Classic English Literature Notes

The Line-Gang

Here come the line-gang pioneering by,

They throw a forest down less cut than broken.

They plant dead trees for living, and the dead

They string together with a living thread.

They string an instrument against the sky

Wherein words whether beaten out or spoken

Will run as hushed as when they were a thought

But in no hush they string it: they go past

With shouts afar to pull the cable taught,

To hold it hard until they make it fast,

To ease away–they have it. With a laugh,

An oath of towns that set the wild at naught

They bring the telephone and telegraph.