It cheered our army,
driven from New York, in their solitary pilgrimage through New Jersey.
It streamed in light over Valley Forge and Morristown. It crossed the
waters rolling with ice at Trenton; and when its stars gleamed in the
cold morning with victory, a new day of hope dawned on the despondency
of the nation. And when, at length, the long years of war were drawing
to a close, underneath the folds of this immortal banner sat Washington
while Yorktown surrendered its hosts and our Revolutionary struggles
ended with victory.
Let us, then, twine each thread of the glorious tissue of our country's
flag about our heartstrings; and looking upon our homes and catching the
spirit that breathes upon us from the battle-fields of our fathers, let
us resolve, come weal or woe, we will, in life and in death, now and
forever, stand by the Stars and Stripes. They have been unfurled from
the snows of Canada to the plains of New Orleans, in the halls of the
Montezumas and amid the solitude of every sea; and everywhere, as the
luminous symbol of resistless and beneficent power, they have led the
brave to victory and to glory.
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