TO JOHN ERNST WORRELL KEELY.
“Palmam qui meruit ferat.”
Prized secret of aerial space
Is thine! Not firmly caught
Without long years of patient toil—
Of more than giant thought.
Unfaltering thy steadfast faith,
In all its wise control,
’Mid insults, taunts and sneers, enough
To crush the bravest soul.
Such the ordeal on the paths
Of Stephenson, Daguerre,
Of Fulton, Goodyear, Morse, to which
They gave no heed nor care.
Like them still fearless thou hast toiled
With heart and will intense,
Until discovery now brings
Its grandest recompense.
Displaced all powers known, before
This force of latest birth;
So great no mind can comprehend—
No being born of earth.
We hail thee, revolutionist
From every point of view;
For from the marvels thou hast wrought
Science must start anew.
Longed-for-attainment now is grasped,
Thy cherished hopes to bless;
And near at hand stands thy reward
In laurel crowned success!
Anonymous, in Cincinnati Illustrated News.