Beginning of Essay
The capabilities of modern communications would utterly astound our ancestors. Did you ever stop to think that it took five months for Queen Isabella to hear of Columbus' discovery, or that it took two weeks for Europe to learn of Lincoln's assassination? We take ....

Middle of Essay
.... invading Persian army on the plains of Marathon, 20 miles from Athens. Fearing that the defeated Persians would regroup and attack Athens and that the city would surrender without knowing of the victory, the Greek general dispatched his swiftest runner, Pheidippides. As he reached the city, Pheidippides stumbled, delivered his message, and fell dead of exhaustion. Paul Revere’s Ride "One if by land and two if by sea" refers to lanterns hung from the North Church in Boston in 1775 to indicate the route the British were taking. The lanterns were the signal for Paul Revere to begin his famous midnight ride, perhaps the most famous communication in Am ....