Volume 7 - Iapsop.com

'VJlAT POSTER:rry WILL TruNK OF 11S.
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A GJ.lMPSE INTO TlJE FuTURE
EXTBAcr FROM A NE\VSPAPI!:.R 'OF TIlE TWEI'iTY-I\'IB8T CEl'iTuRY;
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The following article is evidently a part of
a letler from ODe friend, to nnotlief. A po ....
tlon of tbe silk on Which it was printed, had
been'so defaced, bf tbo ravaa"" of time, that
It was exceeding dIfficult to a'eclpber the cootents
; and therefore we are compelled to
omit the commenccmen,t o~ the letter, and
ean DIy present a portion lIf itB'conclu&!on:"
It will be •.,en that the dalAl of this paper is.
A. 1>. 2'.178 ; and the article Is copied from
anotller paper, foWtd io a bottle, Boating on
tbe 1lCP.an, the date of wjuch was A. D: 2078.
,It is the poetry of propbecy.-lJo:I>.)
, .. We present onr reaIIers, this noon, with
'tbis rich relic of antiquity, being a part of
the contents of a news journal, printed on
.i1k in the olden time; lIS t1ato Is JlII1uary
19th, A. 1>.'2078, exactly 20(1 yea'" ago, this
Iwing January 19th, A. I), 2'.178. Wo make
-, the following, extracts' for the purpose of
~h"wing our ten millions of readers tho woodonul
contrast between tho pre.cotconditlon
of the hnman raCo, and the astonishing ba ....
barism, (which, by thA way, wa" at that time
·-2076.-rOgarded as the very essence of civil.
'lzation and social perfection,] of tbat dark
age, Our readers will notl.,. 'the tone of pride
'Iu which tbe wriler speaks, when contra-'lillg
, the age In which he lives, with the uncouth
barbarism of lb. 18th and 19\h century. .But'
here i. the article, It speaks for itself :- '
• Ab ! my IQv@ly ZoJivia. would that 1 could
.pare the time to By to the. on the wings of
love, that I might drink in the .ouHlood,
eYcr gushing from tbe slIowy fout\t.ain of thy
gentle spirit; but, alas ! it cannot be. 7..0-
livia, my lo ...'y oue, the soul of thy Dalvin
yearns to be frco from the thraldom, to wblch
it has so loog becn SUbjected; and he longs to
Aleep-of as the savageo of the 19th century
wed ill tbeir ignorance to) e"pl'e3s it-die.
III the dltrk ages, wbose hl.Wry I have lately
been reading, my Zolivia, men lived to an
astoniohlng age; because they were so ntt.crly
ignorant of:tb. 11\W8 of life arid development,
'tbat tbey plodded on through sixty, .eventy,
and even ill raro ca.~e8, even an hundred
, years, ere tb"1 completed their extornal spiritual,
grow~, which, is csoential to a passage
over the River to the first form of tbe second
life: Their ignorance, my love-bird, was euch
that diseases, and, frightful disord ..... , wl~llou
number, aftIicted them, and a be3lthy human
cranium was scarcely ever Been, and consequently
a perfect human pleasure .eldom, if
ever"enj0t,ed or experienCed; and 8lI a tul'- '
,ther _ c.9!,sequenco, _of !.heir ,darkened .slate,-,- ,
they were subject to mental disorders of the
most terrible kind, among which, as I learn
from the perusal of their bistory, wers two
of a peculiarly distressing nRture; there were,
first a straoge fatuity; WhIch caused them to
'imagine untold penectlhns'resldiug in a kind
of earth, or lustrous metal; "bieb they called
gold, the same, Zolivia, with whicb the worshIp-temples
of our clUes are built. Thill,
strange' disease, which so sadly aftIicted tbe
barbari..us of the 19th cehtury, afrecwd the
eyes in such a maDDer, that Dothing was re"
garded as beautiful, unless it bad a yeUow
llue ; and, strange a'i it may seem to 'You, 1)0
mall bad infiuence, or was 'cousidered .\·C11'
respectable, uule.o. he possessed a large
amouut or smalll11edals, made of this yeUw
earth; together with .large bundles of sheets
ot paper, ad,orned witb pictures, and which
were called bank note •. ' 1 b ••• pictur.s, iustead
of adonling the walls of their dwellings,
were kept securely locked hi pooderoUll Iron
trunks, caUed safos. .
The second dlsClISe to which these poor
creatures wcre subjected, and wbleh affected
the .iervou8 sy9tem in a most singular fUan~
I1Or, wao one kuown ao Political Ambition.
After a mao had, by tbe exercise of what was
theb knowo as MKANNKSS, but wblcb has
'long Aillce become' exUnct in the humall
breao!., aCterhe bad accumulated a la;gc bundle
of tbe.e pielu .... , to which I have alltuled,
tbe back part of hi. bmin became Inftllmed,
and then the 8trange.ot ~agarie~ took posse$slon
of his mind, llOd be would place blmself
in a positlou where aU tbe people could s.,e
him, and beg of tbem to lay him in a bed'
made of .."all bits of paper, 'called balloI.'!,
1Uld attempt to carry him tbereon into 8 place
more or les. elevated, called offiee; where he,
was generally-treated as '8 lunatic, alld'be;'''''''·'
came the' gilded slave of the vcry men who
placed him there: the dlsea:>e s~m~tllDes