Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-04-11
The Song of Steam.
Charlottesville (Ind. } journal.

inclose for publication cory from my scrap
book of G. W. Cutters poem entitled The |
Song of Steam" More than one-third of
century has passed since this poetic gem,
forecasting so correctly the future OF steam,
was first published in the National Intelli-
gencer at Washington. Afterwards it was
copied into other leading newspapers in this
been everywhere read with high apprecia-
''the best lyric of the century" as.
About the years 1887 to 1910 the writer of |
this frequently met MIR. Gutter at Terre |
Heute then his residence At one session
of the Legislature he was Representative
from Yigo County. Afterward he seems to
have lived at Coyington, KY, at which
point ''Ihe Song of Steam was dated.
Whatever poetic genius Mr.. Cutter may
have shown in other writings, THE Song
of Steam" will ever rank high. The theme
was well chosen. The great mission of
steam in the worlds business was even then
foreshadowed
The National Intelligencer. publishing it
as far back as 1876, said of it
The following poem has been heretofore
Several years ago. published III this paper,
without credit to the author, then unknown
to us. 1t has since been copied and praised
in Europe, particularly in Blaekwoods,
Magazine, III which it has been pronounced
the best lyric of the century We were re
Gently appraised of its being the production
| of e. W. Cutter (now gone TO the wars), by
/ finding it in volume of poems by him,
and about icing published
/ The poem is As follows:
-- THE SONG STEAM.
Harness me down with your iron band,
! Be sure of your curb and rein:
/ For ! scorn the strength of your puny hands,
As the tempest scorns a chain
How laughed, as L lay concealed from
sight
For many a countless hour,
AS the childish boast of human might,
And the pride of human power
When | saw an army upon the land,
A navy upon the seas,
Creeping along a snail like band,
Or waiting the hayward breeze;
When | marked the peasant fairly reel
With the toll which he family bore,
As he feebly turned at the tardy wheel,
I Or tugged at the weary oar; -
When I measured the painting courier's
speed,
The flight of the carrier dove,
As they bore the law king decreed,
Of the lines Oh impatient love
| could not but think how the world would
feel, D..
AS these were outstripped affair,
When | should be found to the rushing keel.
Or chained to the flying can.
Ha, ha, ha they found me at last,
They invited me forth and length,
And | rushed to my throne with thunder
blast. ~
And laughed in my iron strength!
. then he saw wondrous change
On the earth and ocean wide,
Where now my fiery armies range,
Nor wait for wind and tide.
Hurrah hurrah. the waters DER,
The mountains steep decline.
Time-space-h yielded to my power
The wofld-the world is mine
The rivers the sun hath earliest blest,
Or those where his beams decline
, The giant streams of the queenly West,
And the Orient floods divine.
The ocean pales where'er | sweep,
TO hear my strength rejoice
And the monsters of the briny deep
Cover, trembling, at my voice.
l carry the wealth and the ore of Earth,
The thoughts of the godlike mind;
The wind lags after my flying breath,
And lightning is left behind
In the darksome depths of the fathomles
. My tireless arm doth play,
Where the rocks nevef saw the suns de
cline,
: Or the dawn of the glorious day,
l bring Earth's glittering jewels up
From the hidden caves below,
: And make the fountains granite cap
With crystal gush o'erfow
q i blow the bellows forge the steel,
q In all the shops Of trade;
l hammer the ore, and turn the wheel,
Where my arms of strength are made
}. l manage the furnace, the mill, the mint
q l carry, l spin, 1 weave;
And all my doings put in print
Is On every Saturday eve
L I've no muscles to weary, no breast to d.