West Jersey Pioneer

The Magnetic Telegraph:
What mean the miles of gleaming wire
Stretched out afar o'er hill and plain.
As if to string some massive lyre.
To ring out Earth's redeeming strain?
It is a lyre, whose every string
Shall vibrate to the praise of Man:
Such tribute to his genius bring
As ne'er was paid since Time began.
It is the master-piece of Earth-
The climax of all human might
When Man, forgetful of his birth,
Infringes on Jehovah's right.
It is the path where lightnings fly
Obedient to Man's lordly will,
Who forced them from their native sky,
And chained them down on every hill.
Once they were messengers of God,
And flashed through Heaven's remotest span
But now they've left their high abode,
To herald out the ways of man.
No more we'll trust the carrier dove;
Or iron steed, or lagging gale,
But call the lightnings from above,
To spread the news and tell the tale.
They far out-speed the rolling Earth,
And put the car of Time a-back-
Before the Future has its birth
'Tis passed upon the spirit track.
That track—the great highway of Thought—
Where distant nations converse hold;
Ere word is said or deed is wrought,
Tis whispered round and round the world.
From East to West—from pole to pole—
Wherever Man has pressed the sod-
The every thought of every soul,
Is omnipresent, like as God.
It binds the nations all in one,
And thrills its pulse throughout the Union,
Till every Kingdom, tribe and tongue,
Shall live and act in full communion.