Poetry.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 2635, 1 June 1889, Page 1 (Supplement)

Poetry.

WHAT ARE WE CO JUNG TO

There has been an ape <•£ iron, ono of bronze, and one of flint; And I think- since William Oaxton s time wo have had an ago of print, Fur from the day the printing press by hi in was act agoing, Broad streams of knowledge through the world have everywhere tioen flowing.

Tho current wns but slow at first, for ink's a sluggish stream, Till Watt had tamed the giant power, and taught tho use of steam ; And now the Walter Printing Tress, with steam for motive power, Turns out completed newspapers twelve thousand in an hour.

If Cn.vlmi could but leavo the grave, whore he so long has lain, And walk the streets, and view tho sights of London town again, Ho'd stare at locomotives, steamboats, telegraphs and gas, And think, perhaps, the printing press had brought such things to pass.

Tho Press now wields a greater power than emperors or kings ; Its news (lies over all the world on telegraphic wings ; Wo take a newspaper to-day, nnd road, if wo so please, What yesterday was dona and said by our antipodes.

The Press indeed has now becunie the universal teacher, Much more so than in former times was orator or preacher; Tidings are flashed to ev'ry land, unlike the tonner ages ; And whatsoever happens now is found within its pages.

The Fairy tales of childhood are accomplished facts to-day. Wo t""f with noople living many thousand miles away. „ We cm utiii "tho shoes of swiftness, if some distant placo we seek. Aud by the Phonograph we can e'en hear a deadman speak.

We can analyse the sunlight, and paint pictures by its rays, We can bottle up the lightning, to illumine our highways. We shall use it on our railways, they have just begun to try it, And shortly all our people, young and old, will travel by it.

Wo 'can imitate the earthquake with our nilro-glycsrines. Wo can shoot a man much farther off than he can well bo seen. We can hear a prima donna, though a hundred miles away ; And make our bravo heard by those who're present at the play. We can take to air ballooning, if wo want to look around, And can leave it when we wish to, and come safely to the ground. But balloons will very shortly be among discarded things, And patents will be taken out for new electric wings. To the horrors of the gallows wo shall shortly put a stop; And a learned professor, take the placo of Jack Ketch and the drop. Wo shall hear no more of guillotines, or of axes and the block, And our criminals will quit this life, and scarcely feel the.shock. —Nemo. THE MYSTERY OF NATURE. TIIK following poem by Theodore Tilton, which has never been published in any of his works, has just appeared in the Atlanta Constitution :— Tin; words of God are fair for naught Unless your eyes in seeing See hidden in the tiling the thought What animates its being. The outward form is not the whole, ISut every part is molded To image forth an inward soul That dimly is unfolded. Tlio diiw falls nightly not alono Because the meadows need it, But on an eriand of its own. To human souls that hoed it. The stars are lighted in the skies, Not merely for the shining. But like the looks of loving eyes, Have meanings worth divining. The waves that mourn along the shore, The winds that sigh in blowing, Are. sent to teach a mystic lore, Winch men are wiso in knowing. The clouds around the mountain peaks, The rivers in their winding, Have secrets, which to all we seek, Are secrets Worth the finding, Thus nature dwells within our roach, And though we stand so near her, We still interpret half her speech, With ears too dull to hear her. Whoever yearns to see aright Because his heart is tender, .Shall catch a glimpse of heavenly light In every earthly splendor. Whoever hears the coarsest soundStill listens for the finest— Shall hear the noisy world go round To music the divinest. So, since the universe began, And till it shall bo ended, The soul of nature and soul nf man And soul of (led are blended.