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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14770 ***
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 14770-h.htm or 14770-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/7/7/14770/14770-h/14770-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/7/7/14770/14770-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+LIFE IN A THOUSAND WORLDS
+
+by
+
+REV. W. S. HARRIS.
+
+Author of _Mr. World and Miss Church-Member_, _Modern Fables and
+Parables_, _Sermons by the Devil_, etc., etc.
+
+Illustrated
+
+Published by
+The Minter Company,
+Harrisburg, Pa.
+
+1905
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: REV. W. S. HARRIS]
+
+
+
+
+             TO
+
+         MY MOTHER
+
+WHO FOR MY GOOD COUNTED NONE OF
+  HER SACRIFICES TOO GREAT AND
+    WHO IS NOW RECEIVING HER
+    REWARD IN THE CELESTIAL
+      LIFE THIS VOLUME IS
+          LOVINGLY
+
+         DEDICATED.
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Decorative element]
+
+
+
+Illustrations.
+
+
+ 1. Portrait of the Author
+ 2. Gazing at the Starry Firmament
+ 3. A City on the Moon
+ 4. How a "Trust" Monopolizes Rain and Light on Mars
+ 5. The Largest Telescope in the Universe
+ 6. An Air Ship on Saturn
+ 7. Living in Fire on a Fixed Star
+ 8. Fishing for Land Animals
+ 9. Monopolizing Liquid Air on Airess
+10. Floating Cities of Plasden
+11. A Captive on a Planet of Duhbe
+12. The Millennial Dawn
+13. Low-life Warfare on Scum
+14. Battle Between "Flying Devils" in the Air
+15. "Trusts" in the Diamond World
+16. Tunnel Through Holen's Center
+17. A Scene of Rejoicing in Brief
+18. Beautiful Plume and Her Wings
+19. A Glimpse of Heaven
+
+
+
+Contents.
+
+
+ 1. Are There More Worlds Than One?
+ 2. A Visit to the Moon
+ 3. A Visit to Mars
+ 4. A Glimpse of Jupiter
+ 5. Beautiful Saturn
+ 6. The Nearest Fixed Star
+ 7. The Water World Visited
+ 8. Tor-tu
+ 9. A Problem in Political Economy
+10. Floating Cities
+11. A World of Ideal Cities
+12. A World Enjoying Its Millennium
+13. A World of High Medical Knowledge
+14. A World of Low Life
+15. A World of Highest Invention
+16. A Singular Planet
+17. The Diamond World
+18. Triumphant Feat of Orion
+19. The Mute World
+20. Brief
+21. The Life on Wings
+22. Heaven
+
+
+
+
+Synopsis of Contents.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+Are There More Worlds Than One?
+
+Why are countless worlds swinging in the endless regions of space?
+The author believes that thousands are inhabited by intelligent
+beings.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+A Visit to the Moon.
+
+Description of a novel city of over 60,000 Moonites. The
+inhabitants of the Moon are described as dwarfs having no noses
+because they live by eating solid air. Their odd houses,
+expressive paintings, strange religion, wonderful history, novel
+government, happy home life, etc., interestingly described.
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+A Visit to Mars.
+
+Marsites described as giants needing four arms. The ultimate
+results of capitalistic oppression graphically portrayed by a
+curtain system. The description of the Marsite curtain system
+embodies a tremendous thrust at monopolistic trusts, and should be
+read by Americans by the millions. The author captured by Marsmen.
+Illustration.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+A Glimpse of Jupiter.
+
+Jupiterites described as colossal giants averaging twenty-five
+feet in height. Their language a marvel of simplicity far
+surpassing the English language. What Jupiterites can see with
+their powerful magnifying lenses. The author looked, through their
+largest telescope and saw ships sailing in New York City harbor.
+Illustration.
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Beautiful Saturn.
+
+Physical features. Woman the ruling genius. Excursions in
+airships. Illustration. Marvelous language-music. Churches on
+Saturn far better than those on Earth.
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+The Nearest Fixed Star.
+
+The inhabitants of Alpha Centaurus live as comfortably in fire as
+Earthites live in air or fishes in water. One of their aerial fire
+carriages described. Illustration.
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+The Water World Visited.
+
+On Stazza the people live in water about as fishes do on Earth.
+Their homes and cities under water described. Fishing for land
+animals. Illustration. Some of their inventions far surpass those
+of our own world.
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+Tortu.
+
+A far more beautiful world than ours. The moral life of Tortu the
+cleanest found in any world, and interesting reasons given.
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+A Problem in Political Economy.
+
+On Airess the inhabitants live on liquid air, and hence have
+neither noses nor lungs. Monopolists control liquid air on Airess
+as petroleum is controlled on Earth. Illustration. Method of
+breaking up the power of monopolies. This chapter is worth reading
+by millions of American men and women.
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+Floating Cities.
+
+Palaces and large cities built on water. Illustration. A number of
+wonderful inventions described. Far surpass our world in reform
+movements.
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A World of Ideal Cities.
+
+Inhabitants described. Author made captive. Rich and poor. Ideal
+cities, how governed.
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+A World Enjoying Its Millennium.
+
+How the Millennium was ushered in. The conditions under which
+millennial life is enjoyed.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+A World of High Medical Knowledge.
+
+On Dorelyn four billions of inhabitants all enjoy perfect health.
+The government controls the whole field of medical science just as
+we do the post office department. No patent medicine on Dorelyn.
+Many new ideas picked up in medicine and surgery.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+A World of Low Life.
+
+On Scum exist the lowest conditions of life found in any stellar
+world. "Notched Rod" language explained. Lizard like human forms.
+No Scumite knows who is his father or mother. A big Scumite battle
+witnessed. Illustration.
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+A World of Highest Invention.
+
+A fertilizer invented making possible the raising of six crops in
+one of our years. A Tube Line for passenger and freight traffic.
+Wonderful storage batteries. A telephone that not only carries
+sound, but transmits the gestures and faces of the speakers.
+Thought photography.
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+A Singular Planet.
+
+On Zik decisive battles between nations are not fought by armies
+on land or navies on the sea, but by flying war ships called
+Flying Devils sailing in the air. A battle witnessed.
+Illustration. A practical way of settling the strife between
+capital and labor. The art of maintaining youthful vigor in old
+ago.
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+The Diamond World.
+
+On the brightest planets of the universe diamonds are as plenty as
+soil is on our Earth, but soil is as scarce and valuable as
+diamonds are in our world. The heart-rending oppression of the
+"Soil Trust" in the Diamond World portrayed. Illustration. The
+insatiable greed of "Trusts" follows the poor people into their
+sepulchers.
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+Triumphant Feat of Orion.
+
+Description of a tunnel through the center of Holen, a globe 500
+miles in diameter. Illustration of passenger car used. Its
+operation explained.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+The Mute World.
+
+Muteites have no audible language. They converse by pure thought
+transmission, and no one can conceal evil thoughts. When a Muteite
+criminal is brought before a Court of Justice the doors of his
+soul are unlocked so that all past thought-images, photographed on
+the sensitive living plates of his mind, are thrown open to view.
+No hypocrisy, no conventional lying.
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+Brief.
+
+The world of Brief sustains the shortest lived human beings of our
+universe. What we in our world crowd into seventy or eighty years
+of life the Briefites crowd into the narrow compass of about four
+years of our time. Journalism, footwear, raiment, transportation,
+public highways, business, religious life, etc., portrayed under
+such mad-rush environments.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+The Life on Wings.
+
+The inhabitants of Swift are charmingly beautiful, and many of
+them can be seen gracefully moving on wings through the air. A
+charming conversation with Plume, the most beautiful woman in the
+universe. Illustration.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+Heaven.
+
+Its greatness, permanency, inhabitants, degrees, seven typos of
+intelligences, unity, employments, transportation, sexual
+affinities, structural aspects, etc., uniquely portrayed.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+Any person having a reasonable education will admit that there are many
+planetary worlds besides the one on which we live. But whether or not
+they are inhabited is an open question with most people. We had been in
+doubt on this point for many years, but now we are settled in our
+conviction that human life exists in many different worlds of space. We
+can give no proof of this except that we have just returned from the
+greatest journey we ever took. We went from world to world over long
+distances of space as easily as one could go from place to place on the
+surface of our earth. _This was a journey of the soul_, for surely flesh
+and bone could not have traveled such amazing distances. At times we
+were lost to this world, being entirely absorbed in the glimpses of
+other worlds that were flashing upon our view in happy succession.
+
+It can been seen without saying that this book contains no more than a
+fragment of the things we saw and heard--the fragment that is most
+easily understood by human creatures born under the rules and
+regulations of this little dark world of ours.
+
+There are, in certain other worlds, such wide extremes of bodily
+formation and mental capacities, that a picture of them in word or art
+would only be unbearable and in some instances decidedly revolting, just
+because we are trained here to one set of standards and chained to one
+surface of world conditions. It will be different in the after-death
+life to those who are wise enough to be pure and good in this world.
+
+To make the book as practical as possible we have given a picture of
+some worlds where human life is inferior to ours, and of others where it
+is vastly superior,--saying nothing of the millennial life which we
+found in far off space.
+
+Comparisons are made throughout the book between the life, habits, and
+customs of other worlds and our own. In picturing the low life of
+certain worlds we are led to see what a highly favored and greatly
+civilized people we are, and in describing the human achievements of
+certain other worlds we are led to see how short a distance we have
+traveled in the path of human glory and civilization.
+
+We have also endeavored to set forth in this humble volume the common
+relation of all rational creatures of all worlds to one Infinite
+Creator. We do not question the truth of this fact, and those who ask
+for proof must wait to find it.
+
+We hope that this book will be inspiring to every thoughtful mind who
+loves to learn more and more of the great system of intelligent life of
+which the human creatures of this world form one link in the chain. If
+the reading of this volume should open to your mind numberless
+suggestions and compel you to ask a host of questions, perhaps you will
+do as we have done,--spend a long time in training your wings to be
+swift enough to take the journey yourself. If you will not do this, you
+must patiently wait until the clods of clay are shaken off, so that your
+free spirit may go out to live the life more vast in other worlds.
+
+We pray that the highest kind of good may result from the truths here
+advanced. If this shall be accomplished, we shall have our best reward
+for having given this book to the printing press.
+
+Truly yours,
+
+THE AUTHOR.
+
+December, 1904.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+It may seem like great exaggeration to say that this is one of the most
+interesting and profitable books that has been placed upon the American
+book market for many years. _It follows no old rut; it has found a new
+path_, and the reader is permitted to walk in regions which he never saw
+and of which he never read before. It is indeed a triumph of literary
+genius to give a picture of intelligent life in other worlds upon a
+scientific and philosophical basis. Other writers have attempted to give
+a description of conditions on the Moon, Mars, or some other single
+planet, but no one has succeeded in picturing the mysteries of life in a
+number of star worlds with such a fascination as is here found.
+
+Some one may say that the book is only a work of imagination, but we
+challenge any one to produce a book that gives more timely thrusts at
+the evils of our present day life. By showing how the people of other
+worlds have fallen into their sad conditions the author sounds a note of
+warning to the people of this world, and by giving a glimpse of the
+manner in which other worlds have reached their great triumphs, he gives
+to the people of our world a spur to loftier ideals, to greater
+inventions, and to a purer life.
+
+The publisher of this volume is proud to put upon the market a book of
+such high value and dignity. It is quite unusual for the subscription
+book market to see such a princely book come into its midst. Here we
+have ten dollars worth of _new ideas_, packed into cream form, all for
+one dollar, and we positively assert that nothing like it can be found
+anywhere in literature. _Great books have no companions._
+
+The illustrations are from the masterly hands of an artist of special
+merit for this class of work. He happily places himself into the midst
+of other worlds in order to draw the beautiful pictures that illustrate
+and adorn this volume. The illustrations are well worth careful
+examination and when studied in connection with the reading matter they
+are seen in their greatest beauty and value. _The Publishers_
+
+[Illustration: Looking Towards a Thousand Worlds.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+Are There More Worlds Than One?
+
+
+Our world is large enough to excite our interest and invite our study
+until we close our eyes in death. Yet there are countless other orbs
+scattered through the solar system and throughout the vast stretches of
+the starry heavens. Some of these worlds are smaller than ours, but the
+majority of them are hundreds or thousands of times larger.
+
+Looking away from our solar system, we find that each star is a sun, in
+most instances the center of a group of worlds. So, for the lack of a
+better phrase, we shall say that there are millions of solar systems
+distributed through limitless space, each one serving its part in the
+great universal plan.
+
+For what purpose are all these immense worlds shining and swinging in
+the depths of immensity? Could it be possible that they are nothing more
+than vast pieces of dead machinery, barren of all vegetable growth and
+intelligent life, whereon desolation and solitude forever prevail?
+
+Our own Earth is inhabited by a large variety of living forms ranging
+from the microscopic bacteria and animalcula to the glorious form of man
+with all his superior endowments. The air, earth and water are teeming
+with their billions of sensitive creatures; even a breath of air, a drop
+of water, or a leaf on a tree often contains a miniature world of living
+forms.
+
+Amidst all this confusing animation around us, is it not absurd to
+suppose that other worlds, larger or smaller than our own, are barren of
+all life, and that from them no songs of thanksgiving ever arise to the
+Maker and Ruler of all things?
+
+Such a supposition not only gives us a strange view of the character and
+attributes of God, but is at once repulsive to our instincts; anyone
+wishing to accept it may do so, but as for me and for a large company of
+my kind, we prefer to give a larger meaning to creation and a higher
+glory to the Creator.
+
+Let no one doubt that the universe is full of intelligent life, in
+myriad types of existence and infinite stages of development. Physically
+speaking, one cannot imagine the countless variety of ways in which
+flesh and bone may congregate around the human brain to make a sentient
+and intelligent creature.
+
+Confined as we are to our little dark world, we know by sight of only
+one way in which the brain conveys its messages and serves its ends,
+namely, through a body of one hundred pounds or more of flesh and bone,
+formed erect, and capable of rendering service upon a moment's notice.
+Therefore some of us are conceited enough to believe that we are the
+most perfect and beautiful beings of the universe, the highest
+expression of creative art, and that all other creatures in a million
+orbs take a secondary place.
+
+True enough, we occupy an honored position in the scale of creation, but
+while the people of many worlds are beneath us, yet there are many more
+planets whereon human genius has surpassed us, and we must be modest
+enough to take our rightful place in the drama of the worlds.
+
+"How many planets, how many suns, how many milky ways are there?" you
+ask in one breath. Speaking alone of our own universe, of which the
+Milky Way is the backbone, I estimate that if we multiply the number of
+stars by forty-nine, we shall have the approximate number of worlds that
+are large enough to be classed with the family of inhabited planets.
+
+In our immediate universe there are at least one hundred million stars,
+a number of which have over five hundred worlds revolving around them;
+others have only six or ten. The average, as above stated, is estimated
+at forty-nine. Then, also, far out in the depths of space, there are
+nebulous spots visible only through the most searching lenses. These are
+new systems of milky ways or new universes, so immensely distant that
+our most powerful telescopes cannot even resolve them into stars.
+
+There are inhabited worlds so far from us that, if one could travel the
+distance around our Earth in one second, he could proceed in one
+direction, at this rate of speed, for twenty million years and yet see
+far ahead of him the flickering lights of numberless other inviting
+suns and worlds.
+
+We cannot possibly grasp an idea of such infinite distances, neither can
+we form any adequate conception of the long, long stretches between star
+and star, which is the same as saying, between solar system and solar
+system. In our Milky Way the stars seem to be crushed together into a
+whitish jelly, but the awful truth looms up before us with all sublimity
+that, although these stars seem to lie one upon another, they are
+millions and trillions of miles apart.
+
+In regard to our own solar system much speculation is rife as to the
+existence of human creatures on the several larger planets. Theories of
+all kinds have been advanced; some speculative or absurd, others so
+plausible as to give rise to interesting questions, such as
+communicating with Mars, and perhaps of taking a journey to the Moon.
+These suggestions, while fanciful, awaken our interest and excite our
+curiosity. Can any one predict the excitement that would prevail in our
+world if a human creature from some other planet were suddenly to set
+foot upon our soil? We would fling a thousand questions at him to learn
+something of the strange realm from which he came.
+
+And how great would be our amazement if we were to have the exalted
+privilege of journeying to other worlds, seeing the types of human
+creatures living there, and witnessing a thousand other things too
+strange and wonderful to mention?
+
+I invite you to listen as I tell a condensed story of a number of worlds
+which I have visited, all within the boundary line of our own universe.
+I cannot even tell a tithe of what I saw and heard, but must content
+myself with giving a passing view of a thousand worlds, some of which
+are situated in a very distant corner of our universe.
+
+Well you may ask: "How could you travel from world to world and see the
+various forms of human life, and then remain alive to tell a part of the
+marvelous tale?"
+
+If it is a mystery to you, it is also a mystery to me. I cannot describe
+the pinions that carried me, nor tell whence came the strength that
+moved my wings, any more than I can explain by what process I was
+preserved alive in worlds of fire, in worlds of ice, and in worlds
+without air. But the sight of all these things was as real to me as the
+dreams of the night, and it must be admitted that dreams are often as
+realistic as the acts of our wakeful moments.
+
+For many years I looked outward toward the starry firmament, and at
+times a deep yearning possessed me to speed away to converse with the
+inhabitants of other spheres.
+
+This hope I cherished so strongly that my thoughts completely
+overpowered me, and ere I knew it I was living at the mercy of
+indescribable emotions. All this continued during many revolutions of
+the Earth on its axis. I felt as Columbus must have felt when he was
+moving over strange waters. Then occurred the most notable event of my
+life. In the twinkling of an eye I was caught away from the Earth and,
+without any effort of my own, I was darting through space faster than a
+sunbeam.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+A Visit to the Moon.
+
+
+I was not prepared for the quick transit to our satellite, nor for the
+views thrust upon me so suddenly. Before I could well collect my
+thoughts I found myself in the immediate vicinity of the Moon and,
+strange as it may seem, I was conscious of my surroundings and knew that
+I had power to transport myself instantly to any place I might wish to
+go.
+
+To see the Moon face to face gives a charming satisfaction which can
+never be realized two hundred and forty thousand miles away. I was
+conscious of my privilege and was determined to take all possible
+advantage of it.
+
+Now how differently everything appeared from the views I had snatched
+through the telescope while yet on the Earth. I could not see the "Man
+in the Moon," whose grinning face had so often looked down upon me, but
+from my first point of observation everything looked as if life had
+never existed there and, consequently, I was about to conclude that no
+human beings inhabit the Moon. This theory soon vanished, for after I
+had traveled over a hundred miles I came to a thriving center of
+population, the largest city on the sphere, inhabited by more than sixty
+thousand rational beings.
+
+These creatures resemble us most strongly in their mental capacities,
+though their bodies are out of harmony with ours, having three eyes and
+no nose. The third eye is situated in the center of the forehead, and
+the other two more toward the sides of the head.
+
+Life is not sustained by breathing a gaseous air as we do, so that the
+sense of smell is performed by the protruded upper lip. At the voluntary
+effort to catch scent the upper lip noticeably rolls upward into a
+partial scroll.
+
+I was anxious to learn how the life of these Moonites is sustained
+without breathing and, to my astonishment, I learned that they eat solid
+air at intervals of about six hours. This is not taken in connection
+with the regular food, but is eaten alone and carried into a separate
+stomach wherein it is disintegrated by the chemical action of the
+stomachic acids. The gases thus formed serve the same purpose as the air
+we breathe into our lungs.
+
+According to the conjectures of some earthly astronomers I was expecting
+to see a race of immense giants. On the contrary, I found that these
+Moonites grow to only about one-fourth our height, but possess fully
+three-fourths as much circumference of body. Notwithstanding that they
+are so short and rotund, they are healthy and exceedingly quick in all
+their bodily movements.
+
+No doubt I shall be chided for saying that these Moon-inhabitants are a
+handsome people, but I was enabled to judge them by a universal standard
+of beauty, and I looked upon them as a product of the same infinite
+Creator who fashioned our mortal bodies with such marvelous adaptation
+of means to end.
+
+One thing is sure, were a person from the Moon to set foot upon our
+planet, he would estimate us to be as far out of harmony with his
+standards of beauty as we should consider him to be out of harmony with
+ours.
+
+As might be expected, these people are very peculiar in their habits.
+There is a small percentage of the population who are bright stars
+intellectually, while others are extremely indolent. When a person wins
+a record for laziness, it is said of him: "He is too lazy to eat his
+air."
+
+The large city to which I had come was indeed a novel sight. Its
+buildings average in height one-third of ours, although they occupy
+nearly as much ground space. They are composed almost totally of
+non-combustible materials.
+
+The window panes are not made of a brittle substance like glass, but
+resemble mica, except that they are more tough and durable. These
+Moonites are wiser than we in roofing their houses. They have discovered
+a mineral composition which in its plastic state is daubed over the
+roof. This, upon hardening, is proof against all conditions of weather
+and never needs replacing.
+
+There are many striking features in their architecture. In general, it
+may be said that they are quite far advanced in constructive ability.
+Some of their larger buildings look like soldiers' forts, others
+resemble immense bee hives, while still others appear like odd-shaped
+synagogues.
+
+We are their superiors in almost every line, especially in our knowledge
+and use of electricity and photography, and also in our manufacturing
+and scientific skill. However, they have decidedly surpassed us in
+imitative and creative art.
+
+Their paintings express so accurately the emotions of the heart that I
+found myself in tears as I saw their masterpieces. For a time I forgot
+that I was on the Moon, so lost was I in elevated reflections all
+suggested by their art creations. How I wished that I could have taken
+some of these specimens with me!
+
+From the Moon our Earth looks like a large wagon-wheel hanging in the
+heavens. It is amusing to learn of the various opinions and
+superstitions that are held regarding this wagon-wheel world. Some of
+the Moonites declare that it is a huge lantern, hung solely for their
+benefit, and scoff at the idea that it might be a world inhabited by
+civilized beings. More intelligent Moonites venture the theory that
+human life could exist on the great wagon-wheel, but declare that this
+is quite improbable, as the whole planet is enveloped by some thick,
+smoky substance in which they believe it would be impossible for human
+life to exist. Some look upon the Earth as the mother of the Moon, and
+regard the Sun as the father. This sex idea runs through most of their
+heathen religion, and there are more who worship the Earth and the Sun
+than there are who worship the God who created these heavenly bodies.
+
+I prolonged my investigations without becoming visible, taking note of
+numberless facts of interest which will ever be a source of pleasure and
+value to me. At length, however, I concluded to take advantage of a
+privilege and power I possessed and, becoming visible, I entered a quiet
+room in the presence of a very distinguished man. He was by far the most
+highly educated person on the Moon.
+
+I was more surprised than he, for I expected that he would be greatly
+agitated at my unaccountable appearance. Imagine my surprise when he sat
+motionless, gazing firmly into my face which to him was out of harmony
+with all ideas of correct form.
+
+I was the first to speak, and although he had manifested outwardly such
+self possession, I soon learned that it was a mere show of stoicism in
+the presence of one whom he thought to be a spirit. In an incredibly
+short time we were on easy speaking terms and I was gaining the object
+of my visit.
+
+Among the many things of interest that I learned from this famous
+character were facts concerning the history of the Moon. According to
+the information he gave me, I figured that human life had existed on the
+Moon thousands of years before its appearance on the Earth.
+Scientifically I could not account for this on any other ground than
+that the Moon, being a much smaller orb, cooled off sufficiently to
+sustain life on its surface long before any form of life could exist on
+our Earth.
+
+The Moonities of the old era were a prosperous and progressive people,
+far outshining their successors who now occupy the sphere. After making
+history for several thousand years, the human race had grown to one
+hundred million in numbers, and civilization had reached a surprising
+degree of perfection.
+
+In those long-ago ages the Moon was a much more fertile garden than now.
+Luxury and refinement were enjoyed by the favored sons of that period,
+and no one dreamed of the horrible fate that was to sweep practically
+the whole race into the regions of death. My intelligent informer used
+excessive language in trying to picture the unequaled catastrophe that
+put an end to the old era.
+
+My interest was unbounded, and with awed breath I continued listening as
+he described the cause of this great and terrible cataclysm.
+
+"It all occurred about five thousand years ago," he said. "The Moon was
+shaken by subterraneous rumblings, followed by fiery ejections, covering
+a period of nearly one and one-half wagon-wheel revolutions. Whole
+cities were ruined, fertile valleys covered and human life was almost
+annihilated."
+
+I knew what my informant meant by "one and one-half wagon-wheel
+revolutions." This would be a period of about forty days and nights of
+earthly time. Do you wonder that my mind flew back to the forty days and
+nights of rain that destroyed, at one time, on our Earth, the whole
+human family, except the few who were saved in the ark?
+
+"What are the evidences of this horrible world-ending?" I asked.
+
+"They are on every hand. Have you not yet seen the vast craters, the
+mountains of barren cinder, the stumps of immense pillars, partly
+excavated? All this, and very much more, silently unfolds a tale of
+horror that can be faintly pictured only by the imagination. Think of a
+holocaust so terrible that one hundred million human creatures are
+thereby swept into death in the narrow compass of forty days! The
+records that have been brought down to us by the few survivors indicate
+the continual wails of horror rending the sky while the volcanic
+disturbances continued. Thousands and millions ran from place to place
+to find shelter from the storm of fire. At one place the surface would
+open and at another the lava would run. Fate, with a merciless hand,
+was dragging each one into one or another of the inevitable pits."
+
+"How many were saved?" I asked with deepening interest.
+
+"Parts of only eight families aggregating nineteen human beings."
+
+"And how many people are on the Moon now?"
+
+"Almost forty million."
+
+"How do you account for this slow growth?" I asked after I had explained
+that on our globe a much larger number of inhabitants sprang from a
+smaller number than nineteen in a shorter period of time.
+
+This allusion cost me much explanation, and, after I had selfishly
+brushed his rising questions aside, I learned that large companies of
+the Moonites had been swept into death by frequent volcanic outbursts
+all along the line of the centuries.
+
+No one can estimate my interest as I continued the conversation. But
+finally I decided to stroll through certain parts of the city and,
+thinking it advisable to give no notice of my departure, I suddenly
+vanished from his sight. However, before leaving the room, I observed
+that my bewildered auditor conjectured for a long time and reached his
+former conclusion that he had been in touch with an apparition.
+
+Again I resumed my visible form and walked along one of the principal
+streets of the city. What novel sights greeted my eyes on every side!
+One cannot well imagine what excitement I aroused. Citizens who first
+saw me lifted their flabby arms in terror and ran to the city Bizen, a
+place where every inhabitant, under oath, is obliged to carry special
+news before communicating it elsewhere.
+
+[Illustration: Visiting a City on the Moon.]
+
+In a very short time the city Plins, or in our language, city
+authorities, were coming toward me in their costly vehicles. They were
+preceded, however, by what we would call a body guard. Imagine their
+surprise to hear me shout at the top of my voice, which sounded to them
+as thunder would to us: "You need not fear, I will do you no harm!"
+
+My voice had a magical effect on the assembling host of pigmies. They
+looked at me with as much curiosity as I looked at them. I stepped over
+their heads but was careful not to trample on the children who scampered
+at my approach. If one could ship a car load of these children to the
+Earth, they would make excellent dolls, for they range in size from only
+six to ten inches. Finally, I sat on the roof of one of their lower
+buildings to watch the gathering of the multitudes and study their
+curious countenances.
+
+Some of the more educated, seeing that I was peacefully inclined,
+ventured close to my knees and then looked the more intently into my
+face, all of which was agreeable, as it enabled me to get a still closer
+view of their faces.
+
+I saw that the whole city was turning out, and I wondered how the alarm
+could have been given so speedily. Upon inquiry, a fine artist at my
+side tremblingly explained that the Bizen wires had been touched for
+block six. This meant that every house in the city had received notice
+of an unusual occurrence in that section. I resolved to learn more of
+this system and how it was operated without the aid of electricity.
+
+Now I was besieged by a pressing host. At once I commenced to speak in
+Moon dialect. I told them whence I came, pointing to the large
+wagon-wheel that hung in their heavens. After a short discourse, I
+invited questions.
+
+One of their leaders stepped nearer to me and acted as the spokesman of
+the crowd. His language and voice were of excellent quality and although
+visibly agitated, he bore himself with commendable dignity. Let me here
+translate our conversation into English.
+
+"How came you here?" asked he.
+
+"That I cannot explain."
+
+"Did you walk or run?"
+
+"I did neither."
+
+Surrendering this line of inquiry, he went on to ask the following
+questions:
+
+"Are there more creatures than you where you came from?"
+
+"Large cities full of them."
+
+"Are they smaller than you?"
+
+"Their average height equals mine."
+
+"It must be a ponderous world of immense giants beyond the
+comprehension of any inhabitant of our whole globe."
+
+"But just as I appear large to you, you appear unnaturally small to me,"
+I calmly added.
+
+"How came that lump in the middle of your face?"
+
+I knew the questioner referred to my nose. I took a good wholesome
+laugh, and the large concourse of people watched my wrinkling face with
+strange delight. The Moonites express all their emotions by exclamations
+and almost infinite variations of the lower lip in conjunction with
+their three eyes.
+
+I told the spokesman that the lump on my face was called "nose," using
+our pronunciation, and that it grew there by nature and not by accident.
+I also informed him that each person in our world had such a nose, at
+which much merriment ensued. Lips twitched and quivered, as their eyes
+blinked and rolled. It seemed to me like a hideous way to laugh, but no
+doubt my nose seemed just as hideous to them.
+
+Then I explained all about our dense atmosphere, the part that air
+played in our life, and what a fine convenience the nose is during
+eating and speaking. Of course all this was unintelligible to them.
+
+I then busied myself in ascertaining the secret of their signal system.
+I learned, much to my surprise, that with scarcely any knowledge of
+electricity the Moonites had long ago discovered a means of
+communication which is somewhat similar to our wireless telegraphy. From
+central stations messages are transmitted to sensitive metal rods set up
+on each house-top, somewhat like the lightning rods that decorate
+house-tops on my own Earth. I also learned that a very thin atmosphere
+is prevalent on the Moon, and that this rare medium is more suited to
+their wireless telegraphy than our heavier atmosphere would be with its
+different composition.
+
+I soon learned that great excitement was prevailing throughout the
+adjacent villages. Wireless telegraphy carried the news, and from all
+directions throngs were pressing toward the city. Furthermore I saw that
+the noted personage with whom I had spent a quiet season was now making
+his way toward me. Not wishing to hold further conversation with him,
+and desiring to escape the ever-rising tide of curious questioners, I
+once more became invisible and proceeded to study the physical phenomena
+of the Moon.
+
+I now saw that everything bore evidence to the fearful havoc of volcanic
+eruptions that had laid waste so large a portion of the Moon's surface.
+The people live in the remaining fertile belts and patches of land which
+are fortunately scattered in rich profusion over the greater portion of
+the surface, reminding one of productive oases in the deserts of our
+world.
+
+Here and there, in stately museums, are stored the relics of the old
+glorious civilization. At a few of these places I tarried to study the
+achievements of a people who flourished five thousand years ago, at a
+time when the civilization of our world was yet young. What an interest
+lay wrapped up in the time-worn relics! Naturally I thought of Pompeii
+as I was viewing the antique treasures that had been brought to light
+from their old graves of ashes, cinder and lava. In some of these
+specimens I saw glimpses of inventions that have never been reproduced
+on the Moon and never known on our Earth.
+
+Onward I moved to take my last views of the Moon. For ragged and jagged
+cliffs of almost total barrenness, and yawning chasms lined with
+intolerable precipices, the Moon outrivals the Earth. I took a passing
+glimpse of the famous crater-mountains, called by our astronomers
+Copernicus and Theophilus, the former situated in the eastern and the
+latter in the western hemisphere of the Moon. The largest openings of
+our Earth dwindle into insignificance compared with such stupendous
+marvels of natural scenery.
+
+Many similar places I visited, but I spent my last hours on the Moon in
+the presence of that gigantic chasm called Newton, where I was thrilled
+with feelings of sublimity as never before. Outstretched lay the immense
+opening, nearly one hundred and fifty miles long and about seventy miles
+broad. It was fearful to gaze into it, for my eye stretched downward
+mile after mile until it reached the blackness of darkness. It
+frequently happens that a Moonite accidentally falls into this monster
+Newtonian chasm. Nothing more is ever seen or heard of him.
+
+I shuddered as I peered into this gigantic opening whose gaping mouth
+could swallow Pike's Peak so that its highest point would be many
+thousands of feet below the surface. We have nothing on our Earth that
+can compare with this terribly imposing sight, and as I was studying the
+expansive waste I could more readily understand how large numbers of
+human beings could be destroyed by such fabulous quantities of boiling
+lava as were capable of being thrown from this pit. There is no doubt
+that the lava and ashes hurled from this crater alone would send a
+withering blast of death-dealing for many hundreds of miles around.
+
+If you have never been privileged to look upon this ponderous chasm face
+to face, improve your first opportunity to get a glimpse of it through
+as powerful a telescope as possible.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+A Visit to Mars.
+
+
+I need not describe the manner of my flight. It is enough to say that,
+to my delight, I reached our neighbor planet called Mars, and at once
+proceeded to study its physical features and its human life.
+
+Everything was vastly different from what I had been long accustomed to
+see and to imagine, and I felt quite assured that I was living in a
+dream. But I knew of no way to convince myself as to my bearings, so I
+concluded to make the best use of my time and opportunities, and leave
+questionings to the future.
+
+As a physical world Mars bears a most striking resemblance to our Earth.
+The length of its year is six hundred and eighty-seven of our days, and
+the length of its day is twenty-four hours and thirty-seven minutes. Its
+diameter is about one-half that of the Earth and its distance from the
+Sun is 142,000,000 miles. Even from our own world we can discern
+through a good telescope the changing colors of the planet, due to the
+recurring seasons, each one of which is almost twice the length of ours.
+
+There is relatively much less water on Mars than is found on our Earth,
+and gravity on its surface is only thirty-eight per cent. of terrestrial
+gravity. Imagine, then, how light everything must be. This may account
+somewhat for the physical proportions of its inhabitants, for they are
+over twice our size, and in appearance resemble us but little. They have
+four arms, two extra ones extending from a point just above the knees.
+The two lower arms act as servants to the two higher. Thus are the four
+used at one time in harmony.
+
+Mars is an older world than ours, and although it receives only one-half
+as much heat from the sun yet it is almost of the same temperature,
+owing to a peculiar condition of the atmosphere which we would call
+"heat retentivity."
+
+Some scientists and philosophers will at once say that such atmospheric
+conditions are contrary to reason and natural law, but they must be
+informed that on Mars there are chemical elements and affinities not
+known in our world. It requires but little change in the elementary
+construction of the atmosphere to render it capable of strong
+heat-retaining properties.
+
+Standing on the surface of this planet, my attention was easily
+attracted by the two frisky moons called Deimos and Phobos, at the small
+distance of 14,600 and 12,500 miles respectively. These two moons are
+constantly flying around the planet, one in about thirty hours and the
+other in seven and one-half hours.
+
+The astronomers of Mars have discovered unmistakable signs of human life
+on the farthest of these two moons. They are hoping to be able some day
+to cover the intervening distance and for the first time see their old
+neighbors face to face.
+
+Before I had traveled over one-half the surface of this planet I was
+thoroughly convinced that it was a rough, jagged world without lofty
+mountain ranges or peaks. The many long and narrow fertile valleys, much
+resembling the canons of our own Earth, absorbed my mind with more than
+passing interest. Looking carefully into one of these canon depressions,
+I saw a class of human beings in a low state of civilization;
+nevertheless, they were expert in agriculture and seemed to labor
+contentedly with a dull, plodding vigor beyond all reason.
+
+According to appearances there seemed to be no social relation or
+connection between the inhabitants of one valley and those of another.
+At first I was greatly puzzled at these peculiar conditions.
+
+Next I gave my attention to the highlands or wide barren ridges between
+the valleys. On these elevations I saw a highly civilized race of people
+living in great splendor. They enjoyed the privilege of traveling from
+one highland to another and of exchanging courtesies. Their interests
+were common, and their joys and sorrows were mutual.
+
+At once I became interested in these extremes of life as exhibited in
+the valleys and on the highlands, and resolved that I would find the
+cause for these differences.
+
+The authentic history of these Marsmen runs back through thousands of
+years. I learned with interest the wonderful past life on this world.
+
+There was once a time when people all mingled together and cultivated
+the valleys. Each one by doing his part made it lighter for all. But
+after many years a few schemers combined and by their inventive genius
+succeeded in erecting vast sliding curtains over the valleys. These
+curtains were supported from the tops of the ridges on each side and, by
+their manipulation, the operators could keep the sunlight from any
+particular part of the valley.
+
+Then these shrewd Marsmen exacted tribute from the valley-toilers,
+saying to them: "Give us a fifth part of your products, and we will give
+you sunlight."
+
+So the toilers gave them tribute willingly, knowing that they could not
+live without sunlight. Then it came to pass that these toilers were
+burdened by reason of their taxes and they prayed to the rich that they
+might have sunlight at a lower price, but the rich replied:
+
+"We cannot give you sunlight for less because it costs us much to keep
+in repair our immense curtain systems across the valley." So the poor
+toilers labored more and slept less, while the few rich on the
+elevations built unto themselves more spacious homes and lived in
+greater luxury all their days.
+
+In process of time some of the shrewdest highlanders devised an
+attachment to the curtain system by which the rainfall could also be
+distributed at the will of the operators. Then the rich Marsmen on the
+elevations said to the toilers: "Give us one-fifth more of your
+products, and we will give you your share of the rainfall."
+
+The poor laborers had no alternative; so they labored still more
+diligently to pay their taxes for light and rain, and the burden became
+so heavy that they could no longer bear it. So they sent up a petition
+praying for sunlight and rain for a one-fifth instead of a two-fifths
+tribute. The rich refused to listen to this prayer, whereat the toilers
+refused to comply with these intolerable demands.
+
+Then did the rich magnates of the elevations draw their curtains to
+keep both sunshine and rain from the valley. The laborers consumed all
+they had until, in desperation, they asked again for sunlight and rain,
+but the rich refused to give either unless the toilers would promise to
+give a two-fifths tribute; to do this the toilers at length agreed. Then
+the curtains were withdrawn, the sunlight once more kissed the valley,
+the rain again fell upon the fields, and some of the poor, ignorant
+people devoutly thanked their God for these gifts.
+
+[Illustration: Monopolizing Light and Rain on Mars.]
+
+It occurred later that one of the many toilers, whom his Creator had
+endowed with unusual wisdom, became the leader of the masses in
+struggling for their rights. He traveled the whole length of the valley
+and advocated that the people should unite, march to the summit of the
+hill, destroy the fastenings that held these curtains and, as the
+coverings would fall, destroy them with fire. This leader declared that
+they were entitled to sunlight and rain without paying tribute to man.
+Gradually the workers were won to his views. The rich, seeing that their
+investments were threatened, hired a few brilliant orators and sent
+them to the people to persuade them not to give heed to a man of one
+idea. These orators argued that it would be a great crime to destroy the
+property of others, and that their only way of securing happiness was to
+toil on with patience and keep looking for brighter days. The people
+listened to the specious sophistries and thus pushed aside their
+redeemer, putting off forever the day of their deliverance.
+
+Similar troubles continued to arise in the valley, but the rich always
+succeeded in quieting the people before they rose to determined action.
+
+Then the rich decided to put an end to these agitations among the
+toilers. Accordingly they cut off all communication from valley to
+valley, either by epistle or person, and refused longer to permit any
+poor toiler, or his children, to pursue any study whatever. By this
+method, in the course of a few hundred years, the valley dwellers lapsed
+into ignorant slaves, not knowing, except by tradition, that there were
+other people in other parts of Mars. Thus the rich continued to
+flourish on all the highlands, for they had extended this same policy
+until the toilers of the whole planet were practically galley slaves,
+each consigned to his own narrow canon.
+
+After witnessing the wide extent of this slavery system, I appeared in
+visible form to a rich dignitary on one of the most refined highlands.
+
+He was alone and, upon raising his eyes and seeing me before him, he was
+greatly amazed. To see a little man with a hairy face and with the kind
+of clothing I wore, was all too odd for him to take in at once. He acted
+as if I were some unheard-of animal, but when I addressed him in his own
+tongue and manifested a becomingly meek disposition, he accepted me as a
+deformed creature afflicted with a mild form of lunacy. Then he
+proceeded to examine my clothing and especially my knees, trying to
+solve by what freak of nature I was cursed since I had no lower arms
+such as he had. My small face, smooth forehead, and the short straight
+hair on my head aroused in him no little wonder and merriment, so that,
+all in all, I was the oddest freak he had ever seen. He soon showed by
+his manner how thankful he was that gracious nature had formed him so
+much more kindly than me.
+
+His questions soon poured out upon me and I answered as briefly and
+intelligently as I could. He pressed me so hard as to the place of my
+birth that I finally informed him that I came from another world,
+whereat he was assured of my insanity and proceeded to fasten me by
+force until he might summon certain of his friends. Knowing that all the
+people of Mars could do me no ultimate harm and wishing to see what
+might be their intentions, I offered very feeble resistance to his
+course.
+
+In a very short time there was grouped around me a curious set of
+people, all of whom seemed to me so horribly ugly that I felt well
+satisfied that I had been born on the Earth. Among the company were some
+eminent scholars who did no more than peer at one another and walk about
+me, while they were waiting for some learned professors to arrive from a
+distance. A long, tedious period ensued ere the company of judges or
+examiners were gathered from several adjoining highlands.
+
+They took me into a large room where followed an indescribable
+examination during which I purposely remained silent.
+
+The button and button holes of my clothing attracted as much attention
+as my unnaturally shaped head. My collar and necktie were conundrums.
+Not one of the learned scholars was able to advance a theory as to the
+probable use of such a stiff piece under my head. I could not conceal my
+smiles as I heard the flying theories as to the use of my cuffs. One
+specialist decided that inasmuch as I had only two arms, I wore these to
+make them appear larger. This was accepted as the most plausible
+explanation.
+
+Several times they urged me to speak. The man to whom I had first
+appeared had told them that I was expert in their language. But I would
+not utter a word, being anxious to learn all I could by listening to
+their conjectures.
+
+Some of my examiners were sure I belonged to a species of their animal
+creation, who, in some unaccountable manner, had received the gift of
+intelligence. But this opinion did not gain ground, as no one could
+account for the manner of my clothing and especially for my pocket knife
+and other accompaniments. No one believed that I came from another
+world, and yet no one could see how or where I had originated on Mars.
+
+Finally one of the company struck upon a popular theory. He argued that
+I belonged to a tribe of creatures that had developed far away in one of
+their almost unending forests, and that I was the first of my kind that
+had ever ventured so far from home.
+
+"But how did he learn our language?" queried one.
+
+"Any intelligent creature would by nature alone come to our language,"
+was the conceited explanation of another.
+
+Another gave a better theory which was at length accepted. He said that
+no doubt I belonged to a company that had emigrated long, long ago from
+one of the valleys.
+
+After all their pains I satisfied their ruling desire by speaking. They
+knew not what to say as I gave them a general description of the world
+from which I came.
+
+Purposely I used their most cultured forms of expression. At once I rose
+to a high level in their estimation and they gradually accepted my words
+as true. With absorbing interest they listened to every syllable and,
+when I paused, their questions fell upon me in wild profusion. On my
+account the schools were abandoned, all the leading teachers of five
+elevations became my astonished auditors, and after every period of
+sleep I was confronted by still other classes of specialists, some from
+more distant elevations.
+
+Finally, feigning ignorance, I asked where they obtained their
+sustenance, as I had not seen one field in cultivation. They told me the
+whole history of the toilers in the valley as already recounted, and how
+the curtain magnates received their tributes which were sufficient to
+feed all the people of the elevations.
+
+"What right," I asked, "has any one to form a monopoly on sunlight or
+rain which are free bounties from above?"
+
+"There can be nothing wrong about that," came the positive answer. "Any
+man who was wise enough to think of such a splendid system of
+valley-covers surely deserves all the benefit that can be secured from
+it."
+
+"How did you succeed in getting the people to submit to such a system?"
+
+"It all came by force. At first they were unwilling enough, but we
+withdrew their education and kept them isolated. With ignorance you can
+conquer any people. Now they are our perfect servants, and in a short
+time we need not use the curtains any more. A few masters can control
+the whole valley. All we need to give them will be enough to eat, and
+the remainder of their products we can send to the elevations."
+
+I was struck with horror at this revolting scheme, and expressed myself
+in strong terms. I thought of the conditions of our world and felt
+thankful that it had not gone so far that the laboring classes were
+galley slaves to the rich; and I breathed my prayer that it might never
+be so.
+
+My investigations on this planet were long extended. The educated
+people gave me many new ideas, although they are ignorant of many
+advantages which we enjoy. Their means of transportation are miserable
+compared with ours, and when I was explaining to the Marsmen our methods
+of travel they were surprised beyond measure. However their knowledge of
+nature and forms of animal life is far superior to ours. There I solved
+some of the complex questions of Biology which had long puzzled my mind
+during my stay on the Earth.
+
+In their religion they worship the Source of Life, and look upon the Sun
+as the place to which the spirit goes at death. In brief, the Sun is
+their Heaven. They believe that the Sun's heat will be no barrier to the
+spirit's complete happiness when liberated from the body. Phonetically
+pronounced, they call the Sun Then-ka.
+
+I was indeed surprised at the simplicity of their devotions to their
+unseen God. Even the untutored toilers of the valleys talk to the Source
+of Life and are constantly looking forward to the time when their hard
+lot will be over that they may enter the Then-ka life. I could not help
+but think that their chances of Heaven were better than those of the
+highland caste; but I will not judge lest I might err. Who can
+understand the universal plans of Jehovah?
+
+Before I left the Marsmen I informed them that certain enthusiasts of my
+world had been signaling to them for some time, and urged them to
+improve their astronomical apparatus so that they might be able to
+discern these signals and reply to them.
+
+On account of my thoughtlessness I made an error, for I failed, while I
+was yet on Mars, to arrange a code of signals; hence I fear that there
+will be considerable experimenting before we can hope to establish
+communication with our neighbor world.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+A Glimpse of Jupiter.
+
+
+The next world I visited was Jupiter, the greatest orb in the solar
+system, almost fourteen hundred times as large as our Earth. I found it
+whirling on its axis so rapidly that it makes an entire revolution in
+about ten hours of our time.
+
+This voluminous sphere is in great contrast to both the Moon and Mars.
+Its physical constituency resembles a liquid more than a solid, and it
+is quite hot but not luminous. It has cooled sufficiently to admit human
+forms, although certain parts of the giant planet are void of all life,
+owing to the more intense heat in those sections.
+
+The atmosphere is charged with thick clouds, never at rest and
+continually forming into immense scrolls close to the surface of the
+planet.
+
+The human life of Jupiter is found in certain belts where the crust of
+the planet has been hardened for several thousand years. The people have
+risen from rude, primitive conditions to a state of splendid
+civilization. In size they are colossal giants, averaging twenty-five
+feet in height. Their two powerful arms extend from what we would call
+the hips, and no one would imagine with what facility these giants use
+them. After extended observation, I was almost tempted to wonder why our
+arms were placed so high on the body. These Jupiterites are more
+handsome than the people on the Moon or Mars, and their faces shine with
+a superior intelligence. Instead of hair on the head, they have
+something unknown to our world, quite similar in appearance to wool.
+
+Their two eyes blaze like balls of fire, making one of the giants appear
+like a fiersome though not repulsive monster. The most unusual feature
+about the face is the peculiarity of the chin and forehead. Each is
+covered with convolutions of an insensible, rubber-like membrane.
+
+The people of Jupiter excel in mechanical skill. They build houses, but
+not by long, tedious days of painstaking labor. Such things as plaster
+and paint are unknown. A Jupiterite can purchase, from one of the
+mammoth structural factories, house sides, house ends, house floors or
+partitions, after any general design he wishes, and have them trimmed in
+any style his fancy suggests. The materials used are non-combustible and
+water-proof, and will wear indefinitely.
+
+These houses can be put together in a few days and the trimmings
+adjusted in less than two weeks, unless the structure is very elaborate.
+Nearly all of their house furniture is also non-combustible, and no one
+has ever conceived the idea of forming a fire insurance company, simply
+because there is no need for one.
+
+As the people are so much larger than we, so are all things relatively
+larger than we see them in our world. Wagons and carriages and cars
+appear as if they were made for mastodons.
+
+I saw one of their largest bridges spanning a molten lake. Aside of it
+the East River bridge would be a dwarf, either in height or length. It
+is certainly thrilling to step into a world where all things are so
+gigantic. At times a feeling of insignificance crept over me, but I took
+courage when I thought that a man's greatness consists in his mental
+powers and not in his physical bulk, for it is true that the fifty
+ounces of brain in the skull of a Newton have accomplished more marvels
+than the ten pounds of brain-matter found in the most cultured
+Jupiterite.
+
+We must give the people of Jupiter credit for exercising a large amount
+of common sense. In many ways they are more practical than we, and this
+is quite as noticeable in their language as in any other respect. They
+have one simple language for the whole globe and in its use they are all
+agreed. Their vocabulary is small because they have not yet branched out
+into the infinite varieties of manufacture and invention.
+
+Their words have a marvelous correspondence with the thought or the
+action expressed, the manner of emphasizing syllables going a great
+distance toward expressing the shade of emotion desired.
+
+I admired especially one thing on this bulky planet. They have but one
+authority for language. Hence there is no Century, Webster, Worcester or
+Standard, each rivaling the others for supremacy, to confuse the honest
+student with diverse spellings and pronunciations.
+
+The words of the language of Jupiter are all embodied in one unique
+dictionary which is revised at intervals by a board of official
+educators; to this board all suggestions for inserting new words and
+changing the classification of old ones must be given for their
+consideration.
+
+This dictionary is printed by the government, and a copy of it is
+furnished free to all public places and to each private family. When a
+revision is made, a copy of all the changes is furnished to each
+dictionary holder. The authority of this dictionary is final, and no one
+is permitted to publish a conflicting work.
+
+The Jupiterites have displayed their highest genius in their
+astronomical advancements. They know all about the Solar System, and
+have made discoveries inside of Neptune's orbit which our astronomers
+have never observed. I was thrilled with delight when I saw their
+telescopes with the marvelous lenses that opened the locked doors of the
+Milky Way. No wonder the astronomers of Jupiter have a more
+comprehensive view of the universe than we have. Their lenses are so
+powerful that they have seen the outlines of our rugged mountains, and
+have discovered on our world unmistakable signs of human life. During my
+visit thither the experts were working on a much larger lens, and it is
+claimed that when this is finished human forms can be discerned on the
+Earth and can be seen with more accuracy on Mars.
+
+The five moons that revolve around Jupiter have been studied with marked
+interest. Two of these moons have displayed definite signs of human
+life. It is promised also that the coming lens will unlock the doors of
+the several moons and permit the astronomers of Jupiter to pry into the
+secrets of their celestial neighbors.
+
+During the past one thousand years, the Jupiterites have made
+numberless attempts to establish communication between these moons and
+their planet, but all their efforts have failed. Either the Moonites are
+too stupid, or the Jupiterites are not expert enough in throwing out
+signals or in building air ships.
+
+For no one thing more than another did I envy the astronomers of Jupiter
+than for their marvelous magnifying lenses. I knew that if we had such
+lenses, or the material to make them, we could watch with ease the
+inhabitants of the Moon or of Mars, and we could study the intelligent
+life on Mercury and Venus, to say nothing of the great advantages we
+should have in observing comets and all the numberless starry systems
+scattered throughout illimitable space.
+
+The religious life of Jupiter proved to be intensely interesting to me.
+They have a sacred book which corresponds to our Bible, and it has
+always remained in its original form because there is but one language.
+
+Since I left my own world I had not felt so kindred a touch in spirit as
+when I invisibly entered one of their great temples of worship, as we
+might call it. No vocal music was there, but the mute beckoning of
+several thousand arms, as if to implore the favor of the great Inzoork
+or Creator, was impressively eloquent to me.
+
+I was thrilled with joy as I learned more of their religion. I found
+that their love and service were akin to those of our planet, and that
+these same bonds unite them one to another. My conceptions were
+enlarging as I saw the family of God enlarging, and I felt that although
+I was unlike them in the physical, yet I was their brother in spirit,
+and that we all have one Father.
+
+Religious liberty was enjoyed until a few centuries ago when certain
+restrictions were formulated. It was seen that some, in exercising their
+liberty, proved to be a curse to the state, and consequently a sharp
+battle ensued against the liberal element.
+
+The Church won the conflict and now the profession of atheism is not
+allowed. If it can be shown that any sane person takes such a position,
+he is given a certain period to recant. If recantation is not
+forthcoming, he is placed in the public work-house until he
+acknowledges the existence of Deity. Atheists are scarce under this
+severe ruling.
+
+You may well know how I was startled to see such summary action taken in
+regard to unbelievers. At first I prided myself that I belonged to a
+world of free thought and free speech, but when I saw the magnetic
+effect of these Jupiter regulations I was in doubt as to the superiority
+of our religious and irreligious liberties.
+
+The soil of Jupiter yields abundantly. The animals are all large and of
+species unknown to us. They have animals that resemble our elephant and
+ox; these they use for food. Common birds, as large as geese or turkeys,
+flourish in the extensive forests and furnish about one-third of the
+food for the giants.
+
+The vegetation is after the order of our world, except that the curse of
+weeds and thistles is only one-fourth as great. But the people of
+Jupiter have learned more than we of the use of these weeds, and certain
+of them are cultivated to a wide extent.
+
+I spent a long time on the planet. I saw the fiery lakes that are fed by
+subterraneous streams of lava, and the geysers of blue flame darting
+their immense tongues high in the air.
+
+As near as fifty miles to these fiery centers can be seen gardens of
+vegetation and fields under cultivation. I yielded at last to a desire
+that prompted me to make a personal appearance. So I stopped on a
+thoroughfare and occupied a rustic seat at the roadside. I was dressed
+in my earthly costume, and sat composedly awaiting developments.
+
+The first living creature that observed my presence was a passing
+quadruped. It was larger than a wild goat, and was a small specimen
+after its kind. For want of a better name I will call it a "dog."
+
+As soon as I was spied by this animal he set up a hideous howl and ran
+at full speed. Knowing my own homeliness, I had all charity for the
+animal and did not censure him for being so terribly frightened at my
+appearance.
+
+Soon a full grown giant came along. He chanced to be a learned professor
+out for an evening walk, as we would say. He seemed to be in deep
+meditation and did not notice me until he was near my side. Then he
+stood breathless, while a feeling of fear and surprise evidently
+possessed him. I sat motionless, looking up into his eyes, and saw the
+convolutions on his forehead and chin quivering quite perceptibly. He
+evidently judged me to be some undeveloped species of Mon-go-din, an
+animal of Jupiter bearing faint resemblance to our man-ape. To my
+surprise, he suddenly grasped me and tightly held me fast in his
+gigantic arms. I made no effort to free myself.
+
+His surprise was only intensified at my resignation. He expected a
+struggle, but I neither made an outcry nor resisted capture. Like an
+infant I lay in his arms, while he passed quick glances all over me. He
+was baffled beyond all measure, and hurried away toward the great
+college near by. Upon reaching the museum department, I was placed in a
+strong cage and the doors were doubly secured.
+
+My captor ran from my presence and, in a few moments, returned with two
+other professors. They peered into the cage in painful astonishment,
+while I contented myself by taking my watch apart and occasionally
+glancing at my select audience.
+
+Then commenced the jibbering consultation, all of which I well
+understood. My captor related the full circumstances in connection with
+his walk in the grove and the manner in which he captured me. He dwelt
+particularly on the indifference I manifested in all his dealings with
+me.
+
+"It is a baby Mon-go-din," suggested the one professor, while the other
+advanced the theory that I was an abnormal child of some Jupiterite.
+
+My watch excited their curiosity. One reached his hand cautiously
+through the bars and evinced by his actions what he wanted. I looked up
+into his eyes and spoke my first words.
+
+"Patience, please, till I put the watch together, and you shall have
+it."
+
+Not only did his arms fly away from the cage, but his whole body fell
+prostrate to the floor, whether from fright or surprise, I knew not. His
+two companions were also in a sorry plight. I pretended not to notice
+their consternation, and kept myself busy in placing the parts of my
+watch together.
+
+After a while I was addressed by a trembling questioner: "Where is your
+home, my child?" I did not lift my eyes, but completed my little
+self-appointed task, and at once raised the watch in fulfillment of my
+promise.
+
+The timid professor ventured to accept it and, as he received it from my
+hand, he again asked: "Where is your home?"
+
+"Farther away than the circumference of your world," I distinctly
+answered.
+
+At this time the three agreed that I was an insane child, born out of
+time, and that I satisfied my propensities by gathering to myself such
+idiotic things as my watch and garments, including my hat and shoes.
+
+A quiet consultation followed, after which one of the professors retired
+from the room and soon returned with certain morsels of food. Upon
+handing them to me, I at once remarked: "Keep these morsels for
+yourself; I have better food to eat, of which you know nothing."
+
+The other two professors had by this time observed that my watch was a
+marvelous piece of mechanism beyond their most delicate accomplishments,
+and they announced the fact to their other companion who again looked at
+me in breathless surprise. "Where did you get this Fot-sil?" (or
+plaything), he queried in one breath.
+
+"Farther away than the circumference of your world," was my evasive and,
+to them, unsatisfactory reply.
+
+"Won't you tell us, child, how far away that is?" asked another with
+subdued impatience.
+
+"Millions of miles." (Of course I spoke in terms of their linear
+measurements).
+
+"How many millions?"
+
+"Sometimes five hundred and sometimes six hundred millions."
+
+Without giving them a chance for asking me another question I offered to
+let them see my home if they would permit me to use the most powerful
+telescope in their observatory.
+
+My listeners were indeed amazed and were about to pour upon me a volley
+of interrogations. I assured them that I would answer no more questions
+until I knew whether my request would be granted.
+
+This necessitated a consultation with the chief astronomer who, upon
+learning of my peculiar request and of my unnatural formation, hastened
+to the museum to see the monstrosity.
+
+I knew from what I had previously learned that this gentleman was the
+greatest living astronomer on Jupiter. He peered at me in the cage and
+was dumfounded. He exchanged a few sentences with the professor and
+again turned to me:
+
+"At what time do you want the telescope?" he asked.
+
+"Immediately."
+
+"You shall have it, just to satisfy our curiosity," he said as he
+hastened from the room.
+
+I heard the professor caution him strictly to tell no one of my
+presence, so as to avoid a rush from the student ranks.
+
+In less than an hour I stood at the side of the largest telescope in our
+Solar System, watching the deepening shadows of night as they fell upon
+Jupiter.
+
+[Illustration: Viewing Our Earth from Jupiter.]
+
+I spent another hour examining the ponderous machinery that was
+required to swing this mammoth instrument and to adjust it when scanning
+the heavens.
+
+By this time my four companions were convinced that I was not an idiot,
+and I could see by their strange manner that they were regarding me as a
+spirit.
+
+I gave my directions to the astronomer, and beheld the cylinder,
+two-hundred feet in length and twenty feet in diameter, swing around
+until it pointed toward a little flickering light that shone like a
+distant star.
+
+I looked into the eye-piece, managed to get the tube pointed accurately,
+and then requested the astronomer to focus the lenses so as to bear upon
+the planetary light in range.
+
+He knew at once the planet I had singled out. He called it Zo-ide. After
+the focusing was completed, I looked and, behold, I could readily
+discern many of the physical features of my own world.
+
+"That is my homeland," I cried triumphantly. "I live on Zo-ide, or
+Earth, as we call it."
+
+Of course my listeners were incredulous, but I proceeded to explain to
+them as I looked through the telescope:
+
+"That dark ridge to the left is called 'the Rocky and Andes Mountain
+Systems'. The shining belt on the central portion is the 'Mississippi
+River'. The rough ridge to the right is 'the Allegheny System' of
+mountains." Then I indicated the location of our larger cities. As I
+pointed to New York, I saw a mere speck moving. I was convinced that it
+was one of our large steamships, and as I so explained the astronomer
+looked at me with absorbing interest.
+
+He informed me that he had often seen the moving of the spots, and
+thought they were some cloud formations peculiar to our world. But I
+insisted on the steamship explanation and proceeded to describe an ocean
+liner, for these Jupiterites are not familiar with oceans of cold water
+on which float numerous craft.
+
+I was then a royal guest, and passed a most felicitous night with these
+four celebrities. We talked of the more powerful telescope that the
+government of Jupiter was manufacturing, and of the still greater views
+it promised to reveal.
+
+Then I informed them of our system of science. They were astonished at
+the great civilization extant on Zo-ide, or our Earth.
+
+I told them that a subtile power lay dormant in the atoms and molecules
+of matter, which could be released and utilized, and that we in our
+world called it "electricity."
+
+During the night I learned that the convolutions on the chin and
+forehead of a Jupiterite served the purpose of a new sense. By the aid
+of these convolutions any person of Jupiter can tell in daylight or
+darkness the nature of any surrounding substance, whether it be hard or
+soft, combustible or non-combustible, good for food or not. I confess
+that I was unable to grasp the idea intelligently. So the people on the
+Moon had the same difficulty in understanding the use of my nose.
+
+Before morning dawned I informed my appreciative quartette that I would
+see them no more, that I had paused at Jupiter station long enough, and
+that I must be off on my vast excursion trip.
+
+They earnestly entreated me to remain so that the college students and
+representative persons could get a glimpse of me; but I refused all
+their entreaties. When they found that I had power to leave them
+instantly, they besought me to remain for a few last words.
+
+"Shall we not see you again?" affectingly asked the astronomer.
+
+I told them that I expected to spend eternity in the kingdom of our God
+who made all the stars and worlds, and holds each in its respective
+place. "If you are pure in heart to Him," I continued, "there can be no
+doubt but that we shall see one another again in that happy celestial
+center where our eyes will be our telescopes, where our pure hearts will
+assent to the Fatherhood of God, and where our souls will be quickened
+at the universal fountain of Love."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Beautiful Saturn.
+
+
+A delightfully busy world next met my gaze. Saturn, supreme in love,
+with its mysterious rings and its eight moons, now held my attention and
+won my admiration.
+
+This world is almost as large as Jupiter, and its soil is more fertile.
+The inhabitants resemble us in physical appearance, except that they are
+twice our size.
+
+Like Jupiter, it is enveloped in thick semi-liquid clouds which are
+never at rest. This changing atmosphere causes continual friction of
+particles, and this serves to produce sufficient heat to counteract the
+frigid blasts that would otherwise freeze out the whole planet. These
+atmospheric conditions attracted my attention to a great degree. I
+estimated as best I could, and ascertained that Saturn receives as much
+heat from this peculiar atmosphere as our Earth receives from the Sun.
+
+As I found it on Jupiter, so I found it here. The human eye is so
+constructed that it seems to have more than an X-ray power, for it can
+look through this atmosphere as readily as we can peer through ours.
+
+The air of Saturn, being so thick, contains much natural nourishment,
+and the inhabitants are sustained largely by breathing. This reminded me
+of the manner in which our fish flourish in the waters of our globe.
+
+Marvelous indeed are the possibilities of life. I now had before me new
+problems to solve, for natural laws have but a limited expression in our
+own world. Here science puts on new garments, but they are all cut in
+harmony with universal laws.
+
+Woman is the ruling genius of this planet. Being untrammeled for a few
+thousand years, she has attained a higher glory than her sex has reached
+in any world of our Solar System.
+
+As you scan the honor rolls of Saturn, reading the list of the eminent
+leaders in science, art and philosophy, you will readily observe that
+woman has forged to the front. She also sits upon the principal thrones
+of temporal power.
+
+Woman's beauty on Saturn is surpassing. It reaches a higher degree of
+perfection than any of the myriad types of beauty on this enchanting
+world. When I first opened my eyes on these scenes, I imagined that I
+had reached Heaven, but, to my chagrin, I soon found the black marks of
+sin that stain the whole planet.
+
+The illustrious inventors of Saturn, living and dead, make a long list,
+which is headed by the name of Veorda, a woman of marvelous intellect.
+She looked into the mysteries of nature with a shrewd, wizard eye, but,
+unfortunately, lost her life early in a bold experiment with explosives.
+However, before she reached her much-lamented end, she had won enough
+honor to outshine all inventors in the whole history of Saturn.
+
+She was the sole inventor of all explosives, and she had learned how to
+operate them without making any noise or smoke. This proved a valuable
+aid to factories and quarries, and particularly in the handling of fire
+arms, of which Saturn has a very strange collection.
+
+Before Veorda was born the flying machine had been invented and used.
+But aerial travel was soon abandoned owing to some terrible accidents
+that had occurred. During the earlier part of her career Veorda labored
+assiduously until she overcame a few difficulties and thereby perfected
+the flying machine.
+
+[Illustration: An Air Ship on Saturn.]
+
+It was a day of international rejoicing when her perfected machine
+sailed over the governments of Saturn. The invention stood every test
+and at once air traffic was resumed and maintained. When this woman died
+the governments erected to her memory the finest and costliest monument
+that now stands on the whole world of Saturn. Of course, I went to see
+it. As I stood studying the poetry of the pillars, I looked overhead and
+saw one of the immense aerial ships carrying a pleasure party to a
+distant point. I cannot describe my feelings as I lingered in the
+presence of the sleeping dust and saw the imperishable influence of her
+thoughts still working for her, in a carnal sense, "a more exceeding
+and eternal weight of glory."
+
+Yet with all this homage paid to Veorda, I cannot believe that she is
+more illustrious than the present living wizard of our world, the
+notable Edison.
+
+Veorda lived and died a devoted worshipper of "The Great Influence," or
+God, and it is delightful to think that we shall associate with such
+great minds in our eternal abode in that Broader Life where the pure of
+all spheres gather. Will I do wrong if I quote that sublime beatitude,
+making it applicable to all worlds? "Blessed are the pure in heart, for
+they shall see God."
+
+The written language of Saturn resembles the Chinese character language,
+only it is much more smooth and more complete.
+
+The Shakespeare of that planet is a woman called Ziek-dod who has been
+dead twelve hundred years. Her writings have been quoted and esteemed as
+masterpieces all through these ages. Her style is singular, resembling
+the proverbs of Solomon, with a little more ornament in the language.
+
+As to the subject matter, her epigrammatic sentences are grouped and
+classified with an accuracy that is both pleasing and popular. At
+intervals the reader is treated with a sprinkling of alliterative
+sentences.
+
+Ziek-dod shines as an eternal star among the great names of her world.
+Like Veorda, she was pure-hearted and possessed fine moral and spiritual
+qualities. She passed out into that Broader Life where language is
+sweeter and thoughts are more holy.
+
+In music I noticed the most radical departures. The popular home
+instrument is larger than our organ and has nearly one hundred keys
+arranged somewhat like the keyboard of a typewriter.
+
+These keys and their combinations are capable of rendering sounds to
+correspond with every syllable found in their words. A proper
+familiarity with these sounds is a part of every child's training on
+Saturn.
+
+When one plays on this instrument every sound struck on the keys
+represents a certain vowel-consonant sound. Thus the listener hears the
+sounds more distinctly than we hear the words of a phonograph.
+
+Under such conditions a musician is capable of interpreting his exact
+feelings when manipulating the keys. He talks to his listeners with
+organ sounds. The great poet musicians can breathe out their
+inspirations in rapturous melodies. On special occasions famous
+musicians are employed to render original selections. Addresses and
+lectures are also given in this manner with very pleasing results.
+
+The Saturnites know nothing of the Telephone, Telegraph, or Phonograph.
+But for carrying messages they have a signal system by which
+intelligence is flashed from one point to another with great rapidity.
+
+Saturn has eight moons and is surrounded with the rings which have made
+it famous from the time the planet was first seen through the telescope.
+These rings and moons are inhabited by a type of human beings altogether
+different from those that live on the planet, and are distinctly visible
+to the dwellers of Saturn by means of powerful telescopes.
+
+The human beings on the rings are not able to watch their neighbors in
+space, having no instruments to carry their vision beyond the
+boundaries of their own peculiar abodes.
+
+The most picturesque sight of all the Solar System is seen as you stand
+on Saturn, and watch the rings and the eight moons chasing one another
+in the heavens above you.
+
+The inhabitants of this beautiful world believe that the soul of each
+God-adorer at death passes out into the spirit life on the rings where
+it will continue in a blissful existence until the final judgment.
+
+The religious life of Saturn is officially controlled by men. There are
+many creeds, each with its own devoted followers. The leading church of
+this world was not organized until seven thousand years after religious
+life took a distinctive form. Then a man named Trique, who was a shrewd
+student of the times, after a careful study of the weaknesses found in
+existing religious bodies, and after amassing enormous wealth in
+business, founded a new church on a neat, practical business plan which
+may thus be briefly described in terms and figures of our own language.
+
+Trique had a fortune of two hundred millions which, by investment,
+netted him twenty millions annually. These net earnings he used to
+establish his new denomination. He commenced operations simultaneously
+at the capitol of each of the four governments of Saturn, and at each
+place built two magnificent churches, costing one million dollars
+apiece. It took over three years of our time to build these eight
+churches. Before one year had expired he had started fifty other
+churches in the centers of Saturn's population. These churches averaged
+in cost three hundred thousand dollars each. Thus the plan continued,
+ever starting new structures until all Saturn was decorated with the
+churches of Trique, even village edifices costing from ten to
+twenty-five thousand dollars. So much for the mere outward part of the
+church which anybody might create if he had recourse to such enormous
+wealth.
+
+Before Trique commenced any one of his buildings, he canvassed the whole
+community for charter members of his church. These were composed of two
+classes, spiritual and connected. This canvassing was done by the
+finest scholars that Trique could employ. Each one was supposed to be
+the pastor of the community he canvassed. The conditions of the charter
+membership were easy to meet. All that was required for connected
+membership was a good moral life and a lip confession of the faith.
+
+On account of the superior advantages offered by the Trique church it
+grew steadily from the beginning. I will here append a few
+characteristics of the organization:
+
+1. The church takes care of all its members during sickness, furnishing
+a physician and all necessary medicines free of charge. The church owns
+drug stores and graduates its own physicians.
+
+2. The church has its own salaried undertakers, and defrays all funeral
+expenses.
+
+3. The church supplies a moral and spiritual education to all the
+children of its members. This school does a work similar to our
+Sunday-school, only it is held daily and is under a trained corps of
+paid teachers.
+
+For all these advantages each member is required to give to the church
+one-eleventh of his earnings and to attend the services of the church
+and co-operate with the pastor in the advancement of all spiritual work.
+
+The church keeps a perpetual record of the attendance and the work done
+by each member.
+
+It required a man of large business capacity to launch such a church
+with its radically new principles. But Trique's immense wealth was a
+powerful force when utilized in this manner. He made every church a
+strong business center commanding the respect of the whole community.
+Discipline was rigidly enforced. No member cared to be expelled from
+such a church. It meant a going out from under a warm cover at the
+approach of winter.
+
+Fortunately, Trique was a clean, spiritual man and strongly urged a
+spiritual ministry and membership.
+
+It can be seen why this church grew so rapidly. In fifty years it became
+so powerful that it could control, if it wished, the legislation in
+nearly all the sections of the planet.
+
+I have given but a brief picture of this ruling church. It must suffice.
+I may add that one must not imagine the church services and forms in
+Saturn to be like our worship. All things are so different that it would
+take much space and time to describe them.
+
+For beauty of natural scenery, Saturn surpasses all the Solar System.
+Its air is of a different composition from ours, and its sky puts on
+various tints as the day passes, which is a little over ten hours of our
+time, but it takes nearly thirty of our years to make one on Saturn.
+
+The immense mountain ranges present a picture of unusual beauty. The
+leaves of trees are rich in velvety varieties and the undergrowth
+appears as if trimmed by skilled hands. This is a desirable place to
+live. But I learned that the inhabitants of Saturn do not appreciate all
+this wealth of beauty, in its atmosphere or on its earth, a whit more
+than the people of our world appreciate the sin cursed scenery which
+greets their eyes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+The Nearest Fixed Star.
+
+
+All that was required on my part was a mere act of the mind, and I went
+where I wished. I visited Uranus and Neptune, after which I stretched my
+swift wings for the great flight, away from our Solar System, over
+billions of miles of space. I alighted on the burning star nearest to
+our Earth. This star is called, by our astronomers, Alpha Centaurus, and
+it is said to be 20,000,000,000,000 miles away. This star is much
+greater than our Sun and is the center of a system of worlds larger and
+more numerous than those that compose our Solar System.
+
+You cannot imagine my surprise when I reached Alpha Centaurus and found
+that it was inhabited by a class of human creatures who were created to
+live and flourish in fire. Their customs and habits are so strange that
+I am not capable of giving an intelligent description of them. I know
+that it is inconceivable to us how life can be developed and sustained
+in the midst of a burning sun, and I found that these beings in turn
+could not conceive how life can exist in a cold world like ours.
+
+These creatures have no digestive organs. They live, in part, on the
+chemical action produced by fire breathing. The hotter the fire, the
+more easily is life sustained. If they were to get away from the heat,
+this chemical action would cease and therefore death would be as certain
+to them as being enveloped in fire would spell death to us.
+
+In our eyes, their bodies are misshapen, composed of elements most of
+which are not found in our world. There are many cold places, or sun
+spots, on Alpha Centaurus, but these are shunned by the people as death
+traps. However, the centers of population gather on the more solid
+sections, most of which lie around the sun spots.
+
+You could scarcely believe your eyes were you to look upon the durable
+works of architecture built by these strangely shaped mortals.
+
+Still more wonderful are the seas of boiling fire which are sometimes
+comparatively quiet, and then again, in all madness, their majestic
+flames shoot upward thousands of miles.
+
+When the sea is quiet, life is oppressive in the centers of population
+just as it is in our world when the air is still and the summer sun is
+pouring down upon us. Breathing is easier and life is quickened when the
+molten sea boils furiously. These terrible heat blasts are most
+exhilarating and refreshing to the inhabitants living near enough to
+receive the benefit of them.
+
+You may imagine that these people of Alpha Centaurus are idlers, being
+fed by the ceaseless heat waves that beat upon them. Such a conception
+is totally false, for I saw that industry was plainly evident, and labor
+had its reward in securing the necessaries and luxuries of life.
+
+These life-sustaining foods are composed of elements which can be
+appropriated into muscle and bone (if you will permit me to use these
+terms), and are obtained by reuniting and re-combining spent forces.
+This explanation is somewhat mystical, but I can do no better in
+describing the food production and assimilation in a pure fire-world
+like this one on which I had arrived.
+
+To imagine and believe that fertility can be possible in a seething
+world-furnace, is too far beyond our philosophy to be conceivable. Alpha
+Centaurus is so large a sun that although it has a population ten times
+greater than our globe, yet its surface is sparsely settled.
+
+The oceans of fire occupy the greater part of the surface of this
+wonderful sphere. In these great red-hot seas live the monsters of the
+deep, as well as a motley variety of other species, veritable
+salamanders, some grotesquely hideous, others surpassingly beautiful in
+form and hue.
+
+On this sphere man is extraordinarily intelligent. He is almost totally
+ignorant of anything akin to astronomy, although some of the greater
+scholars have ventured the theory that there might be other worlds
+containing human life, providing there be fire enough to sustain them.
+
+In some other particulars, these star-creatures have made astonishing
+progress. They believe that the time is coming when the fires of their
+world will be blown out and all life become extinct. This they would
+call, in our language, the coming Judgment when every human being that
+ever lived will receive his just recompense of reward.
+
+With interest I studied the manner of government, and the admirable
+system of education which is the secret of their progress.
+
+I made a special effort to ascertain whence this sun receives its
+continued supply of fuel. The question had often perplexed my mind when
+I gazed toward our Sun from the shores of our world. None of the
+theories advanced by our scientists and astronomers fully satisfied my
+mind. And now I looked and studied in vain. Although the awful burnings
+had been in progress for thousands of years, I could see no fuel that
+was added to the flames. Hence I was driven to believe that Alpha
+Centaurus was on fire and was gradually being consumed; this must be
+true of all the stars that bedeck the canopy of Heaven.
+
+The inconstancy of this star's surface is the greatest menace to its
+inhabitants. At times the solid crusts break in the contracting of the
+surface. All this makes terrible havoc, but the new generations take
+fresh courage and pluckily restore the fallen habitations.
+
+One of the luxuries enjoyed by these fire beings at certain times is to
+get where the chemical action of heat is at a low ebb. That has a
+similar effect upon them as calming our nerves has upon us.
+
+One of the great inventions consists in an instrument that neutralizes
+this chemical action of heat even where it is most intense. It is a
+common sight to see creatures basking under one of these instruments in
+a somewhat comatose state. The inventor of this instrument is worshiped
+almost as a god.
+
+One of the most startling inventions of all is a machine that
+counteracts gravity. This, to my mind, is the greatest invention I had
+yet seen, and, strange to say, these fire creatures know nothing about
+means of propulsion except by hand power. If you were able to stand on
+the seething furnace of Alpha Centaurus, you would see these machines
+rise far into the shooting fire and beyond, as far as occupants can go
+without freezing to death. Then at a reverse of the lever you would see
+the mysterious car descend.
+
+These star residents have enjoyed this invention so long that they no
+longer appreciate its marvels. You ask me if I tried to get the secret.
+I saw the whole apparatus and the more I studied it, the more I was
+convinced that its storage battery contained heat energy. So I concluded
+to solve the mystery. I learned that there was a certain element found
+only in combination. When this element is set loose by chemical process,
+it will rise at once toward a large planet that revolves around this
+sun. This planet draws that particular element with six times more force
+than it is held by Alpha Centaurus. The brilliant chemists, when they
+first made this discovery, separated enough of this element to carry a
+man upward from the sun's surface. Later on they made a counter
+discovery of equal value.
+
+They found a substance that would destroy this attraction if it was
+placed between the element and the planet. The discovery enabled a
+person to rise as high as he wished and then, by swinging the plate in
+position, the aerial carriage would either stand still or descend
+according to the wish of the operator.
+
+What a boon it would be to our world if we had such an element for which
+Jupiter or the Sun would have so much fondness! Then with our superior
+knowledge of propulsion we could forever settle the perplexing problem
+of aerial navigation.
+
+These exceptional people, living in such terrible fire, wear pieces of
+garments made of the finest texture. The hair-like threads are composed
+of metallic substances far more enduring than gold or platinum.
+
+Of all the unthinkable things on this star none are so extreme as the
+manner in which these people hold conversation. They have no organs to
+produce vocal sounds.
+
+[Illustration: Fire Life on a Fixed Star.]
+
+They convey their ideas one to another by a vibration of the
+conversation flaps. Either the air waves, or substantial emissions,
+excite the sensitive face of the listener so that the thought
+intended can be accurately received.
+
+Having a strong curiosity, I remained and studied this fire life. It
+opened to me new channels of thought and illustrated more emphatically
+than ever that all things are possible with Him who created the universe
+and upholds it by the word of His power.
+
+Finally, I left this strange abode and proceeded to visit some of the
+eighteen worlds that revolve around Alpha Centaurus.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+The Water World Visited.
+
+
+As I lingered in the region of the constellation of Centaurus I was more
+and more profoundly impressed with the magnitude and variety of created
+worlds.
+
+Among the eighteen planets that revolve around Alpha Centaurus, only six
+are inhabited. One of these is a sinless world, or a world whereon sin
+never inaugurated its blighting reign; but I will say nothing of this
+orb as I did not have the choice opportunity of visiting it aright. I
+saw its beauty only through a glass darkly.
+
+I then fixed my mind on Polaris, commonly called the North Star. In
+journeying thither from Centaurus I passed thousands of Solar Systems
+scattered in space all around me. As I was thus darting through
+immensity I glanced toward our own Solar System and could see nothing
+but a flickering star which was our Sun. Not the faintest sign could I
+see of our world or of Jupiter.
+
+A strange feeling passed over me when I began to realize how far I was
+from home. I sped onward until I reached the North Star. It is a burning
+sun, but not inhabited.
+
+Polaris is the center of a magnificent system. If a certain few of its
+worlds could be seen through a telescope, they would be picturesque in
+the extreme, somewhat resembling our beautiful Saturn. Moons play like
+frisky lambs around some of its worlds, and many comets dance through
+the length of the whole system in richer confusion than we have ever
+beheld in the range of our telescopic vision.
+
+Counting the worlds of larger size only, there are nearly one hundred
+that fly through their orbits around Polaris, some with amazing
+velocity. Within the bounds of this solar system I spent considerable
+time.
+
+The third world I visited I will call Stazza. It is two hundred millions
+of miles from Polaris and is four hundred and fifty times as large as
+our world.
+
+I was amazed at the new turn of life-manifestation that I found there.
+To me it was unusually interesting because its temperature is quite
+similar to ours; but the order of life is reversed so completely that
+the human beings inhabit the water, and the long narrow strips of earth
+are infested with numerous species of land animals. It may seem
+incredible that the depths of the ocean should be the seat of
+intelligence rivaling our own.
+
+The human creatures of Stazza average a trifle larger in size than we,
+but they travel horizontally in water like a large fish. The limbs
+support the body in rest, and in traveling are used like the hind legs
+of a frog, only more gracefully. The arms closely resemble ours and have
+an infinite variety of uses. In addition, there are four fin-like arms
+that fold into the body when at rest, but are spread for service when
+traveling. In all it must be admitted that these Stazza people are
+capable of traveling more rapidly, and covering longer distances with
+much less fatigue than are we. They can also carry greater burdens with
+more ease. They wear no garments except one or two small pieces made of
+a tough species of sea grass.
+
+Five-sixths of Stazza are covered with water and its depth at a few
+points is very great. Throughout all the water regions there are many
+kinds of animal life, more than can be found in our oceans. Thousands of
+human lives have been lost in conflict with the fiercer kinds of these
+water animals, with which the people of Stazza entered upon a war of
+extermination over one thousand years ago, and while intelligence is
+slowly winning the battle, yet the warfare is likely to continue many
+centuries to come, owing to the fact that these hostile fish occupy the
+soundless depths even as deep as four or five hundred miles according to
+our measurement. Horned fish rising from these depths are a horrible
+menace to excursion parties or caravans, as well as to settlers on what
+we would call the frontier.
+
+The homes of Stazza are made of metallic substances. There are a few
+minerals very plentiful, resembling brass, and it is a common sight to
+see polished buildings fantastic in their arrangement, shining through
+the pellucid water like gold.
+
+The cities are built on gentle inclines in the deeper waters and
+present a picturesque scene. They look more like a cluster of giant
+fairy abodes than like New York or London. Nothing in all the world of
+Stazza resembles a product of our manufacture more than the fine
+screening that protects every human dwelling from an invasion of small
+water animals. It reminded me of the mosquito netting as a safe-guard
+against flies and other insects in our world. But the mosquito baffles
+our genius, for he seems to be able to get through as small an opening
+as air can. Likewise, the pestiferous water animals seem to invade the
+homes of Stazza, notwithstanding all efforts at prevention.
+
+The cities have no continuous streets or lanes. The principal travel is
+in the water over the city. The main entrance to the home is on the
+housetop. In the center of large buildings there is a shaft running up
+and down, through which the people go with greater ease than we can
+climb or descend our stairways. It must not be forgotten that water to
+them is the same as air to us, and in their domestic life the people
+are annoyed by cloudy and muddy currents of water just as we are by
+clouds of dust in the air, on the streets, or in our homes.
+
+The wear and tear caused by the chemical action of water on houses and
+furniture is not as great as the injury in our world caused by the
+chemical action of air, heat and moisture.
+
+The educational systems of Stazza are quite as perfect for that world as
+our own systems are for ours. They have an alphabet, covering their
+needs in language, consisting of a series of strokes, curves and angles,
+somewhat resembling our shorthand systems. This language is identical in
+print or script, and is superior to our method of expresssing thought by
+handwriting.
+
+The experts of Stazza have learned the art of slicing metallic blocks
+into sheets of any desired thickness. These sheets serve the same
+purpose for them as paper does for us, and are furnished at an
+insignificant cost of labor. We have the very elements in our Earth to
+produce these metallic blocks if we knew the combination, which might be
+easily found if we had as much need for them as the people of this
+water world.
+
+The metallic blocks are used for a great variety of purposes. There are
+some high class artists who have immortalized themselves by their
+master-pieces, one of which I saw on a five-cornered metallic sheet
+measuring about eight feet in diameter.
+
+Perhaps the most surprising feature of the educational advancement of
+these water spirits is their knowledge of astronomy. To them, under the
+water, the stars have always looked beautiful, and from an early date in
+their history a study of them has engaged the attention of their
+scholars. No one could tell the style of their telescopes if he should
+go to guessing for a week. Let me give you a brief description of one.
+
+They build a metallic pipe about ten feet in diameter and from a point
+some two hundred feet below the surface of the water. The pipe is built
+until it extends a few feet above water. Inside of this pipe is a series
+of transparent ovals of various sizes. These ovals are so arranged that
+the upper one throws its light to the lower one, down through the
+immense cylinder. Around each oval is built a series of fin protectors,
+which is the only part about the telescope I could not fully understand.
+They seemed to counteract the refraction of the water, and yet the water
+must be in the pipe to obtain proper results.
+
+Imagine an astronomer at the base of this huge metallic structure,
+having at his finger's ends a dozen wire strings intricately connected
+with the oval system, and by the proper use of which he can increase or
+decrease the magnifying power of the ponderous telescope. The highest
+magnifying power of a telescope of this size is so great that the Milky
+Way is penetrated and its solar systems revealed. What an accomplishment
+it would be if a telescope of this magnitude could be mounted, a thing
+that these creatures never attempted to do. But they have built
+telescopes of various inclinations, all stationary. You can form an idea
+of the patience and endurance of these people when you learn that it
+required over fifty years of our time for them to perfect one of these
+large instruments.
+
+Give human brains to any animal under water or over water, and it will
+grasp for larger views of its Creator and of the things He made. These
+people are thoroughly convinced that intelligent life can be found in
+any world where there is enough water to sustain it.
+
+In the waters of Stazza there are many under-currents similar to our
+Gulf Stream. These are used by the inhabitants for transportation. They
+construct little hammock cars so that when they are filled with human
+freight they float in the water. A simple device which we might call a
+fin propeller is used to force the car in one direction or another as
+necessity may require. It is possible to enter one of these
+under-streams and thus travel over two thousand miles; then, by rowing
+only five miles, enter the return current and move homeward. A car of
+special design is furnished by each community in which each bridal pair
+spends the Wedlock Ride, or the Honey-Moon, as we would call it.
+
+[Illustration: Fishing for Land Animals on a Planet of the Pole Star.]
+
+There is nothing more interesting about this race of beings than the
+manner in which they pluck land fruit and catch land animals, and yet
+when you compare this with our world, it is the same to them as fishing
+is to us.
+
+In all my inter-stellar journeys perhaps there was nothing so amusing to
+me as to see a company of these water creatures fishing for land
+animals. They would creep up near shore and throw out their wire lines
+with various kinds of bait, according to what they wished to catch. Then
+followed the inevitable waiting until some innocent Jullep or Petzel
+would grasp the tempting morsel on the hook. A skillful jerk fastened
+the victim, and instead of pulling him in the water, the fisherman held
+his breath and rushed out of the water to get his prize. This has been
+found to be a safer method than trying to pull the prize into the water.
+
+These water dwellers relish certain land animals more than we do fish.
+
+Of course the land strips are not inhabited by human beings, but
+vegetation is abundant, similar to that found in our tropical regions.
+Many kinds of fruit, growing on the land, are sought after by the
+masters of the water. In the season when certain fruits are ripe whole
+expeditions go out to gather them. But how can they live away from the
+great body of water while plucking these fruits? Let me tell you how
+they manage it. They have what we would call water-wagons, very wide and
+short, and equipped with buckets. At the rear of one of these strangely
+shaped carriages stand four or six men abreast immersing their heads in
+the water of the wagon for a fresh breath as often as necessity
+requires. Thus they are enabled to travel over land to any desired
+locality, always being careful to keep near enough the water to cover
+any emergency.
+
+When they arrive at the fruit each man takes his bucket of water and
+proceeds to work. He plucks fruit or berries for about thirty seconds
+and then ducks his head into his bucket of water for a fresh breath.
+Then he proceeds as before. When the water is no longer fit for
+breathing, he carries his fruit and water bucket to the wagon. Here he
+unloads his fruit and refills his bucket from the wagon, proceeding as
+before. At intervals the wagon must be refilled with water. During a day
+a few men can gather a large quantity of fruit in this manner, and it
+can be preserved for over four seasons.
+
+On Stazza there has been developed a fine variety of water flowers, and
+no gardens are more beautiful than those that can be seen there. The
+higher classes of these people live a very refined life and have their
+homes surrounded with an endless variety of water grasses and flowers.
+You would scarcely believe your eyes if you could direct your gaze to a
+few of these homes.
+
+In their religious life these Stazzans are eminently devoted. They have
+no bunch of creeds from which to take their choice, but follow the
+teachings of "The Great Interpreter," a man who once lived and reigned
+amongst them and who wrote his laws in what we would call, by
+interpretation, "The Book of Gold." The leaves of this book are made
+from an element costly and rare, more precious to them than gold is to
+us. From this book all their sacred books are copied. The civil powers
+also accept this book as their authority, and enforce its teachings.
+
+Sin there, as here, is the withering blast of the planet, the destroyer
+of the harvest fields of purity and truth. An invisible spirit of evil
+holds his force in disciplined command, and the man who wishes to have a
+pure heart on Stazza must reach it through conflicts long and sharp. The
+path to moral and spiritual purity is quite the same throughout the
+whole universe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+Tor-tu.
+
+
+After I had finished my interesting tour of Stazza I visited in quick
+succession a score or more of worlds that also revolve around Polaris at
+varying distances. I found the majority of these planets barren of all
+life, owing principally to their molten condition.
+
+Some unthinkable types of human existence are occupying the worlds that
+can be inhabited. I marveled aloud as I viewed a few more links of the
+endless chain of intelligent creation. On one of these worlds, which I
+have christened Tor-tu, I found human beings that resemble us more than
+any others in the entire solar bounds of Polaris.
+
+Tor-tu dashes along in its unceasing course at a distance of eight
+hundred millions of miles from Polaris. It is much larger than our
+world, and is accompanied by three moons and a set of rings which
+faintly suggested our picturesque Saturn.
+
+The poles of Tor-tu are inclined at an angle of thirty-three degrees to
+the plane of its orbit. This accounts for its temperature being quite
+similar to ours, although its year is eight times longer.
+
+When I first reached this world I was impressed with its wealth of
+natural scenery. Flowers of charming texture and color grew abundantly
+over the wide expanses. The cultivated gardens contained specimens of
+unusual beauty, surpassing the finest products of our Earth.
+
+When I examined the leaves of the many kinds of trees, I found none
+similar to the foliage of our planet, except in one or two fruit-bearing
+trees. The sky, instead of appearing blue, wears a greenish tinge, and
+the birds are robed in a variety of colors that would put to naught our
+arching rainbows.
+
+In fine, it must be admitted that Tor-tu is a much more beautiful world
+than ours. I saw colors there that we could not produce because we have
+not the proper elements.
+
+This delightful world is densely populated. Its history is much older
+than ours. Sin is firmly rooted in the whole planet and its curse is
+just as blighting and withering as it is in our world, although it is
+fought more successfully and overcome more effectually in the home and
+in the nation.
+
+I observed that the ecclesiastical system is similar to ours, and there
+is a great profusion of creeds. To my surprise I noted, in my long
+journey, that such a variety did not interfere with true progress, but
+was compatible with the purest kind of life and the highest order of
+civilization. The people are deeply devoted to their unseen God, and
+their sacrifices are astonishing. Their places of worship are the finest
+structures of the world. They believe it to be wrong to construct any
+building greater in beauty and value than the temples of God. Their
+music would sound quite weird to us, although it is sweet harmony to the
+people of Tor-tu.
+
+The home life of Tor-tu is most beautiful. The moral life of the home
+and of the nations is the cleanest of any world in the whole system of
+Polaris. Naturally I investigated to learn the secret of this happy
+condition. Then I found to my joy that the relation between parents and
+children is very noteworthy. The fine respect manifested by the latter
+for the former evoked the blush of shame as I thought of the prevailing
+conditions in my own world.
+
+You may think it absurd when I describe a certain system that was a
+stepping stone to such splendid results. Were this peculiar system to be
+named, we should likely call it: "The Human Seal System."
+
+Each person born into the world of Tor-tu is officially sealed or
+tattooed on the forehead and on the arm. It is done by the township
+book-keeper, whose duty it is to keep a correct record of all births,
+devoting a new ledger page to each infant.
+
+This seal is a life-long mark, and must not be interfered with under any
+circumstances. In case the stamp is disturbed by accident, the person
+must report to the township book-keeper either in person or by proxy,
+and the stamp must be replaced on some conspicuous part of the head.
+
+There are eighteen governments of Tor-tu that united on this scheme. It
+is so arranged that no two persons of all these millions have identical
+marks. Each government has its seal of different designs from all the
+others.
+
+Circles, ellipses and rectangles, with various modifications, compose
+the eighteen forms in use. The most powerful of the eighteen governments
+has for its seal the following design, which I have filled out as
+completely as I could, using our own figures instead of their numerals
+which would, of course, be unintelligible to us.
+
+[Illustration: Tor-tu seal]
+
+This is the actual size of the design as it appears on the forehead.
+
+13 represents the number of the state.
+
+21 represents the number of the county.
+
+10 represents the number of the township.
+
+12 represents the color of the person.
+
+352, in the center, represents the individual's number.
+
+This same mark is the individual's signature for life. It cannot be
+changed, although the person is allowed to have a metallic or rubber cut
+of his own design, provided he writes the individual number by hand, for
+any one else doing this would be a forger.
+
+The township clerk is also the collector of the public funds. To him
+each person born in that township is compelled to render an annual
+report of his residence, occupation, and certain other facts relating to
+his life in general.
+
+If any minor or adult commits a criminal act upon which the civil court
+has passed, this finding is recorded in the township record on the
+individual's page and, when the criminal has served his sentence, this
+fact is also recorded. This is a severe law for the criminal, but it is
+a great stimulus to a law-abiding career.
+
+It is also customary for public courts to confer on worthy persons
+special marks of honor for extraordinary deeds or acts. A record of such
+rendering is also kept.
+
+In presenting annual reports to the clerk each father reports for his
+minor children. This puts the father on a rightful plane of dignity
+before his children, and the parent who makes a wise use of these
+provisions can and does reach far better results than can otherwise be
+done.
+
+No child can run away from home without falling into much more trouble
+then he imagined he had before. At once his seal number is sent to all
+the countries and into every sub-division. Any one aiding or abetting
+such a person is severely punished. When the runaway is captured, the
+system of reprimand is of such a nature that the minor will be glad to
+remain under the directions of his parents until his maturity.
+
+If it can be shown that a parent or guardian uses inhuman methods of
+punishing children, the act is criminal and is dealt with accordingly.
+
+There are no tramps parading periodically over the countries of Tor-tu.
+
+There is an international law that each township must care for its own
+paupers. Every man's forehead seal tells his birthplace and there is no
+escaping from it.
+
+When a person is suspected of crime in a foreign land, the foreign
+officials can tell not only where the individual was born, but they can
+also obtain an official record of his life by applying officially to the
+clerk and paying a nominal fee.
+
+Any stranger making a serious effort to cover his forehead is looked
+upon with suspicion. It is a current phrase of honor among the
+Tor-tuites: "I am not ashamed to show my forehead."
+
+A few hundred years after this "Human Seal Law" went into operation, no
+one, except the criminally inclined, would think of returning to the old
+reckless way, although the system was scorned and ridiculed by many
+Tor-tuites for about fifty years after its advent.
+
+In considering the character of an individual, the courts and the people
+place tremendous stress upon the township record. Each son and daughter
+early learns the value of a stainless page and strives to keep his
+record clean.
+
+The township, through the state, gives to each child at maturity a civil
+inheritance, provided his record meets the requirements of the law.
+
+All these customs and regulations are powerful incentives to the youth
+to lead a good moral life and naturally tend to a respectful demeanor of
+children toward their parents.
+
+This world is not only notable for its moral atmosphere, but for the
+remarkable progress its inhabitants have made in political economy.
+
+They know a few things about laws, but not enough to make them so
+complicated that no one can understand their meaning. In law, the poor
+man usually has the same chance as the rich. Money has no weight in the
+Tor-tu scale of justice. The facts in the case are the only things that
+have weight, although bribery is possible and is sometimes practiced.
+
+The laws of Tor-tu relating to deeds and titles are the most simple and
+yet the most effective that have yet come to my attention.
+
+All the land in each county of Tor-tu is divided into lots, and each lot
+is numbered on an immense diagram at the county seat. This diagram is a
+miniature relief outline of the county with each lot and plot in the
+county designated, and, according to our measurements, it averages
+almost eighteen by twenty-four feet, varying according to the size of
+the county.
+
+When you buy land you buy from the county only. If you wish to purchase
+a lot or plot from another party who is willing to sell, the two parties
+concerned go to the chief real estate agent who is an official of the
+county and has charge of the county diagram. The former owner or
+title-holder, upon establishing his identity, releases to the county his
+claims and surrenders his title on condition that he receives the sum
+agreed upon between the two parties.
+
+The county agent then issues a new title to the new purchaser. It is a
+simple common-sense document completely describing the new owner, his
+relatives and his station. Thus each purchaser has his own title from
+the county and it is guaranteed. Under this admirably simple system
+disputes as to titles are rare and can scarcely occur; but if any should
+arise, the county takes the defense and bears all expense of litigation.
+
+No counter claim is even heard after a title is five years old. Thus it
+is impossible to resurrect an old buried claim and rob an innocent owner
+who purchased and paid for his ground in good faith.
+
+In transferring real estate no lawyers are required. Several persons,
+however, must witness the execution of the deed.
+
+The county publishes a journal, monthly, stating the owner of each lot
+or plot number in the county. This is furnished free to each land owner.
+
+All credit to Tor-tu for these common-sense regulations! Our laws
+covering this field are heathenish compared with the statutes of this
+far distant world. There no man loses his real estate by the awakening
+of a sleeping title, and if this could happen he would be fully
+reimbursed by the county.
+
+In our world some titles are as clear as mud. Often we pay a large sum
+to have the records examined and even then a purchaser has no assurance
+of non-interference. Here it is even possible to buy a lot, build a
+home, and five or fifty years afterward have it sold by some one who
+proves a prior claim on the land. No such foolishness, or child-play in
+the guise of legal dignity, is countenanced in Tor-tu.
+
+The whole civil system of this sphere is superior to ours. A person who
+violates the law is not treated to free boarding and lodging in a well
+heated and lighted building, as is quite prevalent in our world, but is
+compelled to enter profitable labor under strict surveillance. Any
+prisoner becoming rebellious and refusing to work is dealt with
+severely. If he is still insubordinate, he is placed on the revolving
+wheel of death until his stubborn will is broken, or he falls fatigued
+into the jaws of steel.
+
+This convict labor does not compete with the regular ranks of honest
+toil. The main work of criminals is farming, and the products of these
+farms support not only the criminals, but their families as well. What
+is produced beyond that is sold at market price and the proceeds are
+applied to current expenses of the county.
+
+In our world the honest man must pay to support the dishonest; the
+law-abiding must care for the law breaker. How much longer this will
+continue no one has prophesied.
+
+The manner of choosing officials in Tor-tu is both new and surprising.
+All the officers, from the highest to lowest, are chosen by lot instead
+of by popular ballot or hereditary claim. They who are thus elected
+remain in office during competency and good behavior.
+
+1. Their record must be stainless during the preceding ten years.
+
+2. They must have been graduated from the law department of the public
+schools.
+
+3. They must be at least thirty-one years old.
+
+For the highest officials the conditions are more rigid.
+
+The teachers in all public schools are selected in the same manner from
+among the number who apply, and who have been graduated in rank high
+enough for the school in question.
+
+At first this lot system seemed very foolish to me indeed, bordering
+upon absurdity, but the more I studied its simplicity and observed its
+results, the more I became impressed with its good sense and
+efficiency. There are no political parties fomenting discord in a
+country under a spoils system; no upheavals every few years and
+hilarious campaigns; and no idiotic caricatures of public officials to
+work unbridled mischief in the hearts of the most dangerous citizens.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+A Problem in Political Economy.
+
+
+After I had left the world of Tor-tu I still lingered in the heavens
+around the planet and examined a few of its moons. While enjoying this
+pleasing diversion, I learned that not far away, less than one billion
+miles, there was a world without an atmosphere. This peculiar condition
+was not new to me, for I had seen, during my never-to-be-forgotten
+journey, many worlds without gaseous air.
+
+I would not have gone thither had it not been for an unaccountable
+desire impelling me. Obedient to my impulse, I soon found myself on this
+odd planet which I have named Airess.
+
+I at once observed that the people are formed without nose or lungs. The
+nose is substituted by an opening into which liquid air is received and
+through which it passes to a bodily reservoir of two lobes in the
+vicinity of the heart. When I saw how these people were obliged to fill
+their living vessels with this air-supplying liquid, I at once thought
+of the manner in which we in our world fill our lamps with oil to
+furnish light and heat.
+
+Now it is true that nature supplies this liquid air in reasonable
+abundance, and no doubt all the people would have been happy until now
+had it not been for the unjust scheming of a few unprincipled men.
+
+The strange story of the air problem on this distant world is so similar
+to the food problem of ours that I have time to describe it briefly.
+
+There were certain men in Airess, shrewd above their fellows, who
+secretly combined to secure a controlling interest in all the land
+producing liquid air.
+
+In course of time these shrewd schemers, who are known as monopolists,
+gathered this liquid air into large tanks and warehouses, and put an
+exorbitant price upon it. The business flourished greatly because
+everybody was daily in need of liquid air.
+
+The many sources of air-supply were guarded and men were employed to
+carry the liquid from the raw springs to the private tanks of the
+monopolists. Not long after this, when the monopolists saw that they
+controlled all the liquid air of the country, they had rigid laws passed
+forbidding the importation of air from any other country. Then when all
+preliminaries were arranged, the magnates raised the price of their
+commodity.
+
+The burden fell most heavily on the persons of limited means, for some
+were compelled to give half of their earnings for air.
+
+The monopolists grew richer and richer, while the poor became still
+poorer, until a cry went up for cheaper living. Then the
+generous-hearted magnates decided to build new and larger storehouses,
+thus giving employment to the large army of impoverished workmen. Thus
+did the poor feel very grateful for the privilege of earning enough to
+satisfy their hungry stomachs.
+
+With the larger storehouses now in operation the magnates were enabled
+to conduct this air business on a scale more economical, and so it
+resulted that the profits of their business were constantly increasing.
+
+Many who were unable to work became sorely distressed insomuch that
+some died raving for liquid air. Others were more fortunate and were
+helped by charitably inclined citizens. When a few poor comrades clubbed
+together and contributed out of their mites, then the magnates sold air,
+but if the sufferers had no money, they could have no air.
+
+A growing discontent possessed the people. They appealed to the
+legislative bodies, but the magnates had grown so immensely wealthy that
+they controlled all the law-making assemblies and gave the members air
+free of charge, an act of kindness indeed.
+
+So the law turned a deaf ear to the cries of the people and many riots
+followed. But these were all quelled by the standing army which was also
+supplied with free air for the good service they were capable of
+rendering to the monopolists.
+
+The multitude of laboring people could do as they chose, that is, work
+like slaves and live, or refuse to tolerate the monopoly and die.
+
+[Illustration: Monopolizing Liquid Air on Airess.]
+
+Many were the pitiful scenes witnessed in all parts of the land. Men,
+women and children gathered around one or another of the large tanks
+brimming full of the life sustaining liquid. It was heart-breaking to
+see children with half-opened mouths dying for air. Of course none of
+the magnates were within hearing or seeing distance. The tanks were in
+charge of underlings who were bound to give no air except for the
+exorbitant market price.
+
+This state of affairs continued for many generations, nor did relief
+come until one named Agitator went forth strongly set in his
+convictions. He was a natural-born orator, a lover of justice, one who
+believed in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.
+
+As long as he went about speaking and praying, the monopolists gave no
+heed. But when he began organizing the masses into sworn legions, then
+did the magnates bestir themselves, seeing danger in the gathering
+clouds of humanity.
+
+"What shall we do?" cried they one to another.
+
+"Bribe Agitator," suggested one.
+
+"A happy hit," cried they all.
+
+One was chosen to do the work. A description of the meeting and
+conversation of these two great leaders is a choice bit of literature of
+the world of Airess. I will translate it as nearly as possible into
+English.
+
+Magnate and his companion met Agitator three hours after sun-rise.
+Neither one had ever seen the other before, and naturally Agitator did
+not suspect the purpose for which Magnate had come.
+
+"We are here," said Magnate, "to place into your hands one million
+dollars to be used for the education of poor children. We have
+confidence in your judgment and integrity, and if you will accept the
+money on our conditions, we will gladly arrange all papers and place the
+money at your disposal."
+
+"A magnanimous offer indeed. But what are the conditions," hurriedly
+asked the blushing Agitator.
+
+"The conditions are easy to meet.
+
+"1. You are to train and appoint sub-teachers and give your influence to
+the building up of these schools.
+
+"2. You are to spend your time in this noble work and receive as salary
+ten thousand dollars annually.
+
+"3. Of course you will be glad to put your whole heart and time into
+this enterprise and encourage all workmen to show their appreciation of
+this generous movement in behalf of the oppressed."
+
+"But what would become of my other great work?" asked Agitator, as a
+well-defined interrogation point covered his face.
+
+"This new enterprise will solve the whole question. Is it not true that
+ignorance is the cause of nearly all the discontent in the world? If you
+scatter the clouds of ignorance, with them the darkness of nearly all
+our woes will fly, and you will stand at the head of a new race,
+educated, refined, and capable of understanding and securing their
+rights ten-fold more surely and more intelligently than now."
+
+Agitator was a man of quick mind. He was, however, almost caught in the
+fine network spun around him. He bowed his head a moment in quietness.
+
+"There is a tinge of truth in your words," admitted Agitator. "If I can
+avoid it however," he continued, "the people now living will not suffer
+for a whole generation in hope of imaginary relief. Your scheme is a
+worthy one, but you must seek elsewhere for a leader. I have sworn in my
+soul to bend my every effort to break the strong arm of the Monopoly."
+
+Magnate was a cool man, and held his dignity in a pleasing manner. He
+carelessly changed his attitude and spoke with decision "If you will not
+lead this educational enterprise, the whole offer will be withdrawn and
+it will be advertised to the world that the leader of the poor people
+has refused the most magnificent offer of the age for the uplifting of
+the masses."
+
+"Ah," quickly replied Agitator, "if the offer be sincere, why should it
+go by default on my simple refusal to be turned from my present course?
+Let some other one, better qualified than I, attend to the management of
+this noble cause."
+
+Magnate advanced a step and with emphatic gesture gave his ultimatum:
+
+"You are the recognized leader of the masses, the idol of all the poor
+and of the so-called oppressed. In you the very persons whom we hope to
+benefit have unbounded confidence, and naturally you are the only man
+who can make wisest and most efficient use of this large sum of money.
+We have no other choice and I ask you once more, for the sake of
+suffering humanity, to accept the leadership of this worthy cause which
+will do more for the people than all other reform movements combined.
+You can make no mistake in accepting our offer. This is the only right
+thing for you to do."
+
+Agitator took no time to study his reply. His words were born on the
+occasion for the occasion. He spoke with marked power in his voice and
+fiery electricity in his eye:
+
+"I have made my final decision. I am married to my reform movement and
+seek no divorce. I want all people to have free air as they have free
+sunlight. I am determined that neither favor nor force, neither Magnate
+nor money, shall swerve me from my course. The people of my time shall
+see their liberty, or I shall see my death!"
+
+This reply of Agitator is most memorable. It is quoted more than the
+famous words of Patrick Henry of our world: "Give me liberty, or give me
+death!"
+
+Agitator pushed his cause with remarkable skill. Soon his movements
+reached such proportions that great men courted his favor. The masses
+clung to him with truest loyalty. He took full advantage of the
+situation and gained control of the legislative bodies.
+
+Then followed the great enactment. All the air of the world was declared
+to be free, and any one attempting to buy or sell this natural and
+indispensable product was guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by fines
+and heavy bonds.
+
+The celebration of this victory was extreme. The most wonderful
+jubilations were held at the air tanks. Famous speeches were made and
+the tanks were sold by permission of their owners. One enthusiastic
+person bought a tank, declared that he would sell it in small pieces for
+relics, and use the proceeds for educating poor children. The scene that
+followed beggars description. Everybody knew that this was a cut at
+Magnate, and the buying of relics was carried on in an unprecedented
+manner. The amount of money netted by this sale was so large that
+several schools were erected and an endowment provided for their
+maintenance.
+
+All this happened long ago on the world of Airess. But the memory of
+these unusual times will never die. They have an annual day of
+celebration much resembling, in its festivities, our Fourth of July.
+
+The most peculiar human condition of Airess, according to my view, is
+the manner in which these people sleep. They do not lie down and
+gradually drift into unconsciousness, but they lie motionless and still
+retain full consciousness. The rest comes from the quietness of the
+bodily members. It is not even possible for these creatures to become
+mentally insensible to their surroundings, except by an accident or
+through medical treatment.
+
+I was most impressed, however, as I learned of the powerful eyesight
+which these people enjoy. Their eyes are indeed little telescopes,
+capable of examining heavenly bodies with as much accuracy as we are
+enabled to do with the aid of magnifying glasses.
+
+Then comes the surprising statement that these same people have never
+invented anything similar to a spy glass or a telescope. Imagine how far
+they could peer into the depth of space if their own gifted eyesight
+were augmented by good magnifying glasses.
+
+I spent a little longer time on Airess than on some other planets
+because I found that I could more easily understand the philosophy of
+their attainments.
+
+The last moments of my stay were spent in the largest structure of this
+whole world, the central building of education. From this structure
+endless lines of power and influence are maintained all through the
+territorial divisions of Airess.
+
+I studied this unusual plan of education and viewed with delight the
+ponderous portion of this imposing edifice. At last I bid farewell to
+all these mute instructors and, looking skyward, fixed my mind on the
+shores of another world.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+Floating Cities.
+
+
+Almost everyone is familiar with Ursa Major, or the Great Dipper, that
+lies in such bold relief in the region of the northern heavens, and that
+apparently revolves around Polaris, the North Star.
+
+The nearer of the two stars that help to form this famous Dipper and
+that point toward Polaris, is called Dubhe by our astronomers. This star
+and its interesting solar system next claimed my attention.
+
+From Earth I had often looked with admiring wonder at the starry
+firmament, and during many an evening I had drawn the imaginary lines
+from star to star outlining the Great Dipper, commencing with the end of
+the handle and finishing with the star just named at the outer edge, or
+rim.
+
+As I came near to Dubhe, I scanned the surrounding skies and was
+surprised to find that the whole semblance of my dipper was lost.
+Instead of lying in a plane, these stars were widely separated, so far
+that a billion miles gives no fair hint of the distance.
+
+Many new stars, previously invisible, now shone in great glory so that
+the whole celestial field presented new aspects. Far away I looked
+toward our Sun; it sparkled like a tiny star, and none of the planets of
+our Solar System were visible.
+
+I paused not at Dubhe, but sped onward to one of the busy worlds that
+revolve around it, which I shall call Plasden. This is two hundred times
+as large as our world, and "slin" covers seven-eighths of its surface.
+Slin is a liquid much resembling water and serves practically the same
+purpose.
+
+Plasden is truly a wonderful water world. Its inhabitants are not
+confined to the under-water life like those found in Stazza, neither are
+they strictly compelled to remain in the atmosphere, although that is
+their normal condition. The Plasdenites can sustain life under water,
+but only with discomfort. They have three times as many ribs as we
+possess, and between them are openings into which air or water enters
+for life sustentation. These flabby ribs slowly rise and fall
+continuously and involuntarily.
+
+I would describe the upper portion of their bodies, but they would seem
+so contrary to our ideas of beauty that I will pass on by saying that to
+my eye, now trained in the larger school of interstellar harmonies,
+these Plasdenites are lovely and lovable human creatures. They have
+reached a high state of civilization and, being gifted with the spirit
+life, they are still forging ahead toward perfection, unconsciously
+competing with their fellow spirits in millions of worlds.
+
+Plasden is an old planet. Human beings have lived thereon for thirty
+thousand years, and consequently, ages ago, the land area became so
+densely populated that there was not enough room to accommodate the
+increasing millions. This perplexing problem was solved in a very
+peculiar manner by an experiment on the part of a wealthy Plasdenite,
+who, seven thousand years ago, took advantage of the extremely light
+mineral products of this world and built for himself a floating mansion
+which covered about ten acres according to our measurements.
+
+This fairy palace was floated on the great oceans from one continent to
+another, propelled by the wind and controlled by a series of motors.
+
+After a few years he returned to his native shore and conceived the idea
+of building around his palace a water village. All foundations were made
+of strong aluminum-like substance mixed with molten granite which, upon
+hardening, formed a compound of marvelous lightness and durability. With
+painstaking care and unceasing energy the water village was transformed
+from a fanciful dream into a tangible reality, and in process of time
+one section after another was added until a veritable city floated on
+the bosom of the deep.
+
+But this is only a brief description of a marvelous accomplishment. I
+did not pause to mention the factories and mills that were attached to
+this city, nor have I told you that in less than one thousand years
+after this first water city was finished, there were floating, on the
+oceans of Plasden, no less than two hundred cities of various sizes,
+each a manufacturing center devoted to one or more lines of industry.
+
+The majority of these cities moved in harmony in a world-wide course,
+requiring about one year or four hundred of our days to complete a
+single circuit. As was their prototype, so they were propelled by a
+series of motors and a splendid sail system. At times the wind did the
+greater part of the work, and again the full force of the motors was
+required.
+
+Let me ask you to get on board one of these cities, and take one year's
+journey in a few minutes.
+
+For instance, take one of the vehicle cities, composed of one hundred
+factory buildings and three thousand dwellings, all built of
+non-combustible materials.
+
+The city is now in the harbor of a great port, and all the merchantmen
+who live nearest to this port have been informed that the vehicle city
+would arrive about midweek and remain four days. What a busy time
+follows after the floating city is fastened to its moorings! Inhabitants
+go on solid ground to do their trading. Dealers make large purchases and
+place extensive orders.
+
+It should be stated that the mail and telegraph systems between the
+continents and all these floating cities are well nigh perfect. Fast
+lines of mail steamers follow one another around the same course pursued
+by these floating cities, and passengers can go to or from any of these
+moving abodes to any part of any continent whenever they wish; so that
+if a dealer wishes a vehicle of special design, he can send his order by
+mail to any one of the six vehicle cities and have it completed by the
+time the floating city arrives at his port. If the community receiving
+the order cannot complete the work in time, the order is sent with one
+of the mail steamers to the next vehicle city in line.
+
+The massive city starts its journey and in one day it floats to the
+coaling stations. Here it takes on board an ample supply of fuel and
+proceeds along the regular course, making no stops until it reaches the
+mineral station where it takes a new supply of the various kinds of
+metals necessary for manufacturing and for all other purposes.
+
+Then perchance it passes a city or two that is lying in dock for trade
+purposes. The next stop will be at one of the several tropical stations
+where a fresh supply of fruits is purchased and a number of vehicles
+sold or delivered.
+
+After this the city passes several apparel cities moored to an immense
+dock, taking on board large bales of a cotton-like substance used in
+making texture.
+
+So continues the interesting journey along a safe route mapped out
+centuries before. Storms arise, of course, but what harm can they do
+except to send the ponderous waves dashing against the bulwarks of the
+city and rock it gently, all of which becomes so familiar that no one
+thinks of these things as serious barriers to the floating-city life.
+
+Perhaps in one tour of four hundred days thirty stops are made. You may
+wonder how these huge floats are stopped and started. This is
+accomplished by a series of border propellors which can be put into
+service at any time if speed is desired or contrary winds are
+encountered.
+
+These cities have done much to civilize the darker races of Plasden. The
+manufacturing floats, coming into contact with the shores of all lands,
+naturally have an uplifting influence on its peoples, some of whom go on
+board to learn trades.
+
+The latest novelty of Plasden is a music city owned by one man and built
+most beautifully. Its size is comparatively small and it is equipped
+with motors of double power enabling it to proceed with considerable
+speed as compared with the cumbersome, heavier floats. This city is
+built for business as well as for pleasure.
+
+These Plasdenites enjoy an invention in the form of a machine that
+renders music when acted upon by air, and, at certain times, also by
+water. It is inspiring to listen to these Siren strains as the music
+city passes another floating abode.
+
+Excursion parties go on this music city and remain at one or another of
+its famous hotels as long as they wish.
+
+[Illustration: A Floating Palace and a Floating City.]
+
+The most refined feature of this water life is seen in the floating
+mansions, of which there are many thousands. These are built in such a
+manner that the wildest storms of the ocean can do no more than set the
+mansion a rocking, for the structures that venture far away from
+shore are very large, and surrounded by many acres of attachments.
+
+It is delightful to live in one of these water mansions, go to any
+chosen harbor, remain as long as desired and, taking your choice of
+countries, dwell among the icebergs or in the tropical regions. People
+of delicate health can shift to any climate and change location as often
+as desired. This style of retired life is now the most popular of all in
+this peculiar world of Plasden.
+
+The educated people are a very bright class; they have made great
+progress in manufacturing. This implies a long list of notable
+inventions in every branch of industry. It is strange that these
+brilliant inventors never paid attention to air travel. However, they
+have perfected submarine navigation to a nicety that would be teasing to
+the infant efforts that we have thus far made.
+
+The people of this far away orb have greatly surpassed us in controlling
+and utilizing the three distinct forces which are quite similar to
+electricity, and these are the wizard forces that furnish the power used
+to drive the motors and engines, not only of the floating cities, but
+also of the fixed abodes.
+
+By a comparative study I ascertained that we have over six thousand
+inventions for which they have no parallel, and Plasden has nearly
+twenty thousand to which we have nothing similar. What an inspiring
+study all these facts furnished! But my space forbids enlargement. I
+believe, however, that if our world remains a few thousand years more,
+we will have learned more secrets than the experts of Plasden know
+to-day, although they have had a start of many thousand years over us.
+
+There are very few worlds where the devotional spirit has reached a
+higher level than in Plasden. The truths of the Creator are preached and
+practised with a far more pleasing result than is prevalent on Earth.
+
+Satan has found his way to this planet and has organized his forces into
+sworn legions against whom the armies of righteousness are waging
+relentless warfare.
+
+The main secret of Plasden's high morality is found in the fact that
+the civil governments insist on moral laws and a careful observance of
+them. One blushes with shame at the looseness and laxity with which the
+greater municipalities of our Earth are governed, and all this under the
+shadow of our schools and church spires.
+
+Centuries ago the good people of Plasden learned how to co-operate when
+they desired to win in a struggle against iniquity. I would give my
+life-blood if I could transport this secret in such a way as to make it
+effective on the Earth.
+
+In our world we have before us a most humiliating spectacle. If an
+effort is made to extirpate some form of sin that has taken audacious
+root in the soil of our moral life, one reform element or denomination
+fights with the other until the hoe is so broken that there is nothing
+left wherewith to dig out the miserable roots of the obnoxious weed.
+Thus do we spend our energies opposing one another instead of fighting
+the Devil.
+
+O, for the Plasden power of unity, before which any species of
+corruption can be crushed out that is opposed by the forces of
+righteousness!
+
+We have succeeded, to a bitter extreme, in getting the church and state
+separated from each other so far that the latter scarcely ever gets a
+glimpse of the former, and we stand by priding ourselves in the absolute
+divorce. Then we have also succeeded in getting the different creeds
+separated by chasms so wide that it is impossible to make a combined
+attack against a common foe. However, these separations between sects
+are gradually disappearing, and over the lessening gaps the hands of a
+more Christian fellowship are being extended.
+
+The Devil, wiser in his generation than the children of light, long ago
+united his trained forces in defense of his iniquitous schemes, and thus
+he is permitted for a season to sit on the throne of power and wield his
+black wand over the civil realm, thereby licensing iniquity, protecting
+vice, and spreading his dark designs over the commonwealths of the
+world.
+
+We look forward to the time when the moral and spiritual forces of our
+world will reach the Plasden unity. May this be accomplished without
+struggling along for another century!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A World of Ideal Cities.
+
+
+After I had finished my brief stay at Plasden, I again rose high in air
+and looked over the oceans with their floating cities. This was one of
+the most charming views I ever had of any world.
+
+I paid a passing visit to a few worlds where human life had never risen
+to a great height of civilization, nor can I forget the lessons I there
+learned of the power of sin. All this one can clearly see who visits the
+three worlds lying next in order to Plasden, but I will forbear the sad
+and sickening recital of the depth to which a world is carried by sin
+when once it gains a haughty ascendency.
+
+The next orb that attracted my attention also lay in the solar system of
+Dubhe, and very much resembles our own world in both size and climate.
+The people, who are not half our stature, are so differently formed that
+I could scarcely believe my own senses.
+
+A description of them would appear only ludicrous, so I shall content
+myself with saying that they are refined in their manners and highly
+educated in all branches of human knowledge, which does not imply that
+their studies are identical with ours.
+
+I was surprised at the splendid arrangement of their cities and the
+sensible laws governing them. One can scarcely believe that we are
+guilty of so much lost labor in the management of our cities, in our own
+way of living, and in providing for our families, until he sets his eyes
+on a city of another world that has notably distanced us in this
+respect.
+
+These people, though small of stature, are endowed with powerful
+muscular systems and, through their intelligence, they have become
+masters of the seas and of the land, for the forests give away and
+savage tribes fall back before the onward march of the God-directed
+conqueror, man.
+
+I then appeared in visible form and walked into one of the largest
+cities on this world. I had not passed one-fourth of the way toward the
+city's center before I was surrounded by a curious crowd which so
+blocked my path that I could make no further progress. You may imagine
+their surprise to see a giant, as I appeared to them, with a strangely
+shaped head and with a soft, flabby skin, for they at first regarded my
+clothing as my skin.
+
+No one could conjecture what sort of an animal I was. I remained mute
+and watched the rising tide of excitement. Before anyone could venture
+to touch me, I saw a band of officers in double-quick march hastening
+toward me with their curiously shaped weapons unfolded.
+
+I stood motionless as the soldiers surrounded me. As soon as the circle
+was formed the leader of the squad stepped toward me with a show of
+bravery, but I saw that he secretly trembled. It was his oath-bound duty
+in such a case to lay hands on me and, if necessary, use force to take
+me to the central office.
+
+I offered no resistance and went, as I was directed, till I stood in the
+odd looking room where all offenders of their law are taken for a
+hearing.
+
+[Illustration: Planet of Dubhe.]
+
+The news of my appearance and arrest had by this time spread to all
+parts of the city and a motley crowd were gathering, but only a small
+portion of the people were able to gain entrance into the building where
+I had been taken.
+
+The high officials and educators, hearing of the wonderful giant at the
+city hall, hastened thither with all speed. Then I saw an interesting
+spectacle. As these higher classes of people arrived, the lower classes
+were compelled to leave. The room being full, no laborer was allowed to
+remain if a person of nobility wished to occupy his seat. This peculiar
+custom or law applies to all public places and assemblies.
+
+In a short time all the lower classes were compelled to leave the hall
+to make room for the unprecedented rush of nobility. Nothing so tempted
+me to speak as when I saw this partial rule in operation.
+
+During all this gathering the officers stood in a circle around me and
+held their weapons ready for instant service. Not hearing what I was or
+what I might do, they were ordered to maintain this strict attitude.
+
+Every eye was fastened on me. Some of the nobility were pale with fear;
+others were busy inquiring whence I came and where I had been captured.
+
+At length the chief official made a gutteral sound. This must have been
+a call for order and the signal for the opening of the court, for at
+once the wild confusion gave way to order as much as could be expected
+under the circumstances.
+
+The brief formalities of opening the court were ridiculous to me. This
+being done, all official attention was given to me. I saw that
+everything was under the charge of this presiding official. He first
+ordered that I should be bound and, accordingly, my hands and feet were
+tied. Then a very heavy chain-like rope was fastened to my body and I
+was tied to the criminal's post.
+
+The officers were then released and retired to their special part of the
+room.
+
+The chief then stepped toward me and peered into my face with a puzzled
+look of great anxiety. I returned his glances calmly, but uttered not a
+word.
+
+There was a breathless suspense as the chief lifted up his hands,
+touched my face, and felt my mustache and whiskers. The hair was perhaps
+the strangest feature of my whole head, since there is nothing on their
+human or animal species that resembles hair.
+
+The chief then called for a certain professor who was an expert in
+zoology. This intelligent man quickly came to my side and, at the
+request of the chief, commenced to examine me carefully.
+
+My manner of breathing confused him most of all. He watched my chest
+rising and falling and my sides increasing and decreasing with every
+breath, until he was mystified beyond all power of explanation.
+
+When the dignitaries saw that I could be touched with safety, numerous
+messages were flying to the chief, each one asking for the privilege of
+a closer inspection of me.
+
+The presiding officer was cool-headed and firmly followed his own cause.
+He waited until the professor had finished his examination and was
+prepared to report, whereupon he announced to the bewildered audience
+that heed should now be given to the conclusion of the zoologist.
+
+The professor mounted a throne-like elevation from which all expert
+opinion is submitted. A painful silence ensued as this learned man
+proceeded with his report.
+
+Of course I pretended that I could not understand their language and
+that I was oblivious to all these occurrences, but you may be assured
+that I was careful not to miss a word that fell from the lips of this
+noted specialist who conducted himself with a dignity both pleasing and
+fascinating.
+
+"I pronounce this creature an enigma," commenced the professor as he
+pointed his bony finger toward me, "and declare him to be the strangest
+problem of my life. How, and whence, and why he came to us are all alike
+shrouded in impenetrable mystery."
+
+"This perplexing specimen is totally different from any species of our
+animal creation. He resembles a man more closely than any beast.
+However, he cannot belong to any family of our world for he is possessed
+with bodily functions unknown to us. His clothes are not the result of
+any natural growth, and are far beyond our finest manufacture. Each
+piece of his apparel gives positive evidence that it was made with
+hands more skillful than ours."
+
+"The most pleasing part of this perplexity is the face, which bears
+indisputable marks of intelligence. It would be eminently satisfying to
+us if we could communicate with him and receive some light on this
+living marvel."
+
+He quickly stepped from the throne and the chief then invited four
+philosophers to examine me conjointly. They hurriedly responded to the
+invitation, for they were delighted at the honor and privilege conferred
+upon them.
+
+What a peculiar experience followed! Four men touched my hands and
+ankles, my arms and limbs, and more particularly every piece of my
+apparel. Accidentally one found my purse, but could not open it. As he
+was faithfully pursuing his task, I felt that the time had come for me
+to speak.
+
+"Twist at the two knobs," I said in their vernacular.
+
+If lightning had struck into that room, it would not have caused more
+consternation. The four philosophers fell to the floor, the chief was
+terrified, the audience looked on in abject terror, while the officers
+rushed from their post with drawn weapons. All this occurred instantly,
+and I realized that my words never before had such an effect. In a
+moment the chief was at my side and, looking into my face, exclaimed:
+
+"Who are you and why have you remained silent?"
+
+"I am a human being," I replied.
+
+"From what part of our world?"
+
+"I was not born on this world."
+
+"On what world then?" he further asked with increasing surprise.
+
+"On a world called Earth that revolves around a star called Sun." As I
+was answering these questions many wild sensations were sweeping over
+the hearts of the assembled nobility.
+
+"How came you to our world?" continued the chief with abated breath.
+
+"On wings invisible."
+
+"For what purpose came you hither?"
+
+"To see your manner of life."
