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18 - Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey - Ingersoll Lockwood · Classic Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter eighteen, Early History of the Pseudopsies, as related by
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  Speaker 1: Beryl Brow. How they were driven to take refuge in
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  Speaker 1: the underworld, and how they came upon the Marble Highway,
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  Speaker 1: their discovery of natural gas, which yields them light and warmth,
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  Speaker 1: and of nature's magnificent treasure house, how they replaced their
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  Speaker 1: tattered garments and began to build the city of silver,
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  Speaker 1: the strange misfortunes that came upon them, and how they
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  Speaker 1: rose superior to them, terrible as they were. And no doubt,
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  Speaker 1: dear friends, you would be glad to hear something about
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  Speaker 1: the early history of the Pseudopsys. Who they were, where
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  Speaker 1: they came from, and how they happened to find their
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  Speaker 1: way down into the world within a world. At least,
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  Speaker 1: this was the way I felt after I had been
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  Speaker 1: presented to the learned Barrel Brow. And so the next
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  Speaker 1: time I called upon him, I waited patiently for him
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  Speaker 1: to finish reading the four books in front of him,
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  Speaker 1: and then I said, be pleased, dear master, to tell
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  Speaker 1: me something concerning the early history of thy people, and
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  Speaker 1: to explain to me how they came to make their
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  Speaker 1: way down into this underground world ages and ages ago.
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  Speaker 1: Wrote the learned barrel Brow. My people lived upon the
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  Speaker 1: shores of a beautiful land, with a vast ocean to
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  Speaker 1: the north of it, and in those days they had
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  Speaker 1: the same senses as the other people of the upper world.
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  Speaker 1: It was a very fair land, indeed, so fair that,
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  Speaker 1: in the words of the ancient chronicles, the sun looked
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  Speaker 1: in vain for a farer. Its rivers were deep and broad,
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  Speaker 1: its plains were rich and fertile, and its mountains stored
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  Speaker 1: full of silver and gold, and copper and tin. And
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  Speaker 1: so easily mined were these metals that our people became
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  Speaker 1: famous as metal workers, so deaft in their workmanship, that
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  Speaker 1: the other nations from far and near came to us
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  Speaker 1: for swords and shields, and spear heads, and suits of armor,
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  Speaker 1: and table service, and armlets and bracelets, and above all
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  Speaker 1: for lamps, most gloriously chased and carved to hang in
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  Speaker 1: their palaces and temples. And so we were very happy,
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  Speaker 1: until one terrible day the great round world gave a twist,
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  Speaker 1: and we were turned away from the sun, so that
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  Speaker 1: its rays went slantingly over our heads and gave us
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  Speaker 1: no warmth. Oh me I could weep, now, exclaimed the
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  Speaker 1: learned barrel brow. After all these centuries, when I think
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  Speaker 1: of the cruel fate that overtook my people, in a
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  Speaker 1: few months, the whole face of our fair land was
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  Speaker 1: covered with ice and snow, and our cattle dyed, and
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  Speaker 1: many of our people too, before they could weave thick
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  Speaker 1: cloth to keep their delicate bodies from the pinching cold.
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  Speaker 1: But this was not all. The great blue ocean, which
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  Speaker 1: had until then dashed its warm waves and white foam
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  Speaker 1: up against our shores, now breathe its icy breath full
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  Speaker 1: upon us, driving us into our cellars to escape its fury.
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  Speaker 1: And in a few brief months, to our horror, there
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  Speaker 1: came drifting down upon us fields and mountains of ice,
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  Speaker 1: which the tempestuous waters cast up against our shores with
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  Speaker 1: deafening crash. To remain there meant death, swift and terrible.
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  Speaker 1: So the command was given to abandon homes and firesides
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  Speaker 1: and escape to the southward, And this most of them did.
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  Speaker 1: But it so happened that several hundred families belonging to
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  Speaker 1: the metal working guilds, who knew the underground passages to
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  Speaker 1: the mines as foresters know, the trackless wood, had taken
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  Speaker 1: refuge in the vast underground caverns, with all the goods
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  Speaker 1: they could carry, poor deluded creatures, They thought that this
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  Speaker 1: sudden coming of the winter blast, of the blinding snow
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  Speaker 1: and vast floating fields of ice, was but a freak
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  Speaker 1: of nature, and that in a few months the old
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  Speaker 1: warmth and the old sunshine would come back again. Alas
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  Speaker 1: months went by, and their supply of food was almost exhausted,
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  Speaker 1: and the entrances to the mines were closed by gigantic
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  Speaker 1: blocks of ice, cemented into one great mass by the
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  Speaker 1: snow which the gray clouds had sifted down upon them,
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  Speaker 1: there was now no escape that way. Their only hope
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  Speaker 1: was to make their way underground to some portal to
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  Speaker 1: the upper world. So, with lighted torches, but with hearts
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  Speaker 1: plunged in the darkness of despair, they kept on their way,
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  Speaker 1: when one day or one night, they knew not which
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  Speaker 1: their leaders, suddenly came upon a broad street of marble,
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  Speaker 1: opened by nature's own hands. It was skirted by a
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  Speaker 1: softly flowing river that swarmed with fish in scales and
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  Speaker 1: shells in skin. And here are people halted to eat
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  Speaker 1: and drink and rest. And while one of their number
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  Speaker 1: was striking his flint on one occasion to make a
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  Speaker 1: fire to cook a meal. To his surprise and delight,
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  Speaker 1: a tongue of flame darted up from the rocky floor
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  Speaker 1: and continued to burn, giving light and warmth to them.
