blood-stains on the flooring,
all vanished as had the specters; only upon the king's slipper a crimson
stain endured, which must have served him as a reminder of the night's
strange happenings, had they not been too indelibly impressed upon his
memory ever to be effaced.

Regaining his study, the king ordered the foregoing narrative set forth in
a written statement, which he signed, as did also the three attendants who
had witnessed the apparition with him.

Every precaution was taken to prevent the contents of the document from
becoming public, but the marvel was none the less divulged in some unknown
manner, and that during the lifetime of Charles XI. The document is still
in existence, and its authenticity has remained undisputed. Its closing
sentences are remarkable.

"And if that which I have narrated," says the king, "be not the exact
truth, I renounce all hope of that better life which I have perchance
merited by some good deeds, and above all by my zeal for the welfare of my
people and the defense of the religion of my ancestors."

* * * * *

If one recalls the circumstances attendant upon the death of Gustavus III,
and the manner of judgment passed upon his assassin, Ankerstroem, one
cannot fail to note the analogy between these and the occurrences detailed
in the singular prophecy.

Ankerstroem figures as the youth beheaded in the presence of the assembled
Estates, the crowned and bleeding cadaver represents his victim Gustavus
III, the child, his son and successor Gustavus Adolphus IV. And finally,
in the aged administrator, one recognizes the Duke of Sudermania, the
uncle of Gustavus Adolphus IV, who was first appointed regent, and
ultimately attained to the kingship, after the dethronement of his
nephew.

OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM.

The Story of How Its Author Received His Inspiration, Where
He Wrote the Famous Poem, and How Various
Editors Have Altered Its Phraseology.

Francis Scott Key wrote only one poem that entitled him to a lasting
reputation, but so firmly has that one poem gripped the patriotic
consciousness of the American people that its fame is assured as long as
the nation continues.

Key was born in Maryland, August 9, 1780. He practised law at Frederick,
Maryland, in 1801, but he subsequently removed to Washington, where he
became district attorney for the District of Columbia.

When the British ascended Chesapeake Bay, in 1814, and captured