Produced by K. Nordquist, Pat A. Benoy and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)









              Flag of The Free

[Illustration]

                  O Shine!
         Last Lingering Star of Hope
                     of
               All Humanity!


       *       *       *       *       *


                     To
      The Honorable JAMES ROLPH, JR.,
           Mayor of San Francisco
          For His True Patriotism
    In Donating and Personally Presenting
                A Silken Flag
                     To
                Company "A,"
     Ninth California Colored Volunteers
    As a Token of Esteem and Loyalty of
        His Colored Fellow Citizens.


            Copyright, 1917, by
      THE LINCOLN ART PUBLISHING CO.
            All Rights Reserved.




              Flag of The Free

       *       *       *       *       *


  Flag of the free, our sable sires
    Have borne thee oft before
  Into hot battles' hell-lit fires,
    Against the fiercest foe.
  When first he shook his shaggy mein,
    And made the welkin ring,
  Brave Attucks fell upon the Plain,
    Thy stripes first crimsoning!

  Thy might and majesty we hurl,
    Against the bolts of Mars;
  And from thy ample folds unfurl
    Thy field of flaming stars!
  Fond hope to nations in distress,
    Thy starry gleam shall give;
  The stricken in the wilderness
    Shall look to thee and live.

  What matter if where Boreas roars,
    Or where sweet zephyr smiles?
  What matter if where eagle soars,
    Or in the sunlit isles?
  Thy flowing crimson stripes shall wave
   Above the bluish brine;
  Emblazoned ensign of the brave,
    And Liberty enshrine!

  Flag of the free, still float on high
    Through every age to come;
  Bright beacon of the azure sky,
    True light of Freedom's dome.
  'Till nations all shall cease to grope
    In vain for liberty--
  O shine, last lingering star of hope
    Of all humanity!

--EDWARD SMYTH JONES.

       *       *       *       *       *


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|                                                              |
| Transcriber's note: The word 'mein' in the fifth line of the |
| poem may represent an archaic spelling of the word mien. It  |
| has been left as printed in the original.                    |
|                                                              |
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