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You're built to win it. Welcome to Snewscast, the podcast design to help you fall asleep. Find us at Snewscast.com and if you enjoy our show, please share us with a friend. This episode is brought to you by Richness of Heart. Tonight, we'll read the opening too, The Dream, a 1924 novel by H.G. Wells about a man from a utopian future who dreams the entire life of a 19th century Englishman named Harry Mordemore Smith. In circa 4000 AD, a biologist named Sarnak is taking a holiday among mountains and lakes with his lover Sunray. With four other holiday travelers, they visit some 2,000-year-old ancient remains that had recently been excavated in a nearby valley. A little later, after a brief afternoon nap, Sarnak awakens from a very vivid dream. The rest of the novel consists of Sarnak's recounting of the dream, with occasional discussion of its particulars with his companions. Sarnak's dream brings with it a total recall of the complete life of Harry Mordemore Smith from the point of view of the achieved utopia of 2000 years later. Let's get cozy. Close your eyes. Relax your body and the softness of your bed. Now, take a few deep breaths. Chapter I, the excursion. Sarnak had worked almost continuously for the better part of a year upon some very subtle chemical reactions. His first inquiries had led to the opening out of fresh and surprising possibilities, and knees again had lured him onto still broader and more fascinating prospects. He worked perhaps too closely. He found his hope and curiosity unempaired, but there was less delicacy of touch in his manipulation, and he was thinking less quickly and accurately. He needed a holiday. He had come to the end of a chapter in his work and wished to brace himself for a new beginning. Sun Ray had long hoped to be away with him. She too was at a phase in her work when interruption was possible, and so the two went off together to wander among the lakes and mountains. The companionship was at a very delightful stage. Their close relationship and their friendship was of old standing so that they were quite at their ease with one another, yet they were not too familiar to have lost the keen edge of their interest in each other's proceedings. Sunray was very much in love with Sarnak and glad, and Sarnak was always happy and pleasantly exalted when Sunray was near him. Sunray was the richer-hearted and cleverer lover. They talked of everything in the world, but Sarnak's work, because that had to rest, and grow fresh again. Of her own work, Sunray talked abundantly. She had been making stories into pictures of happiness and sorrow in the past ages of the world, and she was full of curious speculations about the ways in which the ancestral mind had thought and felt. They played with boats upon the Great Lake for some days. They sailed and paddled and drew up their canoe among the sweet-cented rushes of the islands, and bathed and swam. They went from one guest house to another upon the water and met many interesting, refreshing people. In one house, an old man of 98 was staying. He was amusing as declining years by making statuettes of the greatest beauty and humor. It was wonderful to see the clay take shape in his hands. Moreover, he had a method of cooking the lakefish that was very appetizing, and he made a great dish of them so that everyone who was dining in the place could have some. And there was a musician who made Sunray talk about the days gone by, and afterwards he played music with his own hands on a clavier to express the ancient feelings of men. He played one piece that was, he explained, 2,000 years old. It was by a man named Chopin, and it was called the Revolutionary. Sunray could not have believed a piano capable of such passionate resentment. Sunray sat under a golden lantern and listened to the musician and watched his nimble hands. But Sarnak was more deeply moved. He had not heard very much music in his life, and this player seemed to open shutters upon deep and dark things that had long been closed to mankind. Sarnak sat, cheek on hand, his elbow on the parapet of the garden wall, looking across the steely blue of the lake at the darkling night sky at the lower end. The sky had been starry, but a crescent of clouds, like a hand that closes, was now gathering all the stars into its This fist of darkness. Perhaps there would be rain tomorrow. The lanterns hung still, except that ever and again a little shiver of the air set them swaying. Now and then a great white moth would come fluttering out of the night and beat about among the lanterns for a time and pass away. Presently, it would return again or another moth like it would come. Sometimes, there would be three or four of these transitory phantoms. They seemed to be the only insects abroad that night. A faint ripple below drew his attention to the light of a boat. Around yellow light, like a glowing orange, which came gliding close up to the terrace wall out of the blue of the night. There was the sound of a paddle being shipped and a diminishing drip of water. But the people in the boat sat still and listened until the musician had done all together. Then they came up the steps to the terrace and asked the master of the guest house for

