The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1875-07-31
TFrom the Chicago Inter.ocean. July 21.l
HUNnREn YEARS HENCE.

HUNDRED IL Ans h6NO6s
This life of ours is full of mysteries.
We rise In the morning, we go to bed
at night, we toll and toll, and sleep and
sleep, and then we die. The present
alone is ours, the past q R.dream, the flu
ture all ,unfathomable, On the brink
of time stands man, eating his way by
moments, plodding unconscious of the
waste Within the wear and tear of that
exquisite machine, the human body.
Proud of the intellectual and physical
achievements of the past, and glorying
in the conscious sense of strength in the
present, boastful of the finite power
which God has given him, yet oft for
getful of the source from whence it
sprung, man lives his little span grub
bing, delving, spinning, toiing, like
the ant-a larger ant, less wise withal,
and grateful As he stands in bis
matchess symmetry and strength, pee
ring through the Godlike light of rea>
son into the unfathomable abyss of
space, putting girdle round about tie
earth, and digging deep into its bowels,
thinking, dreaming, praying, cursing,
he knows not what moment may
an all-wise Providence his little lamp
shall cease to shine on earth.
Man for the future can but reason
from the past. In hunlred years h9
has seen or heard of many changes on
this wondrous globe he calls his home.
Great souls have come and gone great
souls will come again intellect has
ouickeped the means of loconC tion,
lessened the Adamite curse of toll in
tellect will do it still, So he reasons,
so his logic rests upon the past. One
hundred years ago the world travelled
in lumbering coaches, sailed the seas
in SLOW going ships ; to-day the iron
horse goes tearing through the land,
and steamers bridge the widest oceans.
Months lave changed to weeks and
weeks to hours. One hundred years
ago the traveller between New York
and the Illinois wiids would have made
ND his mind to q three weeks trip in
Numbering wagons, sleepy ferries and
uncomfortable stages. In the year of
grace 1875. two days and one night,
passed in ease and comfort, see him
safe at his journeys end. When his
Majesty's troops sailed from the shores
of England to give these c0lonists a les
son, they were fortunate enough if
three weeks tossing on the broad At
lantic brought them within sight of
Newfoundland. To-day an eight-day
passage is matter cf course.
Without multiplying illustrations, it
is not in the least degree unnatural
that the man of the hour, peering into
the mists of dim futurity, should see in
its dark and unfathomab!e depths still
greater strides toward that goal which
his Imagination picture as the ultima
thule of inventive perfection. Elect
rcity has added its spark to creative
Immortality. What may not elec tricity
bring forth ? What motors fill the womb
of pregnant time 2 Do you behold in
the fragile air ship of to-day the engine
| that is to watt our prosterity with un-
thought of speed from continent to con-
tnent? Are the worlds to draw to-
gether ere the end, and men to stride
the air and guide their barks through
space Shall tunnels bridge the seas,
and steam go down before higher
force? Who knows what it is to be :?
Already whisperings fill the air with
| wondrous motors the busy brains of
men are at work. " Across the ocean
| in fifty hours so reads the latest tale
"a life boat raised by gas and sailed by
steam.
| A hundred years hence ! Who that
Is born to-day shall live to see 1t, and
what, il he does live, shall he sea-
daily balloon to London, an afternoon
trip to Florida win the docks now
echoing to the hiss of steam be filled by
strange, unearthly shapes, with wings
and fans and gaudy bags Of gas? viii
freight trains, drawn by noiseless pow
er, pass swiftly meath the sea, and par
cells dart like tightening round the
world7 Stranger things than these
have happened in a hundred years and
some may live to see still greater Won
dcrs. And yet we cannot change the
face Of nature. Nan is the same to-day
he was hundred years ago more
restless, nervous and ambitious but un-
changed in feeling, passion, thought.
He was made In the image and like
ness of his Maker. and however he may
darken aud obliterate that image, so
shall he remain, and the sea shall
change not, neither the dry land, at
least to outward and unleltered sense,
and the heaven shall tell the glory Of
God until the inevitable hour. when all
created things shall pass away like a
scroll, and the soul of man have learn
ed the truth of everlasting veal or woe
in the never ending mansions of eterni-
ty,
|
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