Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom's song;
Let mortal tongues awake,
Let all that breathe partake,
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.
Our fathers' God, to Thee,
Author of Liberty,
To Thee we sing;
Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light,--
Protect us by thy might,
Great God, our King.
III. THE BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC
"No single influence," says United States Senator George F. Hoar
of Massachusetts, "has had so much to do with shaping the destiny
of a nation--as nothing more surely expresses national character
--than what is known as the national anthem."
There is some difference of opinion as to which of our patriotic
hymns or songs is distinctively the national anthem of America.
Senator Hoar seems to have made up his mind in favor of "The
Battle Hymn of the Republic." Writing of its author, Julia Ward
Howe, in 1903, he said: "We waited eighty years for our American
national anthem. At last God inspired an illustrious and noble
woman to utter in undying verse the thought which we hope is
forever to animate the soldier of the republic:--
"'In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me;
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.
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