Don't you imagine Mr. Key would have been amazed if he could have had a vision of the years to come, when on parade grounds all over this great land at sunset, every day, troops stand immovable at attention while the emblem of their country is being lowered for the night, and the strains of the music of his poem thrill all who hear it? "The Star-Spangled Banner" was first read by Mr. Key at a meeting of the George Town Glee Club. [Illustration: FRANCIS SCOTT KEY] Francis Scott Key was a nephew of Philip Barton Key, and a vestryman, like his uncle, of Saint John's Church. He was a fine, humanitarian gentleman. In a recent book, called _Father Takes Us to Washington_, he is accused of having treated his dozen slaves in a terrible manner. His great-grandson has just come out with a refutation of such treatment and said that Mr. Key freed all of his slaves before his death in 1843 and that he was one of the founders of the American Colonization Society, which had for its purpose the freedom of the Negroes and their colonization on the West Coast of Africa. Of course, it was in James Monroe's administration that Liberia was founded and its capital named Monrovia. In later life, Francis Scott Key moved to Frederick, Maryland, where he lies buried. The beautiful new bridge, only a stone's throw from his home, bears his name. It replaces the aqueduct bridge which was built about 1880, and before that, there was a bridge which carried the canal across the river to continue on its way to Alexandria. I cannot remember it, but I have been told that, looking across from the Virginia side, it was a very picturesque sight with its long arches reaching above the bridge, carrying its dripping load beneath, and standing against the western sky, the towers of Georgetown College. Chapter VIII _High Street, Prospect Avenue, the College, the Convent, and the Threlkelds_ Up the hill from Bridge (M) Street on the east side of High Street (Wisconsin Avenue), a door or two above where the Farmers and Mechanics Branch of Riggs Bank now stands, was a fine old house where the Potomac Fire Insurance Company had its first home. But long before that, it was the home of Mrs. Caperton, whose son, Hugh Caperton, became a well-known lawyer here. At the present 1239 Wisconsin Avenue, where Becker's Paint Store has been for a good many years, was the house which Robert Peter gave to his eldest daughter, Elizabeth, when, at the age of sixteen, she married her cousin, James Dunlop, in 1787. This old letter gives some news about the wedding. It is addressed to: John Davidson, Esq., Merchant, Annapolis: George Town August 17th, 1787 Dear Sir: Without any ceremony or preamble I have undertaken to enclose you the measure for a pair of Stays, not that I suppose that you are to make them, but that you may undertake to engage Mrs. Davidson's interest to undertake the direction of them.