+
+"Will you stay with us forever?"
+
+"I cannot."
+
+"Have you come to harm us?"
+
+"Not in the least."
+
+The chief in a high state of excitement ordered that I should be
+unbound.
+
+I smiled and said that I would spare them that trouble. I snapped the
+bands with such ease that a new fear possessed all of those around me.
+
+I then gave them positive assurance that I would harm no one and urged
+that all should be silent as I wished to speak a few words to them.
+
+Never before had I a more attentive audience. I addressed them in a
+natural manner, informing them that I desired to become familiar with a
+few of their forms and customs of life. I then proceeded to give them a
+description of the world whence I had come. My audience became
+enthusiastic and I decided to cease speaking.
+
+The chief, although greatly agitated, still kept his hand on the
+throttle of the occasion. He waved the surging crowd back, demanded
+order and at once sent his arrowed questions at me again.
+
+"Are you not a god?" cried he.
+
+"I am only human."
+
+"How could you have such power as to reach our world?"
+
+"That I cannot explain."
+
+"How many people live on your world?"
+
+"One and one-half billion," I answered.
+
+"Are they all pure-minded?"
+
+I answered that I was pained to inform them that many of our inhabitants
+are wicked.
+
+My listeners were still incredulous as to my identity. They were
+positive that I was a visiting spirit on a mission of evil or good, and
+they urged that I should disclose the purpose of my commission.
+
+I re-affirmed my past utterances and, turning to the chief more
+directly, I informed him that he would see me no more. Then, without
+pausing another moment, I vanished. As I went, I looked backward to see
+the mystified countenances of all who were in the room, and then
+proceeded to visit the surrounding city to examine the system under
+which it is governed.
+
+I found that the bulk of the trade is controlled by the city, one class
+of goods being kept at one place in suitable store houses. The city owns
+a full line of vehicles resembling our automobiles. These are very
+spacious. Each one is supplied with certain lines of merchandise and
+passes over an unalterable rail route at its own fixed period.
+
+Thus all parts of the city are reached with the necessaries of life.
+Those who prefer can go to the trade centers, but no special orders are
+delivered except by the regular cars and at the regular time.
+
+For instance, one can go to the trade centers for meats and vegetables,
+and purchase what he wishes or give his order. At the time corresponding
+to six o'clock of our time in the morning the meat and vegetable cars
+start on their respective routes, while the trade centers are open for
+personal callers. Marketing goes on at the market center while the cars
+are selling throughout the city. At nine o'clock the delivery cars leave
+the trade centers.
+
+Similar to the manner of our world, each home is numbered in such a way
+that no two houses have the same designation. By this arrangement the
+delivery of goods is facilitated.
+
+Everything in this busy metropolis goes like clock work, and everybody
+knows the schedule, which is simple enough to be understood almost at a
+glance.
+
+All the trade centers lie along the freight and passenger railroad. This
+saves a tremendous amount of labor, for the goods are all transferred
+directly from the cars to the store-houses.
+
+There is no Fire Department, for there is no need of one. It appears
+that only a few worlds in the universe use inflammable materials for
+structural purposes, and we are one of them.
+
+There is a Finance Department and a Law Department, although I cannot
+give space for their description.
+
+The Sanitary and Police Departments are under systems absolutely
+different from any that are known in our world. Their sanitary methods
+are no more effective than ours, perhaps less so. But the Police
+Department is greatly superior. This is largely due to the fact that
+this city has a department gloriously ahead of any city in which I have
+ever lived. This department is called the Moral Department. It is
+managed by twenty-one men and women, one-third of whom are selected
+annually from a list of nominees.
+
+Each church, meeting certain requirements, is entitled to make one
+nomination. The seven of these nominees receiving the largest number of
+votes are elected for three years.
+
+This Moral Department is no mincing and begging institution. It has, at
+its disposal, the entire military battery. No mayor holds a whip handle
+over it. I must confess I was happy as I witnessed the blessed effect of
+this Moral Department. All evil is not extirpated, neither is all
+lawlessness overcome, but there is no brazen iniquity, no public
+immorality and heartless brutality such as is seen on every hand in one
+of our larger municipalities.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+A World Enjoying Its Millennium.
+
+
+What expansive views of creation were afforded me in my universal
+journey! I saw all conceivable types of human life, many of which I
+alone could never have conceived.
+
+With a happy soul I alighted on another world in the solar system of
+Dubhe where sin had been banished, and the believers, or children of
+God, were passing through a period of time which we would call the
+Millennium.
+
+A wide contrast was now presented to my view. I had seen world after
+world in the tribulation of sin. Now I had come to one under the sway of
+righteousness, and I wish that I had power to describe what I saw and
+experienced.
+
+I suddenly thought of the Queen of Sheba, who, upon seeing the greatness
+of Solomon's wisdom, exclaimed, "Behold, the half was not told me." I
+had often imagined what the condition of our world would be when it
+smiles under the light of the Millennium, but I minimized the glory that
+is yet to come to us, judging by what I saw on this delightfully
+charming planet. I have no assurance, however, that the coming
+Millennium of our world will be altogether similar to the one I saw.
+
+This glorious Millennium was ushered in about six hundred years ago, and
+I readily learned the general particulars of its commencement. The world
+had been very wicked prior to the dawn of this new age. The majority of
+the people disregarded all spiritual truths, causing the darkness of sin
+to hang like a heavy pall over the nations of this planet.
+
+There were earnest devotees who lived in the light and love of God, and
+who preached and pleaded with the thoughtless and the indifferent.
+Notwithstanding all the efforts put forth on the part of the righteous,
+the generations of this distant world became more and more wicked until
+the Millennial dawn.
+
+In the fullness of time the Millennium was ushered in by the appearance
+of the chief angel who came with several hundred thousand attending
+spirits. At the approach of these celestial regiments the atmosphere far
+above the planet was darkened by ominous clouds through which the
+approaching legions shone with unearthly brightness. All this occurred
+in the twinkling of an eye, even before the busy millions could look
+upward. Then the chief angel and his magnificent host circled in the
+air, singing the resurrection song, which was augmented by ten thousand
+trumpeters, while the forked and sheet lightnings flashed in unison with
+the imposing waves of music, and heavy thunders contributed the bass
+intonations.
+
+The celestial choir continued during one revolution of the planet. The
+vast throng sang in the air as the planet revolved on its axis. As each
+section of the globe came beneath the long extended line of melodious
+angels, the marvelous change took place for that section. The sleeping
+saints came forth from their graves and, with the living saints, were
+caught up into the air. This continued until this most eventful day was
+finished.
+
+The scenes that occurred with the ungodly during this awful day beggar
+all description, so much so that I shall not attempt to describe the
+remorseful wails of horror that rent the air, only to be drowned by the
+ever-singing choir. It was the day of triumph for the saints, and their
+ears were not disturbed by the cries of terror, nor were their hearts
+distracted by the opening of the earth to receive the wicked.
+
+As the saints were caught up, the wicked fell into pits and have not
+been seen since. The flames that issued from the rending globe set
+everything on fire. Who can select language sufficiently graphic to
+portray such a lurid dissolution of a planet, and the gathering of the
+faithful, quick and dead?
+
+Thus was this large world purified by fire while the saints were
+gloriously enraptured. After the fury of this burning was passed, the
+great Creator of the universe made a new world whereon righteousness
+dwelled.
+
+The saints became the possessors and rulers of this whole sphere, living
+in joy and peace unprecedented. It has been the happiest six hundred
+years since the beginning of this planet. How long this period will
+continue no one seems to know, and but few are conjecturing, for each
+soul is completely happy and congenially employed.
+
+The time will come, however, when this blissful period will be at an
+end, only to give way to a state of existence infinitely greater and
+more glorious, which in our language would be called Heaven.
+
+[Illustration: Beginning of the Millennium.]
+
+I will briefly describe a few characteristics of this Millennial life as
+I saw it and as it is now existing.
+
+1. The saints are living in spiritual bodies. They are not cumbered with
+a fleshy body, and are capable of traveling through the air at a speed
+far beyond that attained by the swiftest winged creature of any world in
+the whole universe.
+
+Their spiritual bodies are highly organized and sensitive to a fine
+degree. At will they are capable of rendering themselves visible or
+invisible, as we comprehend these terms.
+
+As the perfectly formed flower, blushing in its wealth of color, is
+called beautiful, so we would designate these symmetrical
+spirit-creatures, moving in the glory of their higher endowment and
+shaded with the living tints of Heaven.
+
+2. These inhabitants know nothing of fatigue. Their strength of body and
+vitality of mind are unabating. What a contrast between the creatures of
+our Earth and those of the Millennial world on whom the passing of
+centuries has no ill effect.
+
+3. There is nothing on this purified world to generate disease; hence
+these favored people never suffer any pain of body or of mind. The long
+line of sin-shadows has all vanished from this redeemed planet, and the
+atmosphere is all aglow with the mellowed light of peace and love.
+
+4. Jealousy and all kindred feelings are unknown. These roots were all
+destroyed by the fire at the beginning of the Millennium. No one can
+imagine how enrapturing life is in the absence of stings of malice and
+thorns of envy.
+
+5. The social and spiritual relationships are all harmoniously blended.
+No one feels himself beneath or above another, and no one feels
+embarrassed in the presence of a superior human intelligence.
+
+6. Thus it follows that the fellowship is inexpressibly sweet. You can
+only imagine the dignity and glory one must feel as he mingles with the
+righteous dead of all ages, and gathers from them a glimpse of the
+trials and triumphs of ten thousand years under the old reign.
+
+7. Some of the spirits are employed in dressing and keeping the gardens
+in which grow the luxurious food on which redeemed creatures subsist:
+not cereals, fruits, or nuts, but the kind that creates the most
+heavenly sensations as it wastes away in perfume at the will of the
+user. The nearest imitation of this food ever known on earth was eaten
+by Christ's spirit when Mary broke the alabaster box of ointment on his
+head.
+
+8. Some spirits of this Millennial life seemed to be more rapturously
+happy than the others. I learned that they had passed through the
+darkness of continual disappointments or suffered under the mis-mating
+of matrimonial union. Others fought through the fires of persecution and
+torture, and still others passed through martyrdom for their Master's
+sake. All of these patiently endured all hardships leading down to the
+end of their mortal days.
+
+9. The affinity between sexes is clearly marked. No love but pure love
+burns on the altar of any soul, and any one who wishes may stop to
+kindle the fires or warm himself thereat. There is no bodily contact, no
+decay, no weakening. This love is enrapturing, uplifting, ever drawing
+the lover and the loved nearer to the fountain.
+
+In language most intelligible to us, I would say that the intercourse
+between sexes is one of refined telepathy, soul-connection by thought
+transmission, a thousand-fold more charming than the low plane of
+intercourse in the flesh life, with none of its attendant weakening
+results. This strange felicity is as indescribable as it is glorious.
+Each nature seeks its real complement, and enjoys the most absolute
+liberty, for there is not a single barrier to prevent it, as no one
+desires to do wrong.
+
+This most inviting life had its charms for me, but I well knew that I
+could not tarry. I lingered at a thousand fountains to catch the
+life-giving spray and studied, as far as I possibly could, the faces of
+these favored creatures.
+
+The whole vegetable world is a long extended floral garden. Where
+formerly deserts lay waste and wild, now the blooming roses and
+expansive lawns can be seen. Is it possible to picture to your mind's
+eye a line of lofty mountains whose sides are dressed in living colors
+and trimmed with rare flowers? If you cannot paint this picture, then
+you must not endeavor to form the faintest conception of the natural
+features of this Millennial world.
+
+Being still filled with the lingering memories of this happy sphere, and
+looking forward to the coming golden age of our own world, I read with
+pleasure a few stanzas contemplating Christ's second coming.
+
+    "A SONG OF HIS COMING."
+
+    See the virgins at midnight yearning,
+      To behold the face of the Groom.
+    Their lamps are all trimmed and burning,
+      As they peer through the misty gloom.
+
+    "He will come," is the shout of voices,
+      Which have sung in a thousand ways;
+    For the heart of the saint rejoices,
+      At the thought of the coming days.
+
+    When the war of creeds will be over,
+      And our King descends from above,
+    Only they shall witness His crowning,
+      Who have lived in the light of love.
+
+    Then the Christ shall reign in his glory
+      On the throne of his sovereign might:
+    And the theme of Redemption's story
+      Will be sung with perfect delight.
+
+    And our minds will dazzle with brightness,
+      As our thoughts forever aspire,
+    For a mantle of perfect whiteness,
+      Shall cover the youth and the sire;
+
+    Then we know that none will be jealous,
+      And no one will envy our lot.
+    For against the one who is zealous,
+      Not a soul will contrive or plot.
+
+    And our actions will chime in pleasure,
+      All refined from malice and sting.
+    We shall all reach the perfect measure,
+      In the reign of this conquering King.
+
+    We will have everything we can use,
+      In those beautiful realms of light;
+    There the people will do as they choose,
+      For each one will choose to do right.
+
+    We will sail through the seas of beauty,
+      And return to the shores we please;
+    Far away from the callings of duty,
+      In the shade of undying trees.
+
+    All the riches of Christ will be ours,
+      'Tis a wealth without guilt or pain.
+    There will be no 'Contention of Powers',
+      Nor the marks of official stain.
+
+    As I look from this earthly station,
+      I exclaim again and again--
+    O what an eternal vacation!
+      Come quickly, Lord Jesus, Amen.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+A World of High Medical Knowledge.
+
+
+I spent a long and profitable season in the vicinity of the Great
+Dipper, witnessing the almost infinite variations of human life as found
+from world to world, and looking upon the wild wastes of the many
+planets that are not inhabited.
+
+Finally I again spread my swift wings, reached the beautiful star
+Arcturus and noticed among the worlds that revolve around it a few that
+are sinless. I was tempted to pause at one or another of these
+exceptional stations, but I knew that I could not tarry until I had
+reached the far distant constellation of Scorpio.
+
+In this wide flight I traveled a distance so great that I will not weary
+the mind with mentioning the trillions of miles. Now I was in the direct
+path of the Milky Way and my imagination staggered as I saw the
+endlessness of stars and solar systems, as far out beyond me as my
+assisted eyes could reach.
+
+The star at which I arrived is one of the largest suns that blaze in the
+depths of immensity. It is so wonderfully great that if twelve hundred
+million worlds as large as ours were all crushed into one great ball, it
+would not make one sphere as immense as this star or sun, around which
+revolve about five hundred worlds or planets, many of which are greater
+than our Jupiter. With abounding interest I visited all the inhabited
+worlds of this vast system. How long it took I have no way of knowing. I
+did not count time by hours or heart throbs, for I was so wrapt in my
+observations that all else was as nothing to me.
+
+Some of these worlds sustain a low order of human creatures, while on
+others there are races that have reached a high degree in the scale of
+advancement. Of these five hundred worlds nearly one-half are barren of
+all life, and of those that are inhabited some twenty are sinless worlds
+and thirty are now passing through an intermediate period between the
+probationary life and the final judgment, a period toward which we are
+anxiously looking and which we designate as the Millennium.
+
+Of all this ponderous solar system there is one world that excels all
+the others in its medical attainments, and of this one first I will give
+a flying notice.
+
+I have named this world Dore-lyn. It is fifty times as large as our
+Earth and of greater specific gravity.
+
+Its human creatures are delightfully formed and are in ruddy health and
+refined happiness. In shape these Dore-lynites differ somewhat from us,
+but long before I had reached this planet I learned something of the
+universal standards of symmetry and ascertained that creatures could be
+beautiful without resembling us whatever.
+
+Here I found four billions of people and there is room for twenty
+billions more. So if you are in ill health, and have run the round of
+our medical fraternity without success, I would advise you to go to
+Dore-lyn, if you know how to reach it.
+
+These Dore-lynites are almost three times our size and they are subject
+to most of our ills and many more. From an early date the head
+government of this world paid particular attention to hygiene, keeping
+all medical work under its own care.
+
+The government controls the whole field of medical science just as we do
+the post-office department.
+
+There are no conflicting schools of medicines such as Allopathic,
+Homeopathic, Hydropathic, Eclectic and Osteopathic. The government gives
+handsome rewards to any one who furnishes a new discovery or gives
+additional light. Everything is duly tested and proved to be a success
+by a corps of experts before it is given to the practicing fraternity.
+The government holds certain rights in experimenting that no physician
+or medical school would think of having in our world. The government
+medical schools of Dore-lyn are marvels indeed. Nothing is spared that
+money or talent can furnish. The full graduates of these schools are
+only "the survival of the fittest." Others take a secondary degree and
+can act as assistants or retire from the list. The government has a
+series of institutions that do a work similar to our hospitals and have
+a corps of full graduates supplying the stations. This entire system is
+so arranged that every family or individual receives all necessary
+treatment free.
+
+The cost of carrying on this vast system is one of the items of national
+expense. I will now mention some of the medical achievements of these
+Dore-lynites.
+
+When a physician suspects that the blood is poisoned he at once proceeds
+to a chemical analysis, and if certain kinds of poison are found, the
+blood is filtered by the use of a fine instrument. A blood vessel is
+exposed and cut, and the two ends fastened to the delicate filter. Thus
+the blood is cleansed by passing through this instrument. Those
+acquainted with the manner in which the blood circulates can readily see
+how all the blood of the body can be reached in a short time. This
+method is very successful in the treatment of all bites of poisonous
+insects and reptiles, and all types of hydrophobia, which are ten-fold
+more numerous in Dore-lyn than in our world.
+
+There are no patent medicines in Dore-lyn. The few medicines they have
+are manufactured only by government authority and everybody receives the
+purest that can be compounded, no distinction being made between rich
+and poor. One thousand years ago the medical aspects of Dore-lyn were
+similar to those which are seen in our world to-day. People were
+compelled to take all manner of poisons and opiates even from skilled
+hands. But in Dore-lyn those days of darkness and misery are past and
+the people enjoy the benefit of a medical skill one thousand years ahead
+of us. They look back to the practice of the old physicians with
+ludicrous feelings just as we do when reading the prescriptions that
+were used in the first century of our dispensation.
+
+We call your attention to some of the antiquated remedies of our world
+as related by Geike and copied from a medical journal of our own
+country. Following is a list:
+
+"Ashes of wolf's skull, stag's horn, the heads of mice, the eyes of
+crabs, owl's brains, liver of frogs, viper's fat, grasshoppers, bats,
+etc., these supplied the alkalis which were prescribed. Physicians were
+accustomed to order doses of the gall of wild swine. It is presumed the
+tame hog was not sufficiently efficacious. There were other choice
+prescriptions such as horse's foam, woman's milk, laying a serpent on
+the afflicted part, urine of cows, bear fat, still recommended as a hair
+restorative, juice of boiled buck horn, etc. For colic, powdered horse's
+teeth, dung of swine, asses' kidneys, mice excretion made into a
+plaster, and other equally vile and unsavory compounds. Colds in the
+head were cured by kissing the nose of a mule. For sore throat, snail
+slime was a favorite prescription, and mouse flesh was considered
+excellent for disease of the lungs. Boiled snails and powdered bats were
+prescribed for intestinal disorders."
+
+When we read such a list of remedies we can scarcely believe that they
+were ever popular, but according to the history of Dore-lyn the time
+will come when many of our present medicines will be out of date, and
+only mentioned in the old medical works.
+
+The people of Dore-lyn have suffered in past ages innumerable woes on
+account of intemperance. Alcohol is unknown to them, but they have had a
+two-thousand year's battle against three liquids that affect them as
+opium affects us. Strange to say that these terrible liquids were the
+bases of many of their medicines just like the anodyne medicines of our
+present day. Thus in Dore-lyn the old kinds of medicines created many
+drunkards. Since the dawn of the brighter age, a strict law prevails
+regarding the use of all narcotics in medicines. Then came gradually
+into use the many methods of treating disease without medicine, except
+the materials used to sustain life regularly.
+
+Being interested in these things, I examined more closely into their
+past medical history, and saw more clearly the present folly of a
+certain part of our medicinal practice. How we are struggling with
+alcohol, especially as found in so many of our patent medicines, and how
+helpless we are in trying to abolish the sale of these medicines by
+reason of our unbounded liberty! In our world, a man may concoct any
+alcoholic medicine and sell it without liquor license, for people
+become verily mad for the bottled stuff. Our nation may some day become
+wise enough to keep its own hand on the business that is determining the
+health and happiness of millions of its inhabitants.
+
+But let me cease this digression and get back once more to Dore-lyn.
+
+One of the most noted medical achievements on this world consists in the
+manner of rendering a person unconscious of pain. The anatomy of a
+Dore-lynite is, in general, the same as our anatomy. Their bones are
+arranged a little differently and the sections of the backbone have a
+quite different formation. When a surgeon of that world wishes to
+perform an operation and therefore render the patient unconscious, he
+presses the tough cartilagenous part of a section of the backbone with a
+screw device fastened to the body of the patient. This simple act
+renders the spinal cord insensitive, which condition may be maintained
+for hours without injuring the patient. Of course any point above the
+screw device is sensitive, and for this reason it is more difficult to
+render a person unconscious in the parts about the head.
+
+Many ages ago the world of microbes was laid bare, but not before these
+people were masters of the microscope or an instrument serving the same
+purposes, although formed on a partly different principle.
+
+These Dore-lynites have brought to light the numerous varieties of
+parasite broods that cause fermentations and diseases, both infectious
+and otherwise.
+
+A diseased body is looked upon as being in possession of a certain brood
+of microbes which are destroyed either by the blood filter or the
+"Vaccine bath, or injection." (I know no better name by which to call
+it.) A few diseases are treated by doses of medicines given in a manner
+similar to the prescription system of our country.
+
+The "Food Treatment" is also very popular in Dore-lyn. This is merely a
+hygienic selection of foods given to people of declining health, instead
+of having them swallow ten or twenty dollars' worth of strong medicines.
+
+Abnormal appetites crave for a class of foods injurious to the system.
+In Dore-lyn they have discovered a novel method of turning the diseased
+appetite from its cravings toward the things needed by the system.
+
+In performing operations, the experts of Dore-lyn have reached a
+marvelous degree of perfection. They have learned to make a false eye so
+that one can see with it. It took three and one-half thousand years of
+continual experimenting on this delicate creation before it was
+pronounced satisfactory.
+
+The false eye is not of flesh but one of manufacture. It is placed in
+sensitive connection with the optic nerve, on which images are thrown by
+the delicate mechanism of the false eye. The sight thus obtained is
+almost one-half as distinct as that which is enjoyed by the normal eye.
+
+These medical wizards also make artificial ears which are about as
+satisfactory as the natural ears. In certain lines of surgery we are
+equal to these Dore-lynites, but we cannot register with them in the
+whole category of surgical achievements. They have simply distanced us
+by five hundred years. That is, I believe that in five hundred years we
+can reach the fields of glory which they now occupy.
+
+Think of laying bare a human lung and treating it with a special
+preparation for extreme cases of lung diseases, and also treating it
+with a "baking" for department cases of a disease similar to pneumonia.
+Perhaps the most wonderful class of operations is performed on the heart
+and the brain.
+
+The heart is laid bare under a sheet of thermal rays. Fatty tissues are
+removed and other obstructions eradicated during the regular heart
+beats.
+
+The government grants certain privileges of experimenting on her lowest
+class of criminals, and it is well nigh incredible what has been
+accomplished by cerebrum operations.
+
+Certain murderers of vile propensities have been so changed by an
+operation on the cerebrum that they have no power of recalling their
+past life and are incapable of uttering an oath. And what is more
+strange, they are intent on leading an upright life and being intensely
+religious withal.
+
+I am compelled to crowd a world of glorious life into a few paragraphs,
+but I hope that I have given such as will be for our good.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+A World of Low Life.
+
+
+When one witnesses an exhibition he must, of necessity, look upon the
+poorer parts of it. This was my experience in my universal journey, for
+on some worlds which I visited I found that human civilization was at a
+low ebb. One of the most notable of this class is the world next beyond
+Dore-lyn.
+
+This sphere is one thousand times as large as ours, and the beastly
+creatures that inhabit it are four times our size.
+
+The toilers in the deep valleys of Mars are favorably intelligent
+compared with these specimens of humanity. For convenience, I will call
+this world Scum. Its people are so constituted that their two arms can
+be used as legs; so it is quite common to see these Scumites travel over
+their planet like the more graceful of our quadrupeds. Their walking,
+however, is principally after our fashion, and they can change about at
+pleasure. Either way of travel seems as natural as the other. When they
+walk on two limbs, the body is erect, presenting a stature of such
+gigantic proportions as to over-awe a representative of our world.
+
+According to the universal standards of symmetry, these giants have an
+animal beauty that is anything but handsome, and they also lack those
+facial expressions of higher intelligence that come only through
+generations of cultured thinking. Their health is quite perfect and they
+live to a great age.
+
+These Scumites have a language singularly their own. It is so totally
+different from any of our conceptions of speech that I can scarcely find
+words to describe it.
+
+The medium of conversation is the Notched Rod. It is about twelve feet
+long with various kinds of notches cut along the two sides. Such a stick
+is possessed by every Scumite who expects to hold extended or
+descriptive conversations. It is usually held by a skin strung around
+the neck. While one of these persons is talking, two or three of his
+fingers pass from notch to notch along the rod. These indentures of the
+rod represent, in their language, certain kinds of sounds and are used
+to assist the vocal organs in expressing the more intricate combinations
+of ideas. Naturally, the listener watches the fingers more than the
+mouth.
+
+It is amusing to see a Scumite busily engaged in delivering a speech to
+a few of his fellow creatures. It would remind you of a person playing a
+fife or violin without producing any sound.
+
+The children of Scum learn this rod language just the same as our
+children at first learn to speak our language by observation and
+practice.
+
+The face of a Scumite does not resemble a human face of our planet. The
+mouth and jaws are at right angles to ours and this arrangement seems to
+be just as convenient to these Scumites as the formation of our mouth is
+to us. The nose lies above the mouth, but is relatively much higher, its
+point coming between the two eyes which are situated more toward the
+sides of the head.
+
+The startling fact about this world is that at one time in its past
+history fair intelligence reigned on a few parts of the planet. These
+intelligent sections were working their way upward on the measureless
+incline of progress and had won some distinctions in their sciences, as
+well as their religious devotions. These bright spots on the surface of
+this large orb were surrounded with large black patches of war-like
+humanity and, between these two extremes, a warfare of subjection or
+extermination raged without any hope or peace.
+
+The educated Scumites had a few advantages in methods of war, but with
+all this they were not able to withstand the vast hordes that swept down
+upon them. Brute force won the battle and the accumulated light of four
+thousand years flickered until it was no more.
+
+It was a fatal day for Scum when its mad inhabitants blew out the last
+of the candles that had promised to give them light.
+
+When this sad and blighting victory was accomplished, these uncivilized
+tribes rejoiced more hilariously than at one time our Indians rejoiced
+when celebrating their victories in the wild scalp dances.
+
+Thus the dark shadows fell on this huge world. The captured educated
+classes made a heroic effort to continue their cultured manners and
+religious life, but the prejudice against them and their ways was so
+great that they were compelled to live in the lower strata or suffer the
+pain of death. In process of time, the wild woods flourished where once
+the temples of science and pure religion reared their imposing pillars.
+
+What can we expect of such a race of people who have drifted from the
+light of civilization for so long a period? As I looked at their customs
+and their ways, I was reminded of a garden that has run wild. Here and
+there I could see traces of the once thrifty life now almost choked out
+by the overpowering crop of weeds.
+
+Gradually the people became worse and worse. Sin played havoc and built
+carnal fires around which these children of men gathered. Sensuality
+became the ruling passion and, in less than five hundred years of our
+time, the last family observance had died away and these creatures
+wallowed in the quagmire of fleshly lusts, compared with which the brute
+life of our world is highly respectable. "Free Love" was rampant and
+human offspring was cared for by mothers, or at least by such as were
+willing to assume the task. No one was supposed to know who was his
+father.
+
+I saw this sad and sickening spectacle against which my instincts
+revolted with horror. It is true that if man is left totally unbridled,
+he sinks to a depth which it would be impossible for any species of the
+animal creation to reach.
+
+As I continued looking on this low life with its horrors too numerous
+and too dreadful to mention, my thoughts flew back to the world whence I
+came, and to America where I was born, and I remembered of some who
+advocated "Free Love." "Let their arms be withered," I cried, rather
+than have such a thistle fasten itself in the soil of our social life.
+
+Let the libertine of our world go to the world of Scum where he belongs,
+or rise to the dignity of man whose image he bears.
+
+[Illustration: Great Battle between Low Tribes on Scum.]
+
+Compared with our world, the physical features of Scum are all
+fashioned on a much larger scale, and the mountains, rivers and
+vegetation are five times greater than ours; so are also the many
+varieties of wild and domestic animals.
+
+The inhabitants of Scum are divided into many warring tribes, and it is
+fearful to see the conflicts that take place. During my brief stay I
+witnessed one of the big battles between two of the stronger tribes. One
+hundred and fifty thousand men went dashing into an enemy of greater
+numbers. It was a foot ball melee on a vast scale. Weapons were all of
+the hand-to-hand type, except the spear wagons which were indeed clumsy
+weapons of war.
+
+Nothing is known of surrender or a flag of truce, so the conflict raged
+horribly to a bitter end until eighty thousand bruised victors
+participated in the jubilant feast that followed. Over two hundred
+thousand Scumites lay dead on the field and along the mountain ridges.
+According to past history, another such great battle is not liable to
+occur for another generation.
+
+The past religion of these giants is not even on a par with idolatry.
+There are many saints sleeping in their graves, bright remnants of the
+time of the old civilization and religion.
+
+Amidst all this present moral wreck of humanity, there are a few
+indications that point to better times. The nobler people of Scum are
+banding together with the avowed purpose of bringing back the light of
+culture and refinement. But it will require several thousand years of
+determined effort to climb to the height from whence their ancestors
+were cruelly and thoughtlessly dragged.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+A World of Highest Invention.
+
+
+After my profitable stay in this immense solar system in the Milky Way,
+I crossed the vast dome of the heavens and lighted on Sirius, the
+brightest star in all the canopy of night. Here I found the fire life of
+Alpha Centaurus repeated, but I did not pause to study the odd phases
+presented to my view.
+
+Onward I moved to survey the remarkable systems of worlds that revolve
+around Sirius. It is a veritable medley of planets, large and small,
+inhabited and barren, sinless, sinful and millennial. A little universe
+packed in a nutshell, figuratively speaking.
+
+The orb of this group that first held my attention is very notable
+indeed. I have labeled it "High Invention," and it is still entitled to
+that distinction. It revolves around Sirius at a distance of seven
+million miles and is thirty-three times as large as our world, with
+physical features and climate quite dissimilar.
+
+Here, in this world of ours, we are proud of the wonderful genius
+displayed by our inventors, and is not this conceit pardonable?
+
+If this world should stand and inventive genius continue at its present
+compound rate of progress, what may we expect to see a hundred or a
+thousand years hence? Now imagine yourself looking down upon a world
+where the highest inventive skill is found. Such was my privilege at
+this time in the course of my universal journey.
+
+This surprising world is inhabited by a persevering race of human
+beings, among whom are a large number of illustrious characters who walk
+in the light of ten thousand years of human achievements.
+
+It need not be said that I was intensely interested in the study of this
+phenomenal world which I will call Ploid. I went from one portion of the
+planet to another, continually remaining invisible. After I had
+witnessed the unequaled sights, I paused to complete my memoranda and
+now, as I review my jottings, I am at a loss to know what few things I
+should select to try to make intelligible to my fellow-men who live on
+this infinitesimal speck which is our world. First, let me call
+attention to:
+
+
+THEIR TRIUMPHS IN THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
+
+The people of Ploid have in their possession a remarkable line of
+fertilizers, not in the form of ground bones, but acidulous juices.
+These juices were improved for three thousand years until there was a
+particular liquid suited to each separate class of vegetables.
+
+As used at the present time, a certain amount of the growth-acid is
+poured directly about the seed at the time of planting. This acid has a
+magical effect upon the soil and it is possible, by repeated
+fertilizing, to raise in two weeks a crop of zoftas, a vegetable similar
+to our potatoes. For raising a crop in two weeks the fertilizer costs
+one-half the value of the zoftas, and for maturing a crop in four weeks
+the fertilizer costs about three-eighths of the value of the zoftas.
+
+Thus it is possible to raise six of these crops in one of our years.
+This law obtains throughout the whole vegetable creation. However, in
+ordinary circumstances, the stimulating acid is used in very light
+quantities. The people have learned by experience that vegetables have a
+better flavor when they have been brought to maturity by the slower
+processes.
+
+These wonderful fertilizers are a blessed boon in the time of "crop
+failures," for then the same crop can be grown anew from the seed and
+hurried to maturity before the close of the season.
+
+The curse of the vegetable worms has been reduced to a minimum on this
+world of Ploid. The chemists have labored patiently for one thousand
+years to produce a substance that will not destroy vegetable seed and at
+the same time kill all forms of parasites. The results have been
+gratifying, and with considerable pleasure I viewed a garden of the
+various odd-shaped vegetables that are grown, without being repulsed at
+the sight of such crawling specimens as tomato and cabbage worms.
+
+The happiest result of this worm-killing substance is seen in the work
+it accomplishes on fruit and nut trees. There is triple the variety of
+nuts on Ploid, and they are used for food more generally than in our
+world. There is no such an animal as a hog and no lard is used. The
+substitute is found in four varieties of nut oil, the result of a sweet
+and clean vegetable growth. Nuts are raised in great abundance, for they
+also supply the base for a spread just as appetizing and more economical
+than butter.
+
+
+THEIR MODES OF TRAVEL.
+
+The Ploidites have been traveling in the air for twenty-five hundred
+years, but they cannot control their air-ships sufficiently in all kinds
+of weather. The atmosphere of Ploid is relatively lighter than ours,
+which has made aerial travel more difficult to perfect than it would be
+in our world.
+
+The main traffic, both passenger and freight, is carried on by the Tube
+Line, a wonderful system perfected through thousands of years of
+painstaking labor.
+
+Two immense tubes, lying side by side, each ten feet in diameter, made
+of a substance more durable than steel, form the road bed of this
+lightning system of travel. The cigar-shaped cars have hard
+rubber-wheels and fit over raised bars all around on the inside of the
+immense Tube.
+
+The motor power is called Sky-rallic, and is communicated throughout the
+whole Tube Line by Brosis, a porous metal running in thin narrow bands.
+
+This Tube Line runs without a curve from one division of the road to
+another, except in rare cases where a bend is absolutely necessary. In a
+mountainous region I noticed a stretch of Tube Line without a bend
+running sixty miles, according to our measurement. On prairies, the
+unbroken stretches are much longer.
+
+The cars in this Tube Line travel with fearful rapidity. It requires two
+or three miles to reach dashing speed, after which a run of fifty miles
+is made in eight or ten minutes. No precaution need be taken by the
+motorman as nothing can get into the tube and only one train is allowed
+in a section at one time. Certain hours are given to passenger traffic
+and others to freight traffic. An immense amount of freight can thus be
+carried in one hour. It is possible to send a through freight car two
+thousand miles in ten or twelve hours. Express cars are never connected
+with passengers cars. They are run on their own schedule and sometimes
+attached to freight cars.
+
+This immense Tube Line was built by the government at great expense, but
+it is proving very satisfactory. No storms or floods interfere. No
+grade-crossings and no flying dust are known in this Tube Line which has
+brought the ends of Ploid together. Think of a person crossing a vast
+continent in a day, for the cars in this Tube Line run with frightful
+speed across the long stretches of level. They make as high as a
+three-hundred mile run in forty minutes, without stopping.
+
+The signal and telegraph stations are fifty miles apart, sometimes more.
+In these long runs the motorman stops only when a signal is turned
+against him or if by accident he discerns a train in the Tube ahead of
+him.
+
+The Tube Line is lighted by oval transparencies, in size and shape
+resembling an egg, soldered in specially prepared holes of the Tube.
+The cars are not supplied with air from the tube. Fresh air is obtained
+from the evaporation of a semi-solid.
+
+On the top of this Tube Line there is a double railroad used for local
+travel, both passenger and freight.
+
+
+THEIR STORAGE BATTERIES.
+
+Compared with our world, the fuel of Ploid is very scarce, but less is
+required to supply the industries. Nearly all power is obtained from the
+winds, running water and the sun's energy.
+
+The winds are harnessed so that they blow not in vain. Almost every home
+of ordinary intelligence owns one of the many kinds of storage batteries
+used in this world. These batteries are usually located beneath the
+lowest floor of the house, and they constitute the reservoir whence is
+obtained the necessary power for lighting, heating and cooling the
+apartments of the home.
+
+People who live along streams of water utilize these streams for similar
+purposes. It is now conceded in Ploid that the storage batteries of the
+home can be supplied as economically and effectively by winds and the
+sun's heat as by running streams; hence it is a common sight to see
+residences throwing out the old water machinery and introducing the
+latest design of wind-employers or sun-harnessers.
+
+There are certain emergencies when the storage batteries fail to work or
+when the power is exhausted; this happens when there is a very slight
+wind for several days or a heavy drain of power. In such cases fuel is
+used for heating and lighting.
+
+
+PALACES OF PLOID.
+
+The palaces of Ploid are dreams of beauty and convenience, outshining
+and surpassing by far the finest mansions on the face of our globe. In
+these abodes the sum total of glory and convenience converges, flowing
+from almost numberless discoveries during the last one hundred years. In
+round numbers, there have been five hundred thousand patents issued in
+the United States in the nineteenth century, but the Ploidites excel us
+by double that number for a similar territorial limit.
+
+
+THE REWARD OF INVENTORS.
+
+Patents are not issued in Ploid. The government gives liberal rewards to
+each inventor or discoverer. The applicant appears personally before the
+District Committee on Inventions. If this Committee considers the
+invention worthy of a reward, the applicant is recommended to one of the
+Central Committees at the seat of the government.
+
+This Central Committee carefully considers the invention or discovery,
+places on it an estimate as to its local or governmental value, and
+fills out papers in accordance with its findings. This paper must be
+signed by the Chief Inventor, and the applicant at once receives his
+first installment which is continued, in some instances, during natural
+life. In the case of some extraordinary invention, the immediate
+relatives of the inventor are pensioned for five or ten years in his
+honor.
+
+Naturally, under this system, the government owns all inventions, and
+reaps a heavy return from them, enough to pay all the installments to
+the inventors and the officers employed to carry on this branch of the
+government work.
+
+
+SOME PARTICULAR INVENTIONS.
+
+One of the most convenient inventions I saw on this planet of Ploid was
+the carrying of a photograph or image along a wire. The people of Ploid
+cannot only talk to one another many miles apart, but they can also see
+each other while they are talking.
+
+This wonderful attachment to their telephones, by which the human face
+is also carried over the wire, was perfected over one thousand years
+ago. I herewith give a few uses to which this invention is applied.
+
+1. Office men have photograph wires connected with their homes, and they
+can thus talk to and see any one of the family at their pleasure.
+
+2. It can be so arranged that the wife in the home can, by touching a
+little knob, see into her husband's office with which the wire is
+connected, or the husband in the office can see into the room of the
+house with which the connection is made. At either end of the wire, the
+vision can be obstructed by drawing a curtain over the sensitive plate.
+
+3. The foreman of an industrial work shop can see from his home the men
+under his charge.
+
+4. The superintendent of any large works can, at his will, peer into any
+apartment he wishes from his head office. The advantages of this
+arrangement can be easily seen.
+
+5. A minister can see from his study the nature of his audience before
+he leaves home.
+
+6. Farmers can watch their cattle and their fruits without leaving the
+house or barn, according to where the connections are made.
+
+7. Persons can be in bed at night, and if they imagine they hear a
+robber in any room they can first turn on the photograph current and
+then the light flash. In this way one can look, without leaving his bed,
+into each room of the house.
+
+Having given a few illustrations of this marvelous invention, the reader
+can readily see the variety of uses which it will serve.
+
+Their latest discovery in light is a decided improvement over our
+electric light. I know of no sensible name to give it, but the name that
+comes nearest to describing it, according to our terms, would be
+Phosphorous Light. It gives a mild but yet positive radiance, and
+closely resembles diffused sunlight.
+
+
+THE AGES OF PLOID.
+
+One of the strangest theories of the whole universe I found on this
+cultured world of Ploid. They divide time into three general periods of
+ages:
+
+1. Age of Fire.
+
+2. Temperate Age.
+
+3. Age of Ice.
+
+The people teach that there was a race of human beings who inhabited
+their world when it was yet in a molten state and that, as their earth
+cooled off, the race became extinct.
+
+This age, they claim, was followed by the Temperate Age, or the age in
+which they are now living.
+
+It is also claimed that, when their earth cools and the frigid blasts
+freeze out the world, there will gradually commence the Age of Ice, or
+the age in which human species will exist by reason of the earth's stiff
+coldness.
+
+I had no way of learning the truth or falsity of this theory.
+
+
+THOUGHT PHOTOGRAPHY.
+
+These Ploidites have distanced us in the study of the nervous system,
+including the intricate problems of the cerebrum and cerebellum. They
+have ascertained, by long ages of observation and experimenting, the
+exact effect of every kind of impulse on the brain matter. The experts
+are able to tell, at a post-mortem examination, what kinds of thinking
+were most prevalent during the subject's life, just as easily as we can
+judge the great or little use of the arm by an examination of its
+muscles.
+
+But more wonderful, a thousand fold, is their ability to follow the
+course of thought in a living cerebrum after the brain has been made
+visible by a light more potent than the X ray. After this exposure the
+operator, with his wizard magnifying lens, watches the tiny tremulous
+brain cells in their infinitesimal quivering, as they carry messages
+from the soul to the world of sense and being.
+
+The voluntary nerve action is distinguished from the involuntary, and
+there is no escape from the conclusions formed by an expert observer.
+The parts of the brain at work must of necessity determine the nature of
+the thought, and amplified experiments have been made to prove the
+correctness of these processes.
+
+This scientific mind reading impressed me as the highest expression of
+inventive skill that had come to my attention in any world of space, and
+gave me new light on some of the old mysteries of mind and matter.
+
+I tarried as long as possible on this instructive planet and have not
+yet forgotten many of the valuable hints of inventions that can be
+reproduced in my own world. Surely we are far enough away from Ploid to
+escape any charge of infringement, should we proceed to patent some of
+their inventions.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+A Singular Planet.
+
+
+I visited the other seventy worlds that revolve around Sirius. Among
+them is one of note, called Zik, which is forty-two hundred millions of
+miles from its sun, and is slightly smaller than our world. It is
+inhabited by a race of pigmies which I will call Zikites. Wonderful
+indeed is the intelligence of these creatures, although their form is
+out of symmetry according to our standards. I will therefore avoid a
+description of their physical features, lest it might mar the picture of
+their accomplishments.
+
+The air of Zik is heavy and the sky is opal in its effects. The chemists
+have thus far found in nature ninety elementary substances, and it is
+partly due to this large variety that the Zikites have surpassed their
+fellow men in thousands of worlds.
+
+As you study the past events of this unusual planet, you are reminded
+of our own history. On Zik there are heathen tribes and all grades of
+conflicting civilized nations.
+
+War has reddened this distant world for several thousand years, and as
+yet there is no peace. Notwithstanding all this unceasing upheaval, the
+tide of human progress has steadily risen. It does appear that the
+highest light of intellect is generated like electric light through
+sharp friction.
+
+The Zikites have had their Men of War, vessels of mighty strength and
+death-dealing in their action. But all such defense has been abandoned
+over five hundred years ago, and it came about in a natural manner. One
+of the many illustrious inventors perfected the submarine boat and the
+flying-machine at about the same time. Their flying-machine might
+appropriately be called in our language, the Flying Devil, for such it
+is if you consider its destroying power. One of these ominous looking
+machines is capable of destroying a whole navy as fast as it can move
+high in the air from one vessel to another.
+
+It can also tear to pieces an enemy's camp that lies in the open field.
+All this is accomplished by dropping shells composed partly of some
+elements not found in our world. These shells are made in such a way
+that they explode as soon as they touch any substance, and the
+concussion is much more terrible than is caused by our most powerful
+explosives. Because no ship could hold together under such destructive
+shells, the nations abandoned their navies and devoted their energy to
+devising a safe camp for soldiers and to building these air-vessels with
+additional improvements.
+
+It was found that the only way to protect a camp was to cover it with a
+water proof shed, so constructed that nine or ten inches of water would
+remain on the roof. Then a wide shallow trench was dug around the shed
+and kept filled with water. These shells will not explode if they fall
+in that depth of water, but will explode in water of greater depth. You
+can see at a glance how difficult it is to manage an army under these
+circumstances. The only redeeming feature is that the enemy also is
+compelled to resort to the same protection. An international law
+forbids the destruction of homes in times of war.
+
+[Illustration: The Battle of the "Flying Devils."]
+
+Wars are of short duration. Usually the decisive conflict is fought in
+the air, and is the most terrible of them all. Imagine two of these
+Flying Devils approaching one another far above the surface of Zik. Each
+vessel is set in action long before it is in range of the other in the
+hope of firing the first effective shot. Each party of the conflict
+knows that the air vessel first struck will be at an end forever, for it
+will be blown to pieces and every life on board will be shattered into
+shapeless masses, while the wreckage falls amidst the burning of the
+combustibles. What a horrible ending of a short battle!
+
+The wisest of the Zikites have proposed many plans to settle
+international differences but, like us, they have failed to suggest any
+plan that has proved to be practicable.
+
+The largest nation of Zik has advanced far ahead of us on the labor
+question, but this was not reached until the contest between capital and
+labor had left its blood-marks through many centuries.
+
+A brief description of the manner in which the industrial problem was
+solved will not be out of place. I will waste no words n showing the
+many points of difference between our customs and those of Zik.
+
+After hundreds of years of painful struggling, the many laborers of this
+largest nation completed a solid organization and thereby gained control
+of the whole government. Then, in their zeal to legislate in favor of
+the laboring classes, the ruling element stepped to the other extreme by
+passing many unreasonable laws. Things passed along in this unsettled
+condition until a certain few of the labor leaders, having become
+wealthy themselves, yielded to a heavy bribe and amended the laws so as
+to favor the wealthy minority. The magnates of capital shrewdly took
+advantage of this traitorship and, in the following campaign, won the
+national election.
+
+The wealthy, now having the reins of power in their own hands, took the
+initiative and called for a consultation between the heads of the
+government and the chief leaders of labor.
+
+This proved to be a wise political move and, as a result, a new system
+of laws relating to all trades and occupations was enacted. The
+following conditions still prevail:
+
+1. A day's work consists of one-fourth less hours.
+
+2. A minimum scale of wages is adopted for each trade. This scale is
+based upon the price of certain staple articles, and within a certain
+limit it rises or falls with the price of these necessities.
+
+3. All regular citizens must be supplied with work if they desire it. If
+they cannot get employment from some firm or corporation, the government
+officials represented locally must supply it or its equivalent in money.
+The government controls enough of the business to employ two-thirds of
+the male population. This enables the government to take so great a
+responsibility and bear it with satisfactory results.
+
+4. Any man through negligence failing to support his family is put to
+the government penitentiary service, and his family is thereafter
+supported from the public treasury.
+
+5. A widow or orphan is cared for by regular authorities. The by-laws
+of this fifth article regulate the work of women.
+
+6. No credit is allowed except on a government credit-slip signed by the
+local representative of the state. If the bill is not paid by the one
+making the debt, the amount of which is always stipulated, the
+government will pay it and proceed to collect it in one of three ways.
+The last resort is according to article four.
+
+There are several other sections governing private ownership of
+property, land and business. These new laws have had a very good effect.
+The number of persons getting immensely wealthy gradually decreased, and
+the average wealth of the laborers increased. The government has the
+power at any time to form a trust or combination of any line of business
+by paying liberally to those already engaged in it. This assists the
+government in carrying its heavy financial burdens, and every family is
+assured of support if the soil produces enough to feed the people.
+
+And now if I knew how to describe elements that have no resemblance to
+anything in our world, I would proceed to tell a story of interest to
+chemists. These Zikites have formed gases and solids unknown to us, and
+naturally they are capable of performing experiments more wonderful than
+anything ever known in our world. When I saw their wizard-like
+performances I thought that the marvelous feats of the Orient were being
+performed on a scale more mysterious and magnificent.
+
+To see a man play with red hot irons and dance in a seething furnace,
+makes one believe that his eyes are deceiving him.
+
+I saw a man draw the birds from heaven and dormant reptiles from the
+soil, but ask me not to tell how. A few of these Zikites have discovered
+some wonderful secrets of nature and will not disclose them except to
+certain ones of their own lineage. One of these secrets is the art of
+embalming the dead so perfectly that human features are retained forever
+unless destroyed by fire or human effort. The embalming fluid contains
+some of the elements not found in our world, but this is not the total
+secret. The body must lie in an air-tight receptacle into which a
+secret gas is pumped. The dead body, lying in this receptacle for two
+hours, absorbs certain parts of the gas which enters the pores and
+touches those parts of the dead body not reached by the injected fluid.
+By this process no part of the body is subject to putrefaction and the
+muscles all retain their rigidity, so that one hundred years after
+burial the features are full, although discolored.
+
+Not many of the common people are thus embalmed. But the bodies of
+prominent men and women are thus treated at government expense and
+unborn generations can look upon the full contour of their faces.
+
+Another secret held by these experts is the art of maintaining youthful
+vigor in old age. This is a very expensive method and the government
+prohibits any one securing this treatment who has not won special honor
+in one or another particular channel. One of the highest distinctions
+bestowed upon any citizen of Zik is to grant him the "Angel's Honor,"
+which entitles him to receive the Vigor Treatment during the balance of
+his natural life. This one thing, more than any other, is the secret of
+Zik having so long a list of illustrious characters. It is the ambition
+of each boy or girl to make progress and some day win the "Angel's
+Honor."
+
+The religious life of these Zikites is unusually intense. Their language
+is much more cumbersome than ours. They have a small book which contains
+a list of great truths whose authors claim to have been influenced by
+the All-Powerful, or the same as our God. This book has had a remarkable
+history, and has moulded the life and character of millions. Every
+person is left to his own notions in religion, and we see here the same
+picture that confronts us on our own planet, the very good and the very
+bad in the same house and neighborhood. They build but few churches, but
+here and there a home of a believer is the center of a worshiping
+company. On special occasions the worshipers rent or secure large public
+buildings and have an enthusiastic time.
+
+At many places their Bible speaks of a place where the departed go after
+death, beyond the Zik life. These worshipers are linked to their God by
+the same kind of love-chords that bind Christians to their Master in
+our world.
+
+You cannot imagine my interest and my joy as I learned that the Zikites
+are looking forward to a period of time corresponding to our Millennium.
+Their religious literature is full of references to this coming golden
+age, and many poetical compositions point to it with rapturous melody of
+language.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+The Diamond World.
+
+
+When one reads of the size and population of our world he is thrilled
+with the idea of its greatness. But when he travels over land and sea,
+visiting the many points of interest, he is impressed four-fold with the
+magnitude of the Earth and the vast numbers that populate it.
+
+It is infinitely more so in regard to the many suns and planets that
+compose the universe. I had read of the distances of space and of the
+number of celestial bodies that are scattered throughout these
+measureless expanses, and I was profoundly impressed with the vastness
+of created things and the eternal revolutions of the countless spheres.
+But when I took my continued flight away from the solar system of Sirius
+and was privileged to get a passing glimpse of many other solar systems,
+I was overawed a thousand-fold at the myriad motions of the myriad
+worlds, each serving its little part through the passing cycles to
+carry out the plan of the Infinite Mind.
+
+My next pause was at the glorious constellation of Orion on the star
+Rigel. This brilliant orb is not inhabited, but more than one-half of
+the worlds revolving around it sustain human life.
+
+After I had taken a passing glimpse of a few worlds belonging to this
+system, I proceeded to visit another world that revolves around Rigel at
+a distance of sixteen hundred million miles. It is a trifle larger than
+our world and is inhabited by only about one-tenth as many people.
+
+This is the brightest planet I had ever seen, for it dazzled and
+sparkled like pearls of ice in the sun, and yet it gave forth no light
+of its own.
+
+I soon learned the secret of all this scintillation. I had come to a
+world that seemed to be covered with diamonds and precious stones. The
+mountains were barren of all vegetation and glistened with all the glory
+of a hundred rainbows.
+
+I presumed that I had come to immense beds of quartz, but the rare
+brilliancy of the whole scene set me to work to ascertain the value of
+these stones. To my astonishment, I found that the shining mountains and
+valleys were filled with genuine diamonds and precious stones, some of
+which are very rare according to our classification. I was dazed at the
+sight, first because of its brilliancy and beauty, and next because of
+the fabulous fortunes that were lying at my feet.
+
+Then I transported myself to another part of the planet that I might get
+a view of its living fields of vegetation. Alas, I again met the shining
+of countless gems, set by nature in ledges of rock and massed in
+confused heaps all around me.
+
+"What a rich world!" I inwardly murmured. "How can people live on
+diamonds?"
+
+As I was thus musing I sped onward to one of the soil centers of this
+world. Here I found a small city built of diamonds and choice stones of
+which the people thought no more than we do of the stones brought down
+from our quarries.
+
+The soil was almost worshiped. Only the wealthiest could afford to have
+it in their homes for the growth of flowers. Fortunately, the soil is
+very productive and, by reason of its scarcity, it has received such
+careful attention that all worthless weeds have been actually choked out
+several thousand years ago.
+
+Thus, the soil being so desirable and staple an article, it was eagerly
+sought after by all who lived on this shining world. Yea, some
+sacrificed their all that they might obtain a goodly portion of the
+soil. This desire was so great that it became the ruling passion of many
+people to accumulate soil all the days of their life, and many died of
+grief because they could not succeed in satisfying their ambitions.
+
+Now when the speculators saw that the soil was so indispensable and much
+desired by the people, and that out of it were the issues of life, the
+wealthier and more crafty of them said among themselves:
+
+"Come, let us buy all the soil, we and our brethren in all the soil
+centers, and let us call ourselves a Trust, signifying that we will
+trust one another to the secrets of our enterprise."
+
+And behold this saying seemed good in the eyes of these wise men, and
+they labored diligently until, in the passing of a few years, they had
+secured unto themselves full possession of all the soil of the Diamond
+World.
+
+And it was so in the course of time that these corporations held a great
+meeting and they said:
+
+"Barns we will build to store products of the soil, and behold we will
+sell from these storehouses to our workmen for the labor that they may
+render unto us."
+
+This scheme was pleasing to all the capitalists and they rejoiced in the
+bright prospect of the future. So they built great barns and thus laid
+away the products of the soil. Then they appointed agents to sell
+whatsoever the people wished.
+
+And it came to pass, as the seasons came and went, that these
+capitalists gave the laborers less for their toil, and charged them more
+for food at the supply stations. Thus the conditions became so severe
+that a man could work from the rising of the Sun to the setting thereof,
+and they earn scarcely enough to keep his family alive.
+
+After this manner the land owners grew more and more wealthy, built
+unto themselves handsome little villages, and lived in happiness and
+refinement. They also erected for themselves select schools and reserved
+beautiful plots for their luxury and amusement.
+
+Then did the members of this Trust, in order to protect themselves from
+all possible trouble, pass a civil law forbidding any laborer to own an
+inch of soil. Thus it was very easy to convict a man of theft if soil
+could be found upon his person or premises.
+
+Now, behold, there were many little spots of vegetation scattered here
+and there over this whole world. But the agents of the Trust sent out
+numerous expeditions to gather up all the loose earth that could be
+found and carry it to the soil centers. This work was so completely done
+that every nook and corner yielded its accumulated dust to enlarge the
+gardens at the soil centers and thereby increase the riches of the
+Trust.
+
+Now, as time passed on, the children of the laborers were also employed
+to assist in earning bread, and in the course of a few hundred years
+the school houses in the district of the laborers were torn down, as it
+was impossible for these children to receive an education, since they
+must needs work for their sustenance.
+
+After many ages the members of the Trust had become so hardened that
+they no longer regarded the wishes of the laboring people, but pushed
+everything to increase their own selfish gain, insomuch that they
+succeeded in securing the passage of certain laws making the burdens of
+the laborers still more heavy.
+
+And now, when the capitalists saw that the people did not rebel, they
+again counseled among themselves on this wise:
+
+"Why should there be so much labor lost in continually quarrying new
+sepulchers in our diamond ridges, and why should there be so much dust
+lying idle in the old graves? Come, let us have a law that the dust in
+all graves over one hundred years old shall be sold at auction, unless
+the graves are redeemed by a certain amount of soil. Then these empty
+tombs can be again filled with the dead of our servants and their
+children. Thus let it be continued throughout coming generations
+forever. Each year this auction shall be held to dispose of the dust
+remaining in one-hundred-year-old sepulchers."
+
+These suggestions found favor in the eyes of the Trust who proceeded at
+once to take the necessary steps to incorporate these regulations into
+the laws of the commonwealth. The laborers stoutly opposed the adoption
+of these partial measures, but they were powerless because the Trust
+bribed enough of the legislators to carry their point.
+
+All this happened many centuries ago, so that when I was there I saw the
+full program of one of these spectral auctions and was chilled with
+horror at the proceedings.
+
+Every year this peculiar auction is held at each soil center. The
+wealthy are able to redeem their sepulchers, but the poor, having no
+soil, cannot satisfy the law; so the dust of their ancestors must be
+sold. Laborers are sent out to open the one-hundred-year-old sepulchers
+along the diamond ridges and carry the coffins to one place. Here they
+are publicly opened and the bones and dust gathered into one
+receptacle after which the weird auction begins. No one can compete with
+the corporations and no one tries.
+
+[Illustration: The Most Horrible Auction in Our Universe.]
+
+The legal form of the auction is soon over and the half ton or ton of
+dust is legally bought by the corporations whose officers order it to be
+sprinkled over the gardens. It serves the same purpose as phosphate in
+our fields. This awful process is repeated each year. The sepulchers,
+emptied thus, are open for new burials. So you can see that with all the
+gruesomeness of this whole business, there is an economic side to it,
+and the people have come to view it all in a philosophical manner.
+
+When this wretched custom was first inaugurated a bitter wail ascended
+from the ranks of the laboring classes, for they well knew whose graves
+would be opened. Never was there such a stir among the working classes
+of people. They held mass meetings and grew loudly indignant until the
+Trust became alarmed at the uprising.
+
+Then did some of these rich sharpsters, who were best gifted in speech,
+go out to meet their servants, addressing them thus:
+
+"Let your hearts be at peace, my fellow creatures. This new law that we
+have just passed is a boon to every toiler, for we seek to lighten your
+burdens by utilizing the idle dust from the tombs. Hereafter we propose
+to give, free of charge, a sepulcher to every toiler in which he may
+take his rest for one hundred years. These graves shall be for you and
+your children forever. Is it not a precious thought that one hundred
+years after you are dead, your bodies shall again mingle with the soil
+and, without voluntary effort or pain, help to support your kindred yet
+unborn?
+
+"If our present silly customs should prevail, the time will come when
+half our soil will have been carried to the sepulchers, and therefore
+your tasks would be more severe."
+
+After this manner spake the glib-tongued fellows and, behold, their
+speeches were as oil on the troubled waters. Under their sophistries the
+laborers were content and peacefully went to their tasks again after
+three months of unrest.
+
+Then did the members of the corporations consult again and spake among
+themselves in this fashion:
+
+"For our protection let us gather, from the laborers, the youthful and
+the strong, have them taught in tactics of war, and make it unlawful for
+any to carry deadly weapons, except these trained men, whom we will call
+our Soil Defenders, and if any of the laborers should ask: 'Wherefore
+are we called to do this work?' we will say to them, 'For the defense of
+the soil and the defense of our families are ye called, therefore quit
+yourselves nobly.'
+
+"And it shall come to pass that when the laborers commence a foolish
+struggle for their own selfish gain, we can use these trained soldiers
+to keep them in peace, and thus we need not spend so much of our breath
+by way of persuasion."
+
+Behold this thing seemed reasonable and seasonable in the eyes of the
+Trust. They did according to these suggestions and gathered unto
+themselves, in the name of the civil law, the strongest of the youth and
+trained them in all the ways of war. Thus did these workmen lose all
+their liberties by slow degrees, until they were no more troublesome,
+but labored like slaves to get the wherewithal to live.
+
+As I witnessed this sad picture resulting from the inhumanity of man to
+man, I was at once reminded of what I had seen on Mars, and of the
+struggle now pending in my own world. Once more I breathed a silent
+prayer to the Ruler of all worlds in behalf of the crushed hands and
+bleeding hearts that are bruised in order that certain men may make
+their thousands in a day.
+
+I studied the social life of the refined villagers and learned, with
+much interest, that the word they use for soil, is used in the same
+esteemed connection in which we use the word gold or diamond.
+
+Preachers, teachers and orators make endless references to the soil.
+Finally I approached, in a visible form, a few professors who were
+engaged in a special discussion.
+
+They were alarmed at my sudden appearance, not knowing whence I came nor
+what sort of an animal I might be. I quickly calmed their troubled minds
+by using language they easily understood, and explained that I was
+neither a ghost nor a spirit, but a mere citizen of another world,
+having, for a limited period, a free excursion ticket to a thousand
+worlds, and that I chose their planet as one whereon to spend a fleeting
+period.
+
+Not having been accustomed to such visitants, they were at first
+skeptical and thoroughly overawed at my presence.
+
+I purposely became as familiar as possible and cautioned them to remain
+in the selfsame room and spread no notice of my presence. To this
+request they reluctantly consented.
+
+After my nonplused auditors gained their senses somewhat they ventured
+to reply to my coaxing questions; these finally led to the following
+interrogations on their part:
+
+"How large is your world?" came a question from one.
+
+"Not quite so large as this one," I replied.
+
+"Have you much soil there?"
+
+"A million times more than you have here."
+
+"What a wonderfully rich world! The people must be gloriously happy
+with such fabulous wealth around them."
+
+"The bulk of my fellow-men there are not happy," I sighed. "So many
+spend their lives looking for diamonds and gold, the most of whom are
+doomed to disappointment."
+
+An incredulous smile crept over the faces of my newly-made friends, and
+by it I read the doubt that was arising in their hearts as to the truth
+of my utterance.
+
+"My words are sincere," I insisted. "If you could take one bushel of
+your diamonds to the world where I live, you could get more soil for
+them than you have on your whole globe."
+
+"That world is heaven," exclaimed a few of my hearers at once. "A world
+of such abundant soil cannot be any other place." Then I learned that
+their conception of Heaven is not a place of gold-paved streets, but a
+place where soil is freely distributed even on the sides of the streets.
+
+I continued speaking, telling them how diamonds were considered in our
+world. These professors were astonished beyond measure at my
+description, and each one seemed to crave for the knowledge to transport
+a large consignment of their diamonds to our Earth and return with acres
+of soil to the Diamond World.
+
+I spent a felicitous period with these queer-shaped scholars of the
+Diamond World. They prayed and begged that I should remain and appear
+before the corporations. Their spirits drooped when I told them that if
+I had any more time to spend visibly on their world I would prefer to
+comfort the laborers and their suffering families who had been so long
+deprived of the fair treatment they deserved.
+
+My hearers became ashen with fear, now feeling doubly assured that I was
+a forerunner of some terrible curse that was about to fall upon the
+Trusts and corporations whom those professors were serving so
+assiduously, without ever speaking a word of protest in favor of the
+human slaves around them.
+
+Once more I related my station. But I spoke in most convincing terms of
+the eternal curse with which the Infinite would visit the guilty of all
+worlds.
+
+As I left them I saw that my last words brought no relief to their
+faces and, after a long silence, they nervously discussed the whole
+affair, not being able to account for the exceptional experience through
+which they had just passed.
+
+I visited, in a form invisible, the mansions of the rich and found that
+the most choice ornaments on their parlor shelves consisted of vials of
+soil or dirt, and in the homes of the most wealthy only I saw flowering
+plants.
+
+It chanced that I visited this world at the graduating period of the
+greater schools. This gave me privilege to hear an oration on "The Soil
+and the Diamond," a synopsis of which I will translate as correctly as I
+can. It will be remembered that I must use terms and style suitable to
+our language.
+
+"O beautiful soil! Thou art but a type of thy maker invisible. Thou dost
+give birth to countless forms and nursest them all from thy own bosom.
+From the atom thou bringest the oak, and all its children fall back into
+thy arms for succor. From thy own heart spring the infinite types of
+vegetable beauty, all painted and frescoed by thy own exquisite
+touches.
+
+"O mysterious soil! Wrapped in thy bosom lie a thousand secrets which,
+if I could but read, I might interpret and thus learn anew of my
+Creator. Thou holdest the ashes of the millions slain, and the dust of
+all our forefathers.
+
+"O silent soil! How thou workest without the flying shuttle, or the hum
+of the busy bees. Thou doest thy greatest deeds without the sounding of
+a trumpet. Silently thy atoms take their places to serve in higher
+forms. O teach me thy mute language that I may live and sacrifice for
+others without my crying and my sighing.
+
+"O humble soil! Thy elements, when formed into man, or fruit, or any
+kind of food, return again without complaint when touched by death. May
+I, like thee, take all my condescension in the spirit of humility.
+
+"O modest soil! Thou are not gaudy like the diamond, sparkling and
+dazzling in a brilliant show and living for nothing higher than display.
+But thou dost lay aside thy feathery tips, leaving the sun of heaven do
+the shining. Thou permittest water crystals to give the rainbow hues,
+whilst thou in thy own modest way, continuest to yield sustenance for
+man and bird and beast.
+
+"O instructive soil! Wilt thou not, in thy own wise way, speak to the
+thoughtless man who feels content to grovel with the miserable diamond,
+who takes his lessons from the dead, dead rock, and feeds his soul upon
+such flinty food. Open his ears to hear thy words of life and light, and
+may he see in thee the brighter mirror reflecting the God of all."
+
+This one oration condensed is a fair sample of the others. I listened to
+the whole program and then proceeded once more to view the diamond
+splendors before I left this world where I was well paid for my
+tarrying.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+Triumphant Feat of Orion.
+
+
+As I continued ranging among the planets of the constellation of Orion,
+I felt an indescribable desire to pause at a very small orb which
+revolves around Saiph, a star of the third magnitude.
+
+Here I found, to my surprise, a gem of a world which I will call Holen.
+It is five hundred miles in diameter, and inhabited by a refined race of
+human beings, radically different from us in physical contour, but
+remarkably similar to us in their mental aspirations.
+
+As a race they greatly excel us in mechanical engineering. Many
+evidences of their skill might be given, but we will be content to give
+a description of their monumental engineering feat.
+
+Long ages ago Holen had cooled to the center, and it became the ruling
+passion of her most intelligent inhabitants to communicate from one
+side of the globe to the other through an opening of five hundred miles
+almost directly through the center of their earth, or more accurately
+speaking, through the center of gravity.
+
+After forty-five hundred years of experimenting the marvelous feat was
+accomplished.
+
+Of all the worlds in the constellation of Orion, large or small, Holen
+is the only one that has succeeded in this astounding feat, although it
+has been and is being tried on more than a dozen worlds.
+
+This wonderful opening through Holen's center of gravity is lined with
+sections of ribbed metal which cost the governments fabulous sums. This
+vast tube was finished thirteen hundred years ago according to our time.
+
+Many lives were sacrificed in the hazardous work of tunneling. Were it
+not for the ribbed metal which afforded protection with its shelving
+flanges, the tube could never have been finished.
+
+At the present time the tube is used for commercial purposes and for
+passenger traffic. Air tight cars of special design are used, and only
+one car is allowed in the tube at one time.
+
+[Illustration: The Gravity-Car of Holen.]
+
+You cannot imagine the frightful velocity of the ride, but the passenger
+is not as conscious of this as you might think. The first fifty miles of
+the descent is controlled by the exterior or surface engines. The speed
+is gradually increased until it reaches that of the falling body. Then
+the motorman releases the wizard car and the speed is steady and
+terrible until the car dashes past the center of gravity, after which
+the speed slackens at a regular rate. The car of its own momentum forces
+its way far toward the opposite surface of their earth.
+
+Just as the carriage comes to a stop, the engineer or motorman, as we
+would call him, pulls his lever, thereby fastening the car to the ribbed
+side of the tube. At once a signal is given and the long, thin but
+strong rope descends to draw the carriage to the surface.
+
+A perfect system of communication is established from one end of the
+ponderous tube to the other. It frequently happens when an attempt is
+made to fasten the car that the clamps fail to work and consequently the
+carriage commences its second journey toward the center. Another effort
+is made to hold the carriage when it again comes to a stop; but if this
+is not successful, then comes the most peculiar experience of all. The
+carriage of its own momentum continues dashing backward and forward
+until it comes to rest at the center of gravity. Then the engineer, by
+communicating with the surface, gets the longest stretch of rope and is
+drawn two hundred and fifty miles to the surface.
+
+This world has no atmosphere and life is not sustained by breathing,
+neither by the process found on the Moon.
+
+The inhabitants get their sustenance from the soil with which they must
+be connected, directly or indirectly over one-half the time, or they
+will suffer in a manner similar to us when we are suffocating.
+
+From this faint glimpse of their life, it can be seen that the people of
+Holen in their habits are totally incongruous to all our conceptions,
+and if one of them were to make a visit to our world, everything he
+would here see would appear just as ridiculous and unthinkable to him as
+the things on their globe did to me.
+
+As I surveyed this world, everything evidenced the fact that these
+people are born engineers. Our Eiffel Tower and Ferris Wheel would be
+mere playthings compared with the sky-scraping structures that adorn the
+various parts of this little world. It appears that the international
+mind runs in this one direction more than in any other, and while they
+surpass us in this respect, they are inferior to us in the limitless
+field of science and philosophy as well as in the variety of
+manufacturing plants.
+
+In their religion, the Holenites have developed to a high degree. They
+have no sacred book akin to our Bible. Their whole authority comes from
+the lips of the Divine Family, as we would term it. This family serves
+for religion the same purpose as the Royal Family does for the civil
+realm in some countries of our world. The Divine Family are genuinely
+descended from their sacred ancestors who were, by a visible show of
+omnipotent power, appointed and consecrated to the sacred work of
+dispensing truth and officiating in all sacraments. The ordination of
+all the ministers of Holen must be held by a member of this Divine
+Family. By reason of this one source of authority, there is, therefore,
+no confliction of creeds. The great battle of the Church is with the
+several infidel organizations that give no heed to the genuine religion.
+
+This Sacred Family received a code of laws which they have held from the
+beginning and, strange to say, no one is allowed to copy these laws in
+written or printed form. To do so is a type of blasphemy for which a
+severe penalty is imposed. Some of the infidel organizations find
+delight to print all or a part of these laws and scatter them secretly
+among the people. Such documents fall with as much pain on the premises
+of a believer as oaths do in our world on the ear of a delicately
+trained soul.
+
+If an infidel wishes to insult a godly pilgrim, he can do it no more
+effectively than by secretly fastening to the believer's residence a
+piece of material on which is inscribed one or more of these sacred
+laws.
+
+Every believer is required to commit to memory this code of laws by
+hearing them from the lips of the minister. It is therefore necessary to
+keep in constant touch with the church service so as to be a continual
+hearer of these laws, a part of which is repeated every worship day.
+
+The minister does not preach in the same sense that we understand
+preaching. His work comes nearer filling the office of a priest under
+the old Jewish church. There is much more form and ceremony than is
+found in our system under the Mediator, Jesus Christ.
+
+The civil law has absolutely nothing to say on the marriage question.
+All this is held in the domain of the Church. In truth, the Divine
+Family has always regulated this question. If the legality of a marriage
+is called in question, all that the civil authorities try to determine
+is whether the marriage ceremony was performed in accordance with the
+laws of the Divine Family. If this point can be established, the
+marriage is declared legal; if not, it is declared to be null and void.
+This one subject of matrimony has caused more friction between the
+Church and the infidels than all other issues combined. The infidels are
+bitterly opposed to take their marriage vows before the minister, yet
+this must be done to make their marriage legal. Divorce laws are
+unknown, although, in rare cases, papers of separation are granted by
+authority and under seal of the Divine Family.
+
+The religious devotees of Holen look forward to a happier existence when
+their mortal life is ended. Their ideas of this future life are quite
+similar to our cherished ideas of Heaven.
+
+In their moral life they have reached a higher plane than we. This is
+due to the fact that the Divine Family wield an influence in the civil
+realm that cannot be broken.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+The Mute World.
+
+
+I proceeded on my journey until I had reached Alcyone in the famous
+constellation of Taurus. On one of the planets revolving around Alcyone,
+I found a distinctive class of human beings faintly resembling creatures
+that I had seen in several other constellations, but of which I have, as
+yet, made no special mention.
+
+Among these people no audible language is used as a means of
+communication. One might think that high civilization would be
+impossible without such a vehicle of thought. But on this Mute world
+humanity has pushed far along in the great interstellar race for
+supremacy.
+
+A description of the physical features of these Muteites would not only
+seem absurd, but would be distorting. Can you imagine a beautiful person
+without ears and void of vocal sound, having a head totally out of
+shape compared with ours, and with a bodily framework ridiculously new
+to us? Such would be a brief word sketch of these far-away mortals of
+unusual intelligence.
+
+These people hold all their conversation by pure thought transmission.
+The sense-perception is almost infinitely keen, and gestures play no
+part in emphasizing thought. It is amazing to see with what facility
+these beings express their ideas one to another.
+
+In our life one may conceal his thoughts from the most searching human
+eye, but this cannot be done on Mute. As a consequence each one can read
+the character of his comrades, and the normal citizen well knows what
+necessary allowance to make for the impure thoughts that flit through
+the mind of his neighbor.
+
+I studied, with absorbing interest, the many phases of this mental
+telepathy, or mind talking, between two or more persons even though
+widely separated. Imagine how glorious it must be to have real
+fellowship with a friend whose face you cannot see and whose hand you
+cannot touch.
+
+There are limitations to this delightsome way of talking. A person can
+hold conversation with only one absent friend at a time and then only
+when each one concentrates his thoughts on the other. What wireless
+telegraphy is to our world, this mental conversation is to the world of
+Mute, and it is possible that we may reach a higher degree of
+proficiency in this direction after we become still better acquainted
+with the laws of the human mind.
+
+When I think of the many unaccountable heart-thrills that send their
+emotions of joy and hatred into our passing life, I am somewhat
+persuaded that we speak this tongueless language more than we imagine.
+Some day we may learn the secrets that are now so heavily veiled and
+thereby put to naught the glory of our present modes of communication.
+Until then we will plod along with the telegraph, telephone, wireless
+telegraphy and our ever-changing knowledge of telepathic intercourse.
+
+I will give the philosophy of this perfect means of expressing thought
+as clearly as I can.
+
+As sound waves are created in our atmosphere by actual vibration, so
+are thought waves created on Mute by mental activity focused in any one
+point of the brain. Our way of expressing thought by audible words is
+not conceivable to these people. If one of their inhabitants were to
+visit our Earth, he would be at a loss to account for our movements of
+mouth and gestures of body when we are in the act of conversation.
+
+The social life of Mute is marked with many peculiarities. Males and
+females seldom ever associate together, and social purity sends its
+sweet influences over the whole planet.
+
+A science which is similar to Phrenology plays an important part in all
+the social customs of this sphere. It decides the marital destiny of
+each person, and no two are recommended to join in wedlock until they
+have been pronounced physical and mental mates by the official
+psychologists.
+
+On this interesting world I found the most summary punishment for
+adulterers and fornicators. When these crimes are clearly proven, the
+guilty parties are put to death after a lingering sentence. This is a
+most terrible punishment, but it has proven that, although a few must
+suffer this penalty, the general good of the whole population is thereby
+much increased.
+
+I was much amazed at the construction and possibilities of the human
+mind when I observed the manner in which certain suspected criminals
+were examined in order to prove or disprove the crime of which they were
+charged. The doors of the soul were unlocked and the past
+thought-images, with their mental impressions, were thrown open to view.
+How can a Muteite deny the crime which is photographed on the sensitive
+living plates of his own mind! This reproducing can be effected only by
+a very special process and is never done against a person's will unless
+ordered by civil authority.
+
+When I saw, on this world of Mute, the possibility of uncovering the
+past records of the mind, it at once suggested to me the possible nature
+of the final Judgment of our world when each one will stand face to face
+with the record of his own deeds, brought before him vividly under the
+light of eternity. In such an event who would think of showing a bold
+front to deny the accuracy of such a direct reproduction of himself in
+the flesh!
+
+Possibly the human mind may be likened to a phonograph into which we can
+speak while the cylinder of thought revolves; at any time afterward
+every syllable may be reproduced accurately.
+
+Another striking feature of these mortals is their lack of hypocrisy.
+Only a small degree of it is found among all the inhabitants of this
+peculiar planet. No doubt hypocrisy would be greatly lessened in our own
+social life if we could no longer hide our real thoughts. In Mute it is
+very unsafe to practice deception, for as soon as the deceived one
+appears personally he can readily conjecture, by the mental state of the
+deceiver, the nature of the thought that had transpired.
+
+Can you realize what a refreshing moral atmosphere exists in a world
+where conventional lying is almost unknown? In our life the daily sin of
+the millions is the white, or the blue lie. Think of how many we tell in
+our regular routine of life! We generally give false excuses instead of
+the real ones. We very seldom blame ourselves for errors, but rather
+think diligently to study out a way to shift responsibility. Nearly the
+whole brood of our apologies is hatched from the serpent's egg, and then
+we ignorantly or hypocritically manifest surprise that our own offspring
+should develop an inclination to deceive or misrepresent!
+
+Here I saw, in wide contrast to our own social order, the results
+springing from sincerity that has thrived through a long line of
+generations. Such blessings are as a breath of Heaven, rare and
+beautiful.
+
+One might think, when considering this strange manner of conversation,
+that it would be difficult for the people to express their ideas
+clearly. It is just the opposite from this, for it is almost impossible
+for them to express themselves vaguely. They talk from the headquarters
+of one mind directly to the headquarters of another, instead of through
+a medium of cumbersome words which in our life are so often
+misunderstood. Thus we must admit that we have a ten-fold greater
+struggle than they to be perspicuous in language.
+
+I was charmed at this most superior mode of conversation and saw in it
+a higher glimpse of the Heaven language than in any other type that had
+yet met my observation in all the worlds of space.
+
+The Muteites are rapid thinkers, and although they have no sense of
+hearing, yet they are ultra-sensitive to substantial emissions of
+vibrating bodies. According to all I could see, these people were not
+hampered by this lack of senses. They live as conveniently in their
+flesh life as we do, and in their mind or spirit life they are much more
+refined than we are.
+
+Their earth is so different from ours in chemical combinations that the
+soil is almost transparent and in general has the appearance of glass.
+Their homes are built mostly under surface, owing to the terrific
+cyclonic storms that follow one another in very uncertain succession.
+
+The average length of life is two hundred of our years. They reach their
+maximum energy of mind at about one hundred years, and among the
+brighter of the inhabitants can be found a glorious order of intellect.
+Some of these mental celebrities outshine the brightest creatures of
+all the solar systems of that region of the heavens.
+
+After some hesitancy, I yielded to a desire to appear in a visible form
+before an assembled company of Muteite philosophers who were gathered in
+one of the under-surface halls of architectural beauty for consultation.
+
+As I entered the vast hall in my natural manner I attracted unusual
+attention. It was amusing to see how all eyes were fastened upon me as I
+calmly walked toward the front of the audience. Here I had one of the
+hardest tasks of all my journey, to converse in a soundless language. I
+lacked faith at first to make the attempt, but this delay was but for a
+moment, for I first fixed my mind upon what I wished to communicate, and
+instantly a dozen or more Muteites signified that they were in sensitive
+touch with my thought.
+
+I will give a small portion of the mental telepathic conversation
+between myself and my auditors, although I must relate it as if words
+were actually spoken, or it would be totally unintelligible to the
+people of my own likeness.
+
+"Let no one be alarmed," I hurriedly addressed them, as a thousand
+giant forms were trembling at my appearance. "My mission is one of
+peace. I have come to help rather than harm," I continued.
+
+"From what section of our world have you come?" came a hundred thought
+flashes in wild confusion.
+
+"I am not from your world, but from another," I answered with closed
+mouth as best I could.
+
+Then I learned an important feature of this mind language. A hundred or
+more interrogations came flying at me in thick confusion. At once the
+chairman or leader of the meeting gave restrictive orders which actually
+prohibited my audience from further communication with me, although I
+might address them. The chairman bid me commune with him and he
+thereafter acted as the spokesman of the whole assembly. It was no more
+difficult for these philosophers to keep their minds closed to me than
+it is for us to keep our mouths closed in an excitable meeting or
+debate.
+
+The chairman, looking with increasing curiosity at my strangely shaped
+face and head, interrogated me thus:
+
+"Are you an angel of light, or one of darkness?"
+
+"I am neither."
+
+"What then can you be?"
+
+"I am a created being from a far-off region of space. I was born on a
+world which revolves around a star untold millions of miles distant."
+
+"If you are not a spirit, how could you have traveled such incredible
+distances?"
+
+"That is yet a mystery to me," I admitted. "The power of my flight is
+much like the mode of your communication, for each is alike mysterious
+to me."
+
+By this time the excitement was intense. No one attempted to grasp me or
+even approach toward me. I saw by the perplexing mental atmosphere of
+the chairman that he was being besieged by a host of questions and
+suggestions; so I relieved the situation by continuing my words:
+
+"No one need consider my appearance as an evil omen. I am not empowered
+to curse or bless your world except by what may flow from my immediate
+conversation with you."
+
+In these sentences I thoughtlessly gestured with my arms; this set my
+audience wild with mingled merriment and curiosity.
+
+"Are all as small as you whence you came?" queried the chairman.
+
+"They are all after my pattern with some variations."
+
+"Pray, tell me, what are those gummy flabs at the sides of your head?"
+
+"Those are my ears," I said with grinning face. "They grew there for a
+purpose."
+
+"And what can that purpose be?" further questioned the puzzled chairman.
+
+"They are for the purpose of hearing," I quickly replied.
+
+Then followed a curious scientific dialogue in which I endeavored to
+explain the sense of hearing. From this I described the manner of
+conversation in our world, and showed what an important part hearing
+played. But all this was beyond the comprehension of my auditors.
+
+After a lengthy and most interesting discussion upon the philosophy of
+sound, the next point of interest centered on my mouth and vocal
+organs. It was pleasing to consider these subjects because my listeners
+were such eager questioners and surprised hearers. No wonder that they
+were unable to grasp such a crude system of conversation as ours!
+
+Then the chairman verily begged me to explain the mystery of my mission
+and of my unprecedented itinerary. How could I have fully satisfied his
+mind, even if I had endeavored to do so!
+
+After all this came the most pleasing communion thus far of all my
+journey. I learned much by the interchange of ideas. Nature's vast book
+opened to me some new and charming pages.
+
+Toward the close of my stay the affinity between us grew to a marked
+degree. Although we were widely apart in physical aspect, yet we were
+supping from the same bowl of affection and, with this happy turn, we
+talked of our permanent companionship.
+
+"But I cannot abide with you," I reluctantly answered.
+
+"Ah, torment us not with such a thought," affectingly pressed the
+chairman.
+
+"I have other worlds to visit, and must hasten away. Touch me not," I
+cried as the chairman unconsciously moved toward me in an urgent appeal.
+
+"How soon shall we see you again?"
+
+"No more forever, unless you see me in that widest expanse of life which
+in our world we call Heaven. There the pure of all worlds will gather
+and commingle in delightsome fellowship forever."
+
+I was then urged beyond all etiquette to tarry a short period and visit
+certain parts of their world. But I informed them that I had seen more
+of their world than they imagined, and that the object of my visit had
+been reached.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+Brief.
+
+
+One of the medium sized worlds that revolve around Alcyone sustains the
+shortest lived human beings of our universe. It is seldom that any of
+the creatures reach more than four years of age according to our
+standards of time. They are nearly as large as we and relatively much
+lighter in weight. All the periods of physical growth are
+correspondingly decreased. Children walk four or five weeks after birth,
+and are capable of receiving regular instruction at the age of five
+months.
+
+Strange as it may seem, this sphere, which for convenience we will call
+Brief, revolves very slowly on its axis, so that our world makes fifteen
+times as many revolutions as this planet.
+
+It requires but little arithmetic to figure out that the people of Brief
+do not see the sun rise very often. When it does appear in the morning
+sky, all the public signals blow and the people appear in one or
+another of their places of worship. This beautiful custom has been in
+practice for over three thousand years. The worship is not sun worship,
+but a genuine service of thanksgiving to Him who ruleth over the sun and
+supplies it with fuel to burn. It appears that on all worlds everything
+is regulated in accordance with the length of human life. On this world,
+of Brief all vegetables mature in periods so short that one marvels when
+he hears it. Think of cereals reaching maturity in seven or eight of our
+days, or during one day of Brief. Early in the morning certain crops are
+planted and are harvested at night. Two or more days are required for
+maturing other crops. Actually the people of Brief raise their crops
+with less labor than is required amongst us.
+
+If you were permitted to look upon the public and private life of this
+incredible world, your first sensation would be dizziness, not to
+mention the weirdness of all sights that would confront you at every
+turn. People would seem to be in a mad rush, and it would appear that
+all business is done with insane rapidity.
+
+Furrows of care and trouble begin to deepen on the faces of these
+Briefites as they approach an age of what we would call three years, and
+if by lease of strength they pass on toward an age of four years, it is
+but an evidence of their exceptional vitality. It seems to be true that
+the experiences of a long life of sixty or eighty years is crowded into
+a narrow compass of four years by a miracle of spheres not comprehended
+by finite minds.
+
+No doubt a detailed description of this whirling and dashing life would
+be of interest to us slow, deliberate creatures. But I can give only a
+passing glimpse.
+
+
+JOURNALISM.
+
+Things happen in such quick succession that the news is hustled out at
+all hours of the day and night; not on sheets of paper, but through
+automatic news-receivers, machines somewhat akin to our telegraph
+instruments.
+
+The state supplies each home with an automatic news-receiver. Thus a
+record is kept in each home of all messages received so that they can
+be read at leisure. To speak in a manner more easily understood, I will
+say that the news is telegraphed to each home as soon as possible after
+the events transpire. But compared to our customs, the news is very
+scarce. There being no competition, no time or space is required for
+sensational trash. Thus, if nothing of importance occurs, nothing need
+be transmitted. The official news-censors decide as to the relative
+importance of occurrences. There need not be a certain amount of news
+telegraphed each hour. The government verifies, as much as possible, all
+reports before they are transmitted. There are indeed some advantages in
+the government being in constant touch with each home under its care.
+The advertising department pays nearly all expenses of this whole system
+of journalism. Announcements for private gain are paid at a regular
+rate. It costs more to advertise at certain periods than at other times,
+all regulated by the customs of the people.
+
+Under these regulations everybody receives the news, and only the
+essential news, except advertisements which must come in batches at
+certain intervals. Of course, people take their choice as to reading
+advertisements.
+
+[Illustration: Sunrise Signal in Brief.]
+
+
+THEIR FOOTWEAR.
+
+The soles of the feet of these Briefites are composed of a substance
+most nearly resembling hoof material. They never think of covering the
+feet under any change of climate. If one of the Briefites were to step
+upon the shores of our rugged Earth and see the cotton or wool and
+leather that lies around our feet, it would appear to him as the most
+ridiculous thing imaginable, and no doubt his shapely feet of ivory cast
+would be of more than passing interest to us.
+
+
+THEIR RAIMENT.
+
+Their raiment is altogether after new models. Neither the men, women,
+nor children seem to seek this means for self-beautifying. They seem to
+think that beauty of character has a radiance more to be desired than
+the flash of opals or the luster of silks. Their garments partake of the
+loose flowing order. For instance, a strong fabric of chosen shade is
+fastened at the neck, hip, knee and ankle, and lies carelessly over the
+parts between. The females never graduated to the corset degree, and
+while they do not cut a scientific figure, yet they surely develop a
+more ruddy waist after the model intended by the Designor of the body.
+
+
+TRANSPORTATION.
+
+The methods of traveling are so contrary to our conceptions and
+practices that I almost forbear to attempt any description. Yet I was
+entertained and instructed as I witnessed the moving of humanity along a
+street of a busy city. Have you ever noticed how quarters of beef are
+carried from a car to an elevator or refrigerator on steel rods
+connected with wheels running in a groove or on a specially prepared
+track? In a city of Brief, overhead tracks after such an order run along
+all business streets and certain residence streets. Spare me a detailed
+description of this peculiar traveling system. Suffice it to say that a
+person, in lightning rapidity of motion, rushes from a store, springs
+upon a passing seat and is hurled away by the power of an overhead
+cable system. When an exchange of seats is necessary, it is all done so
+easily and so quickly that you would wonder why we tolerate trolley
+cars.
+
+In traveling from city to city, a system is in use that I will call the
+Toboggan Slide System, although the cars run on wheels. The car is
+raised in a shaft about one hundred feet and then by gravity it dashes
+two or more miles according to the lay of the land traversed. Then
+another rise more or less than one hundred feet is experienced, and then
+another wild dash. I have no words of praise for this system, although
+the Briefites can cover considerable territory in an hour. They look
+upon this gravity system as a wonderful achievement, for it has not been
+in operation for more than three hundred years.
+
+The power of steam has never been utilized. No genius of all this active
+world of Brief ever conceived the idea that almost unlimited power lies
+wrapped up in thin vapory water. But they have discovered what we would
+call gaseous oil, and have learned to put it to work, so that it is the
+main force employed in hoisting and all other purposes where power is
+required.
+
+Nothing like a traveling locomotive has ever been made, although I
+learned that a bright wizard was experimenting and that he prophesied
+great changes when his gas-propelled vehicle was perfected.
+
+Think of how much value an ordinary citizen of our world would be to
+these Briefites, if he could step upon their world and communicate with
+them concerning the magic wonders of steam and the manner of
+constructing stationary and movable engines, to say nothing of the
+hidden wonders of electricity. Quadrupeds that take the place of our
+horses are used for drayage, although nothing except the two-wheeled
+class of vehicles was ever used until some eighty-seven years ago.
+
+
+PUBLIC HIGHWAYS.
+
+These interesting people excel us in their style and manner of
+home-building, fencing and making public highways. We are heathenish in
+our progress along the line of road making especially. In all my vast
+journey among the worlds I found only a few, comparatively, whereon the
+roads were inferior to ours.
+
+In the world of Brief the state prescribes the manner of public highways
+and each citizen must contribute his share to their creation and
+maintenance.
+
+These Briefites excel us in more than a score of ways. They are much
+purer in morals, more refined in manner, more harmonious in government,
+and unusually bright in mathematics. Very intricate and elaborate
+problems are solved by these people of a few years. They are inferior to
+us in a hundred ways. In the broad fields of manufacture and invention
+they lag a long distance in the rear. This is principally due to their
+lack of time.
+
+
+RELIGIOUS LIFE.
+
+The religious life of the people of Brief is, on an average, of a higher
+type than is found in our world. Their belief in immortality has run
+parallel with their existence as a people, and their devotion to their
+Creator is marked with unusual fervor.
+
+Their Redeemer is worshiped quite separately from God, and with
+distinctive adorations. The name of their Redeemer, phonetically
+rendered, is Kerm-Cher. The most faithful translation of this word into
+our language would be God-affluence.
+
+Kerm-Cher, or God-breath, appeared upon Brief full grown, and pronounced
+his benediction on the race, declaring his origin, and the purpose of
+his coming. Similar to Christ, he confirmed his identity by unanswerable
+miracles.
+
+Many, however, disbelieved in Kerm-Cher, and held to the old axiomatic
+truths. Thus creeds were prevalent and they remain until now, only there
+is much less variety than is found amongst us.
+
+Kerm-Cher set up a new reign, and accepted a temporal throne for a
+season. He finally announced that his ambassadorship would soon cease
+and that his followers would lose the throne of civil power, that they
+would be tested for a season in the valley of humiliation and by the
+fires of terrible persecution, and that they who would endure unto the
+end would be glorified.
+
+These religious features are remarkably similar to the system under
+which the Christian religion of our globe is fostered.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+The Life on Wings.
+
+
+As I darted from world to world, I was not then fully conscious of the
+vast stretches of space that I had covered. No mortal nor angel tongue
+can even commence to describe the vastness of created things and the
+trackless oceans of space in which the ponderous suns and planets
+revolve.
+
+According to the classification of our astronomers I next found myself
+in the constellation of Perseus, and was again convinced of the weakness
+of our most powerful telescopes, for I now saw thousands of immense
+stars, hitherto invisible to me. Not one of these stars is within a
+trillion miles of any other.
+
+In this distant system of our universe I saw that the same plan of
+creation obtained. Around a majority of the stars a group of various
+sized worlds revolves. On many of these worlds human life abounds in
+endless degrees of development and in a countless variety of
+manifestations. I marveled anew as I saw the endlessness of the Infinite
+Mind, supporting not only the conscious life of this whole
+constellation, but also of all the constellations of our universe, and
+of all the universes scattered at large throughout the unending depths
+of space.
+
+I paused at a star of variable magnitude in the Milky Way, but took only
+a passing glance at the physical wonders of this great sun, compared
+with which our own Sun is a mere pigmy. Onward I hastened to one of the
+larger worlds of this solar system which, for my convenience, I will
+call Swift.
+
+Here new wonders opened wide to my view. Human beings, charmingly
+beautiful, moved over the face of the planet or on wings through the air
+at pleasure and with great ease. These creatures are about three-fourths
+of our size, and are most gracefully formed. Their whole physical
+appearance is more similar to a bird than to a human being of our Earth.
+They are relatively much lighter than we, and are covered with nothing
+akin to feathers.
+
+If you were to see them standing in their erect posture and walking
+with man-like dignity, you would at once feel that they are the lords of
+the creation on their world, and so indeed they are.
+
+These ethereal creatures have the loveliest eyes of any human beings I
+ever beheld in any world. They sparkle with the brilliancy of a diamond
+and move with the quickness of electricity. The head is small but
+symmetrical and all physical proportions are most harmoniously adapted
+even to a nicety that would be pleasing to the most refined tastes of
+our world.
+
+At first I could not understand how these people of Swift could travel
+so conveniently in the air, for their wings are very small and the
+exertion when flying is very limited. But the lightness of the body, the
+heaviness of the air, and the unusual strength of the Swiftites, each
+conduces its share to the fortunate result.
+
+In my thoughtlessness I envied these gifted people and wished that when
+I would return to my world, I could enjoy such privileges of flight. I
+soon checked this rising covetousness, and again contentment flung over
+me its white mantle.
+
+The bodies of these Swiftites are covered by nature with a clean growth
+of soft, silken hair. They change their garments with the seasons, but
+at all times dress very sparingly and neatly. They are so easily clothed
+that all their apparel occasions them no more trouble than the more
+seasonable covering of the head gives to our women.
+
+The average length of life is nearly four hundred years of our time.
+There are very few worlds in space where the general health of its
+inhabitants is as perfect as is found on this beautiful planet. There
+are but few doctors because there is but little demand for them. Those
+who are engaged are under government service, and all persons who are
+unfortunate enough to become ill receive at least all medicine and
+professional attention free.
+
+We are quite an exceptional world in our medical system. In all my
+journey I saw comparatively only a few worlds that have the private
+system of medical treatment. Have we not noted the laboring husband
+bending at his toil for eight or ten hours to pay the physician who
+calls for a few minutes? In some cases this program is continued for
+weeks, until the honest toiler finds himself confronted with a doctor's
+bill and medicine bill to haunt him until the debt is either forgiven or
+paid at great sacrifice.
+
+On the world of Swift and in the vast majority of civilized worlds in
+space, the community or government furnishes a salaried physician within
+reasonable reach of every home. The doctors of Swift are not expected to
+work night and day. They have shifts to divide the toil equally.
+
+In architecture this distant planet excels us by far. I improved the
+opportunity and went to witness a magnificent temple of worship which
+has been in process of erection for over two hundred years. Any conceit
+that I previously had on account of the large structures of my own world
+quickly vanished at the sight of this imposing edifice. During my visit
+the winged workers were laboring on the upper stories and I watched them
+with great wonderment as they descended from the clouds to carry
+materials to the higher stories. Can you imagine the picture of workmen
+flying in all directions with tools, each one busily employed? It is
+promised that the present generation of employees will live to see the
+completion of this notable structure.
+
+This vast building is the national religious center of the Swiftites.
+Each government has such a central station, and from it all temples of
+worship are controlled. Here the church and the state are yet married,
+and the state maintains its religious departments with careful scrutiny.
+The chief ambition of each government has always been to outshine the
+others in the glory and magnificence of its central temple which, of
+course, is fire proof and almost time proof.
+
+One may wonder as he gazes upon this extensive structure why there are
+seventy thousand sleeping rooms and dining halls built after such
+extensive plans as to entertain, at one time, twenty-five thousand
+guests. All this is to accommodate the vast throngs that take their
+sacred pilgrimage once in a year under an arrangement by which one tenth
+of the able-bodied go each thirty-nine days, which corresponds to our
+month.
+
+The most notable feature of this central temple is the main service
+room, built at fabulous cost and capable of accommodating one hundred
+thousand pilgrims at one time. The most costly sections of this one room
+are guarded night and day by armed government soldiers.
+
+The religion of these Swiftites is of a very pure kind. The ministers of
+this national church are fully equipped before entering upon their
+office. The training schools for ministers attracted my closest
+attention. Fortunately, these people have no language complications as
+we have, so that a prospective minister can spend some of his time
+studying the Book of God's Revelation instead of spending a great
+portion of his training period in learning the languages in which the
+book had once been written.
+
+A minister's training consists as much in voice culture and the many
+branches of elocution as it does in acquiring a correct knowledge of
+God. But in illustrative teaching Swift leads us by far. I was
+profitably entertained in the main temple as I listened to one of the
+famous orators discoursing to an audience of eighty thousand. Not only
+did his canary-like voice penetrate to all parts of the large room, but
+his objective illustrations clinched the truth remarkably well.
+
+A series of special services is held at the close of each month. The
+most wonderful of all these exercises, or renditions, is called "The
+Mediator Service." This is one of the most spectacular and impressive
+exercises outside of Heaven. Even the famous Passion Play of
+Oberammergau (our world) with the less glorious exhibitions at Horitz
+and Selzach, all dwindle into insignificance compared with "The Mediator
+Service" on the world of Swift.
+
+During my visit I witnessed the full program of this sublime rendition.
+The music was inexpressibly grand as rendered by the vested Mediator
+Choir. Naturally the Swiftites have sweet, bird-like voices. Can you
+conceive the effect of a triple choir of these human warblers all
+trained in perfect harmony and unison?
+
+When you consider that nearly the whole population witnesses these
+special exhibitions at least once a year, you can the better understand
+why the spiritual condition of the people has reached a high very level.
+
+I investigated the many interesting features of this inviting world and
+found that in some respects we are inferior to these human bird
+creatures, although in many other respects we are superior. Electricity
+is known in their world, but they have not yet harnessed it; hence they
+are ignorant of telegraphy and a long list of similar inventions which
+we enjoy.
+
+In agriculture the Swiftites are ahead of us. They raise their crops
+with less labor relatively than we. All things considered it is easier
+to live on Swift than here.
+
+Knowing that my time was limited, I decided to secure some nuggets of
+truth by a personal interview; so I concluded to appear to the wisest
+person on the planet, who was a woman of wonderful mental acquirements.
+In addition to her superior intellect she was also bewitchingly
+beautiful.
+
+I waited for the best opportunity and came near to her as she was about
+to spread her wings for a morning flight from the beautiful summit
+near her summer home. Not wishing to cause her undue alarm, I at first
+spoke softly, remaining invisible and watching her rare eyes send their
+glances toward the palmy trees around me, as her wings were relaxing
+quietly at her side. She was positive of having heard a voice, and as
+she still further scanned the immediate surroundings I saw that
+perplexity was furrowing marks upon her face.
+
+[Illustration: Beautiful Plume on the World of Swift.]
+
+"Hast thou time to spend with a friend from another world?" I calmly
+inquired as I was still unseen by her.
+
+She was nervously agitated, but being of strong fibre she quickly
+rallied with her answer, "Where art thou and who art thou?"
+
+"I am on a peace mission from a far distant world," I quietly said as I
+slowly became visible to my audience of one.
+
+Naturally she was alarmed at my appearance, and consequently I drew
+gradually farther and farther away until she gained more self-possession
+and turned interestingly toward me.
+
+"Ah! how can you be a spirit without wings?" were her first unexpected
+words.
+
+"But I am no spirit," I said assuringly.
+
+"You cannot be otherwise," she insisted.
+
+"Believe what you wish, we have no time for parley. I am delighted to
+visit your world and I desire, if possible, to have some mysteries
+solved. Can you help me?"
+
+Plume, for that is the name I called her, was much unsettled. She
+scanned my form with wild curiosity and I feared that she would at once
+use her wings at their swiftest.
+
+"Pray do not fly hence," I quickly urged. "I will never harm you, even
+though we could converse together forever. Believe me true, and rest
+your wings and heart in peace."
+
+My words had some effect toward calming her mind and with more placid
+features she still looked at me half shrinkingly.
+
+"Are you not happy that you have wings with which fly?" I continued,
+hoping to create a more natural familiarity.
+
+"Happy? No more than for my feet, my ears, or my life," she answered in
+a more composed manner. "You say that you are from another world. Where
+can that be?" was her welcome query.
+
+Then I pointed my finger in the direction of our world and remarked:
+
+"If you could travel in that direction on swift wings day and night for
+a few millions of years, you would still be far, far away from the world
+where I live."
+
+"And is that world inhabited by sensible creatures?"
+
+"It is."
+
+"But how could you have traversed so great a distance?"
+
+"Never can I explain that mystery to you. Be content that I am here."
+
+"Are you in the image of the other human creatures in that far away
+world?"
+
+"In general they are all fashioned as I am."
+
+"No one having wings?" she added with surprise.
+
+"Not one."
+
+"How can that be true?"
+
+"Because we were made without them."
+
+"And have you no way of moving through the air at pleasure?"
+
+"Not without artificial machinery."
+
+"Artificial machinery?" she repeated. "What can you mean by that?"
+
+Of course they have no word for balloon or flying machine, and I found
+it difficult to describe the shape and explain the philosophy of these
+things. I did the best I could in her language, and after I had finished
+my description she for the first time smiled and said:
+
+"That sort of a construction would be a fine thing for the indolents of
+our world who, through misuse or lack of use of their wings, have no
+more ability to fly."
+
+This was interesting to me and I closely inquired as to the cause of
+this loss of the wing power. Plume grew more and more familiar in her
+address and in a long conversation told me of the many conditions that
+make people unfit to fly. I deduce from our conversation a few of these
+causes.
+
+1. Simple neglect.
+
+2. Gluttonous life.
+
+3. Sensuality of a low and heavy life.
+
+4. Pride. Some yield to a superstitious notion that it is honorable to
+make but little display of themselves, and allow their wings to be bound
+or partly clipped.
+
+5. Certain kinds of sickness render the wing-chords inoperative.
+
+I learned that altogether nearly one-half of the population are unable
+to fly. How my mind flew back to our own life as I was learning of these
+sad conditions. There is a sort of a life on wings in our world,
+although the wings are invisible. But on account of the low, mean lives
+so many are living, they never rise above the miasmic contagion of the
+sin and self level. These unseen wings are either paralyzed or clipped.
+
+Plume now actually stepped toward me. What a graceful tread. She was
+indeed the most charming creature I had met outside of my own world. She
+seated herself near me on the rustic bend of a tree unlike any in our
+world and hurried her questions at me as if she realized that I would
+not tarry long. At length she gratefully said:
+
+"I am beginning to believe that you are really a son of another world,
+or else I am reveling in a day dream."
+
+"Happy am I that I can learn from you some of the truths after which I
+am seeking," was my evasive reply. "Tell me, Plume, something about your
+faith religiously."
+
+"I worship the God who made all things and am hoping to live in the
+wider life after my mortal days are ended."
+
+"Do you expect to meet, in that wider life, representatives from other
+worlds?"
+
+"Ah! I have often thought that it might be so," she answered, as her
+face brightened in poetic fervor, and her eyes sparkled with seraphic
+luster.
+
+"It shall all be so, and much more," I declared. "In that life you can
+fly without wings and mingle with the pure from the unnumbered worlds of
+space."
+
+"What an incentive to a pure life," she quickly added.
+
+"Talking of wings, do you object if I see more closely the cut and style
+of your wings? I never saw before a human creature possessing a pair."
+
+After a moment's hesitancy she raised her right arm and with it the one
+wing unfolded. I ventured near enough to see the intricate network of
+muscle and bone woven around the arm and filling the space between the
+raised arm and the side of Plume's body. She was surprised at the
+interest I manifested in the human wing. After this she offered to
+furnish an able escort to conduct me to several points of interest.
+
+All this I declined and informed my talented friend that I must hasten
+away to another world.
+
+"Let me go with you," she strongly insisted.
+
+"Your wings are not of the right kind," I replied hurriedly.
+
+"They are strong enough to bear us both," were her inviting words.
+
+"But not beyond the atmosphere of this world," I explained.
+
+I quietly arose, scanned once more the beautiful valley before me, and
+indicated that I was about to wane into the invisible. Then did her
+womanly nature assert its supremacy and she, for the first time, touched
+my hand imploringly:
+
+"Have I been dreaming, or do my eyes deceive me? How can all this be
+true? Your hand is sensible to my touch. I implore you to remain until I
+speak to you more about the sciences of your world."
+
+In all my journey I never yielded to persuasion before. But somehow I
+consented to spend a season longer of most charming fellowship, talking
+of the elements in nature, their chemical affinities, and the laws of
+matter and mind. Plume was unusually bright in the philosophies, and I
+gathered from her many truths which had always before been hidden to me.
+
+Finally I became rigid in my determination to leave, for I knew that I
+could not stay.
+
+"Grant me one request," she begged.
+
+"Let me hear it."
+
+"Promise me that you will return."
+
+"Impossible, impossible!"
+
+The parting that followed was indeed memorable. Without any further
+notice I suddenly vanished, but still tarried invisibly in close
+proximity.
+
+Plume was now left in deep bewilderment, and I could not even
+conjecture the details of her warring thoughts. Finally I saw that for
+which I had tarried. Plume lifted her wings and flew skyward as
+beautifully and gracefully as any bird of our earthly air.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+Heaven.
+
+
+After my ambition to visit one thousand worlds had been realised, and I
+was darting toward the confines of our own little Solar System,
+instinctively I looked out once more over the vast stretches of space.
+All around me, at amazing distances, loomed up the millions of spheres
+which I had not visited by reason of my limited time. I felt like some
+one who, after gaining his first thousand dollars, has a wild craving to
+accumulate ten or one hundred thousand more.
+
+Still I scanned the heavens while deeper longings pervaded my soul.
+While in this mood the most unusual vision flashed upon my eyes.
+Suddenly I forgot whither I was going and in wild astonishment I drank
+in the first view of Heaven. Inwardly I marveled that I had not seen at
+least a part of it before.
+
+Heaven is fashioned on a transcendently large scale. It is not a single
+sphere, but a universal chain of vast and luminous star-groups,
+scattered harmoniously throughout the infinite regions of space, so that
+a part of it lies suspended preciously near to our own Solar System.
+Heaven is more real and substantial than the suns and planets of the
+universe, although not one of its numberless parts can be detected by
+the human eye, or discerned through a telescope. These luminous orbs
+that constitute Heaven control the movements of the planets, suns and
+systems which we call material. They are whiter than snow and shine with
+a luster not dazzling, but restful to the eye capable of seeing them.
+
+How this glimpse put to naught all my former crude conceptions of
+Heaven, and if I found myself unable to describe the wonders of many a
+dark world which I have visited, how much less could I portray the
+vastly superior beauties of Heaven which are so far beyond the glory of
+dark, rugged worlds that I felt an inexpressible desire to take up my
+abode there at once and to remain forever.
+
+Inwardly I shouted for joy as this new light illumined my face, and I
+loathed to think of proceeding on my journey to any sin-cursed world of
+the universe, for the ties of kinship, friendship, and earthship all
+vanished at the sight of such resplendent spheres.
+
+
+THE GREATNESS OF HEAVEN.
+
+There is no language to be employed that can fitly describe the parts of
+Heaven I saw, and I know that the greater glory was curtained from my
+view. But the size of the lustrous orbs is not equaled by the large
+material suns that blaze in the depth of immensity. Heaven's diamond
+splendor extended as far as my unassisted eyes could reach, and
+according to the way it appeared it must extend without limit.
+
+It would require one hundred millions of years for a child of God to
+take one excursion trip to the physical worlds of our universe. Then
+there are millions of such universes, (I know of no better name to use)
+each one occupying its own immense stretches of space. These universes
+average about sixteen hundred millions of worlds each.
+
+Heaven is infinitely greater than this whole material fabric, so that if
+a spirit is inclined to travel, he will need all eternity to study the
+works of God as displayed in the glorious abodes of Heaven and in the
+changing aspects of created worlds.
+
+Let us give a deeper meaning to the stanza of the poet by substituting
+"million" for "thousand."
+
+    When I've been there ten million years,
+      Bright, shining as the sun,
+    I've no less days to sing God's praise,
+      Than when I first begun.
+
+Compared with this life more vast, does it not appear that our own
+insignificant existence on our tiny Earth is as the creeping of a mere
+insect on the leaf of a giant oak?
+
+
+PERMANENCY OF HEAVEN.
+
+The only permanent or imperishable feature of our universe is the Heaven
+part of it. The created or visible worlds are mere dark appendages of
+the real spheres, and are serving their parts in bringing fruit to
+their Maker.
+
+Sin-cursed and sinless worlds are coming to an end continually, and as
+rapidly are new ones flung out or old ones re-peopled to serve as garden
+plots to bear fruit in the form of created intelligences who serve and
+admire God through choice.
+
+Heaven is indestructible. It has already been in existence since the
+morning of time. In all my journey, no angel or mortal could tell me how
+many cycles ago that was. But it must be said that Heaven does not
+always present the same aspect. Mansions are built for the reception of
+new arrivals, or for the vast delegations from millennial worlds.
+
+
+THE INHABITANTS OF HEAVEN.
+
+They come from all parts of the universe, from millions of spheres. The
+righteous of any world, at death, are suddenly transported to that part
+of Heaven lying nearest to their world. This is the Abraham's bosom
+where the spirit is happy until it takes up its abode with its own
+spiritualized body in a millennial reign, after which, by a decree of
+the Final Judgment, it is given its credentials to the illimitable life
+of all Heaven.
+
+This is Paul's third heaven. Oh! what unlimited expansion! What
+incomprehensible principles, to move at large in quest of universal
+truths as seen in the seven types of Heaven's spiritual intelligences,
+and in the unending manifestations of God's work and love as displayed
+in all heaven and in all the peopled planets of space!
+
+Not one of these blessed inhabitants ever grows old or suffers fatigue.
+They are capable of moving with tireless energy from one part of
+Heaven's vast domains to any other portion.
+
+
+DEGREES OF HEAVEN.
+
+In space there are many sinless worlds where human species are
+propagated, not as the result of any sexual affinities, but in a manner
+totally unintelligible to a finite mind. They who reach Heaven from such
+a world cannot drink in the same kind of enjoyment as those who come up
+out of great tribulations from the spheres of a sin-cursed world, and
+who have struggled for mastery and forged their way to the sky through
+armies of aliens.
+
+But these creatures are perfectly contented, for they have no way of
+realizing the glory resulting from the victory over the world, the flesh
+and the Devil.
+
+Then there are degrees of glory among those who come from a sin-cursed
+world. Some have many treasures laid up in Heaven, while others centered
+their affections too much upon the transitory things of time and sense.
+
+There are also various orders or degrees of glory among the seven types
+of intelligences of which Heaven's multitudes are composed. Some of
+these may be suggested to your mind when you read more of this sevenfold
+life.
+
+[Illustration: A Glimpse of Blissful Life in Heaven.]
+
+
+SEVEN TYPES OF INTELLIGENCES.
+
+1. The first class of beings is composed of those whom we comprehend as
+the Trinity, whose highest glory is expressed in the Mediatorial
+personage who can be seen at will by any of Heaven's hosts from any
+world.
+
+2. The cherubim and seraphim, or the highest order of spirits, who
+have always been pure and holy. They constitute the next rank of the
+celestial host.
+
+3. The third class is composed of the general host of angels who also
+have been holy from eternity, and who serve as ambassadors to various
+points of the limitless creation.
+
+4. The spirits of those who have risen from sinful worlds by virtue of a
+God-approved and God-appointed Mediator. To join the ranks of this class
+we, who serve God, are hastening. This is no low order or caste in
+Heaven, but they who belong to it vie with higher angels, and taste
+sweetness beyond the capacity of those who, in other respects, are our
+peers. The angels desire to look into the deep mystery of salvation's
+plan.
+
+5. The matured and maturing spirits of those who left sinful worlds
+before God held them accountable for their deeds. To this class belong
+our children who precede us into the final abode.
+
+6. The spirits of those who have risen from sinless worlds to take
+their infinitely higher degrees in this Heaven life.
+
+7. The matured and maturing spirits of those who left the sinless worlds
+before sense perception was duly developed. They form a distinct class
+of spirits and have their distinctive marks.
+
+
+UNITY OF HEAVEN.
+
+Redemption's plan for each sinful world is somewhat similar to ours, so
+that there is a oneness in the whole family of the redeemed. This is one
+main factor that makes the bond of unity perfect and renders the
+fellowship of the celestial hosts absolutely without a flaw.
+
+True enough, each of the seven classes of intelligences is a mystery and
+a glory to the others. But there is no friction, no jar. Each one is
+perfect in himself and happy in spirit.
+
+Although each one of the vast companies carries the distinctive impress
+and the spiritual peculiarities of his own planet, yet they are all now
+fashioned after the symmetry of the Heaven life, and no one bears a
+single repellant feature, but rather each spiritual body is beautiful
+to the eyes of all the others, and each one breathes the same atmosphere
+of purity and converses in the self-same language of love.
+
+
+A HOME-LIKE PLACE.
+
+No feature of Heaven is more beautiful than its home-like atmosphere.
+The soul is not chilled by the two-thousand-mile-cube cities, or by the
+long, long stretches of Divine masonry. God is as a real father, and all
+his subjects are as our blood-relations. We feel it, and the inspiration
+of these truths takes a deep hold of Heaven's vast populace.
+
+
+EMPLOYMENT.
+
+Now and then large excursion parties visit various points of our own
+universe and frequently span the incredible distances in order to study
+the works and life of other universes.
+
+Each soul is occupied in gratifying its own master passion, and lives in
+the delightsome fellowship of the saints.
+
+
+TRANSPORTATION.
+
+There are no vehicles or cars of any kind. Actual wings are unknown
+except as used by certain birds of Heaven. Spirits travel as rapidly as
+desired by a mere submissive connection with the universal system of
+power filaments, all of which center in God. More refined power than
+electricity is transmitted over these substantial filaments to any point
+of any world. The fleshly body is not sensitive to this spiritual power,
+but the pure soul, when free from the body, is at once sensitive to
+these chords of power and is carried swifter than a current of
+electricity to Abraham's bosom, where it is entitled forever to a free
+use of this perfect power without being subject to any kind of taxation.
+
+
+SEXUAL AFFINITIES OF HEAVEN.
+
+Contrary to some of my former ideas I saw that the inhabitants of Heaven
+are not all of one sex. The male and female are clearly distinguishable,
+and they bear relations one to another still more refined than was
+manifest in the Millennial World.
+
+The most holy affinity exists between the several types of
+intelligences. Here the glorious fires of love burn never to reach a
+climax. Lovers have been drinking from perennial fountains for a million
+years, and their ecstacies are rising still. Pure love is as endless and
+infinite as time and space, and its mystery is deep to these shining
+throngs of Heaven who look into one another's faces with untrammeled
+emotions. Think of falling in love with the inhabitants of other worlds
+and of having the capacity and right to foster a thousand or more types
+of affinity, each one differing from the others!
+
+These relations are so highly refined and so gloriously developed that
+one must not think of reducing them by comparison to the level of the
+flesh life.
+
+
+STRUCTURAL ASPECTS OF HEAVEN.
+
+I would not attempt to describe the structural glory of Heaven, for I
+know not where nor how to begin. Seemingly all things are transparent
+even to the center of vast orbs. Magnificent cities apparently lie
+suspended far under the indefinite surface of the orbs composing
+Heaven, and free passage ways of phantastical design ramify throughout
+all the glorious under-surface regions.
+
+Architectural greatness here finds its unmatched examples. Seven-mile
+diamond arches are common-places, and towers of two thousand miles in
+height and one thousand miles in diameter, as the corner stone of a
+city, are nothing unusual, although many cities are built on a smaller
+plan. Nothing needs repairing, and nothing is mortgaged. The wealth of
+unnumbered trillions is easily represented in one orb of Heaven's
+empire.
+
+I now saw a thousand-fold more clearly than ever before the absolute
+folly of fixing our affections on the perishing things of the mortal
+life in our dark and dusty world.
+
+While my eyes were still feasting on the sublime picture before me I
+began to realize that my privilege would be of short duration, as the
+vision was fast waning. I looked intently until the last curtain fell,
+and reluctantly I continued my journey toward my own little world. I now
+felt that, if the whole Earth were my own property, I would gladly push
+it all aside if I could be a mere door keeper in one of the heavenly
+cities of my God.
+
+And very often since that time I have cast my longing eyes skyward,
+hoping to catch another glimpse of that fair scene.
+
+    How I long for that restful picture,
+      A vision of Heaven, once more;
+    With its trillion orbs of beauty,
+      And its wealth of endless store.
+
+    There are saints from unnumbered planets,
+      Where they lived in a million ways.
+    Now they mingle in perfect glory,
+      Through the length of eternal days.
+
+    There the poor are wealthy forever,
+      For the beggar sits down with the King.
+    The man who never knew music
+      Will vie with angels to sing.
+
+    Here the hopeful student, progressing,
+      After failing does often grieve;
+    But in Heaven each lesson is perfect,
+      No theory to blind or deceive.
+
+    Here the runner, in breathless struggle,
+      Sees the other in touch of the goal;
+    But Heaven gives each one the laurel,
+      To be crowned while the ages roll.
+
+    There they have no light of a candle,
+      For there are no shadows of night.
+    There the flash of unnumbered opals
+      Sparkles on in their wealth of light.
+
+    In that home-like palace of Heaven,
+      Where these myriad trillions are,
+    There the Lord is the self-same Master,
+      And Love is the self-same star.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14770 ***
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+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14770 ***</div>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Life in a Thousand Worlds, by William Shuler
+Harris</h1>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 414px;">
+<a name="IMG1" id="IMG1" /><img src="images/image-1.jpg" width="414" height="600" alt="REV. W.&nbsp;S. HARRIS" title="" />
+<b>REV. W.&nbsp;S. HARRIS</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h1>Life in a Thousand Worlds</h1>
+
+<h2>By Rev. W.&nbsp;S. Harris.</h2>
+
+
+<h4>AUTHOR OF <i>MR. WORLD AND MISS CHURCH-MEMBER</i>,
+<i>MODERN FABLES AND PARABLES</i>, <i>SERMONS
+BY THE DEVIL</i>, ETC., ETC.</h4>
+
+<h4>ILLUSTRATED.</h4>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h6>Published by
+the Minter Company,
+Harrisburg, Pa.</h6>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>1905</h4>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<span>TO</span><br />
+<br />
+<span>MY MOTHER</span><br />
+<br />
+<span>WHO FOR MY GOOD COUNTED NONE OF<br />
+HER SACRIFICES TOO GREAT AND<br />
+WHO IS NOW RECEIVING HER<br />
+REWARD IN THE CELESTIAL<br />
+LIFE THIS VOLUME IS<br />
+LOVINGLY</span>
+<br />
+<span>DEDICATED.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/decorative.png" width="15%" alt="Decorative element" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<h3>Illustrations.</h3>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align='center'>1.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG1">Portrait of the Author</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>2.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG2">Gazing at the Starry Firmament</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>3.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG3">A City on the Moon</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>4.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG4">How a "Trust" Monopolizes Rain and Light on Mars</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>5.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG5">The Largest Telescope in the Universe</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>6.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG6">An Air Ship on Saturn</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>7.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG7">Living in Fire on a Fixed Star</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>8.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG8">Fishing for Land Animals</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>9.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG9">Monopolizing Liquid Air on Airess</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>10.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG10">Floating Cities of Plasden</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>11.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG11">A Captive on a Planet of Duhbe</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>12.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG12">The Millennial Dawn</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>13.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG13">Low-life Warfare on Scum</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>14.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG14">Battle Between "Flying Devils" in the Air</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>15.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG15">"Trusts" in the Diamond World</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>16.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG16">Tunnel Through Holen's Center</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>17.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG17">A Scene of Rejoicing in Brief</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>18.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG18">Beautiful Plume and Her Wings</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>19.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG19">A Glimpse of Heaven</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+
+<h3>Contents.</h3>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#PREFACE">PREFACE.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></td><td align='left'>Are There More Worlds Than One?</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></td><td align='left'>A Visit to the Moon</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></td><td align='left'>A Visit to Mars</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></td><td align='left'>A Glimpse of Jupiter</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></td><td align='left'>Beautiful Saturn</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></td><td align='left'>The Nearest Fixed Star</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></td><td align='left'>The Water World Visited</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Tor-tu</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></td><td align='left'>A Problem in Political Economy</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></td><td align='left'>Floating Cities</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</a></td><td align='left'>A World of Ideal Cities</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></td><td align='left'>A World Enjoying Its Millennium</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a></td><td align='left'>A World of High Medical Knowledge</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a></td><td align='left'>A World of Low Life</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a></td><td align='left'>A World of Highest Invention</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a></td><td align='left'>A Singular Planet</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.</a></td><td align='left'>The Diamond World</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Triumphant Feat of Orion</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.</a></td><td align='left'>The Mute World</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.</a></td><td align='left'>Brief</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI</a></td><td align='left'>The Life on Wings</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII.</a></td><td align='left'>Heaven</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Synopsis_of_Contents" id="Synopsis_of_Contents" />Synopsis of Contents.</h2>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER I.</h3>
+
+<h4>Are There More Worlds Than One?</h4>
+
+<p>Why are countless worlds swinging in the endless regions of space?
+The author believes that thousands are inhabited by intelligent
+beings.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3>
+
+<h4>A Visit to the Moon.</h4>
+
+<p>Description of a novel city of over 60,000 Moonites. The
+inhabitants of the Moon are described as dwarfs having no noses
+because they live by eating solid air. Their odd houses,
+expressive paintings, strange religion, wonderful history, novel
+government, happy home life, etc., interestingly described.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER III.</h3>
+
+<h4>A Visit to Mars.</h4>
+
+<p>Marsites described as giants needing four arms. The ultimate
+results of capitalistic oppression graphically portrayed by a
+curtain system. The description of the Marsite curtain system
+embodies a tremendous thrust at monopolistic trusts, and should be
+read by Americans by the millions. The author captured by Marsmen.
+Illustration.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER IV.</h3>
+
+<h4>A Glimpse of Jupiter.</h4>
+
+<p>Jupiterites described as colossal giants averaging twenty-five
+feet in height. Their language a marvel of simplicity far
+surpassing the English language. What Jupiterites can see with
+their powerful magnifying lenses. The author looked, through their
+largest telescope and saw ships sailing in New York City harbor.
+Illustration.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER V.</h3>
+
+<h4>Beautiful Saturn.</h4>
+
+<p>Physical features. Woman the ruling genius. Excursions in
+airships. Illustration. Marvelous language-music. Churches on
+Saturn far better than those on Earth.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VI.</h3>
+
+<h4>The Nearest Fixed Star.</h4>
+
+<p>The inhabitants of Alpha Centaurus live as comfortably in fire as
+Earthites live in air or fishes in water. One of their aerial fire
+carriages described. Illustration.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VII.</h3>
+
+<h4>The Water World Visited.</h4>
+
+<p>On Stazza the people live in water about as fishes do on Earth.
+Their homes and cities under water described. Fishing for land
+animals. Illustration. Some of their inventions far surpass those
+of our own world.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VIII.</h3>
+
+<h4>Tortu.</h4>
+
+<p>A far more beautiful world than ours. The moral life of Tortu the
+cleanest found in any world, and interesting reasons given.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XI</h3>
+
+<h4>A Problem in Political Economy.</h4>
+
+<p>On Airess the inhabitants live on liquid air, and hence have
+neither noses nor lungs. Monopolists control liquid air on Airess
+as petroleum is controlled on Earth. Illustration. Method of
+breaking up the power of monopolies. This chapter is worth reading
+by millions of American men and women.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER X.</h3>
+
+<h4>Floating Cities.</h4>
+
+<p>Palaces and large cities built on water. Illustration. A number of
+wonderful inventions described. Far surpass our world in reform
+movements.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XI.</h3>
+
+<h4>A World of Ideal Cities.</h4>
+
+<p>Inhabitants described. Author made captive. Rich and poor. Ideal
+cities, how governed.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XII.</h3>
+
+<h4>A World Enjoying Its Millennium.</h4>
+
+<p>How the Millennium was ushered in. The conditions under which
+millennial life is enjoyed.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIII.</h3>
+
+<h4>A World of High Medical Knowledge.</h4>
+
+<p>On Dorelyn four billions of inhabitants all enjoy perfect health.
+The government controls the whole field of medical science just as
+we do the post office department. No patent medicine on Dorelyn.
+Many new ideas picked up in medicine and surgery.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIV.</h3>
+
+<h4>A World of Low Life.</h4>
+
+<p>On Scum exist the lowest conditions of life found in any stellar
+world. "Notched Rod" language explained. Lizard like human forms.
+No Scumite knows who is his father or mother. A big Scumite battle
+witnessed. Illustration.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XV.</h3>
+
+<h4>A World of Highest Invention.</h4>
+
+<p>A fertilizer invented making possible the raising of six crops in
+one of our years. A Tube Line for passenger and freight traffic.
+Wonderful storage batteries. A telephone that not only carries
+sound, but transmits the gestures and faces of the speakers.
+Thought photography.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVI.</h3>
+
+<h4>A Singular Planet.</h4>
+
+<p>On Zik decisive battles between nations are not fought by armies
+on land or navies on the sea, but by flying war ships called
+Flying Devils sailing in the air. A battle witnessed.
+Illustration. A practical way of settling the strife between
+capital and labor. The art of maintaining youthful vigor in old
+ago.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVII.</h3>
+
+<h4>The Diamond World.</h4>
+
+<p>On the brightest planets of the universe diamonds are as plenty as
+soil is on our Earth, but soil is as scarce and valuable as
+diamonds are in our world. The heart-rending oppression of the
+"Soil Trust" in the Diamond World portrayed. Illustration. The
+insatiable greed of "Trusts" follows the poor people into their
+sepulchers.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVIII.</h3>
+
+<h4>Triumphant Feat of Orion.</h4>
+
+<p>Description of a tunnel through the center of Holen, a globe 500
+miles in diameter. Illustration of passenger car used. Its
+operation explained.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIX.</h3>
+
+<h4>The Mute World.</h4>
+
+<p>Muteites have no audible language. They converse by pure thought
+transmission, and no one can conceal evil thoughts. When a Muteite
+criminal is brought before a Court of Justice the doors of his
+soul are unlocked so that all past thought-images, photographed on
+the sensitive living plates of his mind, are thrown open to view.
