BEFORE WATERLOO.
HOW THE WORLD WENT THEN How many people know that Dr Smiles, " who taught us how to help ourselves," is living to-day in a. quiet grove in Kensington? On Monday, Dec. 23, he- began the last of his octogenarian years; if he lives to see the Christmas after, this ihe will bo SO. He was. born in 1812, when Napoleon was still threatening . Europe, and) beit-ue anybody had ever Sieasxl of eitiher Gladstone or Waterloo. Dr Simiiles's birthday must, carry turn back in thought to a time wlun many of the things which, seem to us tie fcundatl6nrstor.'2s of civilisation had not yet come into being — •when, ships were made if wood ; when nobody hiadi dreamed c{ a. Maxim gun, awi nobody had' heard *'-i. <xplosion of dynamite; when there was rot an inch of railway line in Europe, andl men were traveEing from place to place as men, hoidi done for 2000 years ; when to cross tihe sea was ail event of a lifetime, andl moa were talking of steamships as we are taJidng of flying to-day. The Marconis and Santos-Dumonts of that day were asking, not if men/ could fly or speak through spaos, but if they could travel more than 10 miles an hour, and send/ letters for less lihan, a shilling. ■
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Bibliographic details
Star (Christchurch), Issue 7329, 15 February 1902, Page 4
Word Count
217BEFORE WATERLOO. Star (Christchurch), Issue 7329, 15 February 1902, Page 4
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