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From SCIFIPEDIA
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- "I will now tell you as succintly as possible how I classify the times. We live in a cesspool . . . a septic tank . . . a gigantic sewage complex in which runs the dregs, the filth, the misery laden slop of the race of men."
A scientist (Paul Driscoll) is testing a machine to send him back in time. He has a philosophical discussion with another scientist (Harvey) working on it, about the nature of the 20th century. The one going back is not happy with the times . . . strontium 90 in the milk, prejudice, and the violence. He refers to man as a "scientifically advanced monkey."
Spoiler Warning: Plot details and/or information about the ending follow. If you wish to enjoy the work first, stop reading here and return at another time.
His first stop is in Hiroshima, before the atomic bomb is dropped. Although jailed at first, he does get to speak to someone in authority shortly before the devastating attack. He can't convince him of the danger, he can't get them to start an evacuation of women and children, which might at least save a few thousand lives. After the authority figure has Driscoll taken away for further interrogation, the Japanese officer picks up a picture of his family. The bomb drops . . .
Driscoll is now in Nazi Germany. We see Hitler speaking. The time traveler is in a hotel room with a rifle. The maid comes in to clean the room. She tells him that every room on this side of the hotel has been rented by people wanting to see the Fuhrer speak. When she leaves the room, he sites the rifle. The police burst in: the maid has alerted them to something suspicious about the American. Driscoll has disappeared.
He next appears aboard the Lusitania. He is pleading with the captain to alter course, but to no avail. The shop is torpedoed . . .
Back in the 20th century, he is discussing his lack of success. He's decided it is impossible to change the present...or the future. He's found a place to go: Homeville, Indiana in 1881. His colleague warns him that changing even a tiny detail could start a chain reaction with unanticipatable consequences. However, he does assist Driscoll in making the trip.
We see him in Homeville, enjoying the idyllic atmosphere, or penny-farthing bicycles and women with parasols. He happens to pick up a newspaper: it's July 1, 1881. President Garfield is going to attend the commencement exercises at Williams' College. He realizes that tomorrow Garfield will be assassinated, and he mutters about it, attracting some attention from the barkeep after he leaves.
In the street, he recounts what will happen to Garfield. He will be shot on July 2, 1881, and will die as a result. He puts thoughts of changing it aside with a "So be it."
Driscoll is checking into a boarding house. The matron (Mrs. Chamberlain) asks him what he does, and he explains that he is a physicist. She doesn't understand that, and tells him the rules of the house: meal times, restrictions (no gambling), and so on. She introduces Abigail Sloan, the schoolteacher to him.
Later on, at dinner, one of the other boarders (Mr. Hanford) wants to start a discussion on politics. He asks Driscoll for his "international views." Driscoll replies that he doesn't have any. Hanford rejects that. He says everyone has views. He says that the Indian wars five years ago are a good example. He thinks we should have wiped out all of the Indians. He wishes we'd had a hundred Custers. He thinks the idea of giving any land to them is ridiculous.
Abigail disagrees. Hanford and Driscoll have a heated exchange.
- "Mr. Hanford, you have a great enthusiasm for planting the flag deep. But you don't have a nodding acquaintance with what it's like to bury men in the same soil."
Hanford lists some of the future wars, and how happy Hanford would be with the coming situation . . . he regrets that Hanford won't be around to see it. After he leaves, the boarders comment that he is a "violent man."
Abigail meets up with Driscoll in the street. They have a meaningful discussion and exchange a kiss. Suddenly, the news is announced: a telegram has arrived that the President has been shot. When Driscoll doesn't seem surprised, it seems odd to Abigail.
Later on Driscoll is having a casual discussion with one of the musicians who will be playing in the Fourth of July concert the next day. They talk about Abigail: The musician has noticed Driscoll noticing that she doesn't look like his teachers, who all looked like they "came out of a pickle jar." The musician comments on the school building as well, that it will probably keep standing until somebody pulls it down.
This sparks Driscoll's memory. He goes back to look at the book of history of the area that he brought with him. It recounts the burning of the schoolhouse at about 2:00 on July third . . . that afternoon. It mentions that the fire was started by a kerosene lantern from a runaway wagon. Twelve children were injured. The physicist knows he can't risk changing anything . . . even that. Things must happen as they had happened. He feels tortured by the fact, but knows he must not interfere.
A traveling medicine show has Professor Eliot selling his elixer. He holds up a lantern, saying his is like Diogenes looking for an honest man. Driscoll asks Eliot to unhitch the horses from the wagon. Eliot won't listen to him, so Driscoll tries to unhitch them himself. Eliot stikes at him with his crop, startling the horses. Now the wagon is a runaway! The lantern crashes against the school building, starting the fire in the book.
Later, he tells Abigail he did know about the fire, but he didn't know he would cause it. He can't stay in the past . . . he knows too much. He is going back. The past is for those who live in it, not for interlopers like him. Even though he couldn't live in a world menaced with an atomic bomb.
- "It doesn't make any difference if its a world, or twelve children burned in a fire."
Back in the 20th century, he explains to Harvey that he is going to stay there.
- "Leave the yesterdays alone. Do something...do something about the tomorrows."
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