Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Class, Superstition, Religious Authority, Providence, Technology, Accidents

Institutions mentioned:

Atlantic Telegraph Company

    Written in the style of a country yokel, this is the author's attempt to come to terms with the 'wonders' of 'This here Zub-Atlantic Cable'. He asks his friend Bill 'how fur you makes ut / This here Cable vor to lay? / At a moderate calcilation ? 'Tween two thousand miles and dree, / Bringun in communication / Ireland and Amerikey'. Notes that the cable 'Is described, by them who've sin, / Gutter percher, outer portion, / Over 'lectric wires within', and 'sees a token / In that precious link, of peace [...] 'tween brothers, / Who aloan is Vreedom's hope'. He recognises that the cable will not be buffeted 'When the storms above 'un sweep' and that when the cable 'draps down in the hollers' of the deep, it will be supported on 'What they calls a reef ixtends'. Concludes by drinking a toast to 'Lantic Telegraph's success'. The editor, however, regrets that 'our bucolic' contributor had not read news reports confirming his worry that 'Wun't it [the cable] snap?'.