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diff --git a/22713.txt b/22713.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d71f0da --- /dev/null +++ b/22713.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1139 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of With The Eyes Shut, by Edward Bellamy + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: With The Eyes Shut + 1898 + +Author: Edward Bellamy + +Release Date: September 21, 2007 [EBook #22713] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH THE EYES SHUT *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +WITH THE EYES SHUT + +By Edward Bellamy + +1898 + + +Railroad rides are naturally tiresome to persons who cannot read on the +cars, and, being one of those unfortunates, I resigned myself, on taking +my seat in the train, to several hours of tedium, alleviated only by +such cat-naps as I might achieve. Partly on account of my infirmity, +though more on account of a taste for rural quiet and retirement, my +railroad journeys are few and far between. Strange as the statement may +seem in days like these, it had actually been five years since I had +been on an express train of a trunk line. Now, as every one knows, the +improvements in the conveniences of the best equipped trains have in +that period been very great, and for a considerable time I found myself +amply entertained in taking note first of one ingenious device and then +of another, and wondering what would come next. At the end of the first +hour, however, I was pleased to find that I was growing comfortably +drowsy, and proceeded to compose myself for a nap, which I hoped might +last to my destination. + +Presently I was touched on the shoulder, and a train boy asked me if I +would not like something to read. I replied, rather petulantly, that I +could not read on the cars, and only wanted to be let alone. + +"Beg pardon, sir," the train boy replied, "but I 'll give you a book +you can read with your eyes shut. Guess you have n't taken this line +lately," he added, as I looked up offended at what seemed impertinence. +"We 've been furnishing the new-fashioned phonographed books and +magazines on this train for six months now, and passengers have got so +they won't have anything else." + +Probably this piece of information ought to have astonished me more than +it did, but I had read enough about the wonders of the phonograph to +be prepared in a vague sort of way for almost anything which might be +related of it, and for the rest, after the air-brakes, the steam heat, +the electric lights and annunciators, the vestibuled cars, and other +delightful novelties I had just been admiring, almost anything seemed +likely in the way of railway conveniences. Accordingly, when the boy +proceeded to rattle off a list of the latest novels, I stopped him with +the name of one which I had heard favorable mention of, and told him I +would try that. + +He was good enough to commend my choice. "That's a good one," he said. +"It's all the rage. Half the train's on it this trip. Where 'll you +begin?" + +"Where? Why, at the beginning. Where else?" I replied. + +"All right. Did n't know but you might have partly read it. Put you on +at any chapter or page, you know. Put you on at first chapter with next +batch in five minutes, soon as the batch that's on now gets through." + +He unlocked a little box at the side of my seat, collected the price of +three hours' reading at five cents an hour, and went on down the +aisle. Presently I heard the tinkle of a bell from the box which he had +unlocked. Following the example of others around me, I took from it a +sort of two-pronged fork with the tines spread in the similitude of a +chicken's wishbone. This contrivance, which was attached to the side of +the car by a cord, I proceeded to apply to my ears, as I saw the others +doing. + +For the next three hours I scarcely altered my position, so completely +was I enthralled by my novel experience. Few persons can fail to have +made the observation that if the tones of the human voice did not have +a charm for us in themselves apart from the ideas they convey, +conversation to a great extent would soon be given up, so little is +the real intellectual interest of the topics with which it is chiefly +concerned. When, then, the sympathetic influence of the voice is lent to +the enhancement of matter of high intrinsic interest, it is not +strange that the attention should be enchained. A good story is highly +entertaining even when we have to get at it by the roundabout means +of spelling out the signs that stand for the words, and imagining them +uttered, and then imagining what they would mean if uttered. What, then, +shall be said of the delight of sitting at one's ease, with closed eyes, +listening to the same story poured into one's ears in the strong, sweet, +musical tones of a perfect mistress of the art of story-telling, and of +the expression and excitation by means of the voice of every emotion? + +When, at the conclusion of the story, the train boy came to lock up +the box, I could not refrain from expressing my satisfaction in strong +terms. In reply he volunteered the information that next month the cars +for day trips on that line would be further fitted up with phonographic +guide-books of the country the train passed through, so connected by +clock-work with the running gear of the cars that the guide-book +would call attention to every object in the landscape, and furnish +the pertinent information--statistical, topographical, biographical, +historical, romantic, or legendary, as it might