IN THE YEAR 2889

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expectant, for the whole world could be eye-witnesses of the
performance, a reporter meanwhile, like the chorus in the ancient drama,
explaining it all _viva voce_ through the telephone.

"They are opening the casket," he explained. "Now they are taking
Faithburn out of it--a veritable mummy, yellow, hard, and dry. Strike
the body and it resounds like a block of wood. They are now applying
heat; now electricity. No result. These experiments are suspended for a
moment while Dr. Wilkins makes an examination of the body. Dr. Wilkins,
rising, declares the man to be dead. 'Dead!' exclaims every one present.
'Yes,' answers Dr. Wilkins, 'dead!' 'And how long has he been dead?' Dr.
Wilkins makes another examination. 'A hundred years,' he replies."

The case stood just as the reporter said. Faithburn was dead, quite
certainly dead! "Here is a method that needs improvement," remarked Mr.
Smith to Dr. Wilkins, as the scientific committee on hibernation bore
the casket out. "So much for that experiment. But if poor Faithburn is