the poet by ic the first of the have not yet appeared however for messrs and when they learned how they had been they were so indignant that they did not speak to the idiot for a week by ic vm it was morning and mr as was his wont on the first day of the week appeared at the breakfast table severe as to his mien working on sunday on his mind the idiot said to the bat i don t see why it should the luxury of rest that he allows himself the other six days of the week is surely an for the hours of labor he puts in on sunday but it was not this that on sunday mornings weighed on the mind of the reverend mr he appeared more serious of then because he had begun to think of late that his fellow lived too much in the present and ignored almost totally that which might be expected to come he had been revolving in his mind for several weeks the question as to whether it was or was not his christian duty to attempt to io by ic the lives of these men with whom the chances of life had brought him in contact he had finally settled it to his own satisfaction that it was his so to do and he had resolved as far as lay in his power to direct the conversation at sunday morning s breakfast into spiritual rather than into matters so as mrs was pouring the coffee mr began do you gentlemen ever pause in your every day labors and thought to let your minds rest upon the future � the possibilities it has in store for us the consequences no thank you said the idiot then turning to mr he added i can t answer for the other gentlemen at this board but i can assure you mr that i often do so it was only last night sir that my genial friend who and i were discussing the future and its possibilities and i venture to assert that there is no more profitable food for reflection anywhere in the of the mind than that of the mind is excellent said the school master with a touch of sarcasm in his voice perhaps you would not mind open by ic ing the door to your mental and letting us peep within at the stores you keep there i am sure that on the subject in hand your views cannot fail to be original as well as i am also sure said mr somewhat surprised to hear the idiot speak as he did having sometimes ventured to doubt if that minded young man ever reflected on the serious side of life � i am also sure that it is most gratifying to hear that you have done some thinking on the subject i am glad you are gratified mr replied the idiot but i am far from taking undue credit to myself because i re fleet upon the future and its possibilities i do not see how any man can fail to be interested in the subject particularly when he considers the great strides science has made in the last twenty years i fail to see said the school master what the strides of science have to do with it you fail to see so often mr returned the idiot that i would advise your eyes to make an in favor of your pupils by ic i put in mr that i too am somewhat � er � � somewhat up a tree as to science s connection with the future the idiot you have mj meaning but hardly the i should have chosen replied the minister my style is rather said the idiot i appreciate the flattery implied by your noticing it but science has everything to do with it it is science that is going to make the future great it is science that has distance and the has just begun twenty years ago it was hardly possible for a man standing on one side of the street to make himself heard on the other the properties of the atmosphere not being what they should be today you can stand in the pulpit of your church and by means of certain scientific ap make yourself heard in boston new or san has this no bearing on the future the time will come mr when your will be able to sit in their comfortable and ring up the heathen in foreign and convert them over the without run by ic the slightest danger of falling into the soup which expression i use in its literal rather than in its sense bat � interrupted mr now wait please said the idiot if science can degrees of distance who shall say that before many days science may not degrees of time if san thousands of miles distant can be brought within range of the ear why cannot be brought before the mind s eye and if can be brought before the mind s eye what is to prevent the invention of a which shall enable us to cast a which shall reach all around eternity and half way back if not further you do not understand me said mr when i speak of the future i do not mean the future i know exactly what you mean said the idiot i ve dealt in and i am familiar with all kinds it is you sir that do not understand me my claim is perfectly plausible and in its results is bound to make the world better do you suppose that any man who by the aid of my sees that on a certain date in the future he will be hanged for murder is going to fail to provide himself by ic with an in regard to that murder and must we not admit that having provided himself with 