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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/22701-0.txt b/22701-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dba4397 --- /dev/null +++ b/22701-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1072 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Blindman’s World, by Edward Bellamy + +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: The Blindman’s World + 1898 + +Author: Edward Bellamy + +Release Date: September 21, 2007 [EBook #22701] +Last Updated: October 2, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLINDMAN’S WORLD *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +THE BLINDMAN’S WORLD + +By Edward Bellamy + +1898 + + +The narrative to which this note is introductory was found among +the papers of the late Professor S. Erastus Larrabee, and, as an +acquaintance of the gentleman to whom they were bequeathed, I was +requested to prepare it for publication. This turned out a very easy +task, for the document proved of so extraordinary a character that, if +published at all, it should obviously be without change. It appears that +the professor did really, at one time in his life, have an attack of +vertigo, or something of the sort, under circumstances similar to those +described by him, and to that extent his narrative may be founded on +fact How soon it shifts from that foundation, or whether it does at +all, the reader must conclude for himself. It appears certain that the +professor never related to any one, while living, the stranger features +of the experience here narrated, but this might have been merely from +fear that his standing as a man of science would be thereby injured. + + +THE PROFESSOR’S NARRATIVE + +At the time of the experience of which I am about to write, I was +professor of astronomy and higher mathematics at Abercrombie College. +Most astronomers have a specialty, and mine was the study of the planet +Mars, our nearest neighbor but one in the Sun’s little family. When no +important celestial phenomena in other quarters demanded attention, it +was on the ruddy disc of Mars that my telescope was oftenest focused. I +was never weary of tracing the outlines of its continents and seas, its +capes and islands, its bays and straits, its lakes and mountains. With +intense interest I watched from week to week of the Martial winter the +advance of the polar ice-cap toward the equator, and its corresponding +retreat in the summer; testifying across the gulf of space as plainly as +written words to the existence on that orb of a climate like our own. +A specialty is always in danger of becoming an infatuation, and my +interest in Mars, at the time of which I write, had grown to be more +than strictly scientific. The impression of the nearness of this planet, +heightened by the wonderful distinctness of its geography as seen +through a powerful telescope, appeals strongly to the imagination of +the astronomer. On fine evenings I used to spend hours, not so much +critically observing as brooding over its radiant surface, till I could +almost persuade myself that I saw the breakers dashing on the bold shore +of Kepler Land, and heard the muffled thunder of avalanches descending +the snow-clad mountains of Mitchell. No earthly landscape had the charm +to hold my gaze of that far-off planet, whose oceans, to the unpracticed +eye, seem but darker, and its continents lighter, spots and bands. + +Astronomers have agreed in declaring that Mars is undoubtedly habitable +by beings like ourselves, but, as may be supposed, I was not in a mood +to be satisfied with considering it merely habitable. I allowed no +sort of question that it was inhabited. What manner of beings these +inhabitants might be I found a fascinating speculation. The variety +of types appearing in mankind even on this small Earth makes it most +presumptuous to assume that the denizens of different planets may not be +characterized by diversities far profounder. Wherein such diversities, +coupled with a general resemblance to man, might consist, whether in +mere physical differences or in different mental laws, in the lack of +certain of the great passional motors of men or the possession of quite +others, were weird themes of never-failing attractions for my mind. +The El Dorado visions with which the virgin mystery of the New World +inspired the early Spanish explorers were tame and prosaic compared with +the speculations which it was perfectly legitimate to indulge, when the +problem was the conditions of life on another planet. + +It was the time of the year when Mars is most favorably situated for +observation, and, anxious not to lose an hour of the precious season, +I had spent the greater part of several successive nights in the +observatory. I