Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1851-08-13

chine and holds it to its task. How those work.
ers watch the motions of those fingers of del
icate steel How this brawny laborer watches
the motions of that PRESS. 1t is machine
from which the flashing beams of intellectual
light radiate in swift floods, and reach the far
thest homes of our extended land, and even the
distant portions of the earth. 1t is lever
whose power is multiplied by new ratio un-
known to Archimedes--and whose power, not
confined to matter, reaches the mind and soul
Of generation of immortal beings.
NV heart beat as looked at its workings
Rolling and turning in a single moment blank
sheet of paper becomes stamped with charac-
ters of life and love. Songs Of freedom, and
the teachings of glorious liberty appear up
ou its ample pages. Tidings of joy to toiling
millions, bidding them look up, and hope, and
work, and believe. Lessons of noble meaning
fill it's varied columns. The strifes of millions
daring to be free--the struggles of millions
looking for their better day-the promise of
TRUTH speaking in the triumphs of the age
all radiant upon its surface. In few hours
tens of thousands will be moved by these i'm
pulses, and hundreds ofthousands will feel their
hearts thrill, and their souls waken responsive
y to the swelling flood.
thought of the Past. / saw before me
hundred thousand scribes consuming lifetime
in accomplishing the labor which this crouch
ing engine and this wonderful mechanism will
perform in day. | saw a nobleman give one
half of his estate for few imperfect volumes
of ancient fables, and of NEUROLOGICAL follies.
| saw the millions untaught and locked up in
the recesses Of some antiquated monastery. l
pictured the illuminated manuscripts and the
classic parchments, too precious to be used
and for this reason preserved until art made
them sacred as monuments by making their
transcripts universal.
| looked at the revolving instruments of mind
and the proud achievement Of genius and art,
and said as my heart beat with higher enthu-
siasm, Its maker is greater than an Alexander
or Napoleon. They exhausted the resources
of the world, and laid them with the lives of
millions upon the altar Of their ambition, but
he developes the resources of the mind, stimu-
lates the industry of the world, creates Joy where
before was sorrow, and pours light where be-
fore was darkness, and conquers in the domains
of the human soul. 1t is conquest for eterni-
ty--whe theirs was n conquest for moment
of time"
thought of the day that is coming when the
Press shall bless every land with its fullest
beams-when the language of every tribe shall
be written, and the pens of another day shall
transfuse the jargon of benighted Africa into
words Of love and liberty--when the isles shall
hear what the waves declare as they speed on
their way with glorious tdngs of harmony and
peace. | saw the learning of the ancient, the
science and the philosophy of all time laid down
at the foot of the poor laborer, and as his eye
caught the mysterious page, saw it beam with
lofty light and moisten with grateful tear.
heard the strokes Of his hammer, and the click
ing Of his shuttle, and the ring of his anvil, and
saw him read, and hope, and believe. | saw
him with faith in heaven born power open the
stores of knowledge, and as she stopped and
pointed with her jeweled finger to the lessons
of TRUTH, she wove laurel around the brow
of the laborer who toiled and yet made her his
sister And as one after another of the mill
ions looked up, and read, and toiled, and believ-
ed, the poor ceased to>go about the stIeet, and
the rich ceased to deride the poor--the knowl-
edge of God, and the knowledge of His works,
lifted man from his degradation, and purifying
the life, ennobing the mind, and beautifying the
spirit, man saw no man but brother, and knew
no voice but that of love.
My heart beats whenever | think of that
PRESS. Whenever ] turn to that vault with
the united power of steam, and the press which
is at work within it, dream of the Past, and |
see the unfolding, active present speaking in
earnest of the glorious future With n faith
in the eternal PROMISE with trust in the pow
er of this omnipotent lever work, and hope,
and believe.