The Electric Telegraph.
Most wondrous specimen of art,
With Nature’s laws combined,
Thou actest an enchanter’s part,
Unrivalled in its kind.
United, at a moment’s date
Two distant spots we see;
Whilst time and space, annihilate,
Are set at nought by thee.
The fabled wonders, which of old
Our childhood loved to read,
Have scarcely equal wonders told,
To match thy light’ning speed.
The waive of the magician’s wand
Bade distant scenes appear;—
Whilst far off lands, at thy command,
Obediently hear.
O’er miles and miles the message flies;
Yet scarcely it is said—
When lo!—the listener replies
Before a moment’s fled.
When shall thy new-found influence cease?—
How far will it extend?—
Shall not its curious powers increase?—
Remotest nations blend.
Yet enemies thou needs’t must find—
True merit raises spite—
Then think of all the foes combined
With which thou’lt have to fight:
Ambassadors—who’ll be sent back
From every foreign nation—
With secretaries at their back,
All dying of vexation.
The post-office destroyed will be—
For where’s the use of writing?—
While answers will come back to us
While queries we’re inditing.
Let’s have a talk, then, quite at ease,
And gossip while we may;
Let’s chat awhile with the Chinese,
And jest with Paraguay.
We’ll ask a riddle in Peru—
Tell tales in Ispahan,—
Just speak a word in Timbuctoo—
And whisper in Japan.
As round the world thy influence rolls,
For one, I shall not wonder
To find, through thee, the very poles
Cannot be kept asunder.
A day at the Hall