Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1915-05-28


II was not that the professor did
not believe in the celestial visitor.
Nothing could be more certain, as all
the astronomers agreed, than that the
earth must inevitably be consumed.
But the human mind cannot quickly
adjust itself.
The crowds stood staring up at Og
nightly. They measured it; they
looked through telescopes to see the
man in o." Meanwhile Mary Hagan
was fading swiftly. 1t was question
whether she would live to see the end
of all things. And her husbands des-
perate plea for few hundred increase
was vetoed for the same reason that
had been given to Professor Joram.
He was also working overtime, be-
cause the factory was supplying large
quantities of heavy overcoats for the
forthcoming winter.
"John, DEAR" said his wife, have
YOU noticed that the human mind re-
fuses to believe what the professor
says? Don't you think, dear, that
perhaps the mind of the people may
be more truly guided by instinct than
the minds of the savants? feel that
the calamity will never happen"
at must happen" said John. ut
must. There is no possible escape"
And in his heart he added: Let
Mary die before that terror comes
upon us"
Terror reigned Enthusiastically in
September. The monster Og was now
three times as large as the sun, and
II was only a few thousand million
miles away. The churches were
filled. 1t began to be noticed that
charity was increasing. John Hagan,
rendered desperate, applied for raise
Of salary again. This time he got it.
He was to receive four thousand after
the first of the year. But by that
time, according to Professor Joram,
Or, which was travelling with in
creased speed, would inevitably have
DETECTED the earth from its orbit.
changes in temperature may be
looked for after the New Year. said
the weather bureau, which liked to be
right, even In those days. Certainly
there would be changes.
And now panic descended on all the
world. Men went about their work in
a daze. Long estranged families be-
gan to be reconciled. Enemies made
I'D. Men wanted to die with clear
consciences.
It was few days before Christmas
that a sudden hot wave struck the
world. The overcoats remained I'M
sold on the factory shelves. The tenn
perature was that Of balmy summer.
Nobody could understand why the
change had come about so suddenly
until on Christmas day.
Then the huge star, which had filled
several degrees of the heavens, was
seen to have disappeared. In its place
was a red mist, like new Milky Way,
which glowed by day and night. And
the heat, instead Of increasing, grad
ually gave way to normal winter tenn
peratures again as the mist finally
turned white and hung, a nebulous
curtain, in the heart of the constella-
ton Hercules.
And then Professor Joram an
nounced the truth. A miracle had
happened, such as no one could have
foreseen. The huge star had collided
with a dead, dark body equally large,
that had been circling about the solar
system since the beginning of time,
unguessed at. 1t seemed to have
been planted there by providence for
just such an emergency. At a dis
l., lance of thousand million miles
from earth the two had collided
squarely. The shock of the impact
had disrupted both into fine particles
of incandescent gas. The heat was
the cause Of the sudden increase of
the earth's temperature, but, as the
particles cooled, and began to coalesce,
all that was left Of Og and its dark
enemy was the fragments of what was
to be a new universe, aeons hence.
And with the knowledge that it was
saved the world went mad with joy.
Men kissed each other upon the
streets. The prisons were opened and
all the inmates released. Wars ceased,
the rich gave back their plumber to
the state, which distributed it among
the nation. There were no more poor,
nor ever would be. Preachers traced
from that day the beginning of the
real world of joy and happiness in
which we are now fortunate enough
to live.
81 knew, dear, that it would be-"
sobbed Mary, as John Hagan caught
her in his arms. s'It's better than
revolution, isn't it, John?"
That was what all the world was
saying. For the poor suddenly found
that the rich were their brothers, and
the rich that they had never before
known the meaning Of happiness.