be--just at the time +the train had reached the most favorable point of view. It was believed +that this arrangement (for which, as it would work automatically and +require little attendance, being used or not, according to pleasure, by +the passenger, there would be no charge) would do much to attract travel +to the road. His explanation was interrupted by the announcement in +loud, clear, and deliberate tones, which no one could have had any +excuse for misunderstanding, that the train was now approaching the +city of my destination. As I looked around in amazement to discover what +manner of brakeman this might be whom I had understood, the train boy +said, with a grin, "That's our new phonographic annunciator." + +Hamage had written me that he would be at the station, but something +had evidently prevented him from keeping the appointment, and as it +was late, I went at once to a hotel and to bed. I was tired and slept +heavily; once or twice I woke up, after dreaming there were people in +my room talking to me, but quickly dropped off to sleep again. Finally I +awoke, and did not so soon fall asleep. Presently I found myself sitting +up in bed with half a dozen extraordinary sensations contending for +right of way along my backbone. What had startled me was the voice of a +young woman, who could not have been standing more than ten feet from my +bed. If the tones of her voice were any guide, she was not only a young +woman, but a very charming one. + +"My dear sir," she had said, "you may possibly be interested in knowing +that it now wants just a quarter of three." + +For a few moments I thought--well, I will not undertake the impossible +task of telling what extraordinary conjectures occurred to me by way of +accounting for the presence of this young woman in my room before the +true explanation of the matter occurred to me. For, of course, when +my experience that afternoon on the train flashed through my mind, I +guessed at once that the solution of the mystery was in all probability +merely a phonographic device for announcing the hour. Nevertheless, so +thrilling and lifelike in effect were the tones of the voice I had heard +that I confess I had not the nerve to light the gas to investigate till +I had indued my more essential garments. Of course I found no lady in +the room, but only a clock. I had not particularly noticed it on going +to bed, because it looked like any other clock, and so now it continued +to behave until the hands pointed to three. Then, instead of leaving +me to infer the time from the arbitrary symbolism of three strokes on +a bell, the same voice which had before electrified me informed me, +in tones which would have lent a charm to the driest of statistical +details, what the hour was. I had never before been impressed with any +particular interest attaching to the hour of three in the morning, but +as I heard it announced in those low, rich, thrilling contralto tones, +it appeared fairly to coruscate with previously latent suggestions +of romance and poetry, which, if somewhat vague, were very pleasing. +Turning out the gas that I might the more easily imagine the bewitching +presence which the voice suggested, I went back to bed, and lay awake +there until morning, enjoying the society of my bodiless companion and +the delicious shock of her quarter-hourly remarks. To make the illusion +more complete and the more unsuggestive of the mechanical explanation +which I knew of course was the real one, the phrase in which the +announcement of the hour was made was never twice the same. + +Right was Solomon when he said that there was nothing new under the sun. +Sardanapalus or Semiramis herself would not have been at all startled +to hear a human voice proclaim the hour. The phonographic clock had +but replaced the slave whose business, standing by the noiseless +water-clock, it was to keep tale of the moments as they dropped, ages +before they had been taught to tick. + +In the morning, on descending, I went first to the clerk's office to +inquire for letters, thinking Hamage, who knew I would go to that hotel +if any, might have addressed me there. The clerk handed me a small +oblong box. I suppose I stared at it in a rather helpless way, for +presently he said: "I beg your pardon, but I see you are a stranger. If +you will permit me, I will show you how to read your letter." + +I gave him the box, from which he took a device of spindles and +cylinders, and placed it deftly within another small box which stood +on the desk. Attached to this was one of the two-pronged ear-trumpets I +already knew the use of. As I placed it in position, the clerk touched +a spring in the box, which set some sort of motor going, and at once +the familiar tones of Dick Haulage's voice expressed his regret that an +accident had prevented his meeting me the night before, and informed me +that he would be at the hotel by the time I had breakfasted. + +The letter ended, the obliging clerk removed the cylinders from the box +on the desk, replaced them in that they had come in, and returned it to +me. + +"Is n't it rather tantalizing," said I, "to receive one of these letters +when there is no little machine like this at hand to make it speak?" + +"It does n't often happen," replied the clerk, "that anybody is caught +without his indispensable, or at least where he cannot borrow one." + +"His indispensable!" I exclaimed: "What may that be?" + +In reply the clerk directed my attention to a little box, not wholly +unlike a case for a binocular glass, which, now that he spoke of it, I +saw was carried, slung at the