The Washington times., 1917-06-09
Don Marquis
Column
Preface to an Almanac.

Preface to an Almanac.
In a former preface we had some
thing to say about the shape OF tn
universe. We established the fact
we believe, that 1t Is spherical. Hav
ing thus said all that 1t is essentia
to say about Space, let us take VI
Time in a serious way and see wha
can be made Of it.
We will deal more particularly
with Future Time. It Is difficult e
discuss the Present, because II viii
not hold still long enough As for the
Past, great portions of 1t lie open to
the view OF all men; they see 1t diff
ferently, and anything we might say
about II would be sure to start an
argument. 1t is not our purpose, in
these occasional prefaces, to argue
! with our readers; we merely intend
to shout things at them and run on.
The most interesting question with
regard to the Future is whether II
exists already. or whether it has not
yet been created. Our own opinion
is that q great deal Of the Future ex-
lists already, and that 1t has not yet
caught up with us.
Or. to put 1t another way, Past,
Present, and Future exist simultane'
ously In different parts Of the same
solar system.
Let us say that It take 5000 years
for q ray of sunlight to travel from
the sun to this earth.
We do not know exactly how long
II does take. We wish we did, for we
like to be accurate even in these
trivial details. There is q book in the
house that might tell US. But we have
just moved. And some COMPOUNDED
sliding arrangement at the side OF the
baby's crib was broken in the move.
That side OF the crib is now propped
on the floor with twenty or thirty
books. The book that tells exactly
the distance from the sun to the earth
and the length OF time 1t takes a ray
of light working union hours to go
that distance, Is one OF those particu-
lar books. We would rather (great as
is our passion for exactltude) never
know the facts that risk waking the
In neighborhoods where we are known
1t has been whispered about that no
child would cry like that unless his
parents deliberately tortured him
throughout the night. And in a new
neighborhood.
Let US say that 1t takes eight thou
sand years for a ray OF light to travel
from the sun to the earth. The light
that makes this day today left the sun
centuries before dog-faced Agamemnon
launched his Grecian banks or Hector
was a pup at Troy. A million days that
we know not yet are already in exist
ence and on their way to US, carrying
with them their light and heat and the
germs OF their events. since all life Is
from the sun. A day that Is four thou
sand years within our Future is four
thousand years within the suns Past
the sun got rid OF it, threw IL at US, th.-
many years ago: half way between the
sun and the earth that day speeds mer-
rily along. making a brief Present
wherever II passes. but We win not be
here when It arrives. By the suns time
you and we, and the infant phenomenon
across the hall reposing In such blessed
unsophistication above two dozen sec
ond-hAnd volumes Of encyclopedia full
OF entirely immaterial knowledge. have
been dead nearly eight thousand years.
One may have been dead that long,
of course, and still feel young and
strong occasionally; there Is some
comfort in that. And always, to re-
member that one has been dead that
long, IL q salutary check upon hu-
man vanity. It should give us
1--WE always try to get some moral
reflection into these prefaces)-it
should give US q more kindly fellow
feeling for such dusty celebrities as
the Mummy of Rameses, the Pfltdown
Skull and Senator La Toilette. II II
ambition, II also dis
encouragement. Since the
sun threw off our death day nearly
5000 years ago, IL Is scarcely worth
while worrying about q future even
that IL so far in the past; we will
be sticking around somewhere when
said death day reaches us. but no
one need be expected to act as IL
he found any news in IL when It
gets here.
This Future that rushes upon us,
cries presently and eonrusingly in
our ear, and Is gone before we can
collect our wits to answer-where
does Il 20 to thenf The day existed:
It overlook US; Il went by; does II
still exist somewhere It came to
earth: IL left earth; perhaps II took
as IL went by-and Is It
now, with what II took, traversing
the next planet to the west as you
steer toward the cosmic jumping on
place Does the day, with what we
gave the day, await US And may
we overtake IL by q sudden acceIera-
ton of speed, such as a soul must
manifest when It pops hot and light
and eager out of a body-and may
we live in the warm middle and ting
ling presence OF that day again? 1t
seems altogether possible to US that
when we slip through the pearIy |
yates we may ind some OF these days |
sitting up with the lights all turned |
on waiting for US, like commuters |
Iives-
Now and thsn we nave the feeling |
formed before: We are arrested in |
with the consciousness |
hat the situation IL not new 10 US:
{ comes over us with a sudden eerI- |
Tess that we are repeating a particu- |
ar role: many persons are very sub
ect to such uncanny seizures. Per /
laps these strange moments are
tray bits of days that our souls have
lived through prevlously-bits that