Evening star. [volume], March 18, 1962, Page 2, Image 126

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
Words To Live By
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Beyond I
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On almost ant clear night, you can now watch man-made stars stars there are races which were old when Earth was young. Even if
moving slowly across the sky. This earliest achievement of we find only the ruins of their cities, or merely recapture
the Space Age would have seemed beyond belief, only a their radio signals ages after they have passed away, the
decade ago. Yet in a few more years we will see a discovery will have a shattering impact upon our
greater marvel, as the beacon lights of the first “Earth philosophies and our faiths.
lunar explorers shine in the darkness of the a So it was three centuries ago, in the days HL
crescent Moon. •• the Cradle when men believed passionately that the Earth
Tsiolkovski’s prophecy, written half a ffl ' h f was center °f t^ie Universe, round which
century ago, is about to come true. Not every- ® ’ ** One the w jj o | e heavens revolved. The telescope
one will welcome this, for it is hard to leave Cannot live in the destroyed this pious fantasy, to reveal a
the pampered security of the cradle, and to cosmos infinitely more wonderful than any
face the harsh realities of the adult world. cradle forever.” imagined by the seers and prophets of the past.
But this is what we must now do, leaving behind Are we ready now to face the still more
our infant illusions above all, the illusion that K. E. Tsiolkovski awesome truths that the rocket will bring us?
we are the lords of creation, whom the Universe (1857-1935) As the news from the stars comes in, we must be
has labored five billion years to produce. prepared to abandon the myths of our childhood,
For as we reach out into space, sooner or later we however beautiful and comforting they may be. And
will discover that we are not alone. It may well be that our we will be the better for it; because the end of superstition
civilization is one of the most primitive now existing that on other marks the beginning of true reverence.
By ARTHUR C. CLARKE I
Noted British wiener-fiction and non-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke finds himself "in the disconcerting
fl position of an unemployed prophet. . . teeing things 1 predicted in my twenties and thirties coming true
-Od JB in my forties.” A Clarke omnibus, "From The Ocean, From The Stars," was published last month.
March IS, 1962 The National Sunday Magazine Oeaifined far Modern Reading
COVSti The RCAF look, photo by Kryn Taconis. 4: Punchbowl How To Sue- .... Ben G. Wbicht, President William I. Nichols
ceed In Writing Long Titles Without Trying. 6: Canadians Find A New Way To mu- VXY 1 Euclid M. Covincton Editor and Publisher
Keep Fit. 9: Why I Traded Lives. 14: Famil.es Who Do Things - How To Enjoy TUIS W ®® k , “ McCA ’ TH ’’
r ’ 6 77 John C. Sterling nelson cruppo, Art Director
Eleven Children. 16: The RCAF Fitness Plan How It Works. 19: Last Laugh. Honorary Chairman stf.wart rfsch, 4«v to the Editor
Circulation: 14,142,470
© 1962, United Newspapers Magazine Corporation, 485 Lexington Avenue, New York 17, New York. This Week © All rights reserved (under International and Pan American Copyright Convention. Reproduction In whole or In part without
permission is prohibited). Names and descriptions of all characters in fiction and semi-fiction articles in this magazine are wholly imaginary. Any name which happens to be the some as that of any person living or dead is coincidental.
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THIS WEEK Magazine / March It, 1962