War of 1812. The city of Washington had been sacked, bombarded, and burned by the British, and now in their march of destruction, they were bombarding the fort to gain entrance to Baltimore's harbor, in which city they had purposed to spend the winter. We can well imagine the joy of Key's heart, the son of a Revolutionary patriot, held in custody on a British battle-ship, to see in the morning "that our flag was still there," and to know, therefore, that there was still hope for our country.

The Birth of New States

The history of the fifty-six years between 1789 and 1845 is marked by the development of new states formed out of the territorial settlement of the wilderness. The people of our country have always been pioneering, going ahead of civilization, so to speak, but always taking it with them. Scouts they have been in every sense of the word. Following the rivers, clearing the forests, fording the streams, braving the dangers, living the wild life—brave men and women!

The first state to come into the Union of the thirteen original states was Vermont, the "Green Mountain" state (1791); next came Kentucky (1792), the "Blue Grass" state, the home of Daniel Boone, the great hunter and pioneer. Four years later, (1796) came Tennessee, the "Volunteer" state, receiving this name because of its large number of volunteer soldiers for the Seminole war and the War of 1812; next comes Ohio (1803), the "Buckeye," so called because of the large number of buckeye trees, the nut of which bears some resemblance to a buck's eye. This is the first state to be formed out of the public domain, known at this time as the "Northwest Territory." The land ordinance bill of 1785 and the homestead act of 1862