rooms for the night. They had downied at a place farther up the lake. Four people came by this boat to her brother and sister, handsome people of southern origin, and the others were fair woman with hazel eyes, who were clearly very much attached to the brethren's sister. They came and talked about the music, and then of a climbing expedition they had promised themselves in the great mountains above the lakes. The brethren's sister were named radiant and starlight and their work in life they explained was to educate animals. It was a business for which they had an almost instinctive skill. The two fair girls, Willow and Firefly were electricians. During the last few days, Sunray had been looking ever and again at the glittering snow fields and desiring them. There was always a magic call for her in snowy mountains. She joined very eagerly in the mountain talk, And it was presently suggested that she and Sarnak should accompany these new acquaintances up to the peaks they had in mind. But before they went on to the mountains, she and Sarnak wanted to visit some ancient remains that had recently been excavated in a valley that came down to the lake from the east. The four newcomers were interested in what she told them about these ruins and altered their own plans to go with her and Sarnak to see them. Then afterwards, all six would go into the mountains. These ruins were rather more than 2,000 years old. There were the remains of a small old town, a railway station of some importance, and and a railway tunnel which came right through the mountains. There were books, papers, paper mache objects or the like and a fair state of preservation in many of the houses. Even cheap cotton goods were preserved, though they had lost all their color. The six holiday makers found the visit to this place a very vivid experience, almost too vivid for their contentment. On Sarnak's tired mind, it made a particularly deep impression.

After a time, a storm overtook them and interrupted their conversation. They were going up over a low pass to a guesthouse at the head of the lake, and it was near the crest of the pass that the storm burst. lightning was tremendous pine tree was struck, not a hundred yards away. They cheered the sight. They were all exhilarated by the elemental clatter and uproar. The rain was like a whip on their bare, strong bodies, and the wind came in gusts that held them staggering

and laughing, breathlessly unable to move forward. They had doubts and difficulties with the path. For a time they lost touch with the blazes upon the trees and rocks. a steady torrent of rain through which they splashed and stumbled down the foaming rocky pathway to their resting place. They arrived wet as from a swim and glowing, but Sarnak, who had come behind the others with sunray, was tired and cold.

The master of this guesthouse drew his shutters and made a great fire for them with pine knots and pine cones while he prepared a hot meal. Sarnak said very little. sat close up to the fire, pitching pine cones into it, and watching them flare and crackle. Presently he got up, confessed himself tired, and went away to his bed. It rained hard all through the night, until nearly midday and then the weather cleared. In the afternoon, the little party pushed on up the valley towards the mountains they designed to climb, but they went at a leisurely pace, giving a day and a half to what was properly only one day's easy walking.

The rain had refreshed everything in the upper valley and called out a great multitude of flowers. The next day was golden and serene. In the early afternoon, they came to a plateau and meadows of wild flowers, and there they sat down to eat the provisions they had brought with them. They were only two hours' climb from the mountain house, in which they were to pass the night, and there was no need to press on. Sarnak was lazy. You can fast to a desire for sleep. The others were amused that anyone should want to sleep in the daylight. But Sunray said she would watch over him. She found a place for him on the sword. And Sarnak laid down beside her and went to sleep with his cheek against her side, as suddenly and trustfully as a child goes to sleep. She sat up as a child's nurse might do, in joining the silence on the others by gestures. After this he will be well again, laughed radiant, and he in fireflies stole off in one direction. While Willow in starlight went off in another to climb a rocky headland near at hand, from which they thought they might get a very wide and perhaps a very beautiful view of the lakes below. For some time Sarnak lay quite still in his sleep and then he began to twitch and stir. Sunray bent down attentively with her warm face close to his. He was quiet again for a time and then he moved and muttered, but she could not distinguish any words. Then he rolled away from her and threw his arms about. She took him gently and drew him into a comfortable attitude again, just as a nurse might do.

Dear, he whispered, and in his sleep reached out for her hand.

When the others came back, he had just awakened.

He was sitting up with a sleepy expression, and Sunray was kneeling beside him with her hand on his shoulder. Wake up, she said. He looked at her as if he did not know her, and then with puzzled eyes at a radiant, then there is another life. He said at last, Sarnak, cried Sunray, shaking him, Don't you know me? He passed a hand over his face. Yes, he said slowly.

Your name is Sunray. I seem to remember Sunray, not Heady, no. Although you are very like Eddie and and mine, mine is Sarnak. Of course, I am Sarnak. He laughed at Willow, but I thought I was Harry more and more Smith. He said, I did indeed. A moment ago I was Henry more to more Smith. Henry more to more Smith. He looked about him. Mountains. he said. Sunshine, flowers, of course. We walked up here this very morning. Sun rays splashed me at a waterfall.

