Spring on the Tennessee; April--and flowers Bloom on its banks; the anemones white In clusters of stars where the green holly towers O'er bellworts, like butterflies hov'ring in flight. And the ground ivy tips its blue lips to the laurel And covers the banks and the water-swept bars With a background of blue, in which the red sorrel Are stripes where the pale corydalis are stars. Red, white, and blue--it tells its own story-- But, Spring, Who made it and named it Old Glory! JOHN TROTWOOD MOORE. THE FLAG OF THE CUMBERLAND THE Confederate frigate, _Merrimac_, newly arisen from her briny bath in the Norfolk Navy Yards, with her sides new coated in an almost impenetrable mail of iron and rechristened the _Virginia_, steamed slowly down the river May 8th, 1862, to Newport News, where the _Cumberland_, the _Congress_, and the _Minnesota_ of the Union fleet lay at anchor. The crews of the latter vessels were taking life leisurely that day, and were indulging in various pastimes beloved of seamen. The _Merrimac_ as she hove in sight did not look especially belligerent. Indeed she appeared "like a house submerged to the eaves and borne onward by the flood." Notwithstanding her somewhat droll appearance, the _Merrimac_ had herself well in control and was not on a cruise of pleasure bent, as the navies well knew. With steady determination she came on, until within easy distance of the _Congress_, a vessel which gave her greeting with a shot from one of her stern guns, and received in response a shower of grape. Broadsides were then exchanged, resulting in fearful slaughter to the crew of the _Congress_ and damage to the guns. An officer of the _Congress_ was a favorite brother of Captain Buchanan of the _Merrimac_. But such relation effected naught in the exigencies of war. Before the _Congress_ could recover herself, the _Merrimac_ headed for the _Cumberland_. The fires of the Cumberland, as she approached, had no effect upon her armored sides. Into the _Cumberland_ she ran her powerful iron prow, crashing in her timbers and strewing her decks with the maimed, the dead, and dying. Again she turned her attention to the _Congress_, remembering also the frigate _Minnesota_ with her fiery baptisms. Upon the _Congress_ she soon forced a surrender. The _Minnesota_ found refuge in flight. Her work upon the _Cumberland_ was complete. And albeit the vessel had been rammed and was sinking, her men ascended to the spar deck and fought till the waters engulfed them. The last shot was fired from a gun half submerged in the water. As the ship settled to the bottom she careened slightly and then righted herself; and the flag, as if defying the fate that threatened its destruction, still flew above the masthead. [Illustration: AND THE FLAG, AS IF DEFYING THE FATE THAT THREATENED ITS DESTRUCTION, STILL FLEW ABOVE THE MASTHEAD.]