Thus the national anthem was played at the hour of the formal surrender of Japan on the Missouri and also when General MacArthur set up power in Tokio, “and the same historic flag was flown on both occasions.” _The Star-Spangled Banner_ always has a special appeal when it is rendered in the presence of the Stars and Stripes. Our national anthem had gone with the nation from peace to war and from war to peace. Kipling’s “Recessional” “Perhaps the greatest single production of Rudyard Kipling’s pen,” remarked Nutter and Tillett concerning “The Recessional.” It is a hymn of majestic greatness, and one can easily imagine the deep impression it must have made when heard in Westminster Abbey on the day when the body of the brilliant author was placed in that historic shrine. The honor of being buried there, with the great of the nation, was well deserved. “The Recessional” was published in the _London Times_, July 17, 1897; and it was written in celebration of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. The very next year it appeared in a hymnal published by the American Baptist Publication Society. Since then it has appeared in many hymnals, and has frequently been sung on great patriotic occasions. Fortunately the author has told us how the hymn came to be written. Said he: “That poem gave me more trouble than anything I ever wrote. I had promised the _Times_ a poem on the Jubilee; and when it became due, I had written nothing that had satisfied me. The _Times_ began to want that poem badly and sent letter after letter asking for it. I made many more attempts but no further progress. Finally the _Times_ began sending telegrams. So I shut myself in a room with the determination to stay there until I had written a Jubilee poem. Sitting down with all my previous attempts before me, I searched through those dozens of sketches till at last I found one line I liked. That was ‘Lest We Forget.’ Round these words ‘the Recessional’ was written.” A majestic strain pervades the hymn. Its deep solemnity reminds one of some of the language of the Old Testament prophet. One thrills when he hears the lines: “God of our fathers, known of old, Lord of our far-flung battle line, Beneath whose awful hand we hold Dominion over palm and pine: Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget, lest we forget! “The tumult and the shouting dies; The captains and the kings depart; Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice, A broken and a contrite heart: Lord God of hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget, lest we forget.” It is interesting to read what Kipling’s cousin, Miss Florence Macdonald, wrote for _The Methodist Recorder_, London, following Kipling’s death. She said that she had a letter that Kipling wrote to her father after “The Recessional” was published. He there said: