Progress.
In the course of a lecture on the resources of New Brunswick, Professor Brown, of the Ontario Agricultural College, told the following story by an Arabian writer:
"I passed one day by a very rude and beautifully situated hamlet in a vast forest, and asked a savage whom I saw how long it had been there. 'It is indeed an old place,' replied he. 'We know it has stood there for 100 years as the hunting home of the great St. John, but how long previous to that we do not know.'
"One century afterward, as I passed by the same place, I found a busy little city reaching down to the sea, where ships were loading timber for distant lands. On asking one of the inhabitants how long this had flourished, he replied: 'I am looking to the future years, and not to what has gone past, and have no time to answer such questions.'
"On my return there 100 years afterward, I found a very smoky and wonderfully-populous city, with many tall chimneys, and asked one of the inhabitants how long it had been founded. 'It is indeed a mighty city,' replied he. 'We know not how long it has existed, and our ancestors there on this subject are as ignorant as ourselves.'
"Another century after that as I passed by the same place, I found a much greater city than before, but could not see the tall chimneys, and the air was pure as crystal; the country to the north and the east and the west, was covered with noble mansions and great farms, full of many cattle and sheep. I demanded of a peasant, who was reaping grain on the sands of the sea-shore, how long ago this change took place? 'In sooth, a strange question!' replied he. 'This ground and city have never been different from what you now behold them.' 'Were there not of old,' said I, 'many great manufacturers in this city?' 'Never,' answered he, 'so far as we have seen, and never did our fathers speak to us of any such.'
"On my return there, 100 years afterward, I found the city was built across the sea east-ward into the opposite country; there were no horses, and no smoke of any kind came from the dwellings.
"The inhabitants were traveling through the air on wires which stretched far into the country on every side, and the whole land was covered with many mighty trees and great vineyards, so that the noble mansions could not be seen for the magnitude of the fruit thereof.
"Lastly, on coming back again, after an equal lapse of time, I could not perceive the slightest vestige of the city. I inquired of a very old and saintly man, who appeared to be under deep emotion, and who stood alone upon the spot, how long it had been destroyed. 'Is this a question,' said he, 'from a man like you? Know ye not that cities are not now part of the human economy? Every one travels through the air on wings of electricity, and lives in separate dwellings scattered all over the land; the ships of the sea are driven by the same power, and go above or below as found to be best for them. In the cultivation of the soil,' said he, 'neither horse nor steam-power are employed; the plow is not known, nor are fertilizers of any more value in growing the crops of the field. Electricity is carried under the surface of every farm and all over-head like a net; when the inhabitants require rain for any particular purpose, it is drawn down from the heavens by similar means. The influence of electricity has destroyed all evil things, and removed all diseases from among men and beasts, and every living thing upon the earth. All things have changed, and what was once the noble city of my name is to become the great meeting place of all the leaders of science throughout the whole world.'"