Life in a Thousand WorldsHarris, W. S. (William Shuler)
Science
Life in a Thousand Worlds
Harris, W. S. (William Shuler)
Utopias
It requires but little arithmetic to figure out that the people of Brief
do not see the sun rise very often. When it does appear in the morning
sky, all the public signals blow and the people appear in one or
another of their places of worship. This beautiful custom has been in
practice for over three thousand years. The worship is not sun worship,
but a genuine service of thanksgiving to Him who ruleth over the sun and
supplies it with fuel to burn. It appears that on all worlds everything
is regulated in accordance with the length of human life. On this world,
of Brief all vegetables mature in periods so short that one marvels when
he hears it. Think of cereals reaching maturity in seven or eight of our
days, or during one day of Brief. Early in the morning certain crops are
planted and are harvested at night. Two or more days are required for
maturing other crops. Actually the people of Brief raise their crops
with less labor than is required amongst us.
If you were permitted to look upon the public and private life of this
incredible world, your first sensation would be dizziness, not to
mention the weirdness of all sights that would confront you at every
turn. People would seem to be in a mad rush, and it would appear that
all business is done with insane rapidity.
Furrows of care and trouble begin to deepen on the faces of these
Briefites as they approach an age of what we would call three years, and
if by lease of strength they pass on toward an age of four years, it is
but an evidence of their exceptional vitality. It seems to be true that
the experiences of a long life of sixty or eighty years is crowded into
a narrow compass of four years by a miracle of spheres not comprehended
by finite minds.
No doubt a detailed description of this whirling and dashing life would
be of interest to us slow, deliberate creatures. But I can give only a
passing glimpse.
JOURNALISM.
Things happen in such quick succession that the news is hustled out at
all hours of the day and night; not on sheets of paper, but through
automatic news-receivers, machines somewhat akin to our telegraph
instruments.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account