New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-06-20

Through tangled literary widene5ses
50 thick, in sooth, the lush papyrus grows.
Our later Nilus hardly flows.
No subtle chance or dlrklng hllt
But leaps to leaf and flower of print.
The very secret soul o. things.
That erSt in brOoding dusk lay hid
Within its waiting chrysalid.
Now matches instant paper wings
And iiutterS forth to cDnsClOnsnt 5,
The blithc and swift Ephemeron oil the Press
Well may the bard forego his song,
The seer from muuntaln-tOp descend:
The Man of News-tO him the times belong,
And 10 bis mastery bend.
The modern epic to its ungueSsed end
Grows under his prOsaiC pen.
What shall escape his sweeping Ken!
The hamlets gossip, the great towns uproar,
And ali the LOUD report OF men.
The light tick of his dropping type re-sornds again
And flash the torch in darkest hooks of earth.
Through the great grooming lazlr-hOuse o. life,
Or dens OF Swcltcring death he goes,
And their black secret shows.
The ccaseless, armed tramp of human woes,
Fantastic masqueS OF crime he strlte
OF vulture passion, honOrs dearth
And virtues sad decay,
Council OF friend, and plot of foes.
With all chat courts or shuns the day.
These must his merciesS lens expose,
His portrait Of the time display.
His, opcn-spgrad and bare,
Full IN the public light and air
The good and ill alike to lay;
nat, DdIIN, vi the UaJ DIOlu eye,
The social rose may flourish fair,
The deadly nightshade die.
wizard h., his sheet magic glass
Wherein the mirrored world doth shine,
And all its diverse energies
In hurrying throngs approach and pass,
Appear aud disappear,
Weaving web OF texture fine
From verge to verge OF farthe,t alien skies;
Till far and foreign are brought near.
And myriad threads OF destiny INTERVENE.
And ever to the ear
From the same wizard cOncaye rise,
In gusts uptown from every shore and cline,
The multiudnous voices bent vet clear,
OF the vast surGing earth. the din
OF traffic, the low sOugh OF signs,
The laughter and the cries
OF many peoples, and the roar of time
And 10 h9manity d ion %nris re-
And sees, despite the stain OF SIN,
And features battle-scarrcd,
And cru ] woes endured beneath the sun,
Her face sill bears the mold of the divine.
Her mighty many -natoned heart is ONE.
"
The plastic time takes ever-changing forms.
The age is past when one comgelng mine
Could sway the armies OF mankind,
And Lead their dumb, Obcdient Swarlns
10 conquest of ideal lands.
The mighty captains OF the race
sleep in ther stored tombs nor rule again.
Heroes of sword or word. or pen
WIth power to loose and bind.
But IN Il broader freer space
The circle of the world expands,
Aud. breaking immGmOrial bands.
The conscious peoples rush apace
To blend in one vast cOnlIlOnwea OF men.
In the new order thus TO he,
No priestly power supreme to blight or bless,
No despOt leader She,
The Tenih-our Modern Muse-the Press.
Hers not in her own thinking to be great,
But rather TO keep free
The channels of the peoples thought
And be the voice and conscience of the State;
Setting gauge whereby the State may see
How in their seething caverns palpitate
The pent volcanic forces OF its fate.
But not the less her service shall be fraught
With active use aud blessing, and confer
sacred Office on her minister.
His where the springs of public virtue run,
TO watch, and keep their current pure and
strong:
With hand alert 10 scourge the wrong
And give the good deed to the sun;
The saving word, the larger creed
TO speak and. in the speaking, speed;
To preach with pen of fire
Mems politics and God justice shall be one;
And so this fallen word redeem
To nights OF its old meaning from the mire.
Not ms the prophets DREAM,
Or spell OF power the nations to inspire;
Bnt. watcher of the seasons, to proclaim
WHAT signs portentous of the future llame,
And in the orient of the world 5 desire
What newborn stars arise.
Or ike some workman, he, who plies
The chsel with swift patient hands.
And shapes the plan greater hath designed.
The rugged marble fronts him, and, behind,
The invisible Master stands,
TO whom alone
The secret of the block is known
The time is long, the watchers eyes wax blind
And weary is the worker. tot ling dumb
a figure OF the fairer Age To GOMEZ
The image of the Masters mind,
Girt with Beauty's perfect zone,
Looms living from the stone!