side, by every person in sight. + +"We call it the indispensable because it is indispensable, as, no doubt, +you will soon find for yourself." + +In the breakfast-room a number of ladies and gentlemen were engaged as +they sat at table in reading, or rather in listening to, their morning's +correspondence. A greater or smaller pile of little boxes lay beside +their plates, and one after another they took from each its cylinders, +placed them in their indispensables, and held the latter to their ears. +The expression of the face in reading is so largely affected by the +necessary fixity of the eyes that intelligence is absorbed from the +printed or written page with scarcely a change of countenance, which +when communicated by the voice evokes a responsive play of features. I +had never been struck so forcibly by this obvious reflection as I was in +observing the expression of the faces of these people as they listened +to their correspondents. Disappointment, pleased surprise, chagrin, +disgust, indignation, and amusement were alternately so legible on their +faces that it was perfectly easy for one to be sure in most cases what +the tenor at least of the letter was. It occurred to me that while in +the old time the pleasure of receiving letters had been so far balanced +by this drudgery of writing them as to keep correspondence within some +bounds, nothing less than freight trains could suffice for the mail +service in these days, when to write was but to speak, and to listen was +to read. + +After I had given my order, the waiter brought a curious-looking oblong +case, with an ear-trumpet attached, and, placing it before me, went +away. I foresaw that I should have to ask a good many questions before I +got through, and, if I did not mean to be a bore, I had best ask as +few as necessary. I determined to find ont what this trap was without +assistance. The words "Daily Morning Herald" sufficiently indicated +that it was a newspaper. I suspected that a certain big knob, if pushed, +would set it going. But, for all I knew, it might start in the middle of +the advertisements. I looked closer. There were a number of printed slips +upon the face of the machine, arranged about a circle like the numbers +on a dial. They were evidently the headings of news articles. In the +middle of the circle was a little pointer, like the hand of a clock, +moving on a pivot. I pushed this pointer around to a certain caption, +and then, with the air of being perfectly familiar with the machine, I +put the pronged trumpet to my ears and pressed the big knob. Precisely! +It worked like a charm; so much like a charm, indeed, that I should +certainly have allowed my breakfast to cool had I been obliged to +choose between that and my newspaper. The inventor of the apparatus had, +however, provided against so painful a dilemma by a simple attachment +to the trumpet, which held it securely in position upon the shoulders +behind the head, while the hands were left free for knife and fork. +Having slyly noted the manner in which my neighbors had effected +the adjustments, I imitated their example with a careless air, and +presently, like them, was absorbing physical and mental aliment +simultaneously. + +While I was thus delightfully engaged, I was not less delightfully +interrupted by Hamage, who, having arrived at the hotel, and learned +that I was in the breakfast-room, came in and sat down beside me. After +telling him how much I admired the new sort of newspapers, I offered one +criticism, which was that there seemed to be no way by which one could +skip dull paragraphs or uninteresting details. + +"The invention would, indeed, be very far from a success," he said, "if +there were no such provision, but there is." + +He made me put on the trumpet again, and, having set the machine going, +told me to press on a certain knob, at first gently, afterward as hard +as I pleased. I did so, and found that the effect of the "skipper," as +he called the knob, was to quicken the utterance of the phonograph in +proportion to the pressure to at least tenfold the usual rate of speed, +while at any moment, if a word of interest caught the ear, the ordinary +rate of delivery was resumed, and by another adjustment the machine +could be made to go back and repeat as much as desired. + +When I told Hamage of my experience of the night before with the talking +clock in my room, he laughed uproariously. + +"I am very glad you mentioned this just now," he said, when he had +quieted himself. "We have a couple of hours before the train goes out to +my place, and I 'll take you through Orton's establishment, where they +make a specialty of these talking clocks. I have a number of them in +my house, and, as I don't want to have you scared to death in the +night-watches, you had better get some notion of what clocks nowadays +are expected to do." + +Orton's, where we found ourselves half an hour later, proved to be a +very extensive establishment, the firm making a specialty of horological +novelties, and particularly of the new phonographic timepieces. +The manager, who was a personal friend of Hamage's, and proved very +obliging, said that the latter were fast driving the old-fashioned +striking clocks out of use. + +"And no wonder," he exclaimed; "the old-fashioned striker was an +unmitigated nuisance. Let alone the brutality of announcing the hour +to a refined household by four, eight, or ten rude bangs, without +introduction or apology, this method of announcement was not even +tolerably intelligible. Unless you happened to be attentive at the +moment the din began, you