The welcome news is in the letter found;
The carrier's not commission'd to expound;
It speaks itself, read more

The welcome news is in the letter found;
The carrier's not commission'd to expound;
It speaks itself, and what it does contain,
In all things needful to be known is plain.

The postman always rings twice.

The postman always rings twice.

Carrier of news and knowledge,
Instrument of trade and industry,
Promoter of mutual acquaintance,
read more

Carrier of news and knowledge,
Instrument of trade and industry,
Promoter of mutual acquaintance,
Of peace and good-will
Among men and nations.

I have only made this letter rather long because I have not had
time to make it shorter.
read more

I have only made this letter rather long because I have not had
time to make it shorter.
[Fr., Je n'ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parceque je n'ai pas
eu le loisir de la faire plus courte.]

Heav'n first taught letters for some wretch's aid,
Some banish'd lover, or some captive maid.

Heav'n first taught letters for some wretch's aid,
Some banish'd lover, or some captive maid.

Letters, from absent friends, extinguish fear,
Unite division, and draw distance near;
Their magic force each silent read more

Letters, from absent friends, extinguish fear,
Unite division, and draw distance near;
Their magic force each silent wish conveys,
And wafts embodied though, a thousand ways:
Could souls to bodies write, death's pow'r were mean,
For minds could then meet minds with heav'n between.

Belshazzar had a letter,--
He never had but one;
Belshazzar's correspondence
Concluded and begun
read more

Belshazzar had a letter,--
He never had but one;
Belshazzar's correspondence
Concluded and begun
In that immortal copy
The conscience of us all
Can read without its glasses
On revelation's wall.

A strange volume of real life in the daily packet of the postman.
Eternal love and instant payment!

A strange volume of real life in the daily packet of the postman.
Eternal love and instant payment!

Messenger of sympathy and love,
Servant of parted friends,
Consoler of the lonely,
Bond read more

Messenger of sympathy and love,
Servant of parted friends,
Consoler of the lonely,
Bond of the scattered family,
Enlarger of the common life.