+No hypocrisy, no conventional lying.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XX.</h3>
+
+<h4>Brief.</h4>
+
+<p>The world of Brief sustains the shortest lived human beings of our
+universe. What we in our world crowd into seventy or eighty years
+of life the Briefites crowd into the narrow compass of about four
+years of our time. Journalism, footwear, raiment, transportation,
+public highways, business, religious life, etc., portrayed under
+such mad-rush environments.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXI.</h3>
+
+<h4>The Life on Wings.</h4>
+
+<p>The inhabitants of Swift are charmingly beautiful, and many of
+them can be seen gracefully moving on wings through the air. A
+charming conversation with Plume, the most beautiful woman in the
+universe. Illustration.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXII.</h3>
+
+<h4>Heaven.</h4>
+
+<p>Its greatness, permanency, inhabitants, degrees, seven typos of
+intelligences, unity, employments, transportation, sexual
+affinities, structural aspects, etc., uniquely portrayed.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE" />PREFACE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Any person having a reasonable education will admit that there are many
+planetary worlds besides the one on which we live. But whether or not
+they are inhabited is an open question with most people. We had been in
+doubt on this point for many years, but now we are settled in our
+conviction that human life exists in many different worlds of space. We
+can give no proof of this except that we have just returned from the
+greatest journey we ever took. We went from world to world over long
+distances of space as easily as one could go from place to place on the
+surface of our earth. <i>This was a journey of the soul</i>, for surely flesh
+and bone could not have traveled such amazing distances. At times we
+were lost to this world, being entirely absorbed in the glimpses of
+other worlds that were flashing upon our view in happy succession.</p>
+
+<p>It can been seen without saying that this book contains no more than a
+fragment of the things we saw and heard&mdash;the fragment that is most
+easily understood by human creatures born under the rules and
+regulations of this little dark world of ours.</p>
+
+<p>There are, in certain other worlds, such wide extremes of bodily
+formation and mental capacities, that a picture of them in word or art
+would only be unbearable and in some instances decidedly revolting, just
+because we are trained here to one set of standards and chained to one
+surface of world conditions. It will be different in the after-death
+life to those who are wise enough to be pure and good in this world.</p>
+
+<p>To make the book as practical as possible we have given a picture of
+some worlds where human life is inferior to ours, and of others where it
+is vastly superior,&mdash;saying nothing of the millennial life which we
+found in far off space.</p>
+
+<p>Comparisons are made throughout the book between the life, habits, and
+customs of other worlds and our own. In picturing the low life of
+certain worlds we are led to see what a highly favored and greatly
+civilized people we are, and in describing the human achievements of
+certain other worlds we are led to see how short a distance we have
+traveled in the path of human glory and civilization.</p>
+
+<p>We have also endeavored to set forth in this humble volume the common
+relation of all rational creatures of all worlds to one Infinite
+Creator. We do not question the truth of this fact, and those who ask
+for proof must wait to find it.</p>
+
+<p>We hope that this book will be inspiring to every thoughtful mind who
+loves to learn more and more of the great system of intelligent life of
+which the human creatures of this world form one link in the chain. If
+the reading of this volume should open to your mind numberless
+suggestions and compel you to ask a host of questions, perhaps you will
+do as we have done,&mdash;spend a long time in training your wings to be
+swift enough to take the journey yourself. If you will not do this, you
+must patiently wait until the clods of clay are shaken off, so that your
+free spirit may go out to live the life more vast in other worlds.</p>
+
+<p>We pray that the highest kind of good may result from the truths here
+advanced. If this shall be accomplished, we shall have our best reward
+for having given this book to the printing press.</p>
+
+<p>Truly yours,</p>
+
+<p><i>THE AUTHOR</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>December, 1904</i>.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION" />INTRODUCTION.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It may seem like great exaggeration to say that this is one of the most
+interesting and profitable books that has been placed upon the American
+book market for many years. <i>It follows no old rut; it has found a new
+path</i>, and the reader is permitted to walk in regions which he never saw
+and of which he never read before. It is indeed a triumph of literary
+genius to give a picture of intelligent life in other worlds upon a
+scientific and philosophical basis. Other writers have attempted to give
+a description of conditions on the Moon, Mars, or some other single
+planet, but no one has succeeded in picturing the mysteries of life in a
+number of star worlds with such a fascination as is here found.</p>
+
+<p>Some one may say that the book is only a work of imagination, but we
+challenge any one to produce a book that gives more timely thrusts at
+the evils of our present day life. By showing how the people of other
+worlds have fallen into their sad conditions the author sounds a note of
+warning to the people of this world, and by giving a glimpse of the
+manner in which other worlds have reached their great triumphs, he gives
+to the people of our world a spur to loftier ideals, to greater
+inventions, and to a purer life.</p>
+
+<p>The publisher of this volume is proud to put upon the market a book of
+such high value and dignity. It is quite unusual for the subscription
+book market to see such a princely book come into its midst. Here we
+have ten dollars worth of <i>new ideas</i>, packed into cream form, all for
+one dollar, and we positively assert that nothing like it can be found
+anywhere in literature. <i>Great books have no companions.</i></p>
+
+<p>The illustrations are from the masterly hands of an artist of special
+merit for this class of work. He happily places himself into the midst
+of other worlds in order to draw the beautiful pictures that illustrate
+and adorn this volume. The illustrations are well worth careful
+examination and when studied in connection with the reading matter they
+are seen in their greatest beauty and value. <i>The Publishers</i></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 390px;">
+<a name="IMG2" id="IMG2" /><img src="images/image-2.jpg" width="390" height="600" alt="Looking Towards a Thousand Worlds." title="" />
+<b>Looking Towards a Thousand Worlds.</b>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I" />CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h3>Are There More Worlds Than One?</h3>
+
+
+<p>Our world is large enough to excite our interest and invite our study
+until we close our eyes in death. Yet there are countless other orbs
+scattered through the solar system and throughout the vast stretches of
+the starry heavens. Some of these worlds are smaller than ours, but the
+majority of them are hundreds or thousands of times larger.</p>
+
+<p>Looking away from our solar system, we find that each star is a sun, in
+most instances the center of a group of worlds. So, for the lack of a
+better phrase, we shall say that there are millions of solar systems
+distributed through limitless space, each one serving its part in the
+great universal plan.</p>
+
+<p>For what purpose are all these immense worlds shining and swinging in
+the depths of immensity? Could it be possible that they are nothing more
+than vast pieces of dead machinery, barren of all vegetable growth and
+intelligent life, whereon desolation and solitude forever prevail?</p>
+
+<p>Our own Earth is inhabited by a large variety of living forms ranging
+from the microscopic bacteria and animalcula to the glorious form of man
+with all his superior endowments. The air, earth and water are teeming
+with their billions of sensitive creatures; even a breath of air, a drop
+of water, or a leaf on a tree often contains a miniature world of living
+forms.</p>
+
+<p>Amidst all this confusing animation around us, is it not absurd to
+suppose that other worlds, larger or smaller than our own, are barren of
+all life, and that from them no songs of thanksgiving ever arise to the
+Maker and Ruler of all things?</p>
+
+<p>Such a supposition not only gives us a strange view of the character and
+attributes of God, but is at once repulsive to our instincts; anyone
+wishing to accept it may do so, but as for me and for a large company of
+my kind, we prefer to give a larger meaning to creation and a higher
+glory to the Creator.</p>
+
+<p>Let no one doubt that the universe is full of intelligent life, in
+myriad types of existence and infinite stages of development. Physically
+speaking, one cannot imagine the countless variety of ways in which
+flesh and bone may congregate around the human brain to make a sentient
+and intelligent creature.</p>
+
+<p>Confined as we are to our little dark world, we know by sight of only
+one way in which the brain conveys its messages and serves its ends,
+namely, through a body of one hundred pounds or more of flesh and bone,
+formed erect, and capable of rendering service upon a moment's notice.
+Therefore some of us are conceited enough to believe that we are the
+most perfect and beautiful beings of the universe, the highest
+expression of creative art, and that all other creatures in a million
+orbs take a secondary place.</p>
+
+<p>True enough, we occupy an honored position in the scale of creation, but
+while the people of many worlds are beneath us, yet there are many more
+planets whereon human genius has surpassed us, and we must be modest
+enough to take our rightful place in the drama of the worlds.</p>
+
+<p>"How many planets, how many suns, how many milky ways are there?" you
+ask in one breath. Speaking alone of our own universe, of which the
+Milky Way is the backbone, I estimate that if we multiply the number of
+stars by forty-nine, we shall have the approximate number of worlds that
+are large enough to be classed with the family of inhabited planets.</p>
+
+<p>In our immediate universe there are at least one hundred million stars,
+a number of which have over five hundred worlds revolving around them;
+others have only six or ten. The average, as above stated, is estimated
+at forty-nine. Then, also, far out in the depths of space, there are
+nebulous spots visible only through the most searching lenses. These are
+new systems of milky ways or new universes, so immensely distant that
+our most powerful telescopes cannot even resolve them into stars.</p>
+
+<p>There are inhabited worlds so far from us that, if one could travel the
+distance around our Earth in one second, he could proceed in one
+direction, at this rate of speed, for twenty million years and yet see
+far ahead of him the flickering lights of numberless other inviting
+suns and worlds.</p>
+
+<p>We cannot possibly grasp an idea of such infinite distances, neither can
+we form any adequate conception of the long, long stretches between star
+and star, which is the same as saying, between solar system and solar
+system. In our Milky Way the stars seem to be crushed together into a
+whitish jelly, but the awful truth looms up before us with all sublimity
+that, although these stars seem to lie one upon another, they are
+millions and trillions of miles apart.</p>
+
+<p>In regard to our own solar system much speculation is rife as to the
+existence of human creatures on the several larger planets. Theories of
+all kinds have been advanced; some speculative or absurd, others so
+plausible as to give rise to interesting questions, such as
+communicating with Mars, and perhaps of taking a journey to the Moon.
+These suggestions, while fanciful, awaken our interest and excite our
+curiosity. Can any one predict the excitement that would prevail in our
+world if a human creature from some other planet were suddenly to set
+foot upon our soil? We would fling a thousand questions at him to learn
+something of the strange realm from which he came.</p>
+
+<p>And how great would be our amazement if we were to have the exalted
+privilege of journeying to other worlds, seeing the types of human
+creatures living there, and witnessing a thousand other things too
+strange and wonderful to mention?</p>
+
+<p>I invite you to listen as I tell a condensed story of a number of worlds
+which I have visited, all within the boundary line of our own universe.
+I cannot even tell a tithe of what I saw and heard, but must content
+myself with giving a passing view of a thousand worlds, some of which
+are situated in a very distant corner of our universe.</p>
+
+<p>Well you may ask: "How could you travel from world to world and see the
+various forms of human life, and then remain alive to tell a part of the
+marvelous tale?"</p>
+
+<p>If it is a mystery to you, it is also a mystery to me. I cannot describe
+the pinions that carried me, nor tell whence came the strength that
+moved my wings, any more than I can explain by what process I was
+preserved alive in worlds of fire, in worlds of ice, and in worlds
+without air. But the sight of all these things was as real to me as the
+dreams of the night, and it must be admitted that dreams are often as
+realistic as the acts of our wakeful moments.</p>
+
+<p>For many years I looked outward toward the starry firmament, and at
+times a deep yearning possessed me to speed away to converse with the
+inhabitants of other spheres.</p>
+
+<p>This hope I cherished so strongly that my thoughts completely
+overpowered me, and ere I knew it I was living at the mercy of
+indescribable emotions. All this continued during many revolutions of
+the Earth on its axis. I felt as Columbus must have felt when he was
+moving over strange waters. Then occurred the most notable event of my
+life. In the twinkling of an eye I was caught away from the Earth and,
+without any effort of my own, I was darting through space faster than a
+sunbeam.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II" />CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h3>A Visit to the Moon.</h3>
+
+
+<p>I was not prepared for the quick transit to our satellite, nor for the
+views thrust upon me so suddenly. Before I could well collect my
+thoughts I found myself in the immediate vicinity of the Moon and,
+strange as it may seem, I was conscious of my surroundings and knew that
+I had power to transport myself instantly to any place I might wish to
+go.</p>
+
+<p>To see the Moon face to face gives a charming satisfaction which can
+never be realized two hundred and forty thousand miles away. I was
+conscious of my privilege and was determined to take all possible
+advantage of it.</p>
+
+<p>Now how differently everything appeared from the views I had snatched
+through the telescope while yet on the Earth. I could not see the "Man
+in the Moon," whose grinning face had so often looked down upon me, but
+from my first point of observation everything looked as if life had
+never existed there and, consequently, I was about to conclude that no
+human beings inhabit the Moon. This theory soon vanished, for after I
+had traveled over a hundred miles I came to a thriving center of
+population, the largest city on the sphere, inhabited by more than sixty
+thousand rational beings.</p>
+
+<p>These creatures resemble us most strongly in their mental capacities,
+though their bodies are out of harmony with ours, having three eyes and
+no nose. The third eye is situated in the center of the forehead, and
+the other two more toward the sides of the head.</p>
+
+<p>Life is not sustained by breathing a gaseous air as we do, so that the
+sense of smell is performed by the protruded upper lip. At the voluntary
+effort to catch scent the upper lip noticeably rolls upward into a
+partial scroll.</p>
+
+<p>I was anxious to learn how the life of these Moonites is sustained
+without breathing and, to my astonishment, I learned that they eat solid
+air at intervals of about six hours. This is not taken in connection
+with the regular food, but is eaten alone and carried into a separate
+stomach wherein it is disintegrated by the chemical action of the
+stomachic acids. The gases thus formed serve the same purpose as the air
+we breathe into our lungs.</p>
+
+<p>According to the conjectures of some earthly astronomers I was expecting
+to see a race of immense giants. On the contrary, I found that these
+Moonites grow to only about one-fourth our height, but possess fully
+three-fourths as much circumference of body. Notwithstanding that they
+are so short and rotund, they are healthy and exceedingly quick in all
+their bodily movements.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt I shall be chided for saying that these Moon-inhabitants are a
+handsome people, but I was enabled to judge them by a universal standard
+of beauty, and I looked upon them as a product of the same infinite
+Creator who fashioned our mortal bodies with such marvelous adaptation
+of means to end.</p>
+
+<p>One thing is sure, were a person from the Moon to set foot upon our
+planet, he would estimate us to be as far out of harmony with his
+standards of beauty as we should consider him to be out of harmony with
+ours.</p>
+
+<p>As might be expected, these people are very peculiar in their habits.
+There is a small percentage of the population who are bright stars
+intellectually, while others are extremely indolent. When a person wins
+a record for laziness, it is said of him: "He is too lazy to eat his
+air."</p>
+
+<p>The large city to which I had come was indeed a novel sight. Its
+buildings average in height one-third of ours, although they occupy
+nearly as much ground space. They are composed almost totally of
+non-combustible materials.</p>
+
+<p>The window panes are not made of a brittle substance like glass, but
+resemble mica, except that they are more tough and durable. These
+Moonites are wiser than we in roofing their houses. They have discovered
+a mineral composition which in its plastic state is daubed over the
+roof. This, upon hardening, is proof against all conditions of weather
+and never needs replacing.</p>
+
+<p>There are many striking features in their architecture. In general, it
+may be said that they are quite far advanced in constructive ability.
+Some of their larger buildings look like soldiers' forts, others
+resemble immense bee hives, while still others appear like odd-shaped
+synagogues.</p>
+
+<p>We are their superiors in almost every line, especially in our knowledge
+and use of electricity and photography, and also in our manufacturing
+and scientific skill. However, they have decidedly surpassed us in
+imitative and creative art.</p>
+
+<p>Their paintings express so accurately the emotions of the heart that I
+found myself in tears as I saw their masterpieces. For a time I forgot
+that I was on the Moon, so lost was I in elevated reflections all
+suggested by their art creations. How I wished that I could have taken
+some of these specimens with me!</p>
+
+<p>From the Moon our Earth looks like a large wagon-wheel hanging in the
+heavens. It is amusing to learn of the various opinions and
+superstitions that are held regarding this wagon-wheel world. Some of
+the Moonites declare that it is a huge lantern, hung solely for their
+benefit, and scoff at the idea that it might be a world inhabited by
+civilized beings. More intelligent Moonites venture the theory that
+human life could exist on the great wagon-wheel, but declare that this
+is quite improbable, as the whole planet is enveloped by some thick,
+smoky substance in which they believe it would be impossible for human
+life to exist. Some look upon the Earth as the mother of the Moon, and
+regard the Sun as the father. This sex idea runs through most of their
+heathen religion, and there are more who worship the Earth and the Sun
+than there are who worship the God who created these heavenly bodies.</p>
+
+<p>I prolonged my investigations without becoming visible, taking note of
+numberless facts of interest which will ever be a source of pleasure and
+value to me. At length, however, I concluded to take advantage of a
+privilege and power I possessed and, becoming visible, I entered a quiet
+room in the presence of a very distinguished man. He was by far the most
+highly educated person on the Moon.</p>
+
+<p>I was more surprised than he, for I expected that he would be greatly
+agitated at my unaccountable appearance. Imagine my surprise when he sat
+motionless, gazing firmly into my face which to him was out of harmony
+with all ideas of correct form.</p>
+
+<p>I was the first to speak, and although he had manifested outwardly such
+self possession, I soon learned that it was a mere show of stoicism in
+the presence of one whom he thought to be a spirit. In an incredibly
+short time we were on easy speaking terms and I was gaining the object
+of my visit.</p>
+
+<p>Among the many things of interest that I learned from this famous
+character were facts concerning the history of the Moon. According to
+the information he gave me, I figured that human life had existed on the
+Moon thousands of years before its appearance on the Earth.
+Scientifically I could not account for this on any other ground than
+that the Moon, being a much smaller orb, cooled off sufficiently to
+sustain life on its surface long before any form of life could exist on
+our Earth.</p>
+
+<p>The Moonities of the old era were a prosperous and progressive people,
+far outshining their successors who now occupy the sphere. After making
+history for several thousand years, the human race had grown to one
+hundred million in numbers, and civilization had reached a surprising
+degree of perfection.</p>
+
+<p>In those long-ago ages the Moon was a much more fertile garden than now.
+Luxury and refinement were enjoyed by the favored sons of that period,
+and no one dreamed of the horrible fate that was to sweep practically
+the whole race into the regions of death. My intelligent informer used
+excessive language in trying to picture the unequaled catastrophe that
+put an end to the old era.</p>
+
+<p>My interest was unbounded, and with awed breath I continued listening as
+he described the cause of this great and terrible cataclysm.</p>
+
+<p>"It all occurred about five thousand years ago," he said. "The Moon was
+shaken by subterraneous rumblings, followed by fiery ejections, covering
+a period of nearly one and one-half wagon-wheel revolutions. Whole
+cities were ruined, fertile valleys covered and human life was almost
+annihilated."</p>
+
+<p>I knew what my informant meant by "one and one-half wagon-wheel
+revolutions." This would be a period of about forty days and nights of
+earthly time. Do you wonder that my mind flew back to the forty days and
+nights of rain that destroyed, at one time, on our Earth, the whole
+human family, except the few who were saved in the ark?</p>
+
+<p>"What are the evidences of this horrible world-ending?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"They are on every hand. Have you not yet seen the vast craters, the
+mountains of barren cinder, the stumps of immense pillars, partly
+excavated? All this, and very much more, silently unfolds a tale of
+horror that can be faintly pictured only by the imagination. Think of a
+holocaust so terrible that one hundred million human creatures are
+thereby swept into death in the narrow compass of forty days! The
+records that have been brought down to us by the few survivors indicate
+the continual wails of horror rending the sky while the volcanic
+disturbances continued. Thousands and millions ran from place to place
+to find shelter from the storm of fire. At one place the surface would
+open and at another the lava would run. Fate, with a merciless hand,
+was dragging each one into one or another of the inevitable pits."</p>
+
+<p>"How many were saved?" I asked with deepening interest.</p>
+
+<p>"Parts of only eight families aggregating nineteen human beings."</p>
+
+<p>"And how many people are on the Moon now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Almost forty million."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you account for this slow growth?" I asked after I had explained
+that on our globe a much larger number of inhabitants sprang from a
+smaller number than nineteen in a shorter period of time.</p>
+
+<p>This allusion cost me much explanation, and, after I had selfishly
+brushed his rising questions aside, I learned that large companies of
+the Moonites had been swept into death by frequent volcanic outbursts
+all along the line of the centuries.</p>
+
+<p>No one can estimate my interest as I continued the conversation. But
+finally I decided to stroll through certain parts of the city and,
+thinking it advisable to give no notice of my departure, I suddenly
+vanished from his sight. However, before leaving the room, I observed
+that my bewildered auditor conjectured for a long time and reached his
+former conclusion that he had been in touch with an apparition.</p>
+
+<p>Again I resumed my visible form and walked along one of the principal
+streets of the city. What novel sights greeted my eyes on every side!
+One cannot well imagine what excitement I aroused. Citizens who first
+saw me lifted their flabby arms in terror and ran to the city Bizen, a
+place where every inhabitant, under oath, is obliged to carry special
+news before communicating it elsewhere.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="IMG3" id="IMG3" /><img src="images/image-3.jpg" width="600" height="396" alt="Visiting a City on the Moon." title="" />
+<b>Visiting a City on the Moon.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>In a very short time the city Plins, or in our language, city
+authorities, were coming toward me in their costly vehicles. They were
+preceded, however, by what we would call a body guard. Imagine their
+surprise to hear me shout at the top of my voice, which sounded to them
+as thunder would to us: "You need not fear, I will do you no harm!"</p>
+
+<p>My voice had a magical effect on the assembling host of pigmies. They
+looked at me with as much curiosity as I looked at them. I stepped over
+their heads but was careful not to trample on the children who scampered
+at my approach. If one could ship a car load of these children to the
+Earth, they would make excellent dolls, for they range in size from only
+six to ten inches. Finally, I sat on the roof of one of their lower
+buildings to watch the gathering of the multitudes and study their
+curious countenances.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the more educated, seeing that I was peacefully inclined,
+ventured close to my knees and then looked the more intently into my
+face, all of which was agreeable, as it enabled me to get a still closer
+view of their faces.</p>
+
+<p>I saw that the whole city was turning out, and I wondered how the alarm
+could have been given so speedily. Upon inquiry, a fine artist at my
+side tremblingly explained that the Bizen wires had been touched for
+block six. This meant that every house in the city had received notice
+of an unusual occurrence in that section. I resolved to learn more of
+this system and how it was operated without the aid of electricity.</p>
+
+<p>Now I was besieged by a pressing host. At once I commenced to speak in
+Moon dialect. I told them whence I came, pointing to the large
+wagon-wheel that hung in their heavens. After a short discourse, I
+invited questions.</p>
+
+<p>One of their leaders stepped nearer to me and acted as the spokesman of
+the crowd. His language and voice were of excellent quality and although
+visibly agitated, he bore himself with commendable dignity. Let me here
+translate our conversation into English.</p>
+
+<p>"How came you here?" asked he.</p>
+
+<p>"That I cannot explain."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you walk or run?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did neither."</p>
+
+<p>Surrendering this line of inquiry, he went on to ask the following
+questions:</p>
+
+<p>"Are there more creatures than you where you came from?"</p>
+
+<p>"Large cities full of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Are they smaller than you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Their average height equals mine."</p>
+
+<p>"It must be a ponderous world of immense giants beyond the
+comprehension of any inhabitant of our whole globe."</p>
+
+<p>"But just as I appear large to you, you appear unnaturally small to me,"
+I calmly added.</p>
+
+<p>"How came that lump in the middle of your face?"</p>
+
+<p>I knew the questioner referred to my nose. I took a good wholesome
+laugh, and the large concourse of people watched my wrinkling face with
+strange delight. The Moonites express all their emotions by exclamations
+and almost infinite variations of the lower lip in conjunction with
+their three eyes.</p>
+
+<p>I told the spokesman that the lump on my face was called "nose," using
+our pronunciation, and that it grew there by nature and not by accident.
+I also informed him that each person in our world had such a nose, at
+which much merriment ensued. Lips twitched and quivered, as their eyes
+blinked and rolled. It seemed to me like a hideous way to laugh, but no
+doubt my nose seemed just as hideous to them.</p>
+
+<p>Then I explained all about our dense atmosphere, the part that air
+played in our life, and what a fine convenience the nose is during
+eating and speaking. Of course all this was unintelligible to them.</p>
+
+<p>I then busied myself in ascertaining the secret of their signal system.
+I learned, much to my surprise, that with scarcely any knowledge of
+electricity the Moonites had long ago discovered a means of
+communication which is somewhat similar to our wireless telegraphy. From
+central stations messages are transmitted to sensitive metal rods set up
+on each house-top, somewhat like the lightning rods that decorate
+house-tops on my own Earth. I also learned that a very thin atmosphere
+is prevalent on the Moon, and that this rare medium is more suited to
+their wireless telegraphy than our heavier atmosphere would be with its
+different composition.</p>
+
+<p>I soon learned that great excitement was prevailing throughout the
+adjacent villages. Wireless telegraphy carried the news, and from all
+directions throngs were pressing toward the city. Furthermore I saw that
+the noted personage with whom I had spent a quiet season was now making
+his way toward me. Not wishing to hold further conversation with him,
+and desiring to escape the ever-rising tide of curious questioners, I
+once more became invisible and proceeded to study the physical phenomena
+of the Moon.</p>
+
+<p>I now saw that everything bore evidence to the fearful havoc of volcanic
+eruptions that had laid waste so large a portion of the Moon's surface.
+The people live in the remaining fertile belts and patches of land which
+are fortunately scattered in rich profusion over the greater portion of
+the surface, reminding one of productive oases in the deserts of our
+world.</p>
+
+<p>Here and there, in stately museums, are stored the relics of the old
+glorious civilization. At a few of these places I tarried to study the
+achievements of a people who flourished five thousand years ago, at a
+time when the civilization of our world was yet young. What an interest
+lay wrapped up in the time-worn relics! Naturally I thought of Pompeii
+as I was viewing the antique treasures that had been brought to light
+from their old graves of ashes, cinder and lava. In some of these
+specimens I saw glimpses of inventions that have never been reproduced
+on the Moon and never known on our Earth.</p>
+
+<p>Onward I moved to take my last views of the Moon. For ragged and jagged
+cliffs of almost total barrenness, and yawning chasms lined with
+intolerable precipices, the Moon outrivals the Earth. I took a passing
+glimpse of the famous crater-mountains, called by our astronomers
+Copernicus and Theophilus, the former situated in the eastern and the
+latter in the western hemisphere of the Moon. The largest openings of
+our Earth dwindle into insignificance compared with such stupendous
+marvels of natural scenery.</p>
+
+<p>Many similar places I visited, but I spent my last hours on the Moon in
+the presence of that gigantic chasm called Newton, where I was thrilled
+with feelings of sublimity as never before. Outstretched lay the immense
+opening, nearly one hundred and fifty miles long and about seventy miles
+broad. It was fearful to gaze into it, for my eye stretched downward
+mile after mile until it reached the blackness of darkness. It
+frequently happens that a Moonite accidentally falls into this monster
+Newtonian chasm. Nothing more is ever seen or heard of him.</p>
+
+<p>I shuddered as I peered into this gigantic opening whose gaping mouth
+could swallow Pike's Peak so that its highest point would be many
+thousands of feet below the surface. We have nothing on our Earth that
+can compare with this terribly imposing sight, and as I was studying the
+expansive waste I could more readily understand how large numbers of
+human beings could be destroyed by such fabulous quantities of boiling
+lava as were capable of being thrown from this pit. There is no doubt
+that the lava and ashes hurled from this crater alone would send a
+withering blast of death-dealing for many hundreds of miles around.</p>
+
+<p>If you have never been privileged to look upon this ponderous chasm face
+to face, improve your first opportunity to get a glimpse of it through
+as powerful a telescope as possible.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III" />CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h3>A Visit to Mars.</h3>
+
+
+<p>I need not describe the manner of my flight. It is enough to say that,
+to my delight, I reached our neighbor planet called Mars, and at once
+proceeded to study its physical features and its human life.</p>
+
+<p>Everything was vastly different from what I had been long accustomed to
+see and to imagine, and I felt quite assured that I was living in a
+dream. But I knew of no way to convince myself as to my bearings, so I
+concluded to make the best use of my time and opportunities, and leave
+questionings to the future.</p>
+
+<p>As a physical world Mars bears a most striking resemblance to our Earth.
+The length of its year is six hundred and eighty-seven of our days, and
+the length of its day is twenty-four hours and thirty-seven minutes. Its
+diameter is about one-half that of the Earth and its distance from the
+Sun is 142,000,000 miles. Even from our own world we can discern
+through a good telescope the changing colors of the planet, due to the
+recurring seasons, each one of which is almost twice the length of ours.</p>
+
+<p>There is relatively much less water on Mars than is found on our Earth,
+and gravity on its surface is only thirty-eight per cent. of terrestrial
+gravity. Imagine, then, how light everything must be. This may account
+somewhat for the physical proportions of its inhabitants, for they are
+over twice our size, and in appearance resemble us but little. They have
+four arms, two extra ones extending from a point just above the knees.
+The two lower arms act as servants to the two higher. Thus are the four
+used at one time in harmony.</p>
+
+<p>Mars is an older world than ours, and although it receives only one-half
+as much heat from the sun yet it is almost of the same temperature,
+owing to a peculiar condition of the atmosphere which we would call
+"heat retentivity."</p>
+
+<p>Some scientists and philosophers will at once say that such atmospheric
+conditions are contrary to reason and natural law, but they must be
+informed that on Mars there are chemical elements and affinities not
+known in our world. It requires but little change in the elementary
+construction of the atmosphere to render it capable of strong
+heat-retaining properties.</p>
+
+<p>Standing on the surface of this planet, my attention was easily
+attracted by the two frisky moons called Deimos and Phobos, at the small
+distance of 14,600 and 12,500 miles respectively. These two moons are
+constantly flying around the planet, one in about thirty hours and the
+other in seven and one-half hours.</p>
+
+<p>The astronomers of Mars have discovered unmistakable signs of human life
+on the farthest of these two moons. They are hoping to be able some day
+to cover the intervening distance and for the first time see their old
+neighbors face to face.</p>
+
+<p>Before I had traveled over one-half the surface of this planet I was
+thoroughly convinced that it was a rough, jagged world without lofty
+mountain ranges or peaks. The many long and narrow fertile valleys, much
+resembling the canons of our own Earth, absorbed my mind with more than
+passing interest. Looking carefully into one of these canon depressions,
+I saw a class of human beings in a low state of civilization;
+nevertheless, they were expert in agriculture and seemed to labor
+contentedly with a dull, plodding vigor beyond all reason.</p>
+
+<p>According to appearances there seemed to be no social relation or
+connection between the inhabitants of one valley and those of another.
+At first I was greatly puzzled at these peculiar conditions.</p>
+
+<p>Next I gave my attention to the highlands or wide barren ridges between
+the valleys. On these elevations I saw a highly civilized race of people
+living in great splendor. They enjoyed the privilege of traveling from
+one highland to another and of exchanging courtesies. Their interests
+were common, and their joys and sorrows were mutual.</p>
+
+<p>At once I became interested in these extremes of life as exhibited in
+the valleys and on the highlands, and resolved that I would find the
+cause for these differences.</p>
+
+<p>The authentic history of these Marsmen runs back through thousands of
+years. I learned with interest the wonderful past life on this world.</p>
+
+<p>There was once a time when people all mingled together and cultivated
+the valleys. Each one by doing his part made it lighter for all. But
+after many years a few schemers combined and by their inventive genius
+succeeded in erecting vast sliding curtains over the valleys. These
+curtains were supported from the tops of the ridges on each side and, by
+their manipulation, the operators could keep the sunlight from any
+particular part of the valley.</p>
+
+<p>Then these shrewd Marsmen exacted tribute from the valley-toilers,
+saying to them: "Give us a fifth part of your products, and we will give
+you sunlight."</p>
+
+<p>So the toilers gave them tribute willingly, knowing that they could not
+live without sunlight. Then it came to pass that these toilers were
+burdened by reason of their taxes and they prayed to the rich that they
+might have sunlight at a lower price, but the rich replied:</p>
+
+<p>"We cannot give you sunlight for less because it costs us much to keep
+in repair our immense curtain systems across the valley." So the poor
+toilers labored more and slept less, while the few rich on the
+elevations built unto themselves more spacious homes and lived in
+greater luxury all their days.</p>
+
+<p>In process of time some of the shrewdest highlanders devised an
+attachment to the curtain system by which the rainfall could also be
+distributed at the will of the operators. Then the rich Marsmen on the
+elevations said to the toilers: "Give us one-fifth more of your
+products, and we will give you your share of the rainfall."</p>
+
+<p>The poor laborers had no alternative; so they labored still more
+diligently to pay their taxes for light and rain, and the burden became
+so heavy that they could no longer bear it. So they sent up a petition
+praying for sunlight and rain for a one-fifth instead of a two-fifths
+tribute. The rich refused to listen to this prayer, whereat the toilers
+refused to comply with these intolerable demands.</p>
+
+<p>Then did the rich magnates of the elevations draw their curtains to
+keep both sunshine and rain from the valley. The laborers consumed all
+they had until, in desperation, they asked again for sunlight and rain,
+but the rich refused to give either unless the toilers would promise to
+give a two-fifths tribute; to do this the toilers at length agreed. Then
+the curtains were withdrawn, the sunlight once more kissed the valley,
+the rain again fell upon the fields, and some of the poor, ignorant
+people devoutly thanked their God for these gifts.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="IMG4" id="IMG4" /><img src="images/image-4.jpg" width="600" height="395" alt="Monopolizing Light and Rain on Mars." title="" />
+<b>Monopolizing Light and Rain on Mars.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>It occurred later that one of the many toilers, whom his Creator had
+endowed with unusual wisdom, became the leader of the masses in
+struggling for their rights. He traveled the whole length of the valley
+and advocated that the people should unite, march to the summit of the
+hill, destroy the fastenings that held these curtains and, as the
+coverings would fall, destroy them with fire. This leader declared that
+they were entitled to sunlight and rain without paying tribute to man.
+Gradually the workers were won to his views. The rich, seeing that their
+investments were threatened, hired a few brilliant orators and sent
+them to the people to persuade them not to give heed to a man of one
+idea. These orators argued that it would be a great crime to destroy the
+property of others, and that their only way of securing happiness was to
+toil on with patience and keep looking for brighter days. The people
+listened to the specious sophistries and thus pushed aside their
+redeemer, putting off forever the day of their deliverance.</p>
+
+<p>Similar troubles continued to arise in the valley, but the rich always
+succeeded in quieting the people before they rose to determined action.</p>
+
+<p>Then the rich decided to put an end to these agitations among the
+toilers. Accordingly they cut off all communication from valley to
+valley, either by epistle or person, and refused longer to permit any
+poor toiler, or his children, to pursue any study whatever. By this
+method, in the course of a few hundred years, the valley dwellers lapsed
+into ignorant slaves, not knowing, except by tradition, that there were
+other people in other parts of Mars. Thus the rich continued to
+flourish on all the highlands, for they had extended this same policy
+until the toilers of the whole planet were practically galley slaves,
+each consigned to his own narrow canon.</p>
+
+<p>After witnessing the wide extent of this slavery system, I appeared in
+visible form to a rich dignitary on one of the most refined highlands.</p>
+
+<p>He was alone and, upon raising his eyes and seeing me before him, he was
+greatly amazed. To see a little man with a hairy face and with the kind
+of clothing I wore, was all too odd for him to take in at once. He acted
+as if I were some unheard-of animal, but when I addressed him in his own
+tongue and manifested a becomingly meek disposition, he accepted me as a
+deformed creature afflicted with a mild form of lunacy. Then he
+proceeded to examine my clothing and especially my knees, trying to
+solve by what freak of nature I was cursed since I had no lower arms
+such as he had. My small face, smooth forehead, and the short straight
+hair on my head aroused in him no little wonder and merriment, so that,
+all in all, I was the oddest freak he had ever seen. He soon showed by
+his manner how thankful he was that gracious nature had formed him so
+much more kindly than me.</p>
+
+<p>His questions soon poured out upon me and I answered as briefly and
+intelligently as I could. He pressed me so hard as to the place of my
+birth that I finally informed him that I came from another world,
+whereat he was assured of my insanity and proceeded to fasten me by
+force until he might summon certain of his friends. Knowing that all the
+people of Mars could do me no ultimate harm and wishing to see what
+might be their intentions, I offered very feeble resistance to his
+course.</p>
+
+<p>In a very short time there was grouped around me a curious set of
+people, all of whom seemed to me so horribly ugly that I felt well
+satisfied that I had been born on the Earth. Among the company were some
+eminent scholars who did no more than peer at one another and walk about
+me, while they were waiting for some learned professors to arrive from a
+distance. A long, tedious period ensued ere the company of judges or
+examiners were gathered from several adjoining highlands.</p>
+
+<p>They took me into a large room where followed an indescribable
+examination during which I purposely remained silent.</p>
+
+<p>The button and button holes of my clothing attracted as much attention
+as my unnaturally shaped head. My collar and necktie were conundrums.
+Not one of the learned scholars was able to advance a theory as to the
+probable use of such a stiff piece under my head. I could not conceal my
+smiles as I heard the flying theories as to the use of my cuffs. One
+specialist decided that inasmuch as I had only two arms, I wore these to
+make them appear larger. This was accepted as the most plausible
+explanation.</p>
+
+<p>Several times they urged me to speak. The man to whom I had first
+appeared had told them that I was expert in their language. But I would
+not utter a word, being anxious to learn all I could by listening to
+their conjectures.</p>
+
+<p>Some of my examiners were sure I belonged to a species of their animal
+creation, who, in some unaccountable manner, had received the gift of
+intelligence. But this opinion did not gain ground, as no one could
+account for the manner of my clothing and especially for my pocket knife
+and other accompaniments. No one believed that I came from another
+world, and yet no one could see how or where I had originated on Mars.</p>
+
+<p>Finally one of the company struck upon a popular theory. He argued that
+I belonged to a tribe of creatures that had developed far away in one of
+their almost unending forests, and that I was the first of my kind that
+had ever ventured so far from home.</p>
+
+<p>"But how did he learn our language?" queried one.</p>
+
+<p>"Any intelligent creature would by nature alone come to our language,"
+was the conceited explanation of another.</p>
+
+<p>Another gave a better theory which was at length accepted. He said that
+no doubt I belonged to a company that had emigrated long, long ago from
+one of the valleys.</p>
+
+<p>After all their pains I satisfied their ruling desire by speaking. They
+knew not what to say as I gave them a general description of the world
+from which I came.</p>
+
+<p>Purposely I used their most cultured forms of expression. At once I rose
+to a high level in their estimation and they gradually accepted my words
+as true. With absorbing interest they listened to every syllable and,
+when I paused, their questions fell upon me in wild profusion. On my
+account the schools were abandoned, all the leading teachers of five
+elevations became my astonished auditors, and after every period of
+sleep I was confronted by still other classes of specialists, some from
+more distant elevations.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, feigning ignorance, I asked where they obtained their
+sustenance, as I had not seen one field in cultivation. They told me the
+whole history of the toilers in the valley as already recounted, and how
+the curtain magnates received their tributes which were sufficient to
+feed all the people of the elevations.</p>
+
+<p>"What right," I asked, "has any one to form a monopoly on sunlight or
+rain which are free bounties from above?"</p>
+
+<p>"There can be nothing wrong about that," came the positive answer. "Any
+man who was wise enough to think of such a splendid system of
+valley-covers surely deserves all the benefit that can be secured from
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"How did you succeed in getting the people to submit to such a system?"</p>
+
+<p>"It all came by force. At first they were unwilling enough, but we
+withdrew their education and kept them isolated. With ignorance you can
+conquer any people. Now they are our perfect servants, and in a short
+time we need not use the curtains any more. A few masters can control
+the whole valley. All we need to give them will be enough to eat, and
+the remainder of their products we can send to the elevations."</p>
+
+<p>I was struck with horror at this revolting scheme, and expressed myself
+in strong terms. I thought of the conditions of our world and felt
+thankful that it had not gone so far that the laboring classes were
+galley slaves to the rich; and I breathed my prayer that it might never
+be so.</p>
+
+<p>My investigations on this planet were long extended. The educated
+people gave me many new ideas, although they are ignorant of many
+advantages which we enjoy. Their means of transportation are miserable
+compared with ours, and when I was explaining to the Marsmen our methods
+of travel they were surprised beyond measure. However their knowledge of
+nature and forms of animal life is far superior to ours. There I solved
+some of the complex questions of Biology which had long puzzled my mind
+during my stay on the Earth.</p>
+
+<p>In their religion they worship the Source of Life, and look upon the Sun
+as the place to which the spirit goes at death. In brief, the Sun is
+their Heaven. They believe that the Sun's heat will be no barrier to the
+spirit's complete happiness when liberated from the body. Phonetically
+pronounced, they call the Sun Then-ka.</p>
+
+<p>I was indeed surprised at the simplicity of their devotions to their
+unseen God. Even the untutored toilers of the valleys talk to the Source
+of Life and are constantly looking forward to the time when their hard
+lot will be over that they may enter the Then-ka life. I could not help
+but think that their chances of Heaven were better than those of the
+highland caste; but I will not judge lest I might err. Who can
+understand the universal plans of Jehovah?</p>
+
+<p>Before I left the Marsmen I informed them that certain enthusiasts of my
+world had been signaling to them for some time, and urged them to
+improve their astronomical apparatus so that they might be able to
+discern these signals and reply to them.</p>
+
+<p>On account of my thoughtlessness I made an error, for I failed, while I
+was yet on Mars, to arrange a code of signals; hence I fear that there
+will be considerable experimenting before we can hope to establish
+communication with our neighbor world.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV" />CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h3>A Glimpse of Jupiter.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The next world I visited was Jupiter, the greatest orb in the solar
+system, almost fourteen hundred times as large as our Earth. I found it
+whirling on its axis so rapidly that it makes an entire revolution in
+about ten hours of our time.</p>
+
+<p>This voluminous sphere is in great contrast to both the Moon and Mars.
+Its physical constituency resembles a liquid more than a solid, and it
+is quite hot but not luminous. It has cooled sufficiently to admit human
+forms, although certain parts of the giant planet are void of all life,
+owing to the more intense heat in those sections.</p>
+
+<p>The atmosphere is charged with thick clouds, never at rest and
+continually forming into immense scrolls close to the surface of the
+planet.</p>
+
+<p>The human life of Jupiter is found in certain belts where the crust of
+the planet has been hardened for several thousand years. The people have
+risen from rude, primitive conditions to a state of splendid
+civilization. In size they are colossal giants, averaging twenty-five
+feet in height. Their two powerful arms extend from what we would call
+the hips, and no one would imagine with what facility these giants use
+them. After extended observation, I was almost tempted to wonder why our
+arms were placed so high on the body. These Jupiterites are more
+handsome than the people on the Moon or Mars, and their faces shine with
+a superior intelligence. Instead of hair on the head, they have
+something unknown to our world, quite similar in appearance to wool.</p>
+
+<p>Their two eyes blaze like balls of fire, making one of the giants appear
+like a fiersome though not repulsive monster. The most unusual feature
+about the face is the peculiarity of the chin and forehead. Each is
+covered with convolutions of an insensible, rubber-like membrane.</p>
+
+<p>The people of Jupiter excel in mechanical skill. They build houses, but
+not by long, tedious days of painstaking labor. Such things as plaster
+and paint are unknown. A Jupiterite can purchase, from one of the
+mammoth structural factories, house sides, house ends, house floors or
+partitions, after any general design he wishes, and have them trimmed in
+any style his fancy suggests. The materials used are non-combustible and
+water-proof, and will wear indefinitely.</p>
+
+<p>These houses can be put together in a few days and the trimmings
+adjusted in less than two weeks, unless the structure is very elaborate.
+Nearly all of their house furniture is also non-combustible, and no one
+has ever conceived the idea of forming a fire insurance company, simply
+because there is no need for one.</p>
+
+<p>As the people are so much larger than we, so are all things relatively
+larger than we see them in our world. Wagons and carriages and cars
+appear as if they were made for mastodons.</p>
+
+<p>I saw one of their largest bridges spanning a molten lake. Aside of it
+the East River bridge would be a dwarf, either in height or length. It
+is certainly thrilling to step into a world where all things are so
+gigantic. At times a feeling of insignificance crept over me, but I took
+courage when I thought that a man's greatness consists in his mental
+powers and not in his physical bulk, for it is true that the fifty
+ounces of brain in the skull of a Newton have accomplished more marvels
+than the ten pounds of brain-matter found in the most cultured
+Jupiterite.</p>
+
+<p>We must give the people of Jupiter credit for exercising a large amount
+of common sense. In many ways they are more practical than we, and this
+is quite as noticeable in their language as in any other respect. They
+have one simple language for the whole globe and in its use they are all
+agreed. Their vocabulary is small because they have not yet branched out
+into the infinite varieties of manufacture and invention.</p>
+
+<p>Their words have a marvelous correspondence with the thought or the
+action expressed, the manner of emphasizing syllables going a great
+distance toward expressing the shade of emotion desired.</p>
+
+<p>I admired especially one thing on this bulky planet. They have but one
+authority for language. Hence there is no Century, Webster, Worcester or
+Standard, each rivaling the others for supremacy, to confuse the honest
+student with diverse spellings and pronunciations.</p>
+
+<p>The words of the language of Jupiter are all embodied in one unique
+dictionary which is revised at intervals by a board of official
+educators; to this board all suggestions for inserting new words and
+changing the classification of old ones must be given for their
+consideration.</p>
+
+<p>This dictionary is printed by the government, and a copy of it is
+furnished free to all public places and to each private family. When a
+revision is made, a copy of all the changes is furnished to each
+dictionary holder. The authority of this dictionary is final, and no one
+is permitted to publish a conflicting work.</p>
+
+<p>The Jupiterites have displayed their highest genius in their
+astronomical advancements. They know all about the Solar System, and
+have made discoveries inside of Neptune's orbit which our astronomers
+have never observed. I was thrilled with delight when I saw their
+telescopes with the marvelous lenses that opened the locked doors of the
+Milky Way. No wonder the astronomers of Jupiter have a more
+comprehensive view of the universe than we have. Their lenses are so
+powerful that they have seen the outlines of our rugged mountains, and
+have discovered on our world unmistakable signs of human life. During my
+visit thither the experts were working on a much larger lens, and it is
+claimed that when this is finished human forms can be discerned on the
+Earth and can be seen with more accuracy on Mars.</p>
+
+<p>The five moons that revolve around Jupiter have been studied with marked
+interest. Two of these moons have displayed definite signs of human
+life. It is promised also that the coming lens will unlock the doors of
+the several moons and permit the astronomers of Jupiter to pry into the
+secrets of their celestial neighbors.</p>
+
+<p>During the past one thousand years, the Jupiterites have made
+numberless attempts to establish communication between these moons and
+their planet, but all their efforts have failed. Either the Moonites are
+too stupid, or the Jupiterites are not expert enough in throwing out
+signals or in building air ships.</p>
+
+<p>For no one thing more than another did I envy the astronomers of Jupiter
+than for their marvelous magnifying lenses. I knew that if we had such
+lenses, or the material to make them, we could watch with ease the
+inhabitants of the Moon or of Mars, and we could study the intelligent
+life on Mercury and Venus, to say nothing of the great advantages we
+should have in observing comets and all the numberless starry systems
+scattered throughout illimitable space.</p>
+
+<p>The religious life of Jupiter proved to be intensely interesting to me.
+They have a sacred book which corresponds to our Bible, and it has
+always remained in its original form because there is but one language.</p>
+
+<p>Since I left my own world I had not felt so kindred a touch in spirit as
+when I invisibly entered one of their great temples of worship, as we
+might call it. No vocal music was there, but the mute beckoning of
+several thousand arms, as if to implore the favor of the great Inzoork
+or Creator, was impressively eloquent to me.</p>
+
+<p>I was thrilled with joy as I learned more of their religion. I found
+that their love and service were akin to those of our planet, and that
+these same bonds unite them one to another. My conceptions were
+enlarging as I saw the family of God enlarging, and I felt that although
+I was unlike them in the physical, yet I was their brother in spirit,
+and that we all have one Father.</p>
+
+<p>Religious liberty was enjoyed until a few centuries ago when certain
+restrictions were formulated. It was seen that some, in exercising their
+liberty, proved to be a curse to the state, and consequently a sharp
+battle ensued against the liberal element.</p>
+
+<p>The Church won the conflict and now the profession of atheism is not
+allowed. If it can be shown that any sane person takes such a position,
+he is given a certain period to recant. If recantation is not
+forthcoming, he is placed in the public work-house until he
+acknowledges the existence of Deity. Atheists are scarce under this
+severe ruling.</p>
+
+<p>You may well know how I was startled to see such summary action taken in
+regard to unbelievers. At first I prided myself that I belonged to a
+world of free thought and free speech, but when I saw the magnetic
+effect of these Jupiter regulations I was in doubt as to the superiority
+of our religious and irreligious liberties.</p>
+
+<p>The soil of Jupiter yields abundantly. The animals are all large and of
+species unknown to us. They have animals that resemble our elephant and
+ox; these they use for food. Common birds, as large as geese or turkeys,
+flourish in the extensive forests and furnish about one-third of the
+food for the giants.</p>
+
+<p>The vegetation is after the order of our world, except that the curse of
+weeds and thistles is only one-fourth as great. But the people of
+Jupiter have learned more than we of the use of these weeds, and certain
+of them are cultivated to a wide extent.</p>
+
+<p>I spent a long time on the planet. I saw the fiery lakes that are fed by
+subterraneous streams of lava, and the geysers of blue flame darting
+their immense tongues high in the air.</p>
+
+<p>As near as fifty miles to these fiery centers can be seen gardens of
+vegetation and fields under cultivation. I yielded at last to a desire
+that prompted me to make a personal appearance. So I stopped on a
+thoroughfare and occupied a rustic seat at the roadside. I was dressed
+in my earthly costume, and sat composedly awaiting developments.</p>
+
+<p>The first living creature that observed my presence was a passing
+quadruped. It was larger than a wild goat, and was a small specimen
+after its kind. For want of a better name I will call it a "dog."</p>
+
+<p>As soon as I was spied by this animal he set up a hideous howl and ran
+at full speed. Knowing my own homeliness, I had all charity for the
+animal and did not censure him for being so terribly frightened at my
+appearance.</p>
+
+<p>Soon a full grown giant came along. He chanced to be a learned professor
+out for an evening walk, as we would say. He seemed to be in deep
+meditation and did not notice me until he was near my side. Then he
+stood breathless, while a feeling of fear and surprise evidently
+possessed him. I sat motionless, looking up into his eyes, and saw the
+convolutions on his forehead and chin quivering quite perceptibly. He
+evidently judged me to be some undeveloped species of Mon-go-din, an
+animal of Jupiter bearing faint resemblance to our man-ape. To my
+surprise, he suddenly grasped me and tightly held me fast in his
+gigantic arms. I made no effort to free myself.</p>
+
+<p>His surprise was only intensified at my resignation. He expected a
+struggle, but I neither made an outcry nor resisted capture. Like an
+infant I lay in his arms, while he passed quick glances all over me. He
+was baffled beyond all measure, and hurried away toward the great
+college near by. Upon reaching the museum department, I was placed in a
+strong cage and the doors were doubly secured.</p>
+
+<p>My captor ran from my presence and, in a few moments, returned with two
+other professors. They peered into the cage in painful astonishment,
+while I contented myself by taking my watch apart and occasionally
+glancing at my select audience.</p>
+
+<p>Then commenced the jibbering consultation, all of which I well
+understood. My captor related the full circumstances in connection with
+his walk in the grove and the manner in which he captured me. He dwelt
+particularly on the indifference I manifested in all his dealings with
+me.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a baby Mon-go-din," suggested the one professor, while the other
+advanced the theory that I was an abnormal child of some Jupiterite.</p>
+
+<p>My watch excited their curiosity. One reached his hand cautiously
+through the bars and evinced by his actions what he wanted. I looked up
+into his eyes and spoke my first words.</p>
+
+<p>"Patience, please, till I put the watch together, and you shall have
+it."</p>
+
+<p>Not only did his arms fly away from the cage, but his whole body fell
+prostrate to the floor, whether from fright or surprise, I knew not. His
+two companions were also in a sorry plight. I pretended not to notice
+their consternation, and kept myself busy in placing the parts of my
+watch together.</p>
+
+<p>After a while I was addressed by a trembling questioner: "Where is your
+home, my child?" I did not lift my eyes, but completed my little
+self-appointed task, and at once raised the watch in fulfillment of my
+promise.</p>
+
+<p>The timid professor ventured to accept it and, as he received it from my
+hand, he again asked: "Where is your home?"</p>
+
+<p>"Farther away than the circumference of your world," I distinctly
+answered.</p>
+
+<p>At this time the three agreed that I was an insane child, born out of
+time, and that I satisfied my propensities by gathering to myself such
+idiotic things as my watch and garments, including my hat and shoes.</p>
+
+<p>A quiet consultation followed, after which one of the professors retired
+from the room and soon returned with certain morsels of food. Upon
+handing them to me, I at once remarked: "Keep these morsels for
+yourself; I have better food to eat, of which you know nothing."</p>
+
+<p>The other two professors had by this time observed that my watch was a
+marvelous piece of mechanism beyond their most delicate accomplishments,
+and they announced the fact to their other companion who again looked at
+me in breathless surprise. "Where did you get this Fot-sil?" (or
+plaything), he queried in one breath.</p>
+
+<p>"Farther away than the circumference of your world," was my evasive and,
+to them, unsatisfactory reply.</p>
+
+<p>"Won't you tell us, child, how far away that is?" asked another with
+subdued impatience.</p>
+
+<p>"Millions of miles." (Of course I spoke in terms of their linear
+measurements).</p>
+
+<p>"How many millions?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes five hundred and sometimes six hundred millions."</p>
+
+<p>Without giving them a chance for asking me another question I offered to
+let them see my home if they would permit me to use the most powerful
+telescope in their observatory.</p>
+
+<p>My listeners were indeed amazed and were about to pour upon me a volley
+of interrogations. I assured them that I would answer no more questions
+until I knew whether my request would be granted.</p>
+
+<p>This necessitated a consultation with the chief astronomer who, upon
+learning of my peculiar request and of my unnatural formation, hastened
+to the museum to see the monstrosity.</p>
+
+<p>I knew from what I had previously learned that this gentleman was the
+greatest living astronomer on Jupiter. He peered at me in the cage and
+was dumfounded. He exchanged a few sentences with the professor and
+again turned to me:</p>
+
+<p>"At what time do you want the telescope?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Immediately."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall have it, just to satisfy our curiosity," he said as he
+hastened from the room.</p>
+
+<p>I heard the professor caution him strictly to tell no one of my
+presence, so as to avoid a rush from the student ranks.</p>
+
+<p>In less than an hour I stood at the side of the largest telescope in our
+Solar System, watching the deepening shadows of night as they fell upon
+Jupiter.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 387px;">
+<a name="IMG5" id="IMG5" /><img src="images/image-5.jpg" width="387" height="600" alt="Viewing Our Earth from Jupiter." title="" />
+<b>Viewing Our Earth from Jupiter.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>I spent another hour examining the ponderous machinery that was
+required to swing this mammoth instrument and to adjust it when scanning
+the heavens.</p>
+
+<p>By this time my four companions were convinced that I was not an idiot,
+and I could see by their strange manner that they were regarding me as a
+spirit.</p>
+
+<p>I gave my directions to the astronomer, and beheld the cylinder,
+two-hundred feet in length and twenty feet in diameter, swing around
+until it pointed toward a little flickering light that shone like a
+distant star.</p>
+
+<p>I looked into the eye-piece, managed to get the tube pointed accurately,
+and then requested the astronomer to focus the lenses so as to bear upon
+the planetary light in range.</p>
+
+<p>He knew at once the planet I had singled out. He called it Zo-ide. After
+the focusing was completed, I looked and, behold, I could readily
+discern many of the physical features of my own world.</p>
+
+<p>"That is my homeland," I cried triumphantly. "I live on Zo-ide, or
+Earth, as we call it."</p>
+
+<p>Of course my listeners were incredulous, but I proceeded to explain to
+them as I looked through the telescope:</p>
+
+<p>"That dark ridge to the left is called 'the Rocky and Andes Mountain
+Systems'. The shining belt on the central portion is the 'Mississippi
+River'. The rough ridge to the right is 'the Allegheny System' of
+mountains." Then I indicated the location of our larger cities. As I
+pointed to New York, I saw a mere speck moving. I was convinced that it
+was one of our large steamships, and as I so explained the astronomer
+looked at me with absorbing interest.</p>
+
+<p>He informed me that he had often seen the moving of the spots, and
+thought they were some cloud formations peculiar to our world. But I
+insisted on the steamship explanation and proceeded to describe an ocean
+liner, for these Jupiterites are not familiar with oceans of cold water
+on which float numerous craft.</p>
+
+<p>I was then a royal guest, and passed a most felicitous night with these
+four celebrities. We talked of the more powerful telescope that the
+government of Jupiter was manufacturing, and of the still greater views
+it promised to reveal.</p>
+
+<p>Then I informed them of our system of science. They were astonished at
+the great civilization extant on Zo-ide, or our Earth.</p>
+
+<p>I told them that a subtile power lay dormant in the atoms and molecules
+of matter, which could be released and utilized, and that we in our
+world called it "electricity."</p>
+
+<p>During the night I learned that the convolutions on the chin and
+forehead of a Jupiterite served the purpose of a new sense. By the aid
+of these convolutions any person of Jupiter can tell in daylight or
+darkness the nature of any surrounding substance, whether it be hard or
+soft, combustible or non-combustible, good for food or not. I confess
+that I was unable to grasp the idea intelligently. So the people on the
+Moon had the same difficulty in understanding the use of my nose.</p>
+
+<p>Before morning dawned I informed my appreciative quartette that I would
+see them no more, that I had paused at Jupiter station long enough, and
+that I must be off on my vast excursion trip.</p>
+
+<p>They earnestly entreated me to remain so that the college students and
+representative persons could get a glimpse of me; but I refused all
+their entreaties. When they found that I had power to leave them
+instantly, they besought me to remain for a few last words.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we not see you again?" affectingly asked the astronomer.</p>
+
+<p>I told them that I expected to spend eternity in the kingdom of our God
+who made all the stars and worlds, and holds each in its respective
+place. "If you are pure in heart to Him," I continued, "there can be no
+doubt but that we shall see one another again in that happy celestial
+center where our eyes will be our telescopes, where our pure hearts will
+assent to the Fatherhood of God, and where our souls will be quickened
+at the universal fountain of Love."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V" />CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h3>Beautiful Saturn.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A delightfully busy world next met my gaze. Saturn, supreme in love,
+with its mysterious rings and its eight moons, now held my attention and
+won my admiration.</p>
+
+<p>This world is almost as large as Jupiter, and its soil is more fertile.
+The inhabitants resemble us in physical appearance, except that they are
+twice our size.</p>
+
+<p>Like Jupiter, it is enveloped in thick semi-liquid clouds which are
+never at rest. This changing atmosphere causes continual friction of
+particles, and this serves to produce sufficient heat to counteract the
+frigid blasts that would otherwise freeze out the whole planet. These
+atmospheric conditions attracted my attention to a great degree. I
+estimated as best I could, and ascertained that Saturn receives as much
+heat from this peculiar atmosphere as our Earth receives from the Sun.</p>
+
+<p>As I found it on Jupiter, so I found it here. The human eye is so
+constructed that it seems to have more than an X-ray power, for it can
+look through this atmosphere as readily as we can peer through ours.</p>
+
+<p>The air of Saturn, being so thick, contains much natural nourishment,
+and the inhabitants are sustained largely by breathing. This reminded me
+of the manner in which our fish flourish in the waters of our globe.</p>
+
+<p>Marvelous indeed are the possibilities of life. I now had before me new
+problems to solve, for natural laws have but a limited expression in our
+own world. Here science puts on new garments, but they are all cut in
+harmony with universal laws.</p>
+
+<p>Woman is the ruling genius of this planet. Being untrammeled for a few
+thousand years, she has attained a higher glory than her sex has reached
+in any world of our Solar System.</p>
+
+<p>As you scan the honor rolls of Saturn, reading the list of the eminent
+leaders in science, art and philosophy, you will readily observe that
+woman has forged to the front. She also sits upon the principal thrones
+of temporal power.</p>
+
+<p>Woman's beauty on Saturn is surpassing. It reaches a higher degree of
+perfection than any of the myriad types of beauty on this enchanting
+world. When I first opened my eyes on these scenes, I imagined that I
+had reached Heaven, but, to my chagrin, I soon found the black marks of
+sin that stain the whole planet.</p>
+
+<p>The illustrious inventors of Saturn, living and dead, make a long list,
+which is headed by the name of Veorda, a woman of marvelous intellect.
+She looked into the mysteries of nature with a shrewd, wizard eye, but,
+unfortunately, lost her life early in a bold experiment with explosives.
+However, before she reached her much-lamented end, she had won enough
+honor to outshine all inventors in the whole history of Saturn.</p>
+
+<p>She was the sole inventor of all explosives, and she had learned how to
+operate them without making any noise or smoke. This proved a valuable
+aid to factories and quarries, and particularly in the handling of fire
+arms, of which Saturn has a very strange collection.</p>
+
+<p>Before Veorda was born the flying machine had been invented and used.
+But aerial travel was soon abandoned owing to some terrible accidents
+that had occurred. During the earlier part of her career Veorda labored
+assiduously until she overcame a few difficulties and thereby perfected
+the flying machine.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 406px;">
+<a name="IMG6" id="IMG6" /><img src="images/image-6.jpg" width="406" height="600" alt="An Air Ship on Saturn." title="" />
+<b>An Air Ship on Saturn.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>It was a day of international rejoicing when her perfected machine
+sailed over the governments of Saturn. The invention stood every test
+and at once air traffic was resumed and maintained. When this woman died
+the governments erected to her memory the finest and costliest monument
+that now stands on the whole world of Saturn. Of course, I went to see
+it. As I stood studying the poetry of the pillars, I looked overhead and
+saw one of the immense aerial ships carrying a pleasure party to a
+distant point. I cannot describe my feelings as I lingered in the
+presence of the sleeping dust and saw the imperishable influence of her
+thoughts still working for her, in a carnal sense, "a more exceeding
+and eternal weight of glory."</p>
+
+<p>Yet with all this homage paid to Veorda, I cannot believe that she is
+more illustrious than the present living wizard of our world, the
+notable Edison.</p>
+
+<p>Veorda lived and died a devoted worshipper of "The Great Influence," or
+God, and it is delightful to think that we shall associate with such
+great minds in our eternal abode in that Broader Life where the pure of
+all spheres gather. Will I do wrong if I quote that sublime beatitude,
+making it applicable to all worlds? "Blessed are the pure in heart, for
+they shall see God."</p>
+
+<p>The written language of Saturn resembles the Chinese character language,
+only it is much more smooth and more complete.</p>
+
+<p>The Shakespeare of that planet is a woman called Ziek-dod who has been
+dead twelve hundred years. Her writings have been quoted and esteemed as
+masterpieces all through these ages. Her style is singular, resembling
+the proverbs of Solomon, with a little more ornament in the language.</p>
+
+<p>As to the subject matter, her epigrammatic sentences are grouped and
+classified with an accuracy that is both pleasing and popular. At
+intervals the reader is treated with a sprinkling of alliterative
+sentences.</p>
+
+<p>Ziek-dod shines as an eternal star among the great names of her world.
+Like Veorda, she was pure-hearted and possessed fine moral and spiritual
+qualities. She passed out into that Broader Life where language is
+sweeter and thoughts are more holy.</p>
+
+<p>In music I noticed the most radical departures. The popular home
+instrument is larger than our organ and has nearly one hundred keys
+arranged somewhat like the keyboard of a typewriter.</p>
+
+<p>These keys and their combinations are capable of rendering sounds to
+correspond with every syllable found in their words. A proper
+familiarity with these sounds is a part of every child's training on
+Saturn.</p>
+
+<p>When one plays on this instrument every sound struck on the keys
+represents a certain vowel-consonant sound. Thus the listener hears the
+sounds more distinctly than we hear the words of a phonograph.</p>
+
+<p>Under such conditions a musician is capable of interpreting his exact
+feelings when manipulating the keys. He talks to his listeners with
+organ sounds. The great poet musicians can breathe out their
+inspirations in rapturous melodies. On special occasions famous
+musicians are employed to render original selections. Addresses and
+lectures are also given in this manner with very pleasing results.</p>
+
+<p>The Saturnites know nothing of the Telephone, Telegraph, or Phonograph.
+But for carrying messages they have a signal system by which
+intelligence is flashed from one point to another with great rapidity.</p>
+
+<p>Saturn has eight moons and is surrounded with the rings which have made
+it famous from the time the planet was first seen through the telescope.
+These rings and moons are inhabited by a type of human beings altogether
+different from those that live on the planet, and are distinctly visible
+to the dwellers of Saturn by means of powerful telescopes.</p>
+
+<p>The human beings on the rings are not able to watch their neighbors in
+space, having no instruments to carry their vision beyond the
+boundaries of their own peculiar abodes.</p>
+
+<p>The most picturesque sight of all the Solar System is seen as you stand
+on Saturn, and watch the rings and the eight moons chasing one another
+in the heavens above you.</p>
+
+<p>The inhabitants of this beautiful world believe that the soul of each
+God-adorer at death passes out into the spirit life on the rings where
+it will continue in a blissful existence until the final judgment.</p>
+
+<p>The religious life of Saturn is officially controlled by men. There are
+many creeds, each with its own devoted followers. The leading church of
+this world was not organized until seven thousand years after religious
+life took a distinctive form. Then a man named Trique, who was a shrewd
+student of the times, after a careful study of the weaknesses found in
+existing religious bodies, and after amassing enormous wealth in
+business, founded a new church on a neat, practical business plan which
+may thus be briefly described in terms and figures of our own language.</p>
+
+<p>Trique had a fortune of two hundred millions which, by investment,
+netted him twenty millions annually. These net earnings he used to
+establish his new denomination. He commenced operations simultaneously
+at the capitol of each of the four governments of Saturn, and at each
+place built two magnificent churches, costing one million dollars
+apiece. It took over three years of our time to build these eight
+churches. Before one year had expired he had started fifty other
+churches in the centers of Saturn's population. These churches averaged
+in cost three hundred thousand dollars each. Thus the plan continued,
+ever starting new structures until all Saturn was decorated with the
+churches of Trique, even village edifices costing from ten to
+twenty-five thousand dollars. So much for the mere outward part of the
+church which anybody might create if he had recourse to such enormous
+wealth.</p>
+
+<p>Before Trique commenced any one of his buildings, he canvassed the whole
+community for charter members of his church. These were composed of two
+classes, spiritual and connected. This canvassing was done by the
+finest scholars that Trique could employ. Each one was supposed to be
+the pastor of the community he canvassed. The conditions of the charter
+membership were easy to meet. All that was required for connected
+membership was a good moral life and a lip confession of the faith.</p>
+
+<p>On account of the superior advantages offered by the Trique church it
+grew steadily from the beginning. I will here append a few
+characteristics of the organization:</p>
+
+<p>1. The church takes care of all its members during sickness, furnishing
+a physician and all necessary medicines free of charge. The church owns
+drug stores and graduates its own physicians.</p>
+
+<p>2. The church has its own salaried undertakers, and defrays all funeral
+expenses.</p>
+
+<p>3. The church supplies a moral and spiritual education to all the
+children of its members. This school does a work similar to our
+Sunday-school, only it is held daily and is under a trained corps of
+paid teachers.</p>
+
+<p>For all these advantages each member is required to give to the church
+one-eleventh of his earnings and to attend the services of the church
+and co-operate with the pastor in the advancement of all spiritual work.</p>
+
+<p>The church keeps a perpetual record of the attendance and the work done
+by each member.</p>
+
+<p>It required a man of large business capacity to launch such a church
+with its radically new principles. But Trique's immense wealth was a
+powerful force when utilized in this manner. He made every church a
+strong business center commanding the respect of the whole community.
+Discipline was rigidly enforced. No member cared to be expelled from
+such a church. It meant a going out from under a warm cover at the
+approach of winter.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately, Trique was a clean, spiritual man and strongly urged a
+spiritual ministry and membership.</p>
+
+<p>It can be seen why this church grew so rapidly. In fifty years it became
+so powerful that it could control, if it wished, the legislation in
+nearly all the sections of the planet.</p>
+
+<p>I have given but a brief picture of this ruling church. It must suffice.
+I may add that one must not imagine the church services and forms in
+Saturn to be like our worship. All things are so different that it would
+take much space and time to describe them.</p>
+
+<p>For beauty of natural scenery, Saturn surpasses all the Solar System.
+Its air is of a different composition from ours, and its sky puts on
+various tints as the day passes, which is a little over ten hours of our
+time, but it takes nearly thirty of our years to make one on Saturn.</p>
+
+<p>The immense mountain ranges present a picture of unusual beauty. The
+leaves of trees are rich in velvety varieties and the undergrowth
+appears as if trimmed by skilled hands. This is a desirable place to
+live. But I learned that the inhabitants of Saturn do not appreciate all
+this wealth of beauty, in its atmosphere or on its earth, a whit more
+than the people of our world appreciate the sin cursed scenery which
+greets their eyes.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI" />CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h3>The Nearest Fixed Star.</h3>
+
+
+<p>All that was required on my part was a mere act of the mind, and I went
+where I wished. I visited Uranus and Neptune, after which I stretched my
+swift wings for the great flight, away from our Solar System, over
+billions of miles of space. I alighted on the burning star nearest to
+our Earth. This star is called, by our astronomers, Alpha Centaurus, and
+it is said to be 20,000,000,000,000 miles away. This star is much
+greater than our Sun and is the center of a system of worlds larger and
+more numerous than those that compose our Solar System.</p>
+
+<p>You cannot imagine my surprise when I reached Alpha Centaurus and found
+that it was inhabited by a class of human creatures who were created to
+live and flourish in fire. Their customs and habits are so strange that
+I am not capable of giving an intelligent description of them. I know
+that it is inconceivable to us how life can be developed and sustained
+in the midst of a burning sun, and I found that these beings in turn
+could not conceive how life can exist in a cold world like ours.</p>
+
+<p>These creatures have no digestive organs. They live, in part, on the
+chemical action produced by fire breathing. The hotter the fire, the
+more easily is life sustained. If they were to get away from the heat,
+this chemical action would cease and therefore death would be as certain
+to them as being enveloped in fire would spell death to us.</p>
+
+<p>In our eyes, their bodies are misshapen, composed of elements most of
+which are not found in our world. There are many cold places, or sun
+spots, on Alpha Centaurus, but these are shunned by the people as death
+traps. However, the centers of population gather on the more solid
+sections, most of which lie around the sun spots.</p>
+
+<p>You could scarcely believe your eyes were you to look upon the durable
+works of architecture built by these strangely shaped mortals.</p>
+
+<p>Still more wonderful are the seas of boiling fire which are sometimes
+comparatively quiet, and then again, in all madness, their majestic
+flames shoot upward thousands of miles.</p>
+
+<p>When the sea is quiet, life is oppressive in the centers of population
+just as it is in our world when the air is still and the summer sun is
+pouring down upon us. Breathing is easier and life is quickened when the
+molten sea boils furiously. These terrible heat blasts are most
+exhilarating and refreshing to the inhabitants living near enough to
+receive the benefit of them.</p>
+
+<p>You may imagine that these people of Alpha Centaurus are idlers, being
+fed by the ceaseless heat waves that beat upon them. Such a conception
+is totally false, for I saw that industry was plainly evident, and labor
+had its reward in securing the necessaries and luxuries of life.</p>
+
+<p>These life-sustaining foods are composed of elements which can be
+appropriated into muscle and bone (if you will permit me to use these
+terms), and are obtained by reuniting and re-combining spent forces.
+This explanation is somewhat mystical, but I can do no better in
+describing the food production and assimilation in a pure fire-world
+like this one on which I had arrived.</p>
+
+<p>To imagine and believe that fertility can be possible in a seething
+world-furnace, is too far beyond our philosophy to be conceivable. Alpha
+Centaurus is so large a sun that although it has a population ten times
+greater than our globe, yet its surface is sparsely settled.</p>
+
+<p>The oceans of fire occupy the greater part of the surface of this
+wonderful sphere. In these great red-hot seas live the monsters of the
+deep, as well as a motley variety of other species, veritable
+salamanders, some grotesquely hideous, others surpassingly beautiful in
+form and hue.</p>
+
+<p>On this sphere man is extraordinarily intelligent. He is almost totally
+ignorant of anything akin to astronomy, although some of the greater
+scholars have ventured the theory that there might be other worlds
+containing human life, providing there be fire enough to sustain them.</p>
+
+<p>In some other particulars, these star-creatures have made astonishing
+progress. They believe that the time is coming when the fires of their
+world will be blown out and all life become extinct. This they would
+call, in our language, the coming Judgment when every human being that
+ever lived will receive his just recompense of reward.</p>
+
+<p>With interest I studied the manner of government, and the admirable
+system of education which is the secret of their progress.</p>
+
+<p>I made a special effort to ascertain whence this sun receives its
+continued supply of fuel. The question had often perplexed my mind when
+I gazed toward our Sun from the shores of our world. None of the
+theories advanced by our scientists and astronomers fully satisfied my
+mind. And now I looked and studied in vain. Although the awful burnings
+had been in progress for thousands of years, I could see no fuel that
+was added to the flames. Hence I was driven to believe that Alpha
+Centaurus was on fire and was gradually being consumed; this must be
+true of all the stars that bedeck the canopy of Heaven.</p>
+
+<p>The inconstancy of this star's surface is the greatest menace to its
+inhabitants. At times the solid crusts break in the contracting of the
+surface. All this makes terrible havoc, but the new generations take
+fresh courage and pluckily restore the fallen habitations.</p>
+
+<p>One of the luxuries enjoyed by these fire beings at certain times is to
+get where the chemical action of heat is at a low ebb. That has a
+similar effect upon them as calming our nerves has upon us.</p>
+
+<p>One of the great inventions consists in an instrument that neutralizes
+this chemical action of heat even where it is most intense. It is a
+common sight to see creatures basking under one of these instruments in
+a somewhat comatose state. The inventor of this instrument is worshiped
+almost as a god.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most startling inventions of all is a machine that
+counteracts gravity. This, to my mind, is the greatest invention I had
+yet seen, and, strange to say, these fire creatures know nothing about
+means of propulsion except by hand power. If you were able to stand on
+the seething furnace of Alpha Centaurus, you would see these machines
+rise far into the shooting fire and beyond, as far as occupants can go
+without freezing to death. Then at a reverse of the lever you would see
+the mysterious car descend.</p>
+
+<p>These star residents have enjoyed this invention so long that they no
+longer appreciate its marvels. You ask me if I tried to get the secret.
+I saw the whole apparatus and the more I studied it, the more I was
+convinced that its storage battery contained heat energy. So I concluded
+to solve the mystery. I learned that there was a certain element found
+only in combination. When this element is set loose by chemical process,
+it will rise at once toward a large planet that revolves around this
+sun. This planet draws that particular element with six times more force
+than it is held by Alpha Centaurus. The brilliant chemists, when they
+first made this discovery, separated enough of this element to carry a
+man upward from the sun's surface. Later on they made a counter
+discovery of equal value.</p>
+
+<p>They found a substance that would destroy this attraction if it was
+placed between the element and the planet. The discovery enabled a
+person to rise as high as he wished and then, by swinging the plate in
+position, the aerial carriage would either stand still or descend
+according to the wish of the operator.</p>
+
+<p>What a boon it would be to our world if we had such an element for which
+Jupiter or the Sun would have so much fondness! Then with our superior
+knowledge of propulsion we could forever settle the perplexing problem
+of aerial navigation.</p>
+
+<p>These exceptional people, living in such terrible fire, wear pieces of
+garments made of the finest texture. The hair-like threads are composed
+of metallic substances far more enduring than gold or platinum.</p>
+
+<p>Of all the unthinkable things on this star none are so extreme as the
+manner in which these people hold conversation. They have no organs to
+produce vocal sounds.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 406px;">
+<a name="IMG7" id="IMG7" /><img src="images/image-7.jpg" width="406" height="600" alt="Fire Life on a Fixed Star." title="" />
+<b>Fire Life on a Fixed Star.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>They convey their ideas one to another by a vibration of the
+conversation flaps. Either the air waves, or substantial emissions,
+excite the sensitive face of the listener so that the thought
+intended can be accurately received.</p>
+
+<p>Having a strong curiosity, I remained and studied this fire life. It
+opened to me new channels of thought and illustrated more emphatically
+than ever that all things are possible with Him who created the universe
+and upholds it by the word of His power.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, I left this strange abode and proceeded to visit some of the
+eighteen worlds that revolve around Alpha Centaurus.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII" />CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h3>The Water World Visited.</h3>
+
+
+<p>As I lingered in the region of the constellation of Centaurus I was more
+and more profoundly impressed with the magnitude and variety of created
+worlds.</p>
+
+<p>Among the eighteen planets that revolve around Alpha Centaurus, only six
+are inhabited. One of these is a sinless world, or a world whereon sin
+never inaugurated its blighting reign; but I will say nothing of this
+orb as I did not have the choice opportunity of visiting it aright. I
+saw its beauty only through a glass darkly.</p>
+
+<p>I then fixed my mind on Polaris, commonly called the North Star. In
+journeying thither from Centaurus I passed thousands of Solar Systems
+scattered in space all around me. As I was thus darting through
+immensity I glanced toward our own Solar System and could see nothing
+but a flickering star which was our Sun. Not the faintest sign could I
+see of our world or of Jupiter.</p>
+
+<p>A strange feeling passed over me when I began to realize how far I was
+from home. I sped onward until I reached the North Star. It is a burning
+sun, but not inhabited.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris is the center of a magnificent system. If a certain few of its
+worlds could be seen through a telescope, they would be picturesque in
+the extreme, somewhat resembling our beautiful Saturn. Moons play like
+frisky lambs around some of its worlds, and many comets dance through
+the length of the whole system in richer confusion than we have ever
+beheld in the range of our telescopic vision.</p>
+
+<p>Counting the worlds of larger size only, there are nearly one hundred
+that fly through their orbits around Polaris, some with amazing
+velocity. Within the bounds of this solar system I spent considerable
+time.</p>
+
+<p>The third world I visited I will call Stazza. It is two hundred millions
+of miles from Polaris and is four hundred and fifty times as large as
+our world.</p>
+
+<p>I was amazed at the new turn of life-manifestation that I found there.
+To me it was unusually interesting because its temperature is quite
+similar to ours; but the order of life is reversed so completely that
+the human beings inhabit the water, and the long narrow strips of earth
+are infested with numerous species of land animals. It may seem
+incredible that the depths of the ocean should be the seat of
+intelligence rivaling our own.</p>
+
+<p>The human creatures of Stazza average a trifle larger in size than we,
+but they travel horizontally in water like a large fish. The limbs
+support the body in rest, and in traveling are used like the hind legs
+of a frog, only more gracefully. The arms closely resemble ours and have
+an infinite variety of uses. In addition, there are four fin-like arms
+that fold into the body when at rest, but are spread for service when
+traveling. In all it must be admitted that these Stazza people are
+capable of traveling more rapidly, and covering longer distances with
+much less fatigue than are we. They can also carry greater burdens with
+more ease. They wear no garments except one or two small pieces made of
+a tough species of sea grass.</p>
+
+<p>Five-sixths of Stazza are covered with water and its depth at a few
+points is very great. Throughout all the water regions there are many
+kinds of animal life, more than can be found in our oceans. Thousands of
+human lives have been lost in conflict with the fiercer kinds of these
+water animals, with which the people of Stazza entered upon a war of
+extermination over one thousand years ago, and while intelligence is
+slowly winning the battle, yet the warfare is likely to continue many
+centuries to come, owing to the fact that these hostile fish occupy the
+soundless depths even as deep as four or five hundred miles according to
+our measurement. Horned fish rising from these depths are a horrible
+menace to excursion parties or caravans, as well as to settlers on what
+we would call the frontier.</p>
+
+<p>The homes of Stazza are made of metallic substances. There are a few
+minerals very plentiful, resembling brass, and it is a common sight to
+see polished buildings fantastic in their arrangement, shining through
+the pellucid water like gold.</p>
+
+<p>The cities are built on gentle inclines in the deeper waters and
+present a picturesque scene. They look more like a cluster of giant
+fairy abodes than like New York or London. Nothing in all the world of
+Stazza resembles a product of our manufacture more than the fine
+screening that protects every human dwelling from an invasion of small
+water animals. It reminded me of the mosquito netting as a safe-guard
+against flies and other insects in our world. But the mosquito baffles
+our genius, for he seems to be able to get through as small an opening
+as air can. Likewise, the pestiferous water animals seem to invade the
+homes of Stazza, notwithstanding all efforts at prevention.</p>
+
+<p>The cities have no continuous streets or lanes. The principal travel is
+in the water over the city. The main entrance to the home is on the
+housetop. In the center of large buildings there is a shaft running up
+and down, through which the people go with greater ease than we can
+climb or descend our stairways. It must not be forgotten that water to
+them is the same as air to us, and in their domestic life the people
+are annoyed by cloudy and muddy currents of water just as we are by
+clouds of dust in the air, on the streets, or in our homes.</p>
+
+<p>The wear and tear caused by the chemical action of water on houses and
+furniture is not as great as the injury in our world caused by the
+chemical action of air, heat and moisture.</p>
+
+<p>The educational systems of Stazza are quite as perfect for that world as
+our own systems are for ours. They have an alphabet, covering their
+needs in language, consisting of a series of strokes, curves and angles,
+somewhat resembling our shorthand systems. This language is identical in
+print or script, and is superior to our method of expresssing thought by
+handwriting.</p>
+
+<p>The experts of Stazza have learned the art of slicing metallic blocks
+into sheets of any desired thickness. These sheets serve the same
+purpose for them as paper does for us, and are furnished at an
+insignificant cost of labor. We have the very elements in our Earth to
+produce these metallic blocks if we knew the combination, which might be
+easily found if we had as much need for them as the people of this
+water world.</p>
+
+<p>The metallic blocks are used for a great variety of purposes. There are
+some high class artists who have immortalized themselves by their
+master-pieces, one of which I saw on a five-cornered metallic sheet
+measuring about eight feet in diameter.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the most surprising feature of the educational advancement of
+these water spirits is their knowledge of astronomy. To them, under the
+water, the stars have always looked beautiful, and from an early date in
+their history a study of them has engaged the attention of their
+scholars. No one could tell the style of their telescopes if he should
+go to guessing for a week. Let me give you a brief description of one.</p>
+
+<p>They build a metallic pipe about ten feet in diameter and from a point
+some two hundred feet below the surface of the water. The pipe is built
+until it extends a few feet above water. Inside of this pipe is a series
+of transparent ovals of various sizes. These ovals are so arranged that
+the upper one throws its light to the lower one, down through the
+immense cylinder. Around each oval is built a series of fin protectors,
+which is the only part about the telescope I could not fully understand.
+They seemed to counteract the refraction of the water, and yet the water
+must be in the pipe to obtain proper results.</p>
+
+<p>Imagine an astronomer at the base of this huge metallic structure,
+having at his finger's ends a dozen wire strings intricately connected
+with the oval system, and by the proper use of which he can increase or
+decrease the magnifying power of the ponderous telescope. The highest
+magnifying power of a telescope of this size is so great that the Milky
+Way is penetrated and its solar systems revealed. What an accomplishment
+it would be if a telescope of this magnitude could be mounted, a thing
+that these creatures never attempted to do. But they have built
+telescopes of various inclinations, all stationary. You can form an idea
+of the patience and endurance of these people when you learn that it
+required over fifty years of our time for them to perfect one of these
+large instruments.</p>
+
+<p>Give human brains to any animal under water or over water, and it will
+grasp for larger views of its Creator and of the things He made. These
+people are thoroughly convinced that intelligent life can be found in
+any world where there is enough water to sustain it.</p>
+
+<p>In the waters of Stazza there are many under-currents similar to our
+Gulf Stream. These are used by the inhabitants for transportation. They
+construct little hammock cars so that when they are filled with human
+freight they float in the water. A simple device which we might call a
+fin propeller is used to force the car in one direction or another as
+necessity may require. It is possible to enter one of these
+under-streams and thus travel over two thousand miles; then, by rowing
+only five miles, enter the return current and move homeward. A car of
+special design is furnished by each community in which each bridal pair
+spends the Wedlock Ride, or the Honey-Moon, as we would call it.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="IMG8" id="IMG8" /><img src="images/image-8.jpg" width="600" height="393" alt="Fishing for Land Animals on a Planet of the Pole Star." title="" />
+<b>Fishing for Land Animals on a Planet of the Pole Star.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>There is nothing more interesting about this race of beings than the
+manner in which they pluck land fruit and catch land animals, and yet
+when you compare this with our world, it is the same to them as fishing
+is to us.</p>
+
+<p>In all my inter-stellar journeys perhaps there was nothing so amusing to
+me as to see a company of these water creatures fishing for land
+animals. They would creep up near shore and throw out their wire lines
+with various kinds of bait, according to what they wished to catch. Then
+followed the inevitable waiting until some innocent Jullep or Petzel
+would grasp the tempting morsel on the hook. A skillful jerk fastened
+the victim, and instead of pulling him in the water, the fisherman held
+his breath and rushed out of the water to get his prize. This has been
+found to be a safer method than trying to pull the prize into the water.</p>
+
+<p>These water dwellers relish certain land animals more than we do fish.</p>
+
+<p>Of course the land strips are not inhabited by human beings, but
+vegetation is abundant, similar to that found in our tropical regions.
+Many kinds of fruit, growing on the land, are sought after by the
+masters of the water. In the season when certain fruits are ripe whole
+expeditions go out to gather them. But how can they live away from the
+great body of water while plucking these fruits? Let me tell you how
+they manage it. They have what we would call water-wagons, very wide and
+short, and equipped with buckets. At the rear of one of these strangely
+shaped carriages stand four or six men abreast immersing their heads in
+the water of the wagon for a fresh breath as often as necessity
+requires. Thus they are enabled to travel over land to any desired
+locality, always being careful to keep near enough the water to cover
+any emergency.</p>
+
+<p>When they arrive at the fruit each man takes his bucket of water and
+proceeds to work. He plucks fruit or berries for about thirty seconds
+and then ducks his head into his bucket of water for a fresh breath.
+Then he proceeds as before. When the water is no longer fit for
+breathing, he carries his fruit and water bucket to the wagon. Here he
+unloads his fruit and refills his bucket from the wagon, proceeding as
+before. At intervals the wagon must be refilled with water. During a day
+a few men can gather a large quantity of fruit in this manner, and it
+can be preserved for over four seasons.</p>
+
+<p>On Stazza there has been developed a fine variety of water flowers, and
+no gardens are more beautiful than those that can be seen there. The
+higher classes of these people live a very refined life and have their
+homes surrounded with an endless variety of water grasses and flowers.
+You would scarcely believe your eyes if you could direct your gaze to a
+few of these homes.</p>
+
+<p>In their religious life these Stazzans are eminently devoted. They have
+no bunch of creeds from which to take their choice, but follow the
+teachings of "The Great Interpreter," a man who once lived and reigned
+amongst them and who wrote his laws in what we would call, by
+interpretation, "The Book of Gold." The leaves of this book are made
+from an element costly and rare, more precious to them than gold is to
+us. From this book all their sacred books are copied. The civil powers
+also accept this book as their authority, and enforce its teachings.</p>
+
+<p>Sin there, as here, is the withering blast of the planet, the destroyer
+of the harvest fields of purity and truth. An invisible spirit of evil
+holds his force in disciplined command, and the man who wishes to have a
+pure heart on Stazza must reach it through conflicts long and sharp. The
+path to moral and spiritual purity is quite the same throughout the
+whole universe.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII" />CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>Tor-tu.</h3>
+
+
+<p>After I had finished my interesting tour of Stazza I visited in quick
+succession a score or more of worlds that also revolve around Polaris at
+varying distances. I found the majority of these planets barren of all
+life, owing principally to their molten condition.</p>
+
+<p>Some unthinkable types of human existence are occupying the worlds that
+can be inhabited. I marveled aloud as I viewed a few more links of the
+endless chain of intelligent creation. On one of these worlds, which I
+have christened Tor-tu, I found human beings that resemble us more than
+any others in the entire solar bounds of Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>Tor-tu dashes along in its unceasing course at a distance of eight
+hundred millions of miles from Polaris. It is much larger than our
+world, and is accompanied by three moons and a set of rings which
+faintly suggested our picturesque Saturn.</p>
+
+<p>The poles of Tor-tu are inclined at an angle of thirty-three degrees to
+the plane of its orbit. This accounts for its temperature being quite
+similar to ours, although its year is eight times longer.</p>
+
+<p>When I first reached this world I was impressed with its wealth of
+natural scenery. Flowers of charming texture and color grew abundantly
+over the wide expanses. The cultivated gardens contained specimens of
+unusual beauty, surpassing the finest products of our Earth.</p>
+
+<p>When I examined the leaves of the many kinds of trees, I found none
+similar to the foliage of our planet, except in one or two fruit-bearing
+trees. The sky, instead of appearing blue, wears a greenish tinge, and
+the birds are robed in a variety of colors that would put to naught our
+arching rainbows.</p>
+
+<p>In fine, it must be admitted that Tor-tu is a much more beautiful world
+than ours. I saw colors there that we could not produce because we have
+not the proper elements.</p>
+
+<p>This delightful world is densely populated. Its history is much older
+than ours. Sin is firmly rooted in the whole planet and its curse is
+just as blighting and withering as it is in our world, although it is
+fought more successfully and overcome more effectually in the home and
+in the nation.</p>
+
+<p>I observed that the ecclesiastical system is similar to ours, and there
+is a great profusion of creeds. To my surprise I noted, in my long
+journey, that such a variety did not interfere with true progress, but
+was compatible with the purest kind of life and the highest order of
+civilization. The people are deeply devoted to their unseen God, and
+their sacrifices are astonishing. Their places of worship are the finest
+structures of the world. They believe it to be wrong to construct any
+building greater in beauty and value than the temples of God. Their
+music would sound quite weird to us, although it is sweet harmony to the
+people of Tor-tu.</p>
+
+<p>The home life of Tor-tu is most beautiful. The moral life of the home
+and of the nations is the cleanest of any world in the whole system of
+Polaris. Naturally I investigated to learn the secret of this happy
+condition. Then I found to my joy that the relation between parents and
+children is very noteworthy. The fine respect manifested by the latter
+for the former evoked the blush of shame as I thought of the prevailing
+conditions in my own world.</p>
+
+<p>You may think it absurd when I describe a certain system that was a
+stepping stone to such splendid results. Were this peculiar system to be
+named, we should likely call it: "The Human Seal System."</p>
+
+<p>Each person born into the world of Tor-tu is officially sealed or
+tattooed on the forehead and on the arm. It is done by the township
+book-keeper, whose duty it is to keep a correct record of all births,
+devoting a new ledger page to each infant.</p>
+
+<p>This seal is a life-long mark, and must not be interfered with under any
+circumstances. In case the stamp is disturbed by accident, the person
+must report to the township book-keeper either in person or by proxy,
+and the stamp must be replaced on some conspicuous part of the head.</p>
+
+<p>There are eighteen governments of Tor-tu that united on this scheme. It
+is so arranged that no two persons of all these millions have identical
+marks. Each government has its seal of different designs from all the
+others.</p>
+
+<p>Circles, ellipses and rectangles, with various modifications, compose
+the eighteen forms in use. The most powerful of the eighteen governments
+has for its seal the following design, which I have filled out as
+completely as I could, using our own figures instead of their numerals
+which would, of course, be unintelligible to us.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/seal.png" width="20%" alt="Tor-tu seal" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>This is the actual size of the design as it appears on the forehead.</p>
+
+<p>13 represents the number of the state.</p>
+
+<p>21 represents the number of the county.</p>
+
+<p>10 represents the number of the township.</p>
+
+<p>12 represents the color of the person.</p>
+
+<p>352, in the center, represents the individual's number.</p>
+
+<p>This same mark is the individual's signature for life. It cannot be
+changed, although the person is allowed to have a metallic or rubber cut
+of his own design, provided he writes the individual number by hand, for
+any one else doing this would be a forger.</p>
+
+<p>The township clerk is also the collector of the public funds. To him
+each person born in that township is compelled to render an annual
+report of his residence, occupation, and certain other facts relating to
+his life in general.</p>
+
+<p>If any minor or adult commits a criminal act upon which the civil court
+has passed, this finding is recorded in the township record on the
+individual's page and, when the criminal has served his sentence, this
+fact is also recorded. This is a severe law for the criminal, but it is
+a great stimulus to a law-abiding career.</p>
+
+<p>It is also customary for public courts to confer on worthy persons
+special marks of honor for extraordinary deeds or acts. A record of such
+rendering is also kept.</p>
+
+<p>In presenting annual reports to the clerk each father reports for his
+minor children. This puts the father on a rightful plane of dignity
+before his children, and the parent who makes a wise use of these
+provisions can and does reach far better results than can otherwise be
+done.</p>
+
+<p>No child can run away from home without falling into much more trouble
+then he imagined he had before. At once his seal number is sent to all
+the countries and into every sub-division. Any one aiding or abetting
+such a person is severely punished. When the runaway is captured, the
+system of reprimand is of such a nature that the minor will be glad to
+remain under the directions of his parents until his maturity.</p>
+
+<p>If it can be shown that a parent or guardian uses inhuman methods of
+punishing children, the act is criminal and is dealt with accordingly.</p>
+
+<p>There are no tramps parading periodically over the countries of Tor-tu.</p>
+
+<p>There is an international law that each township must care for its own
+paupers. Every man's forehead seal tells his birthplace and there is no
+escaping from it.</p>
+
+<p>When a person is suspected of crime in a foreign land, the foreign
+officials can tell not only where the individual was born, but they can
+also obtain an official record of his life by applying officially to the
+clerk and paying a nominal fee.</p>
+
+<p>Any stranger making a serious effort to cover his forehead is looked
+upon with suspicion. It is a current phrase of honor among the
+Tor-tuites: "I am not ashamed to show my forehead."</p>
+
+<p>A few hundred years after this "Human Seal Law" went into operation, no
+one, except the criminally inclined, would think of returning to the old
+reckless way, although the system was scorned and ridiculed by many
+Tor-tuites for about fifty years after its advent.</p>
+
+<p>In considering the character of an individual, the courts and the people
+place tremendous stress upon the township record. Each son and daughter
+early learns the value of a stainless page and strives to keep his
+record clean.</p>
+
+<p>The township, through the state, gives to each child at maturity a civil
+inheritance, provided his record meets the requirements of the law.</p>
+
+<p>All these customs and regulations are powerful incentives to the youth
+to lead a good moral life and naturally tend to a respectful demeanor of
+children toward their parents.</p>
+
+<p>This world is not only notable for its moral atmosphere, but for the
+remarkable progress its inhabitants have made in political economy.</p>
+
+<p>They know a few things about laws, but not enough to make them so
+complicated that no one can understand their meaning. In law, the poor
+man usually has the same chance as the rich. Money has no weight in the
+Tor-tu scale of justice. The facts in the case are the only things that
+have weight, although bribery is possible and is sometimes practiced.</p>
+
+<p>The laws of Tor-tu relating to deeds and titles are the most simple and
+yet the most effective that have yet come to my attention.</p>
+
+<p>All the land in each county of Tor-tu is divided into lots, and each lot
+is numbered on an immense diagram at the county seat. This diagram is a
+miniature relief outline of the county with each lot and plot in the
+county designated, and, according to our measurements, it averages
+almost eighteen by twenty-four feet, varying according to the size of
+the county.</p>
+
+<p>When you buy land you buy from the county only. If you wish to purchase
+a lot or plot from another party who is willing to sell, the two parties
+concerned go to the chief real estate agent who is an official of the
+county and has charge of the county diagram. The former owner or
+title-holder, upon establishing his identity, releases to the county his
+claims and surrenders his title on condition that he receives the sum
+agreed upon between the two parties.</p>
+
+<p>The county agent then issues a new title to the new purchaser. It is a
+simple common-sense document completely describing the new owner, his
+relatives and his station. Thus each purchaser has his own title from
+the county and it is guaranteed. Under this admirably simple system
+disputes as to titles are rare and can scarcely occur; but if any should
+arise, the county takes the defense and bears all expense of litigation.</p>
+
+<p>No counter claim is even heard after a title is five years old. Thus it
+is impossible to resurrect an old buried claim and rob an innocent owner
+who purchased and paid for his ground in good faith.</p>
+
+<p>In transferring real estate no lawyers are required. Several persons,
+however, must witness the execution of the deed.</p>
+
+<p>The county publishes a journal, monthly, stating the owner of each lot
+or plot number in the county. This is furnished free to each land owner.</p>
+
+<p>All credit to Tor-tu for these common-sense regulations! Our laws
+covering this field are heathenish compared with the statutes of this
+far distant world. There no man loses his real estate by the awakening
+of a sleeping title, and if this could happen he would be fully
+reimbursed by the county.</p>
+
+<p>In our world some titles are as clear as mud. Often we pay a large sum
+to have the records examined and even then a purchaser has no assurance
+of non-interference. Here it is even possible to buy a lot, build a
+home, and five or fifty years afterward have it sold by some one who
+proves a prior claim on the land. No such foolishness, or child-play in
+the guise of legal dignity, is countenanced in Tor-tu.</p>
+
+<p>The whole civil system of this sphere is superior to ours. A person who
+violates the law is not treated to free boarding and lodging in a well
+heated and lighted building, as is quite prevalent in our world, but is
+compelled to enter profitable labor under strict surveillance. Any
+prisoner becoming rebellious and refusing to work is dealt with
+severely. If he is still insubordinate, he is placed on the revolving
+wheel of death until his stubborn will is broken, or he falls fatigued
+into the jaws of steel.</p>
+
+<p>This convict labor does not compete with the regular ranks of honest
+toil. The main work of criminals is farming, and the products of these
+farms support not only the criminals, but their families as well. What
+is produced beyond that is sold at market price and the proceeds are
+applied to current expenses of the county.</p>
+
+<p>In our world the honest man must pay to support the dishonest; the
+law-abiding must care for the law breaker. How much longer this will
+continue no one has prophesied.</p>
+
+<p>The manner of choosing officials in Tor-tu is both new and surprising.
+All the officers, from the highest to lowest, are chosen by lot instead
+of by popular ballot or hereditary claim. They who are thus elected
+remain in office during competency and good behavior.</p>
+
+<p>1. Their record must be stainless during the preceding ten years.</p>
+
+<p>2. They must have been graduated from the law department of the public
+schools.</p>
+
+<p>3. They must be at least thirty-one years old.</p>
+
+<p>For the highest officials the conditions are more rigid.</p>
+
+<p>The teachers in all public schools are selected in the same manner from
+among the number who apply, and who have been graduated in rank high
+enough for the school in question.</p>
+
+<p>At first this lot system seemed very foolish to me indeed, bordering
+upon absurdity, but the more I studied its simplicity and observed its
+results, the more I became impressed with its good sense and
+efficiency. There are no political parties fomenting discord in a
+country under a spoils system; no upheavals every few years and
+hilarious campaigns; and no idiotic caricatures of public officials to
+work unbridled mischief in the hearts of the most dangerous citizens.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX" />CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<h3>A Problem in Political Economy.</h3>
+
+
+<p>After I had left the world of Tor-tu I still lingered in the heavens
+around the planet and examined a few of its moons. While enjoying this
+pleasing diversion, I learned that not far away, less than one billion
+miles, there was a world without an atmosphere. This peculiar condition
+was not new to me, for I had seen, during my never-to-be-forgotten
+journey, many worlds without gaseous air.</p>
+
+<p>I would not have gone thither had it not been for an unaccountable
+desire impelling me. Obedient to my impulse, I soon found myself on this
+odd planet which I have named Airess.</p>
+
+<p>I at once observed that the people are formed without nose or lungs. The
+nose is substituted by an opening into which liquid air is received and
+through which it passes to a bodily reservoir of two lobes in the
+vicinity of the heart. When I saw how these people were obliged to fill
+their living vessels with this air-supplying liquid, I at once thought
+of the manner in which we in our world fill our lamps with oil to
+furnish light and heat.</p>
+
+<p>Now it is true that nature supplies this liquid air in reasonable
+abundance, and no doubt all the people would have been happy until now
+had it not been for the unjust scheming of a few unprincipled men.</p>
+
+<p>The strange story of the air problem on this distant world is so similar
+to the food problem of ours that I have time to describe it briefly.</p>
+
+<p>There were certain men in Airess, shrewd above their fellows, who
+secretly combined to secure a controlling interest in all the land
+producing liquid air.</p>
+
+<p>In course of time these shrewd schemers, who are known as monopolists,
+gathered this liquid air into large tanks and warehouses, and put an
+exorbitant price upon it. The business flourished greatly because
+everybody was daily in need of liquid air.</p>
+
+<p>The many sources of air-supply were guarded and men were employed to
+carry the liquid from the raw springs to the private tanks of the
+monopolists. Not long after this, when the monopolists saw that they
+controlled all the liquid air of the country, they had rigid laws passed
+forbidding the importation of air from any other country. Then when all
+preliminaries were arranged, the magnates raised the price of their
+commodity.</p>
+
+<p>The burden fell most heavily on the persons of limited means, for some
+were compelled to give half of their earnings for air.</p>
+
+<p>The monopolists grew richer and richer, while the poor became still
+poorer, until a cry went up for cheaper living. Then the
+generous-hearted magnates decided to build new and larger storehouses,
+thus giving employment to the large army of impoverished workmen. Thus
+did the poor feel very grateful for the privilege of earning enough to
+satisfy their hungry stomachs.</p>
+
+<p>With the larger storehouses now in operation the magnates were enabled
+to conduct this air business on a scale more economical, and so it
+resulted that the profits of their business were constantly increasing.</p>
+
+<p>Many who were unable to work became sorely distressed insomuch that
+some died raving for liquid air. Others were more fortunate and were
+helped by charitably inclined citizens. When a few poor comrades clubbed
+together and contributed out of their mites, then the magnates sold air,
+but if the sufferers had no money, they could have no air.</p>
+
+<p>A growing discontent possessed the people. They appealed to the
+legislative bodies, but the magnates had grown so immensely wealthy that
+they controlled all the law-making assemblies and gave the members air
+free of charge, an act of kindness indeed.</p>
+
+<p>So the law turned a deaf ear to the cries of the people and many riots
+followed. But these were all quelled by the standing army which was also
+supplied with free air for the good service they were capable of
+rendering to the monopolists.</p>
+
+<p>The multitude of laboring people could do as they chose, that is, work
+like slaves and live, or refuse to tolerate the monopoly and die.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="IMG9" id="IMG9" /><img src="images/image-9.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Monopolizing Liquid Air on Airess." title="" />
+<b>Monopolizing Liquid Air on Airess.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>Many were the pitiful scenes witnessed in all parts of the land. Men,
+women and children gathered around one or another of the large tanks
+brimming full of the life sustaining liquid. It was heart-breaking to
+see children with half-opened mouths dying for air. Of course none of
+the magnates were within hearing or seeing distance. The tanks were in
+charge of underlings who were bound to give no air except for the
+exorbitant market price.</p>
+
+<p>This state of affairs continued for many generations, nor did relief
+come until one named Agitator went forth strongly set in his
+convictions. He was a natural-born orator, a lover of justice, one who
+believed in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.</p>
+
+<p>As long as he went about speaking and praying, the monopolists gave no
+heed. But when he began organizing the masses into sworn legions, then
+did the magnates bestir themselves, seeing danger in the gathering
+clouds of humanity.</p>
+
+<p>"What shall we do?" cried they one to another.</p>
+
+<p>"Bribe Agitator," suggested one.</p>
+
+<p>"A happy hit," cried they all.</p>
+
+<p>One was chosen to do the work. A description of the meeting and
+conversation of these two great leaders is a choice bit of literature of
+the world of Airess. I will translate it as nearly as possible into
+English.</p>
+
+<p>Magnate and his companion met Agitator three hours after sun-rise.
+Neither one had ever seen the other before, and naturally Agitator did
+not suspect the purpose for which Magnate had come.</p>
+
+<p>"We are here," said Magnate, "to place into your hands one million
+dollars to be used for the education of poor children. We have
+confidence in your judgment and integrity, and if you will accept the
+money on our conditions, we will gladly arrange all papers and place the
+money at your disposal."</p>
+
+<p>"A magnanimous offer indeed. But what are the conditions," hurriedly
+asked the blushing Agitator.</p>
+
+<p>"The conditions are easy to meet.</p>
+
+<p>"1. You are to train and appoint sub-teachers and give your influence to
+the building up of these schools.</p>
+
+<p>"2. You are to spend your time in this noble work and receive as salary
+ten thousand dollars annually.</p>
+
+<p>"3. Of course you will be glad to put your whole heart and time into
+this enterprise and encourage all workmen to show their appreciation of
+this generous movement in behalf of the oppressed."</p>
+
+<p>"But what would become of my other great work?" asked Agitator, as a
+well-defined interrogation point covered his face.</p>
+
+<p>"This new enterprise will solve the whole question. Is it not true that
+ignorance is the cause of nearly all the discontent in the world? If you
+scatter the clouds of ignorance, with them the darkness of nearly all
+our woes will fly, and you will stand at the head of a new race,
+educated, refined, and capable of understanding and securing their
+rights ten-fold more surely and more intelligently than now."</p>
+
+<p>Agitator was a man of quick mind. He was, however, almost caught in the
+fine network spun around him. He bowed his head a moment in quietness.</p>
+
+<p>"There is a tinge of truth in your words," admitted Agitator. "If I can
+avoid it however," he continued, "the people now living will not suffer
+for a whole generation in hope of imaginary relief. Your scheme is a
+worthy one, but you must seek elsewhere for a leader. I have sworn in my
+soul to bend my every effort to break the strong arm of the Monopoly."</p>
+
+<p>Magnate was a cool man, and held his dignity in a pleasing manner. He
+carelessly changed his attitude and spoke with decision "If you will not
+lead this educational enterprise, the whole offer will be withdrawn and
+it will be advertised to the world that the leader of the poor people
+has refused the most magnificent offer of the age for the uplifting of
+the masses."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah," quickly replied Agitator, "if the offer be sincere, why should it
+go by default on my simple refusal to be turned from my present course?
+Let some other one, better qualified than I, attend to the management of
+this noble cause."</p>
+
+<p>Magnate advanced a step and with emphatic gesture gave his ultimatum:</p>
+
+<p>"You are the recognized leader of the masses, the idol of all the poor
+and of the so-called oppressed. In you the very persons whom we hope to
+benefit have unbounded confidence, and naturally you are the only man
+who can make wisest and most efficient use of this large sum of money.
+We have no other choice and I ask you once more, for the sake of
+suffering humanity, to accept the leadership of this worthy cause which
+will do more for the people than all other reform movements combined.
+You can make no mistake in accepting our offer. This is the only right
+thing for you to do."</p>
+
+<p>Agitator took no time to study his reply. His words were born on the
+occasion for the occasion. He spoke with marked power in his voice and
+fiery electricity in his eye:</p>
+
+<p>"I have made my final decision. I am married to my reform movement and
+seek no divorce. I want all people to have free air as they have free
+sunlight. I am determined that neither favor nor force, neither Magnate
+nor money, shall swerve me from my course. The people of my time shall
+see their liberty, or I shall see my death!"</p>
+
+<p>This reply of Agitator is most memorable. It is quoted more than the
+famous words of Patrick Henry of our world: "Give me liberty, or give me
+death!"</p>
+
+<p>Agitator pushed his cause with remarkable skill. Soon his movements
+reached such proportions that great men courted his favor. The masses
+clung to him with truest loyalty. He took full advantage of the
+situation and gained control of the legislative bodies.</p>
+
+<p>Then followed the great enactment. All the air of the world was declared
+to be free, and any one attempting to buy or sell this natural and
+indispensable product was guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by fines
+and heavy bonds.</p>
+
+<p>The celebration of this victory was extreme. The most wonderful
+jubilations were held at the air tanks. Famous speeches were made and
+the tanks were sold by permission of their owners. One enthusiastic
+person bought a tank, declared that he would sell it in small pieces for
+relics, and use the proceeds for educating poor children. The scene that
+followed beggars description. Everybody knew that this was a cut at
+Magnate, and the buying of relics was carried on in an unprecedented
+manner. The amount of money netted by this sale was so large that
+several schools were erected and an endowment provided for their
+maintenance.</p>
+
+<p>All this happened long ago on the world of Airess. But the memory of
+these unusual times will never die. They have an annual day of
+celebration much resembling, in its festivities, our Fourth of July.</p>
+
+<p>The most peculiar human condition of Airess, according to my view, is
+the manner in which these people sleep. They do not lie down and
+gradually drift into unconsciousness, but they lie motionless and still
+retain full consciousness. The rest comes from the quietness of the
+bodily members. It is not even possible for these creatures to become
+mentally insensible to their surroundings, except by an accident or
+through medical treatment.</p>
+
+<p>I was most impressed, however, as I learned of the powerful eyesight
+which these people enjoy. Their eyes are indeed little telescopes,
+capable of examining heavenly bodies with as much accuracy as we are
+enabled to do with the aid of magnifying glasses.</p>
+
+<p>Then comes the surprising statement that these same people have never
+invented anything similar to a spy glass or a telescope. Imagine how far
+they could peer into the depth of space if their own gifted eyesight
+were augmented by good magnifying glasses.</p>
+
+<p>I spent a little longer time on Airess than on some other planets
+because I found that I could more easily understand the philosophy of
+their attainments.</p>
+
+<p>The last moments of my stay were spent in the largest structure of this
+whole world, the central building of education. From this structure
+endless lines of power and influence are maintained all through the
+territorial divisions of Airess.</p>
+
+<p>I studied this unusual plan of education and viewed with delight the
+ponderous portion of this imposing edifice. At last I bid farewell to
+all these mute instructors and, looking skyward, fixed my mind on the
+shores of another world.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X" />CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<h3>Floating Cities.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Almost everyone is familiar with Ursa Major, or the Great Dipper, that
+lies in such bold relief in the region of the northern heavens, and that
+apparently revolves around Polaris, the North Star.</p>
+
+<p>The nearer of the two stars that help to form this famous Dipper and
+that point toward Polaris, is called Dubhe by our astronomers. This star
+and its interesting solar system next claimed my attention.</p>
+
+<p>From Earth I had often looked with admiring wonder at the starry
+firmament, and during many an evening I had drawn the imaginary lines
+from star to star outlining the Great Dipper, commencing with the end of
+the handle and finishing with the star just named at the outer edge, or
+rim.</p>
+
+<p>As I came near to Dubhe, I scanned the surrounding skies and was
+surprised to find that the whole semblance of my dipper was lost.
+Instead of lying in a plane, these stars were widely separated, so far
+that a billion miles gives no fair hint of the distance.</p>
+
+<p>Many new stars, previously invisible, now shone in great glory so that
+the whole celestial field presented new aspects. Far away I looked
+toward our Sun; it sparkled like a tiny star, and none of the planets of
+our Solar System were visible.</p>
+
+<p>I paused not at Dubhe, but sped onward to one of the busy worlds that
+revolve around it, which I shall call Plasden. This is two hundred times
+as large as our world, and "slin" covers seven-eighths of its surface.
+Slin is a liquid much resembling water and serves practically the same
+purpose.</p>
+
+<p>Plasden is truly a wonderful water world. Its inhabitants are not
+confined to the under-water life like those found in Stazza, neither are
+they strictly compelled to remain in the atmosphere, although that is
+their normal condition. The Plasdenites can sustain life under water,
+but only with discomfort. They have three times as many ribs as we
+possess, and between them are openings into which air or water enters
+for life sustentation. These flabby ribs slowly rise and fall
+continuously and involuntarily.</p>
+
+<p>I would describe the upper portion of their bodies, but they would seem
+so contrary to our ideas of beauty that I will pass on by saying that to
+my eye, now trained in the larger school of interstellar harmonies,
+these Plasdenites are lovely and lovable human creatures. They have
+reached a high state of civilization and, being gifted with the spirit
+life, they are still forging ahead toward perfection, unconsciously
+competing with their fellow spirits in millions of worlds.</p>
+
+<p>Plasden is an old planet. Human beings have lived thereon for thirty
+thousand years, and consequently, ages ago, the land area became so
+densely populated that there was not enough room to accommodate the
+increasing millions. This perplexing problem was solved in a very
+peculiar manner by an experiment on the part of a wealthy Plasdenite,
+who, seven thousand years ago, took advantage of the extremely light
+mineral products of this world and built for himself a floating mansion
+which covered about ten acres according to our measurements.</p>
+
+<p>This fairy palace was floated on the great oceans from one continent to
+another, propelled by the wind and controlled by a series of motors.</p>
+
+<p>After a few years he returned to his native shore and conceived the idea
+of building around his palace a water village. All foundations were made
+of strong aluminum-like substance mixed with molten granite which, upon
+hardening, formed a compound of marvelous lightness and durability. With
+painstaking care and unceasing energy the water village was transformed
+from a fanciful dream into a tangible reality, and in process of time
+one section after another was added until a veritable city floated on
+the bosom of the deep.</p>
+
+<p>But this is only a brief description of a marvelous accomplishment. I
+did not pause to mention the factories and mills that were attached to
+this city, nor have I told you that in less than one thousand years
+after this first water city was finished, there were floating, on the
+oceans of Plasden, no less than two hundred cities of various sizes,
+each a manufacturing center devoted to one or more lines of industry.</p>
+
+<p>The majority of these cities moved in harmony in a world-wide course,
+requiring about one year or four hundred of our days to complete a
+single circuit. As was their prototype, so they were propelled by a
+series of motors and a splendid sail system. At times the wind did the
+greater part of the work, and again the full force of the motors was
+required.</p>
+
+<p>Let me ask you to get on board one of these cities, and take one year's
+journey in a few minutes.</p>
+
+<p>For instance, take one of the vehicle cities, composed of one hundred
+factory buildings and three thousand dwellings, all built of
+non-combustible materials.</p>
+
+<p>The city is now in the harbor of a great port, and all the merchantmen
+who live nearest to this port have been informed that the vehicle city
+would arrive about midweek and remain four days. What a busy time
+follows after the floating city is fastened to its moorings! Inhabitants
+go on solid ground to do their trading. Dealers make large purchases and
+place extensive orders.</p>
+
+<p>It should be stated that the mail and telegraph systems between the
+continents and all these floating cities are well nigh perfect. Fast
+lines of mail steamers follow one another around the same course pursued
+by these floating cities, and passengers can go to or from any of these
+moving abodes to any part of any continent whenever they wish; so that
+if a dealer wishes a vehicle of special design, he can send his order by
+mail to any one of the six vehicle cities and have it completed by the
+time the floating city arrives at his port. If the community receiving
+the order cannot complete the work in time, the order is sent with one
+of the mail steamers to the next vehicle city in line.</p>
+
+<p>The massive city starts its journey and in one day it floats to the
+coaling stations. Here it takes on board an ample supply of fuel and
+proceeds along the regular course, making no stops until it reaches the
+mineral station where it takes a new supply of the various kinds of
+metals necessary for manufacturing and for all other purposes.</p>
+
+<p>Then perchance it passes a city or two that is lying in dock for trade
+purposes. The next stop will be at one of the several tropical stations
+where a fresh supply of fruits is purchased and a number of vehicles
+sold or delivered.</p>
+
+<p>After this the city passes several apparel cities moored to an immense
+dock, taking on board large bales of a cotton-like substance used in
+making texture.</p>
+
+<p>So continues the interesting journey along a safe route mapped out
+centuries before. Storms arise, of course, but what harm can they do
+except to send the ponderous waves dashing against the bulwarks of the
+city and rock it gently, all of which becomes so familiar that no one
+thinks of these things as serious barriers to the floating-city life.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps in one tour of four hundred days thirty stops are made. You may
+wonder how these huge floats are stopped and started. This is
+accomplished by a series of border propellors which can be put into
+service at any time if speed is desired or contrary winds are
+encountered.</p>
+
+<p>These cities have done much to civilize the darker races of Plasden. The
+manufacturing floats, coming into contact with the shores of all lands,
+naturally have an uplifting influence on its peoples, some of whom go on
+board to learn trades.</p>
+
+<p>The latest novelty of Plasden is a music city owned by one man and built
+most beautifully. Its size is comparatively small and it is equipped
+with motors of double power enabling it to proceed with considerable
+speed as compared with the cumbersome, heavier floats. This city is
+built for business as well as for pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>These Plasdenites enjoy an invention in the form of a machine that
+renders music when acted upon by air, and, at certain times, also by
+water. It is inspiring to listen to these Siren strains as the music
+city passes another floating abode.</p>
+
+<p>Excursion parties go on this music city and remain at one or another of
+its famous hotels as long as they wish.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 750px;">
+<a name="IMG10" id="IMG10" /><img src="images/image-10.jpg" width="750" height="500" alt="A Floating Palace and a Floating City." title="" />
+<b>A Floating Palace and a Floating City.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>The most refined feature of this water life is seen in the floating
+mansions, of which there are many thousands. These are built in such a
+manner that the wildest storms of the ocean can do no more than set the
+mansion a rocking, for the structures that venture far away from
+shore are very large, and surrounded by many acres of attachments.</p>
+
+<p>It is delightful to live in one of these water mansions, go to any
+chosen harbor, remain as long as desired and, taking your choice of
+countries, dwell among the icebergs or in the tropical regions. People
+of delicate health can shift to any climate and change location as often
+as desired. This style of retired life is now the most popular of all in
+this peculiar world of Plasden.</p>
+
+<p>The educated people are a very bright class; they have made great
+progress in manufacturing. This implies a long list of notable
+inventions in every branch of industry. It is strange that these
+brilliant inventors never paid attention to air travel. However, they
+have perfected submarine navigation to a nicety that would be teasing to
+the infant efforts that we have thus far made.</p>
+
+<p>The people of this far away orb have greatly surpassed us in controlling
+and utilizing the three distinct forces which are quite similar to
+electricity, and these are the wizard forces that furnish the power used
+to drive the motors and engines, not only of the floating cities, but
+also of the fixed abodes.</p>
+
+<p>By a comparative study I ascertained that we have over six thousand
+inventions for which they have no parallel, and Plasden has nearly
+twenty thousand to which we have nothing similar. What an inspiring
+study all these facts furnished! But my space forbids enlargement. I
+believe, however, that if our world remains a few thousand years more,
+we will have learned more secrets than the experts of Plasden know
+to-day, although they have had a start of many thousand years over us.</p>
+
+<p>There are very few worlds where the devotional spirit has reached a
+higher level than in Plasden. The truths of the Creator are preached and
+practised with a far more pleasing result than is prevalent on Earth.</p>
+
+<p>Satan has found his way to this planet and has organized his forces into
+sworn legions against whom the armies of righteousness are waging
+relentless warfare.</p>
+
+<p>The main secret of Plasden's high morality is found in the fact that
+the civil governments insist on moral laws and a careful observance of
+them. One blushes with shame at the looseness and laxity with which the
+greater municipalities of our Earth are governed, and all this under the
+shadow of our schools and church spires.</p>
+
+<p>Centuries ago the good people of Plasden learned how to co-operate when
+they desired to win in a struggle against iniquity. I would give my
+life-blood if I could transport this secret in such a way as to make it
+effective on the Earth.</p>
+
+<p>In our world we have before us a most humiliating spectacle. If an
+effort is made to extirpate some form of sin that has taken audacious
+root in the soil of our moral life, one reform element or denomination
+fights with the other until the hoe is so broken that there is nothing
+left wherewith to dig out the miserable roots of the obnoxious weed.
+Thus do we spend our energies opposing one another instead of fighting
+the Devil.</p>
+
+<p>O, for the Plasden power of unity, before which any species of
+corruption can be crushed out that is opposed by the forces of
+righteousness!</p>
+
+<p>We have succeeded, to a bitter extreme, in getting the church and state
+separated from each other so far that the latter scarcely ever gets a
+glimpse of the former, and we stand by priding ourselves in the absolute
+divorce. Then we have also succeeded in getting the different creeds
+separated by chasms so wide that it is impossible to make a combined
+attack against a common foe. However, these separations between sects
+are gradually disappearing, and over the lessening gaps the hands of a
+more Christian fellowship are being extended.</p>
+
+<p>The Devil, wiser in his generation than the children of light, long ago
+united his trained forces in defense of his iniquitous schemes, and thus
+he is permitted for a season to sit on the throne of power and wield his
+black wand over the civil realm, thereby licensing iniquity, protecting
+vice, and spreading his dark designs over the commonwealths of the
+world.</p>
+
+<p>We look forward to the time when the moral and spiritual forces of our
+world will reach the Plasden unity. May this be accomplished without
+struggling along for another century!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI" />CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<h3>A World of Ideal Cities.</h3>
+
+
+<p>After I had finished my brief stay at Plasden, I again rose high in air
+and looked over the oceans with their floating cities. This was one of
+the most charming views I ever had of any world.</p>
+
+<p>I paid a passing visit to a few worlds where human life had never risen
+to a great height of civilization, nor can I forget the lessons I there
+learned of the power of sin. All this one can clearly see who visits the
+three worlds lying next in order to Plasden, but I will forbear the sad
+and sickening recital of the depth to which a world is carried by sin
+when once it gains a haughty ascendency.</p>
+
+<p>The next orb that attracted my attention also lay in the solar system of
+Dubhe, and very much resembles our own world in both size and climate.
+The people, who are not half our stature, are so differently formed that
+I could scarcely believe my own senses.</p>
+
+<p>A description of them would appear only ludicrous, so I shall content
+myself with saying that they are refined in their manners and highly
+educated in all branches of human knowledge, which does not imply that
+their studies are identical with ours.</p>
+
+<p>I was surprised at the splendid arrangement of their cities and the
+sensible laws governing them. One can scarcely believe that we are
+guilty of so much lost labor in the management of our cities, in our own
+way of living, and in providing for our families, until he sets his eyes
+on a city of another world that has notably distanced us in this
+respect.</p>
+
+<p>These people, though small of stature, are endowed with powerful
+muscular systems and, through their intelligence, they have become
+masters of the seas and of the land, for the forests give away and
+savage tribes fall back before the onward march of the God-directed
+conqueror, man.</p>
+
+<p>I then appeared in visible form and walked into one of the largest
+cities on this world. I had not passed one-fourth of the way toward the
+city's center before I was surrounded by a curious crowd which so
+blocked my path that I could make no further progress. You may imagine
+their surprise to see a giant, as I appeared to them, with a strangely
+shaped head and with a soft, flabby skin, for they at first regarded my
+clothing as my skin.</p>
+
+<p>No one could conjecture what sort of an animal I was. I remained mute
+and watched the rising tide of excitement. Before anyone could venture
+to touch me, I saw a band of officers in double-quick march hastening
+toward me with their curiously shaped weapons unfolded.</p>
+
+<p>I stood motionless as the soldiers surrounded me. As soon as the circle
+was formed the leader of the squad stepped toward me with a show of
+bravery, but I saw that he secretly trembled. It was his oath-bound duty
+in such a case to lay hands on me and, if necessary, use force to take
+me to the central office.</p>
+
+<p>I offered no resistance and went, as I was directed, till I stood in the
+odd looking room where all offenders of their law are taken for a
+hearing.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 422px;">
+<a name="IMG11" id="IMG11" /><img src="images/image-11.jpg" width="422" height="600" alt="Planet of Dubhe." title="" />
+<b>Planet of Dubhe.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>The news of my appearance and arrest had by this time spread to all
+parts of the city and a motley crowd were gathering, but only a small
+portion of the people were able to gain entrance into the building where
+I had been taken.</p>
+
+<p>The high officials and educators, hearing of the wonderful giant at the
+city hall, hastened thither with all speed. Then I saw an interesting
+spectacle. As these higher classes of people arrived, the lower classes
+were compelled to leave. The room being full, no laborer was allowed to
+remain if a person of nobility wished to occupy his seat. This peculiar
+custom or law applies to all public places and assemblies.</p>
+
+<p>In a short time all the lower classes were compelled to leave the hall
+to make room for the unprecedented rush of nobility. Nothing so tempted
+me to speak as when I saw this partial rule in operation.</p>
+
+<p>During all this gathering the officers stood in a circle around me and
+held their weapons ready for instant service. Not hearing what I was or
+what I might do, they were ordered to maintain this strict attitude.</p>
+
+<p>Every eye was fastened on me. Some of the nobility were pale with fear;
+others were busy inquiring whence I came and where I had been captured.</p>
+
+<p>At length the chief official made a gutteral sound. This must have been
+a call for order and the signal for the opening of the court, for at
+once the wild confusion gave way to order as much as could be expected
+under the circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>The brief formalities of opening the court were ridiculous to me. This
+being done, all official attention was given to me. I saw that
+everything was under the charge of this presiding official. He first
+ordered that I should be bound and, accordingly, my hands and feet were
+tied. Then a very heavy chain-like rope was fastened to my body and I
+was tied to the criminal's post.</p>
+
+<p>The officers were then released and retired to their special part of the
+room.</p>
+
+<p>The chief then stepped toward me and peered into my face with a puzzled
+look of great anxiety. I returned his glances calmly, but uttered not a
+word.</p>
+
+<p>There was a breathless suspense as the chief lifted up his hands,
+touched my face, and felt my mustache and whiskers. The hair was perhaps
+the strangest feature of my whole head, since there is nothing on their
+human or animal species that resembles hair.</p>
+
+<p>The chief then called for a certain professor who was an expert in
+zoology. This intelligent man quickly came to my side and, at the
+request of the chief, commenced to examine me carefully.</p>
+
+<p>My manner of breathing confused him most of all. He watched my chest
+rising and falling and my sides increasing and decreasing with every
+breath, until he was mystified beyond all power of explanation.</p>
+
+<p>When the dignitaries saw that I could be touched with safety, numerous
+messages were flying to the chief, each one asking for the privilege of
+a closer inspection of me.</p>
+
+<p>The presiding officer was cool-headed and firmly followed his own cause.
+He waited until the professor had finished his examination and was
+prepared to report, whereupon he announced to the bewildered audience
+that heed should now be given to the conclusion of the zoologist.</p>
+
+<p>The professor mounted a throne-like elevation from which all expert
+opinion is submitted. A painful silence ensued as this learned man
+proceeded with his report.</p>
+
+<p>Of course I pretended that I could not understand their language and
+that I was oblivious to all these occurrences, but you may be assured
+that I was careful not to miss a word that fell from the lips of this
+noted specialist who conducted himself with a dignity both pleasing and
+fascinating.</p>
+
+<p>"I pronounce this creature an enigma," commenced the professor as he
+pointed his bony finger toward me, "and declare him to be the strangest
+problem of my life. How, and whence, and why he came to us are all alike
+shrouded in impenetrable mystery."</p>
+
+<p>"This perplexing specimen is totally different from any species of our
+animal creation. He resembles a man more closely than any beast.
