Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1875-11-27

THIS lie OF ours IS fall OF mysteries.
We1riss Ia the morning, we 90 to bed
atiHight, I'VE toll and .tch, and sleep and
sieep,. and thenawe diss The present
alone is ours, the past q dream, the tu-
ture all uDfathomable. On the brink
Of time stands man, eating his way by
moments, ,plodding unconscious OF the
waste within, the wear ana tear Of that
exquisite machine, tie human body.
PrbudG of the intellcctuals and physical
acbievewepts of the pest gloryIng in the
conscious strength. Of The present, boast
fhl Of the finite power which God has
given hsai, yet oft f6teetfal of the
source whence it spsiBg, ,l.mah lives his
MISUNDERSTANDING, shelving, spin
ning, ,toiling Like the ant,-a larger ant,
less wise witbal, aud grateful. AS he
stands in his matches symmetry and
strength, peering throngh the Godlike
fight of reason into she unathomable
abyss Of space, putting q girdle round
about the EARTH and digging deep into
its bowels, thinking, dreaming, praying,
cursing, he knows not what moment
may bring forth, or'wbeh, 10 the decree
of an all:wise Providence, his little lamp
shall cease to shine on earth. - ca
In Man forthe future can but reason
from the past, In hundred years, he
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
suicked 1.-THE means OF locomotiou, less
ened the Adamite ,cnrse of toll; intellect
win do SO still. So he reasons, so his
logic rests npon the rast. One hundred
years ago the world travelled in lum-
bering coaches, sailed thegsea in slow
going ships; to-day the iron horse goes
tearing through the land, and steamers
bridge the widest oceans. Mouths have
Changed ito weeks, and weeks 10 honrs.
One hundred years ago the traveller be
tween New York and the Illinois wilds
would have made up his mind to, a
tbree-weeks trip. in numbering wagons,
sleepy ferries, and uncomfortable stages.
I'd the year OF grace, 1878, two days
aud one night, passed in'ease and com
fort, see him safe at his journeys end.
When his majestys troops sailed from
the shores of England to give these col
onists lesson, they were fortunate
enough if three weeks tossing on the
broad Atlantic brought them within
sight o Of Newfoundland To-day an
eight-day passage is matter of course.
Without multiplying illustrations, it is
not in,the least degree lunDatnral that
the man Of the hour, peering into the
nists of dim futdrity, should see in its
7 dark and unfathomable depths still
greater strides toward that goal which
his imagination pictures as the Ultima
thule of inventive perfection. Electrici-
ty has added tsspark to creativei eimmor-
tality. What may not electricity bring
FORTH O. What motors fill the womb Of
pregnant timel do we see, in the
fragile air-sbip of to-day the engine
that is 70 watt our posterity with un-
tlought-ofspeed from continent to con-
tinent! Are the worlds TO draw togeth-
er ere the end, and men to stride the
air, land guide their barks through space?
Shall tunnels bridge the seas, and steam
go down before higher forcei Who
knows what is to be! Already whis-
perings fiji the air with wondrous mo-
tors; the busy brains Of men are at work.
-n5s,Across the ocean in fifty hours so
reads the latest tale,7a life-hoat raised
by gas, aud sailed by steam.
A hundred years hence Who that
is born to-day shall live to see it, and
what, if he do live, shall he see,-- a
daily balloon to London, an atternoor
trip to Florida! Will the docks, now
echoing to the hiss Of steam be filled
with strange, unearthly shapes, with
wings and fans and gaudy bags ofgas'
Will freight trains, drawn by noiscless
power pass swiftly meath the sea, and
parcels dart like lightning round the
world? Stranger things ;han these
have happened in a hundred years, and
some may live to see still greater won.
ders. And yet we cannot change the
face Of nature. Man is the same to-day
he was hundred. years ago, more rest
less, nervous, ambitious, but unchanged
III feeling, passion, Thought. lie was
made in the image Of his Maker; and
however he may darken and -oblterxte
that image, SO shall be rsmaips aud tbe
sea shall change not, neither the dry
land, at least to outward anI nplettered
sense, and the heavens. shah tell Of the
glory of God till the inevitable hour,
when all created things shall pass away
like scroll, and the soul Of man have
learned the truth ofleverlasting veal or
woe in the never ending mansions of
Chicago later Ocean.
Mrs S,6nn was forever telling ber