Barnard School for Boys - Bric Yearbook (Fieldston, NY)

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' if i JZ Q7 LGA W A GLIIVIPSE OF TI-IE FUTURE Probably by the time we go to press the astounding invention I note here will already be the talk of the newspapers and the new wonder of the public. It has been my great good fortune to have been acquainted with the inventor, Dr. Finder, for several years and I have seen the untiring energy with which he has prosecuted his experiments, and have shared with him his hopes and fears regarding the dis- covery which he has hnally made. Since he has requested the utmost secrecy of me, regarding particulars or details of operation at present, I may only give the reader a glimpse of the possibilities of this extraordinary discovery. For many years scientists have speculated concerning the existencegof a fourth a'i'11zie1'zsi0u and much has been written and said on this interesting subject. Dr. Finder, being the son of well-to-do parents, and, thus having leisure for ex- periment, took up the study of the fourth dimension as a life work. I-Ie fitted up a fully equipped laboratory in the heart of New York, and, having secured himself against intrusion, proceeded at once to the conquest of the intangible. Believing Time to be the fourth dimension from the start, he bent his energies to the discovery of a vehicle for moving in Time. Only two months ago he dis- covered the almost magic substance by means of which we may now travel in Time as easily as in Space. The next few weeks were spent in devising methods for harnessing the new compound. A Yesterday the Doctor wired inviting me over for the first trial of the machine. Excited and elated, I hastened to my friend's laboratory. All was prepared. In the center of the iioor, I saw what appeared to be a large box of transparent cellu- loid and which, in truth, it was. Inside were numerous instruments of which I am permitted to say nothing. The Doctor asked where I would like to go on this first trip, and I replied that I should greatly rejoice if I might see the members of our senior class twelve years hence. Irle readily consented to this proposition and, opening a curious door in the Time Machine, we stepped inside. Aftermaking

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BOARD OF EDITORS, I902 ERIC

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fast the door and starting the ingenious air transformer, the Doctor explained things to me. Suffice it to say that upon pulling a small lever the light faded and it soon be- came night, sounds from without also dying down, for the slowest vibrations became too rapid to be heard in the Time Machine. Then it was again day. This continued, and, as the machine went faster and faster, the succession of days and nights appeared as a grey streak. It was also impossible to observe any but the stationary objects around us for we were now going forward several weeks every second. just as I noticed that the dial recorded five years, there was a great change in the surroundings and it was evident that my friend's laboratory was becoming a print-shop. After some time things suddenly changed again and-12 flashed up on the dial! M y friend carefully slowed down the machine. Night was once more distinguishable from day, gradually sounds became audible again, and soon we had stopped in IQIQ! XVe unlocked the door and rushed forth. Wfe found ourselves in a business office much like those of to-day, except for several appliances which had been invented since 1907, or had not then been in common use. A fine-looking man received us, and, when I had stated the reason for our presence there, saying that I wished to look up men of the ,O7 class at Barnard, 'AWhy,', said he, hello, you're Blank. Don't you remember Cleavelandf' Mu- tually surprised and delighted, we shook hands, and I introduced the Doctor. Cleaveland then told me that he was in the lumber business, and, although reticent in speaking of his success, I gathered that he had practical control of the lumber business in America, and was the inventor of HPClQl'lf1ll6,U a substance which turned wood to the petrified state by external applications, and was vigorously competing with the marble trust. Come, said he, let us look up the other mem- bers of 'o7.,' Going to a curious device which seemed to consist of an ordinary oval mirror, a cash register, and a large aperture, resembling a megaphone, he pressed several keys, and pulled down a small handle. Suddenly I was startled by a great change in the mirror, for there appeared in it the Visage of a fair-haired man, whom l recognized at once as our friend, IW. K. Sowdon, and a voice spoke apparently from nowhere. After I had recovered from this exhibition of future inventive genius, and had made myself known, I learned that I was talking to one of the foremost capitalists, for since I had last seen him in IQO7, he had made a fortune on the Street, and was now playing the philanthropist, beside financing promising young enterprises of the day. Several times I tried to shake hands with the mir- ror, for the reality of the electrical image and the perfect tones produced by the receiver made me believe I was talking with the flesh and blood reality instead of over wires to Pittsburg, where Sowdon really was.