Far In The Future

Gnawing away at the mountain shale near Denver is a machine

that eats rocks, transforming them into oil, paraffin, perfumes, dyes,

synthetic rubber-in all 155 different products, including gasoline

and lubricating oils.

The separating of the shale rock into these elements is done with

heat generated by oil burners; and there is absolutely no waste, for

the refuse, dumped out at the back of the machine, is made up of

hydrocarbons of great commercial value.

The story of this rock-eating monster is worthy of a place with 

the tales brought to Europe by travelers in India who first saw cotton

and sugar cane. They told that in that strange land were "plants that

bore wool without sheep and reeds that bore honey without bees."

Rocky Mountain Meadow

Colorado

The first cotton cloth brought to Europe came from Calicut and was

called, "calico". Only kings and queens could afford to wear it.

Arabs brought the lumps of sweet stuff, like gravel, that they

called, "sukkar". This was so scarce and precious in Europe that

it was prescribed as medicine for kings and queens when they were ill.

From the days when sugar and cotton were such wonders to the time

when a machine crushes rocks and from them distills delicate perfumes

and beautiful colors has not been so very long when measured by years;

but measured by the advance of science and invention, 

it has been a long, long way.

Looking forward, we stand in awe of the future, wondering if the

prophecy of Berthelot, the great French chemist, will be fulfilled.

He says the time will come when man, by the aid of chemistry, will

take his food from the air, the water, and the earth without the 

necessity of growing crops or killing living creatures; when the

earth will be covered with grass, flowers, and woods among which

mankind will live in abundance and joy.

This is far in the future and almost impossible of belief, but that which

is the wonder of one age and hardly believable is the commonplace of

the next. We go from achievement to achievement, and no one knows the

ultimate heights the human race may reach.

"Far In The Future"

 (June, 1922)

By Laura Ingalls Wilder

An essay from the book,

"Little House In The Ozarks"

A Laura Ingalls Wilder Sampler

The Rediscovered Writings

Edited by Stephen W. Hines

(1991 Guideposts Edition)