The primitive style in which our forefathers wrote has been materially changed by the introduction of foreign and learned words. This, it is true, as Blair says, “gives an appearance of elevation and dignity to style;” but often, also, they render it stiff and forced; and, in general, a plain native style, as it is more intelligible to all readers, so, by a proper management of words, “it may be made equally strong and expressive with this Latinized English.” Barren languages may need such assistance, but ours is not one of these.
The author is also aware that in the general arrangement of his subject there may seem a want of connection; but, as the postal chain is linked to dates, he may be excused if other portions of the work fly off in tangents. This, however, is owing more to the variety of postal matter introduced than to any neglect on his part to bring them into harmonic action.
The post-office, dry and uninteresting as its name alone implies, possesses an interest few people are aware. It is not a mere commercial affair, but one that connects itself with the interest of every man, woman, and child in the country whose business and sympathies are alike linked to its operations. There is not a country or a spot of ground on the habitable globe where civilization, with its handmaid, intellect, treads, but is identified with this vast postal chain. Touch the wire at one end, and its vibration may tend to enlighten even the land of the heathen. The wire has been touched; for
“From Greenland’s icy mountains,
From India’s coral strand,
Where Afric’s sunny fountains
Roll down their golden sand,
From many an ancient river,
From many a palmy plain,”
come messages from our missionaries, who are endeavoring to extend the cause of Christianity, and which postal facility, the enterprise of civilized nations, affords.