Editor:
Re: “Original words stand up,” Letters, July 10.
I commend Ms. Donna Leboe’s patriotism in which she defends our national anthem but she erroneously states that the version of our national anthem which contains the phrase “all thy sons command” is “as it was written.”
Our anthem has gone through many changes through the years and was first written in French in 1880. There was no English version until 1908 when it was rewritten by Stanley Weir and he then used the phrase, “thou dost in us command.” These words were not changed into “in all thy sons command” until 1913.
I applaud Ms. Leboe’s vigour in defending what she sees as an affront to our national anthem but I propose that she needn’t worry herself since our anthem has simply evolved along with its people and those people will remain strong and secure singing an anthem that is all-inclusive and may even change again. This will probably not be a national disaster.
And finally, I am also puzzled by Ms. Leboe’s statement that “in all of us command” sounds “stupid” and “doesn’t even make sense grammatically” because this phrase is simply in the imperative mood and is structurally and grammatically correct.
Michael Storr, Gibsons