I remember it perfectly, and yet I wasn't bad. A dream. Then I have had a dream, a whole lifetime, 2,000 years ago. What do you mean, said Sunray, a lifetime childhood, boyhood, manhood to the very end of my life. A dream, a dream, but a very vivid dream, the realest of dreams, if it was a dream. I can answer all your questions now, Sunray. I have lived through a whole life in that old world. I know it is as though that life was still the real one and this only a dream. I was in a bed. Five minutes ago I was in bed. The doctor said he is going and I heard the rustle of my wife coming across the room. Your wife, cried Sunray. Yes, my wife. Millie, sun-rained looked at Willow, with raised eyebrows, and a helpless expression. Sarnak stared at her, dreamily puzzled. Millie, he repeated very faintly. She was by the window, for some moments no one spoke. Radiant stood with his arm on Firefly's shoulder. Tell us about its sarnak. I seemed to sink down and down into quiet, and then I woke up here. Tell us now, while it is still so real to you. Have we not planned to reach the mountain house before nightfall? Said Willow, glancing at the sun. There is still a little guesthouse here within five minutes walk of us, said Firefly. Radiant sat down beside Sarnak. Tell us your dream now. If it fades out presently, or if it is uninteresting, we can go on. But if it is entertaining, we can hear it out and sleep down here tonight. It is a very pleasant place here, and there is a loveliness about those mauve colored cracks across the gorge, a faint mistyness in their folds that I could go on looking at for a week without impatience. Till is your dream, Sarnak. He shook his friend. Wake up, Sarnak. Sarnak rubbed his eyes. It's such a strange story. And there will be so much to explain. He took thought for a while. It will be a long story. But, if it's a whole life. First, let me get some cream and fruit from the guest house for us all. Said Firefly. And then let Sarnak tell us his dream. Five minutes Sarnak, and I will be back here. I'll come with you, sederadian, hurrying after her. This that follows is the story Sarnak told. Chapter the second, the beginning of the dream. This dream of mine began, he said, as all our lives began, and fragments in a number of disconnected impressions.

I remember myself lying on a sofa. A sofa covered with a curious sort of hard, shiny material with a red and black pattern on it. I discovered my father standing in the doorway of the room looking at me. He was partially undressed and had a flannel shirt, and his fair hair was an unbrushed shock. He was shaving, and his chin was covered with lather. And I remembered kneeling upon the same hard red and black sofa beside my mother, and looking out of the window. The sofa used to stand with its back to the window cell, at the rain falling on the roadway outside. The window cell smelled faintly of paint, soft, bad paint that had blistered in the sun. It was a storm of rain, and the road was an ill-made road of yellowish sandy clay. was covered with muddy water, and the storming rainfall made a multitude of flashing bubbles that drove along before the wind and burst and gave place to others. Look at him, dearie, said my mother, like sogers.

I think I was still very young when that happened, but I was not so young that I had not often seen soldiers with their helmets marching by. Sogers were the most conspicuous objects in my world outside my home, they were more brightly colored than other people. My mother used to wheel me out for air every day, and whenever there were soldiers to be seen, she used to say, oh, pretty soldiersjourns. Sojourns must have been one of my earliest words. I used to point my little wool in case to finger, for they wrapped up children tremendously in those days. And I wore even gloves, and I would say, so sure. Let me try and describe to you what sort of home this was of mine and what man or people my father and mother were. Such homes and houses and places have long since vanished from the world. Not many relics of them have been capped. And though you have probably learned most of the facts concerning them, I doubt if you can fully realize the feel and the reality of the things I found about me. The name of the place was Jerry Gardens. It was about two miles from the sea at Sandborne. One way lay the town of Cliffstone from which steamboats crossed the sea to France. And the other way lay low cliff and its rows and rows of ugly red brick barracks, and its great drilling plane. And behind us, inland, was a sort of plateau covered with raw new roads of loose pebbles. You cannot imagine such roads, in vegetable gardens and houses new built or building, and then a line of hills, not very high, but steep and green and bare. The downs made a graceful skyline that bounded my world to the north as the sapphire line of the sea bounded it to the south, and they were almost the only purely beautiful things in that world. When I was a very little boy, I used to wonder what lay behind those downs. But I never went up to them to see until I was seven or eight years old. This was before the days of airplanes, radiant. They came into the world when I was 11 or 12. I saw the first that ever cross the channel between the mainland of Europe and England. That was considered a very wonderful thing indeed. It was a wonderful thing, said Sunray. I went with a lot of other boys, and we edged through a crowd that stood and stared at the quaint old machine. It was like a big canvas grasshopper without spread wings, in a field somewhere beyond cliff stone. I find it hard to describe to you what sort of places Jerry Gardens and Cliffstone were like, even though we have just visited the ruins of Dhamma Dosa-la. Dhamma Dosa-la was a sprawling, aimless town enough, but these sprawled far more, and looked with a far-empty aimlessness into the face of God. You see, in the thirty or forty years before my birth, there had been a period of comparative prosperity and productivity in

human affairs. It was not of course in those days the result of any statesmanship worth or thought. It just happened. As now and then in the course of a rain torn, there comes a pool of level water between the rapids.

But the money and credit system was worth... Then in the course of a rain-torn, there comes a pool of level water between the rapids.

But the money and credit system was working fairly well. There was much trade, exceptionally helpful seasons. As a result of this conspiracy of favorable conditions, There was a perceptible rise in the standards of life of the common people. you