Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1905-05-20
CITY OF NOMANANA.
By EDWIN BJoRKMAN.

city where they believed that To-mor.
row was only shadow thrown forward
by To-day, and the people that dwell!
there called 1t the City Of Mcnamara
Every day was to them the last one In
accordance with this faith they lived
A very few among them made books or
pictures or beautiful things. but they
were deemed and named cranks and
fools and prodigals by all the others
who were ever striving and struggling
in the sweat of their brows to make dol
lars
They would wake with start in the
morning to see the sun shining or to
hear the rain falling, and then they
would scramble out of their beds and
into their clothes, crying: Surely this
day will have no o-morrow-there-
fore let us make haste with our work
while there is time"
Centuries passed by thus, each day
lapsing imperceptibly into a new one
and still they chung to their belief that
Tomorrow would never be reached
Then it happened that a Man from No.
where came to visit them. He was made
much of, and received with pomp ant
attention, for they were proud of them.
selves and eager to show what a great
people they were. The stranger was
led from one end of the city to the other
through many streets and squares and
parks, up and down innumerable stairs
He was made to travel by so many diff
ferent conveyances that his memory
could not retain impressions of them all
He viewed stores, restaurants, libraries
halls. offices, and museums. He saw and
wondered and grew weary, and all the
time he heard a great din of voices in
his ears chorusing:
rs it not great?"
Indeed" the stranger said at even
tide, dropping with fatigue, Il see the
work, but where is the enjoyment OF
it? Do you ever stop for moment to
feel happy?"
How could WEI" they rejoined, as.
founded at his inquiry. 1--WE work in
the daytime, we amuse ourselves in the
even, and we sleep through the night
But dreams some to you; waking
dreams, and such that creep gently
upon you from under the black veil OF
night?"
When would their time be?" was the
counter-question. I'VE work when we
work, and sleeping, sleep. What are
dreams, anyhow"
The Man from Nowhere pondered
long before he resumed: when you
took the bride into your arms and felt
against your own heart the tumultuous
beat of hers, in which fear and love
were warning for supremacy; when you
love, burn on your painting lips; when
you two became as one-did you expe-
rience the peace of that unearthly hap
piness which makes an eternity of each
second and of all eternity but a second?"
Our hearts were big with the sense
of desire gratified," they answered.
But what is peace?"
when your first born babe, soft and
red and downy, was laid in your trem.
bling arms, did time stand still and the
small cares of To-day vanish before the
joy of no limits?"
1--WE were proud fathers" they said.
"And that day we made more dollars
than usual, knowing that the little one
must have no time in which to make
them"
II do not understand" the stranger
unused, shaking his head. But | mag
inc you were building, unknowingly, for
the peace and quiet of Tomorrow.
There is no Tomorrow" the crowd
murmured. who ever lived to see it?"
why this haste and furry and chase,
them"
For To-day, of course" they retorted,
impatiently. what is not done To-day
will never be done"
Fools" cried the visitor, suddenly.
"Threefold fools See We not that We are
building palaces for shadows and gath
ering gain for the wind and the waves?"
Then they called him by strange and
ugly names, and threw stones at him,
and drove him with contumely out of
their city.
When passing day sent her last
greeting to coming night the Man from
Nowhere was lying in the heart of the
desert, with his face in the sky. He was
sore and tired and sorrowful, The hot
breath of the desert sand rose around
him like the ghost of mist until dark
ness covered him and the chill wind OF
the early night brittled his bones. He
was trying to think of the City of, Mo-
manana of the insults that had been
heaped upon him undeservedly; of the
stones that had been hurled at him as if
he were a mad dog; of the pain he was
still suffering in his bruised body. and
his lips were drawn back from his white
teeth to shape the word Revenge.
But the word was never uttered, for
just then a timid star peeped out be-
tween two fluffy evening clouds. Others
followed, until million gems sparkled
on the dark blue robe of the night. The
Man from Nowhere gazed on that illu-
mination with wrapt smile as if he