could never be sure of your count of strokes +so as to be positive whether it was eight, nine, ten, or eleven. As +to the half and quarter strokes, they were wholly useless unless you +chanced to know what was the last hour struck. And then, too, I should +like to ask you why, in the name of common sense, it should take twelve +times as long to tell you it is twelve o'clock as it does to tell you it +is one." + +The manager laughed as heartily as Hamage had done on learning of my +scare of the night before. + +"It was lucky for you," he said, "that the clock in your room happened +to be a simple time announcer, otherwise you might easily have been +startled half out of your wits." I became myself quite of the same +opinion by the time he had shown us something of his assortment of +clocks. The mere announcing of the hours and quarters of hours was the +simplest of the functions of these wonderful and yet simple instruments. +There were few of them which were not arranged to "improve the time," +as the old-fashioned prayer-meeting phrase was. People's ideas differing +widely as to what constitutes improvement of time, the clocks varied +accordingly in the nature of the edification they provided. There were +religious and sectarian clocks, moral clocks, philosophical clocks, +free-thinking and infidel clocks, literary and poetical clocks, +educational clocks, frivolous and bacchanalian clocks. In the religious +clock department were to be found Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, +Episcopal, and Baptist time-pieces, which, in connection with the +announcement of the hour and quarter, repeated some tenet of the sect +with a proof text. There were also Talmage clocks, and Spurgeon clocks, +and Storrs clocks, and Brooks clocks, which respectively marked the +flight of time by phrases taken from the sermons of these eminent +divines, and repeated in precisely the voice and accents of the original +delivery. In startling proximity to the religious department I was shown +the skeptical clocks. So near were they, indeed, that when, as I stood +there, the various time-pieces announced the hour of ten, the war +of opinions that followed was calculated to unsettle the firmest +convictions. The observations of an Ingersoll which stood near me were +particularly startling. The effect of an actual wrangle was the greater +from the fact that all these individual clocks were surmounted by +effigies of the authors of the sentiments they repeated. + +I was glad to escape from this turmoil to the calmer atmosphere of the +philosophical and literary clock department. For persons with a taste +for antique moralizing, the sayings of Plato, Epictetus, and Marcus +Aurelius had here, so to speak, been set to time. Modern wisdom was +represented by a row of clocks surmounted by the heads of famous +maxim-makers, from Rochefoucauld to Josh Billings. As for the literary +clocks, their number and variety were endless. All the great authors +were represented. Of the Dickens clocks alone there were half a dozen, +with selections from his greatest stories. When I suggested that, +captivating as such clocks must be, one might in time grow weary of +hearing the same sentiments reiterated, the manager pointed out that the +phonographic cylinders were removable, and could be replaced by other +sayings by the same author or on the same theme at any time. If one +tired of an author altogether, he could have the head unscrewed from the +top of the clock and that of some other celebrity substituted, with a +brand-new repertory. + +"I can imagine," I said, "that these talking clocks must be a great +resource for invalids especially, and for those who cannot sleep at +night. But, on the other hand, how is it when people want or need to +sleep? Is not one of them quite too interesting a companion at such a +time?" + +"Those who are used to it," replied the manager, "are no more disturbed +by the talking clock than we used to be by the striking clock. However, +to avoid all possible inconvenience to invalids, this little lever is +provided, which at a touch will throw the phonograph out of gear or back +again. It is customary when we put a talking or singing clock into a +bedroom to put in an electric connection, so that by pressing a button +at the head of the bed a person, without raising the head from the +pillow, can start or stop the phonographic gear, as well as ascertain +the time, on the repeater principle as applied to watches." + +Hamage now said that we had only time to catch the train, but our +conductor insisted that we should stop to see a novelty of phonographic +invention, which, although not exactly in their line, had been sent +them for exhibition by the inventor. It was a device for meeting the +criticism frequently made upon the churches of a lack of attention and +cordiality in welcoming strangers. It was to be placed in the lobby of +the church, and had an arm extending like a pump-handle. Any stranger on +taking this and moving it up and down would be welcomed in the pastor's +own voice, and continue to be welcomed as long as he kept up the motion. +While this welcome would be limited to general remarks of regard and +esteem, ample provision was made for strangers who desired to be more +particularly inquired into. A number of small buttons on the front +of the contrivance bore respectively the words, "Male," "Female,". +"Married," "Unmarried," "Widow," "Children," "No Children," etc., +etc. By pressing the one of these buttons corresponding to his or her +condition, the stranger would be addressed in terms probably quite