SCOUTING FOR GIRLS 
73 
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering 
steep, 
As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now dis- 
closes ? 
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; Oh, long may it 
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 loved homes and the war’s deso- 
lation 
Blessed with victory 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” ; 
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall 
wave 
O’er the land of the free, and the home of the 
brave. 
— Francis Scott Key , 1814. 
The Star Spangled Banner was written in 1814 by 
Francis Scott Key at the time of the bombardment of 
Fort McHenry, near Baltimore, by the British. Key 
had been sent to the British squadron to negotiate the 
release of an American prisoner-of-war, and was de- 
tained there by the British during the engagement for 
fear he might reveal their plans. The bombardment 
lasted all through the night. In his joy the following 
morning at seeing the American flag still flying over 
Fort McHenry, Key wrote the first stanza of the Star 
