Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-05-18
TIN AGE OF ALUMINIUM
The World Shall Shine with
New LuStcr.
TWENTIETH CENTURY PROPHECY,

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AIMING me GREATEST changes Whlch uhe
hIlh CoIumDlan year Will discover will I've
the substitution of aluminium for iron ard
of sound for sight in the work of learning.
These things civilization demands and viii
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environment.
The progress q the human race has hecn
marked and recorded at every stage by the
use of materials found in the earth. The
present civilization of the world is founded
on iron. For nearly 5000 years iron has
been the most important material sub
stance in the arts of life. We live IN an age
OF iron. The whole present fabric is builded
almost exclusively on this coarse, strong
metal The age of iron marks the first
cmprgencc of mankind into the conscious
state. Before the epoch Of national CON
scIousness there had been two ages of stone
liarbarism has always had stone forts sub
N'''NN fiI'i - blipi. III tLt lIItclIltNlIdtN
stages of man life the race advanced to cop
,per and then to bronze. There was II brief
copper age and then a lOngerag of bronze,
FINALLY came the age of iron. 1t has been
the age of battle and power and conquest
Civilization has caught herhu and quality
from that material substance to which she
has owed her prcScrvaton
We are not to suppose that the aye
OF iron will last forever. Nothing lasts
forever. All things obey the law of evo-
lution and transformation. Just rs stone
and bronze have given place to iron, so
shall iron give place to aluminium The
people will not call it aluminium or alum
mum, but alum-for short. There will he
IN age of alum surprising all the pre-.
vlous ages OF mans development. The age
OF power and conquest shall yield to an age
OF glory and enlightenment, and of that
age aluminium will be the shining symbol
That beautiful, universal and everlasting
metal, constituting as it does so large a part
OF the carth's surface and body, will bear
up the whole stupcndous fabric of knowl-
edge and progress which shall rise around
our dcScendHut~ in the closing decade of the
Twentieth century.
The world Shall shine with the new lus-
ter OF its principal metal All things shall
became whittier than silver All the cXteri-
brightness. The houses and cities of men,
built OF aluminium, shall fash in the rising
sun with surprising briliancy. All spires
and walls, all gateWays and porChcs, all
bridges and temples, all moving encincry
and faroif battlements shall blaze with
Hpleudor hciitting the new dawn of the
ages to come.
The second great change from the fourth
TO the fifth Columbian year will be the sub
stltutlon OF sound for sight, 1t will be the
restoration OF the human ear to its riChtful
Office rs the organ OF enlightenment and
learning The sound wave is TO be substi-
tuted for the light wave as the vehicle of
ali our best Information and intercourse.
The ear is to take the place Of the eye for
the interest ard instruction of mankind.
\ most unnatural thing has happened i'll
human Development Tine life of all ages
has been instructed by sound.
All mothers, from the mother bird to the
mother woman, teach their offspring 10y
Sound, by utterauce But instead of con
'unulng this natural process Of instruction
10 the complete Development of the mind
an abnormal method has been substituted
The youth at Il certain age is led into a
world OF science and there dismissed to
acquire if he can the painful use of mean
InYIeSS heroglyphics There he must study
with the eye, learning the sense of crooked
marks which can at most signify no more
THAN words Alas, how much of energy
Vnd life and thought have been wasted in
the instruction of the mind by characters
and symbols How the eyes of nlankiud
nave been dimmcd and eclipsed and the
faculties overheated by this unnatural proc
tss OF learning
Man begins his requirement of knowl-
edge with words, and he ends with words.
But IN unnatural civilization has taught
nm to walk the greater part of his intel
!cctual journey 10y means Of arbitrary sys-
TENS OF writing and printing The fifth
Columbian year will see him untaught--a
hard thing withal-and retaught on ma
ny SQUAD only Mtlliclality writes u sCrawl.
Natures book is II book Of words, Mans
book Is still a book Of signs and symbols