as +accurately adapted to his or her condition and needs as would be any +inquiries a preoccupied clergyman would be likely to make under similar +circumstances. I could readily see the necessity of some such substitute +for the pastor, when I was informed that every prominent clergyman +was now in the habit of supplying at least a dozen or two pulpits +simultaneously, appearing by turns in one of them personally, and by +phonograph in the others. + +The inventor of the contrivance for welcoming strangers was, it +appeared, applying the same idea to machines for discharging many other +of the more perfunctory obligations of social intercourse. One being +made for the convenience of the President of the United States at public +receptions was provided with forty-two buttons for the different States, +and others for the principal cities of the Union, so that a caller, +by proper manipulation, might, while shaking a handle, be addressed +in regard to his home interests with an exactness of information +as remarkable as that of the traveling statesmen who rise from the +gazetteer to astonish the inhabitants of Wayback Crossing with the +precise figures of their town valuation and birth rate, while the engine +is taking in water. + +We had by this time spent so much time that on finally starting for the +railroad station we had to walk quite briskly. As we were hurrying +along the street, my attention was arrested by a musical sound, distinct +though not loud, proceeding apparently from the indispensable which +Hamage, like everybody else I had seen, wore at his side. Stopping +abruptly, he stepped aside from the throng, and, lifting the +indispensable quickly to his ear, touched something, and exclaiming, +"Oh, yes, to be sure!" dropped the instrument to his side. + +Then he said to me: "I am reminded that I promised my wife to bring home +some story-books for the children when I was in town to-day. The store +is only a few steps down the street." As we went along, he explained +to me that nobody any longer pretended to charge his mind with the +recollection of duties or engagements of any sort. Everybody depended +upon his indispensable to remind him in time of all undertakings and +responsibilities. This service it was able to render by virtue of a +simple enough adjustment of a phonographic cylinder charged with the +necessary word or phrase to the clockwork in the indispensable, so that +at any time fixed upon in setting the arrangement an alarm would sound, +and, the indispensable being raised to the ear, the phonograph would +deliver its message, which at any subsequent time might be called up and +repeated. To all persons charged with weighty responsibilities depending +upon accuracy of memory for their correct discharge, this feature of +the indispensable rendered it, according to Hamage, and indeed quite +obviously, an indispensable truly. To the railroad engineer it served +the purpose not only of a time-piece, for the works of the indispensable +include a watch, but to its ever vigilant alarm he could intrust his +running orders, and, while his mind was wholly concentrated upon present +duties, rest secure that he would be reminded at just the proper time +of trains which he must avoid and switches he must make. To the +indispensable of the business man the reminder attachment was not +less necessary. Provided with that, his notes need never go to protest +through carelessness, nor, however absorbed, was he in danger of +forgetting an appointment. + +Thanks to these portable memories it was, moreover, now possible for +a wife to intrust to her husband the most complex messages to the +dressmaker. All she had to do was to whisper the communication into her +husband's indispensable while he was at breakfast, and set the alarm at +an hour when he would be in the city. + +"And in like manner, I suppose," suggested I, "if she wishes him to +return at a certain hour from the club or the lodge, she can depend on +his indispensable to remind him of his domestic duties at the proper +moment, and in terms and tones which will make the total repudiation +of connubial allegiance the only alternative of obedience. It is a very +clever invention, and I don't wonder that it is popular with the ladies; +but does it not occur to you that the inventor, if a man, was slightly +inconsiderate? The rule of the American wife has hitherto been a +despotism which could be tempered by a bad memory. Apparently, it is to +be no longer tempered at all." + +Hamage laughed, but his mirth was evidently a little forced, and I +inferred that the reflection I had suggested had called up certain +reminiscences not wholly exhilarating. Being fortunate, however, in +the possession of a mercurial temperament, he presently rallied, +and continued his praises of the artificial memory provided by the +indispensable. In spite of the criticism which I had made upon it, I +confess I was not a little moved by his description of its advantages +to absent-minded men, of whom I am chief. Think of the gain alike in +serenity and force of intellect enjoyed by the man who sits down to work +absolutely free from that accursed cloud on the mind of things he has +got to remember to do, and can only avoid totally forgetting by wasting +tenfold the time required finally to do them in making sure by frequent +rehearsals that he has not forgotten them! The only way that one of +these trivialities ever sticks to the mind is by wearing a sore spot in +it which heals slowly. If a man does not forget it, it is for the same +reason that he remembers a grain of sand in his eye. I