believed that I had made some original observations as +to the trend of the coast of Kepler Land between Lagrange Peninsula +and Christie Bay, and it was to this spot that my observations were +particularly directed. + +On the fourth night other work detained me from the observing-chair +till after midnight. When I had adjusted the instrument and took +my first look at Mars, I remember being unable to restrain a cry of +admiration. The planet was fairly dazzling. It seemed nearer and +larger than I had ever seen it before, and its peculiar ruddiness +more striking. In thirty years of observations, I recall, in fact, no +occasion when the absence of exhalations in our atmosphere has coincided +with such cloudlessness in that of Mars as on that night. I could +plainly make out the white masses of vapor at the opposite edges of the +lighted disc, which are the mists of its dawn and evening. The snowy +mass of Mount Hall over against Kepler Land stood out with wonderful +clearness, and I could unmistakably detect the blue tint of the ocean +of De La Rue, which washes its base,--a feat of vision often, indeed, +accomplished by star-gazers, though I had never done it to my complete +satisfaction before. + +I was impressed with the idea that if I ever made an original discovery +in regard to Mars, it would be on that evening, and I believed that I +should do it. I trembled with mingled exultation and anxiety, and was +obliged to pause to recover my self-control. Finally, I placed my eye +to the eye-piece, and directed my gaze upon the portion of the planet +in which I was especially interested. My attention soon became fixed and +absorbed much beyond my wont, when observing, and that itself implied no +ordinary degree of abstraction. To all mental intents and purposes I +was on Mars. Every faculty, every susceptibility of sense and intellect, +seemed gradually to pass into the eye, and become concentrated in the +act of gazing. Every atom of nerve and will power combined in the strain +to see a little, and yet a little, and yet a little, clearer, farther, +deeper. + +The next thing I knew I was on the bed that stood in a corner of the +observing-room, half raised on an elbow, and gazing intently at the +door. It was broad daylight. Half a dozen men, including several of +the professors and a doctor from the village, were around me. Some were +trying to make me lie down, others were asking me what I wanted, while +the doctor was urging me to drink some whiskey. Mechanically repelling +their offices, I pointed to the door and ejaculated, “President Byxbee +--coming,” giving expression to the one idea which my dazed mind at +that moment contained. And sure enough, even as I spoke the door opened, +and the venerable head of the college, somewhat blown with climbing the +steep stairway, stood on the threshold. With a sensation of prodigious +relief, I fell back on my pillow. + +It appeared that I had swooned while in the observing-chair, the night +before, and had been found by the janitor in the morning, my head fallen +forward on the telescope, as if still observing, but my body cold, +rigid, pulseless, and apparently dead. + +In a couple of days I was all right again, and should soon have +forgotten the episode but for a very interesting conjecture which had +suggested itself in connection with it. This was nothing less than +that, while I lay in that swoon, I was in a conscious state outside +and independent of the body, and in that state received impressions +and exercised perceptive powers. For this extraordinary theory I had no +other evidence than the fact of my knowledge in the moment of awaking +that President Byxbee was coming up the stairs. But slight as this clue +was, it seemed to me unmistakable in its significance. That knowledge +was certainly in my mind on the instant of arousing from the swoon. It +certainly could not have been there before I fell into the swoon. I must +therefore have gained it in the mean time; that is to say, I must have +been in a conscious, percipient state while my body was insensible. + +If such had been the case, I reasoned that it was altogether unlikely +that the trivial impression as to President Byxbee had been the only one +which I had received in that state. It was far more probable that it had +remained over in my mind, on waking from the swoon, merely because it +was the latest of a series of impressions received while outside the +body. That these impressions were of a kind most strange and startling, +seeing that they were those of a disembodied soul exercising faculties +more spiritual than those of the body, I could not doubt. The desire +to know what they had been grew upon me, till it became a longing which +left me no repose. It seemed intolerable that I should have