330 MISCELLANEOUS. 



Ye wiads. sheathe every harshest blast ; 



Lap round, all softest atmospheres, 



The mnst? of those lone mariners : 

 So shall the work be done at last 



So shall the mystic coil be spun 



That weds the Old World with the New, 



And channeling vast ocean through, 

 One throb of common life shall run. 



So shall be laid, with easy skill, 



A clue for lightning-footed Thought: 



Safe through sea-mazes shall be brought 

 Each messenger of good and ill. 



Hereby shall flash whate'er man saith 



O'er wave-crowued Alp, wave-scooped ravine, 

 O'er wave-smoothed wastes of changeless green, 



In folded words of Life or Death. 



II. 



They talk of empery o'er the wave 



In high-toned, swelling words of boast ; — 



How oft man's brief rule with the coast 

 Ceaseth, — beyond slopes deep his grave ! 



! pray ye for those outbound ships, 



That they may slide through balmy noon 



Of day and night ; pray that our moon — 

 Full moon of Hope, — have no eclipse. 



Pray that they bridge the dread abime ; 



Pray that the century's work be done — 



One cycle of events be run ; 

 A better term beg-in of time. 



And yet our hearts misgive for fear 



Lest they have sailed, and thrice ! in vain ; 



Our opening joy folds up again 

 And blooms not till a happier year. 



observer than in the spirit of cold criticism, whish looks from a vantage-gronnd of some 

 six or eight months, upon the practical inefficiency of the Ocean Telegraph. However 

 much this work has fallen short of the expectations expressed in the subjoined pages, it 

 may not be doubted that the writer's words are prophetic of a triumph which this genera- 

 tion shall see. It is only a comfortable stretch of poetic license to keep our thoughts fixed 

 on the glorious fact, that there have been subaqueous dialogues between Europe and 

 America ; and, if this be not enough, we can easily overleap the disappointments of a few 

 months or years, and cast our eyes on that certain and not distant future, when the inter- 

 rupted communication shall be resumed," 



