ST. GEORGE TUCKER

RESIGNATION, OR, DAYS OF MY YOUTH

I

Days of my youth,

Ye have glided away;

Hairs of my youth,

Ye are frosted and gray;

Eyes of my youth,

Your keen sight is no more;
Cheeks of my youth,

Ye are furrowed all o'er;
Strength of my youth,

All your vigor is gone;
Thoughts of my youth,
Your gay visions are flown.

II

Days of my youth,

I wish not your recall;

Hairs of my youth,

I'm content ye should fall;

Eyes of my youth,

You much evil have seen; Cheeks of my youth,

Bathed in tears have you been;

Thoughts of my youth,

You have led me astray;

Strength of my youth,

Why lament your decay?

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III

Days of my age,

Ye will shortly be past; Pains of my age,

Yet a while ye can last; Joys of my age,

In true wisdom delight; Eyes of my age,

Be religion your light; Thoughts of my age,

Dread ye not the cold sod;

Hopes of my age,

Be

ye

fixed on your God.

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FRANCIS SCOTT KEY

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER

O say can you see by the dawn's early light

What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last

gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight

O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket's red glare, the bomb bursting in

air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still

there;

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep, Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence

reposes,

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What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep, As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses ? Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,

In full glory reflected now shines on the stream; 'Tis the star-spangled banner- O long may it wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's
pollution.

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No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand

Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation! Blest with vict'ry and peace may the heav'n rescued land

Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation!

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto-"In God is our trust,"

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And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

EDWARD COATE PINKNEY

A HEALTH

I fill this cup to one made up
Of loveliness alone,

A woman, of her gentle sex
The seeming paragon;
To whom the better elements
And kindly stars have given
A form so fair, that, like the air,
'Tis less of earth than heaven.

Her every tone is music's own,
Like those of morning birds,
And something more than melody
Dwells ever in her words;
The coinage of her heart are they,
And from her lips each flows
As one may see the burdened bee
Forth issue from the rose.

Affections are as thoughts to her,
The measures of her hours;

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