Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1892-06-19
THE LAST PEOPLE.

lis In the year A. ID. 9,450, 235. A |
dense fog envelops the entire globe,
growing thinner and lighter only at the
poles. The rays of the sundisk ara
dotted with millions Of dark spots and
cannot penetrate the thick, wintry fog;
over the earth pale red twilight
spreads.
Nature round about is dead and bar
rem. The dome of the horizon Is not
visible; no friendly star sheds it's light
upon this immense, rigid desert: the
soft rays Of the moon have ceased to
shine over the giant snow fields and icy
prairies; they are no longer reflected
upon the glstening surface Of the mar
row. far expanding frozen seas, the
remnants of the oceans OF the world
not yet absorbed by the sunlight.
And should this impenetrable fog
break away and the continuous fall Of
the fine, misty snow come to an end we
would still seek vainly for the trusty
comrade Of the earth, the moon. Thou
sands of years ago she was destroyed,
partly through constantly increasing
cold and partly scared by the burning
sunrays, which no atmosphere could
soften, and her fragments were hurled
into the immense space of the earth.
1t was thought that the end of the
world had come then, and this terrible
catastrophe caused dreadful earth
quakes, floods and storms, the descrip
ton of which came down from gener-
alton to generation i'm myths and
legends, until at last the influence of
the moon upon the earth, the tides and
eclipses of the sun was not even known
by name to the human race of that
period.
As far as the eye can reach this des-
ert lies In the throes Of an almost com
plete rigidity. The fire in the interior
of the earth in burned out; the rays of
the sun have lost their power TO warm
It. Everything Is cold and dead But
there is stiIisome organic life under the
white shroud;. there are still human
beings living in this inhospitable will
derness, remnants u a dwarfed and
stunned tribe, who FOL. thousands OF
yeaB have been accustomed to wiring
day b. day hazardous existence from
the Eimical elements; tribe who
know nothing Of life during medieval
Usys ~ warmer chimes, where volup-
tuous aud magnificent flora grew under
n deesD blue sky and earth and air and
ocean were peopled with manifold ami
.S.rnal creatures. For thousands OF years
the inhabitants of the globe have
knc xn no other zone than the north
err, no other nature but one of snow
and ice and cold. There were many
OLD scientific records which spoke of a
milder climate. and sagacious hypoth-
eses were laid down In these volumes
of an antediluvian fauna and flora; but
later on nobody believed them or imag-
ined II possible that they could ever
have existed.
During an unreasonable period OF
time the earth had gradually cooled
of. and this cooling off emanated from
the poles, moving slowly and gradually
for thousands of years were mere
seconds on the dial of the clock Of tn,
world-toward the equator What 1
sensation II aroused when in ancien
times for instance I'm the Nineteenth
century. fossil remnants of vegeta
ton and animal world were found wa,
up In the north underneath the ice AM
snow, such as could have existed onl,
In the tropie zone, not thinking thel
that the time would come when tn
equator would reveal under its cove
of ice and snow the fossils Of its own
tropical nature.
Constantly the inhabitable space O
the earth grows smaller, the battle 70
existence and life becomes more severe
resistance against the elementary pow
ers weakens and the human race grad
ually melted away, until in the year O
9,450, 235 IL had become almost extinct
This remnant Of race, which had one
covered the entire earth ball and boast
ed of its mastership of the world
found secluded in huts of ice way IA
In the mountains Of the Loango regio
of western Africa, near the former Sc
coast Hardly distinguishable froI
their surroundings, it is difficult to fin
NneNe fulilElIl nhDliillOits. W bt 10 vi
lonely wanderer who should lose hi
way. He would perish surely, unless
streak of the north light, which MOI
and then breaks through the fog come
10 guide him Alright
No star, not even the sun, can poiIl
him on his way, for everything is en-
veloped In this inpenetrable mist
Long, narrowly winding tunnels leal
through the snow into the cave lik
huts In which these few human being
live with their last tFusty companions
the reindeer and the dog. One a
their greatest labors is to keep the hu
and It's entrance free from the snow
which Is continually drifting, and {
gather the necessary nourishment 10
these animals. Should they neglect /
do the one they would be buried alive
and II they omit TO care for their reir
deer, which supply them with thei
meat and milk, they will die the dcat
of starvation; for the seal and walri
hunt h combined with untold hart
ships and yields but a rare end.
Two men clothed In heavy. THE
sealskins are turning sled hitehed |
a couple Of tan colored dogs towal
the hut, which lies a little way abos