From the day
Perspective: The Future Historian · Sight
The sky over the Hudson is a sepia haze of coal smoke and snapping bunting, where the sharp silhouettes of the great naval parade dwarf the crowds in their stiff high collars and wool tailcoats. I watch a gentleman pause at a street stall to marvel at a new electric toaster, its glowing wires a precursor to the automated grids of my own era, while the bitter, acidic steam of the first instant coffee rises to meet the smog. It is a bully spectacle of industrial birth, punctuated by the muffled crack of a firearm testing a new silencer in the distance. The sharp lines of the dreadnoughts and the flash of steel teeth tell a story of progress that will eventually consume the very peace these people celebrate today.