am conscious that +my own mind is full of cicatrices of remembered things, and long ere +this it would have been peppered with them like a colander, had I not +a good while ago, in self-defense, absolutely refused to be held +accountable for forgetting anything not connected with my regular +business. + +While firmly believing my course in this matter to have been justifiable +and necessary, I have not been insensible to the domestic odium which +it has brought upon me, and could but welcome a device which promised to +enable me to regain the esteem of my family while retaining the use of +my mind for professional purposes. + +As the most convenient conceivable receptacle of hasty memoranda of +ideas and suggestions, the indispensable also most strongly commended +itself to me as a man who lives by writing. How convenient when a flash +of inspiration comes to one in the night-time, instead of taking cold +and waking the family in order to save it for posterity, just to whisper +it into the ear of an indispensable at one's bedside, and be able to +know it in the morning for the rubbish such untimely conceptions usually +are! How often, likewise, would such a machine save in all their first +vividness suggestive fancies, anticipated details, and other notions +worth preserving, which occur to one in the full flow of composition, +but are irrelevant to what is at the moment in hand! I determined that I +must have an indispensable. + +The bookstore, when we arrived there, proved to be the most +extraordinary sort of bookstore I had ever entered, there not being a +book in it. Instead of books, the shelves and counters were occupied +with rows of small boxes. + +"Almost all books now, you see, are phono-graphed," said Hamage. + +"The change seems to be a popular one," I said, "to judge by the crowd +of book-buyers." For the counters were, indeed, thronged with customers +as I had never seen those of a bookstore before. + +"The people at those counters are not purchasers, but borrowers," Hamage +replied; and then he explained that whereas the old-fashioned printed +book, being handled by the reader, was damaged by use, and therefore had +either to be purchased outright or borrowed at high rates of hire, +the phonograph of a book being not handled, but merely revolved in a +machine, was but little injured by use, and therefore phonographed books +could be lent out for an infinitesimal price. Everybody had at home +a phonograph box of standard size and adjustments, to which all +phonographic cylinders were gauged. I suggested that the phonograph, +at any rate, could scarcely have replaced picture-books. But here, it +seemed, I was mistaken, for it appeared that illustrations were +adapted to phonographed books by the simple plan of arranging them in +a continuous panorama, which by a connecting gear was made to unroll +behind the glass front of the phonograph case as the course of the +narrative demanded. + +"But, bless my soul!" I exclaimed, "everybody surely is not content to +borrow their books? They must want to have books of their own, to keep +in their libraries." + +"Of course," said Hamage. "What I said about borrowing books applies +only to current literature of the ephemeral sort. Everybody wants books +of permanent value in his library. Over yonder is the department of the +establishment set apart for book-buyers." + +The counter which he indicated being less crowded than those of the +borrowing department, I expressed a desire to examine some of the +phonographed books. As we were waiting for attendance, I observed that +some of the customers seemed very particular about their purchases, and +insisted upon testing several phonographs bearing the same title before +making a selection. As the phonographs seemed exact counterparts +in appearance, I did not understand this till Hamage explained that +differences as to style and quality of elocution left quite as great a +range of choice in phonographed books as varieties in type, paper, and +binding did in printed ones. This I presently found to be the case when +the clerk, under Ham-age's direction, began waiting on me. In succession +I tried half a dozen editions of Tennyson by as many different +elocutionists, and by the time I had heard + + "Where Claribel low lieth" + +rendered by a soprano, a contralto, a bass, and a baritone, each with +the full effect of its quality and the personal equation besides, I was +quite ready to admit that selecting phonographed books for one's library +was as much more difficult as it was incomparably more fascinating than +suiting one's self with printed editions. Indeed, Hamage admitted that +nowadays nobody with any taste for literature--if the word may for +convenience be retained--thought of contenting himself with less than +half a dozen renderings of the great poets and dramatists. "By the +way," he said to the clerk, "won't you just let my friend try the +Booth-Barrett Company's 'Othello'? It is, you understand," he added +to me, "the exact phonographic reproduction of the play as actually +rendered by the company." + +Upon his suggestion, the attendant had taken down a phonograph case and +placed it on the counter. The front was an imitation of a theatre with +the curtain down. As I placed the transmitter to my ears, the clerk +touched a spring and the curtain rolled up, displaying a perfect picture +of the stage in the opening scene. Simultaneously the action of the play +began, as if the pictured men upon the stage were talking. Here was no +question of losing half that was said and guessing the rest. Not a word, +not a