# Read the first page of The Hopkins Manuscript by R.C. Sherriff Read the opening of The Hopkins Manuscript by R.C. Sherriff free, no signup. A vain poultry breeder learns the moon is falling toward Earth. - Page: https://uncovered.ink/read/the-hopkins-manuscript-r-c-sherriff - Genre: Science fiction - Year: 1939 - ISBN: 9781668003947 - Read it blind (cover and title hidden): https://uncovered.ink/?b=9781668003947&s=read-page - Buy: https://bookshop.org/a/125786/9781668003947 - Borrow: https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=9781668003947 ## The opening I alone, of all these hopeless people, shall die with the knowledge that I leave something behind that may one day be found and valued as highly as the Rosetta Stone or the priceless manuscripts of Egypt. In those happy, peaceful days before the Cataclysm I spent much time in searching for the relics of people who lived before history began. History has ended now, but one day it may begin again—one day my story may be found and I shall stand amongst the immortals. Tacitus, Ptolemy, and the Venerable Bede produced work that lit the dark ages of the past. My story may be the solitary torch that lights the dark age that followed the Cataclysm, for when it is finished I shall screw it tightly in my thermos flask and conceal it behind the bricks of my fireplace. I am a bachelor, aged fifty-three. My name is Edgar Hopkins and I come of an old and honourable family of Worcestershire squires. The fortunes of my family have declined somewhat in recent years, and in 1912 my father sold our old family estate at Stoatcastle to the Victrix Sand and Gravel Company and retired to Chislehurst. I was educated at Winchester and Jesus College, Cambridge. Upon taking my degree of Bachelor of Arts, I accepted the position of assistant arithmetic master to Portsea Grammar School, a post which I held, I think, with distinction for twenty-three years until the death of my father at last provided me with a small but sufficient legacy upon which to retire. I have always taken the keenest interest in poultry breeding. For three successive years I carried off first prize for Rhode Island Pullets at the Portsea Poultry Show, and my brochure upon "The Successful Breeding of the Domestic Fowl" was very favourably reviewed in the Poultry Gazette. A carping and small-minded criticism in Our Feathered Friends did not dismay or surprise me, for jealousy is unfortunately as rampant amongst poultry breeders as it is amongst metallurgists, in whose grudging world I also, I might say, ranked as an expert. My retirement afforded me the opportunity of gratifying my interest in poultry breeding to a wider extent. In the summer of 1940 I purchased a small but charming estate upon the outskirts of the village of Beadle in Hampshire. It was known as Beech Knoll and consisted of a nice little house upon the summit of a small hill 580 feet above sea level (a fact to which I owe my life). The terraced gardens, rich in old hollies and yews, sloped pleasantly down to a well-drained, sheltered meadow of five acres—a veritable paradise for poultry. I brought my best hens from Portsea, secured six excellent cockerels from a good breeding farm in Kent, and settled down to a life of simple but vigorous purpose. Nature has provided me with a happy gift for friendship, a witty but not unkind tongue, and, I think, a restful, pleasant personality. I soon became well acquainted with my neighbours, from whom I selected Dr. Perceval and Colonel John Harrison as my most intimate friends. I spent many happy evenings with these two gentlemen, discussing my poultry until long past midnight, and it was a great regret to me when both of them decided to go and live farther away. But before he left, Dr. Perceval engaged my interest in a hobby which was destined to play a remarkable part in my life, and without which I should never have gained the knowledge and authority to write this story. Dr. Perceval was a keen amateur astronomer, and had constructed a small observatory in the summerhouse of his garden. ## Books with a similar feel - [Artemis by Andy Weir](https://uncovered.ink/read/artemis-andy-weir.md) - [Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel](https://uncovered.ink/read/sea-of-tranquility-emily-st-john-mandel.md) - [Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel](https://uncovered.ink/read/sleeping-giants-sylvain-neuvel.md) - [Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky](https://uncovered.ink/read/children-of-time-adrian-tchaikovsky.md) - [Envy by Rebecca Dengate](https://uncovered.ink/read/envy-rebecca-dengate.md) - [Seveneves by Neal Stephenson](https://uncovered.ink/read/seveneves-neal-stephenson.md) --- Source: Uncovered (https://uncovered.ink). A short sample shown for reading and discovery. Rights holders can request removal at https://uncovered.ink/takedown.