University of Virginia Library

Frowned on us the storm's white face once more,
With sterner menaces than before;
(Thus—to his sorrow—a punster sinned:
“It's merely getting its second wind!”)
But one great comfort was strewn about:
We had good news from the world without!
A servant of the electric spark,
(Who modestly thus far in the dark
Had lurked) in the oratory's pause,
Came to the front in immense applause.
Genius in overalls was he:
A company's trusted employe.
Some Morse machinery he was transferring
From office to office up the line;
And in the snow he had delved his way,
Amid the chill of that frigid day,
And a wire dug out, buzzing and purring,
And captured, with theft in his design.
(A theft of tidings was his brave scheme.)
Soon through this channel began to stream
Some scraps of news and some news of scraps
(A justifiable word, perhaps,
Since slang is ever inclined to creep
In languages, lest they go to sleep,
And words tabooed by the purist-sages,
Swarm into the dictionary's pages
And try—succeeding better or worse,
With older residents to converse,
Which put on airs—although they may
Have entered, at first, the selfsame way).