History of the Atlantic Cable & Submarine Telegraphy

	History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications from the first submarine cable of 1850 to the worldwide fiber optic network
Festival Song At the Celebration of the Laying of the Atlantic Telegraph

New York, on the 1st day of September 1858
Dedicated to the "Atlantic Telegraph Company"
by William Spitznasski
Translated from the German


High resolution image of the English side	High resolution image of the German side

Hail man's great intellectual power! --
This blissful gift from God on high
Has brought to earth, a blessed dower,
Electric lightning from the sky.

The heav'nly spark has FRANKLIN captured,
MORSE sent it speaking through the land,
And now has FIELD two worlds enraptured,
By spreading it from strand to strand.

World's free Lord, man, it is who measures
Earth's caverned, rocky depths below;
He brings to light earth's secret treasures,
To banish misery and woe.

Metallic chord his skill is drawing,
To lay it on deep ocean's sand,
To send beneath the tempest's howling
The word of peace from land to land.

Peace be on earth to ev'ry nation!
We sing to human mind's great praise,
One harmony is all creation,
One family the human race.

This day we hear the cannon''s sounding,
We hear the bells so charming ring,
And all our hearts, with joy abounding,
In Union with all nations sing:

"One heav'nly spark unites for ever
The earth and ev'ry human breast;
All men are brothers wheresoever
Our eyes upon the earthball rest!"

Last revised: 30 November, 2008

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