The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1891-10-02

A Great scientist's Sketch OF the Probable
End Of All Things.

A Great Scientists Sketch OF the Probabl
End Of All Things.
The earth had been inhabited for abou
q, OOO, 900 years. The primOrdial age ha
U taken not less than 100000 years to &
through the several phases.
The primary age had occupied more tina
5000 900, the secondary age 100000 years
= the tertiary age 100000 years; the primitiv
human age, the time of national divisions,
barbarism and of militarism. had filed abou
100000 years, and the sixth age, that OF In
I tellectual humanity, had reigned for nearl!
100000.
During that long succession Of ages th'
earth had grown older and the sun colder
and, in consequence, the geographical aspect
of the globe had metamorphosed itself;' the
water of the ocean had slowly penetrated
through the earth's crust; the sea was con-
tracted to fourth of Its area In the early
human period; warm valleys and equatorial
regions alone were habtable.
All the rest was frozen. From century to
century humanity had attained forms of ex'
ouisite beauty and no longer worked mate
rally. ,..,.,.
producing at will all that was needed. IL was
then united race, entirely different from the
rude and heterogeneous races that mad cnar'
acterized the first period.
About the year 100000 after Jesus Christ
the last great focus of human civilization
sboae In the center Of equatorial Africa, IN
the brilliant city Of SHUTDOWN, which had a.
ready several times been raised again from Its
ashes. The sites where Paris, London, VI
emma and New York were buried be-
| mo n tho ice.
The capital of this aristocratlc republic had
attained the last limits OF luxurious and
vouptuous civilization. Wives no longer De-
came mothers except by accident. tney no
| longer desired the Inconvenience OF matern-
fly, and rsgned In all the splendor OF their
unblemished beauty.
Life had been, II not dried up at Its source.
at least rendered irremediable unfruitful. NO
young women remained; the soil. too, was
aterilized. and the generation saw the end APP
proaching..
structed, and all the strong men started on
voyage of investigation Of the equatorial
zone' to see whether any Isolated human
groups still existed. The entire earth had al,
most disappeared beHath snow and Ice, and
already half the members OF the expedition
had died from hunger and cold, when the
survivors discovered human settlement on
the banks of an unfrozen river.
They were received as savi0rs by men who
believed themselves the only survivors OF ter
restrial humanity, looking In despair at the
last days of the world.
The river on whose banks they were camp.
ed was the once famous Amazon.
The last woman Of the community was al
ready dead. the wine and the grain were eX-
tinct, and the men subsisted solely on fish
On bearing of this the guests were In des-
pair; their country was still wealthy; sci.
,nce rendered them independent of soil and
ratt prn lpaHQY NIL
ID: +.
1--WE came In search of female associates,
md haG we found but one single wife, all the !
iches OF our land would baye been hers.' !
Some time before these events happened In
africa and America the island of Ceylon,
low attached to Asia, and there IN TINS eartn-
= paradise, not far from the equator, at the
cot of Adams peak, dwelt twelve women,
ole heiresses of the last unextinguished fam
les. .
The male sex had completely disappeared. :
he Youngest of the females, little Eva, was 9
hree years old. The decline Of natural forces \
ad brought about decline OF human races, |;
nd with it the decline of Inventions ana Z
sages which had formerly seemed SO indis'
ensible. 5
Crossing the Pacific ocean our adventurers =
that thew saw
heir Joy group of five women IN mourning :,
he chen last survivors of the race IN Asia.
hey alighted, told the object Of their explor- !
lions and had no difficulty in convincing the 7
afr Asiatics.
Their despair disappeared like q mist, and \
few hours sitter the arrival Of the aeronauts =
be five nuns had become the most elegant OF !,
,omen. But Ceylon was more than sun :.
,wn; provisions were scarce, and the whole y
arty, taking the women with them, returned J!
their African home. "
Arrived there, they found that the friends RI
I'd relatives they had left behind were all g
Fad or dying from an epidemic; the cold, "
70. was Increasing: and, although. they kept ~
, fires and shut off all communications with le
e outer air, death was busy among them. 10
it'll, at the end of a few weeks, all had OF
lssed away save only the youngest woman, 10
va, her lover. Omegar, who saw without vi
fusion the inevitable fate which awaited
en, well knowing that no other spring
ould ever bloom on earth. r
However, the sky cleared, and the Young
upe, taking all the provisions available, ~,
Sc In their aerial boat to judge of the last -"
vasions of snow, and saw that the whole
" was buried FL
They then started for the Nile valley, and
reaching 1t saw with delight that the great .
ramid was still standing. the evidence on MI
nth of the work of mans hands. mex. W.
There they found shelter among the ruins, pa
d folded In each others arms. took their eu
It look at earth. and murmuring eternal vel
re to each other, they sank into the sleep DIT
death. on
And the snow continued to fall, as a fine I'M
WIDER on the surface of the earth. WI
And the earth continued to revolve on its am
Is and to float through the immensely of SCI
ice. The sun continued to shine. but with KIN
eddish and barren light, and stars continu- De!
to scintillate In the immensely of the
lvens. 10y
And the Infinite universe continued to ex- POI
with Its billions Of living or extinct plan TO
. .I-7',7' onl
And In all the worlds peopled with the joys mo
life love continued to bloom beneath the rea
ling glance Of the eternal.-[Camille zen
In the Forum. SOC
81
pal
or wounds and infammations, Johnson's ma
odyne Liniment 10 healing and soothing. L