secrets from +myself, that my soul should withhold its experiences from my intellect. +I would gladly have consented that the acquisitions of half my waking +lifetime should be blotted out, if so be in exchange I might be shown +the record of what I had seen and known during those hours of which my +waking memory showed no trace. None the less for the conviction of its +hopelessness, but rather all the more, as the perversity of our human +nature will have it, the longing for this forbidden lore grew on me, +till the hunger of Eve in the Garden was mine. + +Constantly brooding over a desire that I felt to be vain, tantalized +by the possession of a clue which only mocked me, my physical condition +became at length affected. My health was disturbed and my rest at +night was broken. A habit of walking in my sleep, from which I had +not suffered since childhood, recurred, and caused me frequent +inconvenience. Such had been, in general, my condition for some time, +when I awoke one morning with the strangely weary sensation by which +my body usually betrayed the secret of the impositions put upon it in +sleep, of which otherwise I should often have suspected nothing. In +going into the study connected with my chamber, I found a number of +freshly written sheets on the desk. Astonished that any one should +have been in my rooms while I slept, I was astounded, on looking more +closely, to observe that the handwriting was my own. How much more than +astounded I was on reading the matter that had been set down, the reader +may judge if he shall peruse it. For these written sheets apparently +contained the longed-for but despaired-of record of those hours when +I was absent from the body. They were the lost chapter of my life; or +rather, not lost at all, for it had been no part of my waking life, but +a stolen chapter,--stolen from that sleep-memory on whose mysterious +tablets may well be inscribed tales as much more marvelous than this as +this is stranger than most stories. + +It will be remembered that my last recollection before awaking in my +bed, on the morning after the swoon, was of contemplating the coast of +Kepler Land with an unusual concentration of attention. As well as I +can judge,--and that is no better than any one else,--it is with the +moment that my bodily powers succumbed and I became unconscious that the +narrative which I found on my desk begins. + +Even had I not come as straight and swift as the beam of light that made +my path, a glance about would have told me to what part of the universe +I had fared. No earthly landscape could have been more familiar. I stood +on the high coast of Kepler Land where it trends southward. A brisk +westerly wind was blowing and the waves of the ocean of De La Bue were +thundering at my feet, while the broad blue waters of Christie Bay +stretched away to the southwest. Against the northern horizon, rising +out of the ocean like a summer thunder-head, for which at first I +mistook it, towered the far-distant, snowy summit of Mount Hall. + +Even had the configuration of land and sea been less familiar, I should +none the less have known that I stood on the planet whose ruddy hue is +at once the admiration and puzzle of astronomers. Its explanation I now +recognized in the tint of the atmosphere, a coloring comparable to the +haze of Indian summer, except that its hue was a faint rose instead +of purple. Like the Indian summer haze, it was impalpable, and without +impeding the view bathed all objects near and far in a glamour not to be +described. As the gaze turned upward, however, the deep blue of space +so far overcame the roseate tint that one might fancy he were still on +Earth. + +As I looked about me I saw many men, women, and children. They were in +no respect dissimilar, so far as I could see, to the men, women, and +children of the Earth, save for something almost childlike in the +untroubled serenity of their faces, unfurrowed as they were by any trace +of care, of fear, or of anxiety. This extraordinary youthful-ness +of aspect made it difficult, indeed, save by careful scrutiny, to +distinguish the young from the middle-aged, maturity from advanced +years. Time seemed to have no tooth on Mars. + +I was gazing about me, admiring this crimson-lighted world, and these +people who appeared to hold happiness by a tenure so much firmer than +men’s, when I heard the words, “You are welcome,” and, turning, saw that +I had been accosted by a man with the stature and bearing of middle +age, though his countenance, like the other faces which I had noted, +wonderfully combined the strength of a man’s with the serenity of a +child’s. I thanked him, and said,-- + +“You do not seem surprised to see me, though I certainly am to find +myself here.” + +“Assuredly not,” he answered. “I knew, of course, that I was to meet +you to-day. And not only that, but I may say I am already in a sense +acquainted with you, through a mutual friend, Professor Edgerly. He was +here last month, and I met him at that time. We talked of you and your +interest in our planet. I told him I expected you.” + +“Edgerly!” I exclaimed. “It is strange that he has said nothing of this +to me. I meet him every day.” + +But I was reminded that it was in a dream that Edgerly, like myself, +had visited Mars, and on awaking had recalled nothing of his experience, +just as I should recall nothing of mine. When will man learn to +interrogate the dream soul of the marvels it sees in its wanderings? +Then he will no longer need to improve his telescopes to find out the +secrets of the universe. + +“Do your people visit the Earth in the same manner?” I asked my +companion. + +“Certainly,” he replied; “but there we find no one able to recognize us +and converse with us as I am conversing with you, although myself in +the waking state. You, as yet, lack the knowledge we possess of the +spiritual side of the human nature which we share with you.” + +“That knowledge must have enabled you to learn much more of the Earth +than we know of you,” I said. + +“Indeed it has,” he replied. “From visitors such as you, of whom we +entertain a concourse constantly, we have acquired familiarity with your +civilization, your history, your manners, and even your literature and +languages. Have you not noticed that I am talking with you in English, +which is certainly not a tongue indigenous to this planet?” + +“Among so many wonders I scarcely observed that,” I answered. + +“For ages,” pursued my companion, “we have been waiting for you to +improve your telescopes so as to approximate the power of ours, after +which communication between the planets would be easily established. The +progress which you make is, however, so slow that we expect to wait ages +yet.” + +“Indeed, I fear you will have to,” I replied. “Our opticians already +talk of having reached the limits of their art.” + +“Do not imagine that I spoke in any spirit of petulance,” my companion +resumed. “The slowness of your progress is not so remarkable to us +as that you make any at all, burdened as you are by a disability so +crushing that if we were in your place I fear we should sit down in +utter despair.” + +“To what disability do you refer?” I asked. “You seem to be men like +us.” + +“And so we are,” was the reply, “save in one particular, but there the +difference is tremendous. Endowed otherwise like us, you are destitute +of the faculty of foresight, without which we should think our other +faculties well-nigh valueless.” + +“Foresight!” I repeated. “Certainly you cannot mean that it is given you +to know the future?” + +“It is given not only to us,” was the answer, “but, so far as we know, +to all other intelligent beings of the universe except yourselves. Our +positive knowledge extends only to our system of moons and planets +and some of the nearer foreign systems, and it is conceivable that the +remoter parts of the universe may harbor other blind races like your +own; but it certainly seems unlikely that so strange and lamentable +a spectacle should be duplicated. One such illustration of the +extraordinary deprivations under which a rational existence may still be +possible ought to suffice for the universe.” + +“But no one can know the future except by inspiration of God,” I said. + +“All our faculties are by inspiration of God,” was the reply, “but there +is surely nothing in foresight to cause it to be so regarded more than +any other. Think a moment of the physical analogy of the case. Your eyes +are placed in the front of your heads. You would deem it an odd mistake +if they were placed behind. That would appear to you an arrangement +calculated to defeat their purpose. Does it not seem equally rational +that the mental vision should range forward, as it does with us, +illuminating the path one is to take, rather than backward, as with you, +revealing only the course you have already trodden, and therefore +have no more concern with? But it is no doubt a merciful provision of +Providence that renders you unable to realize the grotesqueness of your +predicament, as it appears to us.” + +“But the future is eternal!” I exclaimed. “How can a finite mind grasp +it?” + +“Our foreknowledge implies only human faculties,” was the reply. “It is +limited to our individual careers on this planet. Each of us foresees +the course of his own life, but not that of other lives, except so far +as they are involved with his.” + +“That such a power as you describe could be combined with merely human +faculties is more than our philosophers have ever dared to dream,” I +said. “And yet who shall say, after all, that it is not in mercy that +God has denied it to us? If it is a happiness, as it must be, to foresee +one’s happiness, it must be most depressing to foresee one’s sorrows, +failures, yes, and even one’s death. For if you foresee your lives to +the end, you must anticipate the hour and manner of your death,--is it +not so?” + +“Most assuredly,” was the reply. “Living would be a very precarious +business, were we uninformed of its limit. Your ignorance of the time +of your death impresses us as one of the saddest features of your +condition.” + +“And by us,” I answered, “it is held to be one of the most merciful.” + +“Foreknowledge of your death would not, indeed, prevent your dying +once,” continued my companion, “but it would deliver you from the +thousand deaths you suffer through uncertainty whether you can safely +count on the passing day. It is not the death you die, but these many +deaths you do not die, which shadow your existence. Poor blindfolded +creatures that you are, cringing at every step in apprehension of the +stroke that perhaps is not to fall till old age, never raising a cup to +your lips with the knowledge that you will live to quaff it, never sure +that you will meet again the friend you part with for an hour, +from whose hearts no happiness suffices to banish the chill of an +ever-present dread, what idea can you form of the Godlike security with +which we enjoy our lives and the lives of those we love! You have +a saying on earth, ‘To-morrow belongs to God;’ but here to-morrow +belongs to us, even as to-day. To you, for some inscrutable purpose, He +sees fit to dole out life moment by moment, with no assurance that each +is not to be the last. To us He gives a lifetime at once, fifty, sixty, +seventy years,--a divine gift indeed. A life such as yours would, I +fear, seem of little value to us; for such a life, however long, is but +a moment long, since that is all you can count on.” + +“And yet,” I answered, “though knowledge of the duration of your lives +may give you an enviable feeling of confidence while the end is far off, +is that not more than offset by the daily growing weight with which the +expectation of the end, as it draws near, must press upon your minds?” + +“On the contrary,” was the response, “death, never an object of fear, +as it draws nearer becomes more and more a matter of indifference to the +moribund. It is because you live in the past that death is grievous to +you. All your knowledge, all your affections, all your interests, +are rooted in the past, and on that account, as life lengthens, +it strengthens its hold on you, and memory becomes a more precious +possession. We, on the contrary, despise the past, and never dwell upon +it. Memory with us, far from being the morbid and monstrous growth it is +with you, is scarcely more than a rudimentary faculty. We live wholly +in the future and the present. What with foretaste and actual taste, our +experiences, whether pleasant or painful, are exhausted of interest by +the time they are past. The accumulated treasures of memory, which you +relinquish so painfully in death, we count no loss at all. Our minds +being fed wholly from the future, we think and feel only as we +anticipate; and so, as the dying man’s future contracts, there is less +and less about which he can occupy his thoughts. His interest in life +diminishes as the ideas which it suggests grow fewer, till at the last +death finds him with his mind a _tabula rasa_, as with you at birth. In +a word, his concern with life is reduced to a vanishing point before he +is called on to give it up. In dying he leaves nothing behind.” + +“And the after-death,” I asked,--“is there no: fear of that?” + +“Surely,” was the reply, “it is not necessary for me to say that a fear +which affects only the more ignorant on Earth is not known at all to +us, and would be counted blasphemous. Moreover, as I have said, our +foresight is limited to our lives on this planet. Any speculation beyond +them would be purely conjectural, and our minds are repelled by +the slightest taint of uncertainty. To us the conjectural and the +unthinkable may be called almost the same.” + +“But even if you do not fear death for itself,” I said, “you have hearts +to break. Is there no pain when the ties of love are sundered?” + +“Love and death are not foes on our planet,” was the reply. “There are +no tears by the bedsides of our dying. The same beneficent law which +makes it so easy for us to give up life forbids us to mourn the friends +we leave, or them to mourn us. With you, it is the intercourse you have +had with friends that is the source of your tenderness for them. With +us, it is the anticipation of the intercourse we shall enjoy which is +the foundation of fondness. