The Steamboat

In early times the swift steamboat
O’er the broad ocean did not float,
But ships were wafted o’er the seas,
With sails inflated by the breeze.

In progress they could not prevail,
If ’gainst ship’s haad did blow the gale;
And oft times for many a day
Becalmed on ocean’s breast they lay.

But now the mighty monarch, steam,
O’er land and sea doth rule supreme;
Steamship proudly ploughs the ocean,
Independent of wind’s motion.

From Scottish hill when I was boy,
I cried out in my childish joy;
The thought which filled my heart with glee,
America, I plainly see.

Then I was told to my amaze,
That it was far beyond my gaze;
The chart to me was then unfurled,
To prove I could not see whole world.

The truth to me was great surprise then,
That world was greater than horizon;
Our views through life they thus expand,
Beholding God’s creation grand.