The age of giant progress,
Americans all hail!
The land, all interwoven
With telegraph and rail;
No sluggish chains shall bind us,
No tardiness delay;
The morning light is breaking (waking)
O’er our destiny.
The age of trained lightning,
“Dispatching” human thought;
What wondrous revolution
The scheme of Morse hath wrought!
No time, no space can hinder
The quick, electric fire;
Intelligence is flashing (dashing)
O’er the magic wire.
The age of grand conceptions,
The “cable of the deep!”
It “snapp’d,” but we will mend it,
We have no time to weep.
The great Pacific Railroad!
’Twill not be long before
The railroad cars are flying (hieing)
From the golden shore.
The age of priceless knowledge,
The scholar’s jubilee!
The land all dotted over
With institutions free.
Our public schools! Oh, hail them!
They offer treasures cheap:
The boys and girls are scaling (hailing)
Science’s rugged steep.