+However, he cannot belong to any family of our world for he is possessed
+with bodily functions unknown to us. His clothes are not the result of
+any natural growth, and are far beyond our finest manufacture. Each
+piece of his apparel gives positive evidence that it was made with
+hands more skillful than ours."</p>
+
+<p>"The most pleasing part of this perplexity is the face, which bears
+indisputable marks of intelligence. It would be eminently satisfying to
+us if we could communicate with him and receive some light on this
+living marvel."</p>
+
+<p>He quickly stepped from the throne and the chief then invited four
+philosophers to examine me conjointly. They hurriedly responded to the
+invitation, for they were delighted at the honor and privilege conferred
+upon them.</p>
+
+<p>What a peculiar experience followed! Four men touched my hands and
+ankles, my arms and limbs, and more particularly every piece of my
+apparel. Accidentally one found my purse, but could not open it. As he
+was faithfully pursuing his task, I felt that the time had come for me
+to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Twist at the two knobs," I said in their vernacular.</p>
+
+<p>If lightning had struck into that room, it would not have caused more
+consternation. The four philosophers fell to the floor, the chief was
+terrified, the audience looked on in abject terror, while the officers
+rushed from their post with drawn weapons. All this occurred instantly,
+and I realized that my words never before had such an effect. In a
+moment the chief was at my side and, looking into my face, exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you and why have you remained silent?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am a human being," I replied.</p>
+
+<p>"From what part of our world?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was not born on this world."</p>
+
+<p>"On what world then?" he further asked with increasing surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"On a world called Earth that revolves around a star called Sun." As I
+was answering these questions many wild sensations were sweeping over
+the hearts of the assembled nobility.</p>
+
+<p>"How came you to our world?" continued the chief with abated breath.</p>
+
+<p>"On wings invisible."</p>
+
+<p>"For what purpose came you hither?"</p>
+
+<p>"To see your manner of life."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you stay with us forever?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you come to harm us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not in the least."</p>
+
+<p>The chief in a high state of excitement ordered that I should be
+unbound.</p>
+
+<p>I smiled and said that I would spare them that trouble. I snapped the
+bands with such ease that a new fear possessed all of those around me.</p>
+
+<p>I then gave them positive assurance that I would harm no one and urged
+that all should be silent as I wished to speak a few words to them.</p>
+
+<p>Never before had I a more attentive audience. I addressed them in a
+natural manner, informing them that I desired to become familiar with a
+few of their forms and customs of life. I then proceeded to give them a
+description of the world whence I had come. My audience became
+enthusiastic and I decided to cease speaking.</p>
+
+<p>The chief, although greatly agitated, still kept his hand on the
+throttle of the occasion. He waved the surging crowd back, demanded
+order and at once sent his arrowed questions at me again.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you not a god?" cried he.</p>
+
+<p>"I am only human."</p>
+
+<p>"How could you have such power as to reach our world?"</p>
+
+<p>"That I cannot explain."</p>
+
+<p>"How many people live on your world?"</p>
+
+<p>"One and one-half billion," I answered.</p>
+
+<p>"Are they all pure-minded?"</p>
+
+<p>I answered that I was pained to inform them that many of our inhabitants
+are wicked.</p>
+
+<p>My listeners were still incredulous as to my identity. They were
+positive that I was a visiting spirit on a mission of evil or good, and
+they urged that I should disclose the purpose of my commission.</p>
+
+<p>I re-affirmed my past utterances and, turning to the chief more
+directly, I informed him that he would see me no more. Then, without
+pausing another moment, I vanished. As I went, I looked backward to see
+the mystified countenances of all who were in the room, and then
+proceeded to visit the surrounding city to examine the system under
+which it is governed.</p>
+
+<p>I found that the bulk of the trade is controlled by the city, one class
+of goods being kept at one place in suitable store houses. The city owns
+a full line of vehicles resembling our automobiles. These are very
+spacious. Each one is supplied with certain lines of merchandise and
+passes over an unalterable rail route at its own fixed period.</p>
+
+<p>Thus all parts of the city are reached with the necessaries of life.
+Those who prefer can go to the trade centers, but no special orders are
+delivered except by the regular cars and at the regular time.</p>
+
+<p>For instance, one can go to the trade centers for meats and vegetables,
+and purchase what he wishes or give his order. At the time corresponding
+to six o'clock of our time in the morning the meat and vegetable cars
+start on their respective routes, while the trade centers are open for
+personal callers. Marketing goes on at the market center while the cars
+are selling throughout the city. At nine o'clock the delivery cars leave
+the trade centers.</p>
+
+<p>Similar to the manner of our world, each home is numbered in such a way
+that no two houses have the same designation. By this arrangement the
+delivery of goods is facilitated.</p>
+
+<p>Everything in this busy metropolis goes like clock work, and everybody
+knows the schedule, which is simple enough to be understood almost at a
+glance.</p>
+
+<p>All the trade centers lie along the freight and passenger railroad. This
+saves a tremendous amount of labor, for the goods are all transferred
+directly from the cars to the store-houses.</p>
+
+<p>There is no Fire Department, for there is no need of one. It appears
+that only a few worlds in the universe use inflammable materials for
+structural purposes, and we are one of them.</p>
+
+<p>There is a Finance Department and a Law Department, although I cannot
+give space for their description.</p>
+
+<p>The Sanitary and Police Departments are under systems absolutely
+different from any that are known in our world. Their sanitary methods
+are no more effective than ours, perhaps less so. But the Police
+Department is greatly superior. This is largely due to the fact that
+this city has a department gloriously ahead of any city in which I have
+ever lived. This department is called the Moral Department. It is
+managed by twenty-one men and women, one-third of whom are selected
+annually from a list of nominees.</p>
+
+<p>Each church, meeting certain requirements, is entitled to make one
+nomination. The seven of these nominees receiving the largest number of
+votes are elected for three years.</p>
+
+<p>This Moral Department is no mincing and begging institution. It has, at
+its disposal, the entire military battery. No mayor holds a whip handle
+over it. I must confess I was happy as I witnessed the blessed effect of
+this Moral Department. All evil is not extirpated, neither is all
+lawlessness overcome, but there is no brazen iniquity, no public
+immorality and heartless brutality such as is seen on every hand in one
+of our larger municipalities.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII" />CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<h3>A World Enjoying Its Millennium.</h3>
+
+
+<p>What expansive views of creation were afforded me in my universal
+journey! I saw all conceivable types of human life, many of which I
+alone could never have conceived.</p>
+
+<p>With a happy soul I alighted on another world in the solar system of
+Dubhe where sin had been banished, and the believers, or children of
+God, were passing through a period of time which we would call the
+Millennium.</p>
+
+<p>A wide contrast was now presented to my view. I had seen world after
+world in the tribulation of sin. Now I had come to one under the sway of
+righteousness, and I wish that I had power to describe what I saw and
+experienced.</p>
+
+<p>I suddenly thought of the Queen of Sheba, who, upon seeing the greatness
+of Solomon's wisdom, exclaimed, "Behold, the half was not told me." I
+had often imagined what the condition of our world would be when it
+smiles under the light of the Millennium, but I minimized the glory that
+is yet to come to us, judging by what I saw on this delightfully
+charming planet. I have no assurance, however, that the coming
+Millennium of our world will be altogether similar to the one I saw.</p>
+
+<p>This glorious Millennium was ushered in about six hundred years ago, and
+I readily learned the general particulars of its commencement. The world
+had been very wicked prior to the dawn of this new age. The majority of
+the people disregarded all spiritual truths, causing the darkness of sin
+to hang like a heavy pall over the nations of this planet.</p>
+
+<p>There were earnest devotees who lived in the light and love of God, and
+who preached and pleaded with the thoughtless and the indifferent.
+Notwithstanding all the efforts put forth on the part of the righteous,
+the generations of this distant world became more and more wicked until
+the Millennial dawn.</p>
+
+<p>In the fullness of time the Millennium was ushered in by the appearance
+of the chief angel who came with several hundred thousand attending
+spirits. At the approach of these celestial regiments the atmosphere far
+above the planet was darkened by ominous clouds through which the
+approaching legions shone with unearthly brightness. All this occurred
+in the twinkling of an eye, even before the busy millions could look
+upward. Then the chief angel and his magnificent host circled in the
+air, singing the resurrection song, which was augmented by ten thousand
+trumpeters, while the forked and sheet lightnings flashed in unison with
+the imposing waves of music, and heavy thunders contributed the bass
+intonations.</p>
+
+<p>The celestial choir continued during one revolution of the planet. The
+vast throng sang in the air as the planet revolved on its axis. As each
+section of the globe came beneath the long extended line of melodious
+angels, the marvelous change took place for that section. The sleeping
+saints came forth from their graves and, with the living saints, were
+caught up into the air. This continued until this most eventful day was
+finished.</p>
+
+<p>The scenes that occurred with the ungodly during this awful day beggar
+all description, so much so that I shall not attempt to describe the
+remorseful wails of horror that rent the air, only to be drowned by the
+ever-singing choir. It was the day of triumph for the saints, and their
+ears were not disturbed by the cries of terror, nor were their hearts
+distracted by the opening of the earth to receive the wicked.</p>
+
+<p>As the saints were caught up, the wicked fell into pits and have not
+been seen since. The flames that issued from the rending globe set
+everything on fire. Who can select language sufficiently graphic to
+portray such a lurid dissolution of a planet, and the gathering of the
+faithful, quick and dead?</p>
+
+<p>Thus was this large world purified by fire while the saints were
+gloriously enraptured. After the fury of this burning was passed, the
+great Creator of the universe made a new world whereon righteousness
+dwelled.</p>
+
+<p>The saints became the possessors and rulers of this whole sphere, living
+in joy and peace unprecedented. It has been the happiest six hundred
+years since the beginning of this planet. How long this period will
+continue no one seems to know, and but few are conjecturing, for each
+soul is completely happy and congenially employed.</p>
+
+<p>The time will come, however, when this blissful period will be at an
+end, only to give way to a state of existence infinitely greater and
+more glorious, which in our language would be called Heaven.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 399px;">
+<a name="IMG12" id="IMG12" /><img src="images/image-12.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Beginning of the Millennium." title="" />
+<b>Beginning of the Millennium.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>I will briefly describe a few characteristics of this Millennial life as
+I saw it and as it is now existing.</p>
+
+<p>1. The saints are living in spiritual bodies. They are not cumbered with
+a fleshy body, and are capable of traveling through the air at a speed
+far beyond that attained by the swiftest winged creature of any world in
+the whole universe.</p>
+
+<p>Their spiritual bodies are highly organized and sensitive to a fine
+degree. At will they are capable of rendering themselves visible or
+invisible, as we comprehend these terms.</p>
+
+<p>As the perfectly formed flower, blushing in its wealth of color, is
+called beautiful, so we would designate these symmetrical
+spirit-creatures, moving in the glory of their higher endowment and
+shaded with the living tints of Heaven.</p>
+
+<p>2. These inhabitants know nothing of fatigue. Their strength of body and
+vitality of mind are unabating. What a contrast between the creatures of
+our Earth and those of the Millennial world on whom the passing of
+centuries has no ill effect.</p>
+
+<p>3. There is nothing on this purified world to generate disease; hence
+these favored people never suffer any pain of body or of mind. The long
+line of sin-shadows has all vanished from this redeemed planet, and the
+atmosphere is all aglow with the mellowed light of peace and love.</p>
+
+<p>4. Jealousy and all kindred feelings are unknown. These roots were all
+destroyed by the fire at the beginning of the Millennium. No one can
+imagine how enrapturing life is in the absence of stings of malice and
+thorns of envy.</p>
+
+<p>5. The social and spiritual relationships are all harmoniously blended.
+No one feels himself beneath or above another, and no one feels
+embarrassed in the presence of a superior human intelligence.</p>
+
+<p>6. Thus it follows that the fellowship is inexpressibly sweet. You can
+only imagine the dignity and glory one must feel as he mingles with the
+righteous dead of all ages, and gathers from them a glimpse of the
+trials and triumphs of ten thousand years under the old reign.</p>
+
+<p>7. Some of the spirits are employed in dressing and keeping the gardens
+in which grow the luxurious food on which redeemed creatures subsist:
+not cereals, fruits, or nuts, but the kind that creates the most
+heavenly sensations as it wastes away in perfume at the will of the
+user. The nearest imitation of this food ever known on earth was eaten
+by Christ's spirit when Mary broke the alabaster box of ointment on his
+head.</p>
+
+<p>8. Some spirits of this Millennial life seemed to be more rapturously
+happy than the others. I learned that they had passed through the
+darkness of continual disappointments or suffered under the mis-mating
+of matrimonial union. Others fought through the fires of persecution and
+torture, and still others passed through martyrdom for their Master's
+sake. All of these patiently endured all hardships leading down to the
+end of their mortal days.</p>
+
+<p>9. The affinity between sexes is clearly marked. No love but pure love
+burns on the altar of any soul, and any one who wishes may stop to
+kindle the fires or warm himself thereat. There is no bodily contact, no
+decay, no weakening. This love is enrapturing, uplifting, ever drawing
+the lover and the loved nearer to the fountain.</p>
+
+<p>In language most intelligible to us, I would say that the intercourse
+between sexes is one of refined telepathy, soul-connection by thought
+transmission, a thousand-fold more charming than the low plane of
+intercourse in the flesh life, with none of its attendant weakening
+results. This strange felicity is as indescribable as it is glorious.
+Each nature seeks its real complement, and enjoys the most absolute
+liberty, for there is not a single barrier to prevent it, as no one
+desires to do wrong.</p>
+
+<p>This most inviting life had its charms for me, but I well knew that I
+could not tarry. I lingered at a thousand fountains to catch the
+life-giving spray and studied, as far as I possibly could, the faces of
+these favored creatures.</p>
+
+<p>The whole vegetable world is a long extended floral garden. Where
+formerly deserts lay waste and wild, now the blooming roses and
+expansive lawns can be seen. Is it possible to picture to your mind's
+eye a line of lofty mountains whose sides are dressed in living colors
+and trimmed with rare flowers? If you cannot paint this picture, then
+you must not endeavor to form the faintest conception of the natural
+features of this Millennial world.</p>
+
+<p>Being still filled with the lingering memories of this happy sphere, and
+looking forward to the coming golden age of our own world, I read with
+pleasure a few stanzas contemplating Christ's second coming.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>"A SONG OF HIS COMING."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>See the virgins at midnight yearning,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To behold the face of the Groom.<br /></span>
+<span>Their lamps are all trimmed and burning,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">As they peer through the misty gloom.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>"He will come," is the shout of voices,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Which have sung in a thousand ways;<br /></span>
+<span>For the heart of the saint rejoices,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">At the thought of the coming days.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>When the war of creeds will be over,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And our King descends from above,<br /></span>
+<span>Only they shall witness His crowning,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Who have lived in the light of love.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Then the Christ shall reign in his glory<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">On the throne of his sovereign might:<br /></span>
+<span>And the theme of Redemption's story<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Will be sung with perfect delight.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>And our minds will dazzle with brightness,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">As our thoughts forever aspire,<br /></span>
+<span>For a mantle of perfect whiteness,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Shall cover the youth and the sire;<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Then we know that none will be jealous,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And no one will envy our lot.<br /></span>
+<span>For against the one who is zealous,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Not a soul will contrive or plot.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>And our actions will chime in pleasure,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">All refined from malice and sting.<br /></span>
+<span>We shall all reach the perfect measure,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In the reign of this conquering King.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>We will have everything we can use,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In those beautiful realms of light;<br /></span>
+<span>There the people will do as they choose,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For each one will choose to do right.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>We will sail through the seas of beauty,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And return to the shores we please;<br /></span>
+<span>Far away from the callings of duty,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In the shade of undying trees.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>All the riches of Christ will be ours,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">'Tis a wealth without guilt or pain.<br /></span>
+<span>There will be no 'Contention of Powers',<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Nor the marks of official stain.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>As I look from this earthly station,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">I exclaim again and again&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span>O what an eternal vacation!<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Come quickly, Lord Jesus, Amen.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII" />CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>A World of High Medical Knowledge.</h3>
+
+
+<p>I spent a long and profitable season in the vicinity of the Great
+Dipper, witnessing the almost infinite variations of human life as found
+from world to world, and looking upon the wild wastes of the many
+planets that are not inhabited.</p>
+
+<p>Finally I again spread my swift wings, reached the beautiful star
+Arcturus and noticed among the worlds that revolve around it a few that
+are sinless. I was tempted to pause at one or another of these
+exceptional stations, but I knew that I could not tarry until I had
+reached the far distant constellation of Scorpio.</p>
+
+<p>In this wide flight I traveled a distance so great that I will not weary
+the mind with mentioning the trillions of miles. Now I was in the direct
+path of the Milky Way and my imagination staggered as I saw the
+endlessness of stars and solar systems, as far out beyond me as my
+assisted eyes could reach.</p>
+
+<p>The star at which I arrived is one of the largest suns that blaze in the
+depths of immensity. It is so wonderfully great that if twelve hundred
+million worlds as large as ours were all crushed into one great ball, it
+would not make one sphere as immense as this star or sun, around which
+revolve about five hundred worlds or planets, many of which are greater
+than our Jupiter. With abounding interest I visited all the inhabited
+worlds of this vast system. How long it took I have no way of knowing. I
+did not count time by hours or heart throbs, for I was so wrapt in my
+observations that all else was as nothing to me.</p>
+
+<p>Some of these worlds sustain a low order of human creatures, while on
+others there are races that have reached a high degree in the scale of
+advancement. Of these five hundred worlds nearly one-half are barren of
+all life, and of those that are inhabited some twenty are sinless worlds
+and thirty are now passing through an intermediate period between the
+probationary life and the final judgment, a period toward which we are
+anxiously looking and which we designate as the Millennium.</p>
+
+<p>Of all this ponderous solar system there is one world that excels all
+the others in its medical attainments, and of this one first I will give
+a flying notice.</p>
+
+<p>I have named this world Dore-lyn. It is fifty times as large as our
+Earth and of greater specific gravity.</p>
+
+<p>Its human creatures are delightfully formed and are in ruddy health and
+refined happiness. In shape these Dore-lynites differ somewhat from us,
+but long before I had reached this planet I learned something of the
+universal standards of symmetry and ascertained that creatures could be
+beautiful without resembling us whatever.</p>
+
+<p>Here I found four billions of people and there is room for twenty
+billions more. So if you are in ill health, and have run the round of
+our medical fraternity without success, I would advise you to go to
+Dore-lyn, if you know how to reach it.</p>
+
+<p>These Dore-lynites are almost three times our size and they are subject
+to most of our ills and many more. From an early date the head
+government of this world paid particular attention to hygiene, keeping
+all medical work under its own care.</p>
+
+<p>The government controls the whole field of medical science just as we do
+the post-office department.</p>
+
+<p>There are no conflicting schools of medicines such as Allopathic,
+Homeopathic, Hydropathic, Eclectic and Osteopathic. The government gives
+handsome rewards to any one who furnishes a new discovery or gives
+additional light. Everything is duly tested and proved to be a success
+by a corps of experts before it is given to the practicing fraternity.
+The government holds certain rights in experimenting that no physician
+or medical school would think of having in our world. The government
+medical schools of Dore-lyn are marvels indeed. Nothing is spared that
+money or talent can furnish. The full graduates of these schools are
+only "the survival of the fittest." Others take a secondary degree and
+can act as assistants or retire from the list. The government has a
+series of institutions that do a work similar to our hospitals and have
+a corps of full graduates supplying the stations. This entire system is
+so arranged that every family or individual receives all necessary
+treatment free.</p>
+
+<p>The cost of carrying on this vast system is one of the items of national
+expense. I will now mention some of the medical achievements of these
+Dore-lynites.</p>
+
+<p>When a physician suspects that the blood is poisoned he at once proceeds
+to a chemical analysis, and if certain kinds of poison are found, the
+blood is filtered by the use of a fine instrument. A blood vessel is
+exposed and cut, and the two ends fastened to the delicate filter. Thus
+the blood is cleansed by passing through this instrument. Those
+acquainted with the manner in which the blood circulates can readily see
+how all the blood of the body can be reached in a short time. This
+method is very successful in the treatment of all bites of poisonous
+insects and reptiles, and all types of hydrophobia, which are ten-fold
+more numerous in Dore-lyn than in our world.</p>
+
+<p>There are no patent medicines in Dore-lyn. The few medicines they have
+are manufactured only by government authority and everybody receives the
+purest that can be compounded, no distinction being made between rich
+and poor. One thousand years ago the medical aspects of Dore-lyn were
+similar to those which are seen in our world to-day. People were
+compelled to take all manner of poisons and opiates even from skilled
+hands. But in Dore-lyn those days of darkness and misery are past and
+the people enjoy the benefit of a medical skill one thousand years ahead
+of us. They look back to the practice of the old physicians with
+ludicrous feelings just as we do when reading the prescriptions that
+were used in the first century of our dispensation.</p>
+
+<p>We call your attention to some of the antiquated remedies of our world
+as related by Geike and copied from a medical journal of our own
+country. Following is a list:</p>
+
+<p>"Ashes of wolf's skull, stag's horn, the heads of mice, the eyes of
+crabs, owl's brains, liver of frogs, viper's fat, grasshoppers, bats,
+etc., these supplied the alkalis which were prescribed. Physicians were
+accustomed to order doses of the gall of wild swine. It is presumed the
+tame hog was not sufficiently efficacious. There were other choice
+prescriptions such as horse's foam, woman's milk, laying a serpent on
+the afflicted part, urine of cows, bear fat, still recommended as a hair
+restorative, juice of boiled buck horn, etc. For colic, powdered horse's
+teeth, dung of swine, asses' kidneys, mice excretion made into a
+plaster, and other equally vile and unsavory compounds. Colds in the
+head were cured by kissing the nose of a mule. For sore throat, snail
+slime was a favorite prescription, and mouse flesh was considered
+excellent for disease of the lungs. Boiled snails and powdered bats were
+prescribed for intestinal disorders."</p>
+
+<p>When we read such a list of remedies we can scarcely believe that they
+were ever popular, but according to the history of Dore-lyn the time
+will come when many of our present medicines will be out of date, and
+only mentioned in the old medical works.</p>
+
+<p>The people of Dore-lyn have suffered in past ages innumerable woes on
+account of intemperance. Alcohol is unknown to them, but they have had a
+two-thousand year's battle against three liquids that affect them as
+opium affects us. Strange to say that these terrible liquids were the
+bases of many of their medicines just like the anodyne medicines of our
+present day. Thus in Dore-lyn the old kinds of medicines created many
+drunkards. Since the dawn of the brighter age, a strict law prevails
+regarding the use of all narcotics in medicines. Then came gradually
+into use the many methods of treating disease without medicine, except
+the materials used to sustain life regularly.</p>
+
+<p>Being interested in these things, I examined more closely into their
+past medical history, and saw more clearly the present folly of a
+certain part of our medicinal practice. How we are struggling with
+alcohol, especially as found in so many of our patent medicines, and how
+helpless we are in trying to abolish the sale of these medicines by
+reason of our unbounded liberty! In our world, a man may concoct any
+alcoholic medicine and sell it without liquor license, for people
+become verily mad for the bottled stuff. Our nation may some day become
+wise enough to keep its own hand on the business that is determining the
+health and happiness of millions of its inhabitants.</p>
+
+<p>But let me cease this digression and get back once more to Dore-lyn.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most noted medical achievements on this world consists in the
+manner of rendering a person unconscious of pain. The anatomy of a
+Dore-lynite is, in general, the same as our anatomy. Their bones are
+arranged a little differently and the sections of the backbone have a
+quite different formation. When a surgeon of that world wishes to
+perform an operation and therefore render the patient unconscious, he
+presses the tough cartilagenous part of a section of the backbone with a
+screw device fastened to the body of the patient. This simple act
+renders the spinal cord insensitive, which condition may be maintained
+for hours without injuring the patient. Of course any point above the
+screw device is sensitive, and for this reason it is more difficult to
+render a person unconscious in the parts about the head.</p>
+
+<p>Many ages ago the world of microbes was laid bare, but not before these
+people were masters of the microscope or an instrument serving the same
+purposes, although formed on a partly different principle.</p>
+
+<p>These Dore-lynites have brought to light the numerous varieties of
+parasite broods that cause fermentations and diseases, both infectious
+and otherwise.</p>
+
+<p>A diseased body is looked upon as being in possession of a certain brood
+of microbes which are destroyed either by the blood filter or the
+"Vaccine bath, or injection." (I know no better name by which to call
+it.) A few diseases are treated by doses of medicines given in a manner
+similar to the prescription system of our country.</p>
+
+<p>The "Food Treatment" is also very popular in Dore-lyn. This is merely a
+hygienic selection of foods given to people of declining health, instead
+of having them swallow ten or twenty dollars' worth of strong medicines.</p>
+
+<p>Abnormal appetites crave for a class of foods injurious to the system.
+In Dore-lyn they have discovered a novel method of turning the diseased
+appetite from its cravings toward the things needed by the system.</p>
+
+<p>In performing operations, the experts of Dore-lyn have reached a
+marvelous degree of perfection. They have learned to make a false eye so
+that one can see with it. It took three and one-half thousand years of
+continual experimenting on this delicate creation before it was
+pronounced satisfactory.</p>
+
+<p>The false eye is not of flesh but one of manufacture. It is placed in
+sensitive connection with the optic nerve, on which images are thrown by
+the delicate mechanism of the false eye. The sight thus obtained is
+almost one-half as distinct as that which is enjoyed by the normal eye.</p>
+
+<p>These medical wizards also make artificial ears which are about as
+satisfactory as the natural ears. In certain lines of surgery we are
+equal to these Dore-lynites, but we cannot register with them in the
+whole category of surgical achievements. They have simply distanced us
+by five hundred years. That is, I believe that in five hundred years we
+can reach the fields of glory which they now occupy.</p>
+
+<p>Think of laying bare a human lung and treating it with a special
+preparation for extreme cases of lung diseases, and also treating it
+with a "baking" for department cases of a disease similar to pneumonia.
+Perhaps the most wonderful class of operations is performed on the heart
+and the brain.</p>
+
+<p>The heart is laid bare under a sheet of thermal rays. Fatty tissues are
+removed and other obstructions eradicated during the regular heart
+beats.</p>
+
+<p>The government grants certain privileges of experimenting on her lowest
+class of criminals, and it is well nigh incredible what has been
+accomplished by cerebrum operations.</p>
+
+<p>Certain murderers of vile propensities have been so changed by an
+operation on the cerebrum that they have no power of recalling their
+past life and are incapable of uttering an oath. And what is more
+strange, they are intent on leading an upright life and being intensely
+religious withal.</p>
+
+<p>I am compelled to crowd a world of glorious life into a few paragraphs,
+but I hope that I have given such as will be for our good.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV" />CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>A World of Low Life.</h3>
+
+
+<p>When one witnesses an exhibition he must, of necessity, look upon the
+poorer parts of it. This was my experience in my universal journey, for
+on some worlds which I visited I found that human civilization was at a
+low ebb. One of the most notable of this class is the world next beyond
+Dore-lyn.</p>
+
+<p>This sphere is one thousand times as large as ours, and the beastly
+creatures that inhabit it are four times our size.</p>
+
+<p>The toilers in the deep valleys of Mars are favorably intelligent
+compared with these specimens of humanity. For convenience, I will call
+this world Scum. Its people are so constituted that their two arms can
+be used as legs; so it is quite common to see these Scumites travel over
+their planet like the more graceful of our quadrupeds. Their walking,
+however, is principally after our fashion, and they can change about at
+pleasure. Either way of travel seems as natural as the other. When they
+walk on two limbs, the body is erect, presenting a stature of such
+gigantic proportions as to over-awe a representative of our world.</p>
+
+<p>According to the universal standards of symmetry, these giants have an
+animal beauty that is anything but handsome, and they also lack those
+facial expressions of higher intelligence that come only through
+generations of cultured thinking. Their health is quite perfect and they
+live to a great age.</p>
+
+<p>These Scumites have a language singularly their own. It is so totally
+different from any of our conceptions of speech that I can scarcely find
+words to describe it.</p>
+
+<p>The medium of conversation is the Notched Rod. It is about twelve feet
+long with various kinds of notches cut along the two sides. Such a stick
+is possessed by every Scumite who expects to hold extended or
+descriptive conversations. It is usually held by a skin strung around
+the neck. While one of these persons is talking, two or three of his
+fingers pass from notch to notch along the rod. These indentures of the
+rod represent, in their language, certain kinds of sounds and are used
+to assist the vocal organs in expressing the more intricate combinations
+of ideas. Naturally, the listener watches the fingers more than the
+mouth.</p>
+
+<p>It is amusing to see a Scumite busily engaged in delivering a speech to
+a few of his fellow creatures. It would remind you of a person playing a
+fife or violin without producing any sound.</p>
+
+<p>The children of Scum learn this rod language just the same as our
+children at first learn to speak our language by observation and
+practice.</p>
+
+<p>The face of a Scumite does not resemble a human face of our planet. The
+mouth and jaws are at right angles to ours and this arrangement seems to
+be just as convenient to these Scumites as the formation of our mouth is
+to us. The nose lies above the mouth, but is relatively much higher, its
+point coming between the two eyes which are situated more toward the
+sides of the head.</p>
+
+<p>The startling fact about this world is that at one time in its past
+history fair intelligence reigned on a few parts of the planet. These
+intelligent sections were working their way upward on the measureless
+incline of progress and had won some distinctions in their sciences, as
+well as their religious devotions. These bright spots on the surface of
+this large orb were surrounded with large black patches of war-like
+humanity and, between these two extremes, a warfare of subjection or
+extermination raged without any hope or peace.</p>
+
+<p>The educated Scumites had a few advantages in methods of war, but with
+all this they were not able to withstand the vast hordes that swept down
+upon them. Brute force won the battle and the accumulated light of four
+thousand years flickered until it was no more.</p>
+
+<p>It was a fatal day for Scum when its mad inhabitants blew out the last
+of the candles that had promised to give them light.</p>
+
+<p>When this sad and blighting victory was accomplished, these uncivilized
+tribes rejoiced more hilariously than at one time our Indians rejoiced
+when celebrating their victories in the wild scalp dances.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the dark shadows fell on this huge world. The captured educated
+classes made a heroic effort to continue their cultured manners and
+religious life, but the prejudice against them and their ways was so
+great that they were compelled to live in the lower strata or suffer the
+pain of death. In process of time, the wild woods flourished where once
+the temples of science and pure religion reared their imposing pillars.</p>
+
+<p>What can we expect of such a race of people who have drifted from the
+light of civilization for so long a period? As I looked at their customs
+and their ways, I was reminded of a garden that has run wild. Here and
+there I could see traces of the once thrifty life now almost choked out
+by the overpowering crop of weeds.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually the people became worse and worse. Sin played havoc and built
+carnal fires around which these children of men gathered. Sensuality
+became the ruling passion and, in less than five hundred years of our
+time, the last family observance had died away and these creatures
+wallowed in the quagmire of fleshly lusts, compared with which the brute
+life of our world is highly respectable. "Free Love" was rampant and
+human offspring was cared for by mothers, or at least by such as were
+willing to assume the task. No one was supposed to know who was his
+father.</p>
+
+<p>I saw this sad and sickening spectacle against which my instincts
+revolted with horror. It is true that if man is left totally unbridled,
+he sinks to a depth which it would be impossible for any species of the
+animal creation to reach.</p>
+
+<p>As I continued looking on this low life with its horrors too numerous
+and too dreadful to mention, my thoughts flew back to the world whence I
+came, and to America where I was born, and I remembered of some who
+advocated "Free Love." "Let their arms be withered," I cried, rather
+than have such a thistle fasten itself in the soil of our social life.</p>
+
+<p>Let the libertine of our world go to the world of Scum where he belongs,
+or rise to the dignity of man whose image he bears.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="IMG13" id="IMG13" /><img src="images/image-13.jpg" width="600" height="397" alt="Great Battle between Low Tribes on Scum." title="" />
+<b>Great Battle between Low Tribes on Scum.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>Compared with our world, the physical features of Scum are all
+fashioned on a much larger scale, and the mountains, rivers and
+vegetation are five times greater than ours; so are also the many
+varieties of wild and domestic animals.</p>
+
+<p>The inhabitants of Scum are divided into many warring tribes, and it is
+fearful to see the conflicts that take place. During my brief stay I
+witnessed one of the big battles between two of the stronger tribes. One
+hundred and fifty thousand men went dashing into an enemy of greater
+numbers. It was a foot ball melee on a vast scale. Weapons were all of
+the hand-to-hand type, except the spear wagons which were indeed clumsy
+weapons of war.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing is known of surrender or a flag of truce, so the conflict raged
+horribly to a bitter end until eighty thousand bruised victors
+participated in the jubilant feast that followed. Over two hundred
+thousand Scumites lay dead on the field and along the mountain ridges.
+According to past history, another such great battle is not liable to
+occur for another generation.</p>
+
+<p>The past religion of these giants is not even on a par with idolatry.
+There are many saints sleeping in their graves, bright remnants of the
+time of the old civilization and religion.</p>
+
+<p>Amidst all this present moral wreck of humanity, there are a few
+indications that point to better times. The nobler people of Scum are
+banding together with the avowed purpose of bringing back the light of
+culture and refinement. But it will require several thousand years of
+determined effort to climb to the height from whence their ancestors
+were cruelly and thoughtlessly dragged.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV" />CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+
+<h3>A World of Highest Invention.</h3>
+
+
+<p>After my profitable stay in this immense solar system in the Milky Way,
+I crossed the vast dome of the heavens and lighted on Sirius, the
+brightest star in all the canopy of night. Here I found the fire life of
+Alpha Centaurus repeated, but I did not pause to study the odd phases
+presented to my view.</p>
+
+<p>Onward I moved to survey the remarkable systems of worlds that revolve
+around Sirius. It is a veritable medley of planets, large and small,
+inhabited and barren, sinless, sinful and millennial. A little universe
+packed in a nutshell, figuratively speaking.</p>
+
+<p>The orb of this group that first held my attention is very notable
+indeed. I have labeled it "High Invention," and it is still entitled to
+that distinction. It revolves around Sirius at a distance of seven
+million miles and is thirty-three times as large as our world, with
+physical features and climate quite dissimilar.</p>
+
+<p>Here, in this world of ours, we are proud of the wonderful genius
+displayed by our inventors, and is not this conceit pardonable?</p>
+
+<p>If this world should stand and inventive genius continue at its present
+compound rate of progress, what may we expect to see a hundred or a
+thousand years hence? Now imagine yourself looking down upon a world
+where the highest inventive skill is found. Such was my privilege at
+this time in the course of my universal journey.</p>
+
+<p>This surprising world is inhabited by a persevering race of human
+beings, among whom are a large number of illustrious characters who walk
+in the light of ten thousand years of human achievements.</p>
+
+<p>It need not be said that I was intensely interested in the study of this
+phenomenal world which I will call Ploid. I went from one portion of the
+planet to another, continually remaining invisible. After I had
+witnessed the unequaled sights, I paused to complete my memoranda and
+now, as I review my jottings, I am at a loss to know what few things I
+should select to try to make intelligible to my fellow-men who live on
+this infinitesimal speck which is our world. First, let me call
+attention to:</p>
+
+
+<h3>THEIR TRIUMPHS IN THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.</h3>
+
+<p>The people of Ploid have in their possession a remarkable line of
+fertilizers, not in the form of ground bones, but acidulous juices.
+These juices were improved for three thousand years until there was a
+particular liquid suited to each separate class of vegetables.</p>
+
+<p>As used at the present time, a certain amount of the growth-acid is
+poured directly about the seed at the time of planting. This acid has a
+magical effect upon the soil and it is possible, by repeated
+fertilizing, to raise in two weeks a crop of zoftas, a vegetable similar
+to our potatoes. For raising a crop in two weeks the fertilizer costs
+one-half the value of the zoftas, and for maturing a crop in four weeks
+the fertilizer costs about three-eighths of the value of the zoftas.</p>
+
+<p>Thus it is possible to raise six of these crops in one of our years.
+This law obtains throughout the whole vegetable creation. However, in
+ordinary circumstances, the stimulating acid is used in very light
+quantities. The people have learned by experience that vegetables have a
+better flavor when they have been brought to maturity by the slower
+processes.</p>
+
+<p>These wonderful fertilizers are a blessed boon in the time of "crop
+failures," for then the same crop can be grown anew from the seed and
+hurried to maturity before the close of the season.</p>
+
+<p>The curse of the vegetable worms has been reduced to a minimum on this
+world of Ploid. The chemists have labored patiently for one thousand
+years to produce a substance that will not destroy vegetable seed and at
+the same time kill all forms of parasites. The results have been
+gratifying, and with considerable pleasure I viewed a garden of the
+various odd-shaped vegetables that are grown, without being repulsed at
+the sight of such crawling specimens as tomato and cabbage worms.</p>
+
+<p>The happiest result of this worm-killing substance is seen in the work
+it accomplishes on fruit and nut trees. There is triple the variety of
+nuts on Ploid, and they are used for food more generally than in our
+world. There is no such an animal as a hog and no lard is used. The
+substitute is found in four varieties of nut oil, the result of a sweet
+and clean vegetable growth. Nuts are raised in great abundance, for they
+also supply the base for a spread just as appetizing and more economical
+than butter.</p>
+
+
+<h3>THEIR MODES OF TRAVEL.</h3>
+
+<p>The Ploidites have been traveling in the air for twenty-five hundred
+years, but they cannot control their air-ships sufficiently in all kinds
+of weather. The atmosphere of Ploid is relatively lighter than ours,
+which has made aerial travel more difficult to perfect than it would be
+in our world.</p>
+
+<p>The main traffic, both passenger and freight, is carried on by the Tube
+Line, a wonderful system perfected through thousands of years of
+painstaking labor.</p>
+
+<p>Two immense tubes, lying side by side, each ten feet in diameter, made
+of a substance more durable than steel, form the road bed of this
+lightning system of travel. The cigar-shaped cars have hard
+rubber-wheels and fit over raised bars all around on the inside of the
+immense Tube.</p>
+
+<p>The motor power is called Sky-rallic, and is communicated throughout the
+whole Tube Line by Brosis, a porous metal running in thin narrow bands.</p>
+
+<p>This Tube Line runs without a curve from one division of the road to
+another, except in rare cases where a bend is absolutely necessary. In a
+mountainous region I noticed a stretch of Tube Line without a bend
+running sixty miles, according to our measurement. On prairies, the
+unbroken stretches are much longer.</p>
+
+<p>The cars in this Tube Line travel with fearful rapidity. It requires two
+or three miles to reach dashing speed, after which a run of fifty miles
+is made in eight or ten minutes. No precaution need be taken by the
+motorman as nothing can get into the tube and only one train is allowed
+in a section at one time. Certain hours are given to passenger traffic
+and others to freight traffic. An immense amount of freight can thus be
+carried in one hour. It is possible to send a through freight car two
+thousand miles in ten or twelve hours. Express cars are never connected
+with passengers cars. They are run on their own schedule and sometimes
+attached to freight cars.</p>
+
+<p>This immense Tube Line was built by the government at great expense, but
+it is proving very satisfactory. No storms or floods interfere. No
+grade-crossings and no flying dust are known in this Tube Line which has
+brought the ends of Ploid together. Think of a person crossing a vast
+continent in a day, for the cars in this Tube Line run with frightful
+speed across the long stretches of level. They make as high as a
+three-hundred mile run in forty minutes, without stopping.</p>
+
+<p>The signal and telegraph stations are fifty miles apart, sometimes more.
+In these long runs the motorman stops only when a signal is turned
+against him or if by accident he discerns a train in the Tube ahead of
+him.</p>
+
+<p>The Tube Line is lighted by oval transparencies, in size and shape
+resembling an egg, soldered in specially prepared holes of the Tube.
+The cars are not supplied with air from the tube. Fresh air is obtained
+from the evaporation of a semi-solid.</p>
+
+<p>On the top of this Tube Line there is a double railroad used for local
+travel, both passenger and freight.</p>
+
+
+<h3>THEIR STORAGE BATTERIES.</h3>
+
+<p>Compared with our world, the fuel of Ploid is very scarce, but less is
+required to supply the industries. Nearly all power is obtained from the
+winds, running water and the sun's energy.</p>
+
+<p>The winds are harnessed so that they blow not in vain. Almost every home
+of ordinary intelligence owns one of the many kinds of storage batteries
+used in this world. These batteries are usually located beneath the
+lowest floor of the house, and they constitute the reservoir whence is
+obtained the necessary power for lighting, heating and cooling the
+apartments of the home.</p>
+
+<p>People who live along streams of water utilize these streams for similar
+purposes. It is now conceded in Ploid that the storage batteries of the
+home can be supplied as economically and effectively by winds and the
+sun's heat as by running streams; hence it is a common sight to see
+residences throwing out the old water machinery and introducing the
+latest design of wind-employers or sun-harnessers.</p>
+
+<p>There are certain emergencies when the storage batteries fail to work or
+when the power is exhausted; this happens when there is a very slight
+wind for several days or a heavy drain of power. In such cases fuel is
+used for heating and lighting.</p>
+
+
+<h3>PALACES OF PLOID.</h3>
+
+<p>The palaces of Ploid are dreams of beauty and convenience, outshining
+and surpassing by far the finest mansions on the face of our globe. In
+these abodes the sum total of glory and convenience converges, flowing
+from almost numberless discoveries during the last one hundred years. In
+round numbers, there have been five hundred thousand patents issued in
+the United States in the nineteenth century, but the Ploidites excel us
+by double that number for a similar territorial limit.</p>
+
+
+<h3>THE REWARD OF INVENTORS.</h3>
+
+<p>Patents are not issued in Ploid. The government gives liberal rewards to
+each inventor or discoverer. The applicant appears personally before the
+District Committee on Inventions. If this Committee considers the
+invention worthy of a reward, the applicant is recommended to one of the
+Central Committees at the seat of the government.</p>
+
+<p>This Central Committee carefully considers the invention or discovery,
+places on it an estimate as to its local or governmental value, and
+fills out papers in accordance with its findings. This paper must be
+signed by the Chief Inventor, and the applicant at once receives his
+first installment which is continued, in some instances, during natural
+life. In the case of some extraordinary invention, the immediate
+relatives of the inventor are pensioned for five or ten years in his
+honor.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally, under this system, the government owns all inventions, and
+reaps a heavy return from them, enough to pay all the installments to
+the inventors and the officers employed to carry on this branch of the
+government work.</p>
+
+
+<h3>SOME PARTICULAR INVENTIONS.</h3>
+
+<p>One of the most convenient inventions I saw on this planet of Ploid was
+the carrying of a photograph or image along a wire. The people of Ploid
+cannot only talk to one another many miles apart, but they can also see
+each other while they are talking.</p>
+
+<p>This wonderful attachment to their telephones, by which the human face
+is also carried over the wire, was perfected over one thousand years
+ago. I herewith give a few uses to which this invention is applied.</p>
+
+<p>1. Office men have photograph wires connected with their homes, and they
+can thus talk to and see any one of the family at their pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>2. It can be so arranged that the wife in the home can, by touching a
+little knob, see into her husband's office with which the wire is
+connected, or the husband in the office can see into the room of the
+house with which the connection is made. At either end of the wire, the
+vision can be obstructed by drawing a curtain over the sensitive plate.</p>
+
+<p>3. The foreman of an industrial work shop can see from his home the men
+under his charge.</p>
+
+<p>4. The superintendent of any large works can, at his will, peer into any
+apartment he wishes from his head office. The advantages of this
+arrangement can be easily seen.</p>
+
+<p>5. A minister can see from his study the nature of his audience before
+he leaves home.</p>
+
+<p>6. Farmers can watch their cattle and their fruits without leaving the
+house or barn, according to where the connections are made.</p>
+
+<p>7. Persons can be in bed at night, and if they imagine they hear a
+robber in any room they can first turn on the photograph current and
+then the light flash. In this way one can look, without leaving his bed,
+into each room of the house.</p>
+
+<p>Having given a few illustrations of this marvelous invention, the reader
+can readily see the variety of uses which it will serve.</p>
+
+<p>Their latest discovery in light is a decided improvement over our
+electric light. I know of no sensible name to give it, but the name that
+comes nearest to describing it, according to our terms, would be
+Phosphorous Light. It gives a mild but yet positive radiance, and
+closely resembles diffused sunlight.</p>
+
+
+<h3>THE AGES OF PLOID.</h3>
+
+<p>One of the strangest theories of the whole universe I found on this
+cultured world of Ploid. They divide time into three general periods of
+ages:</p>
+
+<p>1. Age of Fire.</p>
+
+<p>2. Temperate Age.</p>
+
+<p>3. Age of Ice.</p>
+
+<p>The people teach that there was a race of human beings who inhabited
+their world when it was yet in a molten state and that, as their earth
+cooled off, the race became extinct.</p>
+
+<p>This age, they claim, was followed by the Temperate Age, or the age in
+which they are now living.</p>
+
+<p>It is also claimed that, when their earth cools and the frigid blasts
+freeze out the world, there will gradually commence the Age of Ice, or
+the age in which human species will exist by reason of the earth's stiff
+coldness.</p>
+
+<p>I had no way of learning the truth or falsity of this theory.</p>
+
+
+<h3>THOUGHT PHOTOGRAPHY.</h3>
+
+<p>These Ploidites have distanced us in the study of the nervous system,
+including the intricate problems of the cerebrum and cerebellum. They
+have ascertained, by long ages of observation and experimenting, the
+exact effect of every kind of impulse on the brain matter. The experts
+are able to tell, at a post-mortem examination, what kinds of thinking
+were most prevalent during the subject's life, just as easily as we can
+judge the great or little use of the arm by an examination of its
+muscles.</p>
+
+<p>But more wonderful, a thousand fold, is their ability to follow the
+course of thought in a living cerebrum after the brain has been made
+visible by a light more potent than the X&nbsp;ray. After this exposure the
+operator, with his wizard magnifying lens, watches the tiny tremulous
+brain cells in their infinitesimal quivering, as they carry messages
+from the soul to the world of sense and being.</p>
+
+<p>The voluntary nerve action is distinguished from the involuntary, and
+there is no escape from the conclusions formed by an expert observer.
+The parts of the brain at work must of necessity determine the nature of
+the thought, and amplified experiments have been made to prove the
+correctness of these processes.</p>
+
+<p>This scientific mind reading impressed me as the highest expression of
+inventive skill that had come to my attention in any world of space, and
+gave me new light on some of the old mysteries of mind and matter.</p>
+
+<p>I tarried as long as possible on this instructive planet and have not
+yet forgotten many of the valuable hints of inventions that can be
+reproduced in my own world. Surely we are far enough away from Ploid to
+escape any charge of infringement, should we proceed to patent some of
+their inventions.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI" />CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>A Singular Planet.</h3>
+
+
+<p>I visited the other seventy worlds that revolve around Sirius. Among
+them is one of note, called Zik, which is forty-two hundred millions of
+miles from its sun, and is slightly smaller than our world. It is
+inhabited by a race of pigmies which I will call Zikites. Wonderful
+indeed is the intelligence of these creatures, although their form is
+out of symmetry according to our standards. I will therefore avoid a
+description of their physical features, lest it might mar the picture of
+their accomplishments.</p>
+
+<p>The air of Zik is heavy and the sky is opal in its effects. The chemists
+have thus far found in nature ninety elementary substances, and it is
+partly due to this large variety that the Zikites have surpassed their
+fellow men in thousands of worlds.</p>
+
+<p>As you study the past events of this unusual planet, you are reminded
+of our own history. On Zik there are heathen tribes and all grades of
+conflicting civilized nations.</p>
+
+<p>War has reddened this distant world for several thousand years, and as
+yet there is no peace. Notwithstanding all this unceasing upheaval, the
+tide of human progress has steadily risen. It does appear that the
+highest light of intellect is generated like electric light through
+sharp friction.</p>
+
+<p>The Zikites have had their Men of War, vessels of mighty strength and
+death-dealing in their action. But all such defense has been abandoned
+over five hundred years ago, and it came about in a natural manner. One
+of the many illustrious inventors perfected the submarine boat and the
+flying-machine at about the same time. Their flying-machine might
+appropriately be called in our language, the Flying Devil, for such it
+is if you consider its destroying power. One of these ominous looking
+machines is capable of destroying a whole navy as fast as it can move
+high in the air from one vessel to another.</p>
+
+<p>It can also tear to pieces an enemy's camp that lies in the open field.
+All this is accomplished by dropping shells composed partly of some
+elements not found in our world. These shells are made in such a way
+that they explode as soon as they touch any substance, and the
+concussion is much more terrible than is caused by our most powerful
+explosives. Because no ship could hold together under such destructive
+shells, the nations abandoned their navies and devoted their energy to
+devising a safe camp for soldiers and to building these air-vessels with
+additional improvements.</p>
+
+<p>It was found that the only way to protect a camp was to cover it with a
+water proof shed, so constructed that nine or ten inches of water would
+remain on the roof. Then a wide shallow trench was dug around the shed
+and kept filled with water. These shells will not explode if they fall
+in that depth of water, but will explode in water of greater depth. You
+can see at a glance how difficult it is to manage an army under these
+circumstances. The only redeeming feature is that the enemy also is
+compelled to resort to the same protection. An international law
+forbids the destruction of homes in times of war.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="IMG14" id="IMG14" /><img src="images/image-14.jpg" width="600" height="402" alt='The Battle of the "Flying Devils."' title='' />
+<b>The Battle of the "Flying Devils."</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>Wars are of short duration. Usually the decisive conflict is fought in
+the air, and is the most terrible of them all. Imagine two of these
+Flying Devils approaching one another far above the surface of Zik. Each
+vessel is set in action long before it is in range of the other in the
+hope of firing the first effective shot. Each party of the conflict
+knows that the air vessel first struck will be at an end forever, for it
+will be blown to pieces and every life on board will be shattered into
+shapeless masses, while the wreckage falls amidst the burning of the
+combustibles. What a horrible ending of a short battle!</p>
+
+<p>The wisest of the Zikites have proposed many plans to settle
+international differences but, like us, they have failed to suggest any
+plan that has proved to be practicable.</p>
+
+<p>The largest nation of Zik has advanced far ahead of us on the labor
+question, but this was not reached until the contest between capital and
+labor had left its blood-marks through many centuries.</p>
+
+<p>A brief description of the manner in which the industrial problem was
+solved will not be out of place. I will waste no words n showing the
+many points of difference between our customs and those of Zik.</p>
+
+<p>After hundreds of years of painful struggling, the many laborers of this
+largest nation completed a solid organization and thereby gained control
+of the whole government. Then, in their zeal to legislate in favor of
+the laboring classes, the ruling element stepped to the other extreme by
+passing many unreasonable laws. Things passed along in this unsettled
+condition until a certain few of the labor leaders, having become
+wealthy themselves, yielded to a heavy bribe and amended the laws so as
+to favor the wealthy minority. The magnates of capital shrewdly took
+advantage of this traitorship and, in the following campaign, won the
+national election.</p>
+
+<p>The wealthy, now having the reins of power in their own hands, took the
+initiative and called for a consultation between the heads of the
+government and the chief leaders of labor.</p>
+
+<p>This proved to be a wise political move and, as a result, a new system
+of laws relating to all trades and occupations was enacted. The
+following conditions still prevail:</p>
+
+<p>1. A day's work consists of one-fourth less hours.</p>
+
+<p>2. A minimum scale of wages is adopted for each trade. This scale is
+based upon the price of certain staple articles, and within a certain
+limit it rises or falls with the price of these necessities.</p>
+
+<p>3. All regular citizens must be supplied with work if they desire it. If
+they cannot get employment from some firm or corporation, the government
+officials represented locally must supply it or its equivalent in money.
+The government controls enough of the business to employ two-thirds of
+the male population. This enables the government to take so great a
+responsibility and bear it with satisfactory results.</p>
+
+<p>4. Any man through negligence failing to support his family is put to
+the government penitentiary service, and his family is thereafter
+supported from the public treasury.</p>
+
+<p>5. A widow or orphan is cared for by regular authorities. The by-laws
+of this fifth article regulate the work of women.</p>
+
+<p>6. No credit is allowed except on a government credit-slip signed by the
+local representative of the state. If the bill is not paid by the one
+making the debt, the amount of which is always stipulated, the
+government will pay it and proceed to collect it in one of three ways.
+The last resort is according to article four.</p>
+
+<p>There are several other sections governing private ownership of
+property, land and business. These new laws have had a very good effect.
+The number of persons getting immensely wealthy gradually decreased, and
+the average wealth of the laborers increased. The government has the
+power at any time to form a trust or combination of any line of business
+by paying liberally to those already engaged in it. This assists the
+government in carrying its heavy financial burdens, and every family is
+assured of support if the soil produces enough to feed the people.</p>
+
+<p>And now if I knew how to describe elements that have no resemblance to
+anything in our world, I would proceed to tell a story of interest to
+chemists. These Zikites have formed gases and solids unknown to us, and
+naturally they are capable of performing experiments more wonderful than
+anything ever known in our world. When I saw their wizard-like
+performances I thought that the marvelous feats of the Orient were being
+performed on a scale more mysterious and magnificent.</p>
+
+<p>To see a man play with red hot irons and dance in a seething furnace,
+makes one believe that his eyes are deceiving him.</p>
+
+<p>I saw a man draw the birds from heaven and dormant reptiles from the
+soil, but ask me not to tell how. A few of these Zikites have discovered
+some wonderful secrets of nature and will not disclose them except to
+certain ones of their own lineage. One of these secrets is the art of
+embalming the dead so perfectly that human features are retained forever
+unless destroyed by fire or human effort. The embalming fluid contains
+some of the elements not found in our world, but this is not the total
+secret. The body must lie in an air-tight receptacle into which a
+secret gas is pumped. The dead body, lying in this receptacle for two
+hours, absorbs certain parts of the gas which enters the pores and
+touches those parts of the dead body not reached by the injected fluid.
+By this process no part of the body is subject to putrefaction and the
+muscles all retain their rigidity, so that one hundred years after
+burial the features are full, although discolored.</p>
+
+<p>Not many of the common people are thus embalmed. But the bodies of
+prominent men and women are thus treated at government expense and
+unborn generations can look upon the full contour of their faces.</p>
+
+<p>Another secret held by these experts is the art of maintaining youthful
+vigor in old age. This is a very expensive method and the government
+prohibits any one securing this treatment who has not won special honor
+in one or another particular channel. One of the highest distinctions
+bestowed upon any citizen of Zik is to grant him the "Angel's Honor,"
+which entitles him to receive the Vigor Treatment during the balance of
+his natural life. This one thing, more than any other, is the secret of
+Zik having so long a list of illustrious characters. It is the ambition
+of each boy or girl to make progress and some day win the "Angel's
+Honor."</p>
+
+<p>The religious life of these Zikites is unusually intense. Their language
+is much more cumbersome than ours. They have a small book which contains
+a list of great truths whose authors claim to have been influenced by
+the All-Powerful, or the same as our God. This book has had a remarkable
+history, and has moulded the life and character of millions. Every
+person is left to his own notions in religion, and we see here the same
+picture that confronts us on our own planet, the very good and the very
+bad in the same house and neighborhood. They build but few churches, but
+here and there a home of a believer is the center of a worshiping
+company. On special occasions the worshipers rent or secure large public
+buildings and have an enthusiastic time.</p>
+
+<p>At many places their Bible speaks of a place where the departed go after
+death, beyond the Zik life. These worshipers are linked to their God by
+the same kind of love-chords that bind Christians to their Master in
+our world.</p>
+
+<p>You cannot imagine my interest and my joy as I learned that the Zikites
+are looking forward to a period of time corresponding to our Millennium.
+Their religious literature is full of references to this coming golden
+age, and many poetical compositions point to it with rapturous melody of
+language.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII" />CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
+
+<h3>The Diamond World.</h3>
+
+
+<p>When one reads of the size and population of our world he is thrilled
+with the idea of its greatness. But when he travels over land and sea,
+visiting the many points of interest, he is impressed four-fold with the
+magnitude of the Earth and the vast numbers that populate it.</p>
+
+<p>It is infinitely more so in regard to the many suns and planets that
+compose the universe. I had read of the distances of space and of the
+number of celestial bodies that are scattered throughout these
+measureless expanses, and I was profoundly impressed with the vastness
+of created things and the eternal revolutions of the countless spheres.
+But when I took my continued flight away from the solar system of Sirius
+and was privileged to get a passing glimpse of many other solar systems,
+I was overawed a thousand-fold at the myriad motions of the myriad
+worlds, each serving its little part through the passing cycles to
+carry out the plan of the Infinite Mind.</p>
+
+<p>My next pause was at the glorious constellation of Orion on the star
+Rigel. This brilliant orb is not inhabited, but more than one-half of
+the worlds revolving around it sustain human life.</p>
+
+<p>After I had taken a passing glimpse of a few worlds belonging to this
+system, I proceeded to visit another world that revolves around Rigel at
+a distance of sixteen hundred million miles. It is a trifle larger than
+our world and is inhabited by only about one-tenth as many people.</p>
+
+<p>This is the brightest planet I had ever seen, for it dazzled and
+sparkled like pearls of ice in the sun, and yet it gave forth no light
+of its own.</p>
+
+<p>I soon learned the secret of all this scintillation. I had come to a
+world that seemed to be covered with diamonds and precious stones. The
+mountains were barren of all vegetation and glistened with all the glory
+of a hundred rainbows.</p>
+
+<p>I presumed that I had come to immense beds of quartz, but the rare
+brilliancy of the whole scene set me to work to ascertain the value of
+these stones. To my astonishment, I found that the shining mountains and
+valleys were filled with genuine diamonds and precious stones, some of
+which are very rare according to our classification. I was dazed at the
+sight, first because of its brilliancy and beauty, and next because of
+the fabulous fortunes that were lying at my feet.</p>
+
+<p>Then I transported myself to another part of the planet that I might get
+a view of its living fields of vegetation. Alas, I again met the shining
+of countless gems, set by nature in ledges of rock and massed in
+confused heaps all around me.</p>
+
+<p>"What a rich world!" I inwardly murmured. "How can people live on
+diamonds?"</p>
+
+<p>As I was thus musing I sped onward to one of the soil centers of this
+world. Here I found a small city built of diamonds and choice stones of
+which the people thought no more than we do of the stones brought down
+from our quarries.</p>
+
+<p>The soil was almost worshiped. Only the wealthiest could afford to have
+it in their homes for the growth of flowers. Fortunately, the soil is
+very productive and, by reason of its scarcity, it has received such
+careful attention that all worthless weeds have been actually choked out
+several thousand years ago.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, the soil being so desirable and staple an article, it was eagerly
+sought after by all who lived on this shining world. Yea, some
+sacrificed their all that they might obtain a goodly portion of the
+soil. This desire was so great that it became the ruling passion of many
+people to accumulate soil all the days of their life, and many died of
+grief because they could not succeed in satisfying their ambitions.</p>
+
+<p>Now when the speculators saw that the soil was so indispensable and much
+desired by the people, and that out of it were the issues of life, the
+wealthier and more crafty of them said among themselves:</p>
+
+<p>"Come, let us buy all the soil, we and our brethren in all the soil
+centers, and let us call ourselves a Trust, signifying that we will
+trust one another to the secrets of our enterprise."</p>
+
+<p>And behold this saying seemed good in the eyes of these wise men, and
+they labored diligently until, in the passing of a few years, they had
+secured unto themselves full possession of all the soil of the Diamond
+World.</p>
+
+<p>And it was so in the course of time that these corporations held a great
+meeting and they said:</p>
+
+<p>"Barns we will build to store products of the soil, and behold we will
+sell from these storehouses to our workmen for the labor that they may
+render unto us."</p>
+
+<p>This scheme was pleasing to all the capitalists and they rejoiced in the
+bright prospect of the future. So they built great barns and thus laid
+away the products of the soil. Then they appointed agents to sell
+whatsoever the people wished.</p>
+
+<p>And it came to pass, as the seasons came and went, that these
+capitalists gave the laborers less for their toil, and charged them more
+for food at the supply stations. Thus the conditions became so severe
+that a man could work from the rising of the Sun to the setting thereof,
+and they earn scarcely enough to keep his family alive.</p>
+
+<p>After this manner the land owners grew more and more wealthy, built
+unto themselves handsome little villages, and lived in happiness and
+refinement. They also erected for themselves select schools and reserved
+beautiful plots for their luxury and amusement.</p>
+
+<p>Then did the members of this Trust, in order to protect themselves from
+all possible trouble, pass a civil law forbidding any laborer to own an
+inch of soil. Thus it was very easy to convict a man of theft if soil
+could be found upon his person or premises.</p>
+
+<p>Now, behold, there were many little spots of vegetation scattered here
+and there over this whole world. But the agents of the Trust sent out
+numerous expeditions to gather up all the loose earth that could be
+found and carry it to the soil centers. This work was so completely done
+that every nook and corner yielded its accumulated dust to enlarge the
+gardens at the soil centers and thereby increase the riches of the
+Trust.</p>
+
+<p>Now, as time passed on, the children of the laborers were also employed
+to assist in earning bread, and in the course of a few hundred years
+the school houses in the district of the laborers were torn down, as it
+was impossible for these children to receive an education, since they
+must needs work for their sustenance.</p>
+
+<p>After many ages the members of the Trust had become so hardened that
+they no longer regarded the wishes of the laboring people, but pushed
+everything to increase their own selfish gain, insomuch that they
+succeeded in securing the passage of certain laws making the burdens of
+the laborers still more heavy.</p>
+
+<p>And now, when the capitalists saw that the people did not rebel, they
+again counseled among themselves on this wise:</p>
+
+<p>"Why should there be so much labor lost in continually quarrying new
+sepulchers in our diamond ridges, and why should there be so much dust
+lying idle in the old graves? Come, let us have a law that the dust in
+all graves over one hundred years old shall be sold at auction, unless
+the graves are redeemed by a certain amount of soil. Then these empty
+tombs can be again filled with the dead of our servants and their
+children. Thus let it be continued throughout coming generations
+forever. Each year this auction shall be held to dispose of the dust
+remaining in one-hundred-year-old sepulchers."</p>
+
+<p>These suggestions found favor in the eyes of the Trust who proceeded at
+once to take the necessary steps to incorporate these regulations into
+the laws of the commonwealth. The laborers stoutly opposed the adoption
+of these partial measures, but they were powerless because the Trust
+bribed enough of the legislators to carry their point.</p>
+
+<p>All this happened many centuries ago, so that when I was there I saw the
+full program of one of these spectral auctions and was chilled with
+horror at the proceedings.</p>
+
+<p>Every year this peculiar auction is held at each soil center. The
+wealthy are able to redeem their sepulchers, but the poor, having no
+soil, cannot satisfy the law; so the dust of their ancestors must be
+sold. Laborers are sent out to open the one-hundred-year-old sepulchers
+along the diamond ridges and carry the coffins to one place. Here they
+are publicly opened and the bones and dust gathered into one
+receptacle after which the weird auction begins. No one can compete with
+the corporations and no one tries.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 750px;">
+<a name="IMG15" id="IMG15" /><img src="images/image-15.jpg" width="750" height="496" alt="The Most Horrible Auction in Our Universe." title="" />
+<b>The Most Horrible Auction in Our Universe.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>The legal form of the auction is soon over and the half ton or ton of
+dust is legally bought by the corporations whose officers order it to be
+sprinkled over the gardens. It serves the same purpose as phosphate in
+our fields. This awful process is repeated each year. The sepulchers,
+emptied thus, are open for new burials. So you can see that with all the
+gruesomeness of this whole business, there is an economic side to it,
+and the people have come to view it all in a philosophical manner.</p>
+
+<p>When this wretched custom was first inaugurated a bitter wail ascended
+from the ranks of the laboring classes, for they well knew whose graves
+would be opened. Never was there such a stir among the working classes
+of people. They held mass meetings and grew loudly indignant until the
+Trust became alarmed at the uprising.</p>
+
+<p>Then did some of these rich sharpsters, who were best gifted in speech,
+go out to meet their servants, addressing them thus:</p>
+
+<p>"Let your hearts be at peace, my fellow creatures. This new law that we
+have just passed is a boon to every toiler, for we seek to lighten your
+burdens by utilizing the idle dust from the tombs. Hereafter we propose
+to give, free of charge, a sepulcher to every toiler in which he may
+take his rest for one hundred years. These graves shall be for you and
+your children forever. Is it not a precious thought that one hundred
+years after you are dead, your bodies shall again mingle with the soil
+and, without voluntary effort or pain, help to support your kindred yet
+unborn?</p>
+
+<p>"If our present silly customs should prevail, the time will come when
+half our soil will have been carried to the sepulchers, and therefore
+your tasks would be more severe."</p>
+
+<p>After this manner spake the glib-tongued fellows and, behold, their
+speeches were as oil on the troubled waters. Under their sophistries the
+laborers were content and peacefully went to their tasks again after
+three months of unrest.</p>
+
+<p>Then did the members of the corporations consult again and spake among
+themselves in this fashion:</p>
+
+<p>"For our protection let us gather, from the laborers, the youthful and
+the strong, have them taught in tactics of war, and make it unlawful for
+any to carry deadly weapons, except these trained men, whom we will call
+our Soil Defenders, and if any of the laborers should ask: 'Wherefore
+are we called to do this work?' we will say to them, 'For the defense of
+the soil and the defense of our families are ye called, therefore quit
+yourselves nobly.'</p>
+
+<p>"And it shall come to pass that when the laborers commence a foolish
+struggle for their own selfish gain, we can use these trained soldiers
+to keep them in peace, and thus we need not spend so much of our breath
+by way of persuasion."</p>
+
+<p>Behold this thing seemed reasonable and seasonable in the eyes of the
+Trust. They did according to these suggestions and gathered unto
+themselves, in the name of the civil law, the strongest of the youth and
+trained them in all the ways of war. Thus did these workmen lose all
+their liberties by slow degrees, until they were no more troublesome,
+but labored like slaves to get the wherewithal to live.</p>
+
+<p>As I witnessed this sad picture resulting from the inhumanity of man to
+man, I was at once reminded of what I had seen on Mars, and of the
+struggle now pending in my own world. Once more I breathed a silent
+prayer to the Ruler of all worlds in behalf of the crushed hands and
+bleeding hearts that are bruised in order that certain men may make
+their thousands in a day.</p>
+
+<p>I studied the social life of the refined villagers and learned, with
+much interest, that the word they use for soil, is used in the same
+esteemed connection in which we use the word gold or diamond.</p>
+
+<p>Preachers, teachers and orators make endless references to the soil.
+Finally I approached, in a visible form, a few professors who were
+engaged in a special discussion.</p>
+
+<p>They were alarmed at my sudden appearance, not knowing whence I came nor
+what sort of an animal I might be. I quickly calmed their troubled minds
+by using language they easily understood, and explained that I was
+neither a ghost nor a spirit, but a mere citizen of another world,
+having, for a limited period, a free excursion ticket to a thousand
+worlds, and that I chose their planet as one whereon to spend a fleeting
+period.</p>
+
+<p>Not having been accustomed to such visitants, they were at first
+skeptical and thoroughly overawed at my presence.</p>
+
+<p>I purposely became as familiar as possible and cautioned them to remain
+in the selfsame room and spread no notice of my presence. To this
+request they reluctantly consented.</p>
+
+<p>After my nonplused auditors gained their senses somewhat they ventured
+to reply to my coaxing questions; these finally led to the following
+interrogations on their part:</p>
+
+<p>"How large is your world?" came a question from one.</p>
+
+<p>"Not quite so large as this one," I replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you much soil there?"</p>
+
+<p>"A million times more than you have here."</p>
+
+<p>"What a wonderfully rich world! The people must be gloriously happy
+with such fabulous wealth around them."</p>
+
+<p>"The bulk of my fellow-men there are not happy," I sighed. "So many
+spend their lives looking for diamonds and gold, the most of whom are
+doomed to disappointment."</p>
+
+<p>An incredulous smile crept over the faces of my newly-made friends, and
+by it I read the doubt that was arising in their hearts as to the truth
+of my utterance.</p>
+
+<p>"My words are sincere," I insisted. "If you could take one bushel of
+your diamonds to the world where I live, you could get more soil for
+them than you have on your whole globe."</p>
+
+<p>"That world is heaven," exclaimed a few of my hearers at once. "A world
+of such abundant soil cannot be any other place." Then I learned that
+their conception of Heaven is not a place of gold-paved streets, but a
+place where soil is freely distributed even on the sides of the streets.</p>
+
+<p>I continued speaking, telling them how diamonds were considered in our
+world. These professors were astonished beyond measure at my
+description, and each one seemed to crave for the knowledge to transport
+a large consignment of their diamonds to our Earth and return with acres
+of soil to the Diamond World.</p>
+
+<p>I spent a felicitous period with these queer-shaped scholars of the
+Diamond World. They prayed and begged that I should remain and appear
+before the corporations. Their spirits drooped when I told them that if
+I had any more time to spend visibly on their world I would prefer to
+comfort the laborers and their suffering families who had been so long
+deprived of the fair treatment they deserved.</p>
+
+<p>My hearers became ashen with fear, now feeling doubly assured that I was
+a forerunner of some terrible curse that was about to fall upon the
+Trusts and corporations whom those professors were serving so
+assiduously, without ever speaking a word of protest in favor of the
+human slaves around them.</p>
+
+<p>Once more I related my station. But I spoke in most convincing terms of
+the eternal curse with which the Infinite would visit the guilty of all
+worlds.</p>
+
+<p>As I left them I saw that my last words brought no relief to their
+faces and, after a long silence, they nervously discussed the whole
+affair, not being able to account for the exceptional experience through
+which they had just passed.</p>
+
+<p>I visited, in a form invisible, the mansions of the rich and found that
+the most choice ornaments on their parlor shelves consisted of vials of
+soil or dirt, and in the homes of the most wealthy only I saw flowering
+plants.</p>
+
+<p>It chanced that I visited this world at the graduating period of the
+greater schools. This gave me privilege to hear an oration on "The Soil
+and the Diamond," a synopsis of which I will translate as correctly as I
+can. It will be remembered that I must use terms and style suitable to
+our language.</p>
+
+<p>"O beautiful soil! Thou art but a type of thy maker invisible. Thou dost
+give birth to countless forms and nursest them all from thy own bosom.
+From the atom thou bringest the oak, and all its children fall back into
+thy arms for succor. From thy own heart spring the infinite types of
+vegetable beauty, all painted and frescoed by thy own exquisite
+touches.</p>
+
+<p>"O mysterious soil! Wrapped in thy bosom lie a thousand secrets which,
+if I could but read, I might interpret and thus learn anew of my
+Creator. Thou holdest the ashes of the millions slain, and the dust of
+all our forefathers.</p>
+
+<p>"O silent soil! How thou workest without the flying shuttle, or the hum
+of the busy bees. Thou doest thy greatest deeds without the sounding of
+a trumpet. Silently thy atoms take their places to serve in higher
+forms. O teach me thy mute language that I may live and sacrifice for
+others without my crying and my sighing.</p>
+
+<p>"O humble soil! Thy elements, when formed into man, or fruit, or any
+kind of food, return again without complaint when touched by death. May
+I, like thee, take all my condescension in the spirit of humility.</p>
+
+<p>"O modest soil! Thou are not gaudy like the diamond, sparkling and
+dazzling in a brilliant show and living for nothing higher than display.
+But thou dost lay aside thy feathery tips, leaving the sun of heaven do
+the shining. Thou permittest water crystals to give the rainbow hues,
+whilst thou in thy own modest way, continuest to yield sustenance for
+man and bird and beast.</p>
+
+<p>"O instructive soil! Wilt thou not, in thy own wise way, speak to the
+thoughtless man who feels content to grovel with the miserable diamond,
+who takes his lessons from the dead, dead rock, and feeds his soul upon
+such flinty food. Open his ears to hear thy words of life and light, and
+may he see in thee the brighter mirror reflecting the God of all."</p>
+
+<p>This one oration condensed is a fair sample of the others. I listened to
+the whole program and then proceeded once more to view the diamond
+splendors before I left this world where I was well paid for my
+tarrying.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII" />CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>Triumphant Feat of Orion.</h3>
+
+
+<p>As I continued ranging among the planets of the constellation of Orion,
+I felt an indescribable desire to pause at a very small orb which
+revolves around Saiph, a star of the third magnitude.</p>
+
+<p>Here I found, to my surprise, a gem of a world which I will call Holen.
+It is five hundred miles in diameter, and inhabited by a refined race of
+human beings, radically different from us in physical contour, but
+remarkably similar to us in their mental aspirations.</p>
+
+<p>As a race they greatly excel us in mechanical engineering. Many
+evidences of their skill might be given, but we will be content to give
+a description of their monumental engineering feat.</p>
+
+<p>Long ages ago Holen had cooled to the center, and it became the ruling
+passion of her most intelligent inhabitants to communicate from one
+side of the globe to the other through an opening of five hundred miles
+almost directly through the center of their earth, or more accurately
+speaking, through the center of gravity.</p>
+
+<p>After forty-five hundred years of experimenting the marvelous feat was
+accomplished.</p>
+
+<p>Of all the worlds in the constellation of Orion, large or small, Holen
+is the only one that has succeeded in this astounding feat, although it
+has been and is being tried on more than a dozen worlds.</p>
+
+<p>This wonderful opening through Holen's center of gravity is lined with
+sections of ribbed metal which cost the governments fabulous sums. This
+vast tube was finished thirteen hundred years ago according to our time.</p>
+
+<p>Many lives were sacrificed in the hazardous work of tunneling. Were it
+not for the ribbed metal which afforded protection with its shelving
+flanges, the tube could never have been finished.</p>
+
+<p>At the present time the tube is used for commercial purposes and for
+passenger traffic. Air tight cars of special design are used, and only
+one car is allowed in the tube at one time.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 399px;">
+<a name="IMG16" id="IMG16" /><img src="images/image-16.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="The Gravity-Car of Holen." title="" />
+<b>The Gravity-Car of Holen.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>You cannot imagine the frightful velocity of the ride, but the passenger
+is not as conscious of this as you might think. The first fifty miles of
+the descent is controlled by the exterior or surface engines. The speed
+is gradually increased until it reaches that of the falling body. Then
+the motorman releases the wizard car and the speed is steady and
+terrible until the car dashes past the center of gravity, after which
+the speed slackens at a regular rate. The car of its own momentum forces
+its way far toward the opposite surface of their earth.</p>
+
+<p>Just as the carriage comes to a stop, the engineer or motorman, as we
+would call him, pulls his lever, thereby fastening the car to the ribbed
+side of the tube. At once a signal is given and the long, thin but
+strong rope descends to draw the carriage to the surface.</p>
+
+<p>A perfect system of communication is established from one end of the
+ponderous tube to the other. It frequently happens when an attempt is
+made to fasten the car that the clamps fail to work and consequently the
+carriage commences its second journey toward the center. Another effort
+is made to hold the carriage when it again comes to a stop; but if this
+is not successful, then comes the most peculiar experience of all. The
+carriage of its own momentum continues dashing backward and forward
+until it comes to rest at the center of gravity. Then the engineer, by
+communicating with the surface, gets the longest stretch of rope and is
+drawn two hundred and fifty miles to the surface.</p>
+
+<p>This world has no atmosphere and life is not sustained by breathing,
+neither by the process found on the Moon.</p>
+
+<p>The inhabitants get their sustenance from the soil with which they must
+be connected, directly or indirectly over one-half the time, or they
+will suffer in a manner similar to us when we are suffocating.</p>
+
+<p>From this faint glimpse of their life, it can be seen that the people of
+Holen in their habits are totally incongruous to all our conceptions,
+and if one of them were to make a visit to our world, everything he
+would here see would appear just as ridiculous and unthinkable to him as
+the things on their globe did to me.</p>
+
+<p>As I surveyed this world, everything evidenced the fact that these
+people are born engineers. Our Eiffel Tower and Ferris Wheel would be
+mere playthings compared with the sky-scraping structures that adorn the
+various parts of this little world. It appears that the international
+mind runs in this one direction more than in any other, and while they
+surpass us in this respect, they are inferior to us in the limitless
+field of science and philosophy as well as in the variety of
+manufacturing plants.</p>
+
+<p>In their religion, the Holenites have developed to a high degree. They
+have no sacred book akin to our Bible. Their whole authority comes from
+the lips of the Divine Family, as we would term it. This family serves
+for religion the same purpose as the Royal Family does for the civil
+realm in some countries of our world. The Divine Family are genuinely
+descended from their sacred ancestors who were, by a visible show of
+omnipotent power, appointed and consecrated to the sacred work of
+dispensing truth and officiating in all sacraments. The ordination of
+all the ministers of Holen must be held by a member of this Divine
+Family. By reason of this one source of authority, there is, therefore,
+no confliction of creeds. The great battle of the Church is with the
+several infidel organizations that give no heed to the genuine religion.</p>
+
+<p>This Sacred Family received a code of laws which they have held from the
+beginning and, strange to say, no one is allowed to copy these laws in
+written or printed form. To do so is a type of blasphemy for which a
+severe penalty is imposed. Some of the infidel organizations find
+delight to print all or a part of these laws and scatter them secretly
+among the people. Such documents fall with as much pain on the premises
+of a believer as oaths do in our world on the ear of a delicately
+trained soul.</p>
+
+<p>If an infidel wishes to insult a godly pilgrim, he can do it no more
+effectively than by secretly fastening to the believer's residence a
+piece of material on which is inscribed one or more of these sacred
+laws.</p>
+
+<p>Every believer is required to commit to memory this code of laws by
+hearing them from the lips of the minister. It is therefore necessary to
+keep in constant touch with the church service so as to be a continual
+hearer of these laws, a part of which is repeated every worship day.</p>
+
+<p>The minister does not preach in the same sense that we understand
+preaching. His work comes nearer filling the office of a priest under
+the old Jewish church. There is much more form and ceremony than is
+found in our system under the Mediator, Jesus Christ.</p>
+
+<p>The civil law has absolutely nothing to say on the marriage question.
+All this is held in the domain of the Church. In truth, the Divine
+Family has always regulated this question. If the legality of a marriage
+is called in question, all that the civil authorities try to determine
+is whether the marriage ceremony was performed in accordance with the
+laws of the Divine Family. If this point can be established, the
+marriage is declared legal; if not, it is declared to be null and void.
+This one subject of matrimony has caused more friction between the
+Church and the infidels than all other issues combined. The infidels are
+bitterly opposed to take their marriage vows before the minister, yet
+this must be done to make their marriage legal. Divorce laws are
+unknown, although, in rare cases, papers of separation are granted by
+authority and under seal of the Divine Family.</p>
+
+<p>The religious devotees of Holen look forward to a happier existence when
+their mortal life is ended. Their ideas of this future life are quite
+similar to our cherished ideas of Heaven.</p>
+
+<p>In their moral life they have reached a higher plane than we. This is
+due to the fact that the Divine Family wield an influence in the civil
+realm that cannot be broken.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX" />CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
+
+<h3>The Mute World.</h3>
+
+
+<p>I proceeded on my journey until I had reached Alcyone in the famous
+constellation of Taurus. On one of the planets revolving around Alcyone,
+I found a distinctive class of human beings faintly resembling creatures
+that I had seen in several other constellations, but of which I have, as
+yet, made no special mention.</p>
+
+<p>Among these people no audible language is used as a means of
+communication. One might think that high civilization would be
+impossible without such a vehicle of thought. But on this Mute world
+humanity has pushed far along in the great interstellar race for
+supremacy.</p>
+
+<p>A description of the physical features of these Muteites would not only
+seem absurd, but would be distorting. Can you imagine a beautiful person
+without ears and void of vocal sound, having a head totally out of
+shape compared with ours, and with a bodily framework ridiculously new
+to us? Such would be a brief word sketch of these far-away mortals of
+unusual intelligence.</p>
+
+<p>These people hold all their conversation by pure thought transmission.
+The sense-perception is almost infinitely keen, and gestures play no
+part in emphasizing thought. It is amazing to see with what facility
+these beings express their ideas one to another.</p>
+
+<p>In our life one may conceal his thoughts from the most searching human
+eye, but this cannot be done on Mute. As a consequence each one can read
+the character of his comrades, and the normal citizen well knows what
+necessary allowance to make for the impure thoughts that flit through
+the mind of his neighbor.</p>
+
+<p>I studied, with absorbing interest, the many phases of this mental
+telepathy, or mind talking, between two or more persons even though
+widely separated. Imagine how glorious it must be to have real
+fellowship with a friend whose face you cannot see and whose hand you
+cannot touch.</p>
+
+<p>There are limitations to this delightsome way of talking. A person can
+hold conversation with only one absent friend at a time and then only
+when each one concentrates his thoughts on the other. What wireless
+telegraphy is to our world, this mental conversation is to the world of
+Mute, and it is possible that we may reach a higher degree of
+proficiency in this direction after we become still better acquainted
+with the laws of the human mind.</p>
+
+<p>When I think of the many unaccountable heart-thrills that send their
+emotions of joy and hatred into our passing life, I am somewhat
+persuaded that we speak this tongueless language more than we imagine.
+Some day we may learn the secrets that are now so heavily veiled and
+thereby put to naught the glory of our present modes of communication.
+Until then we will plod along with the telegraph, telephone, wireless
+telegraphy and our ever-changing knowledge of telepathic intercourse.</p>
+
+<p>I will give the philosophy of this perfect means of expressing thought
+as clearly as I can.</p>
+
+<p>As sound waves are created in our atmosphere by actual vibration, so
+are thought waves created on Mute by mental activity focused in any one
+point of the brain. Our way of expressing thought by audible words is
+not conceivable to these people. If one of their inhabitants were to
+visit our Earth, he would be at a loss to account for our movements of
+mouth and gestures of body when we are in the act of conversation.</p>
+
+<p>The social life of Mute is marked with many peculiarities. Males and
+females seldom ever associate together, and social purity sends its
+sweet influences over the whole planet.</p>
+
+<p>A science which is similar to Phrenology plays an important part in all
+the social customs of this sphere. It decides the marital destiny of
+each person, and no two are recommended to join in wedlock until they
+have been pronounced physical and mental mates by the official
+psychologists.</p>
+
+<p>On this interesting world I found the most summary punishment for
+adulterers and fornicators. When these crimes are clearly proven, the
+guilty parties are put to death after a lingering sentence. This is a
+most terrible punishment, but it has proven that, although a few must
+suffer this penalty, the general good of the whole population is thereby
+much increased.</p>
+
+<p>I was much amazed at the construction and possibilities of the human
+mind when I observed the manner in which certain suspected criminals
+were examined in order to prove or disprove the crime of which they were
+charged. The doors of the soul were unlocked and the past
+thought-images, with their mental impressions, were thrown open to view.
+How can a Muteite deny the crime which is photographed on the sensitive
+living plates of his own mind! This reproducing can be effected only by
+a very special process and is never done against a person's will unless
+ordered by civil authority.</p>
+
+<p>When I saw, on this world of Mute, the possibility of uncovering the
+past records of the mind, it at once suggested to me the possible nature
+of the final Judgment of our world when each one will stand face to face
+with the record of his own deeds, brought before him vividly under the
+light of eternity. In such an event who would think of showing a bold
+front to deny the accuracy of such a direct reproduction of himself in
+the flesh!</p>
+
+<p>Possibly the human mind may be likened to a phonograph into which we can
+speak while the cylinder of thought revolves; at any time afterward
+every syllable may be reproduced accurately.</p>
+
+<p>Another striking feature of these mortals is their lack of hypocrisy.
+Only a small degree of it is found among all the inhabitants of this
+peculiar planet. No doubt hypocrisy would be greatly lessened in our own
+social life if we could no longer hide our real thoughts. In Mute it is
+very unsafe to practice deception, for as soon as the deceived one
+appears personally he can readily conjecture, by the mental state of the
+deceiver, the nature of the thought that had transpired.</p>
+
+<p>Can you realize what a refreshing moral atmosphere exists in a world
+where conventional lying is almost unknown? In our life the daily sin of
+the millions is the white, or the blue lie. Think of how many we tell in
+our regular routine of life! We generally give false excuses instead of
+the real ones. We very seldom blame ourselves for errors, but rather
+think diligently to study out a way to shift responsibility. Nearly the
+whole brood of our apologies is hatched from the serpent's egg, and then
+we ignorantly or hypocritically manifest surprise that our own offspring
+should develop an inclination to deceive or misrepresent!</p>
+
+<p>Here I saw, in wide contrast to our own social order, the results
+springing from sincerity that has thrived through a long line of
+generations. Such blessings are as a breath of Heaven, rare and
+beautiful.</p>
+
+<p>One might think, when considering this strange manner of conversation,
+that it would be difficult for the people to express their ideas
+clearly. It is just the opposite from this, for it is almost impossible
+for them to express themselves vaguely. They talk from the headquarters
+of one mind directly to the headquarters of another, instead of through
+a medium of cumbersome words which in our life are so often
+misunderstood. Thus we must admit that we have a ten-fold greater
+struggle than they to be perspicuous in language.</p>
+
+<p>I was charmed at this most superior mode of conversation and saw in it
+a higher glimpse of the Heaven language than in any other type that had
+yet met my observation in all the worlds of space.</p>
+
+<p>The Muteites are rapid thinkers, and although they have no sense of
+hearing, yet they are ultra-sensitive to substantial emissions of
+vibrating bodies. According to all I could see, these people were not
+hampered by this lack of senses. They live as conveniently in their
+flesh life as we do, and in their mind or spirit life they are much more
+refined than we are.</p>
+
+<p>Their earth is so different from ours in chemical combinations that the
+soil is almost transparent and in general has the appearance of glass.
+Their homes are built mostly under surface, owing to the terrific
+cyclonic storms that follow one another in very uncertain succession.</p>
+
+<p>The average length of life is two hundred of our years. They reach their
+maximum energy of mind at about one hundred years, and among the
+brighter of the inhabitants can be found a glorious order of intellect.
+Some of these mental celebrities outshine the brightest creatures of
+all the solar systems of that region of the heavens.</p>
+
+<p>After some hesitancy, I yielded to a desire to appear in a visible form
+before an assembled company of Muteite philosophers who were gathered in
+one of the under-surface halls of architectural beauty for consultation.</p>
+
+<p>As I entered the vast hall in my natural manner I attracted unusual
+attention. It was amusing to see how all eyes were fastened upon me as I
+calmly walked toward the front of the audience. Here I had one of the
+hardest tasks of all my journey, to converse in a soundless language. I
+lacked faith at first to make the attempt, but this delay was but for a
+moment, for I first fixed my mind upon what I wished to communicate, and
+instantly a dozen or more Muteites signified that they were in sensitive
+touch with my thought.</p>
+
+<p>I will give a small portion of the mental telepathic conversation
+between myself and my auditors, although I must relate it as if words
+were actually spoken, or it would be totally unintelligible to the
+people of my own likeness.</p>
+
+<p>"Let no one be alarmed," I hurriedly addressed them, as a thousand
+giant forms were trembling at my appearance. "My mission is one of
+peace. I have come to help rather than harm," I continued.</p>
+
+<p>"From what section of our world have you come?" came a hundred thought
+flashes in wild confusion.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not from your world, but from another," I answered with closed
+mouth as best I could.</p>
+
+<p>Then I learned an important feature of this mind language. A hundred or
+more interrogations came flying at me in thick confusion. At once the
+chairman or leader of the meeting gave restrictive orders which actually
+prohibited my audience from further communication with me, although I
+might address them. The chairman bid me commune with him and he
+thereafter acted as the spokesman of the whole assembly. It was no more
+difficult for these philosophers to keep their minds closed to me than
+it is for us to keep our mouths closed in an excitable meeting or
+debate.</p>
+
+<p>The chairman, looking with increasing curiosity at my strangely shaped
+face and head, interrogated me thus:</p>
+
+<p>"Are you an angel of light, or one of darkness?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am neither."</p>
+
+<p>"What then can you be?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am a created being from a far-off region of space. I was born on a
+world which revolves around a star untold millions of miles distant."</p>
+
+<p>"If you are not a spirit, how could you have traveled such incredible
+distances?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is yet a mystery to me," I admitted. "The power of my flight is
+much like the mode of your communication, for each is alike mysterious
+to me."</p>
+
+<p>By this time the excitement was intense. No one attempted to grasp me or
+even approach toward me. I saw by the perplexing mental atmosphere of
+the chairman that he was being besieged by a host of questions and
+suggestions; so I relieved the situation by continuing my words:</p>
+
+<p>"No one need consider my appearance as an evil omen. I am not empowered
+to curse or bless your world except by what may flow from my immediate
+conversation with you."</p>
+
+<p>In these sentences I thoughtlessly gestured with my arms; this set my
+audience wild with mingled merriment and curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>"Are all as small as you whence you came?" queried the chairman.</p>
+
+<p>"They are all after my pattern with some variations."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray, tell me, what are those gummy flabs at the sides of your head?"</p>
+
+<p>"Those are my ears," I said with grinning face. "They grew there for a
+purpose."</p>
+
+<p>"And what can that purpose be?" further questioned the puzzled chairman.</p>
+
+<p>"They are for the purpose of hearing," I quickly replied.</p>
+
+<p>Then followed a curious scientific dialogue in which I endeavored to
+explain the sense of hearing. From this I described the manner of
+conversation in our world, and showed what an important part hearing
+played. But all this was beyond the comprehension of my auditors.</p>
+
+<p>After a lengthy and most interesting discussion upon the philosophy of
+sound, the next point of interest centered on my mouth and vocal
+organs. It was pleasing to consider these subjects because my listeners
+were such eager questioners and surprised hearers. No wonder that they
+were unable to grasp such a crude system of conversation as ours!</p>
+
+<p>Then the chairman verily begged me to explain the mystery of my mission
+and of my unprecedented itinerary. How could I have fully satisfied his
+mind, even if I had endeavored to do so!</p>
+
+<p>After all this came the most pleasing communion thus far of all my
+journey. I learned much by the interchange of ideas. Nature's vast book
+opened to me some new and charming pages.</p>
+
+<p>Toward the close of my stay the affinity between us grew to a marked
+degree. Although we were widely apart in physical aspect, yet we were
+supping from the same bowl of affection and, with this happy turn, we
+talked of our permanent companionship.</p>
+
+<p>"But I cannot abide with you," I reluctantly answered.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, torment us not with such a thought," affectingly pressed the
+chairman.</p>
+
+<p>"I have other worlds to visit, and must hasten away. Touch me not," I
+cried as the chairman unconsciously moved toward me in an urgent appeal.</p>
+
+<p>"How soon shall we see you again?"</p>
+
+<p>"No more forever, unless you see me in that widest expanse of life which
+in our world we call Heaven. There the pure of all worlds will gather
+and commingle in delightsome fellowship forever."</p>
+
+<p>I was then urged beyond all etiquette to tarry a short period and visit
+certain parts of their world. But I informed them that I had seen more
+of their world than they imagined, and that the object of my visit had
+been reached.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX" />CHAPTER XX.</h2>
+
+<h3>Brief.</h3>
+
+
+<p>One of the medium sized worlds that revolve around Alcyone sustains the
+shortest lived human beings of our universe. It is seldom that any of
+the creatures reach more than four years of age according to our
+standards of time. They are nearly as large as we and relatively much
+lighter in weight. All the periods of physical growth are
+correspondingly decreased. Children walk four or five weeks after birth,
+and are capable of receiving regular instruction at the age of five
+months.</p>
+
+<p>Strange as it may seem, this sphere, which for convenience we will call
+Brief, revolves very slowly on its axis, so that our world makes fifteen
+times as many revolutions as this planet.</p>
+
+<p>It requires but little arithmetic to figure out that the people of Brief
+do not see the sun rise very often. When it does appear in the morning
+sky, all the public signals blow and the people appear in one or
+another of their places of worship. This beautiful custom has been in
+practice for over three thousand years. The worship is not sun worship,
+but a genuine service of thanksgiving to Him who ruleth over the sun and
+supplies it with fuel to burn. It appears that on all worlds everything
+is regulated in accordance with the length of human life. On this world,
+of Brief all vegetables mature in periods so short that one marvels when
+he hears it. Think of cereals reaching maturity in seven or eight of our
+days, or during one day of Brief. Early in the morning certain crops are
+planted and are harvested at night. Two or more days are required for
+maturing other crops. Actually the people of Brief raise their crops
+with less labor than is required amongst us.</p>
+
+<p>If you were permitted to look upon the public and private life of this
+incredible world, your first sensation would be dizziness, not to
+mention the weirdness of all sights that would confront you at every
+turn. People would seem to be in a mad rush, and it would appear that
+all business is done with insane rapidity.</p>
+
+<p>Furrows of care and trouble begin to deepen on the faces of these
+Briefites as they approach an age of what we would call three years, and
+if by lease of strength they pass on toward an age of four years, it is
+but an evidence of their exceptional vitality. It seems to be true that
+the experiences of a long life of sixty or eighty years is crowded into
+a narrow compass of four years by a miracle of spheres not comprehended
+by finite minds.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt a detailed description of this whirling and dashing life would
+be of interest to us slow, deliberate creatures. But I can give only a
+passing glimpse.</p>
+
+
+<h3>JOURNALISM.</h3>
+
+<p>Things happen in such quick succession that the news is hustled out at
+all hours of the day and night; not on sheets of paper, but through
+automatic news-receivers, machines somewhat akin to our telegraph
+instruments.</p>
+
+<p>The state supplies each home with an automatic news-receiver. Thus a
+record is kept in each home of all messages received so that they can
+be read at leisure. To speak in a manner more easily understood, I will
+say that the news is telegraphed to each home as soon as possible after
+the events transpire. But compared to our customs, the news is very
+scarce. There being no competition, no time or space is required for
+sensational trash. Thus, if nothing of importance occurs, nothing need
+be transmitted. The official news-censors decide as to the relative
+importance of occurrences. There need not be a certain amount of news
+telegraphed each hour. The government verifies, as much as possible, all
+reports before they are transmitted. There are indeed some advantages in
+the government being in constant touch with each home under its care.
+The advertising department pays nearly all expenses of this whole system
+of journalism. Announcements for private gain are paid at a regular
+rate. It costs more to advertise at certain periods than at other times,
+all regulated by the customs of the people.</p>
+
+<p>Under these regulations everybody receives the news, and only the
+essential news, except advertisements which must come in batches at
+certain intervals. Of course, people take their choice as to reading
+advertisements.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 393px;">
+<a name="IMG17" id="IMG17" /><img src="images/image-17.jpg" width="393" height="600" alt="Sunrise Signal in Brief." title="" />
+<b>Sunrise Signal in Brief.</b>
+</div>
+
+
+<h3>THEIR FOOTWEAR.</h3>
+
+<p>The soles of the feet of these Briefites are composed of a substance
+most nearly resembling hoof material. They never think of covering the
+feet under any change of climate. If one of the Briefites were to step
+upon the shores of our rugged Earth and see the cotton or wool and
+leather that lies around our feet, it would appear to him as the most
+ridiculous thing imaginable, and no doubt his shapely feet of ivory cast
+would be of more than passing interest to us.</p>
+
+
+<h3>THEIR RAIMENT.</h3>
+
+<p>Their raiment is altogether after new models. Neither the men, women,
+nor children seem to seek this means for self-beautifying. They seem to
+think that beauty of character has a radiance more to be desired than
+the flash of opals or the luster of silks. Their garments partake of the
+loose flowing order. For instance, a strong fabric of chosen shade is
+fastened at the neck, hip, knee and ankle, and lies carelessly over the
+parts between. The females never graduated to the corset degree, and
+while they do not cut a scientific figure, yet they surely develop a
+more ruddy waist after the model intended by the Designor of the body.</p>
+
+
+<h3>TRANSPORTATION.</h3>
+
+<p>The methods of traveling are so contrary to our conceptions and
+practices that I almost forbear to attempt any description. Yet I was
+entertained and instructed as I witnessed the moving of humanity along a
+street of a busy city. Have you ever noticed how quarters of beef are
+carried from a car to an elevator or refrigerator on steel rods
+connected with wheels running in a groove or on a specially prepared
+track? In a city of Brief, overhead tracks after such an order run along
+all business streets and certain residence streets. Spare me a detailed
+description of this peculiar traveling system. Suffice it to say that a
+person, in lightning rapidity of motion, rushes from a store, springs
+upon a passing seat and is hurled away by the power of an overhead
+cable system. When an exchange of seats is necessary, it is all done so
+easily and so quickly that you would wonder why we tolerate trolley
+cars.</p>
+
+<p>In traveling from city to city, a system is in use that I will call the
+Toboggan Slide System, although the cars run on wheels. The car is
+raised in a shaft about one hundred feet and then by gravity it dashes
+two or more miles according to the lay of the land traversed. Then
+another rise more or less than one hundred feet is experienced, and then
+another wild dash. I have no words of praise for this system, although
+the Briefites can cover considerable territory in an hour. They look
+upon this gravity system as a wonderful achievement, for it has not been
+in operation for more than three hundred years.</p>
+
+<p>The power of steam has never been utilized. No genius of all this active
+world of Brief ever conceived the idea that almost unlimited power lies
+wrapped up in thin vapory water. But they have discovered what we would
+call gaseous oil, and have learned to put it to work, so that it is the
+main force employed in hoisting and all other purposes where power is
+required.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing like a traveling locomotive has ever been made, although I
+learned that a bright wizard was experimenting and that he prophesied
+great changes when his gas-propelled vehicle was perfected.</p>
+
+<p>Think of how much value an ordinary citizen of our world would be to
+these Briefites, if he could step upon their world and communicate with
+them concerning the magic wonders of steam and the manner of
+constructing stationary and movable engines, to say nothing of the
+hidden wonders of electricity. Quadrupeds that take the place of our
+horses are used for drayage, although nothing except the two-wheeled
+class of vehicles was ever used until some eighty-seven years ago.</p>
+
+
+<h3>PUBLIC HIGHWAYS.</h3>
+
+<p>These interesting people excel us in their style and manner of
+home-building, fencing and making public highways. We are heathenish in
+our progress along the line of road making especially. In all my vast
+journey among the worlds I found only a few, comparatively, whereon the
+roads were inferior to ours.</p>
+
+<p>In the world of Brief the state prescribes the manner of public highways
+and each citizen must contribute his share to their creation and
+maintenance.</p>
+
+<p>These Briefites excel us in more than a score of ways. They are much
+purer in morals, more refined in manner, more harmonious in government,
+and unusually bright in mathematics. Very intricate and elaborate
+problems are solved by these people of a few years. They are inferior to
+us in a hundred ways. In the broad fields of manufacture and invention
+they lag a long distance in the rear. This is principally due to their
+lack of time.</p>
+
+
+<h3>RELIGIOUS LIFE.</h3>
+
+<p>The religious life of the people of Brief is, on an average, of a higher
+type than is found in our world. Their belief in immortality has run
+parallel with their existence as a people, and their devotion to their
+Creator is marked with unusual fervor.</p>
+
+<p>Their Redeemer is worshiped quite separately from God, and with
+distinctive adorations. The name of their Redeemer, phonetically
+rendered, is Kerm-Cher. The most faithful translation of this word into
+our language would be God-affluence.</p>
+
+<p>Kerm-Cher, or God-breath, appeared upon Brief full grown, and pronounced
+his benediction on the race, declaring his origin, and the purpose of
+his coming. Similar to Christ, he confirmed his identity by unanswerable
+miracles.</p>
+
+<p>Many, however, disbelieved in Kerm-Cher, and held to the old axiomatic
+truths. Thus creeds were prevalent and they remain until now, only there
+is much less variety than is found amongst us.</p>
+
+<p>Kerm-Cher set up a new reign, and accepted a temporal throne for a
+season. He finally announced that his ambassadorship would soon cease
+and that his followers would lose the throne of civil power, that they
+would be tested for a season in the valley of humiliation and by the
+fires of terrible persecution, and that they who would endure unto the
+end would be glorified.</p>
+
+<p>These religious features are remarkably similar to the system under
+which the Christian religion of our globe is fostered.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI" />CHAPTER XXI</h2>
+
+<h3>The Life on Wings.</h3>
+
+
+<p>As I darted from world to world, I was not then fully conscious of the
+vast stretches of space that I had covered. No mortal nor angel tongue
+can even commence to describe the vastness of created things and the
+trackless oceans of space in which the ponderous suns and planets
+revolve.</p>
+
+<p>According to the classification of our astronomers I next found myself
+in the constellation of Perseus, and was again convinced of the weakness
+of our most powerful telescopes, for I now saw thousands of immense
+stars, hitherto invisible to me. Not one of these stars is within a
+trillion miles of any other.</p>
+
+<p>In this distant system of our universe I saw that the same plan of
+creation obtained. Around a majority of the stars a group of various
+sized worlds revolves. On many of these worlds human life abounds in
+endless degrees of development and in a countless variety of
+manifestations. I marveled anew as I saw the endlessness of the Infinite
+Mind, supporting not only the conscious life of this whole
+constellation, but also of all the constellations of our universe, and
+of all the universes scattered at large throughout the unending depths
+of space.</p>
+
+<p>I paused at a star of variable magnitude in the Milky Way, but took only
+a passing glance at the physical wonders of this great sun, compared
+with which our own Sun is a mere pigmy. Onward I hastened to one of the
+larger worlds of this solar system which, for my convenience, I will
+call Swift.</p>
+
+<p>Here new wonders opened wide to my view. Human beings, charmingly
+beautiful, moved over the face of the planet or on wings through the air
+at pleasure and with great ease. These creatures are about three-fourths
+of our size, and are most gracefully formed. Their whole physical
+appearance is more similar to a bird than to a human being of our Earth.
+They are relatively much lighter than we, and are covered with nothing
+akin to feathers.</p>
+
+<p>If you were to see them standing in their erect posture and walking
+with man-like dignity, you would at once feel that they are the lords of
+the creation on their world, and so indeed they are.</p>
+
+<p>These ethereal creatures have the loveliest eyes of any human beings I
+ever beheld in any world. They sparkle with the brilliancy of a diamond
+and move with the quickness of electricity. The head is small but
+symmetrical and all physical proportions are most harmoniously adapted
+even to a nicety that would be pleasing to the most refined tastes of
+our world.</p>
+
+<p>At first I could not understand how these people of Swift could travel
+so conveniently in the air, for their wings are very small and the
+exertion when flying is very limited. But the lightness of the body, the
+heaviness of the air, and the unusual strength of the Swiftites, each
+conduces its share to the fortunate result.</p>
+
+<p>In my thoughtlessness I envied these gifted people and wished that when
+I would return to my world, I could enjoy such privileges of flight. I
+soon checked this rising covetousness, and again contentment flung over
+me its white mantle.</p>
+
+<p>The bodies of these Swiftites are covered by nature with a clean growth
+of soft, silken hair. They change their garments with the seasons, but
+at all times dress very sparingly and neatly. They are so easily clothed
+that all their apparel occasions them no more trouble than the more
+seasonable covering of the head gives to our women.</p>
+
+<p>The average length of life is nearly four hundred years of our time.
+There are very few worlds in space where the general health of its
+inhabitants is as perfect as is found on this beautiful planet. There
+are but few doctors because there is but little demand for them. Those
+who are engaged are under government service, and all persons who are
+unfortunate enough to become ill receive at least all medicine and
+professional attention free.</p>
+
+<p>We are quite an exceptional world in our medical system. In all my
+journey I saw comparatively only a few worlds that have the private
+system of medical treatment. Have we not noted the laboring husband
+bending at his toil for eight or ten hours to pay the physician who
+calls for a few minutes? In some cases this program is continued for
+weeks, until the honest toiler finds himself confronted with a doctor's
+bill and medicine bill to haunt him until the debt is either forgiven or
+paid at great sacrifice.</p>
+
+<p>On the world of Swift and in the vast majority of civilized worlds in
+space, the community or government furnishes a salaried physician within
+reasonable reach of every home. The doctors of Swift are not expected to
+work night and day. They have shifts to divide the toil equally.</p>
+
+<p>In architecture this distant planet excels us by far. I improved the
+opportunity and went to witness a magnificent temple of worship which
+has been in process of erection for over two hundred years. Any conceit
+that I previously had on account of the large structures of my own world
+quickly vanished at the sight of this imposing edifice. During my visit
+the winged workers were laboring on the upper stories and I watched them
+with great wonderment as they descended from the clouds to carry
+materials to the higher stories. Can you imagine the picture of workmen
+flying in all directions with tools, each one busily employed? It is
+promised that the present generation of employees will live to see the
+completion of this notable structure.</p>
+
+<p>This vast building is the national religious center of the Swiftites.
+Each government has such a central station, and from it all temples of
+worship are controlled. Here the church and the state are yet married,
+and the state maintains its religious departments with careful scrutiny.
+The chief ambition of each government has always been to outshine the
+others in the glory and magnificence of its central temple which, of
+course, is fire proof and almost time proof.</p>
+
+<p>One may wonder as he gazes upon this extensive structure why there are
+seventy thousand sleeping rooms and dining halls built after such
+extensive plans as to entertain, at one time, twenty-five thousand
+guests. All this is to accommodate the vast throngs that take their
+sacred pilgrimage once in a year under an arrangement by which one tenth
+of the able-bodied go each thirty-nine days, which corresponds to our
+month.</p>
+
+<p>The most notable feature of this central temple is the main service
+room, built at fabulous cost and capable of accommodating one hundred
+thousand pilgrims at one time. The most costly sections of this one room
+are guarded night and day by armed government soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>The religion of these Swiftites is of a very pure kind. The ministers of
+this national church are fully equipped before entering upon their
+office. The training schools for ministers attracted my closest
+attention. Fortunately, these people have no language complications as
+we have, so that a prospective minister can spend some of his time
+studying the Book of God's Revelation instead of spending a great
+portion of his training period in learning the languages in which the
+book had once been written.</p>
+
+<p>A minister's training consists as much in voice culture and the many
+branches of elocution as it does in acquiring a correct knowledge of
+God. But in illustrative teaching Swift leads us by far. I was
+profitably entertained in the main temple as I listened to one of the
+famous orators discoursing to an audience of eighty thousand. Not only
+did his canary-like voice penetrate to all parts of the large room, but
+his objective illustrations clinched the truth remarkably well.</p>
+
+<p>A series of special services is held at the close of each month. The
+most wonderful of all these exercises, or renditions, is called "The
+Mediator Service." This is one of the most spectacular and impressive
+exercises outside of Heaven. Even the famous Passion Play of
+Oberammergau (our world) with the less glorious exhibitions at Horitz
+and Selzach, all dwindle into insignificance compared with "The Mediator
+Service" on the world of Swift.</p>
+
+<p>During my visit I witnessed the full program of this sublime rendition.
+The music was inexpressibly grand as rendered by the vested Mediator
+Choir. Naturally the Swiftites have sweet, bird-like voices. Can you
+conceive the effect of a triple choir of these human warblers all
+trained in perfect harmony and unison?</p>
+
+<p>When you consider that nearly the whole population witnesses these
+special exhibitions at least once a year, you can the better understand
+why the spiritual condition of the people has reached a high very level.</p>
+
+<p>I investigated the many interesting features of this inviting world and
+found that in some respects we are inferior to these human bird
+creatures, although in many other respects we are superior. Electricity
+is known in their world, but they have not yet harnessed it; hence they
+are ignorant of telegraphy and a long list of similar inventions which
+we enjoy.</p>
+
+<p>In agriculture the Swiftites are ahead of us. They raise their crops
+with less labor relatively than we. All things considered it is easier
+to live on Swift than here.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing that my time was limited, I decided to secure some nuggets of
+truth by a personal interview; so I concluded to appear to the wisest
+person on the planet, who was a woman of wonderful mental acquirements.
+In addition to her superior intellect she was also bewitchingly
+beautiful.</p>
+
+<p>I waited for the best opportunity and came near to her as she was about
+to spread her wings for a morning flight from the beautiful summit
+near her summer home. Not wishing to cause her undue alarm, I at first
+spoke softly, remaining invisible and watching her rare eyes send their
+glances toward the palmy trees around me, as her wings were relaxing
+quietly at her side. She was positive of having heard a voice, and as
+she still further scanned the immediate surroundings I saw that
+perplexity was furrowing marks upon her face.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="IMG18" id="IMG18" /><img src="images/image-18.jpg" width="600" height="396" alt="Beautiful Plume on the World of Swift." title="" />
+<b>Beautiful Plume on the World of Swift.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Hast thou time to spend with a friend from another world?" I calmly
+inquired as I was still unseen by her.</p>
+
+<p>She was nervously agitated, but being of strong fibre she quickly
+rallied with her answer, "Where art thou and who art thou?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am on a peace mission from a far distant world," I quietly said as I
+slowly became visible to my audience of one.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally she was alarmed at my appearance, and consequently I drew
+gradually farther and farther away until she gained more self-possession
+and turned interestingly toward me.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! how can you be a spirit without wings?" were her first unexpected
+words.</p>
+
+<p>"But I am no spirit," I said assuringly.</p>
+
+<p>"You cannot be otherwise," she insisted.</p>
+
+<p>"Believe what you wish, we have no time for parley. I am delighted to
+visit your world and I desire, if possible, to have some mysteries
+solved. Can you help me?"</p>
+
+<p>Plume, for that is the name I called her, was much unsettled. She
+scanned my form with wild curiosity and I feared that she would at once
+use her wings at their swiftest.</p>
+
+<p>"Pray do not fly hence," I quickly urged. "I will never harm you, even
+though we could converse together forever. Believe me true, and rest
+your wings and heart in peace."</p>
+
+<p>My words had some effect toward calming her mind and with more placid
+features she still looked at me half shrinkingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you not happy that you have wings with which fly?" I continued,
+hoping to create a more natural familiarity.</p>
+
+<p>"Happy? No more than for my feet, my ears, or my life," she answered in
+a more composed manner. "You say that you are from another world. Where
+can that be?" was her welcome query.</p>
+
+<p>Then I pointed my finger in the direction of our world and remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"If you could travel in that direction on swift wings day and night for
+a few millions of years, you would still be far, far away from the world
+where I live."</p>
+
+<p>"And is that world inhabited by sensible creatures?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is."</p>
+
+<p>"But how could you have traversed so great a distance?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never can I explain that mystery to you. Be content that I am here."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you in the image of the other human creatures in that far away
+world?"</p>
+
+<p>"In general they are all fashioned as I am."</p>
+
+<p>"No one having wings?" she added with surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Not one."</p>
+
+<p>"How can that be true?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because we were made without them."</p>
+
+<p>"And have you no way of moving through the air at pleasure?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not without artificial machinery."</p>
+
+<p>"Artificial machinery?" she repeated. "What can you mean by that?"</p>
+
+<p>Of course they have no word for balloon or flying machine, and I found
+it difficult to describe the shape and explain the philosophy of these
+things. I did the best I could in her language, and after I had finished
+my description she for the first time smiled and said:</p>
+
+<p>"That sort of a construction would be a fine thing for the indolents of
+our world who, through misuse or lack of use of their wings, have no
+more ability to fly."</p>
+
+<p>This was interesting to me and I closely inquired as to the cause of
+this loss of the wing power. Plume grew more and more familiar in her
+address and in a long conversation told me of the many conditions that
+make people unfit to fly. I deduce from our conversation a few of these
+causes.</p>
+
+<p>1. Simple neglect.</p>
+
+<p>2. Gluttonous life.</p>
+
+<p>3. Sensuality of a low and heavy life.</p>
+
+<p>4. Pride. Some yield to a superstitious notion that it is honorable to
+make but little display of themselves, and allow their wings to be bound
+or partly clipped.</p>
+
+<p>5. Certain kinds of sickness render the wing-chords inoperative.</p>
+
+<p>I learned that altogether nearly one-half of the population are unable
+to fly. How my mind flew back to our own life as I was learning of these
+sad conditions. There is a sort of a life on wings in our world,
+although the wings are invisible. But on account of the low, mean lives
+so many are living, they never rise above the miasmic contagion of the
+sin and self level. These unseen wings are either paralyzed or clipped.</p>
+
+<p>Plume now actually stepped toward me. What a graceful tread. She was
+indeed the most charming creature I had met outside of my own world. She
+seated herself near me on the rustic bend of a tree unlike any in our
+world and hurried her questions at me as if she realized that I would
+not tarry long. At length she gratefully said:</p>
+
+<p>"I am beginning to believe that you are really a son of another world,
+or else I am reveling in a day dream."</p>
+
+<p>"Happy am I that I can learn from you some of the truths after which I
+am seeking," was my evasive reply. "Tell me, Plume, something about your
+faith religiously."</p>
+
+<p>"I worship the God who made all things and am hoping to live in the
+wider life after my mortal days are ended."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you expect to meet, in that wider life, representatives from other
+worlds?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! I have often thought that it might be so," she answered, as her
+face brightened in poetic fervor, and her eyes sparkled with seraphic
+luster.</p>
+
+<p>"It shall all be so, and much more," I declared. "In that life you can
+fly without wings and mingle with the pure from the unnumbered worlds of
+space."</p>
+
+<p>"What an incentive to a pure life," she quickly added.</p>
+
+<p>"Talking of wings, do you object if I see more closely the cut and style
+of your wings? I never saw before a human creature possessing a pair."</p>
+
+<p>After a moment's hesitancy she raised her right arm and with it the one
+wing unfolded. I ventured near enough to see the intricate network of
+muscle and bone woven around the arm and filling the space between the
+raised arm and the side of Plume's body. She was surprised at the
+interest I manifested in the human wing. After this she offered to
+furnish an able escort to conduct me to several points of interest.</p>
+
+<p>All this I declined and informed my talented friend that I must hasten
+away to another world.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me go with you," she strongly insisted.</p>
+
+<p>"Your wings are not of the right kind," I replied hurriedly.</p>
+
+<p>"They are strong enough to bear us both," were her inviting words.</p>
+
+<p>"But not beyond the atmosphere of this world," I explained.</p>
+
+<p>I quietly arose, scanned once more the beautiful valley before me, and
+indicated that I was about to wane into the invisible. Then did her
+womanly nature assert its supremacy and she, for the first time, touched
+my hand imploringly:</p>
+
+<p>"Have I been dreaming, or do my eyes deceive me? How can all this be
+true? Your hand is sensible to my touch. I implore you to remain until I
+speak to you more about the sciences of your world."</p>
+
+<p>In all my journey I never yielded to persuasion before. But somehow I
+consented to spend a season longer of most charming fellowship, talking
+of the elements in nature, their chemical affinities, and the laws of
+matter and mind. Plume was unusually bright in the philosophies, and I
+gathered from her many truths which had always before been hidden to me.</p>
+
+<p>Finally I became rigid in my determination to leave, for I knew that I
+could not stay.</p>
+
+<p>"Grant me one request," she begged.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me hear it."</p>
+
+<p>"Promise me that you will return."</p>
+
+<p>"Impossible, impossible!"</p>
+
+<p>The parting that followed was indeed memorable. Without any further
+notice I suddenly vanished, but still tarried invisibly in close
+proximity.</p>
+
+<p>Plume was now left in deep bewilderment, and I could not even
+conjecture the details of her warring thoughts. Finally I saw that for
+which I had tarried. Plume lifted her wings and flew skyward as
+beautifully and gracefully as any bird of our earthly air.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII" />CHAPTER XXII.</h2>
+
+<h3>Heaven.</h3>
+
+
+<p>After my ambition to visit one thousand worlds had been realised, and I
+was darting toward the confines of our own little Solar System,
+instinctively I looked out once more over the vast stretches of space.
+All around me, at amazing distances, loomed up the millions of spheres
+which I had not visited by reason of my limited time. I felt like some
+one who, after gaining his first thousand dollars, has a wild craving to
+accumulate ten or one hundred thousand more.</p>
+
+<p>Still I scanned the heavens while deeper longings pervaded my soul.
+While in this mood the most unusual vision flashed upon my eyes.
+Suddenly I forgot whither I was going and in wild astonishment I drank
+in the first view of Heaven. Inwardly I marveled that I had not seen at
+least a part of it before.</p>
+
+<p>Heaven is fashioned on a transcendently large scale. It is not a single
+sphere, but a universal chain of vast and luminous star-groups,
+scattered harmoniously throughout the infinite regions of space, so that
+a part of it lies suspended preciously near to our own Solar System.
+Heaven is more real and substantial than the suns and planets of the
+universe, although not one of its numberless parts can be detected by
+the human eye, or discerned through a telescope. These luminous orbs
+that constitute Heaven control the movements of the planets, suns and
+systems which we call material. They are whiter than snow and shine with
+a luster not dazzling, but restful to the eye capable of seeing them.</p>
+
+<p>How this glimpse put to naught all my former crude conceptions of
+Heaven, and if I found myself unable to describe the wonders of many a
+dark world which I have visited, how much less could I portray the
+vastly superior beauties of Heaven which are so far beyond the glory of
+dark, rugged worlds that I felt an inexpressible desire to take up my
+abode there at once and to remain forever.</p>
+
+<p>Inwardly I shouted for joy as this new light illumined my face, and I
+loathed to think of proceeding on my journey to any sin-cursed world of
+the universe, for the ties of kinship, friendship, and earthship all
+vanished at the sight of such resplendent spheres.</p>
+
+
+<h3>THE GREATNESS OF HEAVEN.</h3>
+
+<p>There is no language to be employed that can fitly describe the parts of
+Heaven I saw, and I know that the greater glory was curtained from my
+view. But the size of the lustrous orbs is not equaled by the large
+material suns that blaze in the depth of immensity. Heaven's diamond
+splendor extended as far as my unassisted eyes could reach, and
+according to the way it appeared it must extend without limit.</p>
+
+<p>It would require one hundred millions of years for a child of God to
+take one excursion trip to the physical worlds of our universe. Then
+there are millions of such universes, (I know of no better name to use)
+each one occupying its own immense stretches of space. These universes
+average about sixteen hundred millions of worlds each.</p>
+
+<p>Heaven is infinitely greater than this whole material fabric, so that if
+a spirit is inclined to travel, he will need all eternity to study the
+works of God as displayed in the glorious abodes of Heaven and in the
+changing aspects of created worlds.</p>
+
+<p>Let us give a deeper meaning to the stanza of the poet by substituting
+"million" for "thousand."</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>When I've been there ten million years,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Bright, shining as the sun,<br /></span>
+<span>I've no less days to sing God's praise,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Than when I first begun.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Compared with this life more vast, does it not appear that our own
+insignificant existence on our tiny Earth is as the creeping of a mere
+insect on the leaf of a giant oak?</p>
+
+
+<h3>PERMANENCY OF HEAVEN.</h3>
+
+<p>The only permanent or imperishable feature of our universe is the Heaven
+part of it. The created or visible worlds are mere dark appendages of
+the real spheres, and are serving their parts in bringing fruit to
+their Maker.</p>
+
+<p>Sin-cursed and sinless worlds are coming to an end continually, and as
+rapidly are new ones flung out or old ones re-peopled to serve as garden
+plots to bear fruit in the form of created intelligences who serve and
+admire God through choice.</p>
+
+<p>Heaven is indestructible. It has already been in existence since the
+morning of time. In all my journey, no angel or mortal could tell me how
+many cycles ago that was. But it must be said that Heaven does not
+always present the same aspect. Mansions are built for the reception of
+new arrivals, or for the vast delegations from millennial worlds.</p>
+
+
+<h3>THE INHABITANTS OF HEAVEN.</h3>
+
+<p>They come from all parts of the universe, from millions of spheres. The
+righteous of any world, at death, are suddenly transported to that part
+of Heaven lying nearest to their world. This is the Abraham's bosom
+where the spirit is happy until it takes up its abode with its own
+spiritualized body in a millennial reign, after which, by a decree of
+the Final Judgment, it is given its credentials to the illimitable life
+of all Heaven.</p>
+
+<p>This is Paul's third heaven. Oh! what unlimited expansion! What
+incomprehensible principles, to move at large in quest of universal
+truths as seen in the seven types of Heaven's spiritual intelligences,
+and in the unending manifestations of God's work and love as displayed
+in all heaven and in all the peopled planets of space!</p>
+
+<p>Not one of these blessed inhabitants ever grows old or suffers fatigue.
+They are capable of moving with tireless energy from one part of
+Heaven's vast domains to any other portion.</p>
+
+
+<h3>DEGREES OF HEAVEN.</h3>
+
+<p>In space there are many sinless worlds where human species are
+propagated, not as the result of any sexual affinities, but in a manner
+totally unintelligible to a finite mind. They who reach Heaven from such
+a world cannot drink in the same kind of enjoyment as those who come up
+out of great tribulations from the spheres of a sin-cursed world, and
+who have struggled for mastery and forged their way to the sky through
+armies of aliens.</p>
+
+<p>But these creatures are perfectly contented, for they have no way of
+realizing the glory resulting from the victory over the world, the flesh
+and the Devil.</p>
+
+<p>Then there are degrees of glory among those who come from a sin-cursed
+world. Some have many treasures laid up in Heaven, while others centered
+their affections too much upon the transitory things of time and sense.</p>
+
+<p>There are also various orders or degrees of glory among the seven types
+of intelligences of which Heaven's multitudes are composed. Some of
+these may be suggested to your mind when you read more of this sevenfold
+life.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="IMG19" id="IMG19" /><img src="images/image-19.jpg" width="600" height="404" alt="A Glimpse of Blissful Life in Heaven." title="" />
+<b>A Glimpse of Blissful Life in Heaven.</b>
+</div>
+
+
+<h3>SEVEN TYPES OF INTELLIGENCES.</h3>
+
+<p>1. The first class of beings is composed of those whom we comprehend as
+the Trinity, whose highest glory is expressed in the Mediatorial
+personage who can be seen at will by any of Heaven's hosts from any
+world.</p>
+
+<p>2. The cherubim and seraphim, or the highest order of spirits, who
+have always been pure and holy. They constitute the next rank of the
+celestial host.</p>
+
+<p>3. The third class is composed of the general host of angels who also
+have been holy from eternity, and who serve as ambassadors to various
+points of the limitless creation.</p>
+
+<p>4. The spirits of those who have risen from sinful worlds by virtue of a
+God-approved and God-appointed Mediator. To join the ranks of this class
+we, who serve God, are hastening. This is no low order or caste in
+Heaven, but they who belong to it vie with higher angels, and taste
+sweetness beyond the capacity of those who, in other respects, are our
+peers. The angels desire to look into the deep mystery of salvation's
+plan.</p>
+
+<p>5. The matured and maturing spirits of those who left sinful worlds
+before God held them accountable for their deeds. To this class belong
+our children who precede us into the final abode.</p>
+
+<p>6. The spirits of those who have risen from sinless worlds to take
+their infinitely higher degrees in this Heaven life.</p>
+
+<p>7. The matured and maturing spirits of those who left the sinless worlds
+before sense perception was duly developed. They form a distinct class
+of spirits and have their distinctive marks.</p>
+
+
+<h3>UNITY OF HEAVEN.</h3>
+
+<p>Redemption's plan for each sinful world is somewhat similar to ours, so
+that there is a oneness in the whole family of the redeemed. This is one
+main factor that makes the bond of unity perfect and renders the
+fellowship of the celestial hosts absolutely without a flaw.</p>
+
+<p>True enough, each of the seven classes of intelligences is a mystery and
+a glory to the others. But there is no friction, no jar. Each one is
+perfect in himself and happy in spirit.</p>
+
+<p>Although each one of the vast companies carries the distinctive impress
+and the spiritual peculiarities of his own planet, yet they are all now
+fashioned after the symmetry of the Heaven life, and no one bears a
+single repellant feature, but rather each spiritual body is beautiful
+to the eyes of all the others, and each one breathes the same atmosphere
+of purity and converses in the self-same language of love.</p>
+
+
+<h3>A HOME-LIKE PLACE.</h3>
+
+<p>No feature of Heaven is more beautiful than its home-like atmosphere.
+The soul is not chilled by the two-thousand-mile-cube cities, or by the
+long, long stretches of Divine masonry. God is as a real father, and all
+his subjects are as our blood-relations. We feel it, and the inspiration
+of these truths takes a deep hold of Heaven's vast populace.</p>
+
+
+<h3>EMPLOYMENT.</h3>
+
+<p>Now and then large excursion parties visit various points of our own
+universe and frequently span the incredible distances in order to study
+the works and life of other universes.</p>
+
+<p>Each soul is occupied in gratifying its own master passion, and lives in
+the delightsome fellowship of the saints.</p>
+
+
+<h3>TRANSPORTATION.</h3>
+
+<p>There are no vehicles or cars of any kind. Actual wings are unknown
+except as used by certain birds of Heaven. Spirits travel as rapidly as
+desired by a mere submissive connection with the universal system of
+power filaments, all of which center in God. More refined power than
+electricity is transmitted over these substantial filaments to any point
+of any world. The fleshly body is not sensitive to this spiritual power,
+but the pure soul, when free from the body, is at once sensitive to
+these chords of power and is carried swifter than a current of
+electricity to Abraham's bosom, where it is entitled forever to a free
+use of this perfect power without being subject to any kind of taxation.</p>
+
+
+<h3>SEXUAL AFFINITIES OF HEAVEN.</h3>
+
+<p>Contrary to some of my former ideas I saw that the inhabitants of Heaven
+are not all of one sex. The male and female are clearly distinguishable,
+and they bear relations one to another still more refined than was
+manifest in the Millennial World.</p>
+
+<p>The most holy affinity exists between the several types of
+intelligences. Here the glorious fires of love burn never to reach a
+climax. Lovers have been drinking from perennial fountains for a million
+years, and their ecstacies are rising still. Pure love is as endless and
+infinite as time and space, and its mystery is deep to these shining
+throngs of Heaven who look into one another's faces with untrammeled
+emotions. Think of falling in love with the inhabitants of other worlds
+and of having the capacity and right to foster a thousand or more types
+of affinity, each one differing from the others!</p>
+
+<p>These relations are so highly refined and so gloriously developed that
+one must not think of reducing them by comparison to the level of the
+flesh life.</p>
+
+
+<h3>STRUCTURAL ASPECTS OF HEAVEN.</h3>
+
+<p>I would not attempt to describe the structural glory of Heaven, for I
+know not where nor how to begin. Seemingly all things are transparent
+even to the center of vast orbs. Magnificent cities apparently lie
+suspended far under the indefinite surface of the orbs composing
+Heaven, and free passage ways of phantastical design ramify throughout
+all the glorious under-surface regions.</p>
+
+<p>Architectural greatness here finds its unmatched examples. Seven-mile
+diamond arches are common-places, and towers of two thousand miles in
+height and one thousand miles in diameter, as the corner stone of a
+city, are nothing unusual, although many cities are built on a smaller
+plan. Nothing needs repairing, and nothing is mortgaged. The wealth of
+unnumbered trillions is easily represented in one orb of Heaven's
+empire.</p>
+
+<p>I now saw a thousand-fold more clearly than ever before the absolute
+folly of fixing our affections on the perishing things of the mortal
+life in our dark and dusty world.</p>
+
+<p>While my eyes were still feasting on the sublime picture before me I
+began to realize that my privilege would be of short duration, as the
+vision was fast waning. I looked intently until the last curtain fell,
+and reluctantly I continued my journey toward my own little world. I now
+felt that, if the whole Earth were my own property, I would gladly push
+it all aside if I could be a mere door keeper in one of the heavenly
+cities of my God.</p>
+
+<p>And very often since that time I have cast my longing eyes skyward,
+hoping to catch another glimpse of that fair scene.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>How I long for that restful picture,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A vision of Heaven, once more;<br /></span>
+<span>With its trillion orbs of beauty,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And its wealth of endless store.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>There are saints from unnumbered planets,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Where they lived in a million ways.<br /></span>
+<span>Now they mingle in perfect glory,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Through the length of eternal days.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>There the poor are wealthy forever,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For the beggar sits down with the King.<br /></span>
+<span>The man who never knew music<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Will vie with angels to sing.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Here the hopeful student, progressing,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">After failing does often grieve;<br /></span>
+<span>But in Heaven each lesson is perfect,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">No theory to blind or deceive.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Here the runner, in breathless struggle,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Sees the other in touch of the goal;<br /></span>
+<span>But Heaven gives each one the laurel,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To be crowned while the ages roll.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>There they have no light of a candle,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For there are no shadows of night.<br /></span>
+<span>There the flash of unnumbered opals<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Sparkles on in their wealth of light.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>In that home-like palace of Heaven,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Where these myriad trillions are,<br /></span>
+<span>There the Lord is the self-same Master,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And Love is the self-same star.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14770 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Life in a Thousand Worlds, by William Shuler
+Harris</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Life in a Thousand Worlds</p>
+<p>Author: William Shuler Harris</p>
+<p>Release Date: January 23, 2005  [eBook #14770]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE IN A THOUSAND WORLDS***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>E-text prepared by Steven desJardins<br />
+    and Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 414px;">
+<a name="IMG1" id="IMG1" /><img src="images/image-1.jpg" width="414" height="600" alt="REV. W.&nbsp;S. HARRIS" title="" />
+<b>REV. W.&nbsp;S. HARRIS</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h1>Life in a Thousand Worlds</h1>
+
+<h2>By Rev. W.&nbsp;S. Harris.</h2>
+
+
+<h4>AUTHOR OF <i>MR. WORLD AND MISS CHURCH-MEMBER</i>,
+<i>MODERN FABLES AND PARABLES</i>, <i>SERMONS
+BY THE DEVIL</i>, ETC., ETC.</h4>
+
+<h4>ILLUSTRATED.</h4>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h6>Published by
+the Minter Company,
+Harrisburg, Pa.</h6>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>1905</h4>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<span>TO</span><br />
+<br />
+<span>MY MOTHER</span><br />
+<br />
+<span>WHO FOR MY GOOD COUNTED NONE OF<br />
+HER SACRIFICES TOO GREAT AND<br />
+WHO IS NOW RECEIVING HER<br />
+REWARD IN THE CELESTIAL<br />
+LIFE THIS VOLUME IS<br />
+LOVINGLY</span>
+<br />
+<span>DEDICATED.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/decorative.png" width="15%" alt="Decorative element" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<h3>Illustrations.</h3>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align='center'>1.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG1">Portrait of the Author</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>2.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG2">Gazing at the Starry Firmament</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>3.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG3">A City on the Moon</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>4.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG4">How a "Trust" Monopolizes Rain and Light on Mars</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>5.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG5">The Largest Telescope in the Universe</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>6.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG6">An Air Ship on Saturn</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>7.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG7">Living in Fire on a Fixed Star</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>8.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG8">Fishing for Land Animals</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>9.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG9">Monopolizing Liquid Air on Airess</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>10.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG10">Floating Cities of Plasden</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>11.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG11">A Captive on a Planet of Duhbe</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>12.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG12">The Millennial Dawn</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>13.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG13">Low-life Warfare on Scum</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>14.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG14">Battle Between "Flying Devils" in the Air</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>15.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG15">"Trusts" in the Diamond World</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>16.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG16">Tunnel Through Holen's Center</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>17.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG17">A Scene of Rejoicing in Brief</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>18.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG18">Beautiful Plume and Her Wings</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>19.</td><td align='left'><a href="#IMG19">A Glimpse of Heaven</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+
+<h3>Contents.</h3>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#PREFACE">PREFACE.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></td><td align='left'>Are There More Worlds Than One?</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></td><td align='left'>A Visit to the Moon</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></td><td align='left'>A Visit to Mars</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></td><td align='left'>A Glimpse of Jupiter</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></td><td align='left'>Beautiful Saturn</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></td><td align='left'>The Nearest Fixed Star</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></td><td align='left'>The Water World Visited</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Tor-tu</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></td><td align='left'>A Problem in Political Economy</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></td><td align='left'>Floating Cities</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</a></td><td align='left'>A World of Ideal Cities</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></td><td align='left'>A World Enjoying Its Millennium</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a></td><td align='left'>A World of High Medical Knowledge</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a></td><td align='left'>A World of Low Life</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a></td><td align='left'>A World of Highest Invention</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a></td><td align='left'>A Singular Planet</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.</a></td><td align='left'>The Diamond World</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Triumphant Feat of Orion</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.</a></td><td align='left'>The Mute World</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.</a></td><td align='left'>Brief</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI</a></td><td align='left'>The Life on Wings</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII.</a></td><td align='left'>Heaven</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Synopsis_of_Contents" id="Synopsis_of_Contents" />Synopsis of Contents.</h2>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER I.</h3>
+
+<h4>Are There More Worlds Than One?</h4>
+
+<p>Why are countless worlds swinging in the endless regions of space?