syllable, not a whispered aside of the actors, was lost; and as +the play proceeded the pictures changed, showing every important change +of attitude on the part of the actors. Of course the figures, being +pictures, did not move, but their presentation in so many successive +attitudes presented the effect of movement, and made it quite possible +to imagine that the voices in my ears were really theirs. I am +exceedingly fond of the drama, but the amount of effort and physical +inconvenience necessary to witness a play has rendered my indulgence in +this pleasure infrequent. Others might not have agreed with me, but I +confess that none of the ingenious applications of the phonograph which +I had seen seemed to be so well worth while as this. + +Hamage had left me to make his purchases, and found me on his return +still sitting spellbound. + +"Come, come," he said, laughing, "I have Shakespeare complete at home, +and you shall sit up all night, if you choose, hearing plays. But come +along now, I want to take you upstairs before we go." + +He had several bundles. One, he told me, was a new novel for his +wife, with some fairy stories for the children,--all, of course, +phonographs. Besides, he had bought an indispensable for his little boy. + +"There is no class," he said, "whose burdens the phonograph has done so +much to lighten as parents. Mothers no longer have to make themselves +hoarse telling the children stories on rainy days to keep them out of +mischief. It is only necessary to plant the most roguish lad before a +phonograph of some nursery classic, to be sure of his whereabouts and +his behavior till the machine runs down, when another set of cylinders +can be introduced, and the entertainment carried on. As for the babies, +Patti sings mine to sleep at bedtime, and, if they wake up in the night, +she is never too drowsy to do it over again. When the children grow +too big to be longer tied to their mother's apron-strings, they still +remain, thanks to the children's indispensable, though out of her sight, +within sound of her voice. Whatever charges or instructions she desires +them not to forget, whatever hours or duties she would have them be sure +to remember, she depends on the indispensable to remind them of." + +At this I cried out. "It is all very well for the mothers," I said, +"but the lot of the orphan must seem enviable to a boy compelled to wear +about such an instrument of his own subjugation. If boys were what +they were in my day, the rate at which their indispensables would get +unaccountably lost or broken would be alarming." + +Hamage laughed, and admitted that the one he was carrying home was the +fourth he had bought for his boy within a month. He agreed with me that +it was hard to see how a boy was to get his growth under quite so much +government; but his wife, and indeed the ladies generally, insisted that +the application of the phonograph to family government was the greatest +invention of the age. + +Then I asked a question which had repeatedly occurred to me that day,-- +What had become of the printers? + +"Naturally," replied Hamage, "they have had a rather hard time of it. +Some classes of books, however, are still printed, and probably will +continue to be for some time, although reading, as well as writing, is +getting to be an increasingly rare accomplishment." + +"Do you mean that your schools do not teach reading and writing?" I +exclaimed. + +"Oh, yes, they are still taught; but as the pupils need them little +after leaving school,--or even in school, for that matter, all their +text-books being phonographic,--they usually keep the acquirements +about as long as a college graduate does his Greek. There is a strong +movement already on foot to drop reading and writing entirely from the +school course, but probably a compromise will be made for the present +by substituting a shorthand or phonetic system, based upon the direct +interpretation of the sound-waves themselves. This is, of course, the +only logical method for the visual interpretation of sound. Students +and men of research, however, will always need to understand how to +read print, as much of the old literature will probably never repay +phonographing." + +"But," I said, "I notice that you still use printed phrases, as +superscriptions, titles, and so forth." + +"So we do," replied Hamage, "but phonographic substitutes could be +easily devised in these cases, and no doubt will soon have to be +supplied in deference to the growing number of those who cannot read." + +"Did I understand you," I asked, "that the text-books in your schools +even are phonographs?" + +"Certainly," replied Hamage; "our children are taught by phonographs, +recite to phonographs, and are examined by phonographs." + +"Bless my soul!" I ejaculated. + +"By all means," replied Hamage; "but there is really nothing to be +astonished at. People learn and remember by impressions of sound instead +of sight, that is all. The printer is, by the way, not the only artisan +whose occupation phonography has destroyed. Since the disuse of print, +opticians have mostly gone to the poor-house. The sense of sight +was indeed terribly overburdened previous to the introduction of the +phonograph, and, now that the sense of hearing is beginning to assume +its proper share of work, it would be strange if an improvement in +the condition of the people's eyes were not noticeable. Physiologists, +moreover, promise us not only an improved vision, but a generally +improved physique, especially in respect to bodily carriage, now +that reading, writing, and study no longer