was the grand conception that met this demand, and by its means were
united the borders of the continent, and communication thus made more
frequent and rapid between our interior, the West, and Europe: the most
ancient civilization of the world in the Orient greeted the youngest in
the Occident, and completed the girdle about the earth.

The lumbering stage and caravan laboring across the plains, and the
swift mustang flying from post to post, frequently intercepted by the
wily savage, were but things of yesterday, though fast becoming
legendary. When those slower methods by which correspondence was
conveyed at a great expense and delay, and current literature was to a
great extent debarred, were supplanted by a continuous line of stages,
it was considered a revolution in the wheel of progress, and the
consummation. The possible accomplishments of the present day, if
entertained at all at that time, were in general considered Munchausen,
and not difficulties to be surmounted by practical engineering and
undaunted perseverance. The civilization of the world has kept pace with
its channels of communication and has accordingly rendered invaluable
aid to it. In our country the field in this direction is exceedingly
broad.

There is no branch of the government service that reaches so near and
supplies the wants of the people as the Post-Office Department, and
whose ramification may not be inaptly compared to the human system with
its arteries filled with the life-current coursing through the veins and
diffusing health and vigor to the various parts; in the same manner the
people in the different sections of the country interchange their
information. The centres of art and literature, conveying to the vast
producing region in the West the products of their refined taste,
scientific research, and mechanical achievements, keep alive and