+The author believes that thousands are inhabited by intelligent
+beings.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3>
+
+<h4>A Visit to the Moon.</h4>
+
+<p>Description of a novel city of over 60,000 Moonites. The
+inhabitants of the Moon are described as dwarfs having no noses
+because they live by eating solid air. Their odd houses,
+expressive paintings, strange religion, wonderful history, novel
+government, happy home life, etc., interestingly described.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER III.</h3>
+
+<h4>A Visit to Mars.</h4>
+
+<p>Marsites described as giants needing four arms. The ultimate
+results of capitalistic oppression graphically portrayed by a
+curtain system. The description of the Marsite curtain system
+embodies a tremendous thrust at monopolistic trusts, and should be
+read by Americans by the millions. The author captured by Marsmen.
+Illustration.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER IV.</h3>
+
+<h4>A Glimpse of Jupiter.</h4>
+
+<p>Jupiterites described as colossal giants averaging twenty-five
+feet in height. Their language a marvel of simplicity far
+surpassing the English language. What Jupiterites can see with
+their powerful magnifying lenses. The author looked, through their
+largest telescope and saw ships sailing in New York City harbor.
+Illustration.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER V.</h3>
+
+<h4>Beautiful Saturn.</h4>
+
+<p>Physical features. Woman the ruling genius. Excursions in
+airships. Illustration. Marvelous language-music. Churches on
+Saturn far better than those on Earth.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VI.</h3>
+
+<h4>The Nearest Fixed Star.</h4>
+
+<p>The inhabitants of Alpha Centaurus live as comfortably in fire as
+Earthites live in air or fishes in water. One of their aerial fire
+carriages described. Illustration.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VII.</h3>
+
+<h4>The Water World Visited.</h4>
+
+<p>On Stazza the people live in water about as fishes do on Earth.
+Their homes and cities under water described. Fishing for land
+animals. Illustration. Some of their inventions far surpass those
+of our own world.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VIII.</h3>
+
+<h4>Tortu.</h4>
+
+<p>A far more beautiful world than ours. The moral life of Tortu the
+cleanest found in any world, and interesting reasons given.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XI</h3>
+
+<h4>A Problem in Political Economy.</h4>
+
+<p>On Airess the inhabitants live on liquid air, and hence have
+neither noses nor lungs. Monopolists control liquid air on Airess
+as petroleum is controlled on Earth. Illustration. Method of
+breaking up the power of monopolies. This chapter is worth reading
+by millions of American men and women.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER X.</h3>
+
+<h4>Floating Cities.</h4>
+
+<p>Palaces and large cities built on water. Illustration. A number of
+wonderful inventions described. Far surpass our world in reform
+movements.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XI.</h3>
+
+<h4>A World of Ideal Cities.</h4>
+
+<p>Inhabitants described. Author made captive. Rich and poor. Ideal
+cities, how governed.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XII.</h3>
+
+<h4>A World Enjoying Its Millennium.</h4>
+
+<p>How the Millennium was ushered in. The conditions under which
+millennial life is enjoyed.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIII.</h3>
+
+<h4>A World of High Medical Knowledge.</h4>
+
+<p>On Dorelyn four billions of inhabitants all enjoy perfect health.
+The government controls the whole field of medical science just as
+we do the post office department. No patent medicine on Dorelyn.
+Many new ideas picked up in medicine and surgery.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIV.</h3>
+
+<h4>A World of Low Life.</h4>
+
+<p>On Scum exist the lowest conditions of life found in any stellar
+world. "Notched Rod" language explained. Lizard like human forms.
+No Scumite knows who is his father or mother. A big Scumite battle
+witnessed. Illustration.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XV.</h3>
+
+<h4>A World of Highest Invention.</h4>
+
+<p>A fertilizer invented making possible the raising of six crops in
+one of our years. A Tube Line for passenger and freight traffic.
+Wonderful storage batteries. A telephone that not only carries
+sound, but transmits the gestures and faces of the speakers.
+Thought photography.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVI.</h3>
+
+<h4>A Singular Planet.</h4>
+
+<p>On Zik decisive battles between nations are not fought by armies
+on land or navies on the sea, but by flying war ships called
+Flying Devils sailing in the air. A battle witnessed.
+Illustration. A practical way of settling the strife between
+capital and labor. The art of maintaining youthful vigor in old
+ago.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVII.</h3>
+
+<h4>The Diamond World.</h4>
+
+<p>On the brightest planets of the universe diamonds are as plenty as
+soil is on our Earth, but soil is as scarce and valuable as
+diamonds are in our world. The heart-rending oppression of the
+"Soil Trust" in the Diamond World portrayed. Illustration. The
+insatiable greed of "Trusts" follows the poor people into their
+sepulchers.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVIII.</h3>
+
+<h4>Triumphant Feat of Orion.</h4>
+
+<p>Description of a tunnel through the center of Holen, a globe 500
+miles in diameter. Illustration of passenger car used. Its
+operation explained.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIX.</h3>
+
+<h4>The Mute World.</h4>
+
+<p>Muteites have no audible language. They converse by pure thought
+transmission, and no one can conceal evil thoughts. When a Muteite
+criminal is brought before a Court of Justice the doors of his
+soul are unlocked so that all past thought-images, photographed on
+the sensitive living plates of his mind, are thrown open to view.
+No hypocrisy, no conventional lying.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XX.</h3>
+
+<h4>Brief.</h4>
+
+<p>The world of Brief sustains the shortest lived human beings of our
+universe. What we in our world crowd into seventy or eighty years
+of life the Briefites crowd into the narrow compass of about four
+years of our time. Journalism, footwear, raiment, transportation,
+public highways, business, religious life, etc., portrayed under
+such mad-rush environments.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXI.</h3>
+
+<h4>The Life on Wings.</h4>
+
+<p>The inhabitants of Swift are charmingly beautiful, and many of
+them can be seen gracefully moving on wings through the air. A
+charming conversation with Plume, the most beautiful woman in the
+universe. Illustration.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXII.</h3>
+
+<h4>Heaven.</h4>
+
+<p>Its greatness, permanency, inhabitants, degrees, seven typos of
+intelligences, unity, employments, transportation, sexual
+affinities, structural aspects, etc., uniquely portrayed.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE" />PREFACE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Any person having a reasonable education will admit that there are many
+planetary worlds besides the one on which we live. But whether or not
+they are inhabited is an open question with most people. We had been in
+doubt on this point for many years, but now we are settled in our
+conviction that human life exists in many different worlds of space. We
+can give no proof of this except that we have just returned from the
+greatest journey we ever took. We went from world to world over long
+distances of space as easily as one could go from place to place on the
+surface of our earth. <i>This was a journey of the soul</i>, for surely flesh
+and bone could not have traveled such amazing distances. At times we
+were lost to this world, being entirely absorbed in the glimpses of
+other worlds that were flashing upon our view in happy succession.</p>
+
+<p>It can been seen without saying that this book contains no more than a
+fragment of the things we saw and heard&mdash;the fragment that is most
+easily understood by human creatures born under the rules and
+regulations of this little dark world of ours.</p>
+
+<p>There are, in certain other worlds, such wide extremes of bodily
+formation and mental capacities, that a picture of them in word or art
+would only be unbearable and in some instances decidedly revolting, just
+because we are trained here to one set of standards and chained to one
+surface of world conditions. It will be different in the after-death
+life to those who are wise enough to be pure and good in this world.</p>
+
+<p>To make the book as practical as possible we have given a picture of
+some worlds where human life is inferior to ours, and of others where it
+is vastly superior,&mdash;saying nothing of the millennial life which we
+found in far off space.</p>
+
+<p>Comparisons are made throughout the book between the life, habits, and
+customs of other worlds and our own. In picturing the low life of
+certain worlds we are led to see what a highly favored and greatly
+civilized people we are, and in describing the human achievements of
+certain other worlds we are led to see how short a distance we have
+traveled in the path of human glory and civilization.</p>
+
+<p>We have also endeavored to set forth in this humble volume the common
+relation of all rational creatures of all worlds to one Infinite
+Creator. We do not question the truth of this fact, and those who ask
+for proof must wait to find it.</p>
+
+<p>We hope that this book will be inspiring to every thoughtful mind who
+loves to learn more and more of the great system of intelligent life of
+which the human creatures of this world form one link in the chain. If
+the reading of this volume should open to your mind numberless
+suggestions and compel you to ask a host of questions, perhaps you will
+do as we have done,&mdash;spend a long time in training your wings to be
+swift enough to take the journey yourself. If you will not do this, you
+must patiently wait until the clods of clay are shaken off, so that your
+free spirit may go out to live the life more vast in other worlds.</p>
+
+<p>We pray that the highest kind of good may result from the truths here
+advanced. If this shall be accomplished, we shall have our best reward
+for having given this book to the printing press.</p>
+
+<p>Truly yours,</p>
+
+<p><i>THE AUTHOR</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>December, 1904</i>.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION" />INTRODUCTION.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It may seem like great exaggeration to say that this is one of the most
+interesting and profitable books that has been placed upon the American
+book market for many years. <i>It follows no old rut; it has found a new
+path</i>, and the reader is permitted to walk in regions which he never saw
+and of which he never read before. It is indeed a triumph of literary
+genius to give a picture of intelligent life in other worlds upon a
+scientific and philosophical basis. Other writers have attempted to give
+a description of conditions on the Moon, Mars, or some other single
+planet, but no one has succeeded in picturing the mysteries of life in a
+number of star worlds with such a fascination as is here found.</p>
+
+<p>Some one may say that the book is only a work of imagination, but we
+challenge any one to produce a book that gives more timely thrusts at
+the evils of our present day life. By showing how the people of other
+worlds have fallen into their sad conditions the author sounds a note of
+warning to the people of this world, and by giving a glimpse of the
+manner in which other worlds have reached their great triumphs, he gives
+to the people of our world a spur to loftier ideals, to greater
+inventions, and to a purer life.</p>
+
+<p>The publisher of this volume is proud to put upon the market a book of
+such high value and dignity. It is quite unusual for the subscription
+book market to see such a princely book come into its midst. Here we
+have ten dollars worth of <i>new ideas</i>, packed into cream form, all for
+one dollar, and we positively assert that nothing like it can be found
+anywhere in literature. <i>Great books have no companions.</i></p>
+
+<p>The illustrations are from the masterly hands of an artist of special
+merit for this class of work. He happily places himself into the midst
+of other worlds in order to draw the beautiful pictures that illustrate
+and adorn this volume. The illustrations are well worth careful
+examination and when studied in connection with the reading matter they
+are seen in their greatest beauty and value. <i>The Publishers</i></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 390px;">
+<a name="IMG2" id="IMG2" /><img src="images/image-2.jpg" width="390" height="600" alt="Looking Towards a Thousand Worlds." title="" />
+<b>Looking Towards a Thousand Worlds.</b>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I" />CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h3>Are There More Worlds Than One?</h3>
+
+
+<p>Our world is large enough to excite our interest and invite our study
+until we close our eyes in death. Yet there are countless other orbs
+scattered through the solar system and throughout the vast stretches of
+the starry heavens. Some of these worlds are smaller than ours, but the
+majority of them are hundreds or thousands of times larger.</p>
+
+<p>Looking away from our solar system, we find that each star is a sun, in
+most instances the center of a group of worlds. So, for the lack of a
+better phrase, we shall say that there are millions of solar systems
+distributed through limitless space, each one serving its part in the
+great universal plan.</p>
+
+<p>For what purpose are all these immense worlds shining and swinging in
+the depths of immensity? Could it be possible that they are nothing more
+than vast pieces of dead machinery, barren of all vegetable growth and
+intelligent life, whereon desolation and solitude forever prevail?</p>
+
+<p>Our own Earth is inhabited by a large variety of living forms ranging
+from the microscopic bacteria and animalcula to the glorious form of man
+with all his superior endowments. The air, earth and water are teeming
+with their billions of sensitive creatures; even a breath of air, a drop
+of water, or a leaf on a tree often contains a miniature world of living
+forms.</p>
+
+<p>Amidst all this confusing animation around us, is it not absurd to
+suppose that other worlds, larger or smaller than our own, are barren of
+all life, and that from them no songs of thanksgiving ever arise to the
+Maker and Ruler of all things?</p>
+
+<p>Such a supposition not only gives us a strange view of the character and
+attributes of God, but is at once repulsive to our instincts; anyone
+wishing to accept it may do so, but as for me and for a large company of
+my kind, we prefer to give a larger meaning to creation and a higher
+glory to the Creator.</p>
+
+<p>Let no one doubt that the universe is full of intelligent life, in
+myriad types of existence and infinite stages of development. Physically
+speaking, one cannot imagine the countless variety of ways in which
+flesh and bone may congregate around the human brain to make a sentient
+and intelligent creature.</p>
+
+<p>Confined as we are to our little dark world, we know by sight of only
+one way in which the brain conveys its messages and serves its ends,
+namely, through a body of one hundred pounds or more of flesh and bone,
+formed erect, and capable of rendering service upon a moment's notice.
+Therefore some of us are conceited enough to believe that we are the
+most perfect and beautiful beings of the universe, the highest
+expression of creative art, and that all other creatures in a million
+orbs take a secondary place.</p>
+
+<p>True enough, we occupy an honored position in the scale of creation, but
+while the people of many worlds are beneath us, yet there are many more
+planets whereon human genius has surpassed us, and we must be modest
+enough to take our rightful place in the drama of the worlds.</p>
+
+<p>"How many planets, how many suns, how many milky ways are there?" you
+ask in one breath. Speaking alone of our own universe, of which the
+Milky Way is the backbone, I estimate that if we multiply the number of
+stars by forty-nine, we shall have the approximate number of worlds that
+are large enough to be classed with the family of inhabited planets.</p>
+
+<p>In our immediate universe there are at least one hundred million stars,
+a number of which have over five hundred worlds revolving around them;
+others have only six or ten. The average, as above stated, is estimated
+at forty-nine. Then, also, far out in the depths of space, there are
+nebulous spots visible only through the most searching lenses. These are
+new systems of milky ways or new universes, so immensely distant that
+our most powerful telescopes cannot even resolve them into stars.</p>
+
+<p>There are inhabited worlds so far from us that, if one could travel the
+distance around our Earth in one second, he could proceed in one
+direction, at this rate of speed, for twenty million years and yet see
+far ahead of him the flickering lights of numberless other inviting
+suns and worlds.</p>
+
+<p>We cannot possibly grasp an idea of such infinite distances, neither can
+we form any adequate conception of the long, long stretches between star
+and star, which is the same as saying, between solar system and solar
+system. In our Milky Way the stars seem to be crushed together into a
+whitish jelly, but the awful truth looms up before us with all sublimity
+that, although these stars seem to lie one upon another, they are
+millions and trillions of miles apart.</p>
+
+<p>In regard to our own solar system much speculation is rife as to the
+existence of human creatures on the several larger planets. Theories of
+all kinds have been advanced; some speculative or absurd, others so
+plausible as to give rise to interesting questions, such as
+communicating with Mars, and perhaps of taking a journey to the Moon.
+These suggestions, while fanciful, awaken our interest and excite our
+curiosity. Can any one predict the excitement that would prevail in our
+world if a human creature from some other planet were suddenly to set
+foot upon our soil? We would fling a thousand questions at him to learn
+something of the strange realm from which he came.</p>
+
+<p>And how great would be our amazement if we were to have the exalted
+privilege of journeying to other worlds, seeing the types of human
+creatures living there, and witnessing a thousand other things too
+strange and wonderful to mention?</p>
+
+<p>I invite you to listen as I tell a condensed story of a number of worlds
+which I have visited, all within the boundary line of our own universe.
+I cannot even tell a tithe of what I saw and heard, but must content
+myself with giving a passing view of a thousand worlds, some of which
+are situated in a very distant corner of our universe.</p>
+
+<p>Well you may ask: "How could you travel from world to world and see the
+various forms of human life, and then remain alive to tell a part of the
+marvelous tale?"</p>
+
+<p>If it is a mystery to you, it is also a mystery to me. I cannot describe
+the pinions that carried me, nor tell whence came the strength that
+moved my wings, any more than I can explain by what process I was
+preserved alive in worlds of fire, in worlds of ice, and in worlds
+without air. But the sight of all these things was as real to me as the
+dreams of the night, and it must be admitted that dreams are often as
+realistic as the acts of our wakeful moments.</p>
+
+<p>For many years I looked outward toward the starry firmament, and at
+times a deep yearning possessed me to speed away to converse with the
+inhabitants of other spheres.</p>
+
+<p>This hope I cherished so strongly that my thoughts completely
+overpowered me, and ere I knew it I was living at the mercy of
+indescribable emotions. All this continued during many revolutions of
+the Earth on its axis. I felt as Columbus must have felt when he was
+moving over strange waters. Then occurred the most notable event of my
+life. In the twinkling of an eye I was caught away from the Earth and,
+without any effort of my own, I was darting through space faster than a
+sunbeam.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II" />CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h3>A Visit to the Moon.</h3>
+
+
+<p>I was not prepared for the quick transit to our satellite, nor for the
+views thrust upon me so suddenly. Before I could well collect my
+thoughts I found myself in the immediate vicinity of the Moon and,
+strange as it may seem, I was conscious of my surroundings and knew that
+I had power to transport myself instantly to any place I might wish to
+go.</p>
+
+<p>To see the Moon face to face gives a charming satisfaction which can
+never be realized two hundred and forty thousand miles away. I was
+conscious of my privilege and was determined to take all possible
+advantage of it.</p>
+
+<p>Now how differently everything appeared from the views I had snatched
+through the telescope while yet on the Earth. I could not see the "Man
+in the Moon," whose grinning face had so often looked down upon me, but
+from my first point of observation everything looked as if life had
+never existed there and, consequently, I was about to conclude that no
+human beings inhabit the Moon. This theory soon vanished, for after I
+had traveled over a hundred miles I came to a thriving center of
+population, the largest city on the sphere, inhabited by more than sixty
+thousand rational beings.</p>
+
+<p>These creatures resemble us most strongly in their mental capacities,
+though their bodies are out of harmony with ours, having three eyes and
+no nose. The third eye is situated in the center of the forehead, and
+the other two more toward the sides of the head.</p>
+
+<p>Life is not sustained by breathing a gaseous air as we do, so that the
+sense of smell is performed by the protruded upper lip. At the voluntary
+effort to catch scent the upper lip noticeably rolls upward into a
+partial scroll.</p>
+
+<p>I was anxious to learn how the life of these Moonites is sustained
+without breathing and, to my astonishment, I learned that they eat solid
+air at intervals of about six hours. This is not taken in connection
+with the regular food, but is eaten alone and carried into a separate
+stomach wherein it is disintegrated by the chemical action of the
+stomachic acids. The gases thus formed serve the same purpose as the air
+we breathe into our lungs.</p>
+
+<p>According to the conjectures of some earthly astronomers I was expecting
+to see a race of immense giants. On the contrary, I found that these
+Moonites grow to only about one-fourth our height, but possess fully
+three-fourths as much circumference of body. Notwithstanding that they
+are so short and rotund, they are healthy and exceedingly quick in all
+their bodily movements.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt I shall be chided for saying that these Moon-inhabitants are a
+handsome people, but I was enabled to judge them by a universal standard
+of beauty, and I looked upon them as a product of the same infinite
+Creator who fashioned our mortal bodies with such marvelous adaptation
+of means to end.</p>
+
+<p>One thing is sure, were a person from the Moon to set foot upon our
+planet, he would estimate us to be as far out of harmony with his
+standards of beauty as we should consider him to be out of harmony with
+ours.</p>
+
+<p>As might be expected, these people are very peculiar in their habits.
+There is a small percentage of the population who are bright stars
+intellectually, while others are extremely indolent. When a person wins
+a record for laziness, it is said of him: "He is too lazy to eat his
+air."</p>
+
+<p>The large city to which I had come was indeed a novel sight. Its
+buildings average in height one-third of ours, although they occupy
+nearly as much ground space. They are composed almost totally of
+non-combustible materials.</p>
+
+<p>The window panes are not made of a brittle substance like glass, but
+resemble mica, except that they are more tough and durable. These
+Moonites are wiser than we in roofing their houses. They have discovered
+a mineral composition which in its plastic state is daubed over the
+roof. This, upon hardening, is proof against all conditions of weather
+and never needs replacing.</p>
+
+<p>There are many striking features in their architecture. In general, it
+may be said that they are quite far advanced in constructive ability.
+Some of their larger buildings look like soldiers' forts, others
+resemble immense bee hives, while still others appear like odd-shaped
+synagogues.</p>
+
+<p>We are their superiors in almost every line, especially in our knowledge
+and use of electricity and photography, and also in our manufacturing
+and scientific skill. However, they have decidedly surpassed us in
+imitative and creative art.</p>
+
+<p>Their paintings express so accurately the emotions of the heart that I
+found myself in tears as I saw their masterpieces. For a time I forgot
+that I was on the Moon, so lost was I in elevated reflections all
+suggested by their art creations. How I wished that I could have taken
+some of these specimens with me!</p>
+
+<p>From the Moon our Earth looks like a large wagon-wheel hanging in the
+heavens. It is amusing to learn of the various opinions and
+superstitions that are held regarding this wagon-wheel world. Some of
+the Moonites declare that it is a huge lantern, hung solely for their
+benefit, and scoff at the idea that it might be a world inhabited by
+civilized beings. More intelligent Moonites venture the theory that
+human life could exist on the great wagon-wheel, but declare that this
+is quite improbable, as the whole planet is enveloped by some thick,
+smoky substance in which they believe it would be impossible for human
+life to exist. Some look upon the Earth as the mother of the Moon, and
+regard the Sun as the father. This sex idea runs through most of their
+heathen religion, and there are more who worship the Earth and the Sun
+than there are who worship the God who created these heavenly bodies.</p>
+
+<p>I prolonged my investigations without becoming visible, taking note of
+numberless facts of interest which will ever be a source of pleasure and
+value to me. At length, however, I concluded to take advantage of a
+privilege and power I possessed and, becoming visible, I entered a quiet
+room in the presence of a very distinguished man. He was by far the most
+highly educated person on the Moon.</p>
+
+<p>I was more surprised than he, for I expected that he would be greatly
+agitated at my unaccountable appearance. Imagine my surprise when he sat
+motionless, gazing firmly into my face which to him was out of harmony
+with all ideas of correct form.</p>
+
+<p>I was the first to speak, and although he had manifested outwardly such
+self possession, I soon learned that it was a mere show of stoicism in
+the presence of one whom he thought to be a spirit. In an incredibly
+short time we were on easy speaking terms and I was gaining the object
+of my visit.</p>
+
+<p>Among the many things of interest that I learned from this famous
+character were facts concerning the history of the Moon. According to
+the information he gave me, I figured that human life had existed on the
+Moon thousands of years before its appearance on the Earth.
+Scientifically I could not account for this on any other ground than
+that the Moon, being a much smaller orb, cooled off sufficiently to
+sustain life on its surface long before any form of life could exist on
+our Earth.</p>
+
+<p>The Moonities of the old era were a prosperous and progressive people,
+far outshining their successors who now occupy the sphere. After making
+history for several thousand years, the human race had grown to one
+hundred million in numbers, and civilization had reached a surprising
+degree of perfection.</p>
+
+<p>In those long-ago ages the Moon was a much more fertile garden than now.
+Luxury and refinement were enjoyed by the favored sons of that period,
+and no one dreamed of the horrible fate that was to sweep practically
+the whole race into the regions of death. My intelligent informer used
+excessive language in trying to picture the unequaled catastrophe that
+put an end to the old era.</p>
+
+<p>My interest was unbounded, and with awed breath I continued listening as
+he described the cause of this great and terrible cataclysm.</p>
+
+<p>"It all occurred about five thousand years ago," he said. "The Moon was
+shaken by subterraneous rumblings, followed by fiery ejections, covering
+a period of nearly one and one-half wagon-wheel revolutions. Whole
+cities were ruined, fertile valleys covered and human life was almost
+annihilated."</p>
+
+<p>I knew what my informant meant by "one and one-half wagon-wheel
+revolutions." This would be a period of about forty days and nights of
+earthly time. Do you wonder that my mind flew back to the forty days and
+nights of rain that destroyed, at one time, on our Earth, the whole
+human family, except the few who were saved in the ark?</p>
+
+<p>"What are the evidences of this horrible world-ending?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"They are on every hand. Have you not yet seen the vast craters, the
+mountains of barren cinder, the stumps of immense pillars, partly
+excavated? All this, and very much more, silently unfolds a tale of
+horror that can be faintly pictured only by the imagination. Think of a
+holocaust so terrible that one hundred million human creatures are
+thereby swept into death in the narrow compass of forty days! The
+records that have been brought down to us by the few survivors indicate
+the continual wails of horror rending the sky while the volcanic
+disturbances continued. Thousands and millions ran from place to place
+to find shelter from the storm of fire. At one place the surface would
+open and at another the lava would run. Fate, with a merciless hand,
+was dragging each one into one or another of the inevitable pits."</p>
+
+<p>"How many were saved?" I asked with deepening interest.</p>
+
+<p>"Parts of only eight families aggregating nineteen human beings."</p>
+
+<p>"And how many people are on the Moon now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Almost forty million."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you account for this slow growth?" I asked after I had explained
+that on our globe a much larger number of inhabitants sprang from a
+smaller number than nineteen in a shorter period of time.</p>
+
+<p>This allusion cost me much explanation, and, after I had selfishly
+brushed his rising questions aside, I learned that large companies of
+the Moonites had been swept into death by frequent volcanic outbursts
+all along the line of the centuries.</p>
+
+<p>No one can estimate my interest as I continued the conversation. But
+finally I decided to stroll through certain parts of the city and,
+thinking it advisable to give no notice of my departure, I suddenly
+vanished from his sight. However, before leaving the room, I observed
+that my bewildered auditor conjectured for a long time and reached his
+former conclusion that he had been in touch with an apparition.</p>
+
+<p>Again I resumed my visible form and walked along one of the principal
+streets of the city. What novel sights greeted my eyes on every side!
+One cannot well imagine what excitement I aroused. Citizens who first
+saw me lifted their flabby arms in terror and ran to the city Bizen, a
+place where every inhabitant, under oath, is obliged to carry special
+news before communicating it elsewhere.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="IMG3" id="IMG3" /><img src="images/image-3.jpg" width="600" height="396" alt="Visiting a City on the Moon." title="" />
+<b>Visiting a City on the Moon.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>In a very short time the city Plins, or in our language, city
+authorities, were coming toward me in their costly vehicles. They were
+preceded, however, by what we would call a body guard. Imagine their
+surprise to hear me shout at the top of my voice, which sounded to them
+as thunder would to us: "You need not fear, I will do you no harm!"</p>
+
+<p>My voice had a magical effect on the assembling host of pigmies. They
+looked at me with as much curiosity as I looked at them. I stepped over
+their heads but was careful not to trample on the children who scampered
+at my approach. If one could ship a car load of these children to the
+Earth, they would make excellent dolls, for they range in size from only
+six to ten inches. Finally, I sat on the roof of one of their lower
+buildings to watch the gathering of the multitudes and study their
+curious countenances.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the more educated, seeing that I was peacefully inclined,
+ventured close to my knees and then looked the more intently into my
+face, all of which was agreeable, as it enabled me to get a still closer
+view of their faces.</p>
+
+<p>I saw that the whole city was turning out, and I wondered how the alarm
+could have been given so speedily. Upon inquiry, a fine artist at my
+side tremblingly explained that the Bizen wires had been touched for
+block six. This meant that every house in the city had received notice
+of an unusual occurrence in that section. I resolved to learn more of
+this system and how it was operated without the aid of electricity.</p>
+
+<p>Now I was besieged by a pressing host. At once I commenced to speak in
+Moon dialect. I told them whence I came, pointing to the large
+wagon-wheel that hung in their heavens. After a short discourse, I
+invited questions.</p>
+
+<p>One of their leaders stepped nearer to me and acted as the spokesman of
+the crowd. His language and voice were of excellent quality and although
+visibly agitated, he bore himself with commendable dignity. Let me here
+translate our conversation into English.</p>
+
+<p>"How came you here?" asked he.</p>
+
+<p>"That I cannot explain."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you walk or run?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did neither."</p>
+
+<p>Surrendering this line of inquiry, he went on to ask the following
+questions:</p>
+
+<p>"Are there more creatures than you where you came from?"</p>
+
+<p>"Large cities full of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Are they smaller than you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Their average height equals mine."</p>
+
+<p>"It must be a ponderous world of immense giants beyond the
+comprehension of any inhabitant of our whole globe."</p>
+
+<p>"But just as I appear large to you, you appear unnaturally small to me,"
+I calmly added.</p>
+
+<p>"How came that lump in the middle of your face?"</p>
+
+<p>I knew the questioner referred to my nose. I took a good wholesome
+laugh, and the large concourse of people watched my wrinkling face with
+strange delight. The Moonites express all their emotions by exclamations
+and almost infinite variations of the lower lip in conjunction with
+their three eyes.</p>
+
+<p>I told the spokesman that the lump on my face was called "nose," using
+our pronunciation, and that it grew there by nature and not by accident.
+I also informed him that each person in our world had such a nose, at
+which much merriment ensued. Lips twitched and quivered, as their eyes
+blinked and rolled. It seemed to me like a hideous way to laugh, but no
+doubt my nose seemed just as hideous to them.</p>
+
+<p>Then I explained all about our dense atmosphere, the part that air
+played in our life, and what a fine convenience the nose is during
+eating and speaking. Of course all this was unintelligible to them.</p>
+
+<p>I then busied myself in ascertaining the secret of their signal system.
+I learned, much to my surprise, that with scarcely any knowledge of
+electricity the Moonites had long ago discovered a means of
+communication which is somewhat similar to our wireless telegraphy. From
+central stations messages are transmitted to sensitive metal rods set up
+on each house-top, somewhat like the lightning rods that decorate
+house-tops on my own Earth. I also learned that a very thin atmosphere
+is prevalent on the Moon, and that this rare medium is more suited to
+their wireless telegraphy than our heavier atmosphere would be with its
+different composition.</p>
+
+<p>I soon learned that great excitement was prevailing throughout the
+adjacent villages. Wireless telegraphy carried the news, and from all
+directions throngs were pressing toward the city. Furthermore I saw that
+the noted personage with whom I had spent a quiet season was now making
+his way toward me. Not wishing to hold further conversation with him,
+and desiring to escape the ever-rising tide of curious questioners, I
+once more became invisible and proceeded to study the physical phenomena
+of the Moon.</p>
+
+<p>I now saw that everything bore evidence to the fearful havoc of volcanic
+eruptions that had laid waste so large a portion of the Moon's surface.
+The people live in the remaining fertile belts and patches of land which
+are fortunately scattered in rich profusion over the greater portion of
+the surface, reminding one of productive oases in the deserts of our
+world.</p>
+
+<p>Here and there, in stately museums, are stored the relics of the old
+glorious civilization. At a few of these places I tarried to study the
+achievements of a people who flourished five thousand years ago, at a
+time when the civilization of our world was yet young. What an interest
+lay wrapped up in the time-worn relics! Naturally I thought of Pompeii
+as I was viewing the antique treasures that had been brought to light
+from their old graves of ashes, cinder and lava. In some of these
+specimens I saw glimpses of inventions that have never been reproduced
+on the Moon and never known on our Earth.</p>
+
+<p>Onward I moved to take my last views of the Moon. For ragged and jagged
+cliffs of almost total barrenness, and yawning chasms lined with
+intolerable precipices, the Moon outrivals the Earth. I took a passing
+glimpse of the famous crater-mountains, called by our astronomers
+Copernicus and Theophilus, the former situated in the eastern and the
+latter in the western hemisphere of the Moon. The largest openings of
+our Earth dwindle into insignificance compared with such stupendous
+marvels of natural scenery.</p>
+
+<p>Many similar places I visited, but I spent my last hours on the Moon in
+the presence of that gigantic chasm called Newton, where I was thrilled
+with feelings of sublimity as never before. Outstretched lay the immense
+opening, nearly one hundred and fifty miles long and about seventy miles
+broad. It was fearful to gaze into it, for my eye stretched downward
+mile after mile until it reached the blackness of darkness. It
+frequently happens that a Moonite accidentally falls into this monster
+Newtonian chasm. Nothing more is ever seen or heard of him.</p>
+
+<p>I shuddered as I peered into this gigantic opening whose gaping mouth
+could swallow Pike's Peak so that its highest point would be many
+thousands of feet below the surface. We have nothing on our Earth that
+can compare with this terribly imposing sight, and as I was studying the
+expansive waste I could more readily understand how large numbers of
+human beings could be destroyed by such fabulous quantities of boiling
+lava as were capable of being thrown from this pit. There is no doubt
+that the lava and ashes hurled from this crater alone would send a
+withering blast of death-dealing for many hundreds of miles around.</p>
+
+<p>If you have never been privileged to look upon this ponderous chasm face
+to face, improve your first opportunity to get a glimpse of it through
+as powerful a telescope as possible.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III" />CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h3>A Visit to Mars.</h3>
+
+
+<p>I need not describe the manner of my flight. It is enough to say that,
+to my delight, I reached our neighbor planet called Mars, and at once
+proceeded to study its physical features and its human life.</p>
+
+<p>Everything was vastly different from what I had been long accustomed to
+see and to imagine, and I felt quite assured that I was living in a
+dream. But I knew of no way to convince myself as to my bearings, so I
+concluded to make the best use of my time and opportunities, and leave
+questionings to the future.</p>
+
+<p>As a physical world Mars bears a most striking resemblance to our Earth.
+The length of its year is six hundred and eighty-seven of our days, and
+the length of its day is twenty-four hours and thirty-seven minutes. Its
+diameter is about one-half that of the Earth and its distance from the
+Sun is 142,000,000 miles. Even from our own world we can discern
+through a good telescope the changing colors of the planet, due to the
+recurring seasons, each one of which is almost twice the length of ours.</p>
+
+<p>There is relatively much less water on Mars than is found on our Earth,
+and gravity on its surface is only thirty-eight per cent. of terrestrial
+gravity. Imagine, then, how light everything must be. This may account
+somewhat for the physical proportions of its inhabitants, for they are
+over twice our size, and in appearance resemble us but little. They have
+four arms, two extra ones extending from a point just above the knees.
+The two lower arms act as servants to the two higher. Thus are the four
+used at one time in harmony.</p>
+
+<p>Mars is an older world than ours, and although it receives only one-half
+as much heat from the sun yet it is almost of the same temperature,
+owing to a peculiar condition of the atmosphere which we would call
+"heat retentivity."</p>
+
+<p>Some scientists and philosophers will at once say that such atmospheric
+conditions are contrary to reason and natural law, but they must be
+informed that on Mars there are chemical elements and affinities not
+known in our world. It requires but little change in the elementary
+construction of the atmosphere to render it capable of strong
+heat-retaining properties.</p>
+
+<p>Standing on the surface of this planet, my attention was easily
+attracted by the two frisky moons called Deimos and Phobos, at the small
+distance of 14,600 and 12,500 miles respectively. These two moons are
+constantly flying around the planet, one in about thirty hours and the
+other in seven and one-half hours.</p>
+
+<p>The astronomers of Mars have discovered unmistakable signs of human life
+on the farthest of these two moons. They are hoping to be able some day
+to cover the intervening distance and for the first time see their old
+neighbors face to face.</p>
+
+<p>Before I had traveled over one-half the surface of this planet I was
+thoroughly convinced that it was a rough, jagged world without lofty
+mountain ranges or peaks. The many long and narrow fertile valleys, much
+resembling the canons of our own Earth, absorbed my mind with more than
+passing interest. Looking carefully into one of these canon depressions,
+I saw a class of human beings in a low state of civilization;
+nevertheless, they were expert in agriculture and seemed to labor
+contentedly with a dull, plodding vigor beyond all reason.</p>
+
+<p>According to appearances there seemed to be no social relation or
+connection between the inhabitants of one valley and those of another.
+At first I was greatly puzzled at these peculiar conditions.</p>
+
+<p>Next I gave my attention to the highlands or wide barren ridges between
+the valleys. On these elevations I saw a highly civilized race of people
+living in great splendor. They enjoyed the privilege of traveling from
+one highland to another and of exchanging courtesies. Their interests
+were common, and their joys and sorrows were mutual.</p>
+
+<p>At once I became interested in these extremes of life as exhibited in
+the valleys and on the highlands, and resolved that I would find the
+cause for these differences.</p>
+
+<p>The authentic history of these Marsmen runs back through thousands of
+years. I learned with interest the wonderful past life on this world.</p>
+
+<p>There was once a time when people all mingled together and cultivated
+the valleys. Each one by doing his part made it lighter for all. But
+after many years a few schemers combined and by their inventive genius
+succeeded in erecting vast sliding curtains over the valleys. These
+curtains were supported from the tops of the ridges on each side and, by
+their manipulation, the operators could keep the sunlight from any
+particular part of the valley.</p>
+
+<p>Then these shrewd Marsmen exacted tribute from the valley-toilers,
+saying to them: "Give us a fifth part of your products, and we will give
+you sunlight."</p>
+
+<p>So the toilers gave them tribute willingly, knowing that they could not
+live without sunlight. Then it came to pass that these toilers were
+burdened by reason of their taxes and they prayed to the rich that they
+might have sunlight at a lower price, but the rich replied:</p>
+
+<p>"We cannot give you sunlight for less because it costs us much to keep
+in repair our immense curtain systems across the valley." So the poor
+toilers labored more and slept less, while the few rich on the
+elevations built unto themselves more spacious homes and lived in
+greater luxury all their days.</p>
+
+<p>In process of time some of the shrewdest highlanders devised an
+attachment to the curtain system by which the rainfall could also be
+distributed at the will of the operators. Then the rich Marsmen on the
+elevations said to the toilers: "Give us one-fifth more of your
+products, and we will give you your share of the rainfall."</p>
+
+<p>The poor laborers had no alternative; so they labored still more
+diligently to pay their taxes for light and rain, and the burden became
+so heavy that they could no longer bear it. So they sent up a petition
+praying for sunlight and rain for a one-fifth instead of a two-fifths
+tribute. The rich refused to listen to this prayer, whereat the toilers
+refused to comply with these intolerable demands.</p>
+
+<p>Then did the rich magnates of the elevations draw their curtains to
+keep both sunshine and rain from the valley. The laborers consumed all
+they had until, in desperation, they asked again for sunlight and rain,
+but the rich refused to give either unless the toilers would promise to
+give a two-fifths tribute; to do this the toilers at length agreed. Then
+the curtains were withdrawn, the sunlight once more kissed the valley,
+the rain again fell upon the fields, and some of the poor, ignorant
+people devoutly thanked their God for these gifts.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="IMG4" id="IMG4" /><img src="images/image-4.jpg" width="600" height="395" alt="Monopolizing Light and Rain on Mars." title="" />
+<b>Monopolizing Light and Rain on Mars.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>It occurred later that one of the many toilers, whom his Creator had
+endowed with unusual wisdom, became the leader of the masses in
+struggling for their rights. He traveled the whole length of the valley
+and advocated that the people should unite, march to the summit of the
+hill, destroy the fastenings that held these curtains and, as the
+coverings would fall, destroy them with fire. This leader declared that
+they were entitled to sunlight and rain without paying tribute to man.
+Gradually the workers were won to his views. The rich, seeing that their
+investments were threatened, hired a few brilliant orators and sent
+them to the people to persuade them not to give heed to a man of one
+idea. These orators argued that it would be a great crime to destroy the
+property of others, and that their only way of securing happiness was to
+toil on with patience and keep looking for brighter days. The people
+listened to the specious sophistries and thus pushed aside their
+redeemer, putting off forever the day of their deliverance.</p>
+
+<p>Similar troubles continued to arise in the valley, but the rich always
+succeeded in quieting the people before they rose to determined action.</p>
+
+<p>Then the rich decided to put an end to these agitations among the
+toilers. Accordingly they cut off all communication from valley to
+valley, either by epistle or person, and refused longer to permit any
+poor toiler, or his children, to pursue any study whatever. By this
+method, in the course of a few hundred years, the valley dwellers lapsed
+into ignorant slaves, not knowing, except by tradition, that there were
+other people in other parts of Mars. Thus the rich continued to
+flourish on all the highlands, for they had extended this same policy
+until the toilers of the whole planet were practically galley slaves,
+each consigned to his own narrow canon.</p>
+
+<p>After witnessing the wide extent of this slavery system, I appeared in
+visible form to a rich dignitary on one of the most refined highlands.</p>
+
+<p>He was alone and, upon raising his eyes and seeing me before him, he was
+greatly amazed. To see a little man with a hairy face and with the kind
+of clothing I wore, was all too odd for him to take in at once. He acted
+as if I were some unheard-of animal, but when I addressed him in his own
+tongue and manifested a becomingly meek disposition, he accepted me as a
+deformed creature afflicted with a mild form of lunacy. Then he
+proceeded to examine my clothing and especially my knees, trying to
+solve by what freak of nature I was cursed since I had no lower arms
+such as he had. My small face, smooth forehead, and the short straight
+hair on my head aroused in him no little wonder and merriment, so that,
+all in all, I was the oddest freak he had ever seen. He soon showed by
+his manner how thankful he was that gracious nature had formed him so
+much more kindly than me.</p>
+
+<p>His questions soon poured out upon me and I answered as briefly and
+intelligently as I could. He pressed me so hard as to the place of my
+birth that I finally informed him that I came from another world,
+whereat he was assured of my insanity and proceeded to fasten me by
+force until he might summon certain of his friends. Knowing that all the
+people of Mars could do me no ultimate harm and wishing to see what
+might be their intentions, I offered very feeble resistance to his
+course.</p>
+
+<p>In a very short time there was grouped around me a curious set of
+people, all of whom seemed to me so horribly ugly that I felt well
+satisfied that I had been born on the Earth. Among the company were some
+eminent scholars who did no more than peer at one another and walk about
+me, while they were waiting for some learned professors to arrive from a
+distance. A long, tedious period ensued ere the company of judges or
+examiners were gathered from several adjoining highlands.</p>
+
+<p>They took me into a large room where followed an indescribable
+examination during which I purposely remained silent.</p>
+
+<p>The button and button holes of my clothing attracted as much attention
+as my unnaturally shaped head. My collar and necktie were conundrums.
+Not one of the learned scholars was able to advance a theory as to the
+probable use of such a stiff piece under my head. I could not conceal my
+smiles as I heard the flying theories as to the use of my cuffs. One
+specialist decided that inasmuch as I had only two arms, I wore these to
+make them appear larger. This was accepted as the most plausible
+explanation.</p>
+
+<p>Several times they urged me to speak. The man to whom I had first
+appeared had told them that I was expert in their language. But I would
+not utter a word, being anxious to learn all I could by listening to
+their conjectures.</p>
+
+<p>Some of my examiners were sure I belonged to a species of their animal
+creation, who, in some unaccountable manner, had received the gift of
+intelligence. But this opinion did not gain ground, as no one could
+account for the manner of my clothing and especially for my pocket knife
+and other accompaniments. No one believed that I came from another
+world, and yet no one could see how or where I had originated on Mars.</p>
+
+<p>Finally one of the company struck upon a popular theory. He argued that
+I belonged to a tribe of creatures that had developed far away in one of
+their almost unending forests, and that I was the first of my kind that
+had ever ventured so far from home.</p>
+
+<p>"But how did he learn our language?" queried one.</p>
+
+<p>"Any intelligent creature would by nature alone come to our language,"
+was the conceited explanation of another.</p>
+
+<p>Another gave a better theory which was at length accepted. He said that
+no doubt I belonged to a company that had emigrated long, long ago from
+one of the valleys.</p>
+
+<p>After all their pains I satisfied their ruling desire by speaking. They
+knew not what to say as I gave them a general description of the world
+from which I came.</p>
+
+<p>Purposely I used their most cultured forms of expression. At once I rose
+to a high level in their estimation and they gradually accepted my words
+as true. With absorbing interest they listened to every syllable and,
+when I paused, their questions fell upon me in wild profusion. On my
+account the schools were abandoned, all the leading teachers of five
+elevations became my astonished auditors, and after every period of
+sleep I was confronted by still other classes of specialists, some from
+more distant elevations.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, feigning ignorance, I asked where they obtained their
+sustenance, as I had not seen one field in cultivation. They told me the
+whole history of the toilers in the valley as already recounted, and how
+the curtain magnates received their tributes which were sufficient to
+feed all the people of the elevations.</p>
+
+<p>"What right," I asked, "has any one to form a monopoly on sunlight or
+rain which are free bounties from above?"</p>
+
+<p>"There can be nothing wrong about that," came the positive answer. "Any
+man who was wise enough to think of such a splendid system of
+valley-covers surely deserves all the benefit that can be secured from
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"How did you succeed in getting the people to submit to such a system?"</p>
+
+<p>"It all came by force. At first they were unwilling enough, but we
+withdrew their education and kept them isolated. With ignorance you can
+conquer any people. Now they are our perfect servants, and in a short
+time we need not use the curtains any more. A few masters can control
+the whole valley. All we need to give them will be enough to eat, and
+the remainder of their products we can send to the elevations."</p>
+
+<p>I was struck with horror at this revolting scheme, and expressed myself
+in strong terms. I thought of the conditions of our world and felt
+thankful that it had not gone so far that the laboring classes were
+galley slaves to the rich; and I breathed my prayer that it might never
+be so.</p>
+
+<p>My investigations on this planet were long extended. The educated
+people gave me many new ideas, although they are ignorant of many
+advantages which we enjoy. Their means of transportation are miserable
+compared with ours, and when I was explaining to the Marsmen our methods
+of travel they were surprised beyond measure. However their knowledge of
+nature and forms of animal life is far superior to ours. There I solved
+some of the complex questions of Biology which had long puzzled my mind
+during my stay on the Earth.</p>
+
+<p>In their religion they worship the Source of Life, and look upon the Sun
+as the place to which the spirit goes at death. In brief, the Sun is
+their Heaven. They believe that the Sun's heat will be no barrier to the
+spirit's complete happiness when liberated from the body. Phonetically
+pronounced, they call the Sun Then-ka.</p>
+
+<p>I was indeed surprised at the simplicity of their devotions to their
+unseen God. Even the untutored toilers of the valleys talk to the Source
+of Life and are constantly looking forward to the time when their hard
+lot will be over that they may enter the Then-ka life. I could not help
+but think that their chances of Heaven were better than those of the
+highland caste; but I will not judge lest I might err. Who can
+understand the universal plans of Jehovah?</p>
+
+<p>Before I left the Marsmen I informed them that certain enthusiasts of my
+world had been signaling to them for some time, and urged them to
+improve their astronomical apparatus so that they might be able to
+discern these signals and reply to them.</p>
+
+<p>On account of my thoughtlessness I made an error, for I failed, while I
+was yet on Mars, to arrange a code of signals; hence I fear that there
+will be considerable experimenting before we can hope to establish
+communication with our neighbor world.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV" />CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h3>A Glimpse of Jupiter.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The next world I visited was Jupiter, the greatest orb in the solar
+system, almost fourteen hundred times as large as our Earth. I found it
+whirling on its axis so rapidly that it makes an entire revolution in
+about ten hours of our time.</p>
+
+<p>This voluminous sphere is in great contrast to both the Moon and Mars.
+Its physical constituency resembles a liquid more than a solid, and it
+is quite hot but not luminous. It has cooled sufficiently to admit human
+forms, although certain parts of the giant planet are void of all life,
+owing to the more intense heat in those sections.</p>
+
+<p>The atmosphere is charged with thick clouds, never at rest and
+continually forming into immense scrolls close to the surface of the
+planet.</p>
+
+<p>The human life of Jupiter is found in certain belts where the crust of
+the planet has been hardened for several thousand years. The people have
+risen from rude, primitive conditions to a state of splendid
+civilization. In size they are colossal giants, averaging twenty-five
+feet in height. Their two powerful arms extend from what we would call
+the hips, and no one would imagine with what facility these giants use
+them. After extended observation, I was almost tempted to wonder why our
+arms were placed so high on the body. These Jupiterites are more
+handsome than the people on the Moon or Mars, and their faces shine with
+a superior intelligence. Instead of hair on the head, they have
+something unknown to our world, quite similar in appearance to wool.</p>
+
+<p>Their two eyes blaze like balls of fire, making one of the giants appear
+like a fiersome though not repulsive monster. The most unusual feature
+about the face is the peculiarity of the chin and forehead. Each is
+covered with convolutions of an insensible, rubber-like membrane.</p>
+
+<p>The people of Jupiter excel in mechanical skill. They build houses, but
+not by long, tedious days of painstaking labor. Such things as plaster
+and paint are unknown. A Jupiterite can purchase, from one of the
+mammoth structural factories, house sides, house ends, house floors or
+partitions, after any general design he wishes, and have them trimmed in
+any style his fancy suggests. The materials used are non-combustible and
+water-proof, and will wear indefinitely.</p>
+
+<p>These houses can be put together in a few days and the trimmings
+adjusted in less than two weeks, unless the structure is very elaborate.
+Nearly all of their house furniture is also non-combustible, and no one
+has ever conceived the idea of forming a fire insurance company, simply
+because there is no need for one.</p>
+
+<p>As the people are so much larger than we, so are all things relatively
+larger than we see them in our world. Wagons and carriages and cars
+appear as if they were made for mastodons.</p>
+
+<p>I saw one of their largest bridges spanning a molten lake. Aside of it
+the East River bridge would be a dwarf, either in height or length. It
+is certainly thrilling to step into a world where all things are so
+gigantic. At times a feeling of insignificance crept over me, but I took
+courage when I thought that a man's greatness consists in his mental
+powers and not in his physical bulk, for it is true that the fifty
+ounces of brain in the skull of a Newton have accomplished more marvels
+than the ten pounds of brain-matter found in the most cultured
+Jupiterite.</p>
+
+<p>We must give the people of Jupiter credit for exercising a large amount
+of common sense. In many ways they are more practical than we, and this
+is quite as noticeable in their language as in any other respect. They
+have one simple language for the whole globe and in its use they are all
+agreed. Their vocabulary is small because they have not yet branched out
+into the infinite varieties of manufacture and invention.</p>
+
+<p>Their words have a marvelous correspondence with the thought or the
+action expressed, the manner of emphasizing syllables going a great
+distance toward expressing the shade of emotion desired.</p>
+
+<p>I admired especially one thing on this bulky planet. They have but one
+authority for language. Hence there is no Century, Webster, Worcester or
+Standard, each rivaling the others for supremacy, to confuse the honest
+student with diverse spellings and pronunciations.</p>
+
+<p>The words of the language of Jupiter are all embodied in one unique
+dictionary which is revised at intervals by a board of official
+educators; to this board all suggestions for inserting new words and
+changing the classification of old ones must be given for their
+consideration.</p>
+
+<p>This dictionary is printed by the government, and a copy of it is
+furnished free to all public places and to each private family. When a
+revision is made, a copy of all the changes is furnished to each
+dictionary holder. The authority of this dictionary is final, and no one
+is permitted to publish a conflicting work.</p>
+
+<p>The Jupiterites have displayed their highest genius in their
+astronomical advancements. They know all about the Solar System, and
+have made discoveries inside of Neptune's orbit which our astronomers
+have never observed. I was thrilled with delight when I saw their
+telescopes with the marvelous lenses that opened the locked doors of the
+Milky Way. No wonder the astronomers of Jupiter have a more
+comprehensive view of the universe than we have. Their lenses are so
+powerful that they have seen the outlines of our rugged mountains, and
+have discovered on our world unmistakable signs of human life. During my
+visit thither the experts were working on a much larger lens, and it is
+claimed that when this is finished human forms can be discerned on the
+Earth and can be seen with more accuracy on Mars.</p>
+
+<p>The five moons that revolve around Jupiter have been studied with marked
+interest. Two of these moons have displayed definite signs of human
+life. It is promised also that the coming lens will unlock the doors of
+the several moons and permit the astronomers of Jupiter to pry into the
+secrets of their celestial neighbors.</p>
+
+<p>During the past one thousand years, the Jupiterites have made
+numberless attempts to establish communication between these moons and
+their planet, but all their efforts have failed. Either the Moonites are
+too stupid, or the Jupiterites are not expert enough in throwing out
+signals or in building air ships.</p>
+
+<p>For no one thing more than another did I envy the astronomers of Jupiter
+than for their marvelous magnifying lenses. I knew that if we had such
+lenses, or the material to make them, we could watch with ease the
+inhabitants of the Moon or of Mars, and we could study the intelligent
+life on Mercury and Venus, to say nothing of the great advantages we
+should have in observing comets and all the numberless starry systems
+scattered throughout illimitable space.</p>
+
+<p>The religious life of Jupiter proved to be intensely interesting to me.
+They have a sacred book which corresponds to our Bible, and it has
+always remained in its original form because there is but one language.</p>
+
+<p>Since I left my own world I had not felt so kindred a touch in spirit as
+when I invisibly entered one of their great temples of worship, as we
+might call it. No vocal music was there, but the mute beckoning of
+several thousand arms, as if to implore the favor of the great Inzoork
+or Creator, was impressively eloquent to me.</p>
+
+<p>I was thrilled with joy as I learned more of their religion. I found
+that their love and service were akin to those of our planet, and that
+these same bonds unite them one to another. My conceptions were
+enlarging as I saw the family of God enlarging, and I felt that although
+I was unlike them in the physical, yet I was their brother in spirit,
+and that we all have one Father.</p>
+
+<p>Religious liberty was enjoyed until a few centuries ago when certain
+restrictions were formulated. It was seen that some, in exercising their
+liberty, proved to be a curse to the state, and consequently a sharp
+battle ensued against the liberal element.</p>
+
+<p>The Church won the conflict and now the profession of atheism is not
+allowed. If it can be shown that any sane person takes such a position,
+he is given a certain period to recant. If recantation is not
+forthcoming, he is placed in the public work-house until he
+acknowledges the existence of Deity. Atheists are scarce under this
+severe ruling.</p>
+
+<p>You may well know how I was startled to see such summary action taken in
+regard to unbelievers. At first I prided myself that I belonged to a
+world of free thought and free speech, but when I saw the magnetic
+effect of these Jupiter regulations I was in doubt as to the superiority
+of our religious and irreligious liberties.</p>
+
+<p>The soil of Jupiter yields abundantly. The animals are all large and of
+species unknown to us. They have animals that resemble our elephant and
+ox; these they use for food. Common birds, as large as geese or turkeys,
+flourish in the extensive forests and furnish about one-third of the
+food for the giants.</p>
+
+<p>The vegetation is after the order of our world, except that the curse of
+weeds and thistles is only one-fourth as great. But the people of
+Jupiter have learned more than we of the use of these weeds, and certain
+of them are cultivated to a wide extent.</p>
+
+<p>I spent a long time on the planet. I saw the fiery lakes that are fed by
+subterraneous streams of lava, and the geysers of blue flame darting
+their immense tongues high in the air.</p>
+
+<p>As near as fifty miles to these fiery centers can be seen gardens of
+vegetation and fields under cultivation. I yielded at last to a desire
+that prompted me to make a personal appearance. So I stopped on a
+thoroughfare and occupied a rustic seat at the roadside. I was dressed
+in my earthly costume, and sat composedly awaiting developments.</p>
+
+<p>The first living creature that observed my presence was a passing
+quadruped. It was larger than a wild goat, and was a small specimen
+after its kind. For want of a better name I will call it a "dog."</p>
+
+<p>As soon as I was spied by this animal he set up a hideous howl and ran
+at full speed. Knowing my own homeliness, I had all charity for the
+animal and did not censure him for being so terribly frightened at my
+appearance.</p>
+
+<p>Soon a full grown giant came along. He chanced to be a learned professor
+out for an evening walk, as we would say. He seemed to be in deep
+meditation and did not notice me until he was near my side. Then he
+stood breathless, while a feeling of fear and surprise evidently
+possessed him. I sat motionless, looking up into his eyes, and saw the
+convolutions on his forehead and chin quivering quite perceptibly. He
+evidently judged me to be some undeveloped species of Mon-go-din, an
+animal of Jupiter bearing faint resemblance to our man-ape. To my
+surprise, he suddenly grasped me and tightly held me fast in his
+gigantic arms. I made no effort to free myself.</p>
+
+<p>His surprise was only intensified at my resignation. He expected a
+struggle, but I neither made an outcry nor resisted capture. Like an
+infant I lay in his arms, while he passed quick glances all over me. He
+was baffled beyond all measure, and hurried away toward the great
+college near by. Upon reaching the museum department, I was placed in a
+strong cage and the doors were doubly secured.</p>
+
+<p>My captor ran from my presence and, in a few moments, returned with two
+other professors. They peered into the cage in painful astonishment,
+while I contented myself by taking my watch apart and occasionally
+glancing at my select audience.</p>
+
+<p>Then commenced the jibbering consultation, all of which I well
+understood. My captor related the full circumstances in connection with
+his walk in the grove and the manner in which he captured me. He dwelt
+particularly on the indifference I manifested in all his dealings with
+me.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a baby Mon-go-din," suggested the one professor, while the other
+advanced the theory that I was an abnormal child of some Jupiterite.</p>
+
+<p>My watch excited their curiosity. One reached his hand cautiously
+through the bars and evinced by his actions what he wanted. I looked up
+into his eyes and spoke my first words.</p>
+
+<p>"Patience, please, till I put the watch together, and you shall have
+it."</p>
+
+<p>Not only did his arms fly away from the cage, but his whole body fell
+prostrate to the floor, whether from fright or surprise, I knew not. His
+two companions were also in a sorry plight. I pretended not to notice
+their consternation, and kept myself busy in placing the parts of my
+watch together.</p>
+
+<p>After a while I was addressed by a trembling questioner: "Where is your
+home, my child?" I did not lift my eyes, but completed my little
+self-appointed task, and at once raised the watch in fulfillment of my
+promise.</p>
+
+<p>The timid professor ventured to accept it and, as he received it from my
+hand, he again asked: "Where is your home?"</p>
+
+<p>"Farther away than the circumference of your world," I distinctly
+answered.</p>
+
+<p>At this time the three agreed that I was an insane child, born out of
+time, and that I satisfied my propensities by gathering to myself such
+idiotic things as my watch and garments, including my hat and shoes.</p>
+
+<p>A quiet consultation followed, after which one of the professors retired
+from the room and soon returned with certain morsels of food. Upon
+handing them to me, I at once remarked: "Keep these morsels for
+yourself; I have better food to eat, of which you know nothing."</p>
+
+<p>The other two professors had by this time observed that my watch was a
+marvelous piece of mechanism beyond their most delicate accomplishments,
+and they announced the fact to their other companion who again looked at
+me in breathless surprise. "Where did you get this Fot-sil?" (or
+plaything), he queried in one breath.</p>
+
+<p>"Farther away than the circumference of your world," was my evasive and,
+to them, unsatisfactory reply.</p>
+
+<p>"Won't you tell us, child, how far away that is?" asked another with
+subdued impatience.</p>
+
+<p>"Millions of miles." (Of course I spoke in terms of their linear
+measurements).</p>
+
+<p>"How many millions?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes five hundred and sometimes six hundred millions."</p>
+
+<p>Without giving them a chance for asking me another question I offered to
+let them see my home if they would permit me to use the most powerful
+telescope in their observatory.</p>
+
+<p>My listeners were indeed amazed and were about to pour upon me a volley
+of interrogations. I assured them that I would answer no more questions
+until I knew whether my request would be granted.</p>
+
+<p>This necessitated a consultation with the chief astronomer who, upon
+learning of my peculiar request and of my unnatural formation, hastened
+to the museum to see the monstrosity.</p>
+
+<p>I knew from what I had previously learned that this gentleman was the
+greatest living astronomer on Jupiter. He peered at me in the cage and
+was dumfounded. He exchanged a few sentences with the professor and
+again turned to me:</p>
+
+<p>"At what time do you want the telescope?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Immediately."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall have it, just to satisfy our curiosity," he said as he
+hastened from the room.</p>
+
+<p>I heard the professor caution him strictly to tell no one of my
+presence, so as to avoid a rush from the student ranks.</p>
+
+<p>In less than an hour I stood at the side of the largest telescope in our
+Solar System, watching the deepening shadows of night as they fell upon
+Jupiter.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 387px;">
+<a name="IMG5" id="IMG5" /><img src="images/image-5.jpg" width="387" height="600" alt="Viewing Our Earth from Jupiter." title="" />
+<b>Viewing Our Earth from Jupiter.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>I spent another hour examining the ponderous machinery that was
+required to swing this mammoth instrument and to adjust it when scanning
+the heavens.</p>
+
+<p>By this time my four companions were convinced that I was not an idiot,
+and I could see by their strange manner that they were regarding me as a
+spirit.</p>
+
+<p>I gave my directions to the astronomer, and beheld the cylinder,
+two-hundred feet in length and twenty feet in diameter, swing around
+until it pointed toward a little flickering light that shone like a
+distant star.</p>
+
+<p>I looked into the eye-piece, managed to get the tube pointed accurately,
+and then requested the astronomer to focus the lenses so as to bear upon
+the planetary light in range.</p>
+
+<p>He knew at once the planet I had singled out. He called it Zo-ide. After
+the focusing was completed, I looked and, behold, I could readily
+discern many of the physical features of my own world.</p>
+
+<p>"That is my homeland," I cried triumphantly. "I live on Zo-ide, or
+Earth, as we call it."</p>
+
+<p>Of course my listeners were incredulous, but I proceeded to explain to
+them as I looked through the telescope:</p>
+
+<p>"That dark ridge to the left is called 'the Rocky and Andes Mountain
+Systems'. The shining belt on the central portion is the 'Mississippi
+River'. The rough ridge to the right is 'the Allegheny System' of
+mountains." Then I indicated the location of our larger cities. As I
+pointed to New York, I saw a mere speck moving. I was convinced that it
+was one of our large steamships, and as I so explained the astronomer
+looked at me with absorbing interest.</p>
+
+<p>He informed me that he had often seen the moving of the spots, and
+thought they were some cloud formations peculiar to our world. But I
+insisted on the steamship explanation and proceeded to describe an ocean
+liner, for these Jupiterites are not familiar with oceans of cold water
+on which float numerous craft.</p>
+
+<p>I was then a royal guest, and passed a most felicitous night with these
+four celebrities. We talked of the more powerful telescope that the
+government of Jupiter was manufacturing, and of the still greater views
+it promised to reveal.</p>
+
+<p>Then I informed them of our system of science. They were astonished at
+the great civilization extant on Zo-ide, or our Earth.</p>
+
+<p>I told them that a subtile power lay dormant in the atoms and molecules
+of matter, which could be released and utilized, and that we in our
+world called it "electricity."</p>
+
+<p>During the night I learned that the convolutions on the chin and
+forehead of a Jupiterite served the purpose of a new sense. By the aid
+of these convolutions any person of Jupiter can tell in daylight or
+darkness the nature of any surrounding substance, whether it be hard or
+soft, combustible or non-combustible, good for food or not. I confess
+that I was unable to grasp the idea intelligently. So the people on the
+Moon had the same difficulty in understanding the use of my nose.</p>
+
+<p>Before morning dawned I informed my appreciative quartette that I would
+see them no more, that I had paused at Jupiter station long enough, and
+that I must be off on my vast excursion trip.</p>
+
+<p>They earnestly entreated me to remain so that the college students and
+representative persons could get a glimpse of me; but I refused all
+their entreaties. When they found that I had power to leave them
+instantly, they besought me to remain for a few last words.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we not see you again?" affectingly asked the astronomer.</p>
+
+<p>I told them that I expected to spend eternity in the kingdom of our God
+who made all the stars and worlds, and holds each in its respective
+place. "If you are pure in heart to Him," I continued, "there can be no
+doubt but that we shall see one another again in that happy celestial
+center where our eyes will be our telescopes, where our pure hearts will
+assent to the Fatherhood of God, and where our souls will be quickened
+at the universal fountain of Love."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V" />CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h3>Beautiful Saturn.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A delightfully busy world next met my gaze. Saturn, supreme in love,
+with its mysterious rings and its eight moons, now held my attention and
+won my admiration.</p>
+
+<p>This world is almost as large as Jupiter, and its soil is more fertile.
+The inhabitants resemble us in physical appearance, except that they are
+twice our size.</p>
+
+<p>Like Jupiter, it is enveloped in thick semi-liquid clouds which are
+never at rest. This changing atmosphere causes continual friction of
+particles, and this serves to produce sufficient heat to counteract the
+frigid blasts that would otherwise freeze out the whole planet. These
+atmospheric conditions attracted my attention to a great degree. I
+estimated as best I could, and ascertained that Saturn receives as much
+heat from this peculiar atmosphere as our Earth receives from the Sun.</p>
+
+<p>As I found it on Jupiter, so I found it here. The human eye is so
+constructed that it seems to have more than an X-ray power, for it can
+look through this atmosphere as readily as we can peer through ours.</p>
+
+<p>The air of Saturn, being so thick, contains much natural nourishment,
+and the inhabitants are sustained largely by breathing. This reminded me
+of the manner in which our fish flourish in the waters of our globe.</p>
+
+<p>Marvelous indeed are the possibilities of life. I now had before me new
+problems to solve, for natural laws have but a limited expression in our
+own world. Here science puts on new garments, but they are all cut in
+harmony with universal laws.</p>
+
+<p>Woman is the ruling genius of this planet. Being untrammeled for a few
+thousand years, she has attained a higher glory than her sex has reached
+in any world of our Solar System.</p>
+
+<p>As you scan the honor rolls of Saturn, reading the list of the eminent
+leaders in science, art and philosophy, you will readily observe that
+woman has forged to the front. She also sits upon the principal thrones
+of temporal power.</p>
+
+<p>Woman's beauty on Saturn is surpassing. It reaches a higher degree of
+perfection than any of the myriad types of beauty on this enchanting
+world. When I first opened my eyes on these scenes, I imagined that I
+had reached Heaven, but, to my chagrin, I soon found the black marks of
+sin that stain the whole planet.</p>
+
+<p>The illustrious inventors of Saturn, living and dead, make a long list,
+which is headed by the name of Veorda, a woman of marvelous intellect.
+She looked into the mysteries of nature with a shrewd, wizard eye, but,
+unfortunately, lost her life early in a bold experiment with explosives.
+However, before she reached her much-lamented end, she had won enough
+honor to outshine all inventors in the whole history of Saturn.</p>
+
+<p>She was the sole inventor of all explosives, and she had learned how to
+operate them without making any noise or smoke. This proved a valuable
+aid to factories and quarries, and particularly in the handling of fire
+arms, of which Saturn has a very strange collection.</p>
+
+<p>Before Veorda was born the flying machine had been invented and used.
+But aerial travel was soon abandoned owing to some terrible accidents
+that had occurred. During the earlier part of her career Veorda labored
+assiduously until she overcame a few difficulties and thereby perfected
+the flying machine.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 406px;">
+<a name="IMG6" id="IMG6" /><img src="images/image-6.jpg" width="406" height="600" alt="An Air Ship on Saturn." title="" />
+<b>An Air Ship on Saturn.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>It was a day of international rejoicing when her perfected machine
+sailed over the governments of Saturn. The invention stood every test
+and at once air traffic was resumed and maintained. When this woman died
+the governments erected to her memory the finest and costliest monument
+that now stands on the whole world of Saturn. Of course, I went to see
+it. As I stood studying the poetry of the pillars, I looked overhead and
+saw one of the immense aerial ships carrying a pleasure party to a
+distant point. I cannot describe my feelings as I lingered in the
+presence of the sleeping dust and saw the imperishable influence of her
+thoughts still working for her, in a carnal sense, "a more exceeding
+and eternal weight of glory."</p>
+
+<p>Yet with all this homage paid to Veorda, I cannot believe that she is
+more illustrious than the present living wizard of our world, the
+notable Edison.</p>
+
+<p>Veorda lived and died a devoted worshipper of "The Great Influence," or
+God, and it is delightful to think that we shall associate with such
+great minds in our eternal abode in that Broader Life where the pure of
+all spheres gather. Will I do wrong if I quote that sublime beatitude,
+making it applicable to all worlds? "Blessed are the pure in heart, for
+they shall see God."</p>
+
+<p>The written language of Saturn resembles the Chinese character language,
+only it is much more smooth and more complete.</p>
+
+<p>The Shakespeare of that planet is a woman called Ziek-dod who has been
+dead twelve hundred years. Her writings have been quoted and esteemed as
+masterpieces all through these ages. Her style is singular, resembling
+the proverbs of Solomon, with a little more ornament in the language.</p>
+
+<p>As to the subject matter, her epigrammatic sentences are grouped and
+classified with an accuracy that is both pleasing and popular. At
+intervals the reader is treated with a sprinkling of alliterative
+sentences.</p>
+
+<p>Ziek-dod shines as an eternal star among the great names of her world.
+Like Veorda, she was pure-hearted and possessed fine moral and spiritual
+qualities. She passed out into that Broader Life where language is
+sweeter and thoughts are more holy.</p>
+
+<p>In music I noticed the most radical departures. The popular home
+instrument is larger than our organ and has nearly one hundred keys
+arranged somewhat like the keyboard of a typewriter.</p>
+
+<p>These keys and their combinations are capable of rendering sounds to
+correspond with every syllable found in their words. A proper
+familiarity with these sounds is a part of every child's training on
+Saturn.</p>
+
+<p>When one plays on this instrument every sound struck on the keys
+represents a certain vowel-consonant sound. Thus the listener hears the
+sounds more distinctly than we hear the words of a phonograph.</p>
+
+<p>Under such conditions a musician is capable of interpreting his exact
+feelings when manipulating the keys. He talks to his listeners with
+organ sounds. The great poet musicians can breathe out their
+inspirations in rapturous melodies. On special occasions famous
+musicians are employed to render original selections. Addresses and
+lectures are also given in this manner with very pleasing results.</p>
+
+<p>The Saturnites know nothing of the Telephone, Telegraph, or Phonograph.
+But for carrying messages they have a signal system by which
+intelligence is flashed from one point to another with great rapidity.</p>
+
+<p>Saturn has eight moons and is surrounded with the rings which have made
+it famous from the time the planet was first seen through the telescope.
+These rings and moons are inhabited by a type of human beings altogether
+different from those that live on the planet, and are distinctly visible
+to the dwellers of Saturn by means of powerful telescopes.</p>
+
+<p>The human beings on the rings are not able to watch their neighbors in
+space, having no instruments to carry their vision beyond the
+boundaries of their own peculiar abodes.</p>
+
+<p>The most picturesque sight of all the Solar System is seen as you stand
+on Saturn, and watch the rings and the eight moons chasing one another
+in the heavens above you.</p>
+
+<p>The inhabitants of this beautiful world believe that the soul of each
+God-adorer at death passes out into the spirit life on the rings where
+it will continue in a blissful existence until the final judgment.</p>
+
+<p>The religious life of Saturn is officially controlled by men. There are
+many creeds, each with its own devoted followers. The leading church of
+this world was not organized until seven thousand years after religious
+life took a distinctive form. Then a man named Trique, who was a shrewd
+student of the times, after a careful study of the weaknesses found in
+existing religious bodies, and after amassing enormous wealth in
+business, founded a new church on a neat, practical business plan which
+may thus be briefly described in terms and figures of our own language.</p>
+
+<p>Trique had a fortune of two hundred millions which, by investment,
+netted him twenty millions annually. These net earnings he used to
+establish his new denomination. He commenced operations simultaneously
+at the capitol of each of the four governments of Saturn, and at each
+place built two magnificent churches, costing one million dollars
+apiece. It took over three years of our time to build these eight
+churches. Before one year had expired he had started fifty other
+churches in the centers of Saturn's population. These churches averaged
+in cost three hundred thousand dollars each. Thus the plan continued,
+ever starting new structures until all Saturn was decorated with the
+churches of Trique, even village edifices costing from ten to
+twenty-five thousand dollars. So much for the mere outward part of the
+church which anybody might create if he had recourse to such enormous
+wealth.</p>
+
+<p>Before Trique commenced any one of his buildings, he canvassed the whole
+community for charter members of his church. These were composed of two
+classes, spiritual and connected. This canvassing was done by the
+finest scholars that Trique could employ. Each one was supposed to be
+the pastor of the community he canvassed. The conditions of the charter
+membership were easy to meet. All that was required for connected
+membership was a good moral life and a lip confession of the faith.</p>
+
+<p>On account of the superior advantages offered by the Trique church it
+grew steadily from the beginning. I will here append a few
+characteristics of the organization:</p>
+
+<p>1. The church takes care of all its members during sickness, furnishing
+a physician and all necessary medicines free of charge. The church owns
+drug stores and graduates its own physicians.</p>
+
+<p>2. The church has its own salaried undertakers, and defrays all funeral
+expenses.</p>
+
+<p>3. The church supplies a moral and spiritual education to all the
+children of its members. This school does a work similar to our
+Sunday-school, only it is held daily and is under a trained corps of
+paid teachers.</p>
+
+<p>For all these advantages each member is required to give to the church
+one-eleventh of his earnings and to attend the services of the church
+and co-operate with the pastor in the advancement of all spiritual work.</p>
+
+<p>The church keeps a perpetual record of the attendance and the work done
+by each member.</p>
+
+<p>It required a man of large business capacity to launch such a church
+with its radically new principles. But Trique's immense wealth was a
+powerful force when utilized in this manner. He made every church a
+strong business center commanding the respect of the whole community.
+Discipline was rigidly enforced. No member cared to be expelled from
+such a church. It meant a going out from under a warm cover at the
+approach of winter.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately, Trique was a clean, spiritual man and strongly urged a
+spiritual ministry and membership.</p>
+
+<p>It can be seen why this church grew so rapidly. In fifty years it became
+so powerful that it could control, if it wished, the legislation in
+nearly all the sections of the planet.</p>
+
+<p>I have given but a brief picture of this ruling church. It must suffice.
+I may add that one must not imagine the church services and forms in
+Saturn to be like our worship. All things are so different that it would
+take much space and time to describe them.</p>
+
+<p>For beauty of natural scenery, Saturn surpasses all the Solar System.
+Its air is of a different composition from ours, and its sky puts on
+various tints as the day passes, which is a little over ten hours of our
+time, but it takes nearly thirty of our years to make one on Saturn.</p>
+
+<p>The immense mountain ranges present a picture of unusual beauty. The
+leaves of trees are rich in velvety varieties and the undergrowth
+appears as if trimmed by skilled hands. This is a desirable place to
+live. But I learned that the inhabitants of Saturn do not appreciate all
+this wealth of beauty, in its atmosphere or on its earth, a whit more
+than the people of our world appreciate the sin cursed scenery which
+greets their eyes.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI" />CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h3>The Nearest Fixed Star.</h3>
+
+
+<p>All that was required on my part was a mere act of the mind, and I went
+where I wished. I visited Uranus and Neptune, after which I stretched my
+swift wings for the great flight, away from our Solar System, over
+billions of miles of space. I alighted on the burning star nearest to
+our Earth. This star is called, by our astronomers, Alpha Centaurus, and
+it is said to be 20,000,000,000,000 miles away. This star is much
+greater than our Sun and is the center of a system of worlds larger and
+more numerous than those that compose our Solar System.</p>
+
+<p>You cannot imagine my surprise when I reached Alpha Centaurus and found
+that it was inhabited by a class of human creatures who were created to
+live and flourish in fire. Their customs and habits are so strange that
+I am not capable of giving an intelligent description of them. I know
+that it is inconceivable to us how life can be developed and sustained
+in the midst of a burning sun, and I found that these beings in turn
+could not conceive how life can exist in a cold world like ours.</p>
+
+<p>These creatures have no digestive organs. They live, in part, on the
+chemical action produced by fire breathing. The hotter the fire, the
+more easily is life sustained. If they were to get away from the heat,
+this chemical action would cease and therefore death would be as certain
+to them as being enveloped in fire would spell death to us.</p>
+
+<p>In our eyes, their bodies are misshapen, composed of elements most of
+which are not found in our world. There are many cold places, or sun
+spots, on Alpha Centaurus, but these are shunned by the people as death
+traps. However, the centers of population gather on the more solid
+sections, most of which lie around the sun spots.</p>
+
+<p>You could scarcely believe your eyes were you to look upon the durable
+works of architecture built by these strangely shaped mortals.</p>
+
+<p>Still more wonderful are the seas of boiling fire which are sometimes
+comparatively quiet, and then again, in all madness, their majestic
+flames shoot upward thousands of miles.</p>
+
+<p>When the sea is quiet, life is oppressive in the centers of population
+just as it is in our world when the air is still and the summer sun is
+pouring down upon us. Breathing is easier and life is quickened when the
+molten sea boils furiously. These terrible heat blasts are most
+exhilarating and refreshing to the inhabitants living near enough to
+receive the benefit of them.</p>
+
+<p>You may imagine that these people of Alpha Centaurus are idlers, being
+fed by the ceaseless heat waves that beat upon them. Such a conception
+is totally false, for I saw that industry was plainly evident, and labor
+had its reward in securing the necessaries and luxuries of life.</p>
+
+<p>These life-sustaining foods are composed of elements which can be
+appropriated into muscle and bone (if you will permit me to use these
+terms), and are obtained by reuniting and re-combining spent forces.
+This explanation is somewhat mystical, but I can do no better in
+describing the food production and assimilation in a pure fire-world
+like this one on which I had arrived.</p>
+
+<p>To imagine and believe that fertility can be possible in a seething
+world-furnace, is too far beyond our philosophy to be conceivable. Alpha
+Centaurus is so large a sun that although it has a population ten times
+greater than our globe, yet its surface is sparsely settled.</p>
+
+<p>The oceans of fire occupy the greater part of the surface of this
+wonderful sphere. In these great red-hot seas live the monsters of the
+deep, as well as a motley variety of other species, veritable
+salamanders, some grotesquely hideous, others surpassingly beautiful in
+form and hue.</p>
+
+<p>On this sphere man is extraordinarily intelligent. He is almost totally
+ignorant of anything akin to astronomy, although some of the greater
+scholars have ventured the theory that there might be other worlds
+containing human life, providing there be fire enough to sustain them.</p>
+
+<p>In some other particulars, these star-creatures have made astonishing
+progress. They believe that the time is coming when the fires of their
+world will be blown out and all life become extinct. This they would
+call, in our language, the coming Judgment when every human being that
+ever lived will receive his just recompense of reward.</p>
+
+<p>With interest I studied the manner of government, and the admirable
+system of education which is the secret of their progress.</p>
+
+<p>I made a special effort to ascertain whence this sun receives its
+continued supply of fuel. The question had often perplexed my mind when
+I gazed toward our Sun from the shores of our world. None of the
+theories advanced by our scientists and astronomers fully satisfied my
+mind. And now I looked and studied in vain. Although the awful burnings
+had been in progress for thousands of years, I could see no fuel that
+was added to the flames. Hence I was driven to believe that Alpha
+Centaurus was on fire and was gradually being consumed; this must be
+true of all the stars that bedeck the canopy of Heaven.</p>
+
+<p>The inconstancy of this star's surface is the greatest menace to its
+inhabitants. At times the solid crusts break in the contracting of the
+surface. All this makes terrible havoc, but the new generations take
+fresh courage and pluckily restore the fallen habitations.</p>
+
+<p>One of the luxuries enjoyed by these fire beings at certain times is to
+get where the chemical action of heat is at a low ebb. That has a
+similar effect upon them as calming our nerves has upon us.</p>
+
+<p>One of the great inventions consists in an instrument that neutralizes
+this chemical action of heat even where it is most intense. It is a
+common sight to see creatures basking under one of these instruments in
+a somewhat comatose state. The inventor of this instrument is worshiped
+almost as a god.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most startling inventions of all is a machine that
+counteracts gravity. This, to my mind, is the greatest invention I had
+yet seen, and, strange to say, these fire creatures know nothing about
+means of propulsion except by hand power. If you were able to stand on
+the seething furnace of Alpha Centaurus, you would see these machines
+rise far into the shooting fire and beyond, as far as occupants can go
+without freezing to death. Then at a reverse of the lever you would see
+the mysterious car descend.</p>
+
+<p>These star residents have enjoyed this invention so long that they no
+longer appreciate its marvels. You ask me if I tried to get the secret.
+I saw the whole apparatus and the more I studied it, the more I was
+convinced that its storage battery contained heat energy. So I concluded
+to solve the mystery. I learned that there was a certain element found
+only in combination. When this element is set loose by chemical process,
+it will rise at once toward a large planet that revolves around this
+sun. This planet draws that particular element with six times more force
+than it is held by Alpha Centaurus. The brilliant chemists, when they
+first made this discovery, separated enough of this element to carry a
+man upward from the sun's surface. Later on they made a counter
+discovery of equal value.</p>
+
+<p>They found a substance that would destroy this attraction if it was
+placed between the element and the planet. The discovery enabled a
+person to rise as high as he wished and then, by swinging the plate in
+position, the aerial carriage would either stand still or descend
+according to the wish of the operator.</p>
+
+<p>What a boon it would be to our world if we had such an element for which
+Jupiter or the Sun would have so much fondness! Then with our superior
+knowledge of propulsion we could forever settle the perplexing problem
+of aerial navigation.</p>
+
+<p>These exceptional people, living in such terrible fire, wear pieces of
+garments made of the finest texture. The hair-like threads are composed
+of metallic substances far more enduring than gold or platinum.</p>
+
+<p>Of all the unthinkable things on this star none are so extreme as the
+manner in which these people hold conversation. They have no organs to
+produce vocal sounds.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 406px;">
+<a name="IMG7" id="IMG7" /><img src="images/image-7.jpg" width="406" height="600" alt="Fire Life on a Fixed Star." title="" />
+<b>Fire Life on a Fixed Star.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>They convey their ideas one to another by a vibration of the
+conversation flaps. Either the air waves, or substantial emissions,
+excite the sensitive face of the listener so that the thought
+intended can be accurately received.</p>
+
+<p>Having a strong curiosity, I remained and studied this fire life. It
+opened to me new channels of thought and illustrated more emphatically
+than ever that all things are possible with Him who created the universe
+and upholds it by the word of His power.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, I left this strange abode and proceeded to visit some of the
+eighteen worlds that revolve around Alpha Centaurus.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII" />CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h3>The Water World Visited.</h3>
+
+
+<p>As I lingered in the region of the constellation of Centaurus I was more
+and more profoundly impressed with the magnitude and variety of created
+worlds.</p>
+
+<p>Among the eighteen planets that revolve around Alpha Centaurus, only six
+are inhabited. One of these is a sinless world, or a world whereon sin
+never inaugurated its blighting reign; but I will say nothing of this
+orb as I did not have the choice opportunity of visiting it aright. I
+saw its beauty only through a glass darkly.</p>
+
+<p>I then fixed my mind on Polaris, commonly called the North Star. In
+journeying thither from Centaurus I passed thousands of Solar Systems
+scattered in space all around me. As I was thus darting through
+immensity I glanced toward our own Solar System and could see nothing
+but a flickering star which was our Sun. Not the faintest sign could I
+see of our world or of Jupiter.</p>
+
+<p>A strange feeling passed over me when I began to realize how far I was
+from home. I sped onward until I reached the North Star. It is a burning
+sun, but not inhabited.</p>
+
+<p>Polaris is the center of a magnificent system. If a certain few of its
+worlds could be seen through a telescope, they would be picturesque in
+the extreme, somewhat resembling our beautiful Saturn. Moons play like
+frisky lambs around some of its worlds, and many comets dance through
+the length of the whole system in richer confusion than we have ever
+beheld in the range of our telescopic vision.</p>
+
+<p>Counting the worlds of larger size only, there are nearly one hundred
+that fly through their orbits around Polaris, some with amazing
+velocity. Within the bounds of this solar system I spent considerable
+time.</p>
+
+<p>The third world I visited I will call Stazza. It is two hundred millions
+of miles from Polaris and is four hundred and fifty times as large as
+our world.</p>
+
+<p>I was amazed at the new turn of life-manifestation that I found there.
+To me it was unusually interesting because its temperature is quite
+similar to ours; but the order of life is reversed so completely that
+the human beings inhabit the water, and the long narrow strips of earth
+are infested with numerous species of land animals. It may seem
+incredible that the depths of the ocean should be the seat of
+intelligence rivaling our own.</p>
+
+<p>The human creatures of Stazza average a trifle larger in size than we,
+but they travel horizontally in water like a large fish. The limbs
+support the body in rest, and in traveling are used like the hind legs
+of a frog, only more gracefully. The arms closely resemble ours and have
+an infinite variety of uses. In addition, there are four fin-like arms
+that fold into the body when at rest, but are spread for service when
+traveling. In all it must be admitted that these Stazza people are
+capable of traveling more rapidly, and covering longer distances with
+much less fatigue than are we. They can also carry greater burdens with
+more ease. They wear no garments except one or two small pieces made of
+a tough species of sea grass.</p>
+
+<p>Five-sixths of Stazza are covered with water and its depth at a few
+points is very great. Throughout all the water regions there are many
+kinds of animal life, more than can be found in our oceans. Thousands of
+human lives have been lost in conflict with the fiercer kinds of these
+water animals, with which the people of Stazza entered upon a war of
+extermination over one thousand years ago, and while intelligence is
+slowly winning the battle, yet the warfare is likely to continue many
+centuries to come, owing to the fact that these hostile fish occupy the
+soundless depths even as deep as four or five hundred miles according to
+our measurement. Horned fish rising from these depths are a horrible
+menace to excursion parties or caravans, as well as to settlers on what
+we would call the frontier.</p>
+
+<p>The homes of Stazza are made of metallic substances. There are a few
+minerals very plentiful, resembling brass, and it is a common sight to
+see polished buildings fantastic in their arrangement, shining through
+the pellucid water like gold.</p>
+
+<p>The cities are built on gentle inclines in the deeper waters and
+present a picturesque scene. They look more like a cluster of giant
+fairy abodes than like New York or London. Nothing in all the world of
+Stazza resembles a product of our manufacture more than the fine
+screening that protects every human dwelling from an invasion of small
+water animals. It reminded me of the mosquito netting as a safe-guard
+against flies and other insects in our world. But the mosquito baffles
+our genius, for he seems to be able to get through as small an opening
+as air can. Likewise, the pestiferous water animals seem to invade the
+homes of Stazza, notwithstanding all efforts at prevention.</p>
+
+<p>The cities have no continuous streets or lanes. The principal travel is
+in the water over the city. The main entrance to the home is on the
+housetop. In the center of large buildings there is a shaft running up
+and down, through which the people go with greater ease than we can
+climb or descend our stairways. It must not be forgotten that water to
+them is the same as air to us, and in their domestic life the people
+are annoyed by cloudy and muddy currents of water just as we are by
+clouds of dust in the air, on the streets, or in our homes.</p>
+
+<p>The wear and tear caused by the chemical action of water on houses and
+furniture is not as great as the injury in our world caused by the
+chemical action of air, heat and moisture.</p>
+
+<p>The educational systems of Stazza are quite as perfect for that world as
+our own systems are for ours. They have an alphabet, covering their
+needs in language, consisting of a series of strokes, curves and angles,
+somewhat resembling our shorthand systems. This language is identical in
+print or script, and is superior to our method of expresssing thought by
+handwriting.</p>
+
+<p>The experts of Stazza have learned the art of slicing metallic blocks
+into sheets of any desired thickness. These sheets serve the same
+purpose for them as paper does for us, and are furnished at an
+insignificant cost of labor. We have the very elements in our Earth to
+produce these metallic blocks if we knew the combination, which might be
+easily found if we had as much need for them as the people of this
+water world.</p>
+
+<p>The metallic blocks are used for a great variety of purposes. There are
+some high class artists who have immortalized themselves by their
+master-pieces, one of which I saw on a five-cornered metallic sheet
+measuring about eight feet in diameter.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the most surprising feature of the educational advancement of
+these water spirits is their knowledge of astronomy. To them, under the
+water, the stars have always looked beautiful, and from an early date in
+their history a study of them has engaged the attention of their
+scholars. No one could tell the style of their telescopes if he should
+go to guessing for a week. Let me give you a brief description of one.</p>
+
+<p>They build a metallic pipe about ten feet in diameter and from a point
+some two hundred feet below the surface of the water. The pipe is built
+until it extends a few feet above water. Inside of this pipe is a series
+of transparent ovals of various sizes. These ovals are so arranged that
+the upper one throws its light to the lower one, down through the
+immense cylinder. Around each oval is built a series of fin protectors,
+which is the only part about the telescope I could not fully understand.
+They seemed to counteract the refraction of the water, and yet the water
+must be in the pipe to obtain proper results.</p>
+
+<p>Imagine an astronomer at the base of this huge metallic structure,
+having at his finger's ends a dozen wire strings intricately connected
+with the oval system, and by the proper use of which he can increase or
+decrease the magnifying power of the ponderous telescope. The highest
+magnifying power of a telescope of this size is so great that the Milky
+Way is penetrated and its solar systems revealed. What an accomplishment
+it would be if a telescope of this magnitude could be mounted, a thing
+that these creatures never attempted to do. But they have built
+telescopes of various inclinations, all stationary. You can form an idea
+of the patience and endurance of these people when you learn that it
+required over fifty years of our time for them to perfect one of these
+large instruments.</p>
+
+<p>Give human brains to any animal under water or over water, and it will
+grasp for larger views of its Creator and of the things He made. These
+people are thoroughly convinced that intelligent life can be found in
+any world where there is enough water to sustain it.</p>
+
+<p>In the waters of Stazza there are many under-currents similar to our
+Gulf Stream. These are used by the inhabitants for transportation. They
+construct little hammock cars so that when they are filled with human
+freight they float in the water. A simple device which we might call a
+fin propeller is used to force the car in one direction or another as
+necessity may require. It is possible to enter one of these
+under-streams and thus travel over two thousand miles; then, by rowing
+only five miles, enter the return current and move homeward. A car of
+special design is furnished by each community in which each bridal pair
+spends the Wedlock Ride, or the Honey-Moon, as we would call it.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="IMG8" id="IMG8" /><img src="images/image-8.jpg" width="600" height="393" alt="Fishing for Land Animals on a Planet of the Pole Star." title="" />
+<b>Fishing for Land Animals on a Planet of the Pole Star.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>There is nothing more interesting about this race of beings than the
+manner in which they pluck land fruit and catch land animals, and yet
+when you compare this with our world, it is the same to them as fishing
+is to us.</p>
+
+<p>In all my inter-stellar journeys perhaps there was nothing so amusing to
+me as to see a company of these water creatures fishing for land
+animals. They would creep up near shore and throw out their wire lines
+with various kinds of bait, according to what they wished to catch. Then
+followed the inevitable waiting until some innocent Jullep or Petzel
+would grasp the tempting morsel on the hook. A skillful jerk fastened
+the victim, and instead of pulling him in the water, the fisherman held
+his breath and rushed out of the water to get his prize. This has been
+found to be a safer method than trying to pull the prize into the water.</p>
+
+<p>These water dwellers relish certain land animals more than we do fish.</p>
+
+<p>Of course the land strips are not inhabited by human beings, but
+vegetation is abundant, similar to that found in our tropical regions.
+Many kinds of fruit, growing on the land, are sought after by the
+masters of the water. In the season when certain fruits are ripe whole
+expeditions go out to gather them. But how can they live away from the
+great body of water while plucking these fruits? Let me tell you how
+they manage it. They have what we would call water-wagons, very wide and
+short, and equipped with buckets. At the rear of one of these strangely
+shaped carriages stand four or six men abreast immersing their heads in
+the water of the wagon for a fresh breath as often as necessity
+requires. Thus they are enabled to travel over land to any desired
+locality, always being careful to keep near enough the water to cover
+any emergency.</p>
+
+<p>When they arrive at the fruit each man takes his bucket of water and
+proceeds to work. He plucks fruit or berries for about thirty seconds
+and then ducks his head into his bucket of water for a fresh breath.
+Then he proceeds as before. When the water is no longer fit for
+breathing, he carries his fruit and water bucket to the wagon. Here he
+unloads his fruit and refills his bucket from the wagon, proceeding as
+before. At intervals the wagon must be refilled with water. During a day
+a few men can gather a large quantity of fruit in this manner, and it
+can be preserved for over four seasons.</p>
+
+<p>On Stazza there has been developed a fine variety of water flowers, and
+no gardens are more beautiful than those that can be seen there. The
+higher classes of these people live a very refined life and have their
+homes surrounded with an endless variety of water grasses and flowers.
+You would scarcely believe your eyes if you could direct your gaze to a
+few of these homes.</p>
+
+<p>In their religious life these Stazzans are eminently devoted. They have
+no bunch of creeds from which to take their choice, but follow the
+teachings of "The Great Interpreter," a man who once lived and reigned
+amongst them and who wrote his laws in what we would call, by
+interpretation, "The Book of Gold." The leaves of this book are made
+from an element costly and rare, more precious to them than gold is to
+us. From this book all their sacred books are copied. The civil powers
+also accept this book as their authority, and enforce its teachings.</p>
+
+<p>Sin there, as here, is the withering blast of the planet, the destroyer
+of the harvest fields of purity and truth. An invisible spirit of evil
+holds his force in disciplined command, and the man who wishes to have a
+pure heart on Stazza must reach it through conflicts long and sharp. The
+path to moral and spiritual purity is quite the same throughout the
+whole universe.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII" />CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>Tor-tu.</h3>
+
+
+<p>After I had finished my interesting tour of Stazza I visited in quick
+succession a score or more of worlds that also revolve around Polaris at
+varying distances. I found the majority of these planets barren of all
+life, owing principally to their molten condition.</p>
+
+<p>Some unthinkable types of human existence are occupying the worlds that
+can be inhabited. I marveled aloud as I viewed a few more links of the
+endless chain of intelligent creation. On one of these worlds, which I
+have christened Tor-tu, I found human beings that resemble us more than
+any others in the entire solar bounds of Polaris.</p>
+
+<p>Tor-tu dashes along in its unceasing course at a distance of eight
+hundred millions of miles from Polaris. It is much larger than our
+world, and is accompanied by three moons and a set of rings which
+faintly suggested our picturesque Saturn.</p>
+
+<p>The poles of Tor-tu are inclined at an angle of thirty-three degrees to
+the plane of its orbit. This accounts for its temperature being quite
+similar to ours, although its year is eight times longer.</p>
+
+<p>When I first reached this world I was impressed with its wealth of
+natural scenery. Flowers of charming texture and color grew abundantly
+over the wide expanses. The cultivated gardens contained specimens of
+unusual beauty, surpassing the finest products of our Earth.</p>
+
+<p>When I examined the leaves of the many kinds of trees, I found none
+similar to the foliage of our planet, except in one or two fruit-bearing
+trees. The sky, instead of appearing blue, wears a greenish tinge, and
+the birds are robed in a variety of colors that would put to naught our
+arching rainbows.</p>
+
+<p>In fine, it must be admitted that Tor-tu is a much more beautiful world
+than ours. I saw colors there that we could not produce because we have
+not the proper elements.</p>
+
+<p>This delightful world is densely populated. Its history is much older
+than ours. Sin is firmly rooted in the whole planet and its curse is
+just as blighting and withering as it is in our world, although it is
+fought more successfully and overcome more effectually in the home and
+in the nation.</p>
+
+<p>I observed that the ecclesiastical system is similar to ours, and there
+is a great profusion of creeds. To my surprise I noted, in my long
+journey, that such a variety did not interfere with true progress, but
+was compatible with the purest kind of life and the highest order of
+civilization. The people are deeply devoted to their unseen God, and
+their sacrifices are astonishing. Their places of worship are the finest
+structures of the world. They believe it to be wrong to construct any
+building greater in beauty and value than the temples of God. Their
+music would sound quite weird to us, although it is sweet harmony to the
+people of Tor-tu.</p>
+
+<p>The home life of Tor-tu is most beautiful. The moral life of the home
+and of the nations is the cleanest of any world in the whole system of
+Polaris. Naturally I investigated to learn the secret of this happy
+condition. Then I found to my joy that the relation between parents and
+children is very noteworthy. The fine respect manifested by the latter
+for the former evoked the blush of shame as I thought of the prevailing
+conditions in my own world.</p>
+
+<p>You may think it absurd when I describe a certain system that was a
+stepping stone to such splendid results. Were this peculiar system to be
+named, we should likely call it: "The Human Seal System."</p>
+
+<p>Each person born into the world of Tor-tu is officially sealed or
+tattooed on the forehead and on the arm. It is done by the township
+book-keeper, whose duty it is to keep a correct record of all births,
+devoting a new ledger page to each infant.</p>
+
+<p>This seal is a life-long mark, and must not be interfered with under any
+circumstances. In case the stamp is disturbed by accident, the person
+must report to the township book-keeper either in person or by proxy,
+and the stamp must be replaced on some conspicuous part of the head.</p>
+
+<p>There are eighteen governments of Tor-tu that united on this scheme. It
+is so arranged that no two persons of all these millions have identical
+marks. Each government has its seal of different designs from all the
+others.</p>
+
+<p>Circles, ellipses and rectangles, with various modifications, compose
+the eighteen forms in use. The most powerful of the eighteen governments
+has for its seal the following design, which I have filled out as
+completely as I could, using our own figures instead of their numerals
+which would, of course, be unintelligible to us.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/seal.png" width="20%" alt="Tor-tu seal" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>This is the actual size of the design as it appears on the forehead.</p>
+
+<p>13 represents the number of the state.</p>
+
+<p>21 represents the number of the county.</p>
+
+<p>10 represents the number of the township.</p>
+
+<p>12 represents the color of the person.</p>
+
+<p>352, in the center, represents the individual's number.</p>
+
+<p>This same mark is the individual's signature for life. It cannot be
+changed, although the person is allowed to have a metallic or rubber cut
+of his own design, provided he writes the individual number by hand, for
+any one else doing this would be a forger.</p>
+
+<p>The township clerk is also the collector of the public funds. To him
+each person born in that township is compelled to render an annual
+report of his residence, occupation, and certain other facts relating to
+his life in general.</p>
+
+<p>If any minor or adult commits a criminal act upon which the civil court
+has passed, this finding is recorded in the township record on the
+individual's page and, when the criminal has served his sentence, this
+fact is also recorded. This is a severe law for the criminal, but it is
+a great stimulus to a law-abiding career.</p>
+
+<p>It is also customary for public courts to confer on worthy persons
+special marks of honor for extraordinary deeds or acts. A record of such
+rendering is also kept.</p>
+
+<p>In presenting annual reports to the clerk each father reports for his
+minor children. This puts the father on a rightful plane of dignity
+before his children, and the parent who makes a wise use of these
+provisions can and does reach far better results than can otherwise be
+done.</p>
+
+<p>No child can run away from home without falling into much more trouble
+then he imagined he had before. At once his seal number is sent to all
+the countries and into every sub-division. Any one aiding or abetting
+such a person is severely punished. When the runaway is captured, the
+system of reprimand is of such a nature that the minor will be glad to
+remain under the directions of his parents until his maturity.</p>
+
+<p>If it can be shown that a parent or guardian uses inhuman methods of
+punishing children, the act is criminal and is dealt with accordingly.</p>
+
+<p>There are no tramps parading periodically over the countries of Tor-tu.</p>
+
+<p>There is an international law that each township must care for its own
+paupers. Every man's forehead seal tells his birthplace and there is no
+escaping from it.</p>
+
+<p>When a person is suspected of crime in a foreign land, the foreign
+officials can tell not only where the individual was born, but they can
+also obtain an official record of his life by applying officially to the
+clerk and paying a nominal fee.</p>
+
+<p>Any stranger making a serious effort to cover his forehead is looked
+upon with suspicion. It is a current phrase of honor among the
+Tor-tuites: "I am not ashamed to show my forehead."</p>
+
+<p>A few hundred years after this "Human Seal Law" went into operation, no
+one, except the criminally inclined, would think of returning to the old
+reckless way, although the system was scorned and ridiculed by many
+Tor-tuites for about fifty years after its advent.</p>
+
+<p>In considering the character of an individual, the courts and the people
+place tremendous stress upon the township record. Each son and daughter
+early learns the value of a stainless page and strives to keep his
+record clean.</p>
+
+<p>The township, through the state, gives to each child at maturity a civil
+inheritance, provided his record meets the requirements of the law.</p>
+
+<p>All these customs and regulations are powerful incentives to the youth
+to lead a good moral life and naturally tend to a respectful demeanor of
+children toward their parents.</p>
+
+<p>This world is not only notable for its moral atmosphere, but for the
+remarkable progress its inhabitants have made in political economy.</p>
+
+<p>They know a few things about laws, but not enough to make them so
+complicated that no one can understand their meaning. In law, the poor
+man usually has the same chance as the rich. Money has no weight in the
+Tor-tu scale of justice. The facts in the case are the only things that
+have weight, although bribery is possible and is sometimes practiced.</p>
+
+<p>The laws of Tor-tu relating to deeds and titles are the most simple and
+yet the most effective that have yet come to my attention.</p>
+
+<p>All the land in each county of Tor-tu is divided into lots, and each lot
+is numbered on an immense diagram at the county seat. This diagram is a
+miniature relief outline of the county with each lot and plot in the
+county designated, and, according to our measurements, it averages
+almost eighteen by twenty-four feet, varying according to the size of
+the county.</p>
+
+<p>When you buy land you buy from the county only. If you wish to purchase
+a lot or plot from another party who is willing to sell, the two parties
+concerned go to the chief real estate agent who is an official of the
+county and has charge of the county diagram. The former owner or
+title-holder, upon establishing his identity, releases to the county his
+claims and surrenders his title on condition that he receives the sum
+agreed upon between the two parties.</p>
+
+<p>The county agent then issues a new title to the new purchaser. It is a
+simple common-sense document completely describing the new owner, his
+relatives and his station. Thus each purchaser has his own title from
+the county and it is guaranteed. Under this admirably simple system
+disputes as to titles are rare and can scarcely occur; but if any should
+arise, the county takes the defense and bears all expense of litigation.</p>
+
+<p>No counter claim is even heard after a title is five years old. Thus it
+is impossible to resurrect an old buried claim and rob an innocent owner
+who purchased and paid for his ground in good faith.</p>
+
+<p>In transferring real estate no lawyers are required. Several persons,
+however, must witness the execution of the deed.</p>
+
+<p>The county publishes a journal, monthly, stating the owner of each lot
+or plot number in the county. This is furnished free to each land owner.</p>
+
+<p>All credit to Tor-tu for these common-sense regulations! Our laws
+covering this field are heathenish compared with the statutes of this
+far distant world. There no man loses his real estate by the awakening
+of a sleeping title, and if this could happen he would be fully
+reimbursed by the county.</p>
+
+<p>In our world some titles are as clear as mud. Often we pay a large sum
+to have the records examined and even then a purchaser has no assurance
+of non-interference. Here it is even possible to buy a lot, build a
+home, and five or fifty years afterward have it sold by some one who
+proves a prior claim on the land. No such foolishness, or child-play in
+the guise of legal dignity, is countenanced in Tor-tu.</p>
+
+<p>The whole civil system of this sphere is superior to ours. A person who
+violates the law is not treated to free boarding and lodging in a well
+heated and lighted building, as is quite prevalent in our world, but is
+compelled to enter profitable labor under strict surveillance. Any
+prisoner becoming rebellious and refusing to work is dealt with
+severely. If he is still insubordinate, he is placed on the revolving
+wheel of death until his stubborn will is broken, or he falls fatigued
+into the jaws of steel.</p>
+
+<p>This convict labor does not compete with the regular ranks of honest
+toil. The main work of criminals is farming, and the products of these
+farms support not only the criminals, but their families as well. What
+is produced beyond that is sold at market price and the proceeds are
+applied to current expenses of the county.</p>
+
+<p>In our world the honest man must pay to support the dishonest; the
+law-abiding must care for the law breaker. How much longer this will
+continue no one has prophesied.</p>
+
+<p>The manner of choosing officials in Tor-tu is both new and surprising.
+All the officers, from the highest to lowest, are chosen by lot instead
+of by popular ballot or hereditary claim. They who are thus elected
+remain in office during competency and good behavior.</p>
+
+<p>1. Their record must be stainless during the preceding ten years.</p>
+
+<p>2. They must have been graduated from the law department of the public
+schools.</p>
+
+<p>3. They must be at least thirty-one years old.</p>
+
+<p>For the highest officials the conditions are more rigid.</p>
+
+<p>The teachers in all public schools are selected in the same manner from
+among the number who apply, and who have been graduated in rank high
+enough for the school in question.</p>
+
+<p>At first this lot system seemed very foolish to me indeed, bordering
+upon absurdity, but the more I studied its simplicity and observed its
+results, the more I became impressed with its good sense and
+efficiency. There are no political parties fomenting discord in a
+country under a spoils system; no upheavals every few years and
+hilarious campaigns; and no idiotic caricatures of public officials to
+work unbridled mischief in the hearts of the most dangerous citizens.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX" />CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<h3>A Problem in Political Economy.</h3>
+
+
+<p>After I had left the world of Tor-tu I still lingered in the heavens
+around the planet and examined a few of its moons. While enjoying this
+pleasing diversion, I learned that not far away, less than one billion
+miles, there was a world without an atmosphere. This peculiar condition
+was not new to me, for I had seen, during my never-to-be-forgotten
+journey, many worlds without gaseous air.</p>
+
+<p>I would not have gone thither had it not been for an unaccountable
+desire impelling me. Obedient to my impulse, I soon found myself on this
+odd planet which I have named Airess.</p>
+
+<p>I at once observed that the people are formed without nose or lungs. The
+nose is substituted by an opening into which liquid air is received and
+through which it passes to a bodily reservoir of two lobes in the
+vicinity of the heart. When I saw how these people were obliged to fill
+their living vessels with this air-supplying liquid, I at once thought
+of the manner in which we in our world fill our lamps with oil to
+furnish light and heat.</p>
+
+<p>Now it is true that nature supplies this liquid air in reasonable
+abundance, and no doubt all the people would have been happy until now
+had it not been for the unjust scheming of a few unprincipled men.</p>
+
+<p>The strange story of the air problem on this distant world is so similar
+to the food problem of ours that I have time to describe it briefly.</p>
+
+<p>There were certain men in Airess, shrewd above their fellows, who
+secretly combined to secure a controlling interest in all the land
+producing liquid air.</p>
+
+<p>In course of time these shrewd schemers, who are known as monopolists,
+gathered this liquid air into large tanks and warehouses, and put an
+exorbitant price upon it. The business flourished greatly because
+everybody was daily in need of liquid air.</p>
+
+<p>The many sources of air-supply were guarded and men were employed to
+carry the liquid from the raw springs to the private tanks of the
+monopolists. Not long after this, when the monopolists saw that they
+controlled all the liquid air of the country, they had rigid laws passed
+forbidding the importation of air from any other country. Then when all
+preliminaries were arranged, the magnates raised the price of their
+commodity.</p>
+
+<p>The burden fell most heavily on the persons of limited means, for some
+were compelled to give half of their earnings for air.</p>
+
+<p>The monopolists grew richer and richer, while the poor became still
+poorer, until a cry went up for cheaper living. Then the
+generous-hearted magnates decided to build new and larger storehouses,
+thus giving employment to the large army of impoverished workmen. Thus
+did the poor feel very grateful for the privilege of earning enough to
+satisfy their hungry stomachs.</p>
+
+<p>With the larger storehouses now in operation the magnates were enabled
+to conduct this air business on a scale more economical, and so it
+resulted that the profits of their business were constantly increasing.</p>
+
+<p>Many who were unable to work became sorely distressed insomuch that
+some died raving for liquid air. Others were more fortunate and were
+helped by charitably inclined citizens. When a few poor comrades clubbed
+together and contributed out of their mites, then the magnates sold air,
+but if the sufferers had no money, they could have no air.</p>
+
+<p>A growing discontent possessed the people. They appealed to the
+legislative bodies, but the magnates had grown so immensely wealthy that
+they controlled all the law-making assemblies and gave the members air
+free of charge, an act of kindness indeed.</p>
+
+<p>So the law turned a deaf ear to the cries of the people and many riots
+followed. But these were all quelled by the standing army which was also
+supplied with free air for the good service they were capable of
+rendering to the monopolists.</p>
+
+<p>The multitude of laboring people could do as they chose, that is, work
+like slaves and live, or refuse to tolerate the monopoly and die.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="IMG9" id="IMG9" /><img src="images/image-9.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt="Monopolizing Liquid Air on Airess." title="" />
+<b>Monopolizing Liquid Air on Airess.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>Many were the pitiful scenes witnessed in all parts of the land. Men,
+women and children gathered around one or another of the large tanks
+brimming full of the life sustaining liquid. It was heart-breaking to
+see children with half-opened mouths dying for air. Of course none of
+the magnates were within hearing or seeing distance. The tanks were in
+charge of underlings who were bound to give no air except for the
+exorbitant market price.</p>
+
+<p>This state of affairs continued for many generations, nor did relief
+come until one named Agitator went forth strongly set in his
+convictions. He was a natural-born orator, a lover of justice, one who
+believed in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.</p>
+
+<p>As long as he went about speaking and praying, the monopolists gave no
+heed. But when he began organizing the masses into sworn legions, then
+did the magnates bestir themselves, seeing danger in the gathering
+clouds of humanity.</p>
+
+<p>"What shall we do?" cried they one to another.</p>
+
+<p>"Bribe Agitator," suggested one.</p>
+
+<p>"A happy hit," cried they all.</p>
+
+<p>One was chosen to do the work. A description of the meeting and
+conversation of these two great leaders is a choice bit of literature of
+the world of Airess. I will translate it as nearly as possible into
+English.</p>
+
+<p>Magnate and his companion met Agitator three hours after sun-rise.
+Neither one had ever seen the other before, and naturally Agitator did
+not suspect the purpose for which Magnate had come.</p>
+
+<p>"We are here," said Magnate, "to place into your hands one million
+dollars to be used for the education of poor children. We have
+confidence in your judgment and integrity, and if you will accept the
+money on our conditions, we will gladly arrange all papers and place the
+money at your disposal."</p>
+
+<p>"A magnanimous offer indeed. But what are the conditions," hurriedly
+asked the blushing Agitator.</p>
+
+<p>"The conditions are easy to meet.</p>
+
+<p>"1. You are to train and appoint sub-teachers and give your influence to
+the building up of these schools.</p>
+
+<p>"2. You are to spend your time in this noble work and receive as salary
+ten thousand dollars annually.</p>
+
+<p>"3. Of course you will be glad to put your whole heart and time into
+this enterprise and encourage all workmen to show their appreciation of
+this generous movement in behalf of the oppressed."</p>
+
+<p>"But what would become of my other great work?" asked Agitator, as a
+well-defined interrogation point covered his face.</p>
+
+<p>"This new enterprise will solve the whole question. Is it not true that
+ignorance is the cause of nearly all the discontent in the world? If you
+scatter the clouds of ignorance, with them the darkness of nearly all
+our woes will fly, and you will stand at the head of a new race,
+educated, refined, and capable of understanding and securing their
+rights ten-fold more surely and more intelligently than now."</p>
+
+<p>Agitator was a man of quick mind. He was, however, almost caught in the
+fine network spun around him. He bowed his head a moment in quietness.</p>
+
+<p>"There is a tinge of truth in your words," admitted Agitator. "If I can
+avoid it however," he continued, "the people now living will not suffer
+for a whole generation in hope of imaginary relief. Your scheme is a
+worthy one, but you must seek elsewhere for a leader. I have sworn in my
+soul to bend my every effort to break the strong arm of the Monopoly."</p>
+
+<p>Magnate was a cool man, and held his dignity in a pleasing manner. He
+carelessly changed his attitude and spoke with decision "If you will not
+lead this educational enterprise, the whole offer will be withdrawn and
+it will be advertised to the world that the leader of the poor people
+has refused the most magnificent offer of the age for the uplifting of
+the masses."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah," quickly replied Agitator, "if the offer be sincere, why should it
+go by default on my simple refusal to be turned from my present course?
+Let some other one, better qualified than I, attend to the management of
+this noble cause."</p>
+
+<p>Magnate advanced a step and with emphatic gesture gave his ultimatum:</p>
+
+<p>"You are the recognized leader of the masses, the idol of all the poor
+and of the so-called oppressed. In you the very persons whom we hope to
+benefit have unbounded confidence, and naturally you are the only man
+who can make wisest and most efficient use of this large sum of money.
+We have no other choice and I ask you once more, for the sake of
+suffering humanity, to accept the leadership of this worthy cause which
+will do more for the people than all other reform movements combined.
+You can make no mistake in accepting our offer. This is the only right
+thing for you to do."</p>
+
+<p>Agitator took no time to study his reply. His words were born on the
+occasion for the occasion. He spoke with marked power in his voice and
+fiery electricity in his eye:</p>
+
+<p>"I have made my final decision. I am married to my reform movement and
+seek no divorce. I want all people to have free air as they have free
+sunlight. I am determined that neither favor nor force, neither Magnate
+nor money, shall swerve me from my course. The people of my time shall
+see their liberty, or I shall see my death!"</p>
+
+<p>This reply of Agitator is most memorable. It is quoted more than the
+famous words of Patrick Henry of our world: "Give me liberty, or give me
+death!"</p>
+
+<p>Agitator pushed his cause with remarkable skill. Soon his movements
+reached such proportions that great men courted his favor. The masses
+clung to him with truest loyalty. He took full advantage of the
+situation and gained control of the legislative bodies.</p>
+
+<p>Then followed the great enactment. All the air of the world was declared
+to be free, and any one attempting to buy or sell this natural and
+indispensable product was guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by fines
+and heavy bonds.</p>
+
+<p>The celebration of this victory was extreme. The most wonderful
+jubilations were held at the air tanks. Famous speeches were made and
+the tanks were sold by permission of their owners. One enthusiastic
+person bought a tank, declared that he would sell it in small pieces for
+relics, and use the proceeds for educating poor children. The scene that
+followed beggars description. Everybody knew that this was a cut at
+Magnate, and the buying of relics was carried on in an unprecedented
+manner. The amount of money netted by this sale was so large that
+several schools were erected and an endowment provided for their
+maintenance.</p>
+
+<p>All this happened long ago on the world of Airess. But the memory of
+these unusual times will never die. They have an annual day of
+celebration much resembling, in its festivities, our Fourth of July.</p>
+
+<p>The most peculiar human condition of Airess, according to my view, is
+the manner in which these people sleep. They do not lie down and
+gradually drift into unconsciousness, but they lie motionless and still
+retain full consciousness. The rest comes from the quietness of the
+bodily members. It is not even possible for these creatures to become
+mentally insensible to their surroundings, except by an accident or
+through medical treatment.</p>
+
+<p>I was most impressed, however, as I learned of the powerful eyesight
+which these people enjoy. Their eyes are indeed little telescopes,
+capable of examining heavenly bodies with as much accuracy as we are
+enabled to do with the aid of magnifying glasses.</p>
+
+<p>Then comes the surprising statement that these same people have never
+invented anything similar to a spy glass or a telescope. Imagine how far
+they could peer into the depth of space if their own gifted eyesight
+were augmented by good magnifying glasses.</p>
+
+<p>I spent a little longer time on Airess than on some other planets
+because I found that I could more easily understand the philosophy of
+their attainments.</p>
+
+<p>The last moments of my stay were spent in the largest structure of this
+whole world, the central building of education. From this structure
+endless lines of power and influence are maintained all through the
+territorial divisions of Airess.</p>
+
+<p>I studied this unusual plan of education and viewed with delight the
+ponderous portion of this imposing edifice. At last I bid farewell to
+all these mute instructors and, looking skyward, fixed my mind on the
+shores of another world.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X" />CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<h3>Floating Cities.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Almost everyone is familiar with Ursa Major, or the Great Dipper, that
+lies in such bold relief in the region of the northern heavens, and that
+apparently revolves around Polaris, the North Star.</p>
+
+<p>The nearer of the two stars that help to form this famous Dipper and
+that point toward Polaris, is called Dubhe by our astronomers. This star
+and its interesting solar system next claimed my attention.</p>
+
+<p>From Earth I had often looked with admiring wonder at the starry
+firmament, and during many an evening I had drawn the imaginary lines
+from star to star outlining the Great Dipper, commencing with the end of
+the handle and finishing with the star just named at the outer edge, or
+rim.</p>
+
+<p>As I came near to Dubhe, I scanned the surrounding skies and was
+surprised to find that the whole semblance of my dipper was lost.
+Instead of lying in a plane, these stars were widely separated, so far
+that a billion miles gives no fair hint of the distance.</p>
+
+<p>Many new stars, previously invisible, now shone in great glory so that
+the whole celestial field presented new aspects. Far away I looked
+toward our Sun; it sparkled like a tiny star, and none of the planets of
+our Solar System were visible.</p>
+
+<p>I paused not at Dubhe, but sped onward to one of the busy worlds that
+revolve around it, which I shall call Plasden. This is two hundred times
+as large as our world, and "slin" covers seven-eighths of its surface.
+Slin is a liquid much resembling water and serves practically the same
+purpose.</p>
+
+<p>Plasden is truly a wonderful water world. Its inhabitants are not
+confined to the under-water life like those found in Stazza, neither are
+they strictly compelled to remain in the atmosphere, although that is
+their normal condition. The Plasdenites can sustain life under water,
+but only with discomfort. They have three times as many ribs as we
+possess, and between them are openings into which air or water enters
+for life sustentation. These flabby ribs slowly rise and fall
+continuously and involuntarily.</p>
+
+<p>I would describe the upper portion of their bodies, but they would seem
+so contrary to our ideas of beauty that I will pass on by saying that to
+my eye, now trained in the larger school of interstellar harmonies,
+these Plasdenites are lovely and lovable human creatures. They have
+reached a high state of civilization and, being gifted with the spirit
+life, they are still forging ahead toward perfection, unconsciously
+competing with their fellow spirits in millions of worlds.</p>
+
+<p>Plasden is an old planet. Human beings have lived thereon for thirty
+thousand years, and consequently, ages ago, the land area became so
+densely populated that there was not enough room to accommodate the
+increasing millions. This perplexing problem was solved in a very
+peculiar manner by an experiment on the part of a wealthy Plasdenite,
+who, seven thousand years ago, took advantage of the extremely light
+mineral products of this world and built for himself a floating mansion
+which covered about ten acres according to our measurements.</p>
+
+<p>This fairy palace was floated on the great oceans from one continent to
+another, propelled by the wind and controlled by a series of motors.</p>
+
+<p>After a few years he returned to his native shore and conceived the idea
+of building around his palace a water village. All foundations were made
+of strong aluminum-like substance mixed with molten granite which, upon
+hardening, formed a compound of marvelous lightness and durability. With
+painstaking care and unceasing energy the water village was transformed
+from a fanciful dream into a tangible reality, and in process of time
+one section after another was added until a veritable city floated on
+the bosom of the deep.</p>
+
+<p>But this is only a brief description of a marvelous accomplishment. I
+did not pause to mention the factories and mills that were attached to
+this city, nor have I told you that in less than one thousand years
+after this first water city was finished, there were floating, on the
+oceans of Plasden, no less than two hundred cities of various sizes,
+each a manufacturing center devoted to one or more lines of industry.</p>
+
+<p>The majority of these cities moved in harmony in a world-wide course,
+requiring about one year or four hundred of our days to complete a
+single circuit. As was their prototype, so they were propelled by a
+series of motors and a splendid sail system. At times the wind did the
+greater part of the work, and again the full force of the motors was
+required.</p>
+
+<p>Let me ask you to get on board one of these cities, and take one year's
+journey in a few minutes.</p>
+
+<p>For instance, take one of the vehicle cities, composed of one hundred
+factory buildings and three thousand dwellings, all built of
+non-combustible materials.</p>
+
+<p>The city is now in the harbor of a great port, and all the merchantmen
+who live nearest to this port have been informed that the vehicle city
+would arrive about midweek and remain four days. What a busy time
+follows after the floating city is fastened to its moorings! Inhabitants
+go on solid ground to do their trading. Dealers make large purchases and
+place extensive orders.</p>
+
+<p>It should be stated that the mail and telegraph systems between the
+continents and all these floating cities are well nigh perfect. Fast
+lines of mail steamers follow one another around the same course pursued
+by these floating cities, and passengers can go to or from any of these
+moving abodes to any part of any continent whenever they wish; so that
+if a dealer wishes a vehicle of special design, he can send his order by
+mail to any one of the six vehicle cities and have it completed by the
+time the floating city arrives at his port. If the community receiving
+the order cannot complete the work in time, the order is sent with one
+of the mail steamers to the next vehicle city in line.</p>
+
+<p>The massive city starts its journey and in one day it floats to the
+coaling stations. Here it takes on board an ample supply of fuel and
+proceeds along the regular course, making no stops until it reaches the
+mineral station where it takes a new supply of the various kinds of
+metals necessary for manufacturing and for all other purposes.</p>
+
+<p>Then perchance it passes a city or two that is lying in dock for trade
+purposes. The next stop will be at one of the several tropical stations
+where a fresh supply of fruits is purchased and a number of vehicles
+sold or delivered.</p>
+
+<p>After this the city passes several apparel cities moored to an immense
+dock, taking on board large bales of a cotton-like substance used in
+making texture.</p>
+
+<p>So continues the interesting journey along a safe route mapped out
+centuries before. Storms arise, of course, but what harm can they do
+except to send the ponderous waves dashing against the bulwarks of the
+city and rock it gently, all of which becomes so familiar that no one
+thinks of these things as serious barriers to the floating-city life.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps in one tour of four hundred days thirty stops are made. You may
+wonder how these huge floats are stopped and started. This is
+accomplished by a series of border propellors which can be put into
+service at any time if speed is desired or contrary winds are
+encountered.</p>
+
+<p>These cities have done much to civilize the darker races of Plasden. The
+manufacturing floats, coming into contact with the shores of all lands,
+naturally have an uplifting influence on its peoples, some of whom go on
+board to learn trades.</p>
+
+<p>The latest novelty of Plasden is a music city owned by one man and built
+most beautifully. Its size is comparatively small and it is equipped
+with motors of double power enabling it to proceed with considerable
+speed as compared with the cumbersome, heavier floats. This city is
+built for business as well as for pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>These Plasdenites enjoy an invention in the form of a machine that
+renders music when acted upon by air, and, at certain times, also by
+water. It is inspiring to listen to these Siren strains as the music
+city passes another floating abode.</p>
+
+<p>Excursion parties go on this music city and remain at one or another of
+its famous hotels as long as they wish.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 750px;">
+<a name="IMG10" id="IMG10" /><img src="images/image-10.jpg" width="750" height="500" alt="A Floating Palace and a Floating City." title="" />
+<b>A Floating Palace and a Floating City.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>The most refined feature of this water life is seen in the floating
+mansions, of which there are many thousands. These are built in such a
+manner that the wildest storms of the ocean can do no more than set the
+mansion a rocking, for the structures that venture far away from
+shore are very large, and surrounded by many acres of attachments.</p>
+
+<p>It is delightful to live in one of these water mansions, go to any
+chosen harbor, remain as long as desired and, taking your choice of
+countries, dwell among the icebergs or in the tropical regions. People
+of delicate health can shift to any climate and change location as often
+as desired. This style of retired life is now the most popular of all in
+this peculiar world of Plasden.</p>
+
+<p>The educated people are a very bright class; they have made great
+progress in manufacturing. This implies a long list of notable
+inventions in every branch of industry. It is strange that these
+brilliant inventors never paid attention to air travel. However, they
+have perfected submarine navigation to a nicety that would be teasing to
+the infant efforts that we have thus far made.</p>
+
+<p>The people of this far away orb have greatly surpassed us in controlling
+and utilizing the three distinct forces which are quite similar to
+electricity, and these are the wizard forces that furnish the power used
+to drive the motors and engines, not only of the floating cities, but
+also of the fixed abodes.</p>
+
+<p>By a comparative study I ascertained that we have over six thousand
+inventions for which they have no parallel, and Plasden has nearly
+twenty thousand to which we have nothing similar. What an inspiring
+study all these facts furnished! But my space forbids enlargement. I
+believe, however, that if our world remains a few thousand years more,
+we will have learned more secrets than the experts of Plasden know
+to-day, although they have had a start of many thousand years over us.</p>
+
+<p>There are very few worlds where the devotional spirit has reached a
+higher level than in Plasden. The truths of the Creator are preached and
+practised with a far more pleasing result than is prevalent on Earth.</p>
+
+<p>Satan has found his way to this planet and has organized his forces into
+sworn legions against whom the armies of righteousness are waging
+relentless warfare.</p>
+
+<p>The main secret of Plasden's high morality is found in the fact that
+the civil governments insist on moral laws and a careful observance of
+them. One blushes with shame at the looseness and laxity with which the
+greater municipalities of our Earth are governed, and all this under the
+shadow of our schools and church spires.</p>
+
+<p>Centuries ago the good people of Plasden learned how to co-operate when
+they desired to win in a struggle against iniquity. I would give my
+life-blood if I could transport this secret in such a way as to make it
+effective on the Earth.</p>
+
+<p>In our world we have before us a most humiliating spectacle. If an
+effort is made to extirpate some form of sin that has taken audacious
+root in the soil of our moral life, one reform element or denomination
+fights with the other until the hoe is so broken that there is nothing
+left wherewith to dig out the miserable roots of the obnoxious weed.
