Purple Mountain Majesties. The story of Katharine Lee Bates and "America The Beautiful" by Barbara Younger.

      This morning we sang America The Beautiful in church. This song takes me back several years to the first time I read this book to my student.

      It's the story of Katherine Lee Bates' 1893 train trip across the United States. She was an English professor at Wellsley College, on her way to teach a college course in Colorado Springs. She kept a journal, later writing a poem about what she saw. This poem was originally called Pikes Peak, published in 1895. In 1910 it was put to music and became the song America the Beautiful, music by Samuel Ward. I love the drawings in this book, beautiful colors. 

     Read this book to your child. You will appreciate the beauty of our country, the beauty of the story, and you both will love the time spent together.

     Since reading this book that first time, America The Beautiful has become my favorite patriotic song. I pray that God will continue to "shed His grace on thee."

     I get verklempt...

     Talk amoungst yourselves...