involves, as formerly, +the sedentary attitude with twisted spine and stooping shoulders. The +phonograph has at last made it possible to expand the mind without +cramping the body." + +"It is a striking comment on the revolution wrought by the general +introduction of the phonograph," I observed, "that whereas the +misfortune of blindness used formerly to be the infirmity which most +completely cut a man off from the world of books, which remained open to +the deaf, the case is now precisely reversed." + +"Yes," said Hamage, "it is certainly a curious reversal, but not so +complete as you fancy. By the new improvements in the intensifier, it is +expected to enable all, except the stone-deaf, to enjoy the phonograph, +even when connected, as on railroad trains, with a common telephonic +wire. The stone-deaf will of course be dependent upon printed books +prepared for their benefit, as raised-letter books used to be for the +blind." + +As we entered the elevator to ascend to the upper floors of the +establishment, Hamage explained that he wanted me to see, before I left, +the process of phonographing books, which was the modern substitute for +printing them. Of course, he said, the phonographs of dramatic works +were taken at the theatres during the representations of plays, and +those of public orations and sermons are either similarly obtained, or, +if a revised version is desired, the orator re-delivers his address in +the improved form to a phonograph; but the great mass of publications +were phonographed by professional elocutionists employed by the large +publishing houses, of which this was one. He was acquainted with one of +these elocutionists, and was taking me to his room. + +We were so fortunate as to find him disengaged. Something, he said, had +broken about the machinery, and he was idle while it was being repaired. +His work-room was an odd kind of place. It was shaped something like the +interior of a rather short egg. His place was on a sort of pulpit in the +middle of the small end, while at the opposite end, directly before him, +and for some distance along the sides toward the middle, were arranged +tiers of phonographs. These were his audience, but by no means all of +it. By telephonic communication he was able to address simultaneously +other congregations of phonographs in other chambers at any distance. He +said that in one instance, where the demand for a popular book was very +great, he had charged five thousand phonographs at once with it. + +I suggested that the saying of printers, pressmen, bookbinders, and +costly machinery, together with the comparative indestructibility of +phonographed as compared with printed books, must make them very cheap. + +"They would be," said Hamage, "if popular elocutionists, such as +Playwell here, did not charge so like fun for their services. The public +has taken it into its head that he is the only first-class elocutionist, +and won't buy anybody else's work. Consequently the authors stipulate +that he shall interpret their productions, and the publishers, between +the public and the authors, are at his mercy." + +Playwell laughed. "I must make my hay while the sun shines," he said. +"Some other elocutionist will be the fashion next year, and then I shall +only get hack-work to do. Besides, there is really a great deal more +work in my business than people will believe. For example, after I get +an author's copy"-- + +"Written?" I interjected. + +"Sometimes it is written phonetically, but most authors dictate to a +phonograph. Well, when I get it, I take it home and study it, perhaps a +couple of days, perhaps a couple of weeks, sometimes, if it is really an +important work, a month or two, in order to get into sympathy with the +ideas, and decide on the proper style of rendering. All this is hard +work, and has to be paid for." + +At this point our conversation was broken off by Hamage, who declared +that, if we were to catch the last train out of town before noon, we had +no time to lose. + +Of the trip out to Hamage's place I recall nothing. I was, in fact, +aroused from a sound nap by the stopping of the train and the bustle +of the departing passengers. Hamage had disappeared. As I groped about, +gathering up my belongings, and vaguely wondering what had become of +my companion, he rushed into the car, and, grasping my hand, gave me an +enthusiastic welcome. I opened my mouth to demand what sort of a joke +this belated greeting might be intended for, but, on second thought, I +concluded not to raise the point. The fact is, when I came to observe +that the time was not noon, but late in the evening, and that the train +was the one I had left home on, and that I had not even changed my +seat in the car since then, it occurred to me that Hamage might not +understand allusions to the forenoon we had spent together. Later that +same evening, however, the consternation of my host and hostess at my +frequent and violent explosions of apparently causeless hilarity left me +no choice but to make a clean breast of my preposterous experience. +The moral they drew from it was the charming one that, if I would but +oftener come to see them, a railroad trip would not so upset my wits. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of With The Eyes Shut, by Edward Bellamy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH THE EYES SHUT *** + +***** This file should be named 22713.txt or 22713.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/7/1/22713/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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