+Thus do we spend our energies opposing one another instead of fighting
+the Devil.</p>
+
+<p>O, for the Plasden power of unity, before which any species of
+corruption can be crushed out that is opposed by the forces of
+righteousness!</p>
+
+<p>We have succeeded, to a bitter extreme, in getting the church and state
+separated from each other so far that the latter scarcely ever gets a
+glimpse of the former, and we stand by priding ourselves in the absolute
+divorce. Then we have also succeeded in getting the different creeds
+separated by chasms so wide that it is impossible to make a combined
+attack against a common foe. However, these separations between sects
+are gradually disappearing, and over the lessening gaps the hands of a
+more Christian fellowship are being extended.</p>
+
+<p>The Devil, wiser in his generation than the children of light, long ago
+united his trained forces in defense of his iniquitous schemes, and thus
+he is permitted for a season to sit on the throne of power and wield his
+black wand over the civil realm, thereby licensing iniquity, protecting
+vice, and spreading his dark designs over the commonwealths of the
+world.</p>
+
+<p>We look forward to the time when the moral and spiritual forces of our
+world will reach the Plasden unity. May this be accomplished without
+struggling along for another century!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI" />CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<h3>A World of Ideal Cities.</h3>
+
+
+<p>After I had finished my brief stay at Plasden, I again rose high in air
+and looked over the oceans with their floating cities. This was one of
+the most charming views I ever had of any world.</p>
+
+<p>I paid a passing visit to a few worlds where human life had never risen
+to a great height of civilization, nor can I forget the lessons I there
+learned of the power of sin. All this one can clearly see who visits the
+three worlds lying next in order to Plasden, but I will forbear the sad
+and sickening recital of the depth to which a world is carried by sin
+when once it gains a haughty ascendency.</p>
+
+<p>The next orb that attracted my attention also lay in the solar system of
+Dubhe, and very much resembles our own world in both size and climate.
+The people, who are not half our stature, are so differently formed that
+I could scarcely believe my own senses.</p>
+
+<p>A description of them would appear only ludicrous, so I shall content
+myself with saying that they are refined in their manners and highly
+educated in all branches of human knowledge, which does not imply that
+their studies are identical with ours.</p>
+
+<p>I was surprised at the splendid arrangement of their cities and the
+sensible laws governing them. One can scarcely believe that we are
+guilty of so much lost labor in the management of our cities, in our own
+way of living, and in providing for our families, until he sets his eyes
+on a city of another world that has notably distanced us in this
+respect.</p>
+
+<p>These people, though small of stature, are endowed with powerful
+muscular systems and, through their intelligence, they have become
+masters of the seas and of the land, for the forests give away and
+savage tribes fall back before the onward march of the God-directed
+conqueror, man.</p>
+
+<p>I then appeared in visible form and walked into one of the largest
+cities on this world. I had not passed one-fourth of the way toward the
+city's center before I was surrounded by a curious crowd which so
+blocked my path that I could make no further progress. You may imagine
+their surprise to see a giant, as I appeared to them, with a strangely
+shaped head and with a soft, flabby skin, for they at first regarded my
+clothing as my skin.</p>
+
+<p>No one could conjecture what sort of an animal I was. I remained mute
+and watched the rising tide of excitement. Before anyone could venture
+to touch me, I saw a band of officers in double-quick march hastening
+toward me with their curiously shaped weapons unfolded.</p>
+
+<p>I stood motionless as the soldiers surrounded me. As soon as the circle
+was formed the leader of the squad stepped toward me with a show of
+bravery, but I saw that he secretly trembled. It was his oath-bound duty
+in such a case to lay hands on me and, if necessary, use force to take
+me to the central office.</p>
+
+<p>I offered no resistance and went, as I was directed, till I stood in the
+odd looking room where all offenders of their law are taken for a
+hearing.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 422px;">
+<a name="IMG11" id="IMG11" /><img src="images/image-11.jpg" width="422" height="600" alt="Planet of Dubhe." title="" />
+<b>Planet of Dubhe.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>The news of my appearance and arrest had by this time spread to all
+parts of the city and a motley crowd were gathering, but only a small
+portion of the people were able to gain entrance into the building where
+I had been taken.</p>
+
+<p>The high officials and educators, hearing of the wonderful giant at the
+city hall, hastened thither with all speed. Then I saw an interesting
+spectacle. As these higher classes of people arrived, the lower classes
+were compelled to leave. The room being full, no laborer was allowed to
+remain if a person of nobility wished to occupy his seat. This peculiar
+custom or law applies to all public places and assemblies.</p>
+
+<p>In a short time all the lower classes were compelled to leave the hall
+to make room for the unprecedented rush of nobility. Nothing so tempted
+me to speak as when I saw this partial rule in operation.</p>
+
+<p>During all this gathering the officers stood in a circle around me and
+held their weapons ready for instant service. Not hearing what I was or
+what I might do, they were ordered to maintain this strict attitude.</p>
+
+<p>Every eye was fastened on me. Some of the nobility were pale with fear;
+others were busy inquiring whence I came and where I had been captured.</p>
+
+<p>At length the chief official made a gutteral sound. This must have been
+a call for order and the signal for the opening of the court, for at
+once the wild confusion gave way to order as much as could be expected
+under the circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>The brief formalities of opening the court were ridiculous to me. This
+being done, all official attention was given to me. I saw that
+everything was under the charge of this presiding official. He first
+ordered that I should be bound and, accordingly, my hands and feet were
+tied. Then a very heavy chain-like rope was fastened to my body and I
+was tied to the criminal's post.</p>
+
+<p>The officers were then released and retired to their special part of the
+room.</p>
+
+<p>The chief then stepped toward me and peered into my face with a puzzled
+look of great anxiety. I returned his glances calmly, but uttered not a
+word.</p>
+
+<p>There was a breathless suspense as the chief lifted up his hands,
+touched my face, and felt my mustache and whiskers. The hair was perhaps
+the strangest feature of my whole head, since there is nothing on their
+human or animal species that resembles hair.</p>
+
+<p>The chief then called for a certain professor who was an expert in
+zoology. This intelligent man quickly came to my side and, at the
+request of the chief, commenced to examine me carefully.</p>
+
+<p>My manner of breathing confused him most of all. He watched my chest
+rising and falling and my sides increasing and decreasing with every
+breath, until he was mystified beyond all power of explanation.</p>
+
+<p>When the dignitaries saw that I could be touched with safety, numerous
+messages were flying to the chief, each one asking for the privilege of
+a closer inspection of me.</p>
+
+<p>The presiding officer was cool-headed and firmly followed his own cause.
+He waited until the professor had finished his examination and was
+prepared to report, whereupon he announced to the bewildered audience
+that heed should now be given to the conclusion of the zoologist.</p>
+
+<p>The professor mounted a throne-like elevation from which all expert
+opinion is submitted. A painful silence ensued as this learned man
+proceeded with his report.</p>
+
+<p>Of course I pretended that I could not understand their language and
+that I was oblivious to all these occurrences, but you may be assured
+that I was careful not to miss a word that fell from the lips of this
+noted specialist who conducted himself with a dignity both pleasing and
+fascinating.</p>
+
+<p>"I pronounce this creature an enigma," commenced the professor as he
+pointed his bony finger toward me, "and declare him to be the strangest
+problem of my life. How, and whence, and why he came to us are all alike
+shrouded in impenetrable mystery."</p>
+
+<p>"This perplexing specimen is totally different from any species of our
+animal creation. He resembles a man more closely than any beast.
+However, he cannot belong to any family of our world for he is possessed
+with bodily functions unknown to us. His clothes are not the result of
+any natural growth, and are far beyond our finest manufacture. Each
+piece of his apparel gives positive evidence that it was made with
+hands more skillful than ours."</p>
+
+<p>"The most pleasing part of this perplexity is the face, which bears
+indisputable marks of intelligence. It would be eminently satisfying to
+us if we could communicate with him and receive some light on this
+living marvel."</p>
+
+<p>He quickly stepped from the throne and the chief then invited four
+philosophers to examine me conjointly. They hurriedly responded to the
+invitation, for they were delighted at the honor and privilege conferred
+upon them.</p>
+
+<p>What a peculiar experience followed! Four men touched my hands and
+ankles, my arms and limbs, and more particularly every piece of my
+apparel. Accidentally one found my purse, but could not open it. As he
+was faithfully pursuing his task, I felt that the time had come for me
+to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Twist at the two knobs," I said in their vernacular.</p>
+
+<p>If lightning had struck into that room, it would not have caused more
+consternation. The four philosophers fell to the floor, the chief was
+terrified, the audience looked on in abject terror, while the officers
+rushed from their post with drawn weapons. All this occurred instantly,
+and I realized that my words never before had such an effect. In a
+moment the chief was at my side and, looking into my face, exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you and why have you remained silent?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am a human being," I replied.</p>
+
+<p>"From what part of our world?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was not born on this world."</p>
+
+<p>"On what world then?" he further asked with increasing surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"On a world called Earth that revolves around a star called Sun." As I
+was answering these questions many wild sensations were sweeping over
+the hearts of the assembled nobility.</p>
+
+<p>"How came you to our world?" continued the chief with abated breath.</p>
+
+<p>"On wings invisible."</p>
+
+<p>"For what purpose came you hither?"</p>
+
+<p>"To see your manner of life."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you stay with us forever?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you come to harm us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not in the least."</p>
+
+<p>The chief in a high state of excitement ordered that I should be
+unbound.</p>
+
+<p>I smiled and said that I would spare them that trouble. I snapped the
+bands with such ease that a new fear possessed all of those around me.</p>
+
+<p>I then gave them positive assurance that I would harm no one and urged
+that all should be silent as I wished to speak a few words to them.</p>
+
+<p>Never before had I a more attentive audience. I addressed them in a
+natural manner, informing them that I desired to become familiar with a
+few of their forms and customs of life. I then proceeded to give them a
+description of the world whence I had come. My audience became
+enthusiastic and I decided to cease speaking.</p>
+
+<p>The chief, although greatly agitated, still kept his hand on the
+throttle of the occasion. He waved the surging crowd back, demanded
+order and at once sent his arrowed questions at me again.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you not a god?" cried he.</p>
+
+<p>"I am only human."</p>
+
+<p>"How could you have such power as to reach our world?"</p>
+
+<p>"That I cannot explain."</p>
+
+<p>"How many people live on your world?"</p>
+
+<p>"One and one-half billion," I answered.</p>
+
+<p>"Are they all pure-minded?"</p>
+
+<p>I answered that I was pained to inform them that many of our inhabitants
+are wicked.</p>
+
+<p>My listeners were still incredulous as to my identity. They were
+positive that I was a visiting spirit on a mission of evil or good, and
+they urged that I should disclose the purpose of my commission.</p>
+
+<p>I re-affirmed my past utterances and, turning to the chief more
+directly, I informed him that he would see me no more. Then, without
+pausing another moment, I vanished. As I went, I looked backward to see
+the mystified countenances of all who were in the room, and then
+proceeded to visit the surrounding city to examine the system under
+which it is governed.</p>
+
+<p>I found that the bulk of the trade is controlled by the city, one class
+of goods being kept at one place in suitable store houses. The city owns
+a full line of vehicles resembling our automobiles. These are very
+spacious. Each one is supplied with certain lines of merchandise and
+passes over an unalterable rail route at its own fixed period.</p>
+
+<p>Thus all parts of the city are reached with the necessaries of life.
+Those who prefer can go to the trade centers, but no special orders are
+delivered except by the regular cars and at the regular time.</p>
+
+<p>For instance, one can go to the trade centers for meats and vegetables,
+and purchase what he wishes or give his order. At the time corresponding
+to six o'clock of our time in the morning the meat and vegetable cars
+start on their respective routes, while the trade centers are open for
+personal callers. Marketing goes on at the market center while the cars
+are selling throughout the city. At nine o'clock the delivery cars leave
+the trade centers.</p>
+
+<p>Similar to the manner of our world, each home is numbered in such a way
+that no two houses have the same designation. By this arrangement the
+delivery of goods is facilitated.</p>
+
+<p>Everything in this busy metropolis goes like clock work, and everybody
+knows the schedule, which is simple enough to be understood almost at a
+glance.</p>
+
+<p>All the trade centers lie along the freight and passenger railroad. This
+saves a tremendous amount of labor, for the goods are all transferred
+directly from the cars to the store-houses.</p>
+
+<p>There is no Fire Department, for there is no need of one. It appears
+that only a few worlds in the universe use inflammable materials for
+structural purposes, and we are one of them.</p>
+
+<p>There is a Finance Department and a Law Department, although I cannot
+give space for their description.</p>
+
+<p>The Sanitary and Police Departments are under systems absolutely
+different from any that are known in our world. Their sanitary methods
+are no more effective than ours, perhaps less so. But the Police
+Department is greatly superior. This is largely due to the fact that
+this city has a department gloriously ahead of any city in which I have
+ever lived. This department is called the Moral Department. It is
+managed by twenty-one men and women, one-third of whom are selected
+annually from a list of nominees.</p>
+
+<p>Each church, meeting certain requirements, is entitled to make one
+nomination. The seven of these nominees receiving the largest number of
+votes are elected for three years.</p>
+
+<p>This Moral Department is no mincing and begging institution. It has, at
+its disposal, the entire military battery. No mayor holds a whip handle
+over it. I must confess I was happy as I witnessed the blessed effect of
+this Moral Department. All evil is not extirpated, neither is all
+lawlessness overcome, but there is no brazen iniquity, no public
+immorality and heartless brutality such as is seen on every hand in one
+of our larger municipalities.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII" />CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<h3>A World Enjoying Its Millennium.</h3>
+
+
+<p>What expansive views of creation were afforded me in my universal
+journey! I saw all conceivable types of human life, many of which I
+alone could never have conceived.</p>
+
+<p>With a happy soul I alighted on another world in the solar system of
+Dubhe where sin had been banished, and the believers, or children of
+God, were passing through a period of time which we would call the
+Millennium.</p>
+
+<p>A wide contrast was now presented to my view. I had seen world after
+world in the tribulation of sin. Now I had come to one under the sway of
+righteousness, and I wish that I had power to describe what I saw and
+experienced.</p>
+
+<p>I suddenly thought of the Queen of Sheba, who, upon seeing the greatness
+of Solomon's wisdom, exclaimed, "Behold, the half was not told me." I
+had often imagined what the condition of our world would be when it
+smiles under the light of the Millennium, but I minimized the glory that
+is yet to come to us, judging by what I saw on this delightfully
+charming planet. I have no assurance, however, that the coming
+Millennium of our world will be altogether similar to the one I saw.</p>
+
+<p>This glorious Millennium was ushered in about six hundred years ago, and
+I readily learned the general particulars of its commencement. The world
+had been very wicked prior to the dawn of this new age. The majority of
+the people disregarded all spiritual truths, causing the darkness of sin
+to hang like a heavy pall over the nations of this planet.</p>
+
+<p>There were earnest devotees who lived in the light and love of God, and
+who preached and pleaded with the thoughtless and the indifferent.
+Notwithstanding all the efforts put forth on the part of the righteous,
+the generations of this distant world became more and more wicked until
+the Millennial dawn.</p>
+
+<p>In the fullness of time the Millennium was ushered in by the appearance
+of the chief angel who came with several hundred thousand attending
+spirits. At the approach of these celestial regiments the atmosphere far
+above the planet was darkened by ominous clouds through which the
+approaching legions shone with unearthly brightness. All this occurred
+in the twinkling of an eye, even before the busy millions could look
+upward. Then the chief angel and his magnificent host circled in the
+air, singing the resurrection song, which was augmented by ten thousand
+trumpeters, while the forked and sheet lightnings flashed in unison with
+the imposing waves of music, and heavy thunders contributed the bass
+intonations.</p>
+
+<p>The celestial choir continued during one revolution of the planet. The
+vast throng sang in the air as the planet revolved on its axis. As each
+section of the globe came beneath the long extended line of melodious
+angels, the marvelous change took place for that section. The sleeping
+saints came forth from their graves and, with the living saints, were
+caught up into the air. This continued until this most eventful day was
+finished.</p>
+
+<p>The scenes that occurred with the ungodly during this awful day beggar
+all description, so much so that I shall not attempt to describe the
+remorseful wails of horror that rent the air, only to be drowned by the
+ever-singing choir. It was the day of triumph for the saints, and their
+ears were not disturbed by the cries of terror, nor were their hearts
+distracted by the opening of the earth to receive the wicked.</p>
+
+<p>As the saints were caught up, the wicked fell into pits and have not
+been seen since. The flames that issued from the rending globe set
+everything on fire. Who can select language sufficiently graphic to
+portray such a lurid dissolution of a planet, and the gathering of the
+faithful, quick and dead?</p>
+
+<p>Thus was this large world purified by fire while the saints were
+gloriously enraptured. After the fury of this burning was passed, the
+great Creator of the universe made a new world whereon righteousness
+dwelled.</p>
+
+<p>The saints became the possessors and rulers of this whole sphere, living
+in joy and peace unprecedented. It has been the happiest six hundred
+years since the beginning of this planet. How long this period will
+continue no one seems to know, and but few are conjecturing, for each
+soul is completely happy and congenially employed.</p>
+
+<p>The time will come, however, when this blissful period will be at an
+end, only to give way to a state of existence infinitely greater and
+more glorious, which in our language would be called Heaven.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 399px;">
+<a name="IMG12" id="IMG12" /><img src="images/image-12.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="Beginning of the Millennium." title="" />
+<b>Beginning of the Millennium.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>I will briefly describe a few characteristics of this Millennial life as
+I saw it and as it is now existing.</p>
+
+<p>1. The saints are living in spiritual bodies. They are not cumbered with
+a fleshy body, and are capable of traveling through the air at a speed
+far beyond that attained by the swiftest winged creature of any world in
+the whole universe.</p>
+
+<p>Their spiritual bodies are highly organized and sensitive to a fine
+degree. At will they are capable of rendering themselves visible or
+invisible, as we comprehend these terms.</p>
+
+<p>As the perfectly formed flower, blushing in its wealth of color, is
+called beautiful, so we would designate these symmetrical
+spirit-creatures, moving in the glory of their higher endowment and
+shaded with the living tints of Heaven.</p>
+
+<p>2. These inhabitants know nothing of fatigue. Their strength of body and
+vitality of mind are unabating. What a contrast between the creatures of
+our Earth and those of the Millennial world on whom the passing of
+centuries has no ill effect.</p>
+
+<p>3. There is nothing on this purified world to generate disease; hence
+these favored people never suffer any pain of body or of mind. The long
+line of sin-shadows has all vanished from this redeemed planet, and the
+atmosphere is all aglow with the mellowed light of peace and love.</p>
+
+<p>4. Jealousy and all kindred feelings are unknown. These roots were all
+destroyed by the fire at the beginning of the Millennium. No one can
+imagine how enrapturing life is in the absence of stings of malice and
+thorns of envy.</p>
+
+<p>5. The social and spiritual relationships are all harmoniously blended.
+No one feels himself beneath or above another, and no one feels
+embarrassed in the presence of a superior human intelligence.</p>
+
+<p>6. Thus it follows that the fellowship is inexpressibly sweet. You can
+only imagine the dignity and glory one must feel as he mingles with the
+righteous dead of all ages, and gathers from them a glimpse of the
+trials and triumphs of ten thousand years under the old reign.</p>
+
+<p>7. Some of the spirits are employed in dressing and keeping the gardens
+in which grow the luxurious food on which redeemed creatures subsist:
+not cereals, fruits, or nuts, but the kind that creates the most
+heavenly sensations as it wastes away in perfume at the will of the
+user. The nearest imitation of this food ever known on earth was eaten
+by Christ's spirit when Mary broke the alabaster box of ointment on his
+head.</p>
+
+<p>8. Some spirits of this Millennial life seemed to be more rapturously
+happy than the others. I learned that they had passed through the
+darkness of continual disappointments or suffered under the mis-mating
+of matrimonial union. Others fought through the fires of persecution and
+torture, and still others passed through martyrdom for their Master's
+sake. All of these patiently endured all hardships leading down to the
+end of their mortal days.</p>
+
+<p>9. The affinity between sexes is clearly marked. No love but pure love
+burns on the altar of any soul, and any one who wishes may stop to
+kindle the fires or warm himself thereat. There is no bodily contact, no
+decay, no weakening. This love is enrapturing, uplifting, ever drawing
+the lover and the loved nearer to the fountain.</p>
+
+<p>In language most intelligible to us, I would say that the intercourse
+between sexes is one of refined telepathy, soul-connection by thought
+transmission, a thousand-fold more charming than the low plane of
+intercourse in the flesh life, with none of its attendant weakening
+results. This strange felicity is as indescribable as it is glorious.
+Each nature seeks its real complement, and enjoys the most absolute
+liberty, for there is not a single barrier to prevent it, as no one
+desires to do wrong.</p>
+
+<p>This most inviting life had its charms for me, but I well knew that I
+could not tarry. I lingered at a thousand fountains to catch the
+life-giving spray and studied, as far as I possibly could, the faces of
+these favored creatures.</p>
+
+<p>The whole vegetable world is a long extended floral garden. Where
+formerly deserts lay waste and wild, now the blooming roses and
+expansive lawns can be seen. Is it possible to picture to your mind's
+eye a line of lofty mountains whose sides are dressed in living colors
+and trimmed with rare flowers? If you cannot paint this picture, then
+you must not endeavor to form the faintest conception of the natural
+features of this Millennial world.</p>
+
+<p>Being still filled with the lingering memories of this happy sphere, and
+looking forward to the coming golden age of our own world, I read with
+pleasure a few stanzas contemplating Christ's second coming.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>"A SONG OF HIS COMING."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>See the virgins at midnight yearning,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To behold the face of the Groom.<br /></span>
+<span>Their lamps are all trimmed and burning,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">As they peer through the misty gloom.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>"He will come," is the shout of voices,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Which have sung in a thousand ways;<br /></span>
+<span>For the heart of the saint rejoices,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">At the thought of the coming days.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>When the war of creeds will be over,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And our King descends from above,<br /></span>
+<span>Only they shall witness His crowning,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Who have lived in the light of love.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Then the Christ shall reign in his glory<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">On the throne of his sovereign might:<br /></span>
+<span>And the theme of Redemption's story<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Will be sung with perfect delight.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>And our minds will dazzle with brightness,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">As our thoughts forever aspire,<br /></span>
+<span>For a mantle of perfect whiteness,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Shall cover the youth and the sire;<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Then we know that none will be jealous,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And no one will envy our lot.<br /></span>
+<span>For against the one who is zealous,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Not a soul will contrive or plot.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>And our actions will chime in pleasure,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">All refined from malice and sting.<br /></span>
+<span>We shall all reach the perfect measure,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In the reign of this conquering King.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>We will have everything we can use,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In those beautiful realms of light;<br /></span>
+<span>There the people will do as they choose,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For each one will choose to do right.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>We will sail through the seas of beauty,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And return to the shores we please;<br /></span>
+<span>Far away from the callings of duty,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In the shade of undying trees.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>All the riches of Christ will be ours,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">'Tis a wealth without guilt or pain.<br /></span>
+<span>There will be no 'Contention of Powers',<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Nor the marks of official stain.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>As I look from this earthly station,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">I exclaim again and again&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span>O what an eternal vacation!<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Come quickly, Lord Jesus, Amen.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII" />CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>A World of High Medical Knowledge.</h3>
+
+
+<p>I spent a long and profitable season in the vicinity of the Great
+Dipper, witnessing the almost infinite variations of human life as found
+from world to world, and looking upon the wild wastes of the many
+planets that are not inhabited.</p>
+
+<p>Finally I again spread my swift wings, reached the beautiful star
+Arcturus and noticed among the worlds that revolve around it a few that
+are sinless. I was tempted to pause at one or another of these
+exceptional stations, but I knew that I could not tarry until I had
+reached the far distant constellation of Scorpio.</p>
+
+<p>In this wide flight I traveled a distance so great that I will not weary
+the mind with mentioning the trillions of miles. Now I was in the direct
+path of the Milky Way and my imagination staggered as I saw the
+endlessness of stars and solar systems, as far out beyond me as my
+assisted eyes could reach.</p>
+
+<p>The star at which I arrived is one of the largest suns that blaze in the
+depths of immensity. It is so wonderfully great that if twelve hundred
+million worlds as large as ours were all crushed into one great ball, it
+would not make one sphere as immense as this star or sun, around which
+revolve about five hundred worlds or planets, many of which are greater
+than our Jupiter. With abounding interest I visited all the inhabited
+worlds of this vast system. How long it took I have no way of knowing. I
+did not count time by hours or heart throbs, for I was so wrapt in my
+observations that all else was as nothing to me.</p>
+
+<p>Some of these worlds sustain a low order of human creatures, while on
+others there are races that have reached a high degree in the scale of
+advancement. Of these five hundred worlds nearly one-half are barren of
+all life, and of those that are inhabited some twenty are sinless worlds
+and thirty are now passing through an intermediate period between the
+probationary life and the final judgment, a period toward which we are
+anxiously looking and which we designate as the Millennium.</p>
+
+<p>Of all this ponderous solar system there is one world that excels all
+the others in its medical attainments, and of this one first I will give
+a flying notice.</p>
+
+<p>I have named this world Dore-lyn. It is fifty times as large as our
+Earth and of greater specific gravity.</p>
+
+<p>Its human creatures are delightfully formed and are in ruddy health and
+refined happiness. In shape these Dore-lynites differ somewhat from us,
+but long before I had reached this planet I learned something of the
+universal standards of symmetry and ascertained that creatures could be
+beautiful without resembling us whatever.</p>
+
+<p>Here I found four billions of people and there is room for twenty
+billions more. So if you are in ill health, and have run the round of
+our medical fraternity without success, I would advise you to go to
+Dore-lyn, if you know how to reach it.</p>
+
+<p>These Dore-lynites are almost three times our size and they are subject
+to most of our ills and many more. From an early date the head
+government of this world paid particular attention to hygiene, keeping
+all medical work under its own care.</p>
+
+<p>The government controls the whole field of medical science just as we do
+the post-office department.</p>
+
+<p>There are no conflicting schools of medicines such as Allopathic,
+Homeopathic, Hydropathic, Eclectic and Osteopathic. The government gives
+handsome rewards to any one who furnishes a new discovery or gives
+additional light. Everything is duly tested and proved to be a success
+by a corps of experts before it is given to the practicing fraternity.
+The government holds certain rights in experimenting that no physician
+or medical school would think of having in our world. The government
+medical schools of Dore-lyn are marvels indeed. Nothing is spared that
+money or talent can furnish. The full graduates of these schools are
+only "the survival of the fittest." Others take a secondary degree and
+can act as assistants or retire from the list. The government has a
+series of institutions that do a work similar to our hospitals and have
+a corps of full graduates supplying the stations. This entire system is
+so arranged that every family or individual receives all necessary
+treatment free.</p>
+
+<p>The cost of carrying on this vast system is one of the items of national
+expense. I will now mention some of the medical achievements of these
+Dore-lynites.</p>
+
+<p>When a physician suspects that the blood is poisoned he at once proceeds
+to a chemical analysis, and if certain kinds of poison are found, the
+blood is filtered by the use of a fine instrument. A blood vessel is
+exposed and cut, and the two ends fastened to the delicate filter. Thus
+the blood is cleansed by passing through this instrument. Those
+acquainted with the manner in which the blood circulates can readily see
+how all the blood of the body can be reached in a short time. This
+method is very successful in the treatment of all bites of poisonous
+insects and reptiles, and all types of hydrophobia, which are ten-fold
+more numerous in Dore-lyn than in our world.</p>
+
+<p>There are no patent medicines in Dore-lyn. The few medicines they have
+are manufactured only by government authority and everybody receives the
+purest that can be compounded, no distinction being made between rich
+and poor. One thousand years ago the medical aspects of Dore-lyn were
+similar to those which are seen in our world to-day. People were
+compelled to take all manner of poisons and opiates even from skilled
+hands. But in Dore-lyn those days of darkness and misery are past and
+the people enjoy the benefit of a medical skill one thousand years ahead
+of us. They look back to the practice of the old physicians with
+ludicrous feelings just as we do when reading the prescriptions that
+were used in the first century of our dispensation.</p>
+
+<p>We call your attention to some of the antiquated remedies of our world
+as related by Geike and copied from a medical journal of our own
+country. Following is a list:</p>
+
+<p>"Ashes of wolf's skull, stag's horn, the heads of mice, the eyes of
+crabs, owl's brains, liver of frogs, viper's fat, grasshoppers, bats,
+etc., these supplied the alkalis which were prescribed. Physicians were
+accustomed to order doses of the gall of wild swine. It is presumed the
+tame hog was not sufficiently efficacious. There were other choice
+prescriptions such as horse's foam, woman's milk, laying a serpent on
+the afflicted part, urine of cows, bear fat, still recommended as a hair
+restorative, juice of boiled buck horn, etc. For colic, powdered horse's
+teeth, dung of swine, asses' kidneys, mice excretion made into a
+plaster, and other equally vile and unsavory compounds. Colds in the
+head were cured by kissing the nose of a mule. For sore throat, snail
+slime was a favorite prescription, and mouse flesh was considered
+excellent for disease of the lungs. Boiled snails and powdered bats were
+prescribed for intestinal disorders."</p>
+
+<p>When we read such a list of remedies we can scarcely believe that they
+were ever popular, but according to the history of Dore-lyn the time
+will come when many of our present medicines will be out of date, and
+only mentioned in the old medical works.</p>
+
+<p>The people of Dore-lyn have suffered in past ages innumerable woes on
+account of intemperance. Alcohol is unknown to them, but they have had a
+two-thousand year's battle against three liquids that affect them as
+opium affects us. Strange to say that these terrible liquids were the
+bases of many of their medicines just like the anodyne medicines of our
+present day. Thus in Dore-lyn the old kinds of medicines created many
+drunkards. Since the dawn of the brighter age, a strict law prevails
+regarding the use of all narcotics in medicines. Then came gradually
+into use the many methods of treating disease without medicine, except
+the materials used to sustain life regularly.</p>
+
+<p>Being interested in these things, I examined more closely into their
+past medical history, and saw more clearly the present folly of a
+certain part of our medicinal practice. How we are struggling with
+alcohol, especially as found in so many of our patent medicines, and how
+helpless we are in trying to abolish the sale of these medicines by
+reason of our unbounded liberty! In our world, a man may concoct any
+alcoholic medicine and sell it without liquor license, for people
+become verily mad for the bottled stuff. Our nation may some day become
+wise enough to keep its own hand on the business that is determining the
+health and happiness of millions of its inhabitants.</p>
+
+<p>But let me cease this digression and get back once more to Dore-lyn.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most noted medical achievements on this world consists in the
+manner of rendering a person unconscious of pain. The anatomy of a
+Dore-lynite is, in general, the same as our anatomy. Their bones are
+arranged a little differently and the sections of the backbone have a
+quite different formation. When a surgeon of that world wishes to
+perform an operation and therefore render the patient unconscious, he
+presses the tough cartilagenous part of a section of the backbone with a
+screw device fastened to the body of the patient. This simple act
+renders the spinal cord insensitive, which condition may be maintained
+for hours without injuring the patient. Of course any point above the
+screw device is sensitive, and for this reason it is more difficult to
+render a person unconscious in the parts about the head.</p>
+
+<p>Many ages ago the world of microbes was laid bare, but not before these
+people were masters of the microscope or an instrument serving the same
+purposes, although formed on a partly different principle.</p>
+
+<p>These Dore-lynites have brought to light the numerous varieties of
+parasite broods that cause fermentations and diseases, both infectious
+and otherwise.</p>
+
+<p>A diseased body is looked upon as being in possession of a certain brood
+of microbes which are destroyed either by the blood filter or the
+"Vaccine bath, or injection." (I know no better name by which to call
+it.) A few diseases are treated by doses of medicines given in a manner
+similar to the prescription system of our country.</p>
+
+<p>The "Food Treatment" is also very popular in Dore-lyn. This is merely a
+hygienic selection of foods given to people of declining health, instead
+of having them swallow ten or twenty dollars' worth of strong medicines.</p>
+
+<p>Abnormal appetites crave for a class of foods injurious to the system.
+In Dore-lyn they have discovered a novel method of turning the diseased
+appetite from its cravings toward the things needed by the system.</p>
+
+<p>In performing operations, the experts of Dore-lyn have reached a
+marvelous degree of perfection. They have learned to make a false eye so
+that one can see with it. It took three and one-half thousand years of
+continual experimenting on this delicate creation before it was
+pronounced satisfactory.</p>
+
+<p>The false eye is not of flesh but one of manufacture. It is placed in
+sensitive connection with the optic nerve, on which images are thrown by
+the delicate mechanism of the false eye. The sight thus obtained is
+almost one-half as distinct as that which is enjoyed by the normal eye.</p>
+
+<p>These medical wizards also make artificial ears which are about as
+satisfactory as the natural ears. In certain lines of surgery we are
+equal to these Dore-lynites, but we cannot register with them in the
+whole category of surgical achievements. They have simply distanced us
+by five hundred years. That is, I believe that in five hundred years we
+can reach the fields of glory which they now occupy.</p>
+
+<p>Think of laying bare a human lung and treating it with a special
+preparation for extreme cases of lung diseases, and also treating it
+with a "baking" for department cases of a disease similar to pneumonia.
+Perhaps the most wonderful class of operations is performed on the heart
+and the brain.</p>
+
+<p>The heart is laid bare under a sheet of thermal rays. Fatty tissues are
+removed and other obstructions eradicated during the regular heart
+beats.</p>
+
+<p>The government grants certain privileges of experimenting on her lowest
+class of criminals, and it is well nigh incredible what has been
+accomplished by cerebrum operations.</p>
+
+<p>Certain murderers of vile propensities have been so changed by an
+operation on the cerebrum that they have no power of recalling their
+past life and are incapable of uttering an oath. And what is more
+strange, they are intent on leading an upright life and being intensely
+religious withal.</p>
+
+<p>I am compelled to crowd a world of glorious life into a few paragraphs,
+but I hope that I have given such as will be for our good.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV" />CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>A World of Low Life.</h3>
+
+
+<p>When one witnesses an exhibition he must, of necessity, look upon the
+poorer parts of it. This was my experience in my universal journey, for
+on some worlds which I visited I found that human civilization was at a
+low ebb. One of the most notable of this class is the world next beyond
+Dore-lyn.</p>
+
+<p>This sphere is one thousand times as large as ours, and the beastly
+creatures that inhabit it are four times our size.</p>
+
+<p>The toilers in the deep valleys of Mars are favorably intelligent
+compared with these specimens of humanity. For convenience, I will call
+this world Scum. Its people are so constituted that their two arms can
+be used as legs; so it is quite common to see these Scumites travel over
+their planet like the more graceful of our quadrupeds. Their walking,
+however, is principally after our fashion, and they can change about at
+pleasure. Either way of travel seems as natural as the other. When they
+walk on two limbs, the body is erect, presenting a stature of such
+gigantic proportions as to over-awe a representative of our world.</p>
+
+<p>According to the universal standards of symmetry, these giants have an
+animal beauty that is anything but handsome, and they also lack those
+facial expressions of higher intelligence that come only through
+generations of cultured thinking. Their health is quite perfect and they
+live to a great age.</p>
+
+<p>These Scumites have a language singularly their own. It is so totally
+different from any of our conceptions of speech that I can scarcely find
+words to describe it.</p>
+
+<p>The medium of conversation is the Notched Rod. It is about twelve feet
+long with various kinds of notches cut along the two sides. Such a stick
+is possessed by every Scumite who expects to hold extended or
+descriptive conversations. It is usually held by a skin strung around
+the neck. While one of these persons is talking, two or three of his
+fingers pass from notch to notch along the rod. These indentures of the
+rod represent, in their language, certain kinds of sounds and are used
+to assist the vocal organs in expressing the more intricate combinations
+of ideas. Naturally, the listener watches the fingers more than the
+mouth.</p>
+
+<p>It is amusing to see a Scumite busily engaged in delivering a speech to
+a few of his fellow creatures. It would remind you of a person playing a
+fife or violin without producing any sound.</p>
+
+<p>The children of Scum learn this rod language just the same as our
+children at first learn to speak our language by observation and
+practice.</p>
+
+<p>The face of a Scumite does not resemble a human face of our planet. The
+mouth and jaws are at right angles to ours and this arrangement seems to
+be just as convenient to these Scumites as the formation of our mouth is
+to us. The nose lies above the mouth, but is relatively much higher, its
+point coming between the two eyes which are situated more toward the
+sides of the head.</p>
+
+<p>The startling fact about this world is that at one time in its past
+history fair intelligence reigned on a few parts of the planet. These
+intelligent sections were working their way upward on the measureless
+incline of progress and had won some distinctions in their sciences, as
+well as their religious devotions. These bright spots on the surface of
+this large orb were surrounded with large black patches of war-like
+humanity and, between these two extremes, a warfare of subjection or
+extermination raged without any hope or peace.</p>
+
+<p>The educated Scumites had a few advantages in methods of war, but with
+all this they were not able to withstand the vast hordes that swept down
+upon them. Brute force won the battle and the accumulated light of four
+thousand years flickered until it was no more.</p>
+
+<p>It was a fatal day for Scum when its mad inhabitants blew out the last
+of the candles that had promised to give them light.</p>
+
+<p>When this sad and blighting victory was accomplished, these uncivilized
+tribes rejoiced more hilariously than at one time our Indians rejoiced
+when celebrating their victories in the wild scalp dances.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the dark shadows fell on this huge world. The captured educated
+classes made a heroic effort to continue their cultured manners and
+religious life, but the prejudice against them and their ways was so
+great that they were compelled to live in the lower strata or suffer the
+pain of death. In process of time, the wild woods flourished where once
+the temples of science and pure religion reared their imposing pillars.</p>
+
+<p>What can we expect of such a race of people who have drifted from the
+light of civilization for so long a period? As I looked at their customs
+and their ways, I was reminded of a garden that has run wild. Here and
+there I could see traces of the once thrifty life now almost choked out
+by the overpowering crop of weeds.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually the people became worse and worse. Sin played havoc and built
+carnal fires around which these children of men gathered. Sensuality
+became the ruling passion and, in less than five hundred years of our
+time, the last family observance had died away and these creatures
+wallowed in the quagmire of fleshly lusts, compared with which the brute
+life of our world is highly respectable. "Free Love" was rampant and
+human offspring was cared for by mothers, or at least by such as were
+willing to assume the task. No one was supposed to know who was his
+father.</p>
+
+<p>I saw this sad and sickening spectacle against which my instincts
+revolted with horror. It is true that if man is left totally unbridled,
+he sinks to a depth which it would be impossible for any species of the
+animal creation to reach.</p>
+
+<p>As I continued looking on this low life with its horrors too numerous
+and too dreadful to mention, my thoughts flew back to the world whence I
+came, and to America where I was born, and I remembered of some who
+advocated "Free Love." "Let their arms be withered," I cried, rather
+than have such a thistle fasten itself in the soil of our social life.</p>
+
+<p>Let the libertine of our world go to the world of Scum where he belongs,
+or rise to the dignity of man whose image he bears.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="IMG13" id="IMG13" /><img src="images/image-13.jpg" width="600" height="397" alt="Great Battle between Low Tribes on Scum." title="" />
+<b>Great Battle between Low Tribes on Scum.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>Compared with our world, the physical features of Scum are all
+fashioned on a much larger scale, and the mountains, rivers and
+vegetation are five times greater than ours; so are also the many
+varieties of wild and domestic animals.</p>
+
+<p>The inhabitants of Scum are divided into many warring tribes, and it is
+fearful to see the conflicts that take place. During my brief stay I
+witnessed one of the big battles between two of the stronger tribes. One
+hundred and fifty thousand men went dashing into an enemy of greater
+numbers. It was a foot ball melee on a vast scale. Weapons were all of
+the hand-to-hand type, except the spear wagons which were indeed clumsy
+weapons of war.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing is known of surrender or a flag of truce, so the conflict raged
+horribly to a bitter end until eighty thousand bruised victors
+participated in the jubilant feast that followed. Over two hundred
+thousand Scumites lay dead on the field and along the mountain ridges.
+According to past history, another such great battle is not liable to
+occur for another generation.</p>
+
+<p>The past religion of these giants is not even on a par with idolatry.
+There are many saints sleeping in their graves, bright remnants of the
+time of the old civilization and religion.</p>
+
+<p>Amidst all this present moral wreck of humanity, there are a few
+indications that point to better times. The nobler people of Scum are
+banding together with the avowed purpose of bringing back the light of
+culture and refinement. But it will require several thousand years of
+determined effort to climb to the height from whence their ancestors
+were cruelly and thoughtlessly dragged.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV" />CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+
+<h3>A World of Highest Invention.</h3>
+
+
+<p>After my profitable stay in this immense solar system in the Milky Way,
+I crossed the vast dome of the heavens and lighted on Sirius, the
+brightest star in all the canopy of night. Here I found the fire life of
+Alpha Centaurus repeated, but I did not pause to study the odd phases
+presented to my view.</p>
+
+<p>Onward I moved to survey the remarkable systems of worlds that revolve
+around Sirius. It is a veritable medley of planets, large and small,
+inhabited and barren, sinless, sinful and millennial. A little universe
+packed in a nutshell, figuratively speaking.</p>
+
+<p>The orb of this group that first held my attention is very notable
+indeed. I have labeled it "High Invention," and it is still entitled to
+that distinction. It revolves around Sirius at a distance of seven
+million miles and is thirty-three times as large as our world, with
+physical features and climate quite dissimilar.</p>
+
+<p>Here, in this world of ours, we are proud of the wonderful genius
+displayed by our inventors, and is not this conceit pardonable?</p>
+
+<p>If this world should stand and inventive genius continue at its present
+compound rate of progress, what may we expect to see a hundred or a
+thousand years hence? Now imagine yourself looking down upon a world
+where the highest inventive skill is found. Such was my privilege at
+this time in the course of my universal journey.</p>
+
+<p>This surprising world is inhabited by a persevering race of human
+beings, among whom are a large number of illustrious characters who walk
+in the light of ten thousand years of human achievements.</p>
+
+<p>It need not be said that I was intensely interested in the study of this
+phenomenal world which I will call Ploid. I went from one portion of the
+planet to another, continually remaining invisible. After I had
+witnessed the unequaled sights, I paused to complete my memoranda and
+now, as I review my jottings, I am at a loss to know what few things I
+should select to try to make intelligible to my fellow-men who live on
+this infinitesimal speck which is our world. First, let me call
+attention to:</p>
+
+
+<h3>THEIR TRIUMPHS IN THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.</h3>
+
+<p>The people of Ploid have in their possession a remarkable line of
+fertilizers, not in the form of ground bones, but acidulous juices.
+These juices were improved for three thousand years until there was a
+particular liquid suited to each separate class of vegetables.</p>
+
+<p>As used at the present time, a certain amount of the growth-acid is
+poured directly about the seed at the time of planting. This acid has a
+magical effect upon the soil and it is possible, by repeated
+fertilizing, to raise in two weeks a crop of zoftas, a vegetable similar
+to our potatoes. For raising a crop in two weeks the fertilizer costs
+one-half the value of the zoftas, and for maturing a crop in four weeks
+the fertilizer costs about three-eighths of the value of the zoftas.</p>
+
+<p>Thus it is possible to raise six of these crops in one of our years.
+This law obtains throughout the whole vegetable creation. However, in
+ordinary circumstances, the stimulating acid is used in very light
+quantities. The people have learned by experience that vegetables have a
+better flavor when they have been brought to maturity by the slower
+processes.</p>
+
+<p>These wonderful fertilizers are a blessed boon in the time of "crop
+failures," for then the same crop can be grown anew from the seed and
+hurried to maturity before the close of the season.</p>
+
+<p>The curse of the vegetable worms has been reduced to a minimum on this
+world of Ploid. The chemists have labored patiently for one thousand
+years to produce a substance that will not destroy vegetable seed and at
+the same time kill all forms of parasites. The results have been
+gratifying, and with considerable pleasure I viewed a garden of the
+various odd-shaped vegetables that are grown, without being repulsed at
+the sight of such crawling specimens as tomato and cabbage worms.</p>
+
+<p>The happiest result of this worm-killing substance is seen in the work
+it accomplishes on fruit and nut trees. There is triple the variety of
+nuts on Ploid, and they are used for food more generally than in our
+world. There is no such an animal as a hog and no lard is used. The
+substitute is found in four varieties of nut oil, the result of a sweet
+and clean vegetable growth. Nuts are raised in great abundance, for they
+also supply the base for a spread just as appetizing and more economical
+than butter.</p>
+
+
+<h3>THEIR MODES OF TRAVEL.</h3>
+
+<p>The Ploidites have been traveling in the air for twenty-five hundred
+years, but they cannot control their air-ships sufficiently in all kinds
+of weather. The atmosphere of Ploid is relatively lighter than ours,
+which has made aerial travel more difficult to perfect than it would be
+in our world.</p>
+
+<p>The main traffic, both passenger and freight, is carried on by the Tube
+Line, a wonderful system perfected through thousands of years of
+painstaking labor.</p>
+
+<p>Two immense tubes, lying side by side, each ten feet in diameter, made
+of a substance more durable than steel, form the road bed of this
+lightning system of travel. The cigar-shaped cars have hard
+rubber-wheels and fit over raised bars all around on the inside of the
+immense Tube.</p>
+
+<p>The motor power is called Sky-rallic, and is communicated throughout the
+whole Tube Line by Brosis, a porous metal running in thin narrow bands.</p>
+
+<p>This Tube Line runs without a curve from one division of the road to
+another, except in rare cases where a bend is absolutely necessary. In a
+mountainous region I noticed a stretch of Tube Line without a bend
+running sixty miles, according to our measurement. On prairies, the
+unbroken stretches are much longer.</p>
+
+<p>The cars in this Tube Line travel with fearful rapidity. It requires two
+or three miles to reach dashing speed, after which a run of fifty miles
+is made in eight or ten minutes. No precaution need be taken by the
+motorman as nothing can get into the tube and only one train is allowed
+in a section at one time. Certain hours are given to passenger traffic
+and others to freight traffic. An immense amount of freight can thus be
+carried in one hour. It is possible to send a through freight car two
+thousand miles in ten or twelve hours. Express cars are never connected
+with passengers cars. They are run on their own schedule and sometimes
+attached to freight cars.</p>
+
+<p>This immense Tube Line was built by the government at great expense, but
+it is proving very satisfactory. No storms or floods interfere. No
+grade-crossings and no flying dust are known in this Tube Line which has
+brought the ends of Ploid together. Think of a person crossing a vast
+continent in a day, for the cars in this Tube Line run with frightful
+speed across the long stretches of level. They make as high as a
+three-hundred mile run in forty minutes, without stopping.</p>
+
+<p>The signal and telegraph stations are fifty miles apart, sometimes more.
+In these long runs the motorman stops only when a signal is turned
+against him or if by accident he discerns a train in the Tube ahead of
+him.</p>
+
+<p>The Tube Line is lighted by oval transparencies, in size and shape
+resembling an egg, soldered in specially prepared holes of the Tube.
+The cars are not supplied with air from the tube. Fresh air is obtained
+from the evaporation of a semi-solid.</p>
+
+<p>On the top of this Tube Line there is a double railroad used for local
+travel, both passenger and freight.</p>
+
+
+<h3>THEIR STORAGE BATTERIES.</h3>
+
+<p>Compared with our world, the fuel of Ploid is very scarce, but less is
+required to supply the industries. Nearly all power is obtained from the
+winds, running water and the sun's energy.</p>
+
+<p>The winds are harnessed so that they blow not in vain. Almost every home
+of ordinary intelligence owns one of the many kinds of storage batteries
+used in this world. These batteries are usually located beneath the
+lowest floor of the house, and they constitute the reservoir whence is
+obtained the necessary power for lighting, heating and cooling the
+apartments of the home.</p>
+
+<p>People who live along streams of water utilize these streams for similar
+purposes. It is now conceded in Ploid that the storage batteries of the
+home can be supplied as economically and effectively by winds and the
+sun's heat as by running streams; hence it is a common sight to see
+residences throwing out the old water machinery and introducing the
+latest design of wind-employers or sun-harnessers.</p>
+
+<p>There are certain emergencies when the storage batteries fail to work or
+when the power is exhausted; this happens when there is a very slight
+wind for several days or a heavy drain of power. In such cases fuel is
+used for heating and lighting.</p>
+
+
+<h3>PALACES OF PLOID.</h3>
+
+<p>The palaces of Ploid are dreams of beauty and convenience, outshining
+and surpassing by far the finest mansions on the face of our globe. In
+these abodes the sum total of glory and convenience converges, flowing
+from almost numberless discoveries during the last one hundred years. In
+round numbers, there have been five hundred thousand patents issued in
+the United States in the nineteenth century, but the Ploidites excel us
+by double that number for a similar territorial limit.</p>
+
+
+<h3>THE REWARD OF INVENTORS.</h3>
+
+<p>Patents are not issued in Ploid. The government gives liberal rewards to
+each inventor or discoverer. The applicant appears personally before the
+District Committee on Inventions. If this Committee considers the
+invention worthy of a reward, the applicant is recommended to one of the
+Central Committees at the seat of the government.</p>
+
+<p>This Central Committee carefully considers the invention or discovery,
+places on it an estimate as to its local or governmental value, and
+fills out papers in accordance with its findings. This paper must be
+signed by the Chief Inventor, and the applicant at once receives his
+first installment which is continued, in some instances, during natural
+life. In the case of some extraordinary invention, the immediate
+relatives of the inventor are pensioned for five or ten years in his
+honor.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally, under this system, the government owns all inventions, and
+reaps a heavy return from them, enough to pay all the installments to
+the inventors and the officers employed to carry on this branch of the
+government work.</p>
+
+
+<h3>SOME PARTICULAR INVENTIONS.</h3>
+
+<p>One of the most convenient inventions I saw on this planet of Ploid was
+the carrying of a photograph or image along a wire. The people of Ploid
+cannot only talk to one another many miles apart, but they can also see
+each other while they are talking.</p>
+
+<p>This wonderful attachment to their telephones, by which the human face
+is also carried over the wire, was perfected over one thousand years
+ago. I herewith give a few uses to which this invention is applied.</p>
+
+<p>1. Office men have photograph wires connected with their homes, and they
+can thus talk to and see any one of the family at their pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>2. It can be so arranged that the wife in the home can, by touching a
+little knob, see into her husband's office with which the wire is
+connected, or the husband in the office can see into the room of the
+house with which the connection is made. At either end of the wire, the
+vision can be obstructed by drawing a curtain over the sensitive plate.</p>
+
+<p>3. The foreman of an industrial work shop can see from his home the men
+under his charge.</p>
+
+<p>4. The superintendent of any large works can, at his will, peer into any
+apartment he wishes from his head office. The advantages of this
+arrangement can be easily seen.</p>
+
+<p>5. A minister can see from his study the nature of his audience before
+he leaves home.</p>
+
+<p>6. Farmers can watch their cattle and their fruits without leaving the
+house or barn, according to where the connections are made.</p>
+
+<p>7. Persons can be in bed at night, and if they imagine they hear a
+robber in any room they can first turn on the photograph current and
+then the light flash. In this way one can look, without leaving his bed,
+into each room of the house.</p>
+
+<p>Having given a few illustrations of this marvelous invention, the reader
+can readily see the variety of uses which it will serve.</p>
+
+<p>Their latest discovery in light is a decided improvement over our
+electric light. I know of no sensible name to give it, but the name that
+comes nearest to describing it, according to our terms, would be
+Phosphorous Light. It gives a mild but yet positive radiance, and
+closely resembles diffused sunlight.</p>
+
+
+<h3>THE AGES OF PLOID.</h3>
+
+<p>One of the strangest theories of the whole universe I found on this
+cultured world of Ploid. They divide time into three general periods of
+ages:</p>
+
+<p>1. Age of Fire.</p>
+
+<p>2. Temperate Age.</p>
+
+<p>3. Age of Ice.</p>
+
+<p>The people teach that there was a race of human beings who inhabited
+their world when it was yet in a molten state and that, as their earth
+cooled off, the race became extinct.</p>
+
+<p>This age, they claim, was followed by the Temperate Age, or the age in
+which they are now living.</p>
+
+<p>It is also claimed that, when their earth cools and the frigid blasts
+freeze out the world, there will gradually commence the Age of Ice, or
+the age in which human species will exist by reason of the earth's stiff
+coldness.</p>
+
+<p>I had no way of learning the truth or falsity of this theory.</p>
+
+
+<h3>THOUGHT PHOTOGRAPHY.</h3>
+
+<p>These Ploidites have distanced us in the study of the nervous system,
+including the intricate problems of the cerebrum and cerebellum. They
+have ascertained, by long ages of observation and experimenting, the
+exact effect of every kind of impulse on the brain matter. The experts
+are able to tell, at a post-mortem examination, what kinds of thinking
+were most prevalent during the subject's life, just as easily as we can
+judge the great or little use of the arm by an examination of its
+muscles.</p>
+
+<p>But more wonderful, a thousand fold, is their ability to follow the
+course of thought in a living cerebrum after the brain has been made
+visible by a light more potent than the X&nbsp;ray. After this exposure the
+operator, with his wizard magnifying lens, watches the tiny tremulous
+brain cells in their infinitesimal quivering, as they carry messages
+from the soul to the world of sense and being.</p>
+
+<p>The voluntary nerve action is distinguished from the involuntary, and
+there is no escape from the conclusions formed by an expert observer.
+The parts of the brain at work must of necessity determine the nature of
+the thought, and amplified experiments have been made to prove the
+correctness of these processes.</p>
+
+<p>This scientific mind reading impressed me as the highest expression of
+inventive skill that had come to my attention in any world of space, and
+gave me new light on some of the old mysteries of mind and matter.</p>
+
+<p>I tarried as long as possible on this instructive planet and have not
+yet forgotten many of the valuable hints of inventions that can be
+reproduced in my own world. Surely we are far enough away from Ploid to
+escape any charge of infringement, should we proceed to patent some of
+their inventions.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI" />CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>A Singular Planet.</h3>
+
+
+<p>I visited the other seventy worlds that revolve around Sirius. Among
+them is one of note, called Zik, which is forty-two hundred millions of
+miles from its sun, and is slightly smaller than our world. It is
+inhabited by a race of pigmies which I will call Zikites. Wonderful
+indeed is the intelligence of these creatures, although their form is
+out of symmetry according to our standards. I will therefore avoid a
+description of their physical features, lest it might mar the picture of
+their accomplishments.</p>
+
+<p>The air of Zik is heavy and the sky is opal in its effects. The chemists
+have thus far found in nature ninety elementary substances, and it is
+partly due to this large variety that the Zikites have surpassed their
+fellow men in thousands of worlds.</p>
+
+<p>As you study the past events of this unusual planet, you are reminded
+of our own history. On Zik there are heathen tribes and all grades of
+conflicting civilized nations.</p>
+
+<p>War has reddened this distant world for several thousand years, and as
+yet there is no peace. Notwithstanding all this unceasing upheaval, the
+tide of human progress has steadily risen. It does appear that the
+highest light of intellect is generated like electric light through
+sharp friction.</p>
+
+<p>The Zikites have had their Men of War, vessels of mighty strength and
+death-dealing in their action. But all such defense has been abandoned
+over five hundred years ago, and it came about in a natural manner. One
+of the many illustrious inventors perfected the submarine boat and the
+flying-machine at about the same time. Their flying-machine might
+appropriately be called in our language, the Flying Devil, for such it
+is if you consider its destroying power. One of these ominous looking
+machines is capable of destroying a whole navy as fast as it can move
+high in the air from one vessel to another.</p>
+
+<p>It can also tear to pieces an enemy's camp that lies in the open field.
+All this is accomplished by dropping shells composed partly of some
+elements not found in our world. These shells are made in such a way
+that they explode as soon as they touch any substance, and the
+concussion is much more terrible than is caused by our most powerful
+explosives. Because no ship could hold together under such destructive
+shells, the nations abandoned their navies and devoted their energy to
+devising a safe camp for soldiers and to building these air-vessels with
+additional improvements.</p>
+
+<p>It was found that the only way to protect a camp was to cover it with a
+water proof shed, so constructed that nine or ten inches of water would
+remain on the roof. Then a wide shallow trench was dug around the shed
+and kept filled with water. These shells will not explode if they fall
+in that depth of water, but will explode in water of greater depth. You
+can see at a glance how difficult it is to manage an army under these
+circumstances. The only redeeming feature is that the enemy also is
+compelled to resort to the same protection. An international law
+forbids the destruction of homes in times of war.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="IMG14" id="IMG14" /><img src="images/image-14.jpg" width="600" height="402" alt='The Battle of the "Flying Devils."' title='' />
+<b>The Battle of the "Flying Devils."</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>Wars are of short duration. Usually the decisive conflict is fought in
+the air, and is the most terrible of them all. Imagine two of these
+Flying Devils approaching one another far above the surface of Zik. Each
+vessel is set in action long before it is in range of the other in the
+hope of firing the first effective shot. Each party of the conflict
+knows that the air vessel first struck will be at an end forever, for it
+will be blown to pieces and every life on board will be shattered into
+shapeless masses, while the wreckage falls amidst the burning of the
+combustibles. What a horrible ending of a short battle!</p>
+
+<p>The wisest of the Zikites have proposed many plans to settle
+international differences but, like us, they have failed to suggest any
+plan that has proved to be practicable.</p>
+
+<p>The largest nation of Zik has advanced far ahead of us on the labor
+question, but this was not reached until the contest between capital and
+labor had left its blood-marks through many centuries.</p>
+
+<p>A brief description of the manner in which the industrial problem was
+solved will not be out of place. I will waste no words n showing the
+many points of difference between our customs and those of Zik.</p>
+
+<p>After hundreds of years of painful struggling, the many laborers of this
+largest nation completed a solid organization and thereby gained control
+of the whole government. Then, in their zeal to legislate in favor of
+the laboring classes, the ruling element stepped to the other extreme by
+passing many unreasonable laws. Things passed along in this unsettled
+condition until a certain few of the labor leaders, having become
+wealthy themselves, yielded to a heavy bribe and amended the laws so as
+to favor the wealthy minority. The magnates of capital shrewdly took
+advantage of this traitorship and, in the following campaign, won the
+national election.</p>
+
+<p>The wealthy, now having the reins of power in their own hands, took the
+initiative and called for a consultation between the heads of the
+government and the chief leaders of labor.</p>
+
+<p>This proved to be a wise political move and, as a result, a new system
+of laws relating to all trades and occupations was enacted. The
+following conditions still prevail:</p>
+
+<p>1. A day's work consists of one-fourth less hours.</p>
+
+<p>2. A minimum scale of wages is adopted for each trade. This scale is
+based upon the price of certain staple articles, and within a certain
+limit it rises or falls with the price of these necessities.</p>
+
+<p>3. All regular citizens must be supplied with work if they desire it. If
+they cannot get employment from some firm or corporation, the government
+officials represented locally must supply it or its equivalent in money.
+The government controls enough of the business to employ two-thirds of
+the male population. This enables the government to take so great a
+responsibility and bear it with satisfactory results.</p>
+
+<p>4. Any man through negligence failing to support his family is put to
+the government penitentiary service, and his family is thereafter
+supported from the public treasury.</p>
+
+<p>5. A widow or orphan is cared for by regular authorities. The by-laws
+of this fifth article regulate the work of women.</p>
+
+<p>6. No credit is allowed except on a government credit-slip signed by the
+local representative of the state. If the bill is not paid by the one
+making the debt, the amount of which is always stipulated, the
+government will pay it and proceed to collect it in one of three ways.
+The last resort is according to article four.</p>
+
+<p>There are several other sections governing private ownership of
+property, land and business. These new laws have had a very good effect.
+The number of persons getting immensely wealthy gradually decreased, and
+the average wealth of the laborers increased. The government has the
+power at any time to form a trust or combination of any line of business
+by paying liberally to those already engaged in it. This assists the
+government in carrying its heavy financial burdens, and every family is
+assured of support if the soil produces enough to feed the people.</p>
+
+<p>And now if I knew how to describe elements that have no resemblance to
+anything in our world, I would proceed to tell a story of interest to
+chemists. These Zikites have formed gases and solids unknown to us, and
+naturally they are capable of performing experiments more wonderful than
+anything ever known in our world. When I saw their wizard-like
+performances I thought that the marvelous feats of the Orient were being
+performed on a scale more mysterious and magnificent.</p>
+
+<p>To see a man play with red hot irons and dance in a seething furnace,
+makes one believe that his eyes are deceiving him.</p>
+
+<p>I saw a man draw the birds from heaven and dormant reptiles from the
+soil, but ask me not to tell how. A few of these Zikites have discovered
+some wonderful secrets of nature and will not disclose them except to
+certain ones of their own lineage. One of these secrets is the art of
+embalming the dead so perfectly that human features are retained forever
+unless destroyed by fire or human effort. The embalming fluid contains
+some of the elements not found in our world, but this is not the total
+secret. The body must lie in an air-tight receptacle into which a
+secret gas is pumped. The dead body, lying in this receptacle for two
+hours, absorbs certain parts of the gas which enters the pores and
+touches those parts of the dead body not reached by the injected fluid.
+By this process no part of the body is subject to putrefaction and the
+muscles all retain their rigidity, so that one hundred years after
+burial the features are full, although discolored.</p>
+
+<p>Not many of the common people are thus embalmed. But the bodies of
+prominent men and women are thus treated at government expense and
+unborn generations can look upon the full contour of their faces.</p>
+
+<p>Another secret held by these experts is the art of maintaining youthful
+vigor in old age. This is a very expensive method and the government
+prohibits any one securing this treatment who has not won special honor
+in one or another particular channel. One of the highest distinctions
+bestowed upon any citizen of Zik is to grant him the "Angel's Honor,"
+which entitles him to receive the Vigor Treatment during the balance of
+his natural life. This one thing, more than any other, is the secret of
+Zik having so long a list of illustrious characters. It is the ambition
+of each boy or girl to make progress and some day win the "Angel's
+Honor."</p>
+
+<p>The religious life of these Zikites is unusually intense. Their language
+is much more cumbersome than ours. They have a small book which contains
+a list of great truths whose authors claim to have been influenced by
+the All-Powerful, or the same as our God. This book has had a remarkable
+history, and has moulded the life and character of millions. Every
+person is left to his own notions in religion, and we see here the same
+picture that confronts us on our own planet, the very good and the very
+bad in the same house and neighborhood. They build but few churches, but
+here and there a home of a believer is the center of a worshiping
+company. On special occasions the worshipers rent or secure large public
+buildings and have an enthusiastic time.</p>
+
+<p>At many places their Bible speaks of a place where the departed go after
+death, beyond the Zik life. These worshipers are linked to their God by
+the same kind of love-chords that bind Christians to their Master in
+our world.</p>
+
+<p>You cannot imagine my interest and my joy as I learned that the Zikites
+are looking forward to a period of time corresponding to our Millennium.
+Their religious literature is full of references to this coming golden
+age, and many poetical compositions point to it with rapturous melody of
+language.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII" />CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
+
+<h3>The Diamond World.</h3>
+
+
+<p>When one reads of the size and population of our world he is thrilled
+with the idea of its greatness. But when he travels over land and sea,
+visiting the many points of interest, he is impressed four-fold with the
+magnitude of the Earth and the vast numbers that populate it.</p>
+
+<p>It is infinitely more so in regard to the many suns and planets that
+compose the universe. I had read of the distances of space and of the
+number of celestial bodies that are scattered throughout these
+measureless expanses, and I was profoundly impressed with the vastness
+of created things and the eternal revolutions of the countless spheres.
+But when I took my continued flight away from the solar system of Sirius
+and was privileged to get a passing glimpse of many other solar systems,
+I was overawed a thousand-fold at the myriad motions of the myriad
+worlds, each serving its little part through the passing cycles to
+carry out the plan of the Infinite Mind.</p>
+
+<p>My next pause was at the glorious constellation of Orion on the star
+Rigel. This brilliant orb is not inhabited, but more than one-half of
+the worlds revolving around it sustain human life.</p>
+
+<p>After I had taken a passing glimpse of a few worlds belonging to this
+system, I proceeded to visit another world that revolves around Rigel at
+a distance of sixteen hundred million miles. It is a trifle larger than
+our world and is inhabited by only about one-tenth as many people.</p>
+
+<p>This is the brightest planet I had ever seen, for it dazzled and
+sparkled like pearls of ice in the sun, and yet it gave forth no light
+of its own.</p>
+
+<p>I soon learned the secret of all this scintillation. I had come to a
+world that seemed to be covered with diamonds and precious stones. The
+mountains were barren of all vegetation and glistened with all the glory
+of a hundred rainbows.</p>
+
+<p>I presumed that I had come to immense beds of quartz, but the rare
+brilliancy of the whole scene set me to work to ascertain the value of
+these stones. To my astonishment, I found that the shining mountains and
+valleys were filled with genuine diamonds and precious stones, some of
+which are very rare according to our classification. I was dazed at the
+sight, first because of its brilliancy and beauty, and next because of
+the fabulous fortunes that were lying at my feet.</p>
+
+<p>Then I transported myself to another part of the planet that I might get
+a view of its living fields of vegetation. Alas, I again met the shining
+of countless gems, set by nature in ledges of rock and massed in
+confused heaps all around me.</p>
+
+<p>"What a rich world!" I inwardly murmured. "How can people live on
+diamonds?"</p>
+
+<p>As I was thus musing I sped onward to one of the soil centers of this
+world. Here I found a small city built of diamonds and choice stones of
+which the people thought no more than we do of the stones brought down
+from our quarries.</p>
+
+<p>The soil was almost worshiped. Only the wealthiest could afford to have
+it in their homes for the growth of flowers. Fortunately, the soil is
+very productive and, by reason of its scarcity, it has received such
+careful attention that all worthless weeds have been actually choked out
+several thousand years ago.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, the soil being so desirable and staple an article, it was eagerly
+sought after by all who lived on this shining world. Yea, some
+sacrificed their all that they might obtain a goodly portion of the
+soil. This desire was so great that it became the ruling passion of many
+people to accumulate soil all the days of their life, and many died of
+grief because they could not succeed in satisfying their ambitions.</p>
+
+<p>Now when the speculators saw that the soil was so indispensable and much
+desired by the people, and that out of it were the issues of life, the
+wealthier and more crafty of them said among themselves:</p>
+
+<p>"Come, let us buy all the soil, we and our brethren in all the soil
+centers, and let us call ourselves a Trust, signifying that we will
+trust one another to the secrets of our enterprise."</p>
+
+<p>And behold this saying seemed good in the eyes of these wise men, and
+they labored diligently until, in the passing of a few years, they had
+secured unto themselves full possession of all the soil of the Diamond
+World.</p>
+
+<p>And it was so in the course of time that these corporations held a great
+meeting and they said:</p>
+
+<p>"Barns we will build to store products of the soil, and behold we will
+sell from these storehouses to our workmen for the labor that they may
+render unto us."</p>
+
+<p>This scheme was pleasing to all the capitalists and they rejoiced in the
+bright prospect of the future. So they built great barns and thus laid
+away the products of the soil. Then they appointed agents to sell
+whatsoever the people wished.</p>
+
+<p>And it came to pass, as the seasons came and went, that these
+capitalists gave the laborers less for their toil, and charged them more
+for food at the supply stations. Thus the conditions became so severe
+that a man could work from the rising of the Sun to the setting thereof,
+and they earn scarcely enough to keep his family alive.</p>
+
+<p>After this manner the land owners grew more and more wealthy, built
+unto themselves handsome little villages, and lived in happiness and
+refinement. They also erected for themselves select schools and reserved
+beautiful plots for their luxury and amusement.</p>
+
+<p>Then did the members of this Trust, in order to protect themselves from
+all possible trouble, pass a civil law forbidding any laborer to own an
+inch of soil. Thus it was very easy to convict a man of theft if soil
+could be found upon his person or premises.</p>
+
+<p>Now, behold, there were many little spots of vegetation scattered here
+and there over this whole world. But the agents of the Trust sent out
+numerous expeditions to gather up all the loose earth that could be
+found and carry it to the soil centers. This work was so completely done
+that every nook and corner yielded its accumulated dust to enlarge the
+gardens at the soil centers and thereby increase the riches of the
+Trust.</p>
+
+<p>Now, as time passed on, the children of the laborers were also employed
+to assist in earning bread, and in the course of a few hundred years
+the school houses in the district of the laborers were torn down, as it
+was impossible for these children to receive an education, since they
+must needs work for their sustenance.</p>
+
+<p>After many ages the members of the Trust had become so hardened that
+they no longer regarded the wishes of the laboring people, but pushed
+everything to increase their own selfish gain, insomuch that they
+succeeded in securing the passage of certain laws making the burdens of
+the laborers still more heavy.</p>
+
+<p>And now, when the capitalists saw that the people did not rebel, they
+again counseled among themselves on this wise:</p>
+
+<p>"Why should there be so much labor lost in continually quarrying new
+sepulchers in our diamond ridges, and why should there be so much dust
+lying idle in the old graves? Come, let us have a law that the dust in
+all graves over one hundred years old shall be sold at auction, unless
+the graves are redeemed by a certain amount of soil. Then these empty
+tombs can be again filled with the dead of our servants and their
+children. Thus let it be continued throughout coming generations
+forever. Each year this auction shall be held to dispose of the dust
+remaining in one-hundred-year-old sepulchers."</p>
+
+<p>These suggestions found favor in the eyes of the Trust who proceeded at
+once to take the necessary steps to incorporate these regulations into
+the laws of the commonwealth. The laborers stoutly opposed the adoption
+of these partial measures, but they were powerless because the Trust
+bribed enough of the legislators to carry their point.</p>
+
+<p>All this happened many centuries ago, so that when I was there I saw the
+full program of one of these spectral auctions and was chilled with
+horror at the proceedings.</p>
+
+<p>Every year this peculiar auction is held at each soil center. The
+wealthy are able to redeem their sepulchers, but the poor, having no
+soil, cannot satisfy the law; so the dust of their ancestors must be
+sold. Laborers are sent out to open the one-hundred-year-old sepulchers
+along the diamond ridges and carry the coffins to one place. Here they
+are publicly opened and the bones and dust gathered into one
+receptacle after which the weird auction begins. No one can compete with
+the corporations and no one tries.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 750px;">
+<a name="IMG15" id="IMG15" /><img src="images/image-15.jpg" width="750" height="496" alt="The Most Horrible Auction in Our Universe." title="" />
+<b>The Most Horrible Auction in Our Universe.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>The legal form of the auction is soon over and the half ton or ton of
+dust is legally bought by the corporations whose officers order it to be
+sprinkled over the gardens. It serves the same purpose as phosphate in
+our fields. This awful process is repeated each year. The sepulchers,
+emptied thus, are open for new burials. So you can see that with all the
+gruesomeness of this whole business, there is an economic side to it,
+and the people have come to view it all in a philosophical manner.</p>
+
+<p>When this wretched custom was first inaugurated a bitter wail ascended
+from the ranks of the laboring classes, for they well knew whose graves
+would be opened. Never was there such a stir among the working classes
+of people. They held mass meetings and grew loudly indignant until the
+Trust became alarmed at the uprising.</p>
+
+<p>Then did some of these rich sharpsters, who were best gifted in speech,
+go out to meet their servants, addressing them thus:</p>
+
+<p>"Let your hearts be at peace, my fellow creatures. This new law that we
+have just passed is a boon to every toiler, for we seek to lighten your
+burdens by utilizing the idle dust from the tombs. Hereafter we propose
+to give, free of charge, a sepulcher to every toiler in which he may
+take his rest for one hundred years. These graves shall be for you and
+your children forever. Is it not a precious thought that one hundred
+years after you are dead, your bodies shall again mingle with the soil
+and, without voluntary effort or pain, help to support your kindred yet
+unborn?</p>
+
+<p>"If our present silly customs should prevail, the time will come when
+half our soil will have been carried to the sepulchers, and therefore
+your tasks would be more severe."</p>
+
+<p>After this manner spake the glib-tongued fellows and, behold, their
+speeches were as oil on the troubled waters. Under their sophistries the
+laborers were content and peacefully went to their tasks again after
+three months of unrest.</p>
+
+<p>Then did the members of the corporations consult again and spake among
+themselves in this fashion:</p>
+
+<p>"For our protection let us gather, from the laborers, the youthful and
+the strong, have them taught in tactics of war, and make it unlawful for
+any to carry deadly weapons, except these trained men, whom we will call
+our Soil Defenders, and if any of the laborers should ask: 'Wherefore
+are we called to do this work?' we will say to them, 'For the defense of
+the soil and the defense of our families are ye called, therefore quit
+yourselves nobly.'</p>
+
+<p>"And it shall come to pass that when the laborers commence a foolish
+struggle for their own selfish gain, we can use these trained soldiers
+to keep them in peace, and thus we need not spend so much of our breath
+by way of persuasion."</p>
+
+<p>Behold this thing seemed reasonable and seasonable in the eyes of the
+Trust. They did according to these suggestions and gathered unto
+themselves, in the name of the civil law, the strongest of the youth and
+trained them in all the ways of war. Thus did these workmen lose all
+their liberties by slow degrees, until they were no more troublesome,
+but labored like slaves to get the wherewithal to live.</p>
+
+<p>As I witnessed this sad picture resulting from the inhumanity of man to
+man, I was at once reminded of what I had seen on Mars, and of the
+struggle now pending in my own world. Once more I breathed a silent
+prayer to the Ruler of all worlds in behalf of the crushed hands and
+bleeding hearts that are bruised in order that certain men may make
+their thousands in a day.</p>
+
+<p>I studied the social life of the refined villagers and learned, with
+much interest, that the word they use for soil, is used in the same
+esteemed connection in which we use the word gold or diamond.</p>
+
+<p>Preachers, teachers and orators make endless references to the soil.
+Finally I approached, in a visible form, a few professors who were
+engaged in a special discussion.</p>
+
+<p>They were alarmed at my sudden appearance, not knowing whence I came nor
+what sort of an animal I might be. I quickly calmed their troubled minds
+by using language they easily understood, and explained that I was
+neither a ghost nor a spirit, but a mere citizen of another world,
+having, for a limited period, a free excursion ticket to a thousand
+worlds, and that I chose their planet as one whereon to spend a fleeting
+period.</p>
+
+<p>Not having been accustomed to such visitants, they were at first
+skeptical and thoroughly overawed at my presence.</p>
+
+<p>I purposely became as familiar as possible and cautioned them to remain
+in the selfsame room and spread no notice of my presence. To this
+request they reluctantly consented.</p>
+
+<p>After my nonplused auditors gained their senses somewhat they ventured
+to reply to my coaxing questions; these finally led to the following
+interrogations on their part:</p>
+
+<p>"How large is your world?" came a question from one.</p>
+
+<p>"Not quite so large as this one," I replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you much soil there?"</p>
+
+<p>"A million times more than you have here."</p>
+
+<p>"What a wonderfully rich world! The people must be gloriously happy
+with such fabulous wealth around them."</p>
+
+<p>"The bulk of my fellow-men there are not happy," I sighed. "So many
+spend their lives looking for diamonds and gold, the most of whom are
+doomed to disappointment."</p>
+
+<p>An incredulous smile crept over the faces of my newly-made friends, and
+by it I read the doubt that was arising in their hearts as to the truth
+of my utterance.</p>
+
+<p>"My words are sincere," I insisted. "If you could take one bushel of
+your diamonds to the world where I live, you could get more soil for
+them than you have on your whole globe."</p>
+
+<p>"That world is heaven," exclaimed a few of my hearers at once. "A world
+of such abundant soil cannot be any other place." Then I learned that
+their conception of Heaven is not a place of gold-paved streets, but a
+place where soil is freely distributed even on the sides of the streets.</p>
+
+<p>I continued speaking, telling them how diamonds were considered in our
+world. These professors were astonished beyond measure at my
+description, and each one seemed to crave for the knowledge to transport
+a large consignment of their diamonds to our Earth and return with acres
+of soil to the Diamond World.</p>
+
+<p>I spent a felicitous period with these queer-shaped scholars of the
+Diamond World. They prayed and begged that I should remain and appear
+before the corporations. Their spirits drooped when I told them that if
+I had any more time to spend visibly on their world I would prefer to
+comfort the laborers and their suffering families who had been so long
+deprived of the fair treatment they deserved.</p>
+
+<p>My hearers became ashen with fear, now feeling doubly assured that I was
+a forerunner of some terrible curse that was about to fall upon the
+Trusts and corporations whom those professors were serving so
+assiduously, without ever speaking a word of protest in favor of the
+human slaves around them.</p>
+
+<p>Once more I related my station. But I spoke in most convincing terms of
+the eternal curse with which the Infinite would visit the guilty of all
+worlds.</p>
+
+<p>As I left them I saw that my last words brought no relief to their
+faces and, after a long silence, they nervously discussed the whole
+affair, not being able to account for the exceptional experience through
+which they had just passed.</p>
+
+<p>I visited, in a form invisible, the mansions of the rich and found that
+the most choice ornaments on their parlor shelves consisted of vials of
+soil or dirt, and in the homes of the most wealthy only I saw flowering
+plants.</p>
+
+<p>It chanced that I visited this world at the graduating period of the
+greater schools. This gave me privilege to hear an oration on "The Soil
+and the Diamond," a synopsis of which I will translate as correctly as I
+can. It will be remembered that I must use terms and style suitable to
+our language.</p>
+
+<p>"O beautiful soil! Thou art but a type of thy maker invisible. Thou dost
+give birth to countless forms and nursest them all from thy own bosom.
+From the atom thou bringest the oak, and all its children fall back into
+thy arms for succor. From thy own heart spring the infinite types of
+vegetable beauty, all painted and frescoed by thy own exquisite
+touches.</p>
+
+<p>"O mysterious soil! Wrapped in thy bosom lie a thousand secrets which,
+if I could but read, I might interpret and thus learn anew of my
+Creator. Thou holdest the ashes of the millions slain, and the dust of
+all our forefathers.</p>
+
+<p>"O silent soil! How thou workest without the flying shuttle, or the hum
+of the busy bees. Thou doest thy greatest deeds without the sounding of
+a trumpet. Silently thy atoms take their places to serve in higher
+forms. O teach me thy mute language that I may live and sacrifice for
+others without my crying and my sighing.</p>
+
+<p>"O humble soil! Thy elements, when formed into man, or fruit, or any
+kind of food, return again without complaint when touched by death. May
+I, like thee, take all my condescension in the spirit of humility.</p>
+
+<p>"O modest soil! Thou are not gaudy like the diamond, sparkling and
+dazzling in a brilliant show and living for nothing higher than display.
+But thou dost lay aside thy feathery tips, leaving the sun of heaven do
+the shining. Thou permittest water crystals to give the rainbow hues,
+whilst thou in thy own modest way, continuest to yield sustenance for
+man and bird and beast.</p>
+
+<p>"O instructive soil! Wilt thou not, in thy own wise way, speak to the
+thoughtless man who feels content to grovel with the miserable diamond,
+who takes his lessons from the dead, dead rock, and feeds his soul upon
+such flinty food. Open his ears to hear thy words of life and light, and
+may he see in thee the brighter mirror reflecting the God of all."</p>
+
+<p>This one oration condensed is a fair sample of the others. I listened to
+the whole program and then proceeded once more to view the diamond
+splendors before I left this world where I was well paid for my
+tarrying.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII" />CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>Triumphant Feat of Orion.</h3>
+
+
+<p>As I continued ranging among the planets of the constellation of Orion,
+I felt an indescribable desire to pause at a very small orb which
+revolves around Saiph, a star of the third magnitude.</p>
+
+<p>Here I found, to my surprise, a gem of a world which I will call Holen.
+It is five hundred miles in diameter, and inhabited by a refined race of
+human beings, radically different from us in physical contour, but
+remarkably similar to us in their mental aspirations.</p>
+
+<p>As a race they greatly excel us in mechanical engineering. Many
+evidences of their skill might be given, but we will be content to give
+a description of their monumental engineering feat.</p>
+
+<p>Long ages ago Holen had cooled to the center, and it became the ruling
+passion of her most intelligent inhabitants to communicate from one
+side of the globe to the other through an opening of five hundred miles
+almost directly through the center of their earth, or more accurately
+speaking, through the center of gravity.</p>
+
+<p>After forty-five hundred years of experimenting the marvelous feat was
+accomplished.</p>
+
+<p>Of all the worlds in the constellation of Orion, large or small, Holen
+is the only one that has succeeded in this astounding feat, although it
+has been and is being tried on more than a dozen worlds.</p>
+
+<p>This wonderful opening through Holen's center of gravity is lined with
+sections of ribbed metal which cost the governments fabulous sums. This
+vast tube was finished thirteen hundred years ago according to our time.</p>
+
+<p>Many lives were sacrificed in the hazardous work of tunneling. Were it
+not for the ribbed metal which afforded protection with its shelving
+flanges, the tube could never have been finished.</p>
+
+<p>At the present time the tube is used for commercial purposes and for
+passenger traffic. Air tight cars of special design are used, and only
+one car is allowed in the tube at one time.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 399px;">
+<a name="IMG16" id="IMG16" /><img src="images/image-16.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="The Gravity-Car of Holen." title="" />
+<b>The Gravity-Car of Holen.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>You cannot imagine the frightful velocity of the ride, but the passenger
+is not as conscious of this as you might think. The first fifty miles of
+the descent is controlled by the exterior or surface engines. The speed
+is gradually increased until it reaches that of the falling body. Then
+the motorman releases the wizard car and the speed is steady and
+terrible until the car dashes past the center of gravity, after which
+the speed slackens at a regular rate. The car of its own momentum forces
+its way far toward the opposite surface of their earth.</p>
+
+<p>Just as the carriage comes to a stop, the engineer or motorman, as we
+would call him, pulls his lever, thereby fastening the car to the ribbed
+side of the tube. At once a signal is given and the long, thin but
+strong rope descends to draw the carriage to the surface.</p>
+
+<p>A perfect system of communication is established from one end of the
+ponderous tube to the other. It frequently happens when an attempt is
+made to fasten the car that the clamps fail to work and consequently the
+carriage commences its second journey toward the center. Another effort
+is made to hold the carriage when it again comes to a stop; but if this
+is not successful, then comes the most peculiar experience of all. The
+carriage of its own momentum continues dashing backward and forward
+until it comes to rest at the center of gravity. Then the engineer, by
+communicating with the surface, gets the longest stretch of rope and is
+drawn two hundred and fifty miles to the surface.</p>
+
+<p>This world has no atmosphere and life is not sustained by breathing,
+neither by the process found on the Moon.</p>
+
+<p>The inhabitants get their sustenance from the soil with which they must
+be connected, directly or indirectly over one-half the time, or they
+will suffer in a manner similar to us when we are suffocating.</p>
+
+<p>From this faint glimpse of their life, it can be seen that the people of
+Holen in their habits are totally incongruous to all our conceptions,
+and if one of them were to make a visit to our world, everything he
+would here see would appear just as ridiculous and unthinkable to him as
+the things on their globe did to me.</p>
+
+<p>As I surveyed this world, everything evidenced the fact that these
+people are born engineers. Our Eiffel Tower and Ferris Wheel would be
+mere playthings compared with the sky-scraping structures that adorn the
+various parts of this little world. It appears that the international
+mind runs in this one direction more than in any other, and while they
+surpass us in this respect, they are inferior to us in the limitless
+field of science and philosophy as well as in the variety of
+manufacturing plants.</p>
+
+<p>In their religion, the Holenites have developed to a high degree. They
+have no sacred book akin to our Bible. Their whole authority comes from
+the lips of the Divine Family, as we would term it. This family serves
+for religion the same purpose as the Royal Family does for the civil
+realm in some countries of our world. The Divine Family are genuinely
+descended from their sacred ancestors who were, by a visible show of
+omnipotent power, appointed and consecrated to the sacred work of
+dispensing truth and officiating in all sacraments. The ordination of
+all the ministers of Holen must be held by a member of this Divine
+Family. By reason of this one source of authority, there is, therefore,
+no confliction of creeds. The great battle of the Church is with the
+several infidel organizations that give no heed to the genuine religion.</p>
+
+<p>This Sacred Family received a code of laws which they have held from the
+beginning and, strange to say, no one is allowed to copy these laws in
+written or printed form. To do so is a type of blasphemy for which a
+severe penalty is imposed. Some of the infidel organizations find
+delight to print all or a part of these laws and scatter them secretly
+among the people. Such documents fall with as much pain on the premises
+of a believer as oaths do in our world on the ear of a delicately
+trained soul.</p>
+
+<p>If an infidel wishes to insult a godly pilgrim, he can do it no more
+effectively than by secretly fastening to the believer's residence a
+piece of material on which is inscribed one or more of these sacred
+laws.</p>
+
+<p>Every believer is required to commit to memory this code of laws by
+hearing them from the lips of the minister. It is therefore necessary to
+keep in constant touch with the church service so as to be a continual
+hearer of these laws, a part of which is repeated every worship day.</p>
+
+<p>The minister does not preach in the same sense that we understand
+preaching. His work comes nearer filling the office of a priest under
+the old Jewish church. There is much more form and ceremony than is
+found in our system under the Mediator, Jesus Christ.</p>
+
+<p>The civil law has absolutely nothing to say on the marriage question.
+All this is held in the domain of the Church. In truth, the Divine
+Family has always regulated this question. If the legality of a marriage
+is called in question, all that the civil authorities try to determine
+is whether the marriage ceremony was performed in accordance with the
+laws of the Divine Family. If this point can be established, the
+marriage is declared legal; if not, it is declared to be null and void.
+This one subject of matrimony has caused more friction between the
+Church and the infidels than all other issues combined. The infidels are
+bitterly opposed to take their marriage vows before the minister, yet
+this must be done to make their marriage legal. Divorce laws are
+unknown, although, in rare cases, papers of separation are granted by
+authority and under seal of the Divine Family.</p>
+
+<p>The religious devotees of Holen look forward to a happier existence when
+their mortal life is ended. Their ideas of this future life are quite
+similar to our cherished ideas of Heaven.</p>
+
+<p>In their moral life they have reached a higher plane than we. This is
+due to the fact that the Divine Family wield an influence in the civil
+realm that cannot be broken.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX" />CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
+
+<h3>The Mute World.</h3>
+
+
+<p>I proceeded on my journey until I had reached Alcyone in the famous
+constellation of Taurus. On one of the planets revolving around Alcyone,
+I found a distinctive class of human beings faintly resembling creatures
+that I had seen in several other constellations, but of which I have, as
+yet, made no special mention.</p>
+
+<p>Among these people no audible language is used as a means of
+communication. One might think that high civilization would be
+impossible without such a vehicle of thought. But on this Mute world
+humanity has pushed far along in the great interstellar race for
+supremacy.</p>
+
+<p>A description of the physical features of these Muteites would not only
+seem absurd, but would be distorting. Can you imagine a beautiful person
+without ears and void of vocal sound, having a head totally out of
+shape compared with ours, and with a bodily framework ridiculously new
+to us? Such would be a brief word sketch of these far-away mortals of
+unusual intelligence.</p>
+
+<p>These people hold all their conversation by pure thought transmission.
+The sense-perception is almost infinitely keen, and gestures play no
+part in emphasizing thought. It is amazing to see with what facility
+these beings express their ideas one to another.</p>
+
+<p>In our life one may conceal his thoughts from the most searching human
+eye, but this cannot be done on Mute. As a consequence each one can read
+the character of his comrades, and the normal citizen well knows what
+necessary allowance to make for the impure thoughts that flit through
+the mind of his neighbor.</p>
+
+<p>I studied, with absorbing interest, the many phases of this mental
+telepathy, or mind talking, between two or more persons even though
+widely separated. Imagine how glorious it must be to have real
+fellowship with a friend whose face you cannot see and whose hand you
+cannot touch.</p>
+
+<p>There are limitations to this delightsome way of talking. A person can
+hold conversation with only one absent friend at a time and then only
+when each one concentrates his thoughts on the other. What wireless
+telegraphy is to our world, this mental conversation is to the world of
+Mute, and it is possible that we may reach a higher degree of
+proficiency in this direction after we become still better acquainted
+with the laws of the human mind.</p>
+
+<p>When I think of the many unaccountable heart-thrills that send their
+emotions of joy and hatred into our passing life, I am somewhat
+persuaded that we speak this tongueless language more than we imagine.
+Some day we may learn the secrets that are now so heavily veiled and
+thereby put to naught the glory of our present modes of communication.
+Until then we will plod along with the telegraph, telephone, wireless
+telegraphy and our ever-changing knowledge of telepathic intercourse.</p>
+
+<p>I will give the philosophy of this perfect means of expressing thought
+as clearly as I can.</p>
+
+<p>As sound waves are created in our atmosphere by actual vibration, so
+are thought waves created on Mute by mental activity focused in any one
+point of the brain. Our way of expressing thought by audible words is
+not conceivable to these people. If one of their inhabitants were to
+visit our Earth, he would be at a loss to account for our movements of
+mouth and gestures of body when we are in the act of conversation.</p>
+
+<p>The social life of Mute is marked with many peculiarities. Males and
+females seldom ever associate together, and social purity sends its
+sweet influences over the whole planet.</p>
+
+<p>A science which is similar to Phrenology plays an important part in all
+the social customs of this sphere. It decides the marital destiny of
+each person, and no two are recommended to join in wedlock until they
+have been pronounced physical and mental mates by the official
+psychologists.</p>
+
+<p>On this interesting world I found the most summary punishment for
+adulterers and fornicators. When these crimes are clearly proven, the
+guilty parties are put to death after a lingering sentence. This is a
+most terrible punishment, but it has proven that, although a few must
+suffer this penalty, the general good of the whole population is thereby
+much increased.</p>
+
+<p>I was much amazed at the construction and possibilities of the human
+mind when I observed the manner in which certain suspected criminals
+were examined in order to prove or disprove the crime of which they were
+charged. The doors of the soul were unlocked and the past
+thought-images, with their mental impressions, were thrown open to view.
+How can a Muteite deny the crime which is photographed on the sensitive
+living plates of his own mind! This reproducing can be effected only by
+a very special process and is never done against a person's will unless
+ordered by civil authority.</p>
+
+<p>When I saw, on this world of Mute, the possibility of uncovering the
+past records of the mind, it at once suggested to me the possible nature
+of the final Judgment of our world when each one will stand face to face
+with the record of his own deeds, brought before him vividly under the
+light of eternity. In such an event who would think of showing a bold
+front to deny the accuracy of such a direct reproduction of himself in
+the flesh!</p>
+
+<p>Possibly the human mind may be likened to a phonograph into which we can
+speak while the cylinder of thought revolves; at any time afterward
+every syllable may be reproduced accurately.</p>
+
+<p>Another striking feature of these mortals is their lack of hypocrisy.
+Only a small degree of it is found among all the inhabitants of this
+peculiar planet. No doubt hypocrisy would be greatly lessened in our own
+social life if we could no longer hide our real thoughts. In Mute it is
+very unsafe to practice deception, for as soon as the deceived one
+appears personally he can readily conjecture, by the mental state of the
+deceiver, the nature of the thought that had transpired.</p>
+
+<p>Can you realize what a refreshing moral atmosphere exists in a world
+where conventional lying is almost unknown? In our life the daily sin of
+the millions is the white, or the blue lie. Think of how many we tell in
+our regular routine of life! We generally give false excuses instead of
+the real ones. We very seldom blame ourselves for errors, but rather
+think diligently to study out a way to shift responsibility. Nearly the
+whole brood of our apologies is hatched from the serpent's egg, and then
+we ignorantly or hypocritically manifest surprise that our own offspring
+should develop an inclination to deceive or misrepresent!</p>
+
+<p>Here I saw, in wide contrast to our own social order, the results
+springing from sincerity that has thrived through a long line of
+generations. Such blessings are as a breath of Heaven, rare and
+beautiful.</p>
+
+<p>One might think, when considering this strange manner of conversation,
+that it would be difficult for the people to express their ideas
+clearly. It is just the opposite from this, for it is almost impossible
+for them to express themselves vaguely. They talk from the headquarters
+of one mind directly to the headquarters of another, instead of through
+a medium of cumbersome words which in our life are so often
+misunderstood. Thus we must admit that we have a ten-fold greater
+struggle than they to be perspicuous in language.</p>
+
+<p>I was charmed at this most superior mode of conversation and saw in it
+a higher glimpse of the Heaven language than in any other type that had
+yet met my observation in all the worlds of space.</p>
+
+<p>The Muteites are rapid thinkers, and although they have no sense of
+hearing, yet they are ultra-sensitive to substantial emissions of
+vibrating bodies. According to all I could see, these people were not
+hampered by this lack of senses. They live as conveniently in their
+flesh life as we do, and in their mind or spirit life they are much more
+refined than we are.</p>
+
+<p>Their earth is so different from ours in chemical combinations that the
+soil is almost transparent and in general has the appearance of glass.
+Their homes are built mostly under surface, owing to the terrific
+cyclonic storms that follow one another in very uncertain succession.</p>
+
+<p>The average length of life is two hundred of our years. They reach their
+maximum energy of mind at about one hundred years, and among the
+brighter of the inhabitants can be found a glorious order of intellect.
+Some of these mental celebrities outshine the brightest creatures of
+all the solar systems of that region of the heavens.</p>
+
+<p>After some hesitancy, I yielded to a desire to appear in a visible form
+before an assembled company of Muteite philosophers who were gathered in
+one of the under-surface halls of architectural beauty for consultation.</p>
+
+<p>As I entered the vast hall in my natural manner I attracted unusual
+attention. It was amusing to see how all eyes were fastened upon me as I
+calmly walked toward the front of the audience. Here I had one of the
+hardest tasks of all my journey, to converse in a soundless language. I
+lacked faith at first to make the attempt, but this delay was but for a
+moment, for I first fixed my mind upon what I wished to communicate, and
+instantly a dozen or more Muteites signified that they were in sensitive
+touch with my thought.</p>
+
+<p>I will give a small portion of the mental telepathic conversation
+between myself and my auditors, although I must relate it as if words
+were actually spoken, or it would be totally unintelligible to the
+people of my own likeness.</p>
+
+<p>"Let no one be alarmed," I hurriedly addressed them, as a thousand
+giant forms were trembling at my appearance. "My mission is one of
+peace. I have come to help rather than harm," I continued.</p>
+
+<p>"From what section of our world have you come?" came a hundred thought
+flashes in wild confusion.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not from your world, but from another," I answered with closed
+mouth as best I could.</p>
+
+<p>Then I learned an important feature of this mind language. A hundred or
+more interrogations came flying at me in thick confusion. At once the
+chairman or leader of the meeting gave restrictive orders which actually
+prohibited my audience from further communication with me, although I
+might address them. The chairman bid me commune with him and he
+thereafter acted as the spokesman of the whole assembly. It was no more
+difficult for these philosophers to keep their minds closed to me than
+it is for us to keep our mouths closed in an excitable meeting or
+debate.</p>
+
+<p>The chairman, looking with increasing curiosity at my strangely shaped
+face and head, interrogated me thus:</p>
+
+<p>"Are you an angel of light, or one of darkness?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am neither."</p>
+
+<p>"What then can you be?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am a created being from a far-off region of space. I was born on a
+world which revolves around a star untold millions of miles distant."</p>
+
+<p>"If you are not a spirit, how could you have traveled such incredible
+distances?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is yet a mystery to me," I admitted. "The power of my flight is
+much like the mode of your communication, for each is alike mysterious
+to me."</p>
+
+<p>By this time the excitement was intense. No one attempted to grasp me or
+even approach toward me. I saw by the perplexing mental atmosphere of
+the chairman that he was being besieged by a host of questions and
+suggestions; so I relieved the situation by continuing my words:</p>
+
+<p>"No one need consider my appearance as an evil omen. I am not empowered
+to curse or bless your world except by what may flow from my immediate
+conversation with you."</p>
+
+<p>In these sentences I thoughtlessly gestured with my arms; this set my
+audience wild with mingled merriment and curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>"Are all as small as you whence you came?" queried the chairman.</p>
+
+<p>"They are all after my pattern with some variations."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray, tell me, what are those gummy flabs at the sides of your head?"</p>
+
+<p>"Those are my ears," I said with grinning face. "They grew there for a
+purpose."</p>
+
+<p>"And what can that purpose be?" further questioned the puzzled chairman.</p>
+
+<p>"They are for the purpose of hearing," I quickly replied.</p>
+
+<p>Then followed a curious scientific dialogue in which I endeavored to
+explain the sense of hearing. From this I described the manner of
+conversation in our world, and showed what an important part hearing
+played. But all this was beyond the comprehension of my auditors.</p>
+
+<p>After a lengthy and most interesting discussion upon the philosophy of
+sound, the next point of interest centered on my mouth and vocal
+organs. It was pleasing to consider these subjects because my listeners
+were such eager questioners and surprised hearers. No wonder that they
+were unable to grasp such a crude system of conversation as ours!</p>
+
+<p>Then the chairman verily begged me to explain the mystery of my mission
+and of my unprecedented itinerary. How could I have fully satisfied his
+mind, even if I had endeavored to do so!</p>
+
+<p>After all this came the most pleasing communion thus far of all my
+journey. I learned much by the interchange of ideas. Nature's vast book
+opened to me some new and charming pages.</p>
+
+<p>Toward the close of my stay the affinity between us grew to a marked
+degree. Although we were widely apart in physical aspect, yet we were
+supping from the same bowl of affection and, with this happy turn, we
+talked of our permanent companionship.</p>
+
+<p>"But I cannot abide with you," I reluctantly answered.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, torment us not with such a thought," affectingly pressed the
+chairman.</p>
+
+<p>"I have other worlds to visit, and must hasten away. Touch me not," I
+cried as the chairman unconsciously moved toward me in an urgent appeal.</p>
+
+<p>"How soon shall we see you again?"</p>
+
+<p>"No more forever, unless you see me in that widest expanse of life which
+in our world we call Heaven. There the pure of all worlds will gather
+and commingle in delightsome fellowship forever."</p>
+
+<p>I was then urged beyond all etiquette to tarry a short period and visit
+certain parts of their world. But I informed them that I had seen more
+of their world than they imagined, and that the object of my visit had
+been reached.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX" />CHAPTER XX.</h2>
+
+<h3>Brief.</h3>
+
+
+<p>One of the medium sized worlds that revolve around Alcyone sustains the
+shortest lived human beings of our universe. It is seldom that any of
+the creatures reach more than four years of age according to our
+standards of time. They are nearly as large as we and relatively much
+lighter in weight. All the periods of physical growth are
+correspondingly decreased. Children walk four or five weeks after birth,
+and are capable of receiving regular instruction at the age of five
+months.</p>
+
+<p>Strange as it may seem, this sphere, which for convenience we will call
+Brief, revolves very slowly on its axis, so that our world makes fifteen
+times as many revolutions as this planet.</p>
+
+<p>It requires but little arithmetic to figure out that the people of Brief
+do not see the sun rise very often. When it does appear in the morning
+sky, all the public signals blow and the people appear in one or
+another of their places of worship. This beautiful custom has been in
+practice for over three thousand years. The worship is not sun worship,
+but a genuine service of thanksgiving to Him who ruleth over the sun and
+supplies it with fuel to burn. It appears that on all worlds everything
+is regulated in accordance with the length of human life. On this world,
+of Brief all vegetables mature in periods so short that one marvels when
+he hears it. Think of cereals reaching maturity in seven or eight of our
+days, or during one day of Brief. Early in the morning certain crops are
+planted and are harvested at night. Two or more days are required for
+maturing other crops. Actually the people of Brief raise their crops
+with less labor than is required amongst us.</p>
+
+<p>If you were permitted to look upon the public and private life of this
+incredible world, your first sensation would be dizziness, not to
+mention the weirdness of all sights that would confront you at every
+turn. People would seem to be in a mad rush, and it would appear that
+all business is done with insane rapidity.</p>
+
+<p>Furrows of care and trouble begin to deepen on the faces of these
+Briefites as they approach an age of what we would call three years, and
+if by lease of strength they pass on toward an age of four years, it is
+but an evidence of their exceptional vitality. It seems to be true that
+the experiences of a long life of sixty or eighty years is crowded into
+a narrow compass of four years by a miracle of spheres not comprehended
+by finite minds.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt a detailed description of this whirling and dashing life would
+be of interest to us slow, deliberate creatures. But I can give only a
+passing glimpse.</p>
+
+
+<h3>JOURNALISM.</h3>
+
+<p>Things happen in such quick succession that the news is hustled out at
+all hours of the day and night; not on sheets of paper, but through
+automatic news-receivers, machines somewhat akin to our telegraph
+instruments.</p>
+
+<p>The state supplies each home with an automatic news-receiver. Thus a
+record is kept in each home of all messages received so that they can
+be read at leisure. To speak in a manner more easily understood, I will
+say that the news is telegraphed to each home as soon as possible after
+the events transpire. But compared to our customs, the news is very
+scarce. There being no competition, no time or space is required for
+sensational trash. Thus, if nothing of importance occurs, nothing need
+be transmitted. The official news-censors decide as to the relative
+importance of occurrences. There need not be a certain amount of news
+telegraphed each hour. The government verifies, as much as possible, all
+reports before they are transmitted. There are indeed some advantages in
+the government being in constant touch with each home under its care.
+The advertising department pays nearly all expenses of this whole system
+of journalism. Announcements for private gain are paid at a regular
+rate. It costs more to advertise at certain periods than at other times,
+all regulated by the customs of the people.</p>
+
+<p>Under these regulations everybody receives the news, and only the
+essential news, except advertisements which must come in batches at
+certain intervals. Of course, people take their choice as to reading
+advertisements.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 393px;">
+<a name="IMG17" id="IMG17" /><img src="images/image-17.jpg" width="393" height="600" alt="Sunrise Signal in Brief." title="" />
+<b>Sunrise Signal in Brief.</b>
+</div>
+
+
+<h3>THEIR FOOTWEAR.</h3>
+
+<p>The soles of the feet of these Briefites are composed of a substance
+most nearly resembling hoof material. They never think of covering the
+feet under any change of climate. If one of the Briefites were to step
+upon the shores of our rugged Earth and see the cotton or wool and
+leather that lies around our feet, it would appear to him as the most
+ridiculous thing imaginable, and no doubt his shapely feet of ivory cast
+would be of more than passing interest to us.</p>
+
+
+<h3>THEIR RAIMENT.</h3>
+
+<p>Their raiment is altogether after new models. Neither the men, women,
+nor children seem to seek this means for self-beautifying. They seem to
+think that beauty of character has a radiance more to be desired than
+the flash of opals or the luster of silks. Their garments partake of the
+loose flowing order. For instance, a strong fabric of chosen shade is
+fastened at the neck, hip, knee and ankle, and lies carelessly over the
+parts between. The females never graduated to the corset degree, and
+while they do not cut a scientific figure, yet they surely develop a
+more ruddy waist after the model intended by the Designor of the body.</p>
+
+
+<h3>TRANSPORTATION.</h3>
+
+<p>The methods of traveling are so contrary to our conceptions and
+practices that I almost forbear to attempt any description. Yet I was
+entertained and instructed as I witnessed the moving of humanity along a
+street of a busy city. Have you ever noticed how quarters of beef are
+carried from a car to an elevator or refrigerator on steel rods
+connected with wheels running in a groove or on a specially prepared
+track? In a city of Brief, overhead tracks after such an order run along
+all business streets and certain residence streets. Spare me a detailed
+description of this peculiar traveling system. Suffice it to say that a
+person, in lightning rapidity of motion, rushes from a store, springs
+upon a passing seat and is hurled away by the power of an overhead
+cable system. When an exchange of seats is necessary, it is all done so
+easily and so quickly that you would wonder why we tolerate trolley
+cars.</p>
+
+<p>In traveling from city to city, a system is in use that I will call the
+Toboggan Slide System, although the cars run on wheels. The car is
+raised in a shaft about one hundred feet and then by gravity it dashes
+two or more miles according to the lay of the land traversed. Then
+another rise more or less than one hundred feet is experienced, and then
+another wild dash. I have no words of praise for this system, although
+the Briefites can cover considerable territory in an hour. They look
+upon this gravity system as a wonderful achievement, for it has not been
+in operation for more than three hundred years.</p>
+
+<p>The power of steam has never been utilized. No genius of all this active
+world of Brief ever conceived the idea that almost unlimited power lies
+wrapped up in thin vapory water. But they have discovered what we would
+call gaseous oil, and have learned to put it to work, so that it is the
+main force employed in hoisting and all other purposes where power is
+required.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing like a traveling locomotive has ever been made, although I
+learned that a bright wizard was experimenting and that he prophesied
+great changes when his gas-propelled vehicle was perfected.</p>
+
+<p>Think of how much value an ordinary citizen of our world would be to
+these Briefites, if he could step upon their world and communicate with
+them concerning the magic wonders of steam and the manner of
+constructing stationary and movable engines, to say nothing of the
+hidden wonders of electricity. Quadrupeds that take the place of our
+horses are used for drayage, although nothing except the two-wheeled
+class of vehicles was ever used until some eighty-seven years ago.</p>
+
+
+<h3>PUBLIC HIGHWAYS.</h3>
+
+<p>These interesting people excel us in their style and manner of
+home-building, fencing and making public highways. We are heathenish in
+our progress along the line of road making especially. In all my vast
+journey among the worlds I found only a few, comparatively, whereon the
+roads were inferior to ours.</p>
+
+<p>In the world of Brief the state prescribes the manner of public highways
+and each citizen must contribute his share to their creation and
+maintenance.</p>
+
+<p>These Briefites excel us in more than a score of ways. They are much
+purer in morals, more refined in manner, more harmonious in government,
+and unusually bright in mathematics. Very intricate and elaborate
+problems are solved by these people of a few years. They are inferior to
+us in a hundred ways. In the broad fields of manufacture and invention
+they lag a long distance in the rear. This is principally due to their
+lack of time.</p>
+
+
+<h3>RELIGIOUS LIFE.</h3>
+
+<p>The religious life of the people of Brief is, on an average, of a higher
+type than is found in our world. Their belief in immortality has run
+parallel with their existence as a people, and their devotion to their
+Creator is marked with unusual fervor.</p>
+
+<p>Their Redeemer is worshiped quite separately from God, and with
+distinctive adorations. The name of their Redeemer, phonetically
+rendered, is Kerm-Cher. The most faithful translation of this word into
+our language would be God-affluence.</p>
+
+<p>Kerm-Cher, or God-breath, appeared upon Brief full grown, and pronounced
+his benediction on the race, declaring his origin, and the purpose of
+his coming. Similar to Christ, he confirmed his identity by unanswerable
+miracles.</p>
+
+<p>Many, however, disbelieved in Kerm-Cher, and held to the old axiomatic
+truths. Thus creeds were prevalent and they remain until now, only there
+is much less variety than is found amongst us.</p>
+
+<p>Kerm-Cher set up a new reign, and accepted a temporal throne for a
+season. He finally announced that his ambassadorship would soon cease
+and that his followers would lose the throne of civil power, that they
+would be tested for a season in the valley of humiliation and by the
+fires of terrible persecution, and that they who would endure unto the
+end would be glorified.</p>
+
+<p>These religious features are remarkably similar to the system under
+which the Christian religion of our globe is fostered.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI" />CHAPTER XXI</h2>
+
+<h3>The Life on Wings.</h3>
+
+
+<p>As I darted from world to world, I was not then fully conscious of the
+vast stretches of space that I had covered. No mortal nor angel tongue
+can even commence to describe the vastness of created things and the
+trackless oceans of space in which the ponderous suns and planets
+revolve.</p>
+
+<p>According to the classification of our astronomers I next found myself
+in the constellation of Perseus, and was again convinced of the weakness
+of our most powerful telescopes, for I now saw thousands of immense
+stars, hitherto invisible to me. Not one of these stars is within a
+trillion miles of any other.</p>
+
+<p>In this distant system of our universe I saw that the same plan of
+creation obtained. Around a majority of the stars a group of various
+sized worlds revolves. On many of these worlds human life abounds in
+endless degrees of development and in a countless variety of
+manifestations. I marveled anew as I saw the endlessness of the Infinite
+Mind, supporting not only the conscious life of this whole
+constellation, but also of all the constellations of our universe, and
+of all the universes scattered at large throughout the unending depths
+of space.</p>
+
+<p>I paused at a star of variable magnitude in the Milky Way, but took only
+a passing glance at the physical wonders of this great sun, compared
+with which our own Sun is a mere pigmy. Onward I hastened to one of the
+larger worlds of this solar system which, for my convenience, I will
+call Swift.</p>
+
+<p>Here new wonders opened wide to my view. Human beings, charmingly
+beautiful, moved over the face of the planet or on wings through the air
+at pleasure and with great ease. These creatures are about three-fourths
+of our size, and are most gracefully formed. Their whole physical
+appearance is more similar to a bird than to a human being of our Earth.
+They are relatively much lighter than we, and are covered with nothing
+akin to feathers.</p>
+
+<p>If you were to see them standing in their erect posture and walking
+with man-like dignity, you would at once feel that they are the lords of
+the creation on their world, and so indeed they are.</p>
+
+<p>These ethereal creatures have the loveliest eyes of any human beings I
+ever beheld in any world. They sparkle with the brilliancy of a diamond
+and move with the quickness of electricity. The head is small but
+symmetrical and all physical proportions are most harmoniously adapted
+even to a nicety that would be pleasing to the most refined tastes of
+our world.</p>
+
+<p>At first I could not understand how these people of Swift could travel
+so conveniently in the air, for their wings are very small and the
+exertion when flying is very limited. But the lightness of the body, the
+heaviness of the air, and the unusual strength of the Swiftites, each
+conduces its share to the fortunate result.</p>
+
+<p>In my thoughtlessness I envied these gifted people and wished that when
+I would return to my world, I could enjoy such privileges of flight. I
+soon checked this rising covetousness, and again contentment flung over
+me its white mantle.</p>
+
+<p>The bodies of these Swiftites are covered by nature with a clean growth
+of soft, silken hair. They change their garments with the seasons, but
+at all times dress very sparingly and neatly. They are so easily clothed
+that all their apparel occasions them no more trouble than the more
+seasonable covering of the head gives to our women.</p>
+
+<p>The average length of life is nearly four hundred years of our time.
+There are very few worlds in space where the general health of its
+inhabitants is as perfect as is found on this beautiful planet. There
+are but few doctors because there is but little demand for them. Those
+who are engaged are under government service, and all persons who are
+unfortunate enough to become ill receive at least all medicine and
+professional attention free.</p>
+
+<p>We are quite an exceptional world in our medical system. In all my
+journey I saw comparatively only a few worlds that have the private
+system of medical treatment. Have we not noted the laboring husband
+bending at his toil for eight or ten hours to pay the physician who
+calls for a few minutes? In some cases this program is continued for
+weeks, until the honest toiler finds himself confronted with a doctor's
+bill and medicine bill to haunt him until the debt is either forgiven or
+paid at great sacrifice.</p>
+
+<p>On the world of Swift and in the vast majority of civilized worlds in
+space, the community or government furnishes a salaried physician within
+reasonable reach of every home. The doctors of Swift are not expected to
+work night and day. They have shifts to divide the toil equally.</p>
+
+<p>In architecture this distant planet excels us by far. I improved the
+opportunity and went to witness a magnificent temple of worship which
+has been in process of erection for over two hundred years. Any conceit
+that I previously had on account of the large structures of my own world
+quickly vanished at the sight of this imposing edifice. During my visit
+the winged workers were laboring on the upper stories and I watched them
+with great wonderment as they descended from the clouds to carry
+materials to the higher stories. Can you imagine the picture of workmen
+flying in all directions with tools, each one busily employed? It is
+promised that the present generation of employees will live to see the
+completion of this notable structure.</p>
+
+<p>This vast building is the national religious center of the Swiftites.
+Each government has such a central station, and from it all temples of
+worship are controlled. Here the church and the state are yet married,
+and the state maintains its religious departments with careful scrutiny.
+The chief ambition of each government has always been to outshine the
+others in the glory and magnificence of its central temple which, of
+course, is fire proof and almost time proof.</p>
+
+<p>One may wonder as he gazes upon this extensive structure why there are
+seventy thousand sleeping rooms and dining halls built after such
+extensive plans as to entertain, at one time, twenty-five thousand
+guests. All this is to accommodate the vast throngs that take their
+sacred pilgrimage once in a year under an arrangement by which one tenth
+of the able-bodied go each thirty-nine days, which corresponds to our
+month.</p>
+
+<p>The most notable feature of this central temple is the main service
+room, built at fabulous cost and capable of accommodating one hundred
+thousand pilgrims at one time. The most costly sections of this one room
+are guarded night and day by armed government soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>The religion of these Swiftites is of a very pure kind. The ministers of
+this national church are fully equipped before entering upon their
+office. The training schools for ministers attracted my closest
+attention. Fortunately, these people have no language complications as
+we have, so that a prospective minister can spend some of his time
+studying the Book of God's Revelation instead of spending a great
+portion of his training period in learning the languages in which the
+book had once been written.</p>
+
+<p>A minister's training consists as much in voice culture and the many
+branches of elocution as it does in acquiring a correct knowledge of
+God. But in illustrative teaching Swift leads us by far. I was
+profitably entertained in the main temple as I listened to one of the
+famous orators discoursing to an audience of eighty thousand. Not only
+did his canary-like voice penetrate to all parts of the large room, but
+his objective illustrations clinched the truth remarkably well.</p>
+
+<p>A series of special services is held at the close of each month. The
+most wonderful of all these exercises, or renditions, is called "The
+Mediator Service." This is one of the most spectacular and impressive
+exercises outside of Heaven. Even the famous Passion Play of
+Oberammergau (our world) with the less glorious exhibitions at Horitz
+and Selzach, all dwindle into insignificance compared with "The Mediator
+Service" on the world of Swift.</p>
+
+<p>During my visit I witnessed the full program of this sublime rendition.
+The music was inexpressibly grand as rendered by the vested Mediator
+Choir. Naturally the Swiftites have sweet, bird-like voices. Can you
+conceive the effect of a triple choir of these human warblers all
+trained in perfect harmony and unison?</p>
+
+<p>When you consider that nearly the whole population witnesses these
+special exhibitions at least once a year, you can the better understand
+why the spiritual condition of the people has reached a high very level.</p>
+
+<p>I investigated the many interesting features of this inviting world and
+found that in some respects we are inferior to these human bird
+creatures, although in many other respects we are superior. Electricity
+is known in their world, but they have not yet harnessed it; hence they
+are ignorant of telegraphy and a long list of similar inventions which
+we enjoy.</p>
+
+<p>In agriculture the Swiftites are ahead of us. They raise their crops
+with less labor relatively than we. All things considered it is easier
+to live on Swift than here.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing that my time was limited, I decided to secure some nuggets of
+truth by a personal interview; so I concluded to appear to the wisest
+person on the planet, who was a woman of wonderful mental acquirements.
+In addition to her superior intellect she was also bewitchingly
+beautiful.</p>
+
+<p>I waited for the best opportunity and came near to her as she was about
+to spread her wings for a morning flight from the beautiful summit
+near her summer home. Not wishing to cause her undue alarm, I at first
+spoke softly, remaining invisible and watching her rare eyes send their
+glances toward the palmy trees around me, as her wings were relaxing
+quietly at her side. She was positive of having heard a voice, and as
+she still further scanned the immediate surroundings I saw that
+perplexity was furrowing marks upon her face.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="IMG18" id="IMG18" /><img src="images/image-18.jpg" width="600" height="396" alt="Beautiful Plume on the World of Swift." title="" />
+<b>Beautiful Plume on the World of Swift.</b>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Hast thou time to spend with a friend from another world?" I calmly
+inquired as I was still unseen by her.</p>
+
+<p>She was nervously agitated, but being of strong fibre she quickly
+rallied with her answer, "Where art thou and who art thou?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am on a peace mission from a far distant world," I quietly said as I
+slowly became visible to my audience of one.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally she was alarmed at my appearance, and consequently I drew
+gradually farther and farther away until she gained more self-possession
+and turned interestingly toward me.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! how can you be a spirit without wings?" were her first unexpected
+words.</p>
+
+<p>"But I am no spirit," I said assuringly.</p>
+
+<p>"You cannot be otherwise," she insisted.</p>
+
+<p>"Believe what you wish, we have no time for parley. I am delighted to
+visit your world and I desire, if possible, to have some mysteries
+solved. Can you help me?"</p>
+
+<p>Plume, for that is the name I called her, was much unsettled. She
+scanned my form with wild curiosity and I feared that she would at once
+use her wings at their swiftest.</p>
+
+<p>"Pray do not fly hence," I quickly urged. "I will never harm you, even
+though we could converse together forever. Believe me true, and rest
+your wings and heart in peace."</p>
+
+<p>My words had some effect toward calming her mind and with more placid
+features she still looked at me half shrinkingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you not happy that you have wings with which fly?" I continued,
+hoping to create a more natural familiarity.</p>
+
+<p>"Happy? No more than for my feet, my ears, or my life," she answered in
+a more composed manner. "You say that you are from another world. Where
+can that be?" was her welcome query.</p>
+
+<p>Then I pointed my finger in the direction of our world and remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"If you could travel in that direction on swift wings day and night for
+a few millions of years, you would still be far, far away from the world
+where I live."</p>
+
+<p>"And is that world inhabited by sensible creatures?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is."</p>
+
+<p>"But how could you have traversed so great a distance?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never can I explain that mystery to you. Be content that I am here."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you in the image of the other human creatures in that far away
+world?"</p>
+
+<p>"In general they are all fashioned as I am."</p>
+
+<p>"No one having wings?" she added with surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Not one."</p>
+
+<p>"How can that be true?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because we were made without them."</p>
+
+<p>"And have you no way of moving through the air at pleasure?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not without artificial machinery."</p>
+
+<p>"Artificial machinery?" she repeated. "What can you mean by that?"</p>
+
+<p>Of course they have no word for balloon or flying machine, and I found
+it difficult to describe the shape and explain the philosophy of these
+things. I did the best I could in her language, and after I had finished
+my description she for the first time smiled and said:</p>
+
+<p>"That sort of a construction would be a fine thing for the indolents of
+our world who, through misuse or lack of use of their wings, have no
+more ability to fly."</p>
+
+<p>This was interesting to me and I closely inquired as to the cause of
+this loss of the wing power. Plume grew more and more familiar in her
+address and in a long conversation told me of the many conditions that
+make people unfit to fly. I deduce from our conversation a few of these
+causes.</p>
+
+<p>1. Simple neglect.</p>
+
+<p>2. Gluttonous life.</p>
+
+<p>3. Sensuality of a low and heavy life.</p>
+
+<p>4. Pride. Some yield to a superstitious notion that it is honorable to
+make but little display of themselves, and allow their wings to be bound
+or partly clipped.</p>
+
+<p>5. Certain kinds of sickness render the wing-chords inoperative.</p>
+
+<p>I learned that altogether nearly one-half of the population are unable
+to fly. How my mind flew back to our own life as I was learning of these
+sad conditions. There is a sort of a life on wings in our world,
+although the wings are invisible. But on account of the low, mean lives
+so many are living, they never rise above the miasmic contagion of the
+sin and self level. These unseen wings are either paralyzed or clipped.</p>
+
+<p>Plume now actually stepped toward me. What a graceful tread. She was
+indeed the most charming creature I had met outside of my own world. She
+seated herself near me on the rustic bend of a tree unlike any in our
+world and hurried her questions at me as if she realized that I would
+not tarry long. At length she gratefully said:</p>
+
+<p>"I am beginning to believe that you are really a son of another world,
+or else I am reveling in a day dream."</p>
+
+<p>"Happy am I that I can learn from you some of the truths after which I
+am seeking," was my evasive reply. "Tell me, Plume, something about your
+faith religiously."</p>
+
+<p>"I worship the God who made all things and am hoping to live in the
+wider life after my mortal days are ended."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you expect to meet, in that wider life, representatives from other
+worlds?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! I have often thought that it might be so," she answered, as her
+face brightened in poetic fervor, and her eyes sparkled with seraphic
+luster.</p>
+
+<p>"It shall all be so, and much more," I declared. "In that life you can
+fly without wings and mingle with the pure from the unnumbered worlds of
+space."</p>
+
+<p>"What an incentive to a pure life," she quickly added.</p>
+
+<p>"Talking of wings, do you object if I see more closely the cut and style
+of your wings? I never saw before a human creature possessing a pair."</p>
+
+<p>After a moment's hesitancy she raised her right arm and with it the one
+wing unfolded. I ventured near enough to see the intricate network of
+muscle and bone woven around the arm and filling the space between the
+raised arm and the side of Plume's body. She was surprised at the
+interest I manifested in the human wing. After this she offered to
+furnish an able escort to conduct me to several points of interest.</p>
+
+<p>All this I declined and informed my talented friend that I must hasten
+away to another world.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me go with you," she strongly insisted.</p>
+
+<p>"Your wings are not of the right kind," I replied hurriedly.</p>
+
+<p>"They are strong enough to bear us both," were her inviting words.</p>
+
+<p>"But not beyond the atmosphere of this world," I explained.</p>
+
+<p>I quietly arose, scanned once more the beautiful valley before me, and
+indicated that I was about to wane into the invisible. Then did her
+womanly nature assert its supremacy and she, for the first time, touched
+my hand imploringly:</p>
+
+<p>"Have I been dreaming, or do my eyes deceive me? How can all this be
+true? Your hand is sensible to my touch. I implore you to remain until I
+speak to you more about the sciences of your world."</p>
+
+<p>In all my journey I never yielded to persuasion before. But somehow I
+consented to spend a season longer of most charming fellowship, talking
+of the elements in nature, their chemical affinities, and the laws of
+matter and mind. Plume was unusually bright in the philosophies, and I
+gathered from her many truths which had always before been hidden to me.</p>
+
+<p>Finally I became rigid in my determination to leave, for I knew that I
+could not stay.</p>
+
+<p>"Grant me one request," she begged.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me hear it."</p>
+
+<p>"Promise me that you will return."</p>
+
+<p>"Impossible, impossible!"</p>
+
+<p>The parting that followed was indeed memorable. Without any further
+notice I suddenly vanished, but still tarried invisibly in close
+proximity.</p>
+
+<p>Plume was now left in deep bewilderment, and I could not even
+conjecture the details of her warring thoughts. Finally I saw that for
+which I had tarried. Plume lifted her wings and flew skyward as
+beautifully and gracefully as any bird of our earthly air.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII" />CHAPTER XXII.</h2>
+
+<h3>Heaven.</h3>
+
+
+<p>After my ambition to visit one thousand worlds had been realised, and I
+was darting toward the confines of our own little Solar System,
+instinctively I looked out once more over the vast stretches of space.
+All around me, at amazing distances, loomed up the millions of spheres
+which I had not visited by reason of my limited time. I felt like some
+one who, after gaining his first thousand dollars, has a wild craving to
+accumulate ten or one hundred thousand more.</p>
+
+<p>Still I scanned the heavens while deeper longings pervaded my soul.
+While in this mood the most unusual vision flashed upon my eyes.
+Suddenly I forgot whither I was going and in wild astonishment I drank
+in the first view of Heaven. Inwardly I marveled that I had not seen at
+least a part of it before.</p>
+
+<p>Heaven is fashioned on a transcendently large scale. It is not a single
+sphere, but a universal chain of vast and luminous star-groups,
+scattered harmoniously throughout the infinite regions of space, so that
+a part of it lies suspended preciously near to our own Solar System.
+Heaven is more real and substantial than the suns and planets of the
+universe, although not one of its numberless parts can be detected by
+the human eye, or discerned through a telescope. These luminous orbs
+that constitute Heaven control the movements of the planets, suns and
+systems which we call material. They are whiter than snow and shine with
+a luster not dazzling, but restful to the eye capable of seeing them.</p>
+
+<p>How this glimpse put to naught all my former crude conceptions of
+Heaven, and if I found myself unable to describe the wonders of many a
+dark world which I have visited, how much less could I portray the
+vastly superior beauties of Heaven which are so far beyond the glory of
+dark, rugged worlds that I felt an inexpressible desire to take up my
+abode there at once and to remain forever.</p>
+
+<p>Inwardly I shouted for joy as this new light illumined my face, and I
+loathed to think of proceeding on my journey to any sin-cursed world of
+the universe, for the ties of kinship, friendship, and earthship all
+vanished at the sight of such resplendent spheres.</p>
+
+
+<h3>THE GREATNESS OF HEAVEN.</h3>
+
+<p>There is no language to be employed that can fitly describe the parts of
+Heaven I saw, and I know that the greater glory was curtained from my
+view. But the size of the lustrous orbs is not equaled by the large
+material suns that blaze in the depth of immensity. Heaven's diamond
+splendor extended as far as my unassisted eyes could reach, and
+according to the way it appeared it must extend without limit.</p>
+
+<p>It would require one hundred millions of years for a child of God to
+take one excursion trip to the physical worlds of our universe. Then
+there are millions of such universes, (I know of no better name to use)
+each one occupying its own immense stretches of space. These universes
+average about sixteen hundred millions of worlds each.</p>
+
+<p>Heaven is infinitely greater than this whole material fabric, so that if
+a spirit is inclined to travel, he will need all eternity to study the
+works of God as displayed in the glorious abodes of Heaven and in the
+changing aspects of created worlds.</p>
+
+<p>Let us give a deeper meaning to the stanza of the poet by substituting
+"million" for "thousand."</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>When I've been there ten million years,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Bright, shining as the sun,<br /></span>
+<span>I've no less days to sing God's praise,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Than when I first begun.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Compared with this life more vast, does it not appear that our own
+insignificant existence on our tiny Earth is as the creeping of a mere
+insect on the leaf of a giant oak?</p>
+
+
+<h3>PERMANENCY OF HEAVEN.</h3>
+
+<p>The only permanent or imperishable feature of our universe is the Heaven
+part of it. The created or visible worlds are mere dark appendages of
+the real spheres, and are serving their parts in bringing fruit to
+their Maker.</p>
+
+<p>Sin-cursed and sinless worlds are coming to an end continually, and as
+rapidly are new ones flung out or old ones re-peopled to serve as garden
+plots to bear fruit in the form of created intelligences who serve and
+admire God through choice.</p>
+
+<p>Heaven is indestructible. It has already been in existence since the
+morning of time. In all my journey, no angel or mortal could tell me how
+many cycles ago that was. But it must be said that Heaven does not
+always present the same aspect. Mansions are built for the reception of
+new arrivals, or for the vast delegations from millennial worlds.</p>
+
+
+<h3>THE INHABITANTS OF HEAVEN.</h3>
+
+<p>They come from all parts of the universe, from millions of spheres. The
+righteous of any world, at death, are suddenly transported to that part
+of Heaven lying nearest to their world. This is the Abraham's bosom
+where the spirit is happy until it takes up its abode with its own
+spiritualized body in a millennial reign, after which, by a decree of
+the Final Judgment, it is given its credentials to the illimitable life
+of all Heaven.</p>
+
+<p>This is Paul's third heaven. Oh! what unlimited expansion! What
+incomprehensible principles, to move at large in quest of universal
+truths as seen in the seven types of Heaven's spiritual intelligences,
+and in the unending manifestations of God's work and love as displayed
+in all heaven and in all the peopled planets of space!</p>
+
+<p>Not one of these blessed inhabitants ever grows old or suffers fatigue.
