Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-03-22
A TALE OF ANTIQUITY.
4 Vision of the Horrible Future Taken
from the Past.

from the Past.
The primeval forest.
Rank and luxuriant grew the vegeta-
ton that sprang into being under the
| ardent rays of tropical sun. Tall,
stately trees waved to and fro in an at
! mosphere Of perpetual summer, and
down through the shimmering vistas
and leafy glades rose to view dense
jungles of clinging plants that strove to
mount to the blazing sunshine overhead
by winding in tangled mazes about the
trunks and branches of the forest mon
archs.
Happy four footed denizens of the
trackless wilderness leaped from bough
to bough in the careless abandon and
wild, unchecked freedom of natures
own children, chattering, with the flow
ing, unkempt locks of a modern vir-
tuoso, their CHEEKY, ceaseless, staccato
music; and in the ecstatic warbling of
the feathered songsters that fitted about
in the topmost branches of the trees
there was no melancholy premonition
of any long, bewildering series of fare
well concerts.
From the depths of somber avenue
of impenetrable greenery, whose dark
shadows invited the weary to repose, the
stertorous breathing of disturbed
sleeper broke upon the pulseless air.
Then a voice rang out through the
solitudes:
''Oh, l have had such horrible,
frightful Dream
1t was the father of the family who
spoke.
Securely embowered i'll the modest yet
primitive habitation to which he was &C
customed to repair when weary of So
ciety and its demands upon him, he had
laid his tired head down to rest, and
sleep had descended upon him.
1T was horrible!' he repeated, with a
shudder.
What was it, inquired his faithful
companion soothingly.
yet it was only DREAM he ex
claimed, trying to shake off the gloomy
impression it had made upon his excited
sensihilities. "Only dream-but how
vividr'
He passed his hand across his eyes,
shook himself and said:
Listen. l dreamed that countless
ages had rolled away. These grand old
forests had vanished, and ugly rows of
dirty brown and gray dwellings covered
the Lard. Narrow passages called streets,
paved with slippery granite blocks or
bottomless with mud and slime, crossed
each other at right angles. The dwell
ings were dark, gloomy, tall and cloud
of smoke hung over everything
'HII1 ANYBODY 1.-Two in,
inquired his spouse.
MISUNDERSTANDING of .--...!sands.
They called it living. Cooped up in
these boxlike structures was multi
tude of the Strangest looking creatures
imaginable. Pale, emaciated, some with
hair on their faces and some without.
they trooped down the horrible streets
in the morning and back in the evening.
They walked upright, to be sure, and
some Of them carried sticks in their
hands, but seemed to have no use for
them. One-half of the population seemed
to be two legged. These two legged
creatures did not dress alike. Some of
them wore high, shiny things on their
heads, held burning things that smelled
villainously in their mouths, had loose
coverings about their bodies, wide, flap
ping garments, with creases up and
down them on their legs, and black.
glistening things on their feet that
punched and made them limp. Others
of these two legged creatures were
dressed exactly alike, and sometimes
they would walk along like machines.
two or four abreast, looking solemn and
torbidding, while a few smaller ones in
front pounded round things with little
sticks and made horrid noise. 1t was
one of their ways of amusing them
selves"
How about the other half of the
population
They Wore their hair in front lust
like yours, my dear, with little shapeless
things on the backs of their heads, and
garments that came down to the ground
and scraped the streets. l could not see
that there was any other way of clean
ing the streets, but it seemed to me
poor way. The garments were always
dirty at the bottom and the streets
never got any cleaner. These creatures
seemed to have two feet, the same as
the other, but l was not sure Their
bodies were pinched at the waist, and
when they walked along they appeared
20 be always in danger of breaking in
two
Don't say anything more about them,
Jocko! 1t is too horrible! Who were
these creatures"
Il dreamed, my dear" he said, with
shudder, ''they were our descend
ants"
So saying, he wrapped his tail on the
limb below, swung himself to the
ground, and with dismal wall he dis
appeared in the trackless jungle.-Chi-
cago Tribune.
Paving the Way,
wl3