The Carolina Spartan. [volume] (Spartanburg, S.C.) 1852-1896, 1857-10-08
Ocean Telegraph Poems of Homer.

The Grafton delivered by Hon. Edward
Everett, at St Louis, on occasion Of the in
auguration Of the Washington University
OF the State oi Missouri, of which the ma
terIal parts were repeated at Cambridge, in
the address before the Alumni Association
OF Harvard College, is now in tiIs press Of
Messrs. Little. Brown & Co. We are graft
fled TO be able To- lay before our readers
this morning, in advance of its publication,
IN extract made from the proofshee;s. and
have selected for this pnrpose as possessing 9
peculiar interest al The present moment
the beautiful passage, in which the won
ders OF The ocean telegraph are compared
with the wonders OF language, us illustrated
by the preservation OF the poems OF Homer
during ihirty centuries:
such is language, HE representative Of
thought. Dwell upon il, pray you, mo
lnent longer; 1t Is a great mastery Of our
beng. By the Use of a few written or
pnnted lines on paper, so like each other,
that, in languages with which we are un.
familiar, witness a Malay or japanese man
uscrIpt, there seems scarce any difference
between them; this unseen, intangible.
mysterious mental essence, compared with
which perfume, sound, lunar rainbow
is gross and material. expresses ITSELF to the
eve; by the gentle impulse, tile soft vibra.
tons, which the lip, impart to the elastic
mir, il expresses itself to the ear To give
the spoken word duration, translate il in
TO written character: to give tue written
sign a vital emphasis, translate il into vo.
cal speech. by one divine art, the dead
letter, charged with living meaning,
sounds through cchoing halls, and wins or
storms It's way to sympathetic hearts; 10y
another, the fleeing waveets OF tie air are
crystalized into most marvellous perma,
nence, and become imperishabie gems of
thought, whose lustre no lapse of time can
obscure: while by the union OF both, this
ncomprehenNiblc being, the mind, gently
wooed from the yeStal chambers OF our in
most nature, comes forth like bride
adorned for her Iordly spouse, the word;
clad IN the rich vcsture Of conversation, OF
argument OF eloquence, OF oelry, of song;
to walk with him tho busy or the secluded
paths OF life; 10 instruct and delight the
IiNing generations; ethereal essences rs they
are, 10 outIIvc columns of brass and pyra.
mlds OF granite; and to descend in eternal
youth the unendlng highways Of the ages.
Does 1t seem much that The skill OF men
has, IN these latter days, conirivcd the
means oi communicating Intelligence al
most with the rapidity Of thought, across
the expanso OF continents aud beneath the
depth OF oceans by the electric wirel That
message despatched from Boston at mid
day, will so far out-travel the sun as 10 reach
81. Louis an hour before he arrives at that
meridIani Ii is much, and we contemplate
with just amazement the wonderful appara-
lus which, when laid down, rs sooner or
later 1t perhaps will be, SO rs to connect the
three continents, may, by possibility, send
Tho beginning OF such sentence as | am
now pronouncing around the terraqueous
globe and return 1t TO the lips Of the speak.
or before hc had completed It's uttorance.
6ut THIS amazing apparatus is but another
form OF language 1t transmits intelligence
only as it transmits words 1t is like speech,
like the pen, like the press, another piece
OF machinery by which language is con-
veyed from place 10 place. The really
wonderful thing gis language itself, by which
thought Is made sensible and communica-
ted from mind to mind, not only in the
great living congregation of the civilized
world tor the time being, but through the
vast genera! assembly of the ages, by which
we are able at this moment, not only TO
listen to all the great utterances which ex-
press the thoughts and emotions of the
| present day throughout the world, but to
soar with Milton to the green fields of Para
disc in the morning of creation; TO descend
with Dante to the depths Of penal woe; to