The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1880-07-08

| Meath these imposed conditions. let the veil
| Tha! guard from sight waste baskets sadl!
tell,
! As drop by drop, to those exhaustIess wells
/ tall annual rains Of Thyming; and let me
! Congratulate myself most thankfully,
! That these associate press men can but chOOSi
! Accept q rhyme each, sIngly, would refuse.
look around upon this cOncOuTSe here,
| And my heart fails. with an o empowering feal
Lest 'mOng these learned typos none I'll find
Possessing just the proper frame OF mind
10 eNtrlcate the meaning Of nay rhyme
rom cut It's wordy GOV ring; but in time
10 keep that fear from gaining mastery
O.er all NV senses, happily | see
/ The Secretary of this honored Press.
And peace and calm again my spirit bless,
For tho dHrken wisdom may
by words in endless number: tho say
Things with no seeming reason; tho | hide
Ny meaning in mist of ill-apPlied
And yer bose metaphors; | still can feel
That ne bright thought dark COY ring can con-
ceal
From his clear eye, for puzzle deeper far
Than thoughts of rhyming maidcns ever are
He has already fathomed, and man
no through Il mystic sign like this enc
discern his own Kane written, surely knows
aat selnc FAINT sense my poem may eucisse.
Strange hieTuglyphS | We seen, butnsv sure,
nne quite 80 puZZlIng as his signature
The man who spells has failed TO learn to write,
And says thes- strange marks
mean "R. L. G. White -
49, sure o. one NJ ic:Sl dlnoDg TINS tlrUng
Who will discern the merits gt my song.
| bid my muse sing on; ! give thought wing
ANA swift away she flies. |, listening,
Catch echoes OF her song in far-oh lands;
follow her ~ spirit a. she stands
Her wings IL rev renee folded, by that hill
Che lightning vanished now, the thunder =
stilh
" here God own finger, in the dim by-gone,
Early formed letters; still swift thought ies on
And gathers up IN many an age and cline
Ihe scattered reads that. thro' the olden
time,
were .Iowly weaving in Minds bring loom
The ratterR Ola scheme which years to come
Should fornl into power to lift crushed Right
From meath the giant Wrong; int light
ihat Q er low-iJlns darkLes shining bright,
Should safely guide world thro' Errors light:
Into II link, in brotherhood 10 bind
All nations, and the heart OF humankind
Make ralSe one grateful swelling note to bless
That power. that light, that link-ths Printing
Press.
The thread Thought seeks are seatter'd far and
wide;
Now in her search she secs the old Nile glide
lhro Egypt fertile w-lands; feels the thrill
OF wonder and Of ave beside those still
And yoIceleSs messengers from Il dead past
those stnne-wrought miracles. whose forms
have east
Thro all the centuries. long shadows dark,
W eird lengths of doubt and question that mark
How far into the ages of man has pressed
10 read their hist'ry; mark how still ungucssed
That riddle stands which while old ayes slept
And new ones woke, the Sphinx's breast has
kept
IN stony silence; and she hears the sigh
OfEgypt's reeds 80 early doomed to die
And then live on forever. as skilled art
Form d them in scrolls whereon the glowing
OF poet and of.saee brcathed Learning's FIRE.
Which ever brighter burned and mounted
Anon. Ger Thought smiles the blue sky Of
Greece,
And fast before her gaze all arts of peace
Grow into grace and beauty, while from far
Phoenician Cadmus comes. and every bar
And every door, guarding Minds mystery,
upes wide. his alphabet the magic key.
From land to land Thought goes. with tireless
flight,
Her wing thro' darkest ages cleaning white,
Her patient hand still gath ring up:the threads,
Wherever found. which show how busy heads
And tireless hearts and brains with labor
wrought
Into Life's may web bright pictures fraught
With blessing hal If undrcamed Of by II world
Which since the days when Learning fair first
Her wings to rest o'er it. had formed grand
schemes.
And formed them all in vain-had dreamed dim
Had wise Inventions planned. all to secure
something which might old-wOrld literature
Keep in safe store, and which from heart to
heart
A fne-drawn wire-heart-language might i'm
rhrO' Haarlen's wood she moves thro' beechen
groves
Past names the world in grateful mem ~
Like Gutenberg and Srheffer-thence to leap,
With sudden bound. thro' fabled days of old
For printing's sake, his soul, and wrote (thus
A wsnd ring people, in his life-blood red.
On to these days, when through our country
wide
Each village with Its printing-press supplied.
Each city with its hundred. turn to bless,
With one united voice. the mighty Press.
What. is this Press A great and throbbing
heart
Whose beats keeps even time. with perfect art.
With every human soul; which fills each thrill
0fjoy or sorrow that our wide wo:ld fills;
W hich all the varied notes of heart life takes
Into its depth, and from them clearly makes
Ring cut the song of life. that woDdrOus strain
Now low and sweetly plaintive. now again
Loud, glad, with notes Of triumph sounding
plain.
There is legend of the Talmud old,
That ages ere the earth or heavens were roll'd
From eu; the void of space. ali souls of men.
Tho yet unborn, had being, and that when
Each soul was given at the Almighty will
human frame To animate and thrill,
Lost hints of Gods great mysteries should slip
From it out 10 tn world, upon the lip
of the unconscious child, an angel laid
His finger. and the magic touch conveyed
he seal OF silence to the soul which straight
Forgot all knowledge of its past estate.
Full well that angel did his work. East-sealsd
Our spirits are, and from concealed
The mysteries of Life and Being; dumb
Are eand unreSpOnsiye. while the hum
Of Nature : thou sand voices round us swells
Te strange, sweet songs, within whose depths
there dwellS.
Could we but catch the'melody, so much
Of deep snui-knowledge: but the angels touch
Has made US deafaS dumb. and our sealed ears
Hear not those notes wand ring from higher
spheres
Yet. now and then, into our world are sent
Great, earnest s0nls, who for time lent
The power to break the angel silent seal
And some of Life : deep secrets TO reveal:
Souls who mid all the turmoil and the strife
" it'll which our bu>lling earth l. ever rite,
Hear echoes of sweet II usic sounding clear.
Faint, taT-of sounds. too low for duller ear;
Who, listening more intently. catch the strain
And breathe itforth into Ihe world again.
But lip to ear were silent did not air
Above, beneath. around MS everywhere
axe up and bear the sound, and all aS still
Is heart to heart, nor does sweet sOul-specch
thrill
Such medium proves itself, and those who bless
With gift OfSong or pOeSy sur earth
Know that since thought found speech. OF
learning birth.
No medium, half So clear. has borne along
The wendrous echoes Cf their wondrOus song.
\ CT ballad singing in the olden days
Not papyrus and styluS-nOt the ways
ContTived by Greece and Rome when time
young.
To keep IL mem ry all sweet snrgs e'er sung.
All cages thought and dFednings. c eT could