The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1911-03-02
One HUNDRED YEARS HENCE
(New York Worldly

.a-. %.
long the night. John Smith sleeps
peacefully. Suddenly at his bedside
the clapper of the phonograph-alarm
tremtles and produces sweetly mar
monious sounds. !,
John opens his eyes. Reaching out
his hand he finds an electric button
which he presses. Automatically the
shutters open. The window closes
and the sunlight pours into the
room
John Smiths chamber is furnished
with taste and even with q certain
amount of luxury: not because he Is
rich, but that in this twenty-first cen
tury luxury costs little and no one
is poor. The brass bed is no longer
that heap of blankets. feathers, wool
and hair against which hygierists
used to rail. A metal mattress sup
ports pneumatic cushions inflated
with, air, the temperature OF which
is regulated at pleasure. All is ready
for his toilet and his bath.
Through the room the air circu-
lates freely. ceaselessly renewed by
ingenious mechanism. Within the
walls, conduits of water. warmed oy
a central electric furnace, distribute
everywhere an equal heat in the cold
season. In summer the same con-
duits serve to cool the air.
Such is the apartment occupied by
John Smith on the forty-fifth floor OF
One Hundred and Eighteenth avenue.
New York.
But MIR. Smith has not yet risen.
He Is talking to the table beside his
bed.
So want cup of synthetic cocoa,
very hot" he says.
In few minutes the table opens
and the aromatic breakfast appears
before the eyes of the hungry man.
This is no magic table; no spirit is
concealed in it; it is simply provided
with a microphone by means OF
which Mr.. Smith expresses his wants
to the officials of the public alimen-
taticn service, which has its branches
on the ground floor of every house
of any importance.
While drinking his chemically pro-
duced cocoa Mr. Smith listens to the
morning papers. Every house win
"motlern conveniences' communicates
with a central information bureau
which gives it at all hours the news
only to slip small coin into a slot,
and speaking trumpet is unco 1ered,
which at once begins in sonorous
voice to recite the kilograms of the
night, the news items, the POLITICAL
news, the stock quotations, Literary
and dramatic criticisms. When Mr..
Smith has heard enough Of one AZ
ticls he presses an e.ec .rl2 Luton
and the voice tells something else.
This continues till hts toilet is In
through.
Mr.. Smith is something Of dandp.
He is dressed in full tunic IL Gre
ciar style, which sets off his power
full and youthful figure and ALLOW i
perfect ease of movement. IT'S shoes
arc polished by mechanical brushes,
operated by electric buttons. =.
What vehicle shall he take to &c
to his business? The railway that
runs under every street? The NOV
ina: sidewalk that passes before all
the shop fronts? Shall he go on
foot over the innumerabie bridges
which unite all the buildings Of the
city at all heights? He decides upon
an aerotaxi. Let us follow him in
the, elevator, which sets him down
upon the terrace of his dwelling, un-
de" a sky that is shadowed by great
wings that vibrate with the sirens OF
tho aerobuses.
A Harbor in the Air.
The sky resembles the harbor OF a
great port in which multitudes OF
vessels are moving in every direction.
Aerocabs, with polished hoods, buzz
about like big beetles. The ventri'
potent Observation-Disclosures
aerobus passes like a flash in whirl-
wind. AS it is scarcely 8 O'Clock
few private airships, with solemn
footmen in livery and gauntlets, are
seen. But many clerks mounted
upon old-model Bleriots, bought at
second hand, hasten to their morning
work.
Upon 8 biplane of archaic model,
which looks like flying bureau, they
mount crippled sandwich man, who
scatters handbills as ne dodses about
in the crowd with all the skill of the
New York street arab.
The use Of balloons has no. beeh
abandoned: those cumbrous blaGdars
Inflated with inflammable gas. thosH
dangerous toys with which orr an
cestors used to allow themselves to
flcat, not yet knowing how to fly.
They are to be seen everywhere but
without aeronauts. Reduced IN size
and always captive, they serve as
buoys and marks, bearing the names
of the several streets that lie below,
or Of the landing stations. Like
baskets, great incandescent electric
lights are hung from them to illum-
mate the air routes at night. And
then there are the advertising bal
looms, launched from the roofs OF the
great stores like soap bubbles, which
float in all directions to announce
the great white sale here or the bar
gains in furniture there.