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  Speaker 1: As they had brought their tools, their drills and chisels,
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  Speaker 1: and files and gravers and blowpipes with them in their
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  Speaker 1: carts and wagons, they made haste to fit a pipe
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  Speaker 1: to this opening in the rock and set up a
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  Speaker 1: cluster of lights with food and water and warmth and light.
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  Speaker 1: Their hearts grew lighter, especially as they soon discovered that
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  Speaker 1: in many of the vast caverns, gigantic mushrooms grew in
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  Speaker 1: the wildest profusion. The wisest of them continued, the learned
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  Speaker 1: barrel brow at once made up their minds that there
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  Speaker 1: must be reservoirs of this gas farther along on this
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  Speaker 1: beautiful marble highway. So day by day they pushed farther
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  Speaker 1: into this world within a world, halting every now and
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  Speaker 1: then to set up a light house, as they called it.
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  Speaker 1: After advancing several leagues, the exploring party, upon lighting a
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  Speaker 1: cluster of gas jets, were stricken, almost speechless with wonder
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  Speaker 1: at finding themselves upon the very sill of a tower portal,
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  Speaker 1: opening into a succession of vast chambers, some with flat ceiling,
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  Speaker 1: some arched, some domed, upon the floors and walls of
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  Speaker 1: which lay and hung inexhaustible quantities of pure silver. Those
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  Speaker 1: magnificent caverns were, in reality nature's vast storehouses of the
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  Speaker 1: glorious white metal. And our people made haste to set
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  Speaker 1: up clusters of gas jets here and there so that
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  Speaker 1: they might view the wondrous treasure house. Here they determined
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  Speaker 1: to remain, for here was food and water and never
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  Speaker 1: failing supplies, and here they would have light and warmth.
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  Speaker 1: And here they could forget their miseries by working at
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  Speaker 1: their calling, using the precious metal with lavish hand to
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  Speaker 1: build them living chambers and to fashion the thousand and
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  Speaker 1: one things necessary for every day life. So great was
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  Speaker 1: their delight as metal workers to come upon this exhaustless
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  Speaker 1: supply of pure silver, that they could hardly sleep until
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  Speaker 1: they had set up clusters of gas jets throughout these
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  Speaker 1: vast caverns. For no doubt, little Baron thou hast already
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  Speaker 1: guessed that this is the spot I am telling me
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  Speaker 1: of that right here it was where our people halted
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  Speaker 1: to build the city of silver. But one thought troubled them,
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  Speaker 1: and that was where to find needful clothing, for the
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  Speaker 1: old was fast falling into shreds and tatters, When to
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  Speaker 1: their delight they came upon a bed of mineral wool.
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  Speaker 1: With this they managed to weave some claw, although it
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  Speaker 1: was rather stiff and harsh, yet it was better than none.
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  Speaker 1: While exploring a new cavern one day, one of my
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  Speaker 1: wise ancestors saw a large night moth alike near him, and,
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  Speaker 1: gently loosening some of its eggs, he carried them home,
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  Speaker 1: more as a curiosity than aught else. Imagine how rejoiced
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  Speaker 1: he was, however, to see one of the worms, which
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  Speaker 1: hatched out, set to work spinning a cocoon of silk
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  Speaker 1: half as big as his fist. There was great feasting
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  Speaker 1: and merrymaking among our people upon hearing of this glad news,
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  Speaker 1: And it was not very long before many a silver
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  Speaker 1: shuttle was rattling in a silver loom, and the soft
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  Speaker 1: bodies of our people were warmly and comfortably clad. Now
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  Speaker 1: long periods of time went by, which cut up into
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  Speaker 1: your months, would have made many many years. Our people
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  Speaker 1: had everything but sunlight, and this, of course those who
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  Speaker 1: were born in the underworld knew nothing about, and therefore
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  Speaker 1: did not miss. But as was to be expected, great
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  Speaker 1: changes gradually took place in our people. To their inexpressible grief,
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  Speaker 1: they noticed that as they busied themselves beautifying their new
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  Speaker 1: homes by erecting arches and bridges and terraces, and lining
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  Speaker 1: them with glorious candelabra and statues, all in cast and
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  Speaker 1: rot or hammered silver, their sight was gradually failing them,
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  Speaker 1: and that in not a very great length of time
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  Speaker 1: they should be totally blind. This result, little Baron, continued,
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  Speaker 1: the learned barrel brow was very natural, for the sense
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  Speaker 1: of sight was in reality created for sunlight. For as
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  Speaker 1: thou no doubt knowest all the fish that swim in
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  Speaker 1: our rivers have no eyes, having no need of them,
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  Speaker 1: it happened just as they had expected. In a few
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  Speaker 1: generations more, our people discovered that their eyes could no
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  Speaker 1: longer see things as thou dost, but yet they could
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  Speaker 1: feel them if they were not too far away, just
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  Speaker 1: as I can feel thy presence now, and tell where
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  Speaker 1: thou sittest, and how tall thou art, and how broad
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  Speaker 1: thou art, and whether thou movest right or left, forward
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  Speaker 1: or backward. But I cannot tell exactly how thou art
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  Speaker 1: made until I reach out and touch thee Then I
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  Speaker 1: know all, yes, far better than thou canst know. For
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  Speaker 1: our sense of feeling is keener than thy so called sight.
