Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-11-30

Of street lamps we have. which makes
midnight in large city almost as
bright rs midday and which light Is
the greatest Of all crime prevcntcrs?
And, above all, shall we not thank God
for our library shelves filled with
books. cheap books, yet books ready
to serve us when we stretch out our
hands for them!
We are living In wonderful age.
How wonderful 1t Is not one of us can
truly grasp. was never more i'm
pressed with the rapid advancement Of
material blessings and OF Inventions
than when reading recently synopsis
of lecture delivered by the late Bish-
op Clark of Rhode Island In 1866. At
that time there were no bicycles. no
automobiles. no typewriting machines,
10 telephones. no Atlantic cables no
trunscOntinental railroad. no great
steamship lines as we conceive them,
no successful airshlps, no sleeping ears.
no large office buildings. with their ele-
vators, and no electric cars. The title
Of this lecture was The Next Fifty
Years" These are some of the prophc-
cies Bishop Clark then made I'VE have
made wonderful progress in travelling
facilities during the last half century.
but do you think improvement is going
TO stop there! Nay. Posterity will not
be content to travel at the slow rate of
only thirty miles an hour seated in
these narrow cars, stifled with bad air
and dirt 1t costs no great effort to
imagine fifty years hence splendid
locomotive. with hotel, spacious par
lors. dining rooms and dormitories.
moving gently az the bird flies over a
road carpeted by turf and bordered by
shade trees and sweet shrubs from
Boston to San Francisco in four days"
Have not the good bishops prophecies
almost literally come true? Shall we
not soon leap the continent from the
Atlantic to the Pacific in less than four
days? Then Bishop Clark goes on and
prophesies some of the wonderful in
ventions that have come to pass in the
electric world: The electric battery,
which now in some Of our cities strikes
the midnight hour, may be made at
evening to light nil of our street lamps
at one fash, secure perfect uniformity
of time In our public clocks and kindle
beacon on these dreary rocks in the
sea. where human beings now endure
melancholy and dangerous solitude"
Bishop Clark from the celestial heights
might see those electric lights shining
today. Speak out, ye lonely islanders
now in touch with mankind Speak
out!
Then the good bishop goes on and de
scribes the wonderful invention Of the
modern typewriter, to me one Of the
greatest labor saving machines in the
world. Hr continues: There is an.
other invention which for one would
hail with exceeding Joy. It may seem
absurd to predict that the time may
come when it will not be customary
to teach our children how to write. II
would have been thought Just as alb
surd fifty years ago to have foretOld
that the boys Of this generation would
grow up not knowing how to make a
pen. But that time il going to come"
Thus in closing this sermon on this
Thanksgiving sabbath would have us
one and all. amid the great hum Of fac
tory and by the fash Of electric spark
make this one prayer: 20 God. make
me tina nix full for the food eat. for the
clothing I wear and for the many
many blessings Of inventions round
about me. Fill me with the holy de
sire not to build for myself a hang
ing garden Of Babylon. but to be SC
blessed through the help OF modern in
vention that out Of my abundance
may give to thee and to thy children
May this he the Thanksgiving prayer
OF every heart. Then instead Of ma
terIal wealth being the cause Of ouI
spiritual overthrow 1t will be the means
by which we ourselves may be lifted
by lifting hungry and naked and q
fallen race up toward God and heaven
Then. indeed. shall the desert blossom
as the rose and the barren places OF
the earth through the power Of inven
ton be filled with the glory Of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea Then viii
our Thanksgiving day be glorious
Thanksgiving day for those we love
and for those whom we shall bless.
copyright. 1905. by Louis Kiopsch.l