Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: I A REPUBLIC. Centuries had roll'd by, Empires arose unnumber'd, People for republic did sigh, While in chains they slumber'd. They had waited for it long, While in fetters they were bound, At last resolv'd to right the wrong, A republic to found. Twas on Columbia's shore, That freedom first awoke, 'Twas heard in the cannon's roar, When the tyrant they smote. The roll-call sounded at Bunker Hill, The patriot! did rejoice, The colonial heart did thrill, 'Twas freedom's stern voice. 'Twas not for fame, renown, They met the enemy on battle field, Until Britain's flag went down, To patriot arms did yield. The colonial heart did glow, When victory they had won, From a haughty, tyrant foe, By the immortal Washington. This freedom our sires won, 'Twas wrested from Britain's grasp, Here a republic broad was laid, That shall for ages last. THE FLAG. On Columbia's far shore, A banner was waving, Where cannons did roar, Aloft it was streaming. For liberty it wav'd, For it heroes contending, Amid conflict it gleam'd, O'er the dead, the dying. Riven, tatter'd and torn, O'er battle fields streaming, Onward 'twas borne. Brave sons it defending. Borne upward and onward, 'Till the foe vanquish'd, yielding, Washington had conquer'd, The enemy surrend'ring. Patriots beheld with delight Their flag proudly waving, O'er the victory for right, While Brittons lay trailing. Our sires their freedom won, From the tyrant foe wresting, Gave to America its boon, A republic creating. This emblem of freedom, O'er a nation waving, Upheld by brave freemen, In battle never trailing. This bright starry banner, A union of States symbolizing, To all despots a terror, The world, i...