+They are capable of moving with tireless energy from one part of
+Heaven's vast domains to any other portion.</p>
+
+
+<h3>DEGREES OF HEAVEN.</h3>
+
+<p>In space there are many sinless worlds where human species are
+propagated, not as the result of any sexual affinities, but in a manner
+totally unintelligible to a finite mind. They who reach Heaven from such
+a world cannot drink in the same kind of enjoyment as those who come up
+out of great tribulations from the spheres of a sin-cursed world, and
+who have struggled for mastery and forged their way to the sky through
+armies of aliens.</p>
+
+<p>But these creatures are perfectly contented, for they have no way of
+realizing the glory resulting from the victory over the world, the flesh
+and the Devil.</p>
+
+<p>Then there are degrees of glory among those who come from a sin-cursed
+world. Some have many treasures laid up in Heaven, while others centered
+their affections too much upon the transitory things of time and sense.</p>
+
+<p>There are also various orders or degrees of glory among the seven types
+of intelligences of which Heaven's multitudes are composed. Some of
+these may be suggested to your mind when you read more of this sevenfold
+life.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="IMG19" id="IMG19" /><img src="images/image-19.jpg" width="600" height="404" alt="A Glimpse of Blissful Life in Heaven." title="" />
+<b>A Glimpse of Blissful Life in Heaven.</b>
+</div>
+
+
+<h3>SEVEN TYPES OF INTELLIGENCES.</h3>
+
+<p>1. The first class of beings is composed of those whom we comprehend as
+the Trinity, whose highest glory is expressed in the Mediatorial
+personage who can be seen at will by any of Heaven's hosts from any
+world.</p>
+
+<p>2. The cherubim and seraphim, or the highest order of spirits, who
+have always been pure and holy. They constitute the next rank of the
+celestial host.</p>
+
+<p>3. The third class is composed of the general host of angels who also
+have been holy from eternity, and who serve as ambassadors to various
+points of the limitless creation.</p>
+
+<p>4. The spirits of those who have risen from sinful worlds by virtue of a
+God-approved and God-appointed Mediator. To join the ranks of this class
+we, who serve God, are hastening. This is no low order or caste in
+Heaven, but they who belong to it vie with higher angels, and taste
+sweetness beyond the capacity of those who, in other respects, are our
+peers. The angels desire to look into the deep mystery of salvation's
+plan.</p>
+
+<p>5. The matured and maturing spirits of those who left sinful worlds
+before God held them accountable for their deeds. To this class belong
+our children who precede us into the final abode.</p>
+
+<p>6. The spirits of those who have risen from sinless worlds to take
+their infinitely higher degrees in this Heaven life.</p>
+
+<p>7. The matured and maturing spirits of those who left the sinless worlds
+before sense perception was duly developed. They form a distinct class
+of spirits and have their distinctive marks.</p>
+
+
+<h3>UNITY OF HEAVEN.</h3>
+
+<p>Redemption's plan for each sinful world is somewhat similar to ours, so
+that there is a oneness in the whole family of the redeemed. This is one
+main factor that makes the bond of unity perfect and renders the
+fellowship of the celestial hosts absolutely without a flaw.</p>
+
+<p>True enough, each of the seven classes of intelligences is a mystery and
+a glory to the others. But there is no friction, no jar. Each one is
+perfect in himself and happy in spirit.</p>
+
+<p>Although each one of the vast companies carries the distinctive impress
+and the spiritual peculiarities of his own planet, yet they are all now
+fashioned after the symmetry of the Heaven life, and no one bears a
+single repellant feature, but rather each spiritual body is beautiful
+to the eyes of all the others, and each one breathes the same atmosphere
+of purity and converses in the self-same language of love.</p>
+
+
+<h3>A HOME-LIKE PLACE.</h3>
+
+<p>No feature of Heaven is more beautiful than its home-like atmosphere.
+The soul is not chilled by the two-thousand-mile-cube cities, or by the
+long, long stretches of Divine masonry. God is as a real father, and all
+his subjects are as our blood-relations. We feel it, and the inspiration
+of these truths takes a deep hold of Heaven's vast populace.</p>
+
+
+<h3>EMPLOYMENT.</h3>
+
+<p>Now and then large excursion parties visit various points of our own
+universe and frequently span the incredible distances in order to study
+the works and life of other universes.</p>
+
+<p>Each soul is occupied in gratifying its own master passion, and lives in
+the delightsome fellowship of the saints.</p>
+
+
+<h3>TRANSPORTATION.</h3>
+
+<p>There are no vehicles or cars of any kind. Actual wings are unknown
+except as used by certain birds of Heaven. Spirits travel as rapidly as
+desired by a mere submissive connection with the universal system of
+power filaments, all of which center in God. More refined power than
+electricity is transmitted over these substantial filaments to any point
+of any world. The fleshly body is not sensitive to this spiritual power,
+but the pure soul, when free from the body, is at once sensitive to
+these chords of power and is carried swifter than a current of
+electricity to Abraham's bosom, where it is entitled forever to a free
+use of this perfect power without being subject to any kind of taxation.</p>
+
+
+<h3>SEXUAL AFFINITIES OF HEAVEN.</h3>
+
+<p>Contrary to some of my former ideas I saw that the inhabitants of Heaven
+are not all of one sex. The male and female are clearly distinguishable,
+and they bear relations one to another still more refined than was
+manifest in the Millennial World.</p>
+
+<p>The most holy affinity exists between the several types of
+intelligences. Here the glorious fires of love burn never to reach a
+climax. Lovers have been drinking from perennial fountains for a million
+years, and their ecstacies are rising still. Pure love is as endless and
+infinite as time and space, and its mystery is deep to these shining
+throngs of Heaven who look into one another's faces with untrammeled
+emotions. Think of falling in love with the inhabitants of other worlds
+and of having the capacity and right to foster a thousand or more types
+of affinity, each one differing from the others!</p>
+
+<p>These relations are so highly refined and so gloriously developed that
+one must not think of reducing them by comparison to the level of the
+flesh life.</p>
+
+
+<h3>STRUCTURAL ASPECTS OF HEAVEN.</h3>
+
+<p>I would not attempt to describe the structural glory of Heaven, for I
+know not where nor how to begin. Seemingly all things are transparent
+even to the center of vast orbs. Magnificent cities apparently lie
+suspended far under the indefinite surface of the orbs composing
+Heaven, and free passage ways of phantastical design ramify throughout
+all the glorious under-surface regions.</p>
+
+<p>Architectural greatness here finds its unmatched examples. Seven-mile
+diamond arches are common-places, and towers of two thousand miles in
+height and one thousand miles in diameter, as the corner stone of a
+city, are nothing unusual, although many cities are built on a smaller
+plan. Nothing needs repairing, and nothing is mortgaged. The wealth of
+unnumbered trillions is easily represented in one orb of Heaven's
+empire.</p>
+
+<p>I now saw a thousand-fold more clearly than ever before the absolute
+folly of fixing our affections on the perishing things of the mortal
+life in our dark and dusty world.</p>
+
+<p>While my eyes were still feasting on the sublime picture before me I
+began to realize that my privilege would be of short duration, as the
+vision was fast waning. I looked intently until the last curtain fell,
+and reluctantly I continued my journey toward my own little world. I now
+felt that, if the whole Earth were my own property, I would gladly push
+it all aside if I could be a mere door keeper in one of the heavenly
+cities of my God.</p>
+
+<p>And very often since that time I have cast my longing eyes skyward,
+hoping to catch another glimpse of that fair scene.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>How I long for that restful picture,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A vision of Heaven, once more;<br /></span>
+<span>With its trillion orbs of beauty,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And its wealth of endless store.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>There are saints from unnumbered planets,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Where they lived in a million ways.<br /></span>
+<span>Now they mingle in perfect glory,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Through the length of eternal days.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>There the poor are wealthy forever,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For the beggar sits down with the King.<br /></span>
+<span>The man who never knew music<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Will vie with angels to sing.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Here the hopeful student, progressing,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">After failing does often grieve;<br /></span>
+<span>But in Heaven each lesson is perfect,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">No theory to blind or deceive.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Here the runner, in breathless struggle,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Sees the other in touch of the goal;<br /></span>
+<span>But Heaven gives each one the laurel,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To be crowned while the ages roll.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>There they have no light of a candle,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For there are no shadows of night.<br /></span>
+<span>There the flash of unnumbered opals<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Sparkles on in their wealth of light.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>In that home-like palace of Heaven,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Where these myriad trillions are,<br /></span>
+<span>There the Lord is the self-same Master,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And Love is the self-same star.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Life in a Thousand Worlds, by William Shuler
+Harris
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Life in a Thousand Worlds
+
+Author: William Shuler Harris
+
+Release Date: January 23, 2005  [eBook #14770]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE IN A THOUSAND WORLDS***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Steven desJardins and Project Gutenberg Distributed
+Proofreaders
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 14770-h.htm or 14770-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/7/7/14770/14770-h/14770-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/7/7/14770/14770-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+LIFE IN A THOUSAND WORLDS
+
+by
+
+REV. W. S. HARRIS.
+
+Author of _Mr. World and Miss Church-Member_, _Modern Fables and
+Parables_, _Sermons by the Devil_, etc., etc.
+
+Illustrated
+
+Published by
+The Minter Company,
+Harrisburg, Pa.
+
+1905
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: REV. W. S. HARRIS]
+
+
+
+
+             TO
+
+         MY MOTHER
+
+WHO FOR MY GOOD COUNTED NONE OF
+  HER SACRIFICES TOO GREAT AND
+    WHO IS NOW RECEIVING HER
+    REWARD IN THE CELESTIAL
+      LIFE THIS VOLUME IS
+          LOVINGLY
+
+         DEDICATED.
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Decorative element]
+
+
+
+Illustrations.
+
+
+ 1. Portrait of the Author
+ 2. Gazing at the Starry Firmament
+ 3. A City on the Moon
+ 4. How a "Trust" Monopolizes Rain and Light on Mars
+ 5. The Largest Telescope in the Universe
+ 6. An Air Ship on Saturn
+ 7. Living in Fire on a Fixed Star
+ 8. Fishing for Land Animals
+ 9. Monopolizing Liquid Air on Airess
+10. Floating Cities of Plasden
+11. A Captive on a Planet of Duhbe
+12. The Millennial Dawn
+13. Low-life Warfare on Scum
+14. Battle Between "Flying Devils" in the Air
+15. "Trusts" in the Diamond World
+16. Tunnel Through Holen's Center
+17. A Scene of Rejoicing in Brief
+18. Beautiful Plume and Her Wings
+19. A Glimpse of Heaven
+
+
+
+Contents.
+
+
+ 1. Are There More Worlds Than One?
+ 2. A Visit to the Moon
+ 3. A Visit to Mars
+ 4. A Glimpse of Jupiter
+ 5. Beautiful Saturn
+ 6. The Nearest Fixed Star
+ 7. The Water World Visited
+ 8. Tor-tu
+ 9. A Problem in Political Economy
+10. Floating Cities
+11. A World of Ideal Cities
+12. A World Enjoying Its Millennium
+13. A World of High Medical Knowledge
+14. A World of Low Life
+15. A World of Highest Invention
+16. A Singular Planet
+17. The Diamond World
+18. Triumphant Feat of Orion
+19. The Mute World
+20. Brief
+21. The Life on Wings
+22. Heaven
+
+
+
+
+Synopsis of Contents.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+Are There More Worlds Than One?
+
+Why are countless worlds swinging in the endless regions of space?
+The author believes that thousands are inhabited by intelligent
+beings.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+A Visit to the Moon.
+
+Description of a novel city of over 60,000 Moonites. The
+inhabitants of the Moon are described as dwarfs having no noses
+because they live by eating solid air. Their odd houses,
+expressive paintings, strange religion, wonderful history, novel
+government, happy home life, etc., interestingly described.
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+A Visit to Mars.
+
+Marsites described as giants needing four arms. The ultimate
+results of capitalistic oppression graphically portrayed by a
+curtain system. The description of the Marsite curtain system
+embodies a tremendous thrust at monopolistic trusts, and should be
+read by Americans by the millions. The author captured by Marsmen.
+Illustration.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+A Glimpse of Jupiter.
+
+Jupiterites described as colossal giants averaging twenty-five
+feet in height. Their language a marvel of simplicity far
+surpassing the English language. What Jupiterites can see with
+their powerful magnifying lenses. The author looked, through their
+largest telescope and saw ships sailing in New York City harbor.
+Illustration.
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Beautiful Saturn.
+
+Physical features. Woman the ruling genius. Excursions in
+airships. Illustration. Marvelous language-music. Churches on
+Saturn far better than those on Earth.
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+The Nearest Fixed Star.
+
+The inhabitants of Alpha Centaurus live as comfortably in fire as
+Earthites live in air or fishes in water. One of their aerial fire
+carriages described. Illustration.
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+The Water World Visited.
+
+On Stazza the people live in water about as fishes do on Earth.
+Their homes and cities under water described. Fishing for land
+animals. Illustration. Some of their inventions far surpass those
+of our own world.
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+Tortu.
+
+A far more beautiful world than ours. The moral life of Tortu the
+cleanest found in any world, and interesting reasons given.
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+A Problem in Political Economy.
+
+On Airess the inhabitants live on liquid air, and hence have
+neither noses nor lungs. Monopolists control liquid air on Airess
+as petroleum is controlled on Earth. Illustration. Method of
+breaking up the power of monopolies. This chapter is worth reading
+by millions of American men and women.
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+Floating Cities.
+
+Palaces and large cities built on water. Illustration. A number of
+wonderful inventions described. Far surpass our world in reform
+movements.
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A World of Ideal Cities.
+
+Inhabitants described. Author made captive. Rich and poor. Ideal
+cities, how governed.
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+A World Enjoying Its Millennium.
+
+How the Millennium was ushered in. The conditions under which
+millennial life is enjoyed.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+A World of High Medical Knowledge.
+
+On Dorelyn four billions of inhabitants all enjoy perfect health.
+The government controls the whole field of medical science just as
+we do the post office department. No patent medicine on Dorelyn.
+Many new ideas picked up in medicine and surgery.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+A World of Low Life.
+
+On Scum exist the lowest conditions of life found in any stellar
+world. "Notched Rod" language explained. Lizard like human forms.
+No Scumite knows who is his father or mother. A big Scumite battle
+witnessed. Illustration.
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+A World of Highest Invention.
+
+A fertilizer invented making possible the raising of six crops in
+one of our years. A Tube Line for passenger and freight traffic.
+Wonderful storage batteries. A telephone that not only carries
+sound, but transmits the gestures and faces of the speakers.
+Thought photography.
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+A Singular Planet.
+
+On Zik decisive battles between nations are not fought by armies
+on land or navies on the sea, but by flying war ships called
+Flying Devils sailing in the air. A battle witnessed.
+Illustration. A practical way of settling the strife between
+capital and labor. The art of maintaining youthful vigor in old
+ago.
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+The Diamond World.
+
+On the brightest planets of the universe diamonds are as plenty as
+soil is on our Earth, but soil is as scarce and valuable as
+diamonds are in our world. The heart-rending oppression of the
+"Soil Trust" in the Diamond World portrayed. Illustration. The
+insatiable greed of "Trusts" follows the poor people into their
+sepulchers.
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+Triumphant Feat of Orion.
+
+Description of a tunnel through the center of Holen, a globe 500
+miles in diameter. Illustration of passenger car used. Its
+operation explained.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+The Mute World.
+
+Muteites have no audible language. They converse by pure thought
+transmission, and no one can conceal evil thoughts. When a Muteite
+criminal is brought before a Court of Justice the doors of his
+soul are unlocked so that all past thought-images, photographed on
+the sensitive living plates of his mind, are thrown open to view.
+No hypocrisy, no conventional lying.
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+Brief.
+
+The world of Brief sustains the shortest lived human beings of our
+universe. What we in our world crowd into seventy or eighty years
+of life the Briefites crowd into the narrow compass of about four
+years of our time. Journalism, footwear, raiment, transportation,
+public highways, business, religious life, etc., portrayed under
+such mad-rush environments.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+The Life on Wings.
+
+The inhabitants of Swift are charmingly beautiful, and many of
+them can be seen gracefully moving on wings through the air. A
+charming conversation with Plume, the most beautiful woman in the
+universe. Illustration.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+Heaven.
+
+Its greatness, permanency, inhabitants, degrees, seven typos of
+intelligences, unity, employments, transportation, sexual
+affinities, structural aspects, etc., uniquely portrayed.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+Any person having a reasonable education will admit that there are many
+planetary worlds besides the one on which we live. But whether or not
+they are inhabited is an open question with most people. We had been in
+doubt on this point for many years, but now we are settled in our
+conviction that human life exists in many different worlds of space. We
+can give no proof of this except that we have just returned from the
+greatest journey we ever took. We went from world to world over long
+distances of space as easily as one could go from place to place on the
+surface of our earth. _This was a journey of the soul_, for surely flesh
+and bone could not have traveled such amazing distances. At times we
+were lost to this world, being entirely absorbed in the glimpses of
+other worlds that were flashing upon our view in happy succession.
+
+It can been seen without saying that this book contains no more than a
+fragment of the things we saw and heard--the fragment that is most
+easily understood by human creatures born under the rules and
+regulations of this little dark world of ours.
+
+There are, in certain other worlds, such wide extremes of bodily
+formation and mental capacities, that a picture of them in word or art
+would only be unbearable and in some instances decidedly revolting, just
+because we are trained here to one set of standards and chained to one
+surface of world conditions. It will be different in the after-death
+life to those who are wise enough to be pure and good in this world.
+
+To make the book as practical as possible we have given a picture of
+some worlds where human life is inferior to ours, and of others where it
+is vastly superior,--saying nothing of the millennial life which we
+found in far off space.
+
+Comparisons are made throughout the book between the life, habits, and
+customs of other worlds and our own. In picturing the low life of
+certain worlds we are led to see what a highly favored and greatly
+civilized people we are, and in describing the human achievements of
+certain other worlds we are led to see how short a distance we have
+traveled in the path of human glory and civilization.
+
+We have also endeavored to set forth in this humble volume the common
+relation of all rational creatures of all worlds to one Infinite
+Creator. We do not question the truth of this fact, and those who ask
+for proof must wait to find it.
+
+We hope that this book will be inspiring to every thoughtful mind who
+loves to learn more and more of the great system of intelligent life of
+which the human creatures of this world form one link in the chain. If
+the reading of this volume should open to your mind numberless
+suggestions and compel you to ask a host of questions, perhaps you will
+do as we have done,--spend a long time in training your wings to be
+swift enough to take the journey yourself. If you will not do this, you
+must patiently wait until the clods of clay are shaken off, so that your
+free spirit may go out to live the life more vast in other worlds.
+
+We pray that the highest kind of good may result from the truths here
+advanced. If this shall be accomplished, we shall have our best reward
+for having given this book to the printing press.
+
+Truly yours,
+
+THE AUTHOR.
+
+December, 1904.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+It may seem like great exaggeration to say that this is one of the most
+interesting and profitable books that has been placed upon the American
+book market for many years. _It follows no old rut; it has found a new
+path_, and the reader is permitted to walk in regions which he never saw
+and of which he never read before. It is indeed a triumph of literary
+genius to give a picture of intelligent life in other worlds upon a
+scientific and philosophical basis. Other writers have attempted to give
+a description of conditions on the Moon, Mars, or some other single
+planet, but no one has succeeded in picturing the mysteries of life in a
+number of star worlds with such a fascination as is here found.
+
+Some one may say that the book is only a work of imagination, but we
+challenge any one to produce a book that gives more timely thrusts at
+the evils of our present day life. By showing how the people of other
+worlds have fallen into their sad conditions the author sounds a note of
+warning to the people of this world, and by giving a glimpse of the
+manner in which other worlds have reached their great triumphs, he gives
+to the people of our world a spur to loftier ideals, to greater
+inventions, and to a purer life.
+
+The publisher of this volume is proud to put upon the market a book of
+such high value and dignity. It is quite unusual for the subscription
+book market to see such a princely book come into its midst. Here we
+have ten dollars worth of _new ideas_, packed into cream form, all for
+one dollar, and we positively assert that nothing like it can be found
+anywhere in literature. _Great books have no companions._
+
+The illustrations are from the masterly hands of an artist of special
+merit for this class of work. He happily places himself into the midst
+of other worlds in order to draw the beautiful pictures that illustrate
+and adorn this volume. The illustrations are well worth careful
+examination and when studied in connection with the reading matter they
+are seen in their greatest beauty and value. _The Publishers_
+
+[Illustration: Looking Towards a Thousand Worlds.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+Are There More Worlds Than One?
+
+
+Our world is large enough to excite our interest and invite our study
+until we close our eyes in death. Yet there are countless other orbs
+scattered through the solar system and throughout the vast stretches of
+the starry heavens. Some of these worlds are smaller than ours, but the
+majority of them are hundreds or thousands of times larger.
+
+Looking away from our solar system, we find that each star is a sun, in
+most instances the center of a group of worlds. So, for the lack of a
+better phrase, we shall say that there are millions of solar systems
+distributed through limitless space, each one serving its part in the
+great universal plan.
+
+For what purpose are all these immense worlds shining and swinging in
+the depths of immensity? Could it be possible that they are nothing more
+than vast pieces of dead machinery, barren of all vegetable growth and
+intelligent life, whereon desolation and solitude forever prevail?
+
+Our own Earth is inhabited by a large variety of living forms ranging
+from the microscopic bacteria and animalcula to the glorious form of man
+with all his superior endowments. The air, earth and water are teeming
+with their billions of sensitive creatures; even a breath of air, a drop
+of water, or a leaf on a tree often contains a miniature world of living
+forms.
+
+Amidst all this confusing animation around us, is it not absurd to
+suppose that other worlds, larger or smaller than our own, are barren of
+all life, and that from them no songs of thanksgiving ever arise to the
+Maker and Ruler of all things?
+
+Such a supposition not only gives us a strange view of the character and
+attributes of God, but is at once repulsive to our instincts; anyone
+wishing to accept it may do so, but as for me and for a large company of
+my kind, we prefer to give a larger meaning to creation and a higher
+glory to the Creator.
+
+Let no one doubt that the universe is full of intelligent life, in
+myriad types of existence and infinite stages of development. Physically
+speaking, one cannot imagine the countless variety of ways in which
+flesh and bone may congregate around the human brain to make a sentient
+and intelligent creature.
+
+Confined as we are to our little dark world, we know by sight of only
+one way in which the brain conveys its messages and serves its ends,
+namely, through a body of one hundred pounds or more of flesh and bone,
+formed erect, and capable of rendering service upon a moment's notice.
+Therefore some of us are conceited enough to believe that we are the
+most perfect and beautiful beings of the universe, the highest
+expression of creative art, and that all other creatures in a million
+orbs take a secondary place.
+
+True enough, we occupy an honored position in the scale of creation, but
+while the people of many worlds are beneath us, yet there are many more
+planets whereon human genius has surpassed us, and we must be modest
+enough to take our rightful place in the drama of the worlds.
+
+"How many planets, how many suns, how many milky ways are there?" you
+ask in one breath. Speaking alone of our own universe, of which the
+Milky Way is the backbone, I estimate that if we multiply the number of
+stars by forty-nine, we shall have the approximate number of worlds that
+are large enough to be classed with the family of inhabited planets.
+
+In our immediate universe there are at least one hundred million stars,
+a number of which have over five hundred worlds revolving around them;
+others have only six or ten. The average, as above stated, is estimated
+at forty-nine. Then, also, far out in the depths of space, there are
+nebulous spots visible only through the most searching lenses. These are
+new systems of milky ways or new universes, so immensely distant that
+our most powerful telescopes cannot even resolve them into stars.
+
+There are inhabited worlds so far from us that, if one could travel the
+distance around our Earth in one second, he could proceed in one
+direction, at this rate of speed, for twenty million years and yet see
+far ahead of him the flickering lights of numberless other inviting
+suns and worlds.
+
+We cannot possibly grasp an idea of such infinite distances, neither can
+we form any adequate conception of the long, long stretches between star
+and star, which is the same as saying, between solar system and solar
+system. In our Milky Way the stars seem to be crushed together into a
+whitish jelly, but the awful truth looms up before us with all sublimity
+that, although these stars seem to lie one upon another, they are
+millions and trillions of miles apart.
+
+In regard to our own solar system much speculation is rife as to the
+existence of human creatures on the several larger planets. Theories of
+all kinds have been advanced; some speculative or absurd, others so
+plausible as to give rise to interesting questions, such as
+communicating with Mars, and perhaps of taking a journey to the Moon.
+These suggestions, while fanciful, awaken our interest and excite our
+curiosity. Can any one predict the excitement that would prevail in our
+world if a human creature from some other planet were suddenly to set
+foot upon our soil? We would fling a thousand questions at him to learn
+something of the strange realm from which he came.
+
+And how great would be our amazement if we were to have the exalted
+privilege of journeying to other worlds, seeing the types of human
+creatures living there, and witnessing a thousand other things too
+strange and wonderful to mention?
+
+I invite you to listen as I tell a condensed story of a number of worlds
+which I have visited, all within the boundary line of our own universe.
+I cannot even tell a tithe of what I saw and heard, but must content
+myself with giving a passing view of a thousand worlds, some of which
+are situated in a very distant corner of our universe.
+
+Well you may ask: "How could you travel from world to world and see the
+various forms of human life, and then remain alive to tell a part of the
+marvelous tale?"
+
+If it is a mystery to you, it is also a mystery to me. I cannot describe
+the pinions that carried me, nor tell whence came the strength that
+moved my wings, any more than I can explain by what process I was
+preserved alive in worlds of fire, in worlds of ice, and in worlds
+without air. But the sight of all these things was as real to me as the
+dreams of the night, and it must be admitted that dreams are often as
+realistic as the acts of our wakeful moments.
+
+For many years I looked outward toward the starry firmament, and at
+times a deep yearning possessed me to speed away to converse with the
+inhabitants of other spheres.
+
+This hope I cherished so strongly that my thoughts completely
+overpowered me, and ere I knew it I was living at the mercy of
+indescribable emotions. All this continued during many revolutions of
+the Earth on its axis. I felt as Columbus must have felt when he was
+moving over strange waters. Then occurred the most notable event of my
+life. In the twinkling of an eye I was caught away from the Earth and,
+without any effort of my own, I was darting through space faster than a
+sunbeam.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+A Visit to the Moon.
+
+
+I was not prepared for the quick transit to our satellite, nor for the
+views thrust upon me so suddenly. Before I could well collect my
+thoughts I found myself in the immediate vicinity of the Moon and,
+strange as it may seem, I was conscious of my surroundings and knew that
+I had power to transport myself instantly to any place I might wish to
+go.
+
+To see the Moon face to face gives a charming satisfaction which can
+never be realized two hundred and forty thousand miles away. I was
+conscious of my privilege and was determined to take all possible
+advantage of it.
+
+Now how differently everything appeared from the views I had snatched
+through the telescope while yet on the Earth. I could not see the "Man
+in the Moon," whose grinning face had so often looked down upon me, but
+from my first point of observation everything looked as if life had
+never existed there and, consequently, I was about to conclude that no
+human beings inhabit the Moon. This theory soon vanished, for after I
+had traveled over a hundred miles I came to a thriving center of
+population, the largest city on the sphere, inhabited by more than sixty
+thousand rational beings.
+
+These creatures resemble us most strongly in their mental capacities,
+though their bodies are out of harmony with ours, having three eyes and
+no nose. The third eye is situated in the center of the forehead, and
+the other two more toward the sides of the head.
+
+Life is not sustained by breathing a gaseous air as we do, so that the
+sense of smell is performed by the protruded upper lip. At the voluntary
+effort to catch scent the upper lip noticeably rolls upward into a
+partial scroll.
+
+I was anxious to learn how the life of these Moonites is sustained
+without breathing and, to my astonishment, I learned that they eat solid
+air at intervals of about six hours. This is not taken in connection
+with the regular food, but is eaten alone and carried into a separate
+stomach wherein it is disintegrated by the chemical action of the
+stomachic acids. The gases thus formed serve the same purpose as the air
+we breathe into our lungs.
+
+According to the conjectures of some earthly astronomers I was expecting
+to see a race of immense giants. On the contrary, I found that these
+Moonites grow to only about one-fourth our height, but possess fully
+three-fourths as much circumference of body. Notwithstanding that they
+are so short and rotund, they are healthy and exceedingly quick in all
+their bodily movements.
+
+No doubt I shall be chided for saying that these Moon-inhabitants are a
+handsome people, but I was enabled to judge them by a universal standard
+of beauty, and I looked upon them as a product of the same infinite
+Creator who fashioned our mortal bodies with such marvelous adaptation
+of means to end.
+
+One thing is sure, were a person from the Moon to set foot upon our
+planet, he would estimate us to be as far out of harmony with his
+standards of beauty as we should consider him to be out of harmony with
+ours.
+
+As might be expected, these people are very peculiar in their habits.
+There is a small percentage of the population who are bright stars
+intellectually, while others are extremely indolent. When a person wins
+a record for laziness, it is said of him: "He is too lazy to eat his
+air."
+
+The large city to which I had come was indeed a novel sight. Its
+buildings average in height one-third of ours, although they occupy
+nearly as much ground space. They are composed almost totally of
+non-combustible materials.
+
+The window panes are not made of a brittle substance like glass, but
+resemble mica, except that they are more tough and durable. These
+Moonites are wiser than we in roofing their houses. They have discovered
+a mineral composition which in its plastic state is daubed over the
+roof. This, upon hardening, is proof against all conditions of weather
+and never needs replacing.
+
+There are many striking features in their architecture. In general, it
+may be said that they are quite far advanced in constructive ability.
+Some of their larger buildings look like soldiers' forts, others
+resemble immense bee hives, while still others appear like odd-shaped
+synagogues.
+
+We are their superiors in almost every line, especially in our knowledge
+and use of electricity and photography, and also in our manufacturing
+and scientific skill. However, they have decidedly surpassed us in
+imitative and creative art.
+
+Their paintings express so accurately the emotions of the heart that I
+found myself in tears as I saw their masterpieces. For a time I forgot
+that I was on the Moon, so lost was I in elevated reflections all
+suggested by their art creations. How I wished that I could have taken
+some of these specimens with me!
+
+From the Moon our Earth looks like a large wagon-wheel hanging in the
+heavens. It is amusing to learn of the various opinions and
+superstitions that are held regarding this wagon-wheel world. Some of
+the Moonites declare that it is a huge lantern, hung solely for their
+benefit, and scoff at the idea that it might be a world inhabited by
+civilized beings. More intelligent Moonites venture the theory that
+human life could exist on the great wagon-wheel, but declare that this
+is quite improbable, as the whole planet is enveloped by some thick,
+smoky substance in which they believe it would be impossible for human
+life to exist. Some look upon the Earth as the mother of the Moon, and
+regard the Sun as the father. This sex idea runs through most of their
+heathen religion, and there are more who worship the Earth and the Sun
+than there are who worship the God who created these heavenly bodies.
+
+I prolonged my investigations without becoming visible, taking note of
+numberless facts of interest which will ever be a source of pleasure and
+value to me. At length, however, I concluded to take advantage of a
+privilege and power I possessed and, becoming visible, I entered a quiet
+room in the presence of a very distinguished man. He was by far the most
+highly educated person on the Moon.
+
+I was more surprised than he, for I expected that he would be greatly
+agitated at my unaccountable appearance. Imagine my surprise when he sat
+motionless, gazing firmly into my face which to him was out of harmony
+with all ideas of correct form.
+
+I was the first to speak, and although he had manifested outwardly such
+self possession, I soon learned that it was a mere show of stoicism in
+the presence of one whom he thought to be a spirit. In an incredibly
+short time we were on easy speaking terms and I was gaining the object
+of my visit.
+
+Among the many things of interest that I learned from this famous
+character were facts concerning the history of the Moon. According to
+the information he gave me, I figured that human life had existed on the
+Moon thousands of years before its appearance on the Earth.
+Scientifically I could not account for this on any other ground than
+that the Moon, being a much smaller orb, cooled off sufficiently to
+sustain life on its surface long before any form of life could exist on
+our Earth.
+
+The Moonities of the old era were a prosperous and progressive people,
+far outshining their successors who now occupy the sphere. After making
+history for several thousand years, the human race had grown to one
+hundred million in numbers, and civilization had reached a surprising
+degree of perfection.
+
+In those long-ago ages the Moon was a much more fertile garden than now.
+Luxury and refinement were enjoyed by the favored sons of that period,
+and no one dreamed of the horrible fate that was to sweep practically
+the whole race into the regions of death. My intelligent informer used
+excessive language in trying to picture the unequaled catastrophe that
+put an end to the old era.
+
+My interest was unbounded, and with awed breath I continued listening as
+he described the cause of this great and terrible cataclysm.
+
+"It all occurred about five thousand years ago," he said. "The Moon was
+shaken by subterraneous rumblings, followed by fiery ejections, covering
+a period of nearly one and one-half wagon-wheel revolutions. Whole
+cities were ruined, fertile valleys covered and human life was almost
+annihilated."
+
+I knew what my informant meant by "one and one-half wagon-wheel
+revolutions." This would be a period of about forty days and nights of
+earthly time. Do you wonder that my mind flew back to the forty days and
+nights of rain that destroyed, at one time, on our Earth, the whole
+human family, except the few who were saved in the ark?
+
+"What are the evidences of this horrible world-ending?" I asked.
+
+"They are on every hand. Have you not yet seen the vast craters, the
+mountains of barren cinder, the stumps of immense pillars, partly
+excavated? All this, and very much more, silently unfolds a tale of
+horror that can be faintly pictured only by the imagination. Think of a
+holocaust so terrible that one hundred million human creatures are
+thereby swept into death in the narrow compass of forty days! The
+records that have been brought down to us by the few survivors indicate
+the continual wails of horror rending the sky while the volcanic
+disturbances continued. Thousands and millions ran from place to place
+to find shelter from the storm of fire. At one place the surface would
+open and at another the lava would run. Fate, with a merciless hand,
+was dragging each one into one or another of the inevitable pits."
+
+"How many were saved?" I asked with deepening interest.
+
+"Parts of only eight families aggregating nineteen human beings."
+
+"And how many people are on the Moon now?"
+
+"Almost forty million."
+
+"How do you account for this slow growth?" I asked after I had explained
+that on our globe a much larger number of inhabitants sprang from a
+smaller number than nineteen in a shorter period of time.
+
+This allusion cost me much explanation, and, after I had selfishly
+brushed his rising questions aside, I learned that large companies of
+the Moonites had been swept into death by frequent volcanic outbursts
+all along the line of the centuries.
+
+No one can estimate my interest as I continued the conversation. But
+finally I decided to stroll through certain parts of the city and,
+thinking it advisable to give no notice of my departure, I suddenly
+vanished from his sight. However, before leaving the room, I observed
+that my bewildered auditor conjectured for a long time and reached his
+former conclusion that he had been in touch with an apparition.
+
+Again I resumed my visible form and walked along one of the principal
+streets of the city. What novel sights greeted my eyes on every side!
+One cannot well imagine what excitement I aroused. Citizens who first
+saw me lifted their flabby arms in terror and ran to the city Bizen, a
+place where every inhabitant, under oath, is obliged to carry special
+news before communicating it elsewhere.
+
+[Illustration: Visiting a City on the Moon.]
+
+In a very short time the city Plins, or in our language, city
+authorities, were coming toward me in their costly vehicles. They were
+preceded, however, by what we would call a body guard. Imagine their
+surprise to hear me shout at the top of my voice, which sounded to them
+as thunder would to us: "You need not fear, I will do you no harm!"
+
+My voice had a magical effect on the assembling host of pigmies. They
+looked at me with as much curiosity as I looked at them. I stepped over
+their heads but was careful not to trample on the children who scampered
+at my approach. If one could ship a car load of these children to the
+Earth, they would make excellent dolls, for they range in size from only
+six to ten inches. Finally, I sat on the roof of one of their lower
+buildings to watch the gathering of the multitudes and study their
+curious countenances.
+
+Some of the more educated, seeing that I was peacefully inclined,
+ventured close to my knees and then looked the more intently into my
+face, all of which was agreeable, as it enabled me to get a still closer
+view of their faces.
+
+I saw that the whole city was turning out, and I wondered how the alarm
+could have been given so speedily. Upon inquiry, a fine artist at my
+side tremblingly explained that the Bizen wires had been touched for
+block six. This meant that every house in the city had received notice
+of an unusual occurrence in that section. I resolved to learn more of
+this system and how it was operated without the aid of electricity.
+
+Now I was besieged by a pressing host. At once I commenced to speak in
+Moon dialect. I told them whence I came, pointing to the large
+wagon-wheel that hung in their heavens. After a short discourse, I
+invited questions.
+
+One of their leaders stepped nearer to me and acted as the spokesman of
+the crowd. His language and voice were of excellent quality and although
+visibly agitated, he bore himself with commendable dignity. Let me here
+translate our conversation into English.
+
+"How came you here?" asked he.
+
+"That I cannot explain."
+
+"Did you walk or run?"
+
+"I did neither."
+
+Surrendering this line of inquiry, he went on to ask the following
+questions:
+
+"Are there more creatures than you where you came from?"
+
+"Large cities full of them."
+
+"Are they smaller than you?"
+
+"Their average height equals mine."
+
+"It must be a ponderous world of immense giants beyond the
+comprehension of any inhabitant of our whole globe."
+
+"But just as I appear large to you, you appear unnaturally small to me,"
+I calmly added.
+
+"How came that lump in the middle of your face?"
+
+I knew the questioner referred to my nose. I took a good wholesome
+laugh, and the large concourse of people watched my wrinkling face with
+strange delight. The Moonites express all their emotions by exclamations
+and almost infinite variations of the lower lip in conjunction with
+their three eyes.
+
+I told the spokesman that the lump on my face was called "nose," using
+our pronunciation, and that it grew there by nature and not by accident.
+I also informed him that each person in our world had such a nose, at
+which much merriment ensued. Lips twitched and quivered, as their eyes
+blinked and rolled. It seemed to me like a hideous way to laugh, but no
+doubt my nose seemed just as hideous to them.
+
+Then I explained all about our dense atmosphere, the part that air
+played in our life, and what a fine convenience the nose is during
+eating and speaking. Of course all this was unintelligible to them.
+
+I then busied myself in ascertaining the secret of their signal system.
+I learned, much to my surprise, that with scarcely any knowledge of
+electricity the Moonites had long ago discovered a means of
+communication which is somewhat similar to our wireless telegraphy. From
+central stations messages are transmitted to sensitive metal rods set up
+on each house-top, somewhat like the lightning rods that decorate
+house-tops on my own Earth. I also learned that a very thin atmosphere
+is prevalent on the Moon, and that this rare medium is more suited to
+their wireless telegraphy than our heavier atmosphere would be with its
+different composition.
+
+I soon learned that great excitement was prevailing throughout the
+adjacent villages. Wireless telegraphy carried the news, and from all
+directions throngs were pressing toward the city. Furthermore I saw that
+the noted personage with whom I had spent a quiet season was now making
+his way toward me. Not wishing to hold further conversation with him,
+and desiring to escape the ever-rising tide of curious questioners, I
+once more became invisible and proceeded to study the physical phenomena
+of the Moon.
+
+I now saw that everything bore evidence to the fearful havoc of volcanic
+eruptions that had laid waste so large a portion of the Moon's surface.
+The people live in the remaining fertile belts and patches of land which
+are fortunately scattered in rich profusion over the greater portion of
+the surface, reminding one of productive oases in the deserts of our
+world.
+
+Here and there, in stately museums, are stored the relics of the old
+glorious civilization. At a few of these places I tarried to study the
+achievements of a people who flourished five thousand years ago, at a
+time when the civilization of our world was yet young. What an interest
+lay wrapped up in the time-worn relics! Naturally I thought of Pompeii
+as I was viewing the antique treasures that had been brought to light
+from their old graves of ashes, cinder and lava. In some of these
+specimens I saw glimpses of inventions that have never been reproduced
+on the Moon and never known on our Earth.
+
+Onward I moved to take my last views of the Moon. For ragged and jagged
+cliffs of almost total barrenness, and yawning chasms lined with
+intolerable precipices, the Moon outrivals the Earth. I took a passing
+glimpse of the famous crater-mountains, called by our astronomers
+Copernicus and Theophilus, the former situated in the eastern and the
+latter in the western hemisphere of the Moon. The largest openings of
+our Earth dwindle into insignificance compared with such stupendous
+marvels of natural scenery.
+
+Many similar places I visited, but I spent my last hours on the Moon in
+the presence of that gigantic chasm called Newton, where I was thrilled
+with feelings of sublimity as never before. Outstretched lay the immense
+opening, nearly one hundred and fifty miles long and about seventy miles
+broad. It was fearful to gaze into it, for my eye stretched downward
+mile after mile until it reached the blackness of darkness. It
+frequently happens that a Moonite accidentally falls into this monster
+Newtonian chasm. Nothing more is ever seen or heard of him.
+
+I shuddered as I peered into this gigantic opening whose gaping mouth
+could swallow Pike's Peak so that its highest point would be many
+thousands of feet below the surface. We have nothing on our Earth that
+can compare with this terribly imposing sight, and as I was studying the
+expansive waste I could more readily understand how large numbers of
+human beings could be destroyed by such fabulous quantities of boiling
+lava as were capable of being thrown from this pit. There is no doubt
+that the lava and ashes hurled from this crater alone would send a
+withering blast of death-dealing for many hundreds of miles around.
+
+If you have never been privileged to look upon this ponderous chasm face
+to face, improve your first opportunity to get a glimpse of it through
+as powerful a telescope as possible.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+A Visit to Mars.
+
+
+I need not describe the manner of my flight. It is enough to say that,
+to my delight, I reached our neighbor planet called Mars, and at once
+proceeded to study its physical features and its human life.
+
+Everything was vastly different from what I had been long accustomed to
+see and to imagine, and I felt quite assured that I was living in a
+dream. But I knew of no way to convince myself as to my bearings, so I
+concluded to make the best use of my time and opportunities, and leave
+questionings to the future.
+
+As a physical world Mars bears a most striking resemblance to our Earth.
+The length of its year is six hundred and eighty-seven of our days, and
+the length of its day is twenty-four hours and thirty-seven minutes. Its
+diameter is about one-half that of the Earth and its distance from the
+Sun is 142,000,000 miles. Even from our own world we can discern
+through a good telescope the changing colors of the planet, due to the
+recurring seasons, each one of which is almost twice the length of ours.
+
+There is relatively much less water on Mars than is found on our Earth,
+and gravity on its surface is only thirty-eight per cent. of terrestrial
+gravity. Imagine, then, how light everything must be. This may account
+somewhat for the physical proportions of its inhabitants, for they are
+over twice our size, and in appearance resemble us but little. They have
+four arms, two extra ones extending from a point just above the knees.
+The two lower arms act as servants to the two higher. Thus are the four
+used at one time in harmony.
+
+Mars is an older world than ours, and although it receives only one-half
+as much heat from the sun yet it is almost of the same temperature,
+owing to a peculiar condition of the atmosphere which we would call
+"heat retentivity."
+
+Some scientists and philosophers will at once say that such atmospheric
+conditions are contrary to reason and natural law, but they must be
+informed that on Mars there are chemical elements and affinities not
+known in our world. It requires but little change in the elementary
+construction of the atmosphere to render it capable of strong
+heat-retaining properties.
+
+Standing on the surface of this planet, my attention was easily
+attracted by the two frisky moons called Deimos and Phobos, at the small
+distance of 14,600 and 12,500 miles respectively. These two moons are
+constantly flying around the planet, one in about thirty hours and the
+other in seven and one-half hours.
+
+The astronomers of Mars have discovered unmistakable signs of human life
+on the farthest of these two moons. They are hoping to be able some day
+to cover the intervening distance and for the first time see their old
+neighbors face to face.
+
+Before I had traveled over one-half the surface of this planet I was
+thoroughly convinced that it was a rough, jagged world without lofty
+mountain ranges or peaks. The many long and narrow fertile valleys, much
+resembling the canons of our own Earth, absorbed my mind with more than
+passing interest. Looking carefully into one of these canon depressions,
+I saw a class of human beings in a low state of civilization;
+nevertheless, they were expert in agriculture and seemed to labor
+contentedly with a dull, plodding vigor beyond all reason.
+
+According to appearances there seemed to be no social relation or
+connection between the inhabitants of one valley and those of another.
+At first I was greatly puzzled at these peculiar conditions.
+
+Next I gave my attention to the highlands or wide barren ridges between
+the valleys. On these elevations I saw a highly civilized race of people
+living in great splendor. They enjoyed the privilege of traveling from
+one highland to another and of exchanging courtesies. Their interests
+were common, and their joys and sorrows were mutual.
+
+At once I became interested in these extremes of life as exhibited in
+the valleys and on the highlands, and resolved that I would find the
+cause for these differences.
+
+The authentic history of these Marsmen runs back through thousands of
+years. I learned with interest the wonderful past life on this world.
+
+There was once a time when people all mingled together and cultivated
+the valleys. Each one by doing his part made it lighter for all. But
+after many years a few schemers combined and by their inventive genius
+succeeded in erecting vast sliding curtains over the valleys. These
+curtains were supported from the tops of the ridges on each side and, by
+their manipulation, the operators could keep the sunlight from any
+particular part of the valley.
+
+Then these shrewd Marsmen exacted tribute from the valley-toilers,
+saying to them: "Give us a fifth part of your products, and we will give
+you sunlight."
+
+So the toilers gave them tribute willingly, knowing that they could not
+live without sunlight. Then it came to pass that these toilers were
+burdened by reason of their taxes and they prayed to the rich that they
+might have sunlight at a lower price, but the rich replied:
+
+"We cannot give you sunlight for less because it costs us much to keep
+in repair our immense curtain systems across the valley." So the poor
+toilers labored more and slept less, while the few rich on the
+elevations built unto themselves more spacious homes and lived in
+greater luxury all their days.
+
+In process of time some of the shrewdest highlanders devised an
+attachment to the curtain system by which the rainfall could also be
+distributed at the will of the operators. Then the rich Marsmen on the
+elevations said to the toilers: "Give us one-fifth more of your
+products, and we will give you your share of the rainfall."
+
+The poor laborers had no alternative; so they labored still more
+diligently to pay their taxes for light and rain, and the burden became
+so heavy that they could no longer bear it. So they sent up a petition
+praying for sunlight and rain for a one-fifth instead of a two-fifths
+tribute. The rich refused to listen to this prayer, whereat the toilers
+refused to comply with these intolerable demands.
+
+Then did the rich magnates of the elevations draw their curtains to
+keep both sunshine and rain from the valley. The laborers consumed all
+they had until, in desperation, they asked again for sunlight and rain,
+but the rich refused to give either unless the toilers would promise to
+give a two-fifths tribute; to do this the toilers at length agreed. Then
+the curtains were withdrawn, the sunlight once more kissed the valley,
+the rain again fell upon the fields, and some of the poor, ignorant
+people devoutly thanked their God for these gifts.
+
+[Illustration: Monopolizing Light and Rain on Mars.]
+
+It occurred later that one of the many toilers, whom his Creator had
+endowed with unusual wisdom, became the leader of the masses in
+struggling for their rights. He traveled the whole length of the valley
+and advocated that the people should unite, march to the summit of the
+hill, destroy the fastenings that held these curtains and, as the
+coverings would fall, destroy them with fire. This leader declared that
+they were entitled to sunlight and rain without paying tribute to man.
+Gradually the workers were won to his views. The rich, seeing that their
+investments were threatened, hired a few brilliant orators and sent
+them to the people to persuade them not to give heed to a man of one
+idea. These orators argued that it would be a great crime to destroy the
+property of others, and that their only way of securing happiness was to
+toil on with patience and keep looking for brighter days. The people
+listened to the specious sophistries and thus pushed aside their
+redeemer, putting off forever the day of their deliverance.
+
+Similar troubles continued to arise in the valley, but the rich always
+succeeded in quieting the people before they rose to determined action.
+
+Then the rich decided to put an end to these agitations among the
+toilers. Accordingly they cut off all communication from valley to
+valley, either by epistle or person, and refused longer to permit any
+poor toiler, or his children, to pursue any study whatever. By this
+method, in the course of a few hundred years, the valley dwellers lapsed
+into ignorant slaves, not knowing, except by tradition, that there were
+other people in other parts of Mars. Thus the rich continued to
+flourish on all the highlands, for they had extended this same policy
+until the toilers of the whole planet were practically galley slaves,
+each consigned to his own narrow canon.
+
+After witnessing the wide extent of this slavery system, I appeared in
+visible form to a rich dignitary on one of the most refined highlands.
+
+He was alone and, upon raising his eyes and seeing me before him, he was
+greatly amazed. To see a little man with a hairy face and with the kind
+of clothing I wore, was all too odd for him to take in at once. He acted
+as if I were some unheard-of animal, but when I addressed him in his own
+tongue and manifested a becomingly meek disposition, he accepted me as a
+deformed creature afflicted with a mild form of lunacy. Then he
+proceeded to examine my clothing and especially my knees, trying to
+solve by what freak of nature I was cursed since I had no lower arms
+such as he had. My small face, smooth forehead, and the short straight
+hair on my head aroused in him no little wonder and merriment, so that,
+all in all, I was the oddest freak he had ever seen. He soon showed by
+his manner how thankful he was that gracious nature had formed him so
+much more kindly than me.
+
+His questions soon poured out upon me and I answered as briefly and
+intelligently as I could. He pressed me so hard as to the place of my
+birth that I finally informed him that I came from another world,
+whereat he was assured of my insanity and proceeded to fasten me by
+force until he might summon certain of his friends. Knowing that all the
+people of Mars could do me no ultimate harm and wishing to see what
+might be their intentions, I offered very feeble resistance to his
+course.
+
+In a very short time there was grouped around me a curious set of
+people, all of whom seemed to me so horribly ugly that I felt well
+satisfied that I had been born on the Earth. Among the company were some
+eminent scholars who did no more than peer at one another and walk about
+me, while they were waiting for some learned professors to arrive from a
+distance. A long, tedious period ensued ere the company of judges or
+examiners were gathered from several adjoining highlands.
+
+They took me into a large room where followed an indescribable
+examination during which I purposely remained silent.
+
+The button and button holes of my clothing attracted as much attention
+as my unnaturally shaped head. My collar and necktie were conundrums.
+Not one of the learned scholars was able to advance a theory as to the
+probable use of such a stiff piece under my head. I could not conceal my
+smiles as I heard the flying theories as to the use of my cuffs. One
+specialist decided that inasmuch as I had only two arms, I wore these to
+make them appear larger. This was accepted as the most plausible
+explanation.
+
+Several times they urged me to speak. The man to whom I had first
+appeared had told them that I was expert in their language. But I would
+not utter a word, being anxious to learn all I could by listening to
+their conjectures.
+
+Some of my examiners were sure I belonged to a species of their animal
+creation, who, in some unaccountable manner, had received the gift of
+intelligence. But this opinion did not gain ground, as no one could
+account for the manner of my clothing and especially for my pocket knife
+and other accompaniments. No one believed that I came from another
+world, and yet no one could see how or where I had originated on Mars.
+
+Finally one of the company struck upon a popular theory. He argued that
+I belonged to a tribe of creatures that had developed far away in one of
+their almost unending forests, and that I was the first of my kind that
+had ever ventured so far from home.
+
+"But how did he learn our language?" queried one.
+
+"Any intelligent creature would by nature alone come to our language,"
+was the conceited explanation of another.
+
+Another gave a better theory which was at length accepted. He said that
+no doubt I belonged to a company that had emigrated long, long ago from
+one of the valleys.
+
+After all their pains I satisfied their ruling desire by speaking. They
+knew not what to say as I gave them a general description of the world
+from which I came.
+
+Purposely I used their most cultured forms of expression. At once I rose
+to a high level in their estimation and they gradually accepted my words
+as true. With absorbing interest they listened to every syllable and,
+when I paused, their questions fell upon me in wild profusion. On my
+account the schools were abandoned, all the leading teachers of five
+elevations became my astonished auditors, and after every period of
+sleep I was confronted by still other classes of specialists, some from
+more distant elevations.
+
+Finally, feigning ignorance, I asked where they obtained their
+sustenance, as I had not seen one field in cultivation. They told me the
+whole history of the toilers in the valley as already recounted, and how
+the curtain magnates received their tributes which were sufficient to
+feed all the people of the elevations.
+
+"What right," I asked, "has any one to form a monopoly on sunlight or
+rain which are free bounties from above?"
+
+"There can be nothing wrong about that," came the positive answer. "Any
+man who was wise enough to think of such a splendid system of
+valley-covers surely deserves all the benefit that can be secured from
+it."
+
+"How did you succeed in getting the people to submit to such a system?"
+
+"It all came by force. At first they were unwilling enough, but we
+withdrew their education and kept them isolated. With ignorance you can
+conquer any people. Now they are our perfect servants, and in a short
+time we need not use the curtains any more. A few masters can control
+the whole valley. All we need to give them will be enough to eat, and
+the remainder of their products we can send to the elevations."
+
+I was struck with horror at this revolting scheme, and expressed myself
+in strong terms. I thought of the conditions of our world and felt
+thankful that it had not gone so far that the laboring classes were
+galley slaves to the rich; and I breathed my prayer that it might never
+be so.
+
+My investigations on this planet were long extended. The educated
+people gave me many new ideas, although they are ignorant of many
+advantages which we enjoy. Their means of transportation are miserable
+compared with ours, and when I was explaining to the Marsmen our methods
+of travel they were surprised beyond measure. However their knowledge of
+nature and forms of animal life is far superior to ours. There I solved
+some of the complex questions of Biology which had long puzzled my mind
+during my stay on the Earth.
+
+In their religion they worship the Source of Life, and look upon the Sun
+as the place to which the spirit goes at death. In brief, the Sun is
+their Heaven. They believe that the Sun's heat will be no barrier to the
+spirit's complete happiness when liberated from the body. Phonetically
+pronounced, they call the Sun Then-ka.
+
+I was indeed surprised at the simplicity of their devotions to their
+unseen God. Even the untutored toilers of the valleys talk to the Source
+of Life and are constantly looking forward to the time when their hard
+lot will be over that they may enter the Then-ka life. I could not help
+but think that their chances of Heaven were better than those of the
+highland caste; but I will not judge lest I might err. Who can
+understand the universal plans of Jehovah?
+
+Before I left the Marsmen I informed them that certain enthusiasts of my
+world had been signaling to them for some time, and urged them to
+improve their astronomical apparatus so that they might be able to
+discern these signals and reply to them.
+
+On account of my thoughtlessness I made an error, for I failed, while I
+was yet on Mars, to arrange a code of signals; hence I fear that there
+will be considerable experimenting before we can hope to establish
+communication with our neighbor world.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+A Glimpse of Jupiter.
+
+
+The next world I visited was Jupiter, the greatest orb in the solar
+system, almost fourteen hundred times as large as our Earth. I found it
+whirling on its axis so rapidly that it makes an entire revolution in
+about ten hours of our time.
+
+This voluminous sphere is in great contrast to both the Moon and Mars.
+Its physical constituency resembles a liquid more than a solid, and it
+is quite hot but not luminous. It has cooled sufficiently to admit human
+forms, although certain parts of the giant planet are void of all life,
+owing to the more intense heat in those sections.
+
+The atmosphere is charged with thick clouds, never at rest and
+continually forming into immense scrolls close to the surface of the
+planet.
+
+The human life of Jupiter is found in certain belts where the crust of
+the planet has been hardened for several thousand years. The people have
+risen from rude, primitive conditions to a state of splendid
+civilization. In size they are colossal giants, averaging twenty-five
+feet in height. Their two powerful arms extend from what we would call
+the hips, and no one would imagine with what facility these giants use
+them. After extended observation, I was almost tempted to wonder why our
+arms were placed so high on the body. These Jupiterites are more
+handsome than the people on the Moon or Mars, and their faces shine with
+a superior intelligence. Instead of hair on the head, they have
+something unknown to our world, quite similar in appearance to wool.
+
+Their two eyes blaze like balls of fire, making one of the giants appear
+like a fiersome though not repulsive monster. The most unusual feature
+about the face is the peculiarity of the chin and forehead. Each is
+covered with convolutions of an insensible, rubber-like membrane.
+
+The people of Jupiter excel in mechanical skill. They build houses, but
+not by long, tedious days of painstaking labor. Such things as plaster
+and paint are unknown. A Jupiterite can purchase, from one of the
+mammoth structural factories, house sides, house ends, house floors or
+partitions, after any general design he wishes, and have them trimmed in
+any style his fancy suggests. The materials used are non-combustible and
+water-proof, and will wear indefinitely.
+
+These houses can be put together in a few days and the trimmings
+adjusted in less than two weeks, unless the structure is very elaborate.
+Nearly all of their house furniture is also non-combustible, and no one
+has ever conceived the idea of forming a fire insurance company, simply
+because there is no need for one.
+
+As the people are so much larger than we, so are all things relatively
+larger than we see them in our world. Wagons and carriages and cars
+appear as if they were made for mastodons.
+
+I saw one of their largest bridges spanning a molten lake. Aside of it
+the East River bridge would be a dwarf, either in height or length. It
+is certainly thrilling to step into a world where all things are so
+gigantic. At times a feeling of insignificance crept over me, but I took
+courage when I thought that a man's greatness consists in his mental
+powers and not in his physical bulk, for it is true that the fifty
+ounces of brain in the skull of a Newton have accomplished more marvels
+than the ten pounds of brain-matter found in the most cultured
+Jupiterite.
+
+We must give the people of Jupiter credit for exercising a large amount
+of common sense. In many ways they are more practical than we, and this
+is quite as noticeable in their language as in any other respect. They
+have one simple language for the whole globe and in its use they are all
+agreed. Their vocabulary is small because they have not yet branched out
+into the infinite varieties of manufacture and invention.
+
+Their words have a marvelous correspondence with the thought or the
+action expressed, the manner of emphasizing syllables going a great
+distance toward expressing the shade of emotion desired.
+
+I admired especially one thing on this bulky planet. They have but one
+authority for language. Hence there is no Century, Webster, Worcester or
+Standard, each rivaling the others for supremacy, to confuse the honest
+student with diverse spellings and pronunciations.
+
+The words of the language of Jupiter are all embodied in one unique
+dictionary which is revised at intervals by a board of official
+educators; to this board all suggestions for inserting new words and
+changing the classification of old ones must be given for their
+consideration.
+
+This dictionary is printed by the government, and a copy of it is
+furnished free to all public places and to each private family. When a
+revision is made, a copy of all the changes is furnished to each
+dictionary holder. The authority of this dictionary is final, and no one
+is permitted to publish a conflicting work.
+
+The Jupiterites have displayed their highest genius in their
+astronomical advancements. They know all about the Solar System, and
+have made discoveries inside of Neptune's orbit which our astronomers
+have never observed. I was thrilled with delight when I saw their
+telescopes with the marvelous lenses that opened the locked doors of the
+Milky Way. No wonder the astronomers of Jupiter have a more
+comprehensive view of the universe than we have. Their lenses are so
+powerful that they have seen the outlines of our rugged mountains, and
+have discovered on our world unmistakable signs of human life. During my
+visit thither the experts were working on a much larger lens, and it is
+claimed that when this is finished human forms can be discerned on the
+Earth and can be seen with more accuracy on Mars.
+
+The five moons that revolve around Jupiter have been studied with marked
+interest. Two of these moons have displayed definite signs of human
+life. It is promised also that the coming lens will unlock the doors of
+the several moons and permit the astronomers of Jupiter to pry into the
+secrets of their celestial neighbors.
+
+During the past one thousand years, the Jupiterites have made
+numberless attempts to establish communication between these moons and
+their planet, but all their efforts have failed. Either the Moonites are
+too stupid, or the Jupiterites are not expert enough in throwing out
+signals or in building air ships.
+
+For no one thing more than another did I envy the astronomers of Jupiter
+than for their marvelous magnifying lenses. I knew that if we had such
+lenses, or the material to make them, we could watch with ease the
+inhabitants of the Moon or of Mars, and we could study the intelligent
+life on Mercury and Venus, to say nothing of the great advantages we
+should have in observing comets and all the numberless starry systems
+scattered throughout illimitable space.
+
+The religious life of Jupiter proved to be intensely interesting to me.
+They have a sacred book which corresponds to our Bible, and it has
+always remained in its original form because there is but one language.
+
+Since I left my own world I had not felt so kindred a touch in spirit as
+when I invisibly entered one of their great temples of worship, as we
+might call it. No vocal music was there, but the mute beckoning of
+several thousand arms, as if to implore the favor of the great Inzoork
+or Creator, was impressively eloquent to me.
+
+I was thrilled with joy as I learned more of their religion. I found
+that their love and service were akin to those of our planet, and that
+these same bonds unite them one to another. My conceptions were
+enlarging as I saw the family of God enlarging, and I felt that although
+I was unlike them in the physical, yet I was their brother in spirit,
+and that we all have one Father.
+
+Religious liberty was enjoyed until a few centuries ago when certain
+restrictions were formulated. It was seen that some, in exercising their
+liberty, proved to be a curse to the state, and consequently a sharp
+battle ensued against the liberal element.
+
+The Church won the conflict and now the profession of atheism is not
+allowed. If it can be shown that any sane person takes such a position,
+he is given a certain period to recant. If recantation is not
+forthcoming, he is placed in the public work-house until he
+acknowledges the existence of Deity. Atheists are scarce under this
+severe ruling.
+
+You may well know how I was startled to see such summary action taken in
+regard to unbelievers. At first I prided myself that I belonged to a
+world of free thought and free speech, but when I saw the magnetic
+effect of these Jupiter regulations I was in doubt as to the superiority
+of our religious and irreligious liberties.
+
+The soil of Jupiter yields abundantly. The animals are all large and of
+species unknown to us. They have animals that resemble our elephant and
+ox; these they use for food. Common birds, as large as geese or turkeys,
+flourish in the extensive forests and furnish about one-third of the
+food for the giants.
+
+The vegetation is after the order of our world, except that the curse of
+weeds and thistles is only one-fourth as great. But the people of
+Jupiter have learned more than we of the use of these weeds, and certain
+of them are cultivated to a wide extent.
+
+I spent a long time on the planet. I saw the fiery lakes that are fed by
+subterraneous streams of lava, and the geysers of blue flame darting
+their immense tongues high in the air.
+
+As near as fifty miles to these fiery centers can be seen gardens of
+vegetation and fields under cultivation. I yielded at last to a desire
+that prompted me to make a personal appearance. So I stopped on a
+thoroughfare and occupied a rustic seat at the roadside. I was dressed
+in my earthly costume, and sat composedly awaiting developments.
+
+The first living creature that observed my presence was a passing
+quadruped. It was larger than a wild goat, and was a small specimen
+after its kind. For want of a better name I will call it a "dog."
+
+As soon as I was spied by this animal he set up a hideous howl and ran
+at full speed. Knowing my own homeliness, I had all charity for the
+animal and did not censure him for being so terribly frightened at my
+appearance.
+
+Soon a full grown giant came along. He chanced to be a learned professor
+out for an evening walk, as we would say. He seemed to be in deep
+meditation and did not notice me until he was near my side. Then he
+stood breathless, while a feeling of fear and surprise evidently
+possessed him. I sat motionless, looking up into his eyes, and saw the
+convolutions on his forehead and chin quivering quite perceptibly. He
+evidently judged me to be some undeveloped species of Mon-go-din, an
+animal of Jupiter bearing faint resemblance to our man-ape. To my
+surprise, he suddenly grasped me and tightly held me fast in his
+gigantic arms. I made no effort to free myself.
+
+His surprise was only intensified at my resignation. He expected a
+struggle, but I neither made an outcry nor resisted capture. Like an
+infant I lay in his arms, while he passed quick glances all over me. He
+was baffled beyond all measure, and hurried away toward the great
+college near by. Upon reaching the museum department, I was placed in a
+strong cage and the doors were doubly secured.
+
+My captor ran from my presence and, in a few moments, returned with two
+other professors. They peered into the cage in painful astonishment,
+while I contented myself by taking my watch apart and occasionally
+glancing at my select audience.
+
+Then commenced the jibbering consultation, all of which I well
+understood. My captor related the full circumstances in connection with
+his walk in the grove and the manner in which he captured me. He dwelt
+particularly on the indifference I manifested in all his dealings with
+me.
+
+"It is a baby Mon-go-din," suggested the one professor, while the other
+advanced the theory that I was an abnormal child of some Jupiterite.
+
+My watch excited their curiosity. One reached his hand cautiously
+through the bars and evinced by his actions what he wanted. I looked up
+into his eyes and spoke my first words.
+
+"Patience, please, till I put the watch together, and you shall have
+it."
+
+Not only did his arms fly away from the cage, but his whole body fell
+prostrate to the floor, whether from fright or surprise, I knew not. His
+two companions were also in a sorry plight. I pretended not to notice
+their consternation, and kept myself busy in placing the parts of my
+watch together.
+
+After a while I was addressed by a trembling questioner: "Where is your
+home, my child?" I did not lift my eyes, but completed my little
+self-appointed task, and at once raised the watch in fulfillment of my
+promise.
+
+The timid professor ventured to accept it and, as he received it from my
+hand, he again asked: "Where is your home?"
+
+"Farther away than the circumference of your world," I distinctly
+answered.
+
+At this time the three agreed that I was an insane child, born out of
+time, and that I satisfied my propensities by gathering to myself such
+idiotic things as my watch and garments, including my hat and shoes.
+
+A quiet consultation followed, after which one of the professors retired
+from the room and soon returned with certain morsels of food. Upon
+handing them to me, I at once remarked: "Keep these morsels for
+yourself; I have better food to eat, of which you know nothing."
+
+The other two professors had by this time observed that my watch was a
+marvelous piece of mechanism beyond their most delicate accomplishments,
+and they announced the fact to their other companion who again looked at
+me in breathless surprise. "Where did you get this Fot-sil?" (or
+plaything), he queried in one breath.
+
+"Farther away than the circumference of your world," was my evasive and,
+to them, unsatisfactory reply.
+
+"Won't you tell us, child, how far away that is?" asked another with
+subdued impatience.
+
+"Millions of miles." (Of course I spoke in terms of their linear
+measurements).
+
+"How many millions?"
+
+"Sometimes five hundred and sometimes six hundred millions."
+
+Without giving them a chance for asking me another question I offered to
+let them see my home if they would permit me to use the most powerful
+telescope in their observatory.
+
+My listeners were indeed amazed and were about to pour upon me a volley
+of interrogations. I assured them that I would answer no more questions
+until I knew whether my request would be granted.
+
+This necessitated a consultation with the chief astronomer who, upon
+learning of my peculiar request and of my unnatural formation, hastened
+to the museum to see the monstrosity.
+
+I knew from what I had previously learned that this gentleman was the
+greatest living astronomer on Jupiter. He peered at me in the cage and
+was dumfounded. He exchanged a few sentences with the professor and
+again turned to me:
+
+"At what time do you want the telescope?" he asked.
+
+"Immediately."
+
+"You shall have it, just to satisfy our curiosity," he said as he
+hastened from the room.
+
+I heard the professor caution him strictly to tell no one of my
+presence, so as to avoid a rush from the student ranks.
+
+In less than an hour I stood at the side of the largest telescope in our
+Solar System, watching the deepening shadows of night as they fell upon
+Jupiter.
+
+[Illustration: Viewing Our Earth from Jupiter.]
+
+I spent another hour examining the ponderous machinery that was
+required to swing this mammoth instrument and to adjust it when scanning
+the heavens.
+
+By this time my four companions were convinced that I was not an idiot,
+and I could see by their strange manner that they were regarding me as a
+spirit.
+
+I gave my directions to the astronomer, and beheld the cylinder,
+two-hundred feet in length and twenty feet in diameter, swing around
+until it pointed toward a little flickering light that shone like a
+distant star.
+
+I looked into the eye-piece, managed to get the tube pointed accurately,
+and then requested the astronomer to focus the lenses so as to bear upon
+the planetary light in range.
+
+He knew at once the planet I had singled out. He called it Zo-ide. After
+the focusing was completed, I looked and, behold, I could readily
+discern many of the physical features of my own world.
+
+"That is my homeland," I cried triumphantly. "I live on Zo-ide, or
+Earth, as we call it."
+
+Of course my listeners were incredulous, but I proceeded to explain to
+them as I looked through the telescope:
+
+"That dark ridge to the left is called 'the Rocky and Andes Mountain
+Systems'. The shining belt on the central portion is the 'Mississippi
+River'. The rough ridge to the right is 'the Allegheny System' of
+mountains." Then I indicated the location of our larger cities. As I
+pointed to New York, I saw a mere speck moving. I was convinced that it
+was one of our large steamships, and as I so explained the astronomer
+looked at me with absorbing interest.
+
+He informed me that he had often seen the moving of the spots, and
+thought they were some cloud formations peculiar to our world. But I
+insisted on the steamship explanation and proceeded to describe an ocean
+liner, for these Jupiterites are not familiar with oceans of cold water
+on which float numerous craft.
+
+I was then a royal guest, and passed a most felicitous night with these
+four celebrities. We talked of the more powerful telescope that the
+government of Jupiter was manufacturing, and of the still greater views
+it promised to reveal.
+
+Then I informed them of our system of science. They were astonished at
+the great civilization extant on Zo-ide, or our Earth.
+
+I told them that a subtile power lay dormant in the atoms and molecules
+of matter, which could be released and utilized, and that we in our
+world called it "electricity."
+
+During the night I learned that the convolutions on the chin and
+forehead of a Jupiterite served the purpose of a new sense. By the aid
+of these convolutions any person of Jupiter can tell in daylight or
+darkness the nature of any surrounding substance, whether it be hard or
+soft, combustible or non-combustible, good for food or not. I confess
+that I was unable to grasp the idea intelligently. So the people on the
+Moon had the same difficulty in understanding the use of my nose.
+
+Before morning dawned I informed my appreciative quartette that I would
+see them no more, that I had paused at Jupiter station long enough, and
+that I must be off on my vast excursion trip.
+
+They earnestly entreated me to remain so that the college students and
+representative persons could get a glimpse of me; but I refused all
+their entreaties. When they found that I had power to leave them
+instantly, they besought me to remain for a few last words.
+
+"Shall we not see you again?" affectingly asked the astronomer.
+
+I told them that I expected to spend eternity in the kingdom of our God
+who made all the stars and worlds, and holds each in its respective
+place. "If you are pure in heart to Him," I continued, "there can be no
+doubt but that we shall see one another again in that happy celestial
+center where our eyes will be our telescopes, where our pure hearts will
+assent to the Fatherhood of God, and where our souls will be quickened
+at the universal fountain of Love."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Beautiful Saturn.
+
+
+A delightfully busy world next met my gaze. Saturn, supreme in love,
+with its mysterious rings and its eight moons, now held my attention and
+won my admiration.
+
+This world is almost as large as Jupiter, and its soil is more fertile.
+The inhabitants resemble us in physical appearance, except that they are
+twice our size.
+
+Like Jupiter, it is enveloped in thick semi-liquid clouds which are
+never at rest. This changing atmosphere causes continual friction of
+particles, and this serves to produce sufficient heat to counteract the
+frigid blasts that would otherwise freeze out the whole planet. These
+atmospheric conditions attracted my attention to a great degree. I
+estimated as best I could, and ascertained that Saturn receives as much
+heat from this peculiar atmosphere as our Earth receives from the Sun.
+
+As I found it on Jupiter, so I found it here. The human eye is so
+constructed that it seems to have more than an X-ray power, for it can
+look through this atmosphere as readily as we can peer through ours.
+
+The air of Saturn, being so thick, contains much natural nourishment,
+and the inhabitants are sustained largely by breathing. This reminded me
+of the manner in which our fish flourish in the waters of our globe.
+
+Marvelous indeed are the possibilities of life. I now had before me new
+problems to solve, for natural laws have but a limited expression in our
+own world. Here science puts on new garments, but they are all cut in
+harmony with universal laws.
+
+Woman is the ruling genius of this planet. Being untrammeled for a few
+thousand years, she has attained a higher glory than her sex has reached
+in any world of our Solar System.
+
+As you scan the honor rolls of Saturn, reading the list of the eminent
+leaders in science, art and philosophy, you will readily observe that
+woman has forged to the front. She also sits upon the principal thrones
+of temporal power.
+
+Woman's beauty on Saturn is surpassing. It reaches a higher degree of
+perfection than any of the myriad types of beauty on this enchanting
+world. When I first opened my eyes on these scenes, I imagined that I
+had reached Heaven, but, to my chagrin, I soon found the black marks of
+sin that stain the whole planet.
+
+The illustrious inventors of Saturn, living and dead, make a long list,
+which is headed by the name of Veorda, a woman of marvelous intellect.
+She looked into the mysteries of nature with a shrewd, wizard eye, but,
+unfortunately, lost her life early in a bold experiment with explosives.
+However, before she reached her much-lamented end, she had won enough
+honor to outshine all inventors in the whole history of Saturn.
+
+She was the sole inventor of all explosives, and she had learned how to
+operate them without making any noise or smoke. This proved a valuable
+aid to factories and quarries, and particularly in the handling of fire
+arms, of which Saturn has a very strange collection.
+
+Before Veorda was born the flying machine had been invented and used.
+But aerial travel was soon abandoned owing to some terrible accidents
+that had occurred. During the earlier part of her career Veorda labored
+assiduously until she overcame a few difficulties and thereby perfected
+the flying machine.
+
+[Illustration: An Air Ship on Saturn.]
+
+It was a day of international rejoicing when her perfected machine
+sailed over the governments of Saturn. The invention stood every test
+and at once air traffic was resumed and maintained. When this woman died
+the governments erected to her memory the finest and costliest monument
+that now stands on the whole world of Saturn. Of course, I went to see
+it. As I stood studying the poetry of the pillars, I looked overhead and
+saw one of the immense aerial ships carrying a pleasure party to a
+distant point. I cannot describe my feelings as I lingered in the
+presence of the sleeping dust and saw the imperishable influence of her
+thoughts still working for her, in a carnal sense, "a more exceeding
+and eternal weight of glory."
+
+Yet with all this homage paid to Veorda, I cannot believe that she is
+more illustrious than the present living wizard of our world, the
+notable Edison.
+
+Veorda lived and died a devoted worshipper of "The Great Influence," or
+God, and it is delightful to think that we shall associate with such
+great minds in our eternal abode in that Broader Life where the pure of
+all spheres gather. Will I do wrong if I quote that sublime beatitude,
+making it applicable to all worlds? "Blessed are the pure in heart, for
+they shall see God."
+
+The written language of Saturn resembles the Chinese character language,
+only it is much more smooth and more complete.
+
+The Shakespeare of that planet is a woman called Ziek-dod who has been
+dead twelve hundred years. Her writings have been quoted and esteemed as
+masterpieces all through these ages. Her style is singular, resembling
+the proverbs of Solomon, with a little more ornament in the language.
+
+As to the subject matter, her epigrammatic sentences are grouped and
+classified with an accuracy that is both pleasing and popular. At
+intervals the reader is treated with a sprinkling of alliterative
+sentences.
+
+Ziek-dod shines as an eternal star among the great names of her world.
+Like Veorda, she was pure-hearted and possessed fine moral and spiritual
+qualities. She passed out into that Broader Life where language is
+sweeter and thoughts are more holy.
+
+In music I noticed the most radical departures. The popular home
+instrument is larger than our organ and has nearly one hundred keys
+arranged somewhat like the keyboard of a typewriter.
+
+These keys and their combinations are capable of rendering sounds to
+correspond with every syllable found in their words. A proper
+familiarity with these sounds is a part of every child's training on
+Saturn.
+
+When one plays on this instrument every sound struck on the keys
+represents a certain vowel-consonant sound. Thus the listener hears the
+sounds more distinctly than we hear the words of a phonograph.
+
+Under such conditions a musician is capable of interpreting his exact
+feelings when manipulating the keys. He talks to his listeners with
+organ sounds. The great poet musicians can breathe out their
+inspirations in rapturous melodies. On special occasions famous
+musicians are employed to render original selections. Addresses and
+lectures are also given in this manner with very pleasing results.
+
+The Saturnites know nothing of the Telephone, Telegraph, or Phonograph.
+But for carrying messages they have a signal system by which
+intelligence is flashed from one point to another with great rapidity.
+
+Saturn has eight moons and is surrounded with the rings which have made
+it famous from the time the planet was first seen through the telescope.
+These rings and moons are inhabited by a type of human beings altogether
+different from those that live on the planet, and are distinctly visible
+to the dwellers of Saturn by means of powerful telescopes.
+
+The human beings on the rings are not able to watch their neighbors in
+space, having no instruments to carry their vision beyond the
+boundaries of their own peculiar abodes.
+
+The most picturesque sight of all the Solar System is seen as you stand
+on Saturn, and watch the rings and the eight moons chasing one another
+in the heavens above you.
+
+The inhabitants of this beautiful world believe that the soul of each
+God-adorer at death passes out into the spirit life on the rings where
+it will continue in a blissful existence until the final judgment.
+
+The religious life of Saturn is officially controlled by men. There are
+many creeds, each with its own devoted followers. The leading church of
+this world was not organized until seven thousand years after religious
+life took a distinctive form. Then a man named Trique, who was a shrewd
+student of the times, after a careful study of the weaknesses found in
+existing religious bodies, and after amassing enormous wealth in
+business, founded a new church on a neat, practical business plan which
+may thus be briefly described in terms and figures of our own language.
+
+Trique had a fortune of two hundred millions which, by investment,
+netted him twenty millions annually. These net earnings he used to
+establish his new denomination. He commenced operations simultaneously
+at the capitol of each of the four governments of Saturn, and at each
+place built two magnificent churches, costing one million dollars
+apiece. It took over three years of our time to build these eight
+churches. Before one year had expired he had started fifty other
+churches in the centers of Saturn's population. These churches averaged
+in cost three hundred thousand dollars each. Thus the plan continued,
+ever starting new structures until all Saturn was decorated with the
+churches of Trique, even village edifices costing from ten to
+twenty-five thousand dollars. So much for the mere outward part of the
+church which anybody might create if he had recourse to such enormous
+wealth.
+
+Before Trique commenced any one of his buildings, he canvassed the whole
+community for charter members of his church. These were composed of two
+classes, spiritual and connected. This canvassing was done by the
+finest scholars that Trique could employ. Each one was supposed to be
+the pastor of the community he canvassed. The conditions of the charter
+membership were easy to meet. All that was required for connected
+membership was a good moral life and a lip confession of the faith.
+
+On account of the superior advantages offered by the Trique church it
+grew steadily from the beginning. I will here append a few
+characteristics of the organization:
+
+1. The church takes care of all its members during sickness, furnishing
+a physician and all necessary medicines free of charge. The church owns
+drug stores and graduates its own physicians.
+
+2. The church has its own salaried undertakers, and defrays all funeral
+expenses.
+
+3. The church supplies a moral and spiritual education to all the
+children of its members. This school does a work similar to our
+Sunday-school, only it is held daily and is under a trained corps of
+paid teachers.
+
+For all these advantages each member is required to give to the church
+one-eleventh of his earnings and to attend the services of the church
+and co-operate with the pastor in the advancement of all spiritual work.
+
+The church keeps a perpetual record of the attendance and the work done
+by each member.
+
+It required a man of large business capacity to launch such a church
+with its radically new principles. But Trique's immense wealth was a
+powerful force when utilized in this manner. He made every church a
+strong business center commanding the respect of the whole community.
+Discipline was rigidly enforced. No member cared to be expelled from
+such a church. It meant a going out from under a warm cover at the
+approach of winter.
+
+Fortunately, Trique was a clean, spiritual man and strongly urged a
+spiritual ministry and membership.
+
+It can be seen why this church grew so rapidly. In fifty years it became
+so powerful that it could control, if it wished, the legislation in
+nearly all the sections of the planet.
+
+I have given but a brief picture of this ruling church. It must suffice.
+I may add that one must not imagine the church services and forms in
+Saturn to be like our worship. All things are so different that it would
+take much space and time to describe them.
+
+For beauty of natural scenery, Saturn surpasses all the Solar System.
+Its air is of a different composition from ours, and its sky puts on
+various tints as the day passes, which is a little over ten hours of our
+time, but it takes nearly thirty of our years to make one on Saturn.
+
+The immense mountain ranges present a picture of unusual beauty. The
+leaves of trees are rich in velvety varieties and the undergrowth
+appears as if trimmed by skilled hands. This is a desirable place to
+live. But I learned that the inhabitants of Saturn do not appreciate all
+this wealth of beauty, in its atmosphere or on its earth, a whit more
+than the people of our world appreciate the sin cursed scenery which
+greets their eyes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+The Nearest Fixed Star.
+
+
+All that was required on my part was a mere act of the mind, and I went
+where I wished. I visited Uranus and Neptune, after which I stretched my
+swift wings for the great flight, away from our Solar System, over
+billions of miles of space. I alighted on the burning star nearest to
+our Earth. This star is called, by our astronomers, Alpha Centaurus, and
+it is said to be 20,000,000,000,000 miles away. This star is much
+greater than our Sun and is the center of a system of worlds larger and
+more numerous than those that compose our Solar System.
+
+You cannot imagine my surprise when I reached Alpha Centaurus and found
+that it was inhabited by a class of human creatures who were created to
+live and flourish in fire. Their customs and habits are so strange that
+I am not capable of giving an intelligent description of them. I know
+that it is inconceivable to us how life can be developed and sustained
+in the midst of a burning sun, and I found that these beings in turn
+could not conceive how life can exist in a cold world like ours.
+
+These creatures have no digestive organs. They live, in part, on the
+chemical action produced by fire breathing. The hotter the fire, the
+more easily is life sustained. If they were to get away from the heat,
+this chemical action would cease and therefore death would be as certain
+to them as being enveloped in fire would spell death to us.
+
+In our eyes, their bodies are misshapen, composed of elements most of
+which are not found in our world. There are many cold places, or sun
+spots, on Alpha Centaurus, but these are shunned by the people as death
+traps. However, the centers of population gather on the more solid
+sections, most of which lie around the sun spots.
+
+You could scarcely believe your eyes were you to look upon the durable
+works of architecture built by these strangely shaped mortals.
+
+Still more wonderful are the seas of boiling fire which are sometimes
+comparatively quiet, and then again, in all madness, their majestic
+flames shoot upward thousands of miles.
+
+When the sea is quiet, life is oppressive in the centers of population
+just as it is in our world when the air is still and the summer sun is
+pouring down upon us. Breathing is easier and life is quickened when the
+molten sea boils furiously. These terrible heat blasts are most
+exhilarating and refreshing to the inhabitants living near enough to
+receive the benefit of them.
+
+You may imagine that these people of Alpha Centaurus are idlers, being
+fed by the ceaseless heat waves that beat upon them. Such a conception
+is totally false, for I saw that industry was plainly evident, and labor
+had its reward in securing the necessaries and luxuries of life.
+
+These life-sustaining foods are composed of elements which can be
+appropriated into muscle and bone (if you will permit me to use these
+terms), and are obtained by reuniting and re-combining spent forces.
+This explanation is somewhat mystical, but I can do no better in
+describing the food production and assimilation in a pure fire-world
+like this one on which I had arrived.
+
+To imagine and believe that fertility can be possible in a seething
+world-furnace, is too far beyond our philosophy to be conceivable. Alpha
+Centaurus is so large a sun that although it has a population ten times
+greater than our globe, yet its surface is sparsely settled.
+
+The oceans of fire occupy the greater part of the surface of this
+wonderful sphere. In these great red-hot seas live the monsters of the
+deep, as well as a motley variety of other species, veritable
+salamanders, some grotesquely hideous, others surpassingly beautiful in
+form and hue.
+
+On this sphere man is extraordinarily intelligent. He is almost totally
+ignorant of anything akin to astronomy, although some of the greater
+scholars have ventured the theory that there might be other worlds
+containing human life, providing there be fire enough to sustain them.
+
+In some other particulars, these star-creatures have made astonishing
+progress. They believe that the time is coming when the fires of their
+world will be blown out and all life become extinct. This they would
+call, in our language, the coming Judgment when every human being that
+ever lived will receive his just recompense of reward.
+
+With interest I studied the manner of government, and the admirable
+system of education which is the secret of their progress.
+
+I made a special effort to ascertain whence this sun receives its
+continued supply of fuel. The question had often perplexed my mind when
+I gazed toward our Sun from the shores of our world. None of the
+theories advanced by our scientists and astronomers fully satisfied my
+mind. And now I looked and studied in vain. Although the awful burnings
+had been in progress for thousands of years, I could see no fuel that
+was added to the flames. Hence I was driven to believe that Alpha
+Centaurus was on fire and was gradually being consumed; this must be
+true of all the stars that bedeck the canopy of Heaven.
+
+The inconstancy of this star's surface is the greatest menace to its
+inhabitants. At times the solid crusts break in the contracting of the
+surface. All this makes terrible havoc, but the new generations take
+fresh courage and pluckily restore the fallen habitations.
+
+One of the luxuries enjoyed by these fire beings at certain times is to
+get where the chemical action of heat is at a low ebb. That has a
+similar effect upon them as calming our nerves has upon us.
+
+One of the great inventions consists in an instrument that neutralizes
+this chemical action of heat even where it is most intense. It is a
+common sight to see creatures basking under one of these instruments in
+a somewhat comatose state. The inventor of this instrument is worshiped
+almost as a god.
+
+One of the most startling inventions of all is a machine that
+counteracts gravity. This, to my mind, is the greatest invention I had
+yet seen, and, strange to say, these fire creatures know nothing about
+means of propulsion except by hand power. If you were able to stand on
+the seething furnace of Alpha Centaurus, you would see these machines
+rise far into the shooting fire and beyond, as far as occupants can go
+without freezing to death. Then at a reverse of the lever you would see
+the mysterious car descend.
+
+These star residents have enjoyed this invention so long that they no
+longer appreciate its marvels. You ask me if I tried to get the secret.
+I saw the whole apparatus and the more I studied it, the more I was
+convinced that its storage battery contained heat energy. So I concluded
+to solve the mystery. I learned that there was a certain element found
+only in combination. When this element is set loose by chemical process,
+it will rise at once toward a large planet that revolves around this
+sun. This planet draws that particular element with six times more force
+than it is held by Alpha Centaurus. The brilliant chemists, when they
+first made this discovery, separated enough of this element to carry a
+man upward from the sun's surface. Later on they made a counter
+discovery of equal value.
+
+They found a substance that would destroy this attraction if it was
+placed between the element and the planet. The discovery enabled a
+person to rise as high as he wished and then, by swinging the plate in
+position, the aerial carriage would either stand still or descend
+according to the wish of the operator.
+
+What a boon it would be to our world if we had such an element for which
+Jupiter or the Sun would have so much fondness! Then with our superior
+knowledge of propulsion we could forever settle the perplexing problem
+of aerial navigation.
+
+These exceptional people, living in such terrible fire, wear pieces of
+garments made of the finest texture. The hair-like threads are composed
+of metallic substances far more enduring than gold or platinum.
+
+Of all the unthinkable things on this star none are so extreme as the
+manner in which these people hold conversation. They have no organs to
+produce vocal sounds.
+
+[Illustration: Fire Life on a Fixed Star.]
+
+They convey their ideas one to another by a vibration of the
+conversation flaps. Either the air waves, or substantial emissions,
+excite the sensitive face of the listener so that the thought
+intended can be accurately received.
+
+Having a strong curiosity, I remained and studied this fire life. It
+opened to me new channels of thought and illustrated more emphatically
+than ever that all things are possible with Him who created the universe
+and upholds it by the word of His power.
+
+Finally, I left this strange abode and proceeded to visit some of the
+eighteen worlds that revolve around Alpha Centaurus.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+The Water World Visited.
+
+
+As I lingered in the region of the constellation of Centaurus I was more
+and more profoundly impressed with the magnitude and variety of created
+worlds.
+
+Among the eighteen planets that revolve around Alpha Centaurus, only six
+are inhabited. One of these is a sinless world, or a world whereon sin
+never inaugurated its blighting reign; but I will say nothing of this
+orb as I did not have the choice opportunity of visiting it aright. I
+saw its beauty only through a glass darkly.
+
+I then fixed my mind on Polaris, commonly called the North Star. In
+journeying thither from Centaurus I passed thousands of Solar Systems
+scattered in space all around me. As I was thus darting through
+immensity I glanced toward our own Solar System and could see nothing
+but a flickering star which was our Sun. Not the faintest sign could I
+see of our world or of Jupiter.
+
+A strange feeling passed over me when I began to realize how far I was
+from home. I sped onward until I reached the North Star. It is a burning
+sun, but not inhabited.
+
+Polaris is the center of a magnificent system. If a certain few of its
+worlds could be seen through a telescope, they would be picturesque in
+the extreme, somewhat resembling our beautiful Saturn. Moons play like
+frisky lambs around some of its worlds, and many comets dance through
+the length of the whole system in richer confusion than we have ever
+beheld in the range of our telescopic vision.
+
+Counting the worlds of larger size only, there are nearly one hundred
+that fly through their orbits around Polaris, some with amazing
+velocity. Within the bounds of this solar system I spent considerable
+time.
+
+The third world I visited I will call Stazza. It is two hundred millions
+of miles from Polaris and is four hundred and fifty times as large as
+our world.
+
+I was amazed at the new turn of life-manifestation that I found there.
+To me it was unusually interesting because its temperature is quite
+similar to ours; but the order of life is reversed so completely that
+the human beings inhabit the water, and the long narrow strips of earth
+are infested with numerous species of land animals. It may seem
+incredible that the depths of the ocean should be the seat of
+intelligence rivaling our own.
+
+The human creatures of Stazza average a trifle larger in size than we,
+but they travel horizontally in water like a large fish. The limbs
+support the body in rest, and in traveling are used like the hind legs
+of a frog, only more gracefully. The arms closely resemble ours and have
+an infinite variety of uses. In addition, there are four fin-like arms
+that fold into the body when at rest, but are spread for service when
+traveling. In all it must be admitted that these Stazza people are
+capable of traveling more rapidly, and covering longer distances with
+much less fatigue than are we. They can also carry greater burdens with
+more ease. They wear no garments except one or two small pieces made of
+a tough species of sea grass.
+
+Five-sixths of Stazza are covered with water and its depth at a few
+points is very great. Throughout all the water regions there are many
+kinds of animal life, more than can be found in our oceans. Thousands of
+human lives have been lost in conflict with the fiercer kinds of these
+water animals, with which the people of Stazza entered upon a war of
+extermination over one thousand years ago, and while intelligence is
+slowly winning the battle, yet the warfare is likely to continue many
+centuries to come, owing to the fact that these hostile fish occupy the
+soundless depths even as deep as four or five hundred miles according to
+our measurement. Horned fish rising from these depths are a horrible
+menace to excursion parties or caravans, as well as to settlers on what
+we would call the frontier.
+
+The homes of Stazza are made of metallic substances. There are a few
+minerals very plentiful, resembling brass, and it is a common sight to
+see polished buildings fantastic in their arrangement, shining through
+the pellucid water like gold.
+
+The cities are built on gentle inclines in the deeper waters and
+present a picturesque scene. They look more like a cluster of giant
+fairy abodes than like New York or London. Nothing in all the world of
+Stazza resembles a product of our manufacture more than the fine
+screening that protects every human dwelling from an invasion of small
+water animals. It reminded me of the mosquito netting as a safe-guard
+against flies and other insects in our world. But the mosquito baffles
+our genius, for he seems to be able to get through as small an opening
+as air can. Likewise, the pestiferous water animals seem to invade the
+homes of Stazza, notwithstanding all efforts at prevention.
+
+The cities have no continuous streets or lanes. The principal travel is
+in the water over the city. The main entrance to the home is on the
+housetop. In the center of large buildings there is a shaft running up
+and down, through which the people go with greater ease than we can
+climb or descend our stairways. It must not be forgotten that water to
+them is the same as air to us, and in their domestic life the people
+are annoyed by cloudy and muddy currents of water just as we are by
+clouds of dust in the air, on the streets, or in our homes.
+
+The wear and tear caused by the chemical action of water on houses and
+furniture is not as great as the injury in our world caused by the
+chemical action of air, heat and moisture.
+
+The educational systems of Stazza are quite as perfect for that world as
+our own systems are for ours. They have an alphabet, covering their
+needs in language, consisting of a series of strokes, curves and angles,
+somewhat resembling our shorthand systems. This language is identical in
+print or script, and is superior to our method of expresssing thought by
+handwriting.
+
+The experts of Stazza have learned the art of slicing metallic blocks
+into sheets of any desired thickness. These sheets serve the same
+purpose for them as paper does for us, and are furnished at an
+insignificant cost of labor. We have the very elements in our Earth to
+produce these metallic blocks if we knew the combination, which might be
+easily found if we had as much need for them as the people of this
+water world.
+
+The metallic blocks are used for a great variety of purposes. There are
+some high class artists who have immortalized themselves by their
+master-pieces, one of which I saw on a five-cornered metallic sheet
+measuring about eight feet in diameter.
+
+Perhaps the most surprising feature of the educational advancement of
+these water spirits is their knowledge of astronomy. To them, under the
+water, the stars have always looked beautiful, and from an early date in
+their history a study of them has engaged the attention of their
+scholars. No one could tell the style of their telescopes if he should
+go to guessing for a week. Let me give you a brief description of one.
+
+They build a metallic pipe about ten feet in diameter and from a point
+some two hundred feet below the surface of the water. The pipe is built
+until it extends a few feet above water. Inside of this pipe is a series
+of transparent ovals of various sizes. These ovals are so arranged that
+the upper one throws its light to the lower one, down through the
+immense cylinder. Around each oval is built a series of fin protectors,
+which is the only part about the telescope I could not fully understand.
+They seemed to counteract the refraction of the water, and yet the water
+must be in the pipe to obtain proper results.
+
+Imagine an astronomer at the base of this huge metallic structure,
+having at his finger's ends a dozen wire strings intricately connected
+with the oval system, and by the proper use of which he can increase or
+decrease the magnifying power of the ponderous telescope. The highest
+magnifying power of a telescope of this size is so great that the Milky
+Way is penetrated and its solar systems revealed. What an accomplishment
+it would be if a telescope of this magnitude could be mounted, a thing
+that these creatures never attempted to do. But they have built
+telescopes of various inclinations, all stationary. You can form an idea
+of the patience and endurance of these people when you learn that it
+required over fifty years of our time for them to perfect one of these
+large instruments.
+
+Give human brains to any animal under water or over water, and it will
+grasp for larger views of its Creator and of the things He made. These
+people are thoroughly convinced that intelligent life can be found in
+any world where there is enough water to sustain it.
+
+In the waters of Stazza there are many under-currents similar to our
+Gulf Stream. These are used by the inhabitants for transportation. They
+construct little hammock cars so that when they are filled with human
+freight they float in the water. A simple device which we might call a
+fin propeller is used to force the car in one direction or another as
+necessity may require. It is possible to enter one of these
+under-streams and thus travel over two thousand miles; then, by rowing
+only five miles, enter the return current and move homeward. A car of
+special design is furnished by each community in which each bridal pair
+spends the Wedlock Ride, or the Honey-Moon, as we would call it.
+
+[Illustration: Fishing for Land Animals on a Planet of the Pole Star.]
+
+There is nothing more interesting about this race of beings than the
+manner in which they pluck land fruit and catch land animals, and yet
+when you compare this with our world, it is the same to them as fishing
+is to us.
+
+In all my inter-stellar journeys perhaps there was nothing so amusing to
+me as to see a company of these water creatures fishing for land
+animals. They would creep up near shore and throw out their wire lines
+with various kinds of bait, according to what they wished to catch. Then
+followed the inevitable waiting until some innocent Jullep or Petzel
+would grasp the tempting morsel on the hook. A skillful jerk fastened
+the victim, and instead of pulling him in the water, the fisherman held
+his breath and rushed out of the water to get his prize. This has been
+found to be a safer method than trying to pull the prize into the water.
+
+These water dwellers relish certain land animals more than we do fish.
+
+Of course the land strips are not inhabited by human beings, but
+vegetation is abundant, similar to that found in our tropical regions.
+Many kinds of fruit, growing on the land, are sought after by the
+masters of the water. In the season when certain fruits are ripe whole
+expeditions go out to gather them. But how can they live away from the
+great body of water while plucking these fruits? Let me tell you how
+they manage it. They have what we would call water-wagons, very wide and
+short, and equipped with buckets. At the rear of one of these strangely
+shaped carriages stand four or six men abreast immersing their heads in
+the water of the wagon for a fresh breath as often as necessity
+requires. Thus they are enabled to travel over land to any desired
+locality, always being careful to keep near enough the water to cover
+any emergency.
+
+When they arrive at the fruit each man takes his bucket of water and
+proceeds to work. He plucks fruit or berries for about thirty seconds
+and then ducks his head into his bucket of water for a fresh breath.
+Then he proceeds as before. When the water is no longer fit for
+breathing, he carries his fruit and water bucket to the wagon. Here he
+unloads his fruit and refills his bucket from the wagon, proceeding as
+before. At intervals the wagon must be refilled with water. During a day
+a few men can gather a large quantity of fruit in this manner, and it
+can be preserved for over four seasons.
+
+On Stazza there has been developed a fine variety of water flowers, and
+no gardens are more beautiful than those that can be seen there. The
+higher classes of these people live a very refined life and have their
+homes surrounded with an endless variety of water grasses and flowers.
+You would scarcely believe your eyes if you could direct your gaze to a
+few of these homes.
+
+In their religious life these Stazzans are eminently devoted. They have
+no bunch of creeds from which to take their choice, but follow the
+teachings of "The Great Interpreter," a man who once lived and reigned
+amongst them and who wrote his laws in what we would call, by
+interpretation, "The Book of Gold." The leaves of this book are made
+from an element costly and rare, more precious to them than gold is to
+us. From this book all their sacred books are copied. The civil powers
+also accept this book as their authority, and enforce its teachings.
+
+Sin there, as here, is the withering blast of the planet, the destroyer
+of the harvest fields of purity and truth. An invisible spirit of evil
+holds his force in disciplined command, and the man who wishes to have a
+pure heart on Stazza must reach it through conflicts long and sharp. The
+path to moral and spiritual purity is quite the same throughout the
+whole universe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+Tor-tu.
+
+
+After I had finished my interesting tour of Stazza I visited in quick
+succession a score or more of worlds that also revolve around Polaris at
+varying distances. I found the majority of these planets barren of all
+life, owing principally to their molten condition.
+
+Some unthinkable types of human existence are occupying the worlds that
+can be inhabited. I marveled aloud as I viewed a few more links of the
+endless chain of intelligent creation. On one of these worlds, which I
+have christened Tor-tu, I found human beings that resemble us more than
+any others in the entire solar bounds of Polaris.
+
+Tor-tu dashes along in its unceasing course at a distance of eight
+hundred millions of miles from Polaris. It is much larger than our
+world, and is accompanied by three moons and a set of rings which
+faintly suggested our picturesque Saturn.
+
+The poles of Tor-tu are inclined at an angle of thirty-three degrees to
+the plane of its orbit. This accounts for its temperature being quite
+similar to ours, although its year is eight times longer.
+
+When I first reached this world I was impressed with its wealth of
+natural scenery. Flowers of charming texture and color grew abundantly
+over the wide expanses. The cultivated gardens contained specimens of
+unusual beauty, surpassing the finest products of our Earth.
+
+When I examined the leaves of the many kinds of trees, I found none
+similar to the foliage of our planet, except in one or two fruit-bearing
+trees. The sky, instead of appearing blue, wears a greenish tinge, and
+the birds are robed in a variety of colors that would put to naught our
+arching rainbows.
+
+In fine, it must be admitted that Tor-tu is a much more beautiful world
+than ours. I saw colors there that we could not produce because we have
+not the proper elements.
+
+This delightful world is densely populated. Its history is much older
+than ours. Sin is firmly rooted in the whole planet and its curse is
+just as blighting and withering as it is in our world, although it is
+fought more successfully and overcome more effectually in the home and
+in the nation.
+
+I observed that the ecclesiastical system is similar to ours, and there
+is a great profusion of creeds. To my surprise I noted, in my long
+journey, that such a variety did not interfere with true progress, but
+was compatible with the purest kind of life and the highest order of
+civilization. The people are deeply devoted to their unseen God, and
+their sacrifices are astonishing. Their places of worship are the finest
+structures of the world. They believe it to be wrong to construct any
+building greater in beauty and value than the temples of God. Their
+music would sound quite weird to us, although it is sweet harmony to the
+people of Tor-tu.
+
+The home life of Tor-tu is most beautiful. The moral life of the home
+and of the nations is the cleanest of any world in the whole system of
+Polaris. Naturally I investigated to learn the secret of this happy
+condition. Then I found to my joy that the relation between parents and
+children is very noteworthy. The fine respect manifested by the latter
+for the former evoked the blush of shame as I thought of the prevailing
+conditions in my own world.
+
+You may think it absurd when I describe a certain system that was a
+stepping stone to such splendid results. Were this peculiar system to be
+named, we should likely call it: "The Human Seal System."
+
+Each person born into the world of Tor-tu is officially sealed or
+tattooed on the forehead and on the arm. It is done by the township
+book-keeper, whose duty it is to keep a correct record of all births,
+devoting a new ledger page to each infant.
+
+This seal is a life-long mark, and must not be interfered with under any
+circumstances. In case the stamp is disturbed by accident, the person
+must report to the township book-keeper either in person or by proxy,
+and the stamp must be replaced on some conspicuous part of the head.
+
+There are eighteen governments of Tor-tu that united on this scheme. It
+is so arranged that no two persons of all these millions have identical
+marks. Each government has its seal of different designs from all the
+others.
+
+Circles, ellipses and rectangles, with various modifications, compose
+the eighteen forms in use. The most powerful of the eighteen governments
+has for its seal the following design, which I have filled out as
+completely as I could, using our own figures instead of their numerals
+which would, of course, be unintelligible to us.
+
+[Illustration: Tor-tu seal]
+
+This is the actual size of the design as it appears on the forehead.
+
+13 represents the number of the state.
+
+21 represents the number of the county.
+
+10 represents the number of the township.
+
+12 represents the color of the person.
+
+352, in the center, represents the individual's number.
+
+This same mark is the individual's signature for life. It cannot be
+changed, although the person is allowed to have a metallic or rubber cut
+of his own design, provided he writes the individual number by hand, for
+any one else doing this would be a forger.
+
+The township clerk is also the collector of the public funds. To him
+each person born in that township is compelled to render an annual
+report of his residence, occupation, and certain other facts relating to
+his life in general.
+
+If any minor or adult commits a criminal act upon which the civil court
+has passed, this finding is recorded in the township record on the
+individual's page and, when the criminal has served his sentence, this
+fact is also recorded. This is a severe law for the criminal, but it is
+a great stimulus to a law-abiding career.
+
+It is also customary for public courts to confer on worthy persons
+special marks of honor for extraordinary deeds or acts. A record of such
+rendering is also kept.
+
+In presenting annual reports to the clerk each father reports for his
+minor children. This puts the father on a rightful plane of dignity
+before his children, and the parent who makes a wise use of these
+provisions can and does reach far better results than can otherwise be
+done.
+
+No child can run away from home without falling into much more trouble
+then he imagined he had before. At once his seal number is sent to all
+the countries and into every sub-division. Any one aiding or abetting
+such a person is severely punished. When the runaway is captured, the
+system of reprimand is of such a nature that the minor will be glad to
+remain under the directions of his parents until his maturity.
+
+If it can be shown that a parent or guardian uses inhuman methods of
+punishing children, the act is criminal and is dealt with accordingly.
+
+There are no tramps parading periodically over the countries of Tor-tu.
+
+There is an international law that each township must care for its own
+paupers. Every man's forehead seal tells his birthplace and there is no
+escaping from it.
+
+When a person is suspected of crime in a foreign land, the foreign
+officials can tell not only where the individual was born, but they can
+also obtain an official record of his life by applying officially to the
+clerk and paying a nominal fee.
+
+Any stranger making a serious effort to cover his forehead is looked
+upon with suspicion. It is a current phrase of honor among the
+Tor-tuites: "I am not ashamed to show my forehead."
+
+A few hundred years after this "Human Seal Law" went into operation, no
+one, except the criminally inclined, would think of returning to the old
+reckless way, although the system was scorned and ridiculed by many
+Tor-tuites for about fifty years after its advent.
+
+In considering the character of an individual, the courts and the people
+place tremendous stress upon the township record. Each son and daughter
+early learns the value of a stainless page and strives to keep his
+record clean.
+
+The township, through the state, gives to each child at maturity a civil
+inheritance, provided his record meets the requirements of the law.
+
+All these customs and regulations are powerful incentives to the youth
+to lead a good moral life and naturally tend to a respectful demeanor of
+children toward their parents.
+
+This world is not only notable for its moral atmosphere, but for the
+remarkable progress its inhabitants have made in political economy.
+
+They know a few things about laws, but not enough to make them so
+complicated that no one can understand their meaning. In law, the poor
+man usually has the same chance as the rich. Money has no weight in the
+Tor-tu scale of justice. The facts in the case are the only things that
+have weight, although bribery is possible and is sometimes practiced.
+
+The laws of Tor-tu relating to deeds and titles are the most simple and
+yet the most effective that have yet come to my attention.
+
+All the land in each county of Tor-tu is divided into lots, and each lot
+is numbered on an immense diagram at the county seat. This diagram is a
+miniature relief outline of the county with each lot and plot in the
+county designated, and, according to our measurements, it averages
+almost eighteen by twenty-four feet, varying according to the size of
+the county.
+
+When you buy land you buy from the county only. If you wish to purchase
+a lot or plot from another party who is willing to sell, the two parties
+concerned go to the chief real estate agent who is an official of the
+county and has charge of the county diagram. The former owner or
+title-holder, upon establishing his identity, releases to the county his
+claims and surrenders his title on condition that he receives the sum
+agreed upon between the two parties.
+
+The county agent then issues a new title to the new purchaser. It is a
+simple common-sense document completely describing the new owner, his
+relatives and his station. Thus each purchaser has his own title from
+the county and it is guaranteed. Under this admirably simple system
+disputes as to titles are rare and can scarcely occur; but if any should
+arise, the county takes the defense and bears all expense of litigation.
+
+No counter claim is even heard after a title is five years old. Thus it
+is impossible to resurrect an old buried claim and rob an innocent owner
+who purchased and paid for his ground in good faith.
+
+In transferring real estate no lawyers are required. Several persons,
+however, must witness the execution of the deed.
+
+The county publishes a journal, monthly, stating the owner of each lot
+or plot number in the county. This is furnished free to each land owner.
+
+All credit to Tor-tu for these common-sense regulations! Our laws
+covering this field are heathenish compared with the statutes of this
+far distant world. There no man loses his real estate by the awakening
+of a sleeping title, and if this could happen he would be fully
+reimbursed by the county.
+
+In our world some titles are as clear as mud. Often we pay a large sum
+to have the records examined and even then a purchaser has no assurance
+of non-interference. Here it is even possible to buy a lot, build a
+home, and five or fifty years afterward have it sold by some one who
+proves a prior claim on the land. No such foolishness, or child-play in
+the guise of legal dignity, is countenanced in Tor-tu.
+
+The whole civil system of this sphere is superior to ours. A person who
+violates the law is not treated to free boarding and lodging in a well
+heated and lighted building, as is quite prevalent in our world, but is
+compelled to enter profitable labor under strict surveillance. Any
+prisoner becoming rebellious and refusing to work is dealt with
+severely. If he is still insubordinate, he is placed on the revolving
+wheel of death until his stubborn will is broken, or he falls fatigued
+into the jaws of steel.
+
+This convict labor does not compete with the regular ranks of honest
+toil. The main work of criminals is farming, and the products of these
+farms support not only the criminals, but their families as well. What
+is produced beyond that is sold at market price and the proceeds are
+applied to current expenses of the county.
+
+In our world the honest man must pay to support the dishonest; the
+law-abiding must care for the law breaker. How much longer this will
+continue no one has prophesied.
+
+The manner of choosing officials in Tor-tu is both new and surprising.
+All the officers, from the highest to lowest, are chosen by lot instead
+of by popular ballot or hereditary claim. They who are thus elected
+remain in office during competency and good behavior.
+
+1. Their record must be stainless during the preceding ten years.
+
+2. They must have been graduated from the law department of the public
+schools.
+
+3. They must be at least thirty-one years old.
+
+For the highest officials the conditions are more rigid.
+
+The teachers in all public schools are selected in the same manner from
+among the number who apply, and who have been graduated in rank high
+enough for the school in question.
+
+At first this lot system seemed very foolish to me indeed, bordering
+upon absurdity, but the more I studied its simplicity and observed its
+results, the more I became impressed with its good sense and
+efficiency. There are no political parties fomenting discord in a
+country under a spoils system; no upheavals every few years and
+hilarious campaigns; and no idiotic caricatures of public officials to
+work unbridled mischief in the hearts of the most dangerous citizens.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+A Problem in Political Economy.
+
+
+After I had left the world of Tor-tu I still lingered in the heavens
+around the planet and examined a few of its moons. While enjoying this
+pleasing diversion, I learned that not far away, less than one billion
+miles, there was a world without an atmosphere. This peculiar condition
+was not new to me, for I had seen, during my never-to-be-forgotten
+journey, many worlds without gaseous air.
+
+I would not have gone thither had it not been for an unaccountable
+desire impelling me. Obedient to my impulse, I soon found myself on this
+odd planet which I have named Airess.
+
+I at once observed that the people are formed without nose or lungs. The
+nose is substituted by an opening into which liquid air is received and
+through which it passes to a bodily reservoir of two lobes in the
+vicinity of the heart. When I saw how these people were obliged to fill
+their living vessels with this air-supplying liquid, I at once thought
+of the manner in which we in our world fill our lamps with oil to
+furnish light and heat.
+
+Now it is true that nature supplies this liquid air in reasonable
+abundance, and no doubt all the people would have been happy until now
+had it not been for the unjust scheming of a few unprincipled men.
+
+The strange story of the air problem on this distant world is so similar
+to the food problem of ours that I have time to describe it briefly.
+
+There were certain men in Airess, shrewd above their fellows, who
+secretly combined to secure a controlling interest in all the land
+producing liquid air.
+
+In course of time these shrewd schemers, who are known as monopolists,
+gathered this liquid air into large tanks and warehouses, and put an
+exorbitant price upon it. The business flourished greatly because
+everybody was daily in need of liquid air.
+
+The many sources of air-supply were guarded and men were employed to
+carry the liquid from the raw springs to the private tanks of the
+monopolists. Not long after this, when the monopolists saw that they
+controlled all the liquid air of the country, they had rigid laws passed
+forbidding the importation of air from any other country. Then when all
+preliminaries were arranged, the magnates raised the price of their
+commodity.
+
+The burden fell most heavily on the persons of limited means, for some
+were compelled to give half of their earnings for air.
+
+The monopolists grew richer and richer, while the poor became still
+poorer, until a cry went up for cheaper living. Then the
+generous-hearted magnates decided to build new and larger storehouses,
+thus giving employment to the large army of impoverished workmen. Thus
+did the poor feel very grateful for the privilege of earning enough to
+satisfy their hungry stomachs.
+
+With the larger storehouses now in operation the magnates were enabled
+to conduct this air business on a scale more economical, and so it
+resulted that the profits of their business were constantly increasing.
+
+Many who were unable to work became sorely distressed insomuch that
+some died raving for liquid air. Others were more fortunate and were
+helped by charitably inclined citizens. When a few poor comrades clubbed
+together and contributed out of their mites, then the magnates sold air,
+but if the sufferers had no money, they could have no air.
+
+A growing discontent possessed the people. They appealed to the
+legislative bodies, but the magnates had grown so immensely wealthy that
+they controlled all the law-making assemblies and gave the members air
+free of charge, an act of kindness indeed.
+
+So the law turned a deaf ear to the cries of the people and many riots
+followed. But these were all quelled by the standing army which was also
+supplied with free air for the good service they were capable of
+rendering to the monopolists.
+
+The multitude of laboring people could do as they chose, that is, work
+like slaves and live, or refuse to tolerate the monopoly and die.
+
+[Illustration: Monopolizing Liquid Air on Airess.]
+
+Many were the pitiful scenes witnessed in all parts of the land. Men,
+women and children gathered around one or another of the large tanks
+brimming full of the life sustaining liquid. It was heart-breaking to
+see children with half-opened mouths dying for air. Of course none of
+the magnates were within hearing or seeing distance. The tanks were in
+charge of underlings who were bound to give no air except for the
+exorbitant market price.
+
+This state of affairs continued for many generations, nor did relief
+come until one named Agitator went forth strongly set in his
+convictions. He was a natural-born orator, a lover of justice, one who
+believed in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.
+
+As long as he went about speaking and praying, the monopolists gave no
+heed. But when he began organizing the masses into sworn legions, then
+did the magnates bestir themselves, seeing danger in the gathering
+clouds of humanity.
+
+"What shall we do?" cried they one to another.
+
+"Bribe Agitator," suggested one.
+
+"A happy hit," cried they all.
+
+One was chosen to do the work. A description of the meeting and
+conversation of these two great leaders is a choice bit of literature of
+the world of Airess. I will translate it as nearly as possible into
+English.
+
+Magnate and his companion met Agitator three hours after sun-rise.
+Neither one had ever seen the other before, and naturally Agitator did
+not suspect the purpose for which Magnate had come.
+
+"We are here," said Magnate, "to place into your hands one million
+dollars to be used for the education of poor children. We have
+confidence in your judgment and integrity, and if you will accept the
+money on our conditions, we will gladly arrange all papers and place the
+money at your disposal."
+
+"A magnanimous offer indeed. But what are the conditions," hurriedly
+asked the blushing Agitator.
+
+"The conditions are easy to meet.
+
+"1. You are to train and appoint sub-teachers and give your influence to
+the building up of these schools.
+
+"2. You are to spend your time in this noble work and receive as salary
+ten thousand dollars annually.
+
+"3. Of course you will be glad to put your whole heart and time into
+this enterprise and encourage all workmen to show their appreciation of
+this generous movement in behalf of the oppressed."
+
+"But what would become of my other great work?" asked Agitator, as a
+well-defined interrogation point covered his face.
+
+"This new enterprise will solve the whole question. Is it not true that
+ignorance is the cause of nearly all the discontent in the world? If you
+scatter the clouds of ignorance, with them the darkness of nearly all
+our woes will fly, and you will stand at the head of a new race,
+educated, refined, and capable of understanding and securing their
+rights ten-fold more surely and more intelligently than now."
+
+Agitator was a man of quick mind. He was, however, almost caught in the
+fine network spun around him. He bowed his head a moment in quietness.
+
+"There is a tinge of truth in your words," admitted Agitator. "If I can
+avoid it however," he continued, "the people now living will not suffer
+for a whole generation in hope of imaginary relief. Your scheme is a
+worthy one, but you must seek elsewhere for a leader. I have sworn in my
+soul to bend my every effort to break the strong arm of the Monopoly."
+
+Magnate was a cool man, and held his dignity in a pleasing manner. He
+carelessly changed his attitude and spoke with decision "If you will not
+lead this educational enterprise, the whole offer will be withdrawn and
+it will be advertised to the world that the leader of the poor people
+has refused the most magnificent offer of the age for the uplifting of
+the masses."
+
+"Ah," quickly replied Agitator, "if the offer be sincere, why should it
+go by default on my simple refusal to be turned from my present course?
+Let some other one, better qualified than I, attend to the management of
+this noble cause."
+
+Magnate advanced a step and with emphatic gesture gave his ultimatum:
+
+"You are the recognized leader of the masses, the idol of all the poor
+and of the so-called oppressed. In you the very persons whom we hope to
+benefit have unbounded confidence, and naturally you are the only man
+who can make wisest and most efficient use of this large sum of money.
+We have no other choice and I ask you once more, for the sake of
+suffering humanity, to accept the leadership of this worthy cause which
+will do more for the people than all other reform movements combined.
+You can make no mistake in accepting our offer. This is the only right
+thing for you to do."
+
+Agitator took no time to study his reply. His words were born on the
+occasion for the occasion. He spoke with marked power in his voice and
+fiery electricity in his eye:
+
+"I have made my final decision. I am married to my reform movement and
+seek no divorce. I want all people to have free air as they have free
+sunlight. I am determined that neither favor nor force, neither Magnate
+nor money, shall swerve me from my course. The people of my time shall
+see their liberty, or I shall see my death!"
+
+This reply of Agitator is most memorable. It is quoted more than the
+famous words of Patrick Henry of our world: "Give me liberty, or give me
+death!"
+
+Agitator pushed his cause with remarkable skill. Soon his movements
+reached such proportions that great men courted his favor. The masses
+clung to him with truest loyalty. He took full advantage of the
+situation and gained control of the legislative bodies.
+
+Then followed the great enactment. All the air of the world was declared
+to be free, and any one attempting to buy or sell this natural and
+indispensable product was guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by fines
+and heavy bonds.
+
+The celebration of this victory was extreme. The most wonderful
+jubilations were held at the air tanks. Famous speeches were made and
+the tanks were sold by permission of their owners. One enthusiastic
+person bought a tank, declared that he would sell it in small pieces for
+relics, and use the proceeds for educating poor children. The scene that
+followed beggars description. Everybody knew that this was a cut at
+Magnate, and the buying of relics was carried on in an unprecedented
+manner. The amount of money netted by this sale was so large that
+several schools were erected and an endowment provided for their
+maintenance.
+
+All this happened long ago on the world of Airess. But the memory of
+these unusual times will never die. They have an annual day of
+celebration much resembling, in its festivities, our Fourth of July.
+
+The most peculiar human condition of Airess, according to my view, is
+the manner in which these people sleep. They do not lie down and
+gradually drift into unconsciousness, but they lie motionless and still
+retain full consciousness. The rest comes from the quietness of the
+bodily members. It is not even possible for these creatures to become
+mentally insensible to their surroundings, except by an accident or
+through medical treatment.
+
+I was most impressed, however, as I learned of the powerful eyesight
+which these people enjoy. Their eyes are indeed little telescopes,
+capable of examining heavenly bodies with as much accuracy as we are
+enabled to do with the aid of magnifying glasses.
+
+Then comes the surprising statement that these same people have never
+invented anything similar to a spy glass or a telescope. Imagine how far
+they could peer into the depth of space if their own gifted eyesight
+were augmented by good magnifying glasses.
+
+I spent a little longer time on Airess than on some other planets
+because I found that I could more easily understand the philosophy of
+their attainments.
+
+The last moments of my stay were spent in the largest structure of this
+whole world, the central building of education. From this structure
+endless lines of power and influence are maintained all through the
+territorial divisions of Airess.
+
+I studied this unusual plan of education and viewed with delight the
+ponderous portion of this imposing edifice. At last I bid farewell to
+all these mute instructors and, looking skyward, fixed my mind on the
+shores of another world.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+Floating Cities.
+
+
+Almost everyone is familiar with Ursa Major, or the Great Dipper, that
+lies in such bold relief in the region of the northern heavens, and that
+apparently revolves around Polaris, the North Star.
+
+The nearer of the two stars that help to form this famous Dipper and
+that point toward Polaris, is called Dubhe by our astronomers. This star
+and its interesting solar system next claimed my attention.
+
+From Earth I had often looked with admiring wonder at the starry
+firmament, and during many an evening I had drawn the imaginary lines
+from star to star outlining the Great Dipper, commencing with the end of
+the handle and finishing with the star just named at the outer edge, or
+rim.
+
+As I came near to Dubhe, I scanned the surrounding skies and was
+surprised to find that the whole semblance of my dipper was lost.
+Instead of lying in a plane, these stars were widely separated, so far
+that a billion miles gives no fair hint of the distance.
+
+Many new stars, previously invisible, now shone in great glory so that
+the whole celestial field presented new aspects. Far away I looked
+toward our Sun; it sparkled like a tiny star, and none of the planets of
+our Solar System were visible.
+
+I paused not at Dubhe, but sped onward to one of the busy worlds that
+revolve around it, which I shall call Plasden. This is two hundred times
+as large as our world, and "slin" covers seven-eighths of its surface.
+Slin is a liquid much resembling water and serves practically the same
+purpose.
+
+Plasden is truly a wonderful water world. Its inhabitants are not
+confined to the under-water life like those found in Stazza, neither are
+they strictly compelled to remain in the atmosphere, although that is
+their normal condition. The Plasdenites can sustain life under water,
+but only with discomfort. They have three times as many ribs as we
+possess, and between them are openings into which air or water enters
+for life sustentation. These flabby ribs slowly rise and fall
+continuously and involuntarily.
+
+I would describe the upper portion of their bodies, but they would seem
+so contrary to our ideas of beauty that I will pass on by saying that to
+my eye, now trained in the larger school of interstellar harmonies,
+these Plasdenites are lovely and lovable human creatures. They have
+reached a high state of civilization and, being gifted with the spirit
+life, they are still forging ahead toward perfection, unconsciously
+competing with their fellow spirits in millions of worlds.
+
+Plasden is an old planet. Human beings have lived thereon for thirty
+thousand years, and consequently, ages ago, the land area became so
+densely populated that there was not enough room to accommodate the
+increasing millions. This perplexing problem was solved in a very
+peculiar manner by an experiment on the part of a wealthy Plasdenite,
+who, seven thousand years ago, took advantage of the extremely light
+mineral products of this world and built for himself a floating mansion
+which covered about ten acres according to our measurements.
+
+This fairy palace was floated on the great oceans from one continent to
+another, propelled by the wind and controlled by a series of motors.
+
+After a few years he returned to his native shore and conceived the idea
+of building around his palace a water village. All foundations were made
+of strong aluminum-like substance mixed with molten granite which, upon
+hardening, formed a compound of marvelous lightness and durability. With
+painstaking care and unceasing energy the water village was transformed
+from a fanciful dream into a tangible reality, and in process of time
+one section after another was added until a veritable city floated on
+the bosom of the deep.
+
+But this is only a brief description of a marvelous accomplishment. I
+did not pause to mention the factories and mills that were attached to
+this city, nor have I told you that in less than one thousand years
+after this first water city was finished, there were floating, on the
+oceans of Plasden, no less than two hundred cities of various sizes,
+each a manufacturing center devoted to one or more lines of industry.
+
+The majority of these cities moved in harmony in a world-wide course,
+requiring about one year or four hundred of our days to complete a
+single circuit. As was their prototype, so they were propelled by a
+series of motors and a splendid sail system. At times the wind did the
+greater part of the work, and again the full force of the motors was
+required.
+
+Let me ask you to get on board one of these cities, and take one year's
+journey in a few minutes.
+
+For instance, take one of the vehicle cities, composed of one hundred
+factory buildings and three thousand dwellings, all built of
+non-combustible materials.
+
+The city is now in the harbor of a great port, and all the merchantmen
+who live nearest to this port have been informed that the vehicle city
+would arrive about midweek and remain four days. What a busy time
+follows after the floating city is fastened to its moorings! Inhabitants
+go on solid ground to do their trading. Dealers make large purchases and
+place extensive orders.
+
+It should be stated that the mail and telegraph systems between the
+continents and all these floating cities are well nigh perfect. Fast
+lines of mail steamers follow one another around the same course pursued
+by these floating cities, and passengers can go to or from any of these
+moving abodes to any part of any continent whenever they wish; so that
+if a dealer wishes a vehicle of special design, he can send his order by
+mail to any one of the six vehicle cities and have it completed by the
+time the floating city arrives at his port. If the community receiving
+the order cannot complete the work in time, the order is sent with one
+of the mail steamers to the next vehicle city in line.
+
+The massive city starts its journey and in one day it floats to the
+coaling stations. Here it takes on board an ample supply of fuel and
+proceeds along the regular course, making no stops until it reaches the
+mineral station where it takes a new supply of the various kinds of
+metals necessary for manufacturing and for all other purposes.
+
+Then perchance it passes a city or two that is lying in dock for trade
+purposes. The next stop will be at one of the several tropical stations
+where a fresh supply of fruits is purchased and a number of vehicles
+sold or delivered.
+
+After this the city passes several apparel cities moored to an immense
+dock, taking on board large bales of a cotton-like substance used in
+making texture.
+
+So continues the interesting journey along a safe route mapped out
+centuries before. Storms arise, of course, but what harm can they do
+except to send the ponderous waves dashing against the bulwarks of the
+city and rock it gently, all of which becomes so familiar that no one
+thinks of these things as serious barriers to the floating-city life.
+
+Perhaps in one tour of four hundred days thirty stops are made. You may
+wonder how these huge floats are stopped and started. This is
+accomplished by a series of border propellors which can be put into
+service at any time if speed is desired or contrary winds are
+encountered.
+
+These cities have done much to civilize the darker races of Plasden. The
+manufacturing floats, coming into contact with the shores of all lands,
+naturally have an uplifting influence on its peoples, some of whom go on
+board to learn trades.
+
+The latest novelty of Plasden is a music city owned by one man and built
+most beautifully. Its size is comparatively small and it is equipped
+with motors of double power enabling it to proceed with considerable
+speed as compared with the cumbersome, heavier floats. This city is
+built for business as well as for pleasure.
+
+These Plasdenites enjoy an invention in the form of a machine that
+renders music when acted upon by air, and, at certain times, also by
+water. It is inspiring to listen to these Siren strains as the music
+city passes another floating abode.
+
+Excursion parties go on this music city and remain at one or another of
+its famous hotels as long as they wish.
+
+[Illustration: A Floating Palace and a Floating City.]
+
+The most refined feature of this water life is seen in the floating
+mansions, of which there are many thousands. These are built in such a
+manner that the wildest storms of the ocean can do no more than set the
+mansion a rocking, for the structures that venture far away from
+shore are very large, and surrounded by many acres of attachments.
+
+It is delightful to live in one of these water mansions, go to any
+chosen harbor, remain as long as desired and, taking your choice of
+countries, dwell among the icebergs or in the tropical regions. People
+of delicate health can shift to any climate and change location as often
+as desired. This style of retired life is now the most popular of all in
+this peculiar world of Plasden.
+
+The educated people are a very bright class; they have made great
+progress in manufacturing. This implies a long list of notable
+inventions in every branch of industry. It is strange that these
+brilliant inventors never paid attention to air travel. However, they
+have perfected submarine navigation to a nicety that would be teasing to
+the infant efforts that we have thus far made.
+
+The people of this far away orb have greatly surpassed us in controlling
+and utilizing the three distinct forces which are quite similar to
+electricity, and these are the wizard forces that furnish the power used
+to drive the motors and engines, not only of the floating cities, but
+also of the fixed abodes.
+
+By a comparative study I ascertained that we have over six thousand
+inventions for which they have no parallel, and Plasden has nearly
+twenty thousand to which we have nothing similar. What an inspiring
+study all these facts furnished! But my space forbids enlargement. I
+believe, however, that if our world remains a few thousand years more,
+we will have learned more secrets than the experts of Plasden know
+to-day, although they have had a start of many thousand years over us.
+
+There are very few worlds where the devotional spirit has reached a
+higher level than in Plasden. The truths of the Creator are preached and
+practised with a far more pleasing result than is prevalent on Earth.
+
+Satan has found his way to this planet and has organized his forces into
+sworn legions against whom the armies of righteousness are waging
+relentless warfare.
