In the afternoon the ship's company assembled aft, on deck, under the awnings; the flute, the asthmatic meodeon, and the consumptive clarinet crippled the Star Spangled Banner, the choir chased it to cover, and George came in with a peculiarly lacerating screech on the final note and slaughtered it. Nobody mourned. We carried out the corpse on three cheers (that joke was not intentional and I do not endorse it). Mark Twain
About This Quote

The final line of the poem is a reference to the Star Spangled Banner. The poem was written by Francis Scott Key and published in the newspaper, The National Intelligencer on September 11, 1814. The poem was set to music by John Stafford Smith, and became the United States National Anthem during the War of 1812.

Source: The Innocents Abroad

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