ty-six hours, we were exposed to all the dangers of a storm on the Atlantic. Yet, in the very hight and fury of the gale, as I sat in the electricians' room, a flash of light came up from the deep, which, having crossed to Ireland, came back to me in mid-ocean, telling that those so dear to me, whom I had left on the banks of the Hudson, were well, and following us with their wishes and their prayers. This was like a whisper of God from the sea, bidding me keep heart and hope.

10. "The Great Eastern" bore herself proudly through the storm, as if she knew that the vital chord, which was to join two hemispheres, hung at her stern; and so, on Saturday, the 7th of September, we brought our second cable safely to the shore. Even the sailors caught the enthusiasm of the enterprise, and were eager to share in the honor of the achievement. Brave, stalwart men they were, at home on the ocean and in the storm,- - of that sort that have carried the flag of England around the globe. I see them now as they dragged the shore-end up the beach at Heart's Content, hugging it in their brawny arms as if it were a shipwrecked child, whom they had rescued from the dangers of the sea. God bless them all!

11. Such, in brief, is the story of the Telegraph. It has been a long, hard struggle, -nearly thirteen years of anxious watching and ceaseless toil. Often my heart has been ready to sink. Many times, when wandering in the forests of Newfoundland, in the pelting rain, or on the deck of ships, on dark, stormy nights, alone, far from home, — I have almost accused myself of madness and folly to sacrifice the peace of my family, and all the hopes of life, for what might prove, after all, but a dream. I have seen my companions one and another falling by my side, and feared that I, too, might not live to see the end. And

yet one hope has led me on, and I have prayed that I might not taste of death till this work was accomplished. That prayer is answered; and now, beyond all acknowledgments to men, is the feeling of GRATITUDE TO ALMIGHTY GOD.

1.

LESSON LXXXVIII.

HOW CYRUS LAID THE CABLE.

COME

J. G. SAXE.

YOME, listen all unto my song;
It is no silly fable;

'Tis all about the mighty cord

They call the Atlantic Cable.

2. Bold CYRUS FIELD, he said, says he,
"I have a pretty notion
That I can run a telegraph

Across the Atlantic Ocean."

3. Then all the people laughed, and said
They'd like to see him do it;

He might get half-seas-over, but
He never could go through it.

4. To carry out his foolish plan
He never would be able;
He might as well go hang himself
With his Atlantic Cable.

5. But Cyrus was a valiant man,
A fellow of decision,

And heeded not their mocking words,
Their laughter and derision.

6. Twice did his bravest efforts fail,
And yet his mind was stable;

He wa'n't the man to break his heart
Because he broke his cable.

7. "Once more, my gallant boys!" he cried;
"Three times!-you know the fable,—
(I'll make it thirty," muttered he,
"But I will lay this cable!")

8. Once more they tried,—hurrah! HURRAH!
What means this great commotion?
The Lord be praised! the cable's laid
Across the Atlantic Ocean!

9. Loud ring the bells!— for, flashing through
Six hundred leagues of water,

Old Mother England's benison
Salutes her eldest daughter!

10. O'er all the land the tidings sped;
And soon, in every nation,
They'll hear about the cable with
Profoundest admiration!

11. Now long live all the noble souls
Who helped our gallant Cyrus!

And may their courage, faith, and zeal,
With emulation fire us!

12. And may we honor evermore

The manly, bold, and stable;

And tell our sons, to make them brave,
How CYRUS laid the cable!

LESSON LXXXIX.

1 TROY'S EXILED BANDS, Æneas and his followers, who, after the destruction of Troy by the Greeks, built ships, and in search of Italy, their destined land, were tossed and harassed by unpropitious winds, caused

by the wrath of Juno. The wanderings and trials of Æneas constitute the theme of Virgil's Æneid.

2 GEN' O A'S God-like child, Columbus, a native of Genoa. See note, page 161.

8

3 MAY' FLOW ER, the name of the vessel in which the Pilgrims sailed to America. They landed on Plymouth Rock, Dec. 11, 1620.

4 FRANK' LIN. See note, page 145.

5 MORSE, the inventor of the Telegraph, as used in the United States.

1.

2.

THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH.

(Successfully laid between Europe and America July 27, 1866.)

REV. GEORGE LANSING TAYLOR.

GLORY to God above!

The Lord of Life and love!

Who makes His curtains clouds and waters dark;
Who spreads His chambers on the deep,
While all its armies silence keep;

Whose hand of old, world-rescuing, steered the ark;
Who led Troy's bands' exiled,

And Genoa's god-like child,2
And Mayflower,3 grandly wild,

And now has guided safe a grander Bark;

Who, from her iron loins,

Has spun the thread that joins

Two yearning worlds made one with lightning spark.

Praise God! praise God! praise God!

The sea obeyed His rod,

What time His saints marched down its deeps of yore;

3.

4

And now for Commerce, Science, Peace, Redemption, Freedom, Love's increase, He bids great Ocean's barriers cease, While flames celestial flash from shore to shore! And nations pause 'mid battles' deadliest roar, Till Earth's one heart swells upward, and brims o'er With thanks! thanks! thanks, and praise ! To Him who lives always!

Who reigns through endless days!

While halleluiahs sweet

Roll up as incense meet,

And all Earth's crowns are cast before His feet!

"And there was no more sea,"

Spake in rapt vision he

Who" a new heaven and a new earth" beheld!

And lo! we see the day

That ends its weltering sway,

And weds the nations, long asunder held!

Twelve years of toil, of failure, fear,
Thousands to scorn and few to cheer,
What are they now to ears that hear,
To eyes that see their triumph near?

When lightning-flames the ends of earth shall weld,
And wrong and right, by lightning beams dispelled,
Shall lift from all man's race,

And God the Father's face

Shall smile o'er all the world millennial grace!

FRANKLIN and MORSE! and FIELD!
Great shades of centuries yield!

Make way for these in your sublimest throng!
Heroes of blood, great in immortal wrong,