THE ELUNOI
EE T"
AND LASTALLE COUNTY C 0 MM ERCIAL ADVEB T rs E R.
OUR C 0 U N T R Y H E R COMMERC E A N D HER FREE INSTITUTIONS.
VOL. III.
OTTAWA, ILLINOIS, FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 1843.
NO. 3
KADEM
lO mmt ID JOL
From the Forgct-Mo-Not for 1343.
THE I'll ESS.
UY JiMf.S M0XTGOMKHT, F.S4.
The Preu ! what is the Tress ? I cried ;
When thu a wornk-rous voice rcilieJ :
In me all human knowledge dwells;
The oracle of oracles ;
l'Rt, nreaent, future, I reveal,
Or in oblivion' mIciicc seal:
What I preserve can perish never
, What I forego is lost forever.
I speak all languages ly mo
The deaf may hear, the blind may mo,
Tho dumb converse, the dead of old
Communion with the living hold.
All lands arc one beneath my rule,
All nation learners in my school;
Men of all ages, everywhere,
Become cotuinporarics there.
What is the Press? 'TU what tho tongue
Was to the worlj when Time was vuutij
When, by tradition, sire to son
Convey 'd whate'er was known or done;
li nt fact and fiction so were mix'd.
That boundaries never could be li.v'J.
What is the Press 1 Tin that which taught,
I5y hieroglyphic forms of thought,
Lore, from the vulgar proudly hid,
Like treasures in a pyramid ;
For knowledge then was mystery,.
A captive under lock and key,
I Sy Priests and Princes held in llirull,
Of little use or none at nil ;
Till tho redoubted Alphabet
Free their own great deliverer set,
At whose command, by simplest kmi-Hs,
They work their mental miracles.
