In the beginning of our history, many noble words were spoken and written and sung, and this is the story of how some of them became a part of our history, part of our American heritage, so that we give them today our full heart and voice. The man who wrote them was as American as his birthplace, Frederick County, Maryland, and he was young in the days when America was young. He and his country would grow sixty three years older together, but when those years had passed, his words would live on.