Chorus.--Cheer up Jinny! come in to tea,

The peach tree's blooming, chitter litter, lee;

Chitter litter, chitter litter, lee-lec-lee,

Peach orchard, ree-ree-ree."

Almost without a single exception, in every song sung at Mount Vernon in the olden time, some appropriate allusion was made to the American flag; its history and symbolic significations were recorded in every brain; and it was considered a shame for any servant to grow up to the age of seven years without a knowledge of the history of the great Chief and his flag.

O that we could write its history; that we could record it in every brain; that we could stereotype it on every heart; that we could engrave it on the eternal flint of words to live forever; for we know that while those monuments which pierce the skies in honor of the great Chief shall endure, his flag will never lose a star; and though one or more may suffer obscuration for a season, yet the cloudy veil will soon be torn asunder, and every star shall shine again in all its pride and glory, till the eventful journal of time shall be read up to its conclusion.

"In March, 1775," says the American Encyclopædia, “a union flag with a red field, was hoisted upon the liberty pole in New York, with the inscription, 'George Rex, and the Liberties of America.' The Connecticut troops bore upon their standards and drums, the arms of the colony, with the motto, Qui transtulit sustinet; and by act of the provincial congress, the standard of each regiment was distinguished by its color, as for the seventh, blue; for the eighth, orange, &c. The flag displayed by General Putnam, on Prospect Hill, near Boston, July 18, 1775, was red, in token of defiance, and bore on one side the motto of Connecticut, and on the other the words: 'An appeal to Heaven,' which were adopted by a resolution of the provincial congress of Massachusetts, April 29, 1776, as the motto to be borne on the flag of the cruisers of that colony-a white flag with a green pine tree. The first American flag unfurled in South Carolina, a blue ground with a white crescent in the dexter corner, was designed by Col. Moultrie, at the request of the council of safety, and was carried at the taking of Fort Johnston, September 13, 1775. By a letter of Col. Joseph Reed, October 20, 1775, it

appears that the flag of the floating batteries was similar to that of the Massachusetts cruisers. The standard of the first American fleet was hoisted at Philadelphia, December 22, 1775, by Paul Jones, with his own hands, as Commodore Ezekiel Hopkins embarked on board his flag ship, the Alfred; it represented a rattle snake on a yellow field, with the motto: 'Don't tread on me'-a device suggested probably by the head pieces of many of the newspapers in the revolutionary interest, in which a disjointed snake divided into thirteen parts, with the motto: 'Join or die,' was employed to typify the necessity of union. When this result had been accomplished, the device was changed into a united snake, or into a rattle-snake about to strike. The fleet did not sail from the Delaware capes until February 17, 1776, when it carried the flag known as the 'Great Union,' which was first displayed by Washington upon the heights before Boston, upon assuming the command of the newly organized army of the colonies, January 1, 1776, and which consisted of the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew, on a blue ground in the upper corner, with a field composed of alternate horizontal stripes of red and white, to indicate the union of the colonies for the maintenance of their rights within the empire of Great Britain. The combination of these two colors was probably suggested by the red flag of the army and the white one of the navy, previously in use, and the form of stripes by the order of Washington that officers of different grades should wear stripes of different colors to prevent mistakes, and to enable 'both officers and men to make themselves acquainted with the persons of all officers in general command.' The emblems of British union having become inappropriate after the declaration of independence, it was ordered by Congress, June 14, 1777, 'that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.' It is not known precisely to whom is due the credit of suggesting the stars for the Union. The idea is supposed to have emanated from John Adams, who was then chairman of the board of war; and it has also been urged with considerable plausibility, that the stars and stripes of the national standard were borrowed from the coat of arms of the Washington family, the shield of which presents a white or silver field traversed by two red bars, with three spur rowels or stars in the

upper portion. The resolution of June 14, was not made public until September 3, 1777, and the stars and stripes first figured conspicuously at the surrender of Burgoyne in the succeeding month; in December of the same year they were carried to Europe by Paul Jones in his ship, the Ranger."

The thirteen stars and stripes remained on the flag until April 4, 1818, when Congress passed an act providing that a new star shall be added on the fourth of July next succeeding the admission of any new state into the Union-and so may the stars continue to increase until "this whole boundless continent is ours."

"Washington's Life Guard was formed in 1776, soon after the siege of Boston, while the American army was encamped in York, or Manhattan Island, near the city of New York. Caleb Gibbs, of Rhode Island, was its first chief, and bore the title of Captain Lieutenant. He held that office until the close of 1779, when he was succeeded by William Colfax, one of his Lieutenants. Gibbs's lieutenants were Henry P. Livingston, of New York, William Colfax, of New Jersey, and Benjamin Grymes, of Virginia.

