The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1879-07-24
A HUNDRED YEARS HENCE.

and sleep and sleep, and then "
die. The present alone is ours, tn
past dream, the future all unfsth
enable. On the brink Of time stand
man eating his way by moments
plodding unconscious of the waste
within the wear and teac of tba
exquisite machine, the human body
Proud of the intellectual and physi'
cal achievements of the past glory ing
in the conscious sense Of strength il
the present, boastful of the finite
power which God has given him,
yet oft forgetful of the source from
whence it sprung, man lives his lit.
tie span, grabbing, delving, spin
ming, toiling, like the aut-a larger
ant, less wise withal, and grateful
AS he stands in his matchless sym.
metry and strength, peering through
the God-like light of reason into the
unfathomsble abyss of space, put
ting a girdle round about the earth
and digging deep into its bowels
thinking, dreaming, praying, ours
iug-he knows not what a moment
may bring forth, or when, in the de.
cree of an aIl-wise Providence, his
little lamp shall cease to shine on
earth.
Man for the future can but reason
from the past. In hundred years
he has seen or heard of many chang
es on the wondrous globe he calls his
home. Great souls have come aud
gone great souls will come again.
Intellect has quickened the means OF
locomotion, lessened the Adamite
curse of toll intellect will do so
still. SO he reasons, and so his logs
ic rests upon the past. One hun
bred years ago the world travelled
in numbering 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 have chang
ed to weeks, and weeks to hours.
One hundred years ago the trav-
eller between New York and Illinois
wilds would have made up his mind
to three weeks trip, in umbering
wagons, sleepy ferries and uncom>
Portable stages. In the year of
grace 1879, two days and one night,
passed in ease and comfort, see him
safe at bis journeys end. When
his Majesty's troops sailed from the
shores Of England to give these col
onists a lesson, they we're fortunate
# three weeks tossing on the broad
Atlantic brought them within sight
If Newfoundland. To-day an eight
lay passage is a matter of course.
Without multiplying illustrations,
t is not 10 the least degree unnatural
hat the man of the hour, peering in
o the mists of dim futurity, should
lee in its dark and unfathomable
lepts still greater strides toward the
,oal which his Imagination pictures
rs the ultima Mule Of inventive per-
'ection. Electricity has added its
'park to creative Immortality
What may not electricity bring
'orth ? What motors fill the womb
If pregnant Time Did we behold
n the fragile air ship Of to-day the
engine that is to watt our posterity
with unthought Of speed from conti>
1ent to continents Are the worlds
10 draw together ere the end, and
men to stride the air and guide their
Darques through spaceg Shall tun
nels bridge the seas, and steam go
down before a higher forceY Who
knows what is to be 2 Already
whisperings fill the air with won-
lrous motors the busy brains Of
men are at work. "Across the
ocean in fifty hours"--so reads the
attest tale-a life boat raised by gas
aud sailed by steam.
A hundred years hence Who
that is born to day shall live to see
it 2 and what if he does live, shall he
sea daily balloon to London, an
afternoon trip to Florida9 Will the
docks, now echoing to the hiss of
steam, be filed by strange, uuearthIy
shapes, with wings and fans, and
gaudy bags of gasg VIII freight
trains, drawn by noiseless power,
pass swiftly meath the sea, and par
cells dart like lightning round the
world 2 Stranger things than these
have happened within hundred
years, and some may live to see still
greater wonders and yet we cam
not change the face Of nature. Man
is the same to>day he was hundred
years agO-more restless, nervous,
and ambitious bat unchanged in
feeling, passion, thought. lie was
made 10 the image aud likeness Of
bis Maker, and, however he may
darken and obliterate that image, SO
shall be remain and the sea shall
change not, neither the dry land
at least to outward and unlettered
the heavens shall tell the
glory of God until the inevitable
hour when all created things shall
pass away like scroll, and the soul
of man have learned the truth of
everlasting veal or woe in the never
ending mansion of eternity.
David Pritchard, a painter, whilst
at work on the market tower 10 Aus