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  Speaker 1: One off, my people can feel a grain or roughness
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  Speaker 1: upon a silver mirror, which to thy eyes seems smoother
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  Speaker 1: than glass. Well strange to relate, and yet not strange.
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  Speaker 1: Our ancestors, with the going out of their sense of sight,
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  Speaker 1: also felt their sense of hearing on the wain, our ears,
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  Speaker 1: as thou callest them, having nothing more to listen to.
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  Speaker 1: For eternal silence, as thou knowest, reigns in this underworld,
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  Speaker 1: became as useless to us as the tail of the
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  Speaker 1: polywog would be to the full grown frog. And of course,
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  Speaker 1: with the loss of our sense of hearing, our children
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  Speaker 1: were soon unable to learn to talk, and in a
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  Speaker 1: certain lapse of time we came to merit fulwell our
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  Speaker 1: new name of former folk or aunt people, for we
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  Speaker 1: were now blind and death and numb. It is long,
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  Speaker 1: very very long, Little Baron continued the learned pseudopsy, since
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  Speaker 1: all recollection of sunlight, of color, of sound died out
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  Speaker 1: of our minds to day. My people don't even know
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  Speaker 1: the names of these things, and thou wouldst have as
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  Speaker 1: much chance of success. Wert thou to attempt to tell
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  Speaker 1: them what light or sound is as thou wouldst have it.
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  Speaker 1: Thou shouldst try to explain to a savage that there
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  Speaker 1: is nothing under the world to hold it up, and
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  Speaker 1: yet it doesn't fall. But if thou shouldst delay several
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  Speaker 1: pieces of metal in a row and ask one of
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  Speaker 1: my people to tell thee what they were, he would
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  Speaker 1: try the weight of each, and feel its grain carefully,
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  Speaker 1: possibly smell them or touch his tongue to them, and
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  Speaker 1: then he would make answer that this is gold, this
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  Speaker 1: is silver, that is copper, that is lead, that is tin,
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  Speaker 1: that is iron. But thou wouldst say they are all
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  Speaker 1: differently colored. Canst not perceive that I know not what
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  Speaker 1: thou meanest by color? He would reply, But mark me. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I hide them all beneath this silken handkerchief, and still,
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  Speaker 1: by touching them with my finger tips, I can tell
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  Speaker 1: which metal each one is. If thou canst do it,
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  Speaker 1: then art thou as good a man as I what
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  Speaker 1: sayest now, little Baron, asked the learned barrel Brow, while
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  Speaker 1: his face was wreathed in a smile of triumph. Dost
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  Speaker 1: think thou wouldst be as good a man as this Pseudopsy? Nay,
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  Speaker 1: indeed I do not, wise, master, wrote I upon my
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  Speaker 1: silver tablet, and I thank THEE for all thou hast
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  Speaker 1: told me and taught me. And I ask leave o
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  Speaker 1: beryl Brow, to come again and converse with THEE that
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  Speaker 1: thou mayest. Little Baron graced the learned Pseudopsy upon his
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  Speaker 1: silver tablet, and then as I turned to leave his chamber,
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  Speaker 1: he reached quickly after me and touched me with a
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  Speaker 1: bent forefinger, which meant return thy pardon, Little Baron, he wrote,
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  Speaker 1: But thou art leaving my study without thy faithful Bulgar?
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  Speaker 1: Am I not right? I was astounded, For indeed he
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  Speaker 1: was right. And though without the sense of sight, he
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  Speaker 1: had seen more than I with two good eyes wide open,
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  Speaker 1: there lay Bulger, fast asleep on a silken covered hassock.
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  Speaker 1: Our silent conversation had so worried him that he had
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  Speaker 1: sailed off into the land of Nod on the wings
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  Speaker 1: of a dream. He hung his head and looked very
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  Speaker 1: shamefaced when my call aroused him, and he discovered that
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  Speaker 1: I had actually reached the doorway without his knowing it.
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  Speaker 1: End of Chapter eighteen.