"During the maritime war with France," says Mr. Custis, of Arlington, "the armed merchantmen that sailed from Alexandria would salute on passing Mount Vernon. On the report of the gun, the General would leave his library, and taking a position in the portico that fronts the river, remain there uncovered, till the firing ceased. And yet another salute awakened the echoes around the shores of Mount Vernon; another act of homage was paid to the retired Chief; and this was the homage of the heart, for it was paid by an old companion-in-arms, while its echoes called up the memories of the past. A small vessel would be seen to skim along the bosom of the Potomac. Nearing the shore the little craft furled her sails, let go her anchor, and discharged a small piece of ordnance; then a boat put off and pulled to the shore, and soon a messenger appeared, bearing a fine rock or drum fish, with the compliments of Benjamin Grymes, who resided some fifty miles down the river, and who was a gallant officer of the Life-Guard in the war of the Revolution."

Mr. Custis became the owner of the flag of the Life-Guard. "The flag is of white silk, on which the device is neatly painted. One of the guard is seen holding a horse, and in the act of receiving a flag from the Genius of Liberty, who is personified as a woman leaning

on the union shield, near which is the American eagle. The motto of the corps, 'conquer or die,' is upon a ribbon. The uniform of the guard consisted of a blue coat with white facings, white waistcoat and breeches, black half gaiters, and a cocked hat with blue and white feathers. They carried muskets and occasionally small arms."

At the assault on Spring Hill redoubt, siege of Savannah, 9th October, 1779, "terrible was the conflict at this point just as the day dawned. The French column led to the assault, were confronted by a blaze of musketry from the redoubt, and by a cross-fire from the adjoining batteries. Whole ranks were mowed down like grass be fore the scythe. The American standards were those of the second South Carolina regiment, embroidered and sent to them by Mrs. Susanna Elliott, three days after the battle of Fort Moultrie in 1776, and were planted by Lieutenants Hume and Bush. The French standard was raised by one of D'Estaing's aides, who, with Hume and Bush, soon fell mortally wounded, leaving their colors fluttering in the breeze. Lieutenant Gray, of the South Carolina regiment, seeing his associates fall, seized the standards and kept them erect, when he too was prostrated by a bullet. Serjeant Jasper sprang forward, secured the colors, and had just fastened them upon the parapet, when a rifle ball pierced him, and he fell into the ditch. Just before he died he said to Major Horry, "Tell Mrs. Elliott I lost my life supporting the colors she presented to our regiment.'"

On the third day after the battle of Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island, in 1776, Mrs. Elliott presented the flag above referred to, to the second South Carolina regiment, commanded by Col. Moultrie. On the authority of the United States Gazette for February, 1779, it is stated that Col. Moultrie in his speech receiving the flag, said to his men, "my gallant companions! you see the advantage of courage and fortitude-you have fought and have conquered, and the brave fellows who fell in the cannonade of yesterday, are now in heaven riding in their chariots like the devil."

Ever on the alert, and behind in nothing, the city of Boston, side by side with New York, and her noble Yankee boys fast falling into line, began to arm for the contest, and sing her war songs during the French troubles of '98.

The following was the patriotic song of Boston, to the tune of "To Anacreon in Heaven," an old English Bacchanalian song, dating back to about the year 1795.

"Ye sons of Columbia, who bravely have fought

For those rights, which unstained from your sires had descended, May you long taste the blessings your valor has bought,

And your sons reap the soil which your fathers defended;
'Mid the reign of mild peace, may your nation increase
With the glory of Rome, and the wisdom of Greece;
And ne'er may the sons of Columbia be slaves,
While the earth bears a plant or the sea rolls in waves.

"Should the tempest of war overshadow our land,

Its bolts could ne'er rend freedom's temple asunder,
For, unmoved at its portal, would Washingtou stand,
And repulse with his breast the assaults of the thunder!
His sword from the sleep of its scabbard would leap,
And conduct with its point, every flash to the deep."

Two stanzas will suffice. This song, written by a Boston poet in '98, has the honor of the first patriotic American "Anacreon" on record in the United States. England had many songs which she sung to the same air, but they were all of a bacchanalian character; and America enjoyed the honor of first wresting the beautiful air "To Anacreon in Heaven," from English bacchanalians, while Washington yet lived, and threw it to the wings of the breeze to convey the noble sentiments of American Liberty to every American heart.

And Pennsylvania, never behind-not even New York and Boston-in her country's trials in '98, began to sing in Philadelphia, the second patriotic Anacreon on record in the United States. A verse or two:

"Ye sons of Columbia, determined to keep

Those choice blessings and rights, that for years have descended From the battles and blood of your sires-who now sleep,

And who gained by the sword, what with life they defended: Swear and shout in the song, in a strain loud and long,

Until heaven, like earth, shall its echoes prolong

That ne'er shall Columbia be robbed of a right,

While the sun rules the day, or the moon rules the night.