+
+The main secret of Plasden's high morality is found in the fact that
+the civil governments insist on moral laws and a careful observance of
+them. One blushes with shame at the looseness and laxity with which the
+greater municipalities of our Earth are governed, and all this under the
+shadow of our schools and church spires.
+
+Centuries ago the good people of Plasden learned how to co-operate when
+they desired to win in a struggle against iniquity. I would give my
+life-blood if I could transport this secret in such a way as to make it
+effective on the Earth.
+
+In our world we have before us a most humiliating spectacle. If an
+effort is made to extirpate some form of sin that has taken audacious
+root in the soil of our moral life, one reform element or denomination
+fights with the other until the hoe is so broken that there is nothing
+left wherewith to dig out the miserable roots of the obnoxious weed.
+Thus do we spend our energies opposing one another instead of fighting
+the Devil.
+
+O, for the Plasden power of unity, before which any species of
+corruption can be crushed out that is opposed by the forces of
+righteousness!
+
+We have succeeded, to a bitter extreme, in getting the church and state
+separated from each other so far that the latter scarcely ever gets a
+glimpse of the former, and we stand by priding ourselves in the absolute
+divorce. Then we have also succeeded in getting the different creeds
+separated by chasms so wide that it is impossible to make a combined
+attack against a common foe. However, these separations between sects
+are gradually disappearing, and over the lessening gaps the hands of a
+more Christian fellowship are being extended.
+
+The Devil, wiser in his generation than the children of light, long ago
+united his trained forces in defense of his iniquitous schemes, and thus
+he is permitted for a season to sit on the throne of power and wield his
+black wand over the civil realm, thereby licensing iniquity, protecting
+vice, and spreading his dark designs over the commonwealths of the
+world.
+
+We look forward to the time when the moral and spiritual forces of our
+world will reach the Plasden unity. May this be accomplished without
+struggling along for another century!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A World of Ideal Cities.
+
+
+After I had finished my brief stay at Plasden, I again rose high in air
+and looked over the oceans with their floating cities. This was one of
+the most charming views I ever had of any world.
+
+I paid a passing visit to a few worlds where human life had never risen
+to a great height of civilization, nor can I forget the lessons I there
+learned of the power of sin. All this one can clearly see who visits the
+three worlds lying next in order to Plasden, but I will forbear the sad
+and sickening recital of the depth to which a world is carried by sin
+when once it gains a haughty ascendency.
+
+The next orb that attracted my attention also lay in the solar system of
+Dubhe, and very much resembles our own world in both size and climate.
+The people, who are not half our stature, are so differently formed that
+I could scarcely believe my own senses.
+
+A description of them would appear only ludicrous, so I shall content
+myself with saying that they are refined in their manners and highly
+educated in all branches of human knowledge, which does not imply that
+their studies are identical with ours.
+
+I was surprised at the splendid arrangement of their cities and the
+sensible laws governing them. One can scarcely believe that we are
+guilty of so much lost labor in the management of our cities, in our own
+way of living, and in providing for our families, until he sets his eyes
+on a city of another world that has notably distanced us in this
+respect.
+
+These people, though small of stature, are endowed with powerful
+muscular systems and, through their intelligence, they have become
+masters of the seas and of the land, for the forests give away and
+savage tribes fall back before the onward march of the God-directed
+conqueror, man.
+
+I then appeared in visible form and walked into one of the largest
+cities on this world. I had not passed one-fourth of the way toward the
+city's center before I was surrounded by a curious crowd which so
+blocked my path that I could make no further progress. You may imagine
+their surprise to see a giant, as I appeared to them, with a strangely
+shaped head and with a soft, flabby skin, for they at first regarded my
+clothing as my skin.
+
+No one could conjecture what sort of an animal I was. I remained mute
+and watched the rising tide of excitement. Before anyone could venture
+to touch me, I saw a band of officers in double-quick march hastening
+toward me with their curiously shaped weapons unfolded.
+
+I stood motionless as the soldiers surrounded me. As soon as the circle
+was formed the leader of the squad stepped toward me with a show of
+bravery, but I saw that he secretly trembled. It was his oath-bound duty
+in such a case to lay hands on me and, if necessary, use force to take
+me to the central office.
+
+I offered no resistance and went, as I was directed, till I stood in the
+odd looking room where all offenders of their law are taken for a
+hearing.
+
+[Illustration: Planet of Dubhe.]
+
+The news of my appearance and arrest had by this time spread to all
+parts of the city and a motley crowd were gathering, but only a small
+portion of the people were able to gain entrance into the building where
+I had been taken.
+
+The high officials and educators, hearing of the wonderful giant at the
+city hall, hastened thither with all speed. Then I saw an interesting
+spectacle. As these higher classes of people arrived, the lower classes
+were compelled to leave. The room being full, no laborer was allowed to
+remain if a person of nobility wished to occupy his seat. This peculiar
+custom or law applies to all public places and assemblies.
+
+In a short time all the lower classes were compelled to leave the hall
+to make room for the unprecedented rush of nobility. Nothing so tempted
+me to speak as when I saw this partial rule in operation.
+
+During all this gathering the officers stood in a circle around me and
+held their weapons ready for instant service. Not hearing what I was or
+what I might do, they were ordered to maintain this strict attitude.
+
+Every eye was fastened on me. Some of the nobility were pale with fear;
+others were busy inquiring whence I came and where I had been captured.
+
+At length the chief official made a gutteral sound. This must have been
+a call for order and the signal for the opening of the court, for at
+once the wild confusion gave way to order as much as could be expected
+under the circumstances.
+
+The brief formalities of opening the court were ridiculous to me. This
+being done, all official attention was given to me. I saw that
+everything was under the charge of this presiding official. He first
+ordered that I should be bound and, accordingly, my hands and feet were
+tied. Then a very heavy chain-like rope was fastened to my body and I
+was tied to the criminal's post.
+
+The officers were then released and retired to their special part of the
+room.
+
+The chief then stepped toward me and peered into my face with a puzzled
+look of great anxiety. I returned his glances calmly, but uttered not a
+word.
+
+There was a breathless suspense as the chief lifted up his hands,
+touched my face, and felt my mustache and whiskers. The hair was perhaps
+the strangest feature of my whole head, since there is nothing on their
+human or animal species that resembles hair.
+
+The chief then called for a certain professor who was an expert in
+zoology. This intelligent man quickly came to my side and, at the
+request of the chief, commenced to examine me carefully.
+
+My manner of breathing confused him most of all. He watched my chest
+rising and falling and my sides increasing and decreasing with every
+breath, until he was mystified beyond all power of explanation.
+
+When the dignitaries saw that I could be touched with safety, numerous
+messages were flying to the chief, each one asking for the privilege of
+a closer inspection of me.
+
+The presiding officer was cool-headed and firmly followed his own cause.
+He waited until the professor had finished his examination and was
+prepared to report, whereupon he announced to the bewildered audience
+that heed should now be given to the conclusion of the zoologist.
+
+The professor mounted a throne-like elevation from which all expert
+opinion is submitted. A painful silence ensued as this learned man
+proceeded with his report.
+
+Of course I pretended that I could not understand their language and
+that I was oblivious to all these occurrences, but you may be assured
+that I was careful not to miss a word that fell from the lips of this
+noted specialist who conducted himself with a dignity both pleasing and
+fascinating.
+
+"I pronounce this creature an enigma," commenced the professor as he
+pointed his bony finger toward me, "and declare him to be the strangest
+problem of my life. How, and whence, and why he came to us are all alike
+shrouded in impenetrable mystery."
+
+"This perplexing specimen is totally different from any species of our
+animal creation. He resembles a man more closely than any beast.
+However, he cannot belong to any family of our world for he is possessed
+with bodily functions unknown to us. His clothes are not the result of
+any natural growth, and are far beyond our finest manufacture. Each
+piece of his apparel gives positive evidence that it was made with
+hands more skillful than ours."
+
+"The most pleasing part of this perplexity is the face, which bears
+indisputable marks of intelligence. It would be eminently satisfying to
+us if we could communicate with him and receive some light on this
+living marvel."
+
+He quickly stepped from the throne and the chief then invited four
+philosophers to examine me conjointly. They hurriedly responded to the
+invitation, for they were delighted at the honor and privilege conferred
+upon them.
+
+What a peculiar experience followed! Four men touched my hands and
+ankles, my arms and limbs, and more particularly every piece of my
+apparel. Accidentally one found my purse, but could not open it. As he
+was faithfully pursuing his task, I felt that the time had come for me
+to speak.
+
+"Twist at the two knobs," I said in their vernacular.
+
+If lightning had struck into that room, it would not have caused more
+consternation. The four philosophers fell to the floor, the chief was
+terrified, the audience looked on in abject terror, while the officers
+rushed from their post with drawn weapons. All this occurred instantly,
+and I realized that my words never before had such an effect. In a
+moment the chief was at my side and, looking into my face, exclaimed:
+
+"Who are you and why have you remained silent?"
+
+"I am a human being," I replied.
+
+"From what part of our world?"
+
+"I was not born on this world."
+
+"On what world then?" he further asked with increasing surprise.
+
+"On a world called Earth that revolves around a star called Sun." As I
+was answering these questions many wild sensations were sweeping over
+the hearts of the assembled nobility.
+
+"How came you to our world?" continued the chief with abated breath.
+
+"On wings invisible."
+
+"For what purpose came you hither?"
+
+"To see your manner of life."
+
+"Will you stay with us forever?"
+
+"I cannot."
+
+"Have you come to harm us?"
+
+"Not in the least."
+
+The chief in a high state of excitement ordered that I should be
+unbound.
+
+I smiled and said that I would spare them that trouble. I snapped the
+bands with such ease that a new fear possessed all of those around me.
+
+I then gave them positive assurance that I would harm no one and urged
+that all should be silent as I wished to speak a few words to them.
+
+Never before had I a more attentive audience. I addressed them in a
+natural manner, informing them that I desired to become familiar with a
+few of their forms and customs of life. I then proceeded to give them a
+description of the world whence I had come. My audience became
+enthusiastic and I decided to cease speaking.
+
+The chief, although greatly agitated, still kept his hand on the
+throttle of the occasion. He waved the surging crowd back, demanded
+order and at once sent his arrowed questions at me again.
+
+"Are you not a god?" cried he.
+
+"I am only human."
+
+"How could you have such power as to reach our world?"
+
+"That I cannot explain."
+
+"How many people live on your world?"
+
+"One and one-half billion," I answered.
+
+"Are they all pure-minded?"
+
+I answered that I was pained to inform them that many of our inhabitants
+are wicked.
+
+My listeners were still incredulous as to my identity. They were
+positive that I was a visiting spirit on a mission of evil or good, and
+they urged that I should disclose the purpose of my commission.
+
+I re-affirmed my past utterances and, turning to the chief more
+directly, I informed him that he would see me no more. Then, without
+pausing another moment, I vanished. As I went, I looked backward to see
+the mystified countenances of all who were in the room, and then
+proceeded to visit the surrounding city to examine the system under
+which it is governed.
+
+I found that the bulk of the trade is controlled by the city, one class
+of goods being kept at one place in suitable store houses. The city owns
+a full line of vehicles resembling our automobiles. These are very
+spacious. Each one is supplied with certain lines of merchandise and
+passes over an unalterable rail route at its own fixed period.
+
+Thus all parts of the city are reached with the necessaries of life.
+Those who prefer can go to the trade centers, but no special orders are
+delivered except by the regular cars and at the regular time.
+
+For instance, one can go to the trade centers for meats and vegetables,
+and purchase what he wishes or give his order. At the time corresponding
+to six o'clock of our time in the morning the meat and vegetable cars
+start on their respective routes, while the trade centers are open for
+personal callers. Marketing goes on at the market center while the cars
+are selling throughout the city. At nine o'clock the delivery cars leave
+the trade centers.
+
+Similar to the manner of our world, each home is numbered in such a way
+that no two houses have the same designation. By this arrangement the
+delivery of goods is facilitated.
+
+Everything in this busy metropolis goes like clock work, and everybody
+knows the schedule, which is simple enough to be understood almost at a
+glance.
+
+All the trade centers lie along the freight and passenger railroad. This
+saves a tremendous amount of labor, for the goods are all transferred
+directly from the cars to the store-houses.
+
+There is no Fire Department, for there is no need of one. It appears
+that only a few worlds in the universe use inflammable materials for
+structural purposes, and we are one of them.
+
+There is a Finance Department and a Law Department, although I cannot
+give space for their description.
+
+The Sanitary and Police Departments are under systems absolutely
+different from any that are known in our world. Their sanitary methods
+are no more effective than ours, perhaps less so. But the Police
+Department is greatly superior. This is largely due to the fact that
+this city has a department gloriously ahead of any city in which I have
+ever lived. This department is called the Moral Department. It is
+managed by twenty-one men and women, one-third of whom are selected
+annually from a list of nominees.
+
+Each church, meeting certain requirements, is entitled to make one
+nomination. The seven of these nominees receiving the largest number of
+votes are elected for three years.
+
+This Moral Department is no mincing and begging institution. It has, at
+its disposal, the entire military battery. No mayor holds a whip handle
+over it. I must confess I was happy as I witnessed the blessed effect of
+this Moral Department. All evil is not extirpated, neither is all
+lawlessness overcome, but there is no brazen iniquity, no public
+immorality and heartless brutality such as is seen on every hand in one
+of our larger municipalities.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+A World Enjoying Its Millennium.
+
+
+What expansive views of creation were afforded me in my universal
+journey! I saw all conceivable types of human life, many of which I
+alone could never have conceived.
+
+With a happy soul I alighted on another world in the solar system of
+Dubhe where sin had been banished, and the believers, or children of
+God, were passing through a period of time which we would call the
+Millennium.
+
+A wide contrast was now presented to my view. I had seen world after
+world in the tribulation of sin. Now I had come to one under the sway of
+righteousness, and I wish that I had power to describe what I saw and
+experienced.
+
+I suddenly thought of the Queen of Sheba, who, upon seeing the greatness
+of Solomon's wisdom, exclaimed, "Behold, the half was not told me." I
+had often imagined what the condition of our world would be when it
+smiles under the light of the Millennium, but I minimized the glory that
+is yet to come to us, judging by what I saw on this delightfully
+charming planet. I have no assurance, however, that the coming
+Millennium of our world will be altogether similar to the one I saw.
+
+This glorious Millennium was ushered in about six hundred years ago, and
+I readily learned the general particulars of its commencement. The world
+had been very wicked prior to the dawn of this new age. The majority of
+the people disregarded all spiritual truths, causing the darkness of sin
+to hang like a heavy pall over the nations of this planet.
+
+There were earnest devotees who lived in the light and love of God, and
+who preached and pleaded with the thoughtless and the indifferent.
+Notwithstanding all the efforts put forth on the part of the righteous,
+the generations of this distant world became more and more wicked until
+the Millennial dawn.
+
+In the fullness of time the Millennium was ushered in by the appearance
+of the chief angel who came with several hundred thousand attending
+spirits. At the approach of these celestial regiments the atmosphere far
+above the planet was darkened by ominous clouds through which the
+approaching legions shone with unearthly brightness. All this occurred
+in the twinkling of an eye, even before the busy millions could look
+upward. Then the chief angel and his magnificent host circled in the
+air, singing the resurrection song, which was augmented by ten thousand
+trumpeters, while the forked and sheet lightnings flashed in unison with
+the imposing waves of music, and heavy thunders contributed the bass
+intonations.
+
+The celestial choir continued during one revolution of the planet. The
+vast throng sang in the air as the planet revolved on its axis. As each
+section of the globe came beneath the long extended line of melodious
+angels, the marvelous change took place for that section. The sleeping
+saints came forth from their graves and, with the living saints, were
+caught up into the air. This continued until this most eventful day was
+finished.
+
+The scenes that occurred with the ungodly during this awful day beggar
+all description, so much so that I shall not attempt to describe the
+remorseful wails of horror that rent the air, only to be drowned by the
+ever-singing choir. It was the day of triumph for the saints, and their
+ears were not disturbed by the cries of terror, nor were their hearts
+distracted by the opening of the earth to receive the wicked.
+
+As the saints were caught up, the wicked fell into pits and have not
+been seen since. The flames that issued from the rending globe set
+everything on fire. Who can select language sufficiently graphic to
+portray such a lurid dissolution of a planet, and the gathering of the
+faithful, quick and dead?
+
+Thus was this large world purified by fire while the saints were
+gloriously enraptured. After the fury of this burning was passed, the
+great Creator of the universe made a new world whereon righteousness
+dwelled.
+
+The saints became the possessors and rulers of this whole sphere, living
+in joy and peace unprecedented. It has been the happiest six hundred
+years since the beginning of this planet. How long this period will
+continue no one seems to know, and but few are conjecturing, for each
+soul is completely happy and congenially employed.
+
+The time will come, however, when this blissful period will be at an
+end, only to give way to a state of existence infinitely greater and
+more glorious, which in our language would be called Heaven.
+
+[Illustration: Beginning of the Millennium.]
+
+I will briefly describe a few characteristics of this Millennial life as
+I saw it and as it is now existing.
+
+1. The saints are living in spiritual bodies. They are not cumbered with
+a fleshy body, and are capable of traveling through the air at a speed
+far beyond that attained by the swiftest winged creature of any world in
+the whole universe.
+
+Their spiritual bodies are highly organized and sensitive to a fine
+degree. At will they are capable of rendering themselves visible or
+invisible, as we comprehend these terms.
+
+As the perfectly formed flower, blushing in its wealth of color, is
+called beautiful, so we would designate these symmetrical
+spirit-creatures, moving in the glory of their higher endowment and
+shaded with the living tints of Heaven.
+
+2. These inhabitants know nothing of fatigue. Their strength of body and
+vitality of mind are unabating. What a contrast between the creatures of
+our Earth and those of the Millennial world on whom the passing of
+centuries has no ill effect.
+
+3. There is nothing on this purified world to generate disease; hence
+these favored people never suffer any pain of body or of mind. The long
+line of sin-shadows has all vanished from this redeemed planet, and the
+atmosphere is all aglow with the mellowed light of peace and love.
+
+4. Jealousy and all kindred feelings are unknown. These roots were all
+destroyed by the fire at the beginning of the Millennium. No one can
+imagine how enrapturing life is in the absence of stings of malice and
+thorns of envy.
+
+5. The social and spiritual relationships are all harmoniously blended.
+No one feels himself beneath or above another, and no one feels
+embarrassed in the presence of a superior human intelligence.
+
+6. Thus it follows that the fellowship is inexpressibly sweet. You can
+only imagine the dignity and glory one must feel as he mingles with the
+righteous dead of all ages, and gathers from them a glimpse of the
+trials and triumphs of ten thousand years under the old reign.
+
+7. Some of the spirits are employed in dressing and keeping the gardens
+in which grow the luxurious food on which redeemed creatures subsist:
+not cereals, fruits, or nuts, but the kind that creates the most
+heavenly sensations as it wastes away in perfume at the will of the
+user. The nearest imitation of this food ever known on earth was eaten
+by Christ's spirit when Mary broke the alabaster box of ointment on his
+head.
+
+8. Some spirits of this Millennial life seemed to be more rapturously
+happy than the others. I learned that they had passed through the
+darkness of continual disappointments or suffered under the mis-mating
+of matrimonial union. Others fought through the fires of persecution and
+torture, and still others passed through martyrdom for their Master's
+sake. All of these patiently endured all hardships leading down to the
+end of their mortal days.
+
+9. The affinity between sexes is clearly marked. No love but pure love
+burns on the altar of any soul, and any one who wishes may stop to
+kindle the fires or warm himself thereat. There is no bodily contact, no
+decay, no weakening. This love is enrapturing, uplifting, ever drawing
+the lover and the loved nearer to the fountain.
+
+In language most intelligible to us, I would say that the intercourse
+between sexes is one of refined telepathy, soul-connection by thought
+transmission, a thousand-fold more charming than the low plane of
+intercourse in the flesh life, with none of its attendant weakening
+results. This strange felicity is as indescribable as it is glorious.
+Each nature seeks its real complement, and enjoys the most absolute
+liberty, for there is not a single barrier to prevent it, as no one
+desires to do wrong.
+
+This most inviting life had its charms for me, but I well knew that I
+could not tarry. I lingered at a thousand fountains to catch the
+life-giving spray and studied, as far as I possibly could, the faces of
+these favored creatures.
+
+The whole vegetable world is a long extended floral garden. Where
+formerly deserts lay waste and wild, now the blooming roses and
+expansive lawns can be seen. Is it possible to picture to your mind's
+eye a line of lofty mountains whose sides are dressed in living colors
+and trimmed with rare flowers? If you cannot paint this picture, then
+you must not endeavor to form the faintest conception of the natural
+features of this Millennial world.
+
+Being still filled with the lingering memories of this happy sphere, and
+looking forward to the coming golden age of our own world, I read with
+pleasure a few stanzas contemplating Christ's second coming.
+
+    "A SONG OF HIS COMING."
+
+    See the virgins at midnight yearning,
+      To behold the face of the Groom.
+    Their lamps are all trimmed and burning,
+      As they peer through the misty gloom.
+
+    "He will come," is the shout of voices,
+      Which have sung in a thousand ways;
+    For the heart of the saint rejoices,
+      At the thought of the coming days.
+
+    When the war of creeds will be over,
+      And our King descends from above,
+    Only they shall witness His crowning,
+      Who have lived in the light of love.
+
+    Then the Christ shall reign in his glory
+      On the throne of his sovereign might:
+    And the theme of Redemption's story
+      Will be sung with perfect delight.
+
+    And our minds will dazzle with brightness,
+      As our thoughts forever aspire,
+    For a mantle of perfect whiteness,
+      Shall cover the youth and the sire;
+
+    Then we know that none will be jealous,
+      And no one will envy our lot.
+    For against the one who is zealous,
+      Not a soul will contrive or plot.
+
+    And our actions will chime in pleasure,
+      All refined from malice and sting.
+    We shall all reach the perfect measure,
+      In the reign of this conquering King.
+
+    We will have everything we can use,
+      In those beautiful realms of light;
+    There the people will do as they choose,
+      For each one will choose to do right.
+
+    We will sail through the seas of beauty,
+      And return to the shores we please;
+    Far away from the callings of duty,
+      In the shade of undying trees.
+
+    All the riches of Christ will be ours,
+      'Tis a wealth without guilt or pain.
+    There will be no 'Contention of Powers',
+      Nor the marks of official stain.
+
+    As I look from this earthly station,
+      I exclaim again and again--
+    O what an eternal vacation!
+      Come quickly, Lord Jesus, Amen.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+A World of High Medical Knowledge.
+
+
+I spent a long and profitable season in the vicinity of the Great
+Dipper, witnessing the almost infinite variations of human life as found
+from world to world, and looking upon the wild wastes of the many
+planets that are not inhabited.
+
+Finally I again spread my swift wings, reached the beautiful star
+Arcturus and noticed among the worlds that revolve around it a few that
+are sinless. I was tempted to pause at one or another of these
+exceptional stations, but I knew that I could not tarry until I had
+reached the far distant constellation of Scorpio.
+
+In this wide flight I traveled a distance so great that I will not weary
+the mind with mentioning the trillions of miles. Now I was in the direct
+path of the Milky Way and my imagination staggered as I saw the
+endlessness of stars and solar systems, as far out beyond me as my
+assisted eyes could reach.
+
+The star at which I arrived is one of the largest suns that blaze in the
+depths of immensity. It is so wonderfully great that if twelve hundred
+million worlds as large as ours were all crushed into one great ball, it
+would not make one sphere as immense as this star or sun, around which
+revolve about five hundred worlds or planets, many of which are greater
+than our Jupiter. With abounding interest I visited all the inhabited
+worlds of this vast system. How long it took I have no way of knowing. I
+did not count time by hours or heart throbs, for I was so wrapt in my
+observations that all else was as nothing to me.
+
+Some of these worlds sustain a low order of human creatures, while on
+others there are races that have reached a high degree in the scale of
+advancement. Of these five hundred worlds nearly one-half are barren of
+all life, and of those that are inhabited some twenty are sinless worlds
+and thirty are now passing through an intermediate period between the
+probationary life and the final judgment, a period toward which we are
+anxiously looking and which we designate as the Millennium.
+
+Of all this ponderous solar system there is one world that excels all
+the others in its medical attainments, and of this one first I will give
+a flying notice.
+
+I have named this world Dore-lyn. It is fifty times as large as our
+Earth and of greater specific gravity.
+
+Its human creatures are delightfully formed and are in ruddy health and
+refined happiness. In shape these Dore-lynites differ somewhat from us,
+but long before I had reached this planet I learned something of the
+universal standards of symmetry and ascertained that creatures could be
+beautiful without resembling us whatever.
+
+Here I found four billions of people and there is room for twenty
+billions more. So if you are in ill health, and have run the round of
+our medical fraternity without success, I would advise you to go to
+Dore-lyn, if you know how to reach it.
+
+These Dore-lynites are almost three times our size and they are subject
+to most of our ills and many more. From an early date the head
+government of this world paid particular attention to hygiene, keeping
+all medical work under its own care.
+
+The government controls the whole field of medical science just as we do
+the post-office department.
+
+There are no conflicting schools of medicines such as Allopathic,
+Homeopathic, Hydropathic, Eclectic and Osteopathic. The government gives
+handsome rewards to any one who furnishes a new discovery or gives
+additional light. Everything is duly tested and proved to be a success
+by a corps of experts before it is given to the practicing fraternity.
+The government holds certain rights in experimenting that no physician
+or medical school would think of having in our world. The government
+medical schools of Dore-lyn are marvels indeed. Nothing is spared that
+money or talent can furnish. The full graduates of these schools are
+only "the survival of the fittest." Others take a secondary degree and
+can act as assistants or retire from the list. The government has a
+series of institutions that do a work similar to our hospitals and have
+a corps of full graduates supplying the stations. This entire system is
+so arranged that every family or individual receives all necessary
+treatment free.
+
+The cost of carrying on this vast system is one of the items of national
+expense. I will now mention some of the medical achievements of these
+Dore-lynites.
+
+When a physician suspects that the blood is poisoned he at once proceeds
+to a chemical analysis, and if certain kinds of poison are found, the
+blood is filtered by the use of a fine instrument. A blood vessel is
+exposed and cut, and the two ends fastened to the delicate filter. Thus
+the blood is cleansed by passing through this instrument. Those
+acquainted with the manner in which the blood circulates can readily see
+how all the blood of the body can be reached in a short time. This
+method is very successful in the treatment of all bites of poisonous
+insects and reptiles, and all types of hydrophobia, which are ten-fold
+more numerous in Dore-lyn than in our world.
+
+There are no patent medicines in Dore-lyn. The few medicines they have
+are manufactured only by government authority and everybody receives the
+purest that can be compounded, no distinction being made between rich
+and poor. One thousand years ago the medical aspects of Dore-lyn were
+similar to those which are seen in our world to-day. People were
+compelled to take all manner of poisons and opiates even from skilled
+hands. But in Dore-lyn those days of darkness and misery are past and
+the people enjoy the benefit of a medical skill one thousand years ahead
+of us. They look back to the practice of the old physicians with
+ludicrous feelings just as we do when reading the prescriptions that
+were used in the first century of our dispensation.
+
+We call your attention to some of the antiquated remedies of our world
+as related by Geike and copied from a medical journal of our own
+country. Following is a list:
+
+"Ashes of wolf's skull, stag's horn, the heads of mice, the eyes of
+crabs, owl's brains, liver of frogs, viper's fat, grasshoppers, bats,
+etc., these supplied the alkalis which were prescribed. Physicians were
+accustomed to order doses of the gall of wild swine. It is presumed the
+tame hog was not sufficiently efficacious. There were other choice
+prescriptions such as horse's foam, woman's milk, laying a serpent on
+the afflicted part, urine of cows, bear fat, still recommended as a hair
+restorative, juice of boiled buck horn, etc. For colic, powdered horse's
+teeth, dung of swine, asses' kidneys, mice excretion made into a
+plaster, and other equally vile and unsavory compounds. Colds in the
+head were cured by kissing the nose of a mule. For sore throat, snail
+slime was a favorite prescription, and mouse flesh was considered
+excellent for disease of the lungs. Boiled snails and powdered bats were
+prescribed for intestinal disorders."
+
+When we read such a list of remedies we can scarcely believe that they
+were ever popular, but according to the history of Dore-lyn the time
+will come when many of our present medicines will be out of date, and
+only mentioned in the old medical works.
+
+The people of Dore-lyn have suffered in past ages innumerable woes on
+account of intemperance. Alcohol is unknown to them, but they have had a
+two-thousand year's battle against three liquids that affect them as
+opium affects us. Strange to say that these terrible liquids were the
+bases of many of their medicines just like the anodyne medicines of our
+present day. Thus in Dore-lyn the old kinds of medicines created many
+drunkards. Since the dawn of the brighter age, a strict law prevails
+regarding the use of all narcotics in medicines. Then came gradually
+into use the many methods of treating disease without medicine, except
+the materials used to sustain life regularly.
+
+Being interested in these things, I examined more closely into their
+past medical history, and saw more clearly the present folly of a
+certain part of our medicinal practice. How we are struggling with
+alcohol, especially as found in so many of our patent medicines, and how
+helpless we are in trying to abolish the sale of these medicines by
+reason of our unbounded liberty! In our world, a man may concoct any
+alcoholic medicine and sell it without liquor license, for people
+become verily mad for the bottled stuff. Our nation may some day become
+wise enough to keep its own hand on the business that is determining the
+health and happiness of millions of its inhabitants.
+
+But let me cease this digression and get back once more to Dore-lyn.
+
+One of the most noted medical achievements on this world consists in the
+manner of rendering a person unconscious of pain. The anatomy of a
+Dore-lynite is, in general, the same as our anatomy. Their bones are
+arranged a little differently and the sections of the backbone have a
+quite different formation. When a surgeon of that world wishes to
+perform an operation and therefore render the patient unconscious, he
+presses the tough cartilagenous part of a section of the backbone with a
+screw device fastened to the body of the patient. This simple act
+renders the spinal cord insensitive, which condition may be maintained
+for hours without injuring the patient. Of course any point above the
+screw device is sensitive, and for this reason it is more difficult to
+render a person unconscious in the parts about the head.
+
+Many ages ago the world of microbes was laid bare, but not before these
+people were masters of the microscope or an instrument serving the same
+purposes, although formed on a partly different principle.
+
+These Dore-lynites have brought to light the numerous varieties of
+parasite broods that cause fermentations and diseases, both infectious
+and otherwise.
+
+A diseased body is looked upon as being in possession of a certain brood
+of microbes which are destroyed either by the blood filter or the
+"Vaccine bath, or injection." (I know no better name by which to call
+it.) A few diseases are treated by doses of medicines given in a manner
+similar to the prescription system of our country.
+
+The "Food Treatment" is also very popular in Dore-lyn. This is merely a
+hygienic selection of foods given to people of declining health, instead
+of having them swallow ten or twenty dollars' worth of strong medicines.
+
+Abnormal appetites crave for a class of foods injurious to the system.
+In Dore-lyn they have discovered a novel method of turning the diseased
+appetite from its cravings toward the things needed by the system.
+
+In performing operations, the experts of Dore-lyn have reached a
+marvelous degree of perfection. They have learned to make a false eye so
+that one can see with it. It took three and one-half thousand years of
+continual experimenting on this delicate creation before it was
+pronounced satisfactory.
+
+The false eye is not of flesh but one of manufacture. It is placed in
+sensitive connection with the optic nerve, on which images are thrown by
+the delicate mechanism of the false eye. The sight thus obtained is
+almost one-half as distinct as that which is enjoyed by the normal eye.
+
+These medical wizards also make artificial ears which are about as
+satisfactory as the natural ears. In certain lines of surgery we are
+equal to these Dore-lynites, but we cannot register with them in the
+whole category of surgical achievements. They have simply distanced us
+by five hundred years. That is, I believe that in five hundred years we
+can reach the fields of glory which they now occupy.
+
+Think of laying bare a human lung and treating it with a special
+preparation for extreme cases of lung diseases, and also treating it
+with a "baking" for department cases of a disease similar to pneumonia.
+Perhaps the most wonderful class of operations is performed on the heart
+and the brain.
+
+The heart is laid bare under a sheet of thermal rays. Fatty tissues are
+removed and other obstructions eradicated during the regular heart
+beats.
+
+The government grants certain privileges of experimenting on her lowest
+class of criminals, and it is well nigh incredible what has been
+accomplished by cerebrum operations.
+
+Certain murderers of vile propensities have been so changed by an
+operation on the cerebrum that they have no power of recalling their
+past life and are incapable of uttering an oath. And what is more
+strange, they are intent on leading an upright life and being intensely
+religious withal.
+
+I am compelled to crowd a world of glorious life into a few paragraphs,
+but I hope that I have given such as will be for our good.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+A World of Low Life.
+
+
+When one witnesses an exhibition he must, of necessity, look upon the
+poorer parts of it. This was my experience in my universal journey, for
+on some worlds which I visited I found that human civilization was at a
+low ebb. One of the most notable of this class is the world next beyond
+Dore-lyn.
+
+This sphere is one thousand times as large as ours, and the beastly
+creatures that inhabit it are four times our size.
+
+The toilers in the deep valleys of Mars are favorably intelligent
+compared with these specimens of humanity. For convenience, I will call
+this world Scum. Its people are so constituted that their two arms can
+be used as legs; so it is quite common to see these Scumites travel over
+their planet like the more graceful of our quadrupeds. Their walking,
+however, is principally after our fashion, and they can change about at
+pleasure. Either way of travel seems as natural as the other. When they
+walk on two limbs, the body is erect, presenting a stature of such
+gigantic proportions as to over-awe a representative of our world.
+
+According to the universal standards of symmetry, these giants have an
+animal beauty that is anything but handsome, and they also lack those
+facial expressions of higher intelligence that come only through
+generations of cultured thinking. Their health is quite perfect and they
+live to a great age.
+
+These Scumites have a language singularly their own. It is so totally
+different from any of our conceptions of speech that I can scarcely find
+words to describe it.
+
+The medium of conversation is the Notched Rod. It is about twelve feet
+long with various kinds of notches cut along the two sides. Such a stick
+is possessed by every Scumite who expects to hold extended or
+descriptive conversations. It is usually held by a skin strung around
+the neck. While one of these persons is talking, two or three of his
+fingers pass from notch to notch along the rod. These indentures of the
+rod represent, in their language, certain kinds of sounds and are used
+to assist the vocal organs in expressing the more intricate combinations
+of ideas. Naturally, the listener watches the fingers more than the
+mouth.
+
+It is amusing to see a Scumite busily engaged in delivering a speech to
+a few of his fellow creatures. It would remind you of a person playing a
+fife or violin without producing any sound.
+
+The children of Scum learn this rod language just the same as our
+children at first learn to speak our language by observation and
+practice.
+
+The face of a Scumite does not resemble a human face of our planet. The
+mouth and jaws are at right angles to ours and this arrangement seems to
+be just as convenient to these Scumites as the formation of our mouth is
+to us. The nose lies above the mouth, but is relatively much higher, its
+point coming between the two eyes which are situated more toward the
+sides of the head.
+
+The startling fact about this world is that at one time in its past
+history fair intelligence reigned on a few parts of the planet. These
+intelligent sections were working their way upward on the measureless
+incline of progress and had won some distinctions in their sciences, as
+well as their religious devotions. These bright spots on the surface of
+this large orb were surrounded with large black patches of war-like
+humanity and, between these two extremes, a warfare of subjection or
+extermination raged without any hope or peace.
+
+The educated Scumites had a few advantages in methods of war, but with
+all this they were not able to withstand the vast hordes that swept down
+upon them. Brute force won the battle and the accumulated light of four
+thousand years flickered until it was no more.
+
+It was a fatal day for Scum when its mad inhabitants blew out the last
+of the candles that had promised to give them light.
+
+When this sad and blighting victory was accomplished, these uncivilized
+tribes rejoiced more hilariously than at one time our Indians rejoiced
+when celebrating their victories in the wild scalp dances.
+
+Thus the dark shadows fell on this huge world. The captured educated
+classes made a heroic effort to continue their cultured manners and
+religious life, but the prejudice against them and their ways was so
+great that they were compelled to live in the lower strata or suffer the
+pain of death. In process of time, the wild woods flourished where once
+the temples of science and pure religion reared their imposing pillars.
+
+What can we expect of such a race of people who have drifted from the
+light of civilization for so long a period? As I looked at their customs
+and their ways, I was reminded of a garden that has run wild. Here and
+there I could see traces of the once thrifty life now almost choked out
+by the overpowering crop of weeds.
+
+Gradually the people became worse and worse. Sin played havoc and built
+carnal fires around which these children of men gathered. Sensuality
+became the ruling passion and, in less than five hundred years of our
+time, the last family observance had died away and these creatures
+wallowed in the quagmire of fleshly lusts, compared with which the brute
+life of our world is highly respectable. "Free Love" was rampant and
+human offspring was cared for by mothers, or at least by such as were
+willing to assume the task. No one was supposed to know who was his
+father.
+
+I saw this sad and sickening spectacle against which my instincts
+revolted with horror. It is true that if man is left totally unbridled,
+he sinks to a depth which it would be impossible for any species of the
+animal creation to reach.
+
+As I continued looking on this low life with its horrors too numerous
+and too dreadful to mention, my thoughts flew back to the world whence I
+came, and to America where I was born, and I remembered of some who
+advocated "Free Love." "Let their arms be withered," I cried, rather
+than have such a thistle fasten itself in the soil of our social life.
+
+Let the libertine of our world go to the world of Scum where he belongs,
+or rise to the dignity of man whose image he bears.
+
+[Illustration: Great Battle between Low Tribes on Scum.]
+
+Compared with our world, the physical features of Scum are all
+fashioned on a much larger scale, and the mountains, rivers and
+vegetation are five times greater than ours; so are also the many
+varieties of wild and domestic animals.
+
+The inhabitants of Scum are divided into many warring tribes, and it is
+fearful to see the conflicts that take place. During my brief stay I
+witnessed one of the big battles between two of the stronger tribes. One
+hundred and fifty thousand men went dashing into an enemy of greater
+numbers. It was a foot ball melee on a vast scale. Weapons were all of
+the hand-to-hand type, except the spear wagons which were indeed clumsy
+weapons of war.
+
+Nothing is known of surrender or a flag of truce, so the conflict raged
+horribly to a bitter end until eighty thousand bruised victors
+participated in the jubilant feast that followed. Over two hundred
+thousand Scumites lay dead on the field and along the mountain ridges.
+According to past history, another such great battle is not liable to
+occur for another generation.
+
+The past religion of these giants is not even on a par with idolatry.
+There are many saints sleeping in their graves, bright remnants of the
+time of the old civilization and religion.
+
+Amidst all this present moral wreck of humanity, there are a few
+indications that point to better times. The nobler people of Scum are
+banding together with the avowed purpose of bringing back the light of
+culture and refinement. But it will require several thousand years of
+determined effort to climb to the height from whence their ancestors
+were cruelly and thoughtlessly dragged.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+A World of Highest Invention.
+
+
+After my profitable stay in this immense solar system in the Milky Way,
+I crossed the vast dome of the heavens and lighted on Sirius, the
+brightest star in all the canopy of night. Here I found the fire life of
+Alpha Centaurus repeated, but I did not pause to study the odd phases
+presented to my view.
+
+Onward I moved to survey the remarkable systems of worlds that revolve
+around Sirius. It is a veritable medley of planets, large and small,
+inhabited and barren, sinless, sinful and millennial. A little universe
+packed in a nutshell, figuratively speaking.
+
+The orb of this group that first held my attention is very notable
+indeed. I have labeled it "High Invention," and it is still entitled to
+that distinction. It revolves around Sirius at a distance of seven
+million miles and is thirty-three times as large as our world, with
+physical features and climate quite dissimilar.
+
+Here, in this world of ours, we are proud of the wonderful genius
+displayed by our inventors, and is not this conceit pardonable?
+
+If this world should stand and inventive genius continue at its present
+compound rate of progress, what may we expect to see a hundred or a
+thousand years hence? Now imagine yourself looking down upon a world
+where the highest inventive skill is found. Such was my privilege at
+this time in the course of my universal journey.
+
+This surprising world is inhabited by a persevering race of human
+beings, among whom are a large number of illustrious characters who walk
+in the light of ten thousand years of human achievements.
+
+It need not be said that I was intensely interested in the study of this
+phenomenal world which I will call Ploid. I went from one portion of the
+planet to another, continually remaining invisible. After I had
+witnessed the unequaled sights, I paused to complete my memoranda and
+now, as I review my jottings, I am at a loss to know what few things I
+should select to try to make intelligible to my fellow-men who live on
+this infinitesimal speck which is our world. First, let me call
+attention to:
+
+
+THEIR TRIUMPHS IN THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
+
+The people of Ploid have in their possession a remarkable line of
+fertilizers, not in the form of ground bones, but acidulous juices.
+These juices were improved for three thousand years until there was a
+particular liquid suited to each separate class of vegetables.
+
+As used at the present time, a certain amount of the growth-acid is
+poured directly about the seed at the time of planting. This acid has a
+magical effect upon the soil and it is possible, by repeated
+fertilizing, to raise in two weeks a crop of zoftas, a vegetable similar
+to our potatoes. For raising a crop in two weeks the fertilizer costs
+one-half the value of the zoftas, and for maturing a crop in four weeks
+the fertilizer costs about three-eighths of the value of the zoftas.
+
+Thus it is possible to raise six of these crops in one of our years.
+This law obtains throughout the whole vegetable creation. However, in
+ordinary circumstances, the stimulating acid is used in very light
+quantities. The people have learned by experience that vegetables have a
+better flavor when they have been brought to maturity by the slower
+processes.
+
+These wonderful fertilizers are a blessed boon in the time of "crop
+failures," for then the same crop can be grown anew from the seed and
+hurried to maturity before the close of the season.
+
+The curse of the vegetable worms has been reduced to a minimum on this
+world of Ploid. The chemists have labored patiently for one thousand
+years to produce a substance that will not destroy vegetable seed and at
+the same time kill all forms of parasites. The results have been
+gratifying, and with considerable pleasure I viewed a garden of the
+various odd-shaped vegetables that are grown, without being repulsed at
+the sight of such crawling specimens as tomato and cabbage worms.
+
+The happiest result of this worm-killing substance is seen in the work
+it accomplishes on fruit and nut trees. There is triple the variety of
+nuts on Ploid, and they are used for food more generally than in our
+world. There is no such an animal as a hog and no lard is used. The
+substitute is found in four varieties of nut oil, the result of a sweet
+and clean vegetable growth. Nuts are raised in great abundance, for they
+also supply the base for a spread just as appetizing and more economical
+than butter.
+
+
+THEIR MODES OF TRAVEL.
+
+The Ploidites have been traveling in the air for twenty-five hundred
+years, but they cannot control their air-ships sufficiently in all kinds
+of weather. The atmosphere of Ploid is relatively lighter than ours,
+which has made aerial travel more difficult to perfect than it would be
+in our world.
+
+The main traffic, both passenger and freight, is carried on by the Tube
+Line, a wonderful system perfected through thousands of years of
+painstaking labor.
+
+Two immense tubes, lying side by side, each ten feet in diameter, made
+of a substance more durable than steel, form the road bed of this
+lightning system of travel. The cigar-shaped cars have hard
+rubber-wheels and fit over raised bars all around on the inside of the
+immense Tube.
+
+The motor power is called Sky-rallic, and is communicated throughout the
+whole Tube Line by Brosis, a porous metal running in thin narrow bands.
+
+This Tube Line runs without a curve from one division of the road to
+another, except in rare cases where a bend is absolutely necessary. In a
+mountainous region I noticed a stretch of Tube Line without a bend
+running sixty miles, according to our measurement. On prairies, the
+unbroken stretches are much longer.
+
+The cars in this Tube Line travel with fearful rapidity. It requires two
+or three miles to reach dashing speed, after which a run of fifty miles
+is made in eight or ten minutes. No precaution need be taken by the
+motorman as nothing can get into the tube and only one train is allowed
+in a section at one time. Certain hours are given to passenger traffic
+and others to freight traffic. An immense amount of freight can thus be
+carried in one hour. It is possible to send a through freight car two
+thousand miles in ten or twelve hours. Express cars are never connected
+with passengers cars. They are run on their own schedule and sometimes
+attached to freight cars.
+
+This immense Tube Line was built by the government at great expense, but
+it is proving very satisfactory. No storms or floods interfere. No
+grade-crossings and no flying dust are known in this Tube Line which has
+brought the ends of Ploid together. Think of a person crossing a vast
+continent in a day, for the cars in this Tube Line run with frightful
+speed across the long stretches of level. They make as high as a
+three-hundred mile run in forty minutes, without stopping.
+
+The signal and telegraph stations are fifty miles apart, sometimes more.
+In these long runs the motorman stops only when a signal is turned
+against him or if by accident he discerns a train in the Tube ahead of
+him.
+
+The Tube Line is lighted by oval transparencies, in size and shape
+resembling an egg, soldered in specially prepared holes of the Tube.
+The cars are not supplied with air from the tube. Fresh air is obtained
+from the evaporation of a semi-solid.
+
+On the top of this Tube Line there is a double railroad used for local
+travel, both passenger and freight.
+
+
+THEIR STORAGE BATTERIES.
+
+Compared with our world, the fuel of Ploid is very scarce, but less is
+required to supply the industries. Nearly all power is obtained from the
+winds, running water and the sun's energy.
+
+The winds are harnessed so that they blow not in vain. Almost every home
+of ordinary intelligence owns one of the many kinds of storage batteries
+used in this world. These batteries are usually located beneath the
+lowest floor of the house, and they constitute the reservoir whence is
+obtained the necessary power for lighting, heating and cooling the
+apartments of the home.
+
+People who live along streams of water utilize these streams for similar
+purposes. It is now conceded in Ploid that the storage batteries of the
+home can be supplied as economically and effectively by winds and the
+sun's heat as by running streams; hence it is a common sight to see
+residences throwing out the old water machinery and introducing the
+latest design of wind-employers or sun-harnessers.
+
+There are certain emergencies when the storage batteries fail to work or
+when the power is exhausted; this happens when there is a very slight
+wind for several days or a heavy drain of power. In such cases fuel is
+used for heating and lighting.
+
+
+PALACES OF PLOID.
+
+The palaces of Ploid are dreams of beauty and convenience, outshining
+and surpassing by far the finest mansions on the face of our globe. In
+these abodes the sum total of glory and convenience converges, flowing
+from almost numberless discoveries during the last one hundred years. In
+round numbers, there have been five hundred thousand patents issued in
+the United States in the nineteenth century, but the Ploidites excel us
+by double that number for a similar territorial limit.
+
+
+THE REWARD OF INVENTORS.
+
+Patents are not issued in Ploid. The government gives liberal rewards to
+each inventor or discoverer. The applicant appears personally before the
+District Committee on Inventions. If this Committee considers the
+invention worthy of a reward, the applicant is recommended to one of the
+Central Committees at the seat of the government.
+
+This Central Committee carefully considers the invention or discovery,
+places on it an estimate as to its local or governmental value, and
+fills out papers in accordance with its findings. This paper must be
+signed by the Chief Inventor, and the applicant at once receives his
+first installment which is continued, in some instances, during natural
+life. In the case of some extraordinary invention, the immediate
+relatives of the inventor are pensioned for five or ten years in his
+honor.
+
+Naturally, under this system, the government owns all inventions, and
+reaps a heavy return from them, enough to pay all the installments to
+the inventors and the officers employed to carry on this branch of the
+government work.
+
+
+SOME PARTICULAR INVENTIONS.
+
+One of the most convenient inventions I saw on this planet of Ploid was
+the carrying of a photograph or image along a wire. The people of Ploid
+cannot only talk to one another many miles apart, but they can also see
+each other while they are talking.
+
+This wonderful attachment to their telephones, by which the human face
+is also carried over the wire, was perfected over one thousand years
+ago. I herewith give a few uses to which this invention is applied.
+
+1. Office men have photograph wires connected with their homes, and they
+can thus talk to and see any one of the family at their pleasure.
+
+2. It can be so arranged that the wife in the home can, by touching a
+little knob, see into her husband's office with which the wire is
+connected, or the husband in the office can see into the room of the
+house with which the connection is made. At either end of the wire, the
+vision can be obstructed by drawing a curtain over the sensitive plate.
+
+3. The foreman of an industrial work shop can see from his home the men
+under his charge.
+
+4. The superintendent of any large works can, at his will, peer into any
+apartment he wishes from his head office. The advantages of this
+arrangement can be easily seen.
+
+5. A minister can see from his study the nature of his audience before
+he leaves home.
+
+6. Farmers can watch their cattle and their fruits without leaving the
+house or barn, according to where the connections are made.
+
+7. Persons can be in bed at night, and if they imagine they hear a
+robber in any room they can first turn on the photograph current and
+then the light flash. In this way one can look, without leaving his bed,
+into each room of the house.
+
+Having given a few illustrations of this marvelous invention, the reader
+can readily see the variety of uses which it will serve.
+
+Their latest discovery in light is a decided improvement over our
+electric light. I know of no sensible name to give it, but the name that
+comes nearest to describing it, according to our terms, would be
+Phosphorous Light. It gives a mild but yet positive radiance, and
+closely resembles diffused sunlight.
+
+
+THE AGES OF PLOID.
+
+One of the strangest theories of the whole universe I found on this
+cultured world of Ploid. They divide time into three general periods of
+ages:
+
+1. Age of Fire.
+
+2. Temperate Age.
+
+3. Age of Ice.
+
+The people teach that there was a race of human beings who inhabited
+their world when it was yet in a molten state and that, as their earth
+cooled off, the race became extinct.
+
+This age, they claim, was followed by the Temperate Age, or the age in
+which they are now living.
+
+It is also claimed that, when their earth cools and the frigid blasts
+freeze out the world, there will gradually commence the Age of Ice, or
+the age in which human species will exist by reason of the earth's stiff
+coldness.
+
+I had no way of learning the truth or falsity of this theory.
+
+
+THOUGHT PHOTOGRAPHY.
+
+These Ploidites have distanced us in the study of the nervous system,
+including the intricate problems of the cerebrum and cerebellum. They
+have ascertained, by long ages of observation and experimenting, the
+exact effect of every kind of impulse on the brain matter. The experts
+are able to tell, at a post-mortem examination, what kinds of thinking
+were most prevalent during the subject's life, just as easily as we can
+judge the great or little use of the arm by an examination of its
+muscles.
+
+But more wonderful, a thousand fold, is their ability to follow the
+course of thought in a living cerebrum after the brain has been made
+visible by a light more potent than the X ray. After this exposure the
+operator, with his wizard magnifying lens, watches the tiny tremulous
+brain cells in their infinitesimal quivering, as they carry messages
+from the soul to the world of sense and being.
+
+The voluntary nerve action is distinguished from the involuntary, and
+there is no escape from the conclusions formed by an expert observer.
+The parts of the brain at work must of necessity determine the nature of
+the thought, and amplified experiments have been made to prove the
+correctness of these processes.
+
+This scientific mind reading impressed me as the highest expression of
+inventive skill that had come to my attention in any world of space, and
+gave me new light on some of the old mysteries of mind and matter.
+
+I tarried as long as possible on this instructive planet and have not
+yet forgotten many of the valuable hints of inventions that can be
+reproduced in my own world. Surely we are far enough away from Ploid to
+escape any charge of infringement, should we proceed to patent some of
+their inventions.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+A Singular Planet.
+
+
+I visited the other seventy worlds that revolve around Sirius. Among
+them is one of note, called Zik, which is forty-two hundred millions of
+miles from its sun, and is slightly smaller than our world. It is
+inhabited by a race of pigmies which I will call Zikites. Wonderful
+indeed is the intelligence of these creatures, although their form is
+out of symmetry according to our standards. I will therefore avoid a
+description of their physical features, lest it might mar the picture of
+their accomplishments.
+
+The air of Zik is heavy and the sky is opal in its effects. The chemists
+have thus far found in nature ninety elementary substances, and it is
+partly due to this large variety that the Zikites have surpassed their
+fellow men in thousands of worlds.
+
+As you study the past events of this unusual planet, you are reminded
+of our own history. On Zik there are heathen tribes and all grades of
+conflicting civilized nations.
+
+War has reddened this distant world for several thousand years, and as
+yet there is no peace. Notwithstanding all this unceasing upheaval, the
+tide of human progress has steadily risen. It does appear that the
+highest light of intellect is generated like electric light through
+sharp friction.
+
+The Zikites have had their Men of War, vessels of mighty strength and
+death-dealing in their action. But all such defense has been abandoned
+over five hundred years ago, and it came about in a natural manner. One
+of the many illustrious inventors perfected the submarine boat and the
+flying-machine at about the same time. Their flying-machine might
+appropriately be called in our language, the Flying Devil, for such it
+is if you consider its destroying power. One of these ominous looking
+machines is capable of destroying a whole navy as fast as it can move
+high in the air from one vessel to another.
+
+It can also tear to pieces an enemy's camp that lies in the open field.
+All this is accomplished by dropping shells composed partly of some
+elements not found in our world. These shells are made in such a way
+that they explode as soon as they touch any substance, and the
+concussion is much more terrible than is caused by our most powerful
+explosives. Because no ship could hold together under such destructive
+shells, the nations abandoned their navies and devoted their energy to
+devising a safe camp for soldiers and to building these air-vessels with
+additional improvements.
+
+It was found that the only way to protect a camp was to cover it with a
+water proof shed, so constructed that nine or ten inches of water would
+remain on the roof. Then a wide shallow trench was dug around the shed
+and kept filled with water. These shells will not explode if they fall
+in that depth of water, but will explode in water of greater depth. You
+can see at a glance how difficult it is to manage an army under these
+circumstances. The only redeeming feature is that the enemy also is
+compelled to resort to the same protection. An international law
+forbids the destruction of homes in times of war.
+
+[Illustration: The Battle of the "Flying Devils."]
+
+Wars are of short duration. Usually the decisive conflict is fought in
+the air, and is the most terrible of them all. Imagine two of these
+Flying Devils approaching one another far above the surface of Zik. Each
+vessel is set in action long before it is in range of the other in the
+hope of firing the first effective shot. Each party of the conflict
+knows that the air vessel first struck will be at an end forever, for it
+will be blown to pieces and every life on board will be shattered into
+shapeless masses, while the wreckage falls amidst the burning of the
+combustibles. What a horrible ending of a short battle!
+
+The wisest of the Zikites have proposed many plans to settle
+international differences but, like us, they have failed to suggest any
+plan that has proved to be practicable.
+
+The largest nation of Zik has advanced far ahead of us on the labor
+question, but this was not reached until the contest between capital and
+labor had left its blood-marks through many centuries.
+
+A brief description of the manner in which the industrial problem was
+solved will not be out of place. I will waste no words n showing the
+many points of difference between our customs and those of Zik.
+
+After hundreds of years of painful struggling, the many laborers of this
+largest nation completed a solid organization and thereby gained control
+of the whole government. Then, in their zeal to legislate in favor of
+the laboring classes, the ruling element stepped to the other extreme by
+passing many unreasonable laws. Things passed along in this unsettled
+condition until a certain few of the labor leaders, having become
+wealthy themselves, yielded to a heavy bribe and amended the laws so as
+to favor the wealthy minority. The magnates of capital shrewdly took
+advantage of this traitorship and, in the following campaign, won the
+national election.
+
+The wealthy, now having the reins of power in their own hands, took the
+initiative and called for a consultation between the heads of the
+government and the chief leaders of labor.
+
+This proved to be a wise political move and, as a result, a new system
+of laws relating to all trades and occupations was enacted. The
+following conditions still prevail:
+
+1. A day's work consists of one-fourth less hours.
+
+2. A minimum scale of wages is adopted for each trade. This scale is
+based upon the price of certain staple articles, and within a certain
+limit it rises or falls with the price of these necessities.
+
+3. All regular citizens must be supplied with work if they desire it. If
+they cannot get employment from some firm or corporation, the government
+officials represented locally must supply it or its equivalent in money.
+The government controls enough of the business to employ two-thirds of
+the male population. This enables the government to take so great a
+responsibility and bear it with satisfactory results.
+
+4. Any man through negligence failing to support his family is put to
+the government penitentiary service, and his family is thereafter
+supported from the public treasury.
+
+5. A widow or orphan is cared for by regular authorities. The by-laws
+of this fifth article regulate the work of women.
+
+6. No credit is allowed except on a government credit-slip signed by the
+local representative of the state. If the bill is not paid by the one
+making the debt, the amount of which is always stipulated, the
+government will pay it and proceed to collect it in one of three ways.
+The last resort is according to article four.
+
+There are several other sections governing private ownership of
+property, land and business. These new laws have had a very good effect.
+The number of persons getting immensely wealthy gradually decreased, and
+the average wealth of the laborers increased. The government has the
+power at any time to form a trust or combination of any line of business
+by paying liberally to those already engaged in it. This assists the
+government in carrying its heavy financial burdens, and every family is
+assured of support if the soil produces enough to feed the people.
+
+And now if I knew how to describe elements that have no resemblance to
+anything in our world, I would proceed to tell a story of interest to
+chemists. These Zikites have formed gases and solids unknown to us, and
+naturally they are capable of performing experiments more wonderful than
+anything ever known in our world. When I saw their wizard-like
+performances I thought that the marvelous feats of the Orient were being
+performed on a scale more mysterious and magnificent.
+
+To see a man play with red hot irons and dance in a seething furnace,
+makes one believe that his eyes are deceiving him.
+
+I saw a man draw the birds from heaven and dormant reptiles from the
+soil, but ask me not to tell how. A few of these Zikites have discovered
+some wonderful secrets of nature and will not disclose them except to
+certain ones of their own lineage. One of these secrets is the art of
+embalming the dead so perfectly that human features are retained forever
+unless destroyed by fire or human effort. The embalming fluid contains
+some of the elements not found in our world, but this is not the total
+secret. The body must lie in an air-tight receptacle into which a
+secret gas is pumped. The dead body, lying in this receptacle for two
+hours, absorbs certain parts of the gas which enters the pores and
+touches those parts of the dead body not reached by the injected fluid.
+By this process no part of the body is subject to putrefaction and the
+muscles all retain their rigidity, so that one hundred years after
+burial the features are full, although discolored.
+
+Not many of the common people are thus embalmed. But the bodies of
+prominent men and women are thus treated at government expense and
+unborn generations can look upon the full contour of their faces.
+
+Another secret held by these experts is the art of maintaining youthful
+vigor in old age. This is a very expensive method and the government
+prohibits any one securing this treatment who has not won special honor
+in one or another particular channel. One of the highest distinctions
+bestowed upon any citizen of Zik is to grant him the "Angel's Honor,"
+which entitles him to receive the Vigor Treatment during the balance of
+his natural life. This one thing, more than any other, is the secret of
+Zik having so long a list of illustrious characters. It is the ambition
+of each boy or girl to make progress and some day win the "Angel's
+Honor."
+
+The religious life of these Zikites is unusually intense. Their language
+is much more cumbersome than ours. They have a small book which contains
+a list of great truths whose authors claim to have been influenced by
+the All-Powerful, or the same as our God. This book has had a remarkable
+history, and has moulded the life and character of millions. Every
+person is left to his own notions in religion, and we see here the same
+picture that confronts us on our own planet, the very good and the very
+bad in the same house and neighborhood. They build but few churches, but
+here and there a home of a believer is the center of a worshiping
+company. On special occasions the worshipers rent or secure large public
+buildings and have an enthusiastic time.
+
+At many places their Bible speaks of a place where the departed go after
+death, beyond the Zik life. These worshipers are linked to their God by
+the same kind of love-chords that bind Christians to their Master in
+our world.
+
+You cannot imagine my interest and my joy as I learned that the Zikites
+are looking forward to a period of time corresponding to our Millennium.
+Their religious literature is full of references to this coming golden
+age, and many poetical compositions point to it with rapturous melody of
+language.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+The Diamond World.
+
+
+When one reads of the size and population of our world he is thrilled
+with the idea of its greatness. But when he travels over land and sea,
+visiting the many points of interest, he is impressed four-fold with the
+magnitude of the Earth and the vast numbers that populate it.
+
+It is infinitely more so in regard to the many suns and planets that
+compose the universe. I had read of the distances of space and of the
+number of celestial bodies that are scattered throughout these
+measureless expanses, and I was profoundly impressed with the vastness
+of created things and the eternal revolutions of the countless spheres.
+But when I took my continued flight away from the solar system of Sirius
+and was privileged to get a passing glimpse of many other solar systems,
+I was overawed a thousand-fold at the myriad motions of the myriad
+worlds, each serving its little part through the passing cycles to
+carry out the plan of the Infinite Mind.
+
+My next pause was at the glorious constellation of Orion on the star
+Rigel. This brilliant orb is not inhabited, but more than one-half of
+the worlds revolving around it sustain human life.
+
+After I had taken a passing glimpse of a few worlds belonging to this
+system, I proceeded to visit another world that revolves around Rigel at
+a distance of sixteen hundred million miles. It is a trifle larger than
+our world and is inhabited by only about one-tenth as many people.
+
+This is the brightest planet I had ever seen, for it dazzled and
+sparkled like pearls of ice in the sun, and yet it gave forth no light
+of its own.
+
+I soon learned the secret of all this scintillation. I had come to a
+world that seemed to be covered with diamonds and precious stones. The
+mountains were barren of all vegetation and glistened with all the glory
+of a hundred rainbows.
+
+I presumed that I had come to immense beds of quartz, but the rare
+brilliancy of the whole scene set me to work to ascertain the value of
+these stones. To my astonishment, I found that the shining mountains and
+valleys were filled with genuine diamonds and precious stones, some of
+which are very rare according to our classification. I was dazed at the
+sight, first because of its brilliancy and beauty, and next because of
+the fabulous fortunes that were lying at my feet.
+
+Then I transported myself to another part of the planet that I might get
+a view of its living fields of vegetation. Alas, I again met the shining
+of countless gems, set by nature in ledges of rock and massed in
+confused heaps all around me.
+
+"What a rich world!" I inwardly murmured. "How can people live on
+diamonds?"
+
+As I was thus musing I sped onward to one of the soil centers of this
+world. Here I found a small city built of diamonds and choice stones of
+which the people thought no more than we do of the stones brought down
+from our quarries.
+
+The soil was almost worshiped. Only the wealthiest could afford to have
+it in their homes for the growth of flowers. Fortunately, the soil is
+very productive and, by reason of its scarcity, it has received such
+careful attention that all worthless weeds have been actually choked out
+several thousand years ago.
+
+Thus, the soil being so desirable and staple an article, it was eagerly
+sought after by all who lived on this shining world. Yea, some
+sacrificed their all that they might obtain a goodly portion of the
+soil. This desire was so great that it became the ruling passion of many
+people to accumulate soil all the days of their life, and many died of
+grief because they could not succeed in satisfying their ambitions.
+
+Now when the speculators saw that the soil was so indispensable and much
+desired by the people, and that out of it were the issues of life, the
+wealthier and more crafty of them said among themselves:
+
+"Come, let us buy all the soil, we and our brethren in all the soil
+centers, and let us call ourselves a Trust, signifying that we will
+trust one another to the secrets of our enterprise."
+
+And behold this saying seemed good in the eyes of these wise men, and
+they labored diligently until, in the passing of a few years, they had
+secured unto themselves full possession of all the soil of the Diamond
+World.
+
+And it was so in the course of time that these corporations held a great
+meeting and they said:
+
+"Barns we will build to store products of the soil, and behold we will
+sell from these storehouses to our workmen for the labor that they may
+render unto us."
+
+This scheme was pleasing to all the capitalists and they rejoiced in the
+bright prospect of the future. So they built great barns and thus laid
+away the products of the soil. Then they appointed agents to sell
+whatsoever the people wished.
+
+And it came to pass, as the seasons came and went, that these
+capitalists gave the laborers less for their toil, and charged them more
+for food at the supply stations. Thus the conditions became so severe
+that a man could work from the rising of the Sun to the setting thereof,
+and they earn scarcely enough to keep his family alive.
+
+After this manner the land owners grew more and more wealthy, built
+unto themselves handsome little villages, and lived in happiness and
+refinement. They also erected for themselves select schools and reserved
+beautiful plots for their luxury and amusement.
+
+Then did the members of this Trust, in order to protect themselves from
+all possible trouble, pass a civil law forbidding any laborer to own an
+inch of soil. Thus it was very easy to convict a man of theft if soil
+could be found upon his person or premises.
+
+Now, behold, there were many little spots of vegetation scattered here
+and there over this whole world. But the agents of the Trust sent out
+numerous expeditions to gather up all the loose earth that could be
+found and carry it to the soil centers. This work was so completely done
+that every nook and corner yielded its accumulated dust to enlarge the
+gardens at the soil centers and thereby increase the riches of the
+Trust.
+
+Now, as time passed on, the children of the laborers were also employed
+to assist in earning bread, and in the course of a few hundred years
+the school houses in the district of the laborers were torn down, as it
+was impossible for these children to receive an education, since they
+must needs work for their sustenance.
+
+After many ages the members of the Trust had become so hardened that
+they no longer regarded the wishes of the laboring people, but pushed
+everything to increase their own selfish gain, insomuch that they
+succeeded in securing the passage of certain laws making the burdens of
+the laborers still more heavy.
+
+And now, when the capitalists saw that the people did not rebel, they
+again counseled among themselves on this wise:
+
+"Why should there be so much labor lost in continually quarrying new
+sepulchers in our diamond ridges, and why should there be so much dust
+lying idle in the old graves? Come, let us have a law that the dust in
+all graves over one hundred years old shall be sold at auction, unless
+the graves are redeemed by a certain amount of soil. Then these empty
+tombs can be again filled with the dead of our servants and their
+children. Thus let it be continued throughout coming generations
+forever. Each year this auction shall be held to dispose of the dust
+remaining in one-hundred-year-old sepulchers."
+
+These suggestions found favor in the eyes of the Trust who proceeded at
+once to take the necessary steps to incorporate these regulations into
+the laws of the commonwealth. The laborers stoutly opposed the adoption
+of these partial measures, but they were powerless because the Trust
+bribed enough of the legislators to carry their point.
+
+All this happened many centuries ago, so that when I was there I saw the
+full program of one of these spectral auctions and was chilled with
+horror at the proceedings.
+
+Every year this peculiar auction is held at each soil center. The
+wealthy are able to redeem their sepulchers, but the poor, having no
+soil, cannot satisfy the law; so the dust of their ancestors must be
+sold. Laborers are sent out to open the one-hundred-year-old sepulchers
+along the diamond ridges and carry the coffins to one place. Here they
+are publicly opened and the bones and dust gathered into one
+receptacle after which the weird auction begins. No one can compete with
+the corporations and no one tries.
+
+[Illustration: The Most Horrible Auction in Our Universe.]
+
+The legal form of the auction is soon over and the half ton or ton of
+dust is legally bought by the corporations whose officers order it to be
+sprinkled over the gardens. It serves the same purpose as phosphate in
+our fields. This awful process is repeated each year. The sepulchers,
+emptied thus, are open for new burials. So you can see that with all the
+gruesomeness of this whole business, there is an economic side to it,
+and the people have come to view it all in a philosophical manner.
+
+When this wretched custom was first inaugurated a bitter wail ascended
+from the ranks of the laboring classes, for they well knew whose graves
+would be opened. Never was there such a stir among the working classes
+of people. They held mass meetings and grew loudly indignant until the
+Trust became alarmed at the uprising.
+
+Then did some of these rich sharpsters, who were best gifted in speech,
+go out to meet their servants, addressing them thus:
+
+"Let your hearts be at peace, my fellow creatures. This new law that we
+have just passed is a boon to every toiler, for we seek to lighten your
+burdens by utilizing the idle dust from the tombs. Hereafter we propose
+to give, free of charge, a sepulcher to every toiler in which he may
+take his rest for one hundred years. These graves shall be for you and
+your children forever. Is it not a precious thought that one hundred
+years after you are dead, your bodies shall again mingle with the soil
+and, without voluntary effort or pain, help to support your kindred yet
+unborn?
+
+"If our present silly customs should prevail, the time will come when
+half our soil will have been carried to the sepulchers, and therefore
+your tasks would be more severe."
+
+After this manner spake the glib-tongued fellows and, behold, their
+speeches were as oil on the troubled waters. Under their sophistries the
+laborers were content and peacefully went to their tasks again after
+three months of unrest.
+
+Then did the members of the corporations consult again and spake among
+themselves in this fashion:
+
+"For our protection let us gather, from the laborers, the youthful and
+the strong, have them taught in tactics of war, and make it unlawful for
+any to carry deadly weapons, except these trained men, whom we will call
+our Soil Defenders, and if any of the laborers should ask: 'Wherefore
+are we called to do this work?' we will say to them, 'For the defense of
+the soil and the defense of our families are ye called, therefore quit
+yourselves nobly.'
+
+"And it shall come to pass that when the laborers commence a foolish
+struggle for their own selfish gain, we can use these trained soldiers
+to keep them in peace, and thus we need not spend so much of our breath
+by way of persuasion."
+
+Behold this thing seemed reasonable and seasonable in the eyes of the
+Trust. They did according to these suggestions and gathered unto
+themselves, in the name of the civil law, the strongest of the youth and
+trained them in all the ways of war. Thus did these workmen lose all
+their liberties by slow degrees, until they were no more troublesome,
+but labored like slaves to get the wherewithal to live.
+
+As I witnessed this sad picture resulting from the inhumanity of man to
+man, I was at once reminded of what I had seen on Mars, and of the
+struggle now pending in my own world. Once more I breathed a silent
+prayer to the Ruler of all worlds in behalf of the crushed hands and
+bleeding hearts that are bruised in order that certain men may make
+their thousands in a day.
+
+I studied the social life of the refined villagers and learned, with
+much interest, that the word they use for soil, is used in the same
+esteemed connection in which we use the word gold or diamond.
+
+Preachers, teachers and orators make endless references to the soil.
+Finally I approached, in a visible form, a few professors who were
+engaged in a special discussion.
+
+They were alarmed at my sudden appearance, not knowing whence I came nor
+what sort of an animal I might be. I quickly calmed their troubled minds
+by using language they easily understood, and explained that I was
+neither a ghost nor a spirit, but a mere citizen of another world,
+having, for a limited period, a free excursion ticket to a thousand
+worlds, and that I chose their planet as one whereon to spend a fleeting
+period.
+
+Not having been accustomed to such visitants, they were at first
+skeptical and thoroughly overawed at my presence.
+
+I purposely became as familiar as possible and cautioned them to remain
+in the selfsame room and spread no notice of my presence. To this
+request they reluctantly consented.
+
+After my nonplused auditors gained their senses somewhat they ventured
+to reply to my coaxing questions; these finally led to the following
+interrogations on their part:
+
+"How large is your world?" came a question from one.
+
+"Not quite so large as this one," I replied.
+
+"Have you much soil there?"
+
+"A million times more than you have here."
+
+"What a wonderfully rich world! The people must be gloriously happy
+with such fabulous wealth around them."
+
+"The bulk of my fellow-men there are not happy," I sighed. "So many
+spend their lives looking for diamonds and gold, the most of whom are
+doomed to disappointment."
+
+An incredulous smile crept over the faces of my newly-made friends, and
+by it I read the doubt that was arising in their hearts as to the truth
+of my utterance.
+
+"My words are sincere," I insisted. "If you could take one bushel of
+your diamonds to the world where I live, you could get more soil for
+them than you have on your whole globe."
+
+"That world is heaven," exclaimed a few of my hearers at once. "A world
+of such abundant soil cannot be any other place." Then I learned that
+their conception of Heaven is not a place of gold-paved streets, but a
+place where soil is freely distributed even on the sides of the streets.
+
+I continued speaking, telling them how diamonds were considered in our
+world. These professors were astonished beyond measure at my
+description, and each one seemed to crave for the knowledge to transport
+a large consignment of their diamonds to our Earth and return with acres
+of soil to the Diamond World.
+
+I spent a felicitous period with these queer-shaped scholars of the
+Diamond World. They prayed and begged that I should remain and appear
+before the corporations. Their spirits drooped when I told them that if
+I had any more time to spend visibly on their world I would prefer to
+comfort the laborers and their suffering families who had been so long
+deprived of the fair treatment they deserved.
+
+My hearers became ashen with fear, now feeling doubly assured that I was
+a forerunner of some terrible curse that was about to fall upon the
+Trusts and corporations whom those professors were serving so
+assiduously, without ever speaking a word of protest in favor of the
+human slaves around them.
+
+Once more I related my station. But I spoke in most convincing terms of
+the eternal curse with which the Infinite would visit the guilty of all
+worlds.
+
+As I left them I saw that my last words brought no relief to their
+faces and, after a long silence, they nervously discussed the whole
+affair, not being able to account for the exceptional experience through
+which they had just passed.
+
+I visited, in a form invisible, the mansions of the rich and found that
+the most choice ornaments on their parlor shelves consisted of vials of
+soil or dirt, and in the homes of the most wealthy only I saw flowering
+plants.
+
+It chanced that I visited this world at the graduating period of the
+greater schools. This gave me privilege to hear an oration on "The Soil
+and the Diamond," a synopsis of which I will translate as correctly as I
+can. It will be remembered that I must use terms and style suitable to
+our language.
+
+"O beautiful soil! Thou art but a type of thy maker invisible. Thou dost
+give birth to countless forms and nursest them all from thy own bosom.
+From the atom thou bringest the oak, and all its children fall back into
+thy arms for succor. From thy own heart spring the infinite types of
+vegetable beauty, all painted and frescoed by thy own exquisite
+touches.
+
+"O mysterious soil! Wrapped in thy bosom lie a thousand secrets which,
+if I could but read, I might interpret and thus learn anew of my
+Creator. Thou holdest the ashes of the millions slain, and the dust of
+all our forefathers.
+
+"O silent soil! How thou workest without the flying shuttle, or the hum
+of the busy bees. Thou doest thy greatest deeds without the sounding of
+a trumpet. Silently thy atoms take their places to serve in higher
+forms. O teach me thy mute language that I may live and sacrifice for
+others without my crying and my sighing.
+
+"O humble soil! Thy elements, when formed into man, or fruit, or any
+kind of food, return again without complaint when touched by death. May
+I, like thee, take all my condescension in the spirit of humility.
+
+"O modest soil! Thou are not gaudy like the diamond, sparkling and
+dazzling in a brilliant show and living for nothing higher than display.
+But thou dost lay aside thy feathery tips, leaving the sun of heaven do
+the shining. Thou permittest water crystals to give the rainbow hues,
+whilst thou in thy own modest way, continuest to yield sustenance for
+man and bird and beast.
+
+"O instructive soil! Wilt thou not, in thy own wise way, speak to the
+thoughtless man who feels content to grovel with the miserable diamond,
+who takes his lessons from the dead, dead rock, and feeds his soul upon
+such flinty food. Open his ears to hear thy words of life and light, and
+may he see in thee the brighter mirror reflecting the God of all."
+
+This one oration condensed is a fair sample of the others. I listened to
+the whole program and then proceeded once more to view the diamond
+splendors before I left this world where I was well paid for my
+tarrying.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+Triumphant Feat of Orion.
+
+
+As I continued ranging among the planets of the constellation of Orion,
+I felt an indescribable desire to pause at a very small orb which
+revolves around Saiph, a star of the third magnitude.
+
+Here I found, to my surprise, a gem of a world which I will call Holen.
+It is five hundred miles in diameter, and inhabited by a refined race of
+human beings, radically different from us in physical contour, but
+remarkably similar to us in their mental aspirations.
+
+As a race they greatly excel us in mechanical engineering. Many
+evidences of their skill might be given, but we will be content to give
+a description of their monumental engineering feat.
+
+Long ages ago Holen had cooled to the center, and it became the ruling
+passion of her most intelligent inhabitants to communicate from one
+side of the globe to the other through an opening of five hundred miles
+almost directly through the center of their earth, or more accurately
+speaking, through the center of gravity.
+
+After forty-five hundred years of experimenting the marvelous feat was
+accomplished.
+
+Of all the worlds in the constellation of Orion, large or small, Holen
+is the only one that has succeeded in this astounding feat, although it
+has been and is being tried on more than a dozen worlds.
+
+This wonderful opening through Holen's center of gravity is lined with
+sections of ribbed metal which cost the governments fabulous sums. This
+vast tube was finished thirteen hundred years ago according to our time.
+
+Many lives were sacrificed in the hazardous work of tunneling. Were it
+not for the ribbed metal which afforded protection with its shelving
+flanges, the tube could never have been finished.
+
+At the present time the tube is used for commercial purposes and for
+passenger traffic. Air tight cars of special design are used, and only
+one car is allowed in the tube at one time.
+
+[Illustration: The Gravity-Car of Holen.]
+
+You cannot imagine the frightful velocity of the ride, but the passenger
+is not as conscious of this as you might think. The first fifty miles of
+the descent is controlled by the exterior or surface engines. The speed
+is gradually increased until it reaches that of the falling body. Then
+the motorman releases the wizard car and the speed is steady and
+terrible until the car dashes past the center of gravity, after which
+the speed slackens at a regular rate. The car of its own momentum forces
+its way far toward the opposite surface of their earth.
+
+Just as the carriage comes to a stop, the engineer or motorman, as we
+would call him, pulls his lever, thereby fastening the car to the ribbed
+side of the tube. At once a signal is given and the long, thin but
+strong rope descends to draw the carriage to the surface.
+
+A perfect system of communication is established from one end of the
+ponderous tube to the other. It frequently happens when an attempt is
+made to fasten the car that the clamps fail to work and consequently the
+carriage commences its second journey toward the center. Another effort
+is made to hold the carriage when it again comes to a stop; but if this
+is not successful, then comes the most peculiar experience of all. The
+carriage of its own momentum continues dashing backward and forward
+until it comes to rest at the center of gravity. Then the engineer, by
+communicating with the surface, gets the longest stretch of rope and is
+drawn two hundred and fifty miles to the surface.
+
+This world has no atmosphere and life is not sustained by breathing,
+neither by the process found on the Moon.
+
+The inhabitants get their sustenance from the soil with which they must
+be connected, directly or indirectly over one-half the time, or they
+will suffer in a manner similar to us when we are suffocating.
+
+From this faint glimpse of their life, it can be seen that the people of
+Holen in their habits are totally incongruous to all our conceptions,
+and if one of them were to make a visit to our world, everything he
+would here see would appear just as ridiculous and unthinkable to him as
+the things on their globe did to me.
+
+As I surveyed this world, everything evidenced the fact that these
+people are born engineers. Our Eiffel Tower and Ferris Wheel would be
+mere playthings compared with the sky-scraping structures that adorn the
+various parts of this little world. It appears that the international
+mind runs in this one direction more than in any other, and while they
+surpass us in this respect, they are inferior to us in the limitless
+field of science and philosophy as well as in the variety of
+manufacturing plants.
+
+In their religion, the Holenites have developed to a high degree. They
+have no sacred book akin to our Bible. Their whole authority comes from
+the lips of the Divine Family, as we would term it. This family serves
+for religion the same purpose as the Royal Family does for the civil
+realm in some countries of our world. The Divine Family are genuinely
+descended from their sacred ancestors who were, by a visible show of
+omnipotent power, appointed and consecrated to the sacred work of
+dispensing truth and officiating in all sacraments. The ordination of
+all the ministers of Holen must be held by a member of this Divine
+Family. By reason of this one source of authority, there is, therefore,
+no confliction of creeds. The great battle of the Church is with the
+several infidel organizations that give no heed to the genuine religion.
+
+This Sacred Family received a code of laws which they have held from the
+beginning and, strange to say, no one is allowed to copy these laws in
+written or printed form. To do so is a type of blasphemy for which a
+severe penalty is imposed. Some of the infidel organizations find
+delight to print all or a part of these laws and scatter them secretly
+among the people. Such documents fall with as much pain on the premises
+of a believer as oaths do in our world on the ear of a delicately
+trained soul.
+
+If an infidel wishes to insult a godly pilgrim, he can do it no more
+effectively than by secretly fastening to the believer's residence a
+piece of material on which is inscribed one or more of these sacred
+laws.
+
+Every believer is required to commit to memory this code of laws by
+hearing them from the lips of the minister. It is therefore necessary to
+keep in constant touch with the church service so as to be a continual
+hearer of these laws, a part of which is repeated every worship day.
+
+The minister does not preach in the same sense that we understand
+preaching. His work comes nearer filling the office of a priest under
+the old Jewish church. There is much more form and ceremony than is
+found in our system under the Mediator, Jesus Christ.
+
+The civil law has absolutely nothing to say on the marriage question.
+All this is held in the domain of the Church. In truth, the Divine
+Family has always regulated this question. If the legality of a marriage
+is called in question, all that the civil authorities try to determine
+is whether the marriage ceremony was performed in accordance with the
+laws of the Divine Family. If this point can be established, the
+marriage is declared legal; if not, it is declared to be null and void.
+This one subject of matrimony has caused more friction between the
+Church and the infidels than all other issues combined. The infidels are
+bitterly opposed to take their marriage vows before the minister, yet
+this must be done to make their marriage legal. Divorce laws are
+unknown, although, in rare cases, papers of separation are granted by
+authority and under seal of the Divine Family.
+
+The religious devotees of Holen look forward to a happier existence when
+their mortal life is ended. Their ideas of this future life are quite
+similar to our cherished ideas of Heaven.
+
+In their moral life they have reached a higher plane than we. This is
+due to the fact that the Divine Family wield an influence in the civil
+realm that cannot be broken.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+The Mute World.
+
+
+I proceeded on my journey until I had reached Alcyone in the famous
+constellation of Taurus. On one of the planets revolving around Alcyone,
+I found a distinctive class of human beings faintly resembling creatures
+that I had seen in several other constellations, but of which I have, as
+yet, made no special mention.
+
+Among these people no audible language is used as a means of
+communication. One might think that high civilization would be
+impossible without such a vehicle of thought. But on this Mute world
+humanity has pushed far along in the great interstellar race for
+supremacy.
+
+A description of the physical features of these Muteites would not only
+seem absurd, but would be distorting. Can you imagine a beautiful person
+without ears and void of vocal sound, having a head totally out of
+shape compared with ours, and with a bodily framework ridiculously new
+to us? Such would be a brief word sketch of these far-away mortals of
+unusual intelligence.
+
+These people hold all their conversation by pure thought transmission.
+The sense-perception is almost infinitely keen, and gestures play no
+part in emphasizing thought. It is amazing to see with what facility
+these beings express their ideas one to another.
+
+In our life one may conceal his thoughts from the most searching human
+eye, but this cannot be done on Mute. As a consequence each one can read
+the character of his comrades, and the normal citizen well knows what
+necessary allowance to make for the impure thoughts that flit through
+the mind of his neighbor.
+
+I studied, with absorbing interest, the many phases of this mental
+telepathy, or mind talking, between two or more persons even though
+widely separated. Imagine how glorious it must be to have real
+fellowship with a friend whose face you cannot see and whose hand you
+cannot touch.
+
+There are limitations to this delightsome way of talking. A person can
+hold conversation with only one absent friend at a time and then only
+when each one concentrates his thoughts on the other. What wireless
+telegraphy is to our world, this mental conversation is to the world of
+Mute, and it is possible that we may reach a higher degree of
+proficiency in this direction after we become still better acquainted
+with the laws of the human mind.
+
+When I think of the many unaccountable heart-thrills that send their
+emotions of joy and hatred into our passing life, I am somewhat
+persuaded that we speak this tongueless language more than we imagine.
+Some day we may learn the secrets that are now so heavily veiled and
+thereby put to naught the glory of our present modes of communication.
+Until then we will plod along with the telegraph, telephone, wireless
+telegraphy and our ever-changing knowledge of telepathic intercourse.
+
+I will give the philosophy of this perfect means of expressing thought
+as clearly as I can.
+
+As sound waves are created in our atmosphere by actual vibration, so
+are thought waves created on Mute by mental activity focused in any one
+point of the brain. Our way of expressing thought by audible words is
+not conceivable to these people. If one of their inhabitants were to
+visit our Earth, he would be at a loss to account for our movements of
+mouth and gestures of body when we are in the act of conversation.
+
+The social life of Mute is marked with many peculiarities. Males and
+females seldom ever associate together, and social purity sends its
+sweet influences over the whole planet.
+
+A science which is similar to Phrenology plays an important part in all
+the social customs of this sphere. It decides the marital destiny of
+each person, and no two are recommended to join in wedlock until they
+have been pronounced physical and mental mates by the official
+psychologists.
+
+On this interesting world I found the most summary punishment for
+adulterers and fornicators. When these crimes are clearly proven, the
+guilty parties are put to death after a lingering sentence. This is a
+most terrible punishment, but it has proven that, although a few must
+suffer this penalty, the general good of the whole population is thereby
+much increased.
+
+I was much amazed at the construction and possibilities of the human
+mind when I observed the manner in which certain suspected criminals
+were examined in order to prove or disprove the crime of which they were
+charged. The doors of the soul were unlocked and the past
+thought-images, with their mental impressions, were thrown open to view.
+How can a Muteite deny the crime which is photographed on the sensitive
+living plates of his own mind! This reproducing can be effected only by
+a very special process and is never done against a person's will unless
+ordered by civil authority.
+
+When I saw, on this world of Mute, the possibility of uncovering the
+past records of the mind, it at once suggested to me the possible nature
+of the final Judgment of our world when each one will stand face to face
+with the record of his own deeds, brought before him vividly under the
+light of eternity. In such an event who would think of showing a bold
+front to deny the accuracy of such a direct reproduction of himself in
+the flesh!
+
+Possibly the human mind may be likened to a phonograph into which we can
+speak while the cylinder of thought revolves; at any time afterward
+every syllable may be reproduced accurately.
+
+Another striking feature of these mortals is their lack of hypocrisy.
+Only a small degree of it is found among all the inhabitants of this
+peculiar planet. No doubt hypocrisy would be greatly lessened in our own
+social life if we could no longer hide our real thoughts. In Mute it is
+very unsafe to practice deception, for as soon as the deceived one
+appears personally he can readily conjecture, by the mental state of the
+deceiver, the nature of the thought that had transpired.
+
+Can you realize what a refreshing moral atmosphere exists in a world
+where conventional lying is almost unknown? In our life the daily sin of
+the millions is the white, or the blue lie. Think of how many we tell in
+our regular routine of life! We generally give false excuses instead of
+the real ones. We very seldom blame ourselves for errors, but rather
+think diligently to study out a way to shift responsibility. Nearly the
+whole brood of our apologies is hatched from the serpent's egg, and then
+we ignorantly or hypocritically manifest surprise that our own offspring
+should develop an inclination to deceive or misrepresent!
+
+Here I saw, in wide contrast to our own social order, the results
+springing from sincerity that has thrived through a long line of
+generations. Such blessings are as a breath of Heaven, rare and
+beautiful.
+
+One might think, when considering this strange manner of conversation,
+that it would be difficult for the people to express their ideas
+clearly. It is just the opposite from this, for it is almost impossible
+for them to express themselves vaguely. They talk from the headquarters
+of one mind directly to the headquarters of another, instead of through
+a medium of cumbersome words which in our life are so often
+misunderstood. Thus we must admit that we have a ten-fold greater
+struggle than they to be perspicuous in language.
+
+I was charmed at this most superior mode of conversation and saw in it
+a higher glimpse of the Heaven language than in any other type that had
+yet met my observation in all the worlds of space.
+
+The Muteites are rapid thinkers, and although they have no sense of
+hearing, yet they are ultra-sensitive to substantial emissions of
+vibrating bodies. According to all I could see, these people were not
+hampered by this lack of senses. They live as conveniently in their
+flesh life as we do, and in their mind or spirit life they are much more
+refined than we are.
+
+Their earth is so different from ours in chemical combinations that the
+soil is almost transparent and in general has the appearance of glass.
+Their homes are built mostly under surface, owing to the terrific
+cyclonic storms that follow one another in very uncertain succession.
+
+The average length of life is two hundred of our years. They reach their
+maximum energy of mind at about one hundred years, and among the
+brighter of the inhabitants can be found a glorious order of intellect.
+Some of these mental celebrities outshine the brightest creatures of
+all the solar systems of that region of the heavens.
+
+After some hesitancy, I yielded to a desire to appear in a visible form
+before an assembled company of Muteite philosophers who were gathered in
+one of the under-surface halls of architectural beauty for consultation.
+
+As I entered the vast hall in my natural manner I attracted unusual
+attention. It was amusing to see how all eyes were fastened upon me as I
+calmly walked toward the front of the audience. Here I had one of the
+hardest tasks of all my journey, to converse in a soundless language. I
+lacked faith at first to make the attempt, but this delay was but for a
+moment, for I first fixed my mind upon what I wished to communicate, and
+instantly a dozen or more Muteites signified that they were in sensitive
+touch with my thought.
+
+I will give a small portion of the mental telepathic conversation
+between myself and my auditors, although I must relate it as if words
+were actually spoken, or it would be totally unintelligible to the
+people of my own likeness.
+
+"Let no one be alarmed," I hurriedly addressed them, as a thousand
+giant forms were trembling at my appearance. "My mission is one of
+peace. I have come to help rather than harm," I continued.
+
+"From what section of our world have you come?" came a hundred thought
+flashes in wild confusion.
+
+"I am not from your world, but from another," I answered with closed
+mouth as best I could.
+
+Then I learned an important feature of this mind language. A hundred or
+more interrogations came flying at me in thick confusion. At once the
+chairman or leader of the meeting gave restrictive orders which actually
+prohibited my audience from further communication with me, although I
+might address them. The chairman bid me commune with him and he
+thereafter acted as the spokesman of the whole assembly. It was no more
+difficult for these philosophers to keep their minds closed to me than
+it is for us to keep our mouths closed in an excitable meeting or
+debate.
+
+The chairman, looking with increasing curiosity at my strangely shaped
+face and head, interrogated me thus:
+
+"Are you an angel of light, or one of darkness?"
+
+"I am neither."
+
+"What then can you be?"
+
+"I am a created being from a far-off region of space. I was born on a
+world which revolves around a star untold millions of miles distant."
+
+"If you are not a spirit, how could you have traveled such incredible
+distances?"
+
+"That is yet a mystery to me," I admitted. "The power of my flight is
+much like the mode of your communication, for each is alike mysterious
+to me."
+
+By this time the excitement was intense. No one attempted to grasp me or
+even approach toward me. I saw by the perplexing mental atmosphere of
+the chairman that he was being besieged by a host of questions and
+suggestions; so I relieved the situation by continuing my words:
+
+"No one need consider my appearance as an evil omen. I am not empowered
+to curse or bless your world except by what may flow from my immediate
+conversation with you."
+
+In these sentences I thoughtlessly gestured with my arms; this set my
+audience wild with mingled merriment and curiosity.
+
+"Are all as small as you whence you came?" queried the chairman.
+
+"They are all after my pattern with some variations."
+
+"Pray, tell me, what are those gummy flabs at the sides of your head?"
+
+"Those are my ears," I said with grinning face. "They grew there for a
+purpose."
+
+"And what can that purpose be?" further questioned the puzzled chairman.
+
+"They are for the purpose of hearing," I quickly replied.
+
+Then followed a curious scientific dialogue in which I endeavored to
+explain the sense of hearing. From this I described the manner of
+conversation in our world, and showed what an important part hearing
+played. But all this was beyond the comprehension of my auditors.
+
+After a lengthy and most interesting discussion upon the philosophy of
+sound, the next point of interest centered on my mouth and vocal
+organs. It was pleasing to consider these subjects because my listeners
+were such eager questioners and surprised hearers. No wonder that they
+were unable to grasp such a crude system of conversation as ours!
+
+Then the chairman verily begged me to explain the mystery of my mission
+and of my unprecedented itinerary. How could I have fully satisfied his
+mind, even if I had endeavored to do so!
+
+After all this came the most pleasing communion thus far of all my
+journey. I learned much by the interchange of ideas. Nature's vast book
+opened to me some new and charming pages.
+
+Toward the close of my stay the affinity between us grew to a marked
+degree. Although we were widely apart in physical aspect, yet we were
+supping from the same bowl of affection and, with this happy turn, we
+talked of our permanent companionship.
+
+"But I cannot abide with you," I reluctantly answered.
+
+"Ah, torment us not with such a thought," affectingly pressed the
+chairman.
+
+"I have other worlds to visit, and must hasten away. Touch me not," I
+cried as the chairman unconsciously moved toward me in an urgent appeal.
+
+"How soon shall we see you again?"
+
+"No more forever, unless you see me in that widest expanse of life which
+in our world we call Heaven. There the pure of all worlds will gather
+and commingle in delightsome fellowship forever."
+
+I was then urged beyond all etiquette to tarry a short period and visit
+certain parts of their world. But I informed them that I had seen more
+of their world than they imagined, and that the object of my visit had
+been reached.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+Brief.
+
+
+One of the medium sized worlds that revolve around Alcyone sustains the
+shortest lived human beings of our universe. It is seldom that any of
+the creatures reach more than four years of age according to our
+standards of time. They are nearly as large as we and relatively much
+lighter in weight. All the periods of physical growth are
+correspondingly decreased. Children walk four or five weeks after birth,
+and are capable of receiving regular instruction at the age of five
+months.
+
+Strange as it may seem, this sphere, which for convenience we will call
+Brief, revolves very slowly on its axis, so that our world makes fifteen
+times as many revolutions as this planet.
+
+It requires but little arithmetic to figure out that the people of Brief
+do not see the sun rise very often. When it does appear in the morning
+sky, all the public signals blow and the people appear in one or
+another of their places of worship. This beautiful custom has been in
+practice for over three thousand years. The worship is not sun worship,
+but a genuine service of thanksgiving to Him who ruleth over the sun and
+supplies it with fuel to burn. It appears that on all worlds everything
+is regulated in accordance with the length of human life. On this world,
+of Brief all vegetables mature in periods so short that one marvels when
+he hears it. Think of cereals reaching maturity in seven or eight of our
+days, or during one day of Brief. Early in the morning certain crops are
+planted and are harvested at night. Two or more days are required for
+maturing other crops. Actually the people of Brief raise their crops
+with less labor than is required amongst us.
+
+If you were permitted to look upon the public and private life of this
+incredible world, your first sensation would be dizziness, not to
+mention the weirdness of all sights that would confront you at every
+turn. People would seem to be in a mad rush, and it would appear that
+all business is done with insane rapidity.
+
+Furrows of care and trouble begin to deepen on the faces of these
+Briefites as they approach an age of what we would call three years, and
+if by lease of strength they pass on toward an age of four years, it is
+but an evidence of their exceptional vitality. It seems to be true that
+the experiences of a long life of sixty or eighty years is crowded into
+a narrow compass of four years by a miracle of spheres not comprehended
+by finite minds.
+
+No doubt a detailed description of this whirling and dashing life would
+be of interest to us slow, deliberate creatures. But I can give only a
+passing glimpse.
+
+
+JOURNALISM.
+
+Things happen in such quick succession that the news is hustled out at
+all hours of the day and night; not on sheets of paper, but through
+automatic news-receivers, machines somewhat akin to our telegraph
+instruments.
+
+The state supplies each home with an automatic news-receiver. Thus a
+record is kept in each home of all messages received so that they can
+be read at leisure. To speak in a manner more easily understood, I will
+say that the news is telegraphed to each home as soon as possible after
+the events transpire. But compared to our customs, the news is very
+scarce. There being no competition, no time or space is required for
+sensational trash. Thus, if nothing of importance occurs, nothing need
+be transmitted. The official news-censors decide as to the relative
+importance of occurrences. There need not be a certain amount of news
+telegraphed each hour. The government verifies, as much as possible, all
+reports before they are transmitted. There are indeed some advantages in
+the government being in constant touch with each home under its care.
+The advertising department pays nearly all expenses of this whole system
+of journalism. Announcements for private gain are paid at a regular
+rate. It costs more to advertise at certain periods than at other times,
+all regulated by the customs of the people.
+
+Under these regulations everybody receives the news, and only the
+essential news, except advertisements which must come in batches at
+certain intervals. Of course, people take their choice as to reading
+advertisements.
+
+[Illustration: Sunrise Signal in Brief.]
+
+
+THEIR FOOTWEAR.
+
+The soles of the feet of these Briefites are composed of a substance
+most nearly resembling hoof material. They never think of covering the
+feet under any change of climate. If one of the Briefites were to step
+upon the shores of our rugged Earth and see the cotton or wool and
+leather that lies around our feet, it would appear to him as the most
+ridiculous thing imaginable, and no doubt his shapely feet of ivory cast
+would be of more than passing interest to us.
+
+
+THEIR RAIMENT.
+
+Their raiment is altogether after new models. Neither the men, women,
+nor children seem to seek this means for self-beautifying. They seem to
+think that beauty of character has a radiance more to be desired than
+the flash of opals or the luster of silks. Their garments partake of the
+loose flowing order. For instance, a strong fabric of chosen shade is
+fastened at the neck, hip, knee and ankle, and lies carelessly over the
+parts between. The females never graduated to the corset degree, and
+while they do not cut a scientific figure, yet they surely develop a
+more ruddy waist after the model intended by the Designor of the body.
+
+
+TRANSPORTATION.
+
+The methods of traveling are so contrary to our conceptions and
+practices that I almost forbear to attempt any description. Yet I was
+entertained and instructed as I witnessed the moving of humanity along a
+street of a busy city. Have you ever noticed how quarters of beef are
+carried from a car to an elevator or refrigerator on steel rods
+connected with wheels running in a groove or on a specially prepared
+track? In a city of Brief, overhead tracks after such an order run along
+all business streets and certain residence streets. Spare me a detailed
+description of this peculiar traveling system. Suffice it to say that a
+person, in lightning rapidity of motion, rushes from a store, springs
+upon a passing seat and is hurled away by the power of an overhead
+cable system. When an exchange of seats is necessary, it is all done so
+easily and so quickly that you would wonder why we tolerate trolley
+cars.
+
+In traveling from city to city, a system is in use that I will call the
+Toboggan Slide System, although the cars run on wheels. The car is
+raised in a shaft about one hundred feet and then by gravity it dashes
+two or more miles according to the lay of the land traversed. Then
+another rise more or less than one hundred feet is experienced, and then
+another wild dash. I have no words of praise for this system, although
+the Briefites can cover considerable territory in an hour. They look
+upon this gravity system as a wonderful achievement, for it has not been
+in operation for more than three hundred years.
+
+The power of steam has never been utilized. No genius of all this active
+world of Brief ever conceived the idea that almost unlimited power lies
+wrapped up in thin vapory water. But they have discovered what we would
+call gaseous oil, and have learned to put it to work, so that it is the
+main force employed in hoisting and all other purposes where power is
+required.
+
+Nothing like a traveling locomotive has ever been made, although I
+learned that a bright wizard was experimenting and that he prophesied
+great changes when his gas-propelled vehicle was perfected.
+
+Think of how much value an ordinary citizen of our world would be to
+these Briefites, if he could step upon their world and communicate with
+them concerning the magic wonders of steam and the manner of
+constructing stationary and movable engines, to say nothing of the
+hidden wonders of electricity. Quadrupeds that take the place of our
+horses are used for drayage, although nothing except the two-wheeled
+class of vehicles was ever used until some eighty-seven years ago.
+
+
+PUBLIC HIGHWAYS.
+
+These interesting people excel us in their style and manner of
+home-building, fencing and making public highways. We are heathenish in
+our progress along the line of road making especially. In all my vast
+journey among the worlds I found only a few, comparatively, whereon the
+roads were inferior to ours.
+
+In the world of Brief the state prescribes the manner of public highways
+and each citizen must contribute his share to their creation and
+maintenance.
+
+These Briefites excel us in more than a score of ways. They are much
+purer in morals, more refined in manner, more harmonious in government,
+and unusually bright in mathematics. Very intricate and elaborate
+problems are solved by these people of a few years. They are inferior to
+us in a hundred ways. In the broad fields of manufacture and invention
+they lag a long distance in the rear. This is principally due to their
+lack of time.
+
+
+RELIGIOUS LIFE.
+
+The religious life of the people of Brief is, on an average, of a higher
+type than is found in our world. Their belief in immortality has run
+parallel with their existence as a people, and their devotion to their
+Creator is marked with unusual fervor.
+
+Their Redeemer is worshiped quite separately from God, and with
+distinctive adorations. The name of their Redeemer, phonetically
+rendered, is Kerm-Cher. The most faithful translation of this word into
+our language would be God-affluence.
+
+Kerm-Cher, or God-breath, appeared upon Brief full grown, and pronounced
+his benediction on the race, declaring his origin, and the purpose of
+his coming. Similar to Christ, he confirmed his identity by unanswerable
+miracles.
+
+Many, however, disbelieved in Kerm-Cher, and held to the old axiomatic
+truths. Thus creeds were prevalent and they remain until now, only there
+is much less variety than is found amongst us.
+
+Kerm-Cher set up a new reign, and accepted a temporal throne for a
+season. He finally announced that his ambassadorship would soon cease
+and that his followers would lose the throne of civil power, that they
+would be tested for a season in the valley of humiliation and by the
+fires of terrible persecution, and that they who would endure unto the
+end would be glorified.
+
+These religious features are remarkably similar to the system under
+which the Christian religion of our globe is fostered.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+The Life on Wings.
+
+
+As I darted from world to world, I was not then fully conscious of the
+vast stretches of space that I had covered. No mortal nor angel tongue
+can even commence to describe the vastness of created things and the
+trackless oceans of space in which the ponderous suns and planets
+revolve.
+
+According to the classification of our astronomers I next found myself
+in the constellation of Perseus, and was again convinced of the weakness
+of our most powerful telescopes, for I now saw thousands of immense
+stars, hitherto invisible to me. Not one of these stars is within a
+trillion miles of any other.
+
+In this distant system of our universe I saw that the same plan of
+creation obtained. Around a majority of the stars a group of various
+sized worlds revolves. On many of these worlds human life abounds in
+endless degrees of development and in a countless variety of
+manifestations. I marveled anew as I saw the endlessness of the Infinite
+Mind, supporting not only the conscious life of this whole
+constellation, but also of all the constellations of our universe, and
+of all the universes scattered at large throughout the unending depths
+of space.
+
+I paused at a star of variable magnitude in the Milky Way, but took only
+a passing glance at the physical wonders of this great sun, compared
+with which our own Sun is a mere pigmy. Onward I hastened to one of the
+larger worlds of this solar system which, for my convenience, I will
+call Swift.
+
+Here new wonders opened wide to my view. Human beings, charmingly
+beautiful, moved over the face of the planet or on wings through the air
+at pleasure and with great ease. These creatures are about three-fourths
+of our size, and are most gracefully formed. Their whole physical
+appearance is more similar to a bird than to a human being of our Earth.
+They are relatively much lighter than we, and are covered with nothing
+akin to feathers.
+
+If you were to see them standing in their erect posture and walking
+with man-like dignity, you would at once feel that they are the lords of
+the creation on their world, and so indeed they are.
+
+These ethereal creatures have the loveliest eyes of any human beings I
+ever beheld in any world. They sparkle with the brilliancy of a diamond
+and move with the quickness of electricity. The head is small but
+symmetrical and all physical proportions are most harmoniously adapted
+even to a nicety that would be pleasing to the most refined tastes of
+our world.
+
+At first I could not understand how these people of Swift could travel
+so conveniently in the air, for their wings are very small and the
+exertion when flying is very limited. But the lightness of the body, the
+heaviness of the air, and the unusual strength of the Swiftites, each
+conduces its share to the fortunate result.
+
+In my thoughtlessness I envied these gifted people and wished that when
+I would return to my world, I could enjoy such privileges of flight. I
+soon checked this rising covetousness, and again contentment flung over
+me its white mantle.
+
+The bodies of these Swiftites are covered by nature with a clean growth
+of soft, silken hair. They change their garments with the seasons, but
+at all times dress very sparingly and neatly. They are so easily clothed
+that all their apparel occasions them no more trouble than the more
+seasonable covering of the head gives to our women.
+
+The average length of life is nearly four hundred years of our time.
+There are very few worlds in space where the general health of its
+inhabitants is as perfect as is found on this beautiful planet. There
+are but few doctors because there is but little demand for them. Those
+who are engaged are under government service, and all persons who are
+unfortunate enough to become ill receive at least all medicine and
+professional attention free.
+
+We are quite an exceptional world in our medical system. In all my
+journey I saw comparatively only a few worlds that have the private
+system of medical treatment. Have we not noted the laboring husband
+bending at his toil for eight or ten hours to pay the physician who
+calls for a few minutes? In some cases this program is continued for
+weeks, until the honest toiler finds himself confronted with a doctor's
+bill and medicine bill to haunt him until the debt is either forgiven or
+paid at great sacrifice.
+
+On the world of Swift and in the vast majority of civilized worlds in
+space, the community or government furnishes a salaried physician within
+reasonable reach of every home. The doctors of Swift are not expected to
+work night and day. They have shifts to divide the toil equally.
+
+In architecture this distant planet excels us by far. I improved the
+opportunity and went to witness a magnificent temple of worship which
+has been in process of erection for over two hundred years. Any conceit
+that I previously had on account of the large structures of my own world
+quickly vanished at the sight of this imposing edifice. During my visit
+the winged workers were laboring on the upper stories and I watched them
+with great wonderment as they descended from the clouds to carry
+materials to the higher stories. Can you imagine the picture of workmen
+flying in all directions with tools, each one busily employed? It is
+promised that the present generation of employees will live to see the
+completion of this notable structure.
+
+This vast building is the national religious center of the Swiftites.
+Each government has such a central station, and from it all temples of
+worship are controlled. Here the church and the state are yet married,
+and the state maintains its religious departments with careful scrutiny.
+The chief ambition of each government has always been to outshine the
+others in the glory and magnificence of its central temple which, of
+course, is fire proof and almost time proof.
+
+One may wonder as he gazes upon this extensive structure why there are
+seventy thousand sleeping rooms and dining halls built after such
+extensive plans as to entertain, at one time, twenty-five thousand
+guests. All this is to accommodate the vast throngs that take their
+sacred pilgrimage once in a year under an arrangement by which one tenth
+of the able-bodied go each thirty-nine days, which corresponds to our
+month.
+
+The most notable feature of this central temple is the main service
+room, built at fabulous cost and capable of accommodating one hundred
+thousand pilgrims at one time. The most costly sections of this one room
+are guarded night and day by armed government soldiers.
+
+The religion of these Swiftites is of a very pure kind. The ministers of
+this national church are fully equipped before entering upon their
+office. The training schools for ministers attracted my closest
+attention. Fortunately, these people have no language complications as
+we have, so that a prospective minister can spend some of his time
+studying the Book of God's Revelation instead of spending a great
+portion of his training period in learning the languages in which the
+book had once been written.
+
+A minister's training consists as much in voice culture and the many
+branches of elocution as it does in acquiring a correct knowledge of
+God. But in illustrative teaching Swift leads us by far. I was
+profitably entertained in the main temple as I listened to one of the
+famous orators discoursing to an audience of eighty thousand. Not only
+did his canary-like voice penetrate to all parts of the large room, but
+his objective illustrations clinched the truth remarkably well.
+
+A series of special services is held at the close of each month. The
+most wonderful of all these exercises, or renditions, is called "The
+Mediator Service." This is one of the most spectacular and impressive
+exercises outside of Heaven. Even the famous Passion Play of
+Oberammergau (our world) with the less glorious exhibitions at Horitz
+and Selzach, all dwindle into insignificance compared with "The Mediator
+Service" on the world of Swift.
+
+During my visit I witnessed the full program of this sublime rendition.
+The music was inexpressibly grand as rendered by the vested Mediator
+Choir. Naturally the Swiftites have sweet, bird-like voices. Can you
+conceive the effect of a triple choir of these human warblers all
+trained in perfect harmony and unison?
+
+When you consider that nearly the whole population witnesses these
+special exhibitions at least once a year, you can the better understand
+why the spiritual condition of the people has reached a high very level.
+
+I investigated the many interesting features of this inviting world and
+found that in some respects we are inferior to these human bird
+creatures, although in many other respects we are superior. Electricity
+is known in their world, but they have not yet harnessed it; hence they
+are ignorant of telegraphy and a long list of similar inventions which
+we enjoy.
+
+In agriculture the Swiftites are ahead of us. They raise their crops
+with less labor relatively than we. All things considered it is easier
+to live on Swift than here.
+
+Knowing that my time was limited, I decided to secure some nuggets of
+truth by a personal interview; so I concluded to appear to the wisest
+person on the planet, who was a woman of wonderful mental acquirements.
+In addition to her superior intellect she was also bewitchingly
+beautiful.
+
+I waited for the best opportunity and came near to her as she was about
+to spread her wings for a morning flight from the beautiful summit
+near her summer home. Not wishing to cause her undue alarm, I at first
+spoke softly, remaining invisible and watching her rare eyes send their
+glances toward the palmy trees around me, as her wings were relaxing
+quietly at her side. She was positive of having heard a voice, and as
+she still further scanned the immediate surroundings I saw that
+perplexity was furrowing marks upon her face.
+
+[Illustration: Beautiful Plume on the World of Swift.]
+
+"Hast thou time to spend with a friend from another world?" I calmly
+inquired as I was still unseen by her.
+
+She was nervously agitated, but being of strong fibre she quickly
+rallied with her answer, "Where art thou and who art thou?"
+
+"I am on a peace mission from a far distant world," I quietly said as I
+slowly became visible to my audience of one.
+
+Naturally she was alarmed at my appearance, and consequently I drew
+gradually farther and farther away until she gained more self-possession
+and turned interestingly toward me.
+
+"Ah! how can you be a spirit without wings?" were her first unexpected
+words.
+
+"But I am no spirit," I said assuringly.
+
+"You cannot be otherwise," she insisted.
+
+"Believe what you wish, we have no time for parley. I am delighted to
+visit your world and I desire, if possible, to have some mysteries
+solved. Can you help me?"
+
+Plume, for that is the name I called her, was much unsettled. She
+scanned my form with wild curiosity and I feared that she would at once
+use her wings at their swiftest.
+
+"Pray do not fly hence," I quickly urged. "I will never harm you, even
+though we could converse together forever. Believe me true, and rest
+your wings and heart in peace."
+
+My words had some effect toward calming her mind and with more placid
+features she still looked at me half shrinkingly.
+
+"Are you not happy that you have wings with which fly?" I continued,
+hoping to create a more natural familiarity.
+
+"Happy? No more than for my feet, my ears, or my life," she answered in
+a more composed manner. "You say that you are from another world. Where
+can that be?" was her welcome query.
+
+Then I pointed my finger in the direction of our world and remarked:
+
+"If you could travel in that direction on swift wings day and night for
+a few millions of years, you would still be far, far away from the world
+where I live."
+
+"And is that world inhabited by sensible creatures?"
+
+"It is."
+
+"But how could you have traversed so great a distance?"
+
+"Never can I explain that mystery to you. Be content that I am here."
+
+"Are you in the image of the other human creatures in that far away
+world?"
+
+"In general they are all fashioned as I am."
+
+"No one having wings?" she added with surprise.
+
+"Not one."
+
+"How can that be true?"
+
+"Because we were made without them."
+
+"And have you no way of moving through the air at pleasure?"
+
+"Not without artificial machinery."
+
+"Artificial machinery?" she repeated. "What can you mean by that?"
+
+Of course they have no word for balloon or flying machine, and I found
+it difficult to describe the shape and explain the philosophy of these
+things. I did the best I could in her language, and after I had finished
+my description she for the first time smiled and said:
+
+"That sort of a construction would be a fine thing for the indolents of
+our world who, through misuse or lack of use of their wings, have no
+more ability to fly."
+
+This was interesting to me and I closely inquired as to the cause of
+this loss of the wing power. Plume grew more and more familiar in her
+address and in a long conversation told me of the many conditions that
+make people unfit to fly. I deduce from our conversation a few of these
+causes.
+
+1. Simple neglect.
+
+2. Gluttonous life.
+
+3. Sensuality of a low and heavy life.
+
+4. Pride. Some yield to a superstitious notion that it is honorable to
+make but little display of themselves, and allow their wings to be bound
+or partly clipped.
+
+5. Certain kinds of sickness render the wing-chords inoperative.
+
+I learned that altogether nearly one-half of the population are unable
+to fly. How my mind flew back to our own life as I was learning of these
+sad conditions. There is a sort of a life on wings in our world,
+although the wings are invisible. But on account of the low, mean lives
+so many are living, they never rise above the miasmic contagion of the
+sin and self level. These unseen wings are either paralyzed or clipped.
+
+Plume now actually stepped toward me. What a graceful tread. She was
+indeed the most charming creature I had met outside of my own world. She
+seated herself near me on the rustic bend of a tree unlike any in our
+world and hurried her questions at me as if she realized that I would
+not tarry long. At length she gratefully said:
+
+"I am beginning to believe that you are really a son of another world,
+or else I am reveling in a day dream."
+
+"Happy am I that I can learn from you some of the truths after which I
+am seeking," was my evasive reply. "Tell me, Plume, something about your
+faith religiously."
+
+"I worship the God who made all things and am hoping to live in the
+wider life after my mortal days are ended."
+
+"Do you expect to meet, in that wider life, representatives from other
+worlds?"
+
+"Ah! I have often thought that it might be so," she answered, as her
+face brightened in poetic fervor, and her eyes sparkled with seraphic
+luster.
+
+"It shall all be so, and much more," I declared. "In that life you can
+fly without wings and mingle with the pure from the unnumbered worlds of
+space."
+
+"What an incentive to a pure life," she quickly added.
+
+"Talking of wings, do you object if I see more closely the cut and style
+of your wings? I never saw before a human creature possessing a pair."
+
+After a moment's hesitancy she raised her right arm and with it the one
+wing unfolded. I ventured near enough to see the intricate network of
+muscle and bone woven around the arm and filling the space between the
+raised arm and the side of Plume's body. She was surprised at the
+interest I manifested in the human wing. After this she offered to
+furnish an able escort to conduct me to several points of interest.
+
+All this I declined and informed my talented friend that I must hasten
+away to another world.
+
+"Let me go with you," she strongly insisted.
+
+"Your wings are not of the right kind," I replied hurriedly.
+
+"They are strong enough to bear us both," were her inviting words.
+
+"But not beyond the atmosphere of this world," I explained.
+
+I quietly arose, scanned once more the beautiful valley before me, and
+indicated that I was about to wane into the invisible. Then did her
+womanly nature assert its supremacy and she, for the first time, touched
+my hand imploringly:
+
+"Have I been dreaming, or do my eyes deceive me? How can all this be
+true? Your hand is sensible to my touch. I implore you to remain until I
+speak to you more about the sciences of your world."
+
+In all my journey I never yielded to persuasion before. But somehow I
+consented to spend a season longer of most charming fellowship, talking
+of the elements in nature, their chemical affinities, and the laws of
+matter and mind. Plume was unusually bright in the philosophies, and I
+gathered from her many truths which had always before been hidden to me.
+
+Finally I became rigid in my determination to leave, for I knew that I
+could not stay.
+
+"Grant me one request," she begged.
+
+"Let me hear it."
+
+"Promise me that you will return."
+
+"Impossible, impossible!"
+
+The parting that followed was indeed memorable. Without any further
+notice I suddenly vanished, but still tarried invisibly in close
+proximity.
+
+Plume was now left in deep bewilderment, and I could not even
+conjecture the details of her warring thoughts. Finally I saw that for
+which I had tarried. Plume lifted her wings and flew skyward as
+beautifully and gracefully as any bird of our earthly air.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+Heaven.
+
+
+After my ambition to visit one thousand worlds had been realised, and I
+was darting toward the confines of our own little Solar System,
+instinctively I looked out once more over the vast stretches of space.
+All around me, at amazing distances, loomed up the millions of spheres
+which I had not visited by reason of my limited time. I felt like some
+one who, after gaining his first thousand dollars, has a wild craving to
+accumulate ten or one hundred thousand more.
+
+Still I scanned the heavens while deeper longings pervaded my soul.
+While in this mood the most unusual vision flashed upon my eyes.
+Suddenly I forgot whither I was going and in wild astonishment I drank
+in the first view of Heaven. Inwardly I marveled that I had not seen at
+least a part of it before.
+
+Heaven is fashioned on a transcendently large scale. It is not a single
+sphere, but a universal chain of vast and luminous star-groups,
+scattered harmoniously throughout the infinite regions of space, so that
+a part of it lies suspended preciously near to our own Solar System.
+Heaven is more real and substantial than the suns and planets of the
+universe, although not one of its numberless parts can be detected by
+the human eye, or discerned through a telescope. These luminous orbs
+that constitute Heaven control the movements of the planets, suns and
+systems which we call material. They are whiter than snow and shine with
+a luster not dazzling, but restful to the eye capable of seeing them.
+
+How this glimpse put to naught all my former crude conceptions of
+Heaven, and if I found myself unable to describe the wonders of many a
+dark world which I have visited, how much less could I portray the
+vastly superior beauties of Heaven which are so far beyond the glory of
+dark, rugged worlds that I felt an inexpressible desire to take up my
+abode there at once and to remain forever.
+
+Inwardly I shouted for joy as this new light illumined my face, and I
+loathed to think of proceeding on my journey to any sin-cursed world of
+the universe, for the ties of kinship, friendship, and earthship all
+vanished at the sight of such resplendent spheres.
+
+
+THE GREATNESS OF HEAVEN.
+
+There is no language to be employed that can fitly describe the parts of
+Heaven I saw, and I know that the greater glory was curtained from my
+view. But the size of the lustrous orbs is not equaled by the large
+material suns that blaze in the depth of immensity. Heaven's diamond
+splendor extended as far as my unassisted eyes could reach, and
+according to the way it appeared it must extend without limit.
+
+It would require one hundred millions of years for a child of God to
+take one excursion trip to the physical worlds of our universe. Then
+there are millions of such universes, (I know of no better name to use)
+each one occupying its own immense stretches of space. These universes
+average about sixteen hundred millions of worlds each.
+
+Heaven is infinitely greater than this whole material fabric, so that if
+a spirit is inclined to travel, he will need all eternity to study the
+works of God as displayed in the glorious abodes of Heaven and in the
+changing aspects of created worlds.
+
+Let us give a deeper meaning to the stanza of the poet by substituting
+"million" for "thousand."
+
+    When I've been there ten million years,
+      Bright, shining as the sun,
+    I've no less days to sing God's praise,
+      Than when I first begun.
+
+Compared with this life more vast, does it not appear that our own
+insignificant existence on our tiny Earth is as the creeping of a mere
+insect on the leaf of a giant oak?
+
+
+PERMANENCY OF HEAVEN.
+
+The only permanent or imperishable feature of our universe is the Heaven
+part of it. The created or visible worlds are mere dark appendages of
+the real spheres, and are serving their parts in bringing fruit to
+their Maker.
+
+Sin-cursed and sinless worlds are coming to an end continually, and as
+rapidly are new ones flung out or old ones re-peopled to serve as garden
+plots to bear fruit in the form of created intelligences who serve and
+admire God through choice.
+
+Heaven is indestructible. It has already been in existence since the
+morning of time. In all my journey, no angel or mortal could tell me how
+many cycles ago that was. But it must be said that Heaven does not
+always present the same aspect. Mansions are built for the reception of
+new arrivals, or for the vast delegations from millennial worlds.
+
+
+THE INHABITANTS OF HEAVEN.
+
+They come from all parts of the universe, from millions of spheres. The
+righteous of any world, at death, are suddenly transported to that part
+of Heaven lying nearest to their world. This is the Abraham's bosom
+where the spirit is happy until it takes up its abode with its own
+spiritualized body in a millennial reign, after which, by a decree of
+the Final Judgment, it is given its credentials to the illimitable life
+of all Heaven.
+
+This is Paul's third heaven. Oh! what unlimited expansion! What
+incomprehensible principles, to move at large in quest of universal
+truths as seen in the seven types of Heaven's spiritual intelligences,
+and in the unending manifestations of God's work and love as displayed
+in all heaven and in all the peopled planets of space!
+
+Not one of these blessed inhabitants ever grows old or suffers fatigue.
+They are capable of moving with tireless energy from one part of
+Heaven's vast domains to any other portion.
+
+
+DEGREES OF HEAVEN.
+
+In space there are many sinless worlds where human species are
+propagated, not as the result of any sexual affinities, but in a manner
+totally unintelligible to a finite mind. They who reach Heaven from such
+a world cannot drink in the same kind of enjoyment as those who come up
+out of great tribulations from the spheres of a sin-cursed world, and
+who have struggled for mastery and forged their way to the sky through
+armies of aliens.
+
+But these creatures are perfectly contented, for they have no way of
+realizing the glory resulting from the victory over the world, the flesh
+and the Devil.
+
+Then there are degrees of glory among those who come from a sin-cursed
+world. Some have many treasures laid up in Heaven, while others centered
+their affections too much upon the transitory things of time and sense.
+
+There are also various orders or degrees of glory among the seven types
+of intelligences of which Heaven's multitudes are composed. Some of
+these may be suggested to your mind when you read more of this sevenfold
+life.
+
+[Illustration: A Glimpse of Blissful Life in Heaven.]
+
+
+SEVEN TYPES OF INTELLIGENCES.
+
+1. The first class of beings is composed of those whom we comprehend as
+the Trinity, whose highest glory is expressed in the Mediatorial
+personage who can be seen at will by any of Heaven's hosts from any
+world.
+
+2. The cherubim and seraphim, or the highest order of spirits, who
+have always been pure and holy. They constitute the next rank of the
+celestial host.
+
+3. The third class is composed of the general host of angels who also
+have been holy from eternity, and who serve as ambassadors to various
+points of the limitless creation.
+
+4. The spirits of those who have risen from sinful worlds by virtue of a
+God-approved and God-appointed Mediator. To join the ranks of this class
+we, who serve God, are hastening. This is no low order or caste in
+Heaven, but they who belong to it vie with higher angels, and taste
+sweetness beyond the capacity of those who, in other respects, are our
+peers. The angels desire to look into the deep mystery of salvation's
+plan.
+
+5. The matured and maturing spirits of those who left sinful worlds
+before God held them accountable for their deeds. To this class belong
+our children who precede us into the final abode.
+
+6. The spirits of those who have risen from sinless worlds to take
+their infinitely higher degrees in this Heaven life.
+
+7. The matured and maturing spirits of those who left the sinless worlds
+before sense perception was duly developed. They form a distinct class
+of spirits and have their distinctive marks.
+
+
+UNITY OF HEAVEN.
+
+Redemption's plan for each sinful world is somewhat similar to ours, so
+that there is a oneness in the whole family of the redeemed. This is one
+main factor that makes the bond of unity perfect and renders the
+fellowship of the celestial hosts absolutely without a flaw.
+
+True enough, each of the seven classes of intelligences is a mystery and
+a glory to the others. But there is no friction, no jar. Each one is
+perfect in himself and happy in spirit.
+
+Although each one of the vast companies carries the distinctive impress
+and the spiritual peculiarities of his own planet, yet they are all now
+fashioned after the symmetry of the Heaven life, and no one bears a
+single repellant feature, but rather each spiritual body is beautiful
+to the eyes of all the others, and each one breathes the same atmosphere
+of purity and converses in the self-same language of love.
+
+
+A HOME-LIKE PLACE.
+
+No feature of Heaven is more beautiful than its home-like atmosphere.
+The soul is not chilled by the two-thousand-mile-cube cities, or by the
+long, long stretches of Divine masonry. God is as a real father, and all
+his subjects are as our blood-relations. We feel it, and the inspiration
+of these truths takes a deep hold of Heaven's vast populace.
+
+
+EMPLOYMENT.
+
+Now and then large excursion parties visit various points of our own
+universe and frequently span the incredible distances in order to study
+the works and life of other universes.
+
+Each soul is occupied in gratifying its own master passion, and lives in
+the delightsome fellowship of the saints.
+
+
+TRANSPORTATION.
+
+There are no vehicles or cars of any kind. Actual wings are unknown
+except as used by certain birds of Heaven. Spirits travel as rapidly as
+desired by a mere submissive connection with the universal system of
+power filaments, all of which center in God. More refined power than
+electricity is transmitted over these substantial filaments to any point
+of any world. The fleshly body is not sensitive to this spiritual power,
+but the pure soul, when free from the body, is at once sensitive to
+these chords of power and is carried swifter than a current of
+electricity to Abraham's bosom, where it is entitled forever to a free
+use of this perfect power without being subject to any kind of taxation.
+
+
+SEXUAL AFFINITIES OF HEAVEN.
+
+Contrary to some of my former ideas I saw that the inhabitants of Heaven
+are not all of one sex. The male and female are clearly distinguishable,
+and they bear relations one to another still more refined than was
+manifest in the Millennial World.
+
+The most holy affinity exists between the several types of
+intelligences. Here the glorious fires of love burn never to reach a
+climax. Lovers have been drinking from perennial fountains for a million
+years, and their ecstacies are rising still. Pure love is as endless and
+infinite as time and space, and its mystery is deep to these shining
+throngs of Heaven who look into one another's faces with untrammeled
+emotions. Think of falling in love with the inhabitants of other worlds
+and of having the capacity and right to foster a thousand or more types
+of affinity, each one differing from the others!
+
+These relations are so highly refined and so gloriously developed that
+one must not think of reducing them by comparison to the level of the
+flesh life.
+
+
+STRUCTURAL ASPECTS OF HEAVEN.
+
+I would not attempt to describe the structural glory of Heaven, for I
+know not where nor how to begin. Seemingly all things are transparent
+even to the center of vast orbs. Magnificent cities apparently lie
+suspended far under the indefinite surface of the orbs composing
+Heaven, and free passage ways of phantastical design ramify throughout
+all the glorious under-surface regions.
+
+Architectural greatness here finds its unmatched examples. Seven-mile
+diamond arches are common-places, and towers of two thousand miles in
+height and one thousand miles in diameter, as the corner stone of a
+city, are nothing unusual, although many cities are built on a smaller
+plan. Nothing needs repairing, and nothing is mortgaged. The wealth of
+unnumbered trillions is easily represented in one orb of Heaven's
+empire.
+
+I now saw a thousand-fold more clearly than ever before the absolute
+folly of fixing our affections on the perishing things of the mortal
+life in our dark and dusty world.
+
+While my eyes were still feasting on the sublime picture before me I
+began to realize that my privilege would be of short duration, as the
+vision was fast waning. I looked intently until the last curtain fell,
+and reluctantly I continued my journey toward my own little world. I now
+felt that, if the whole Earth were my own property, I would gladly push
+it all aside if I could be a mere door keeper in one of the heavenly
+cities of my God.
+
+And very often since that time I have cast my longing eyes skyward,
+hoping to catch another glimpse of that fair scene.
+
+    How I long for that restful picture,
+      A vision of Heaven, once more;
+    With its trillion orbs of beauty,
+      And its wealth of endless store.
+
+    There are saints from unnumbered planets,
+      Where they lived in a million ways.
+    Now they mingle in perfect glory,
+      Through the length of eternal days.
+
+    There the poor are wealthy forever,
+      For the beggar sits down with the King.
+    The man who never knew music
+      Will vie with angels to sing.
+
+    Here the hopeful student, progressing,
+      After failing does often grieve;
+    But in Heaven each lesson is perfect,
+      No theory to blind or deceive.
+
+    Here the runner, in breathless struggle,
+      Sees the other in touch of the goal;
+    But Heaven gives each one the laurel,
+      To be crowned while the ages roll.
+
+    There they have no light of a candle,
+      For there are no shadows of night.
+    There the flash of unnumbered opals
+      Sparkles on in their wealth of light.
+
+    In that home-like palace of Heaven,
+      Where these myriad trillions are,
+    There the Lord is the self-same Master,
+      And Love is the self-same star.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE IN A THOUSAND WORLDS***
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author	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-15 04:45:20 -0700
committer	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-15 04:45:20 -0700
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tree	57dcc52fd7e34ffe00c77660c6a2dbf98686ab16