[Pamphlets. American history]

49
unexampled complication and ingenuity have been applied to the whole range of human industry. We rush
across the land and the sea by steam; we correspond
by magnetism; we paint by the solar ray; we count the
beats of the electric clock at the distance of a thousand
miles; we do all but annihilate time and distance; and
amidst all the new agencies of communication and action,-the omnipotent press,-the great engine of modern progress, not superseded or impaired, but gathering
new power from all the arts, is daily clothing itself
with louder thunders.
While we contemplate with admiration, —almost with
awe,-the mighty influences which surround us, and
which demand our cooperation and our guidance, let
our hearts overflow with gratitude to the patriots who
have handed down to us this great inheritance. Let us
strive to furnish ourselves, from the storehouse of their
example, with the principles and virtues which will
strengthen us for the performance of an honored part
on this illustrious stage. Let pure patriotism add its
bond to the bars of iron which are binding the continent together; and as intelligence shoots with the electric spark from ocean to ocean, let public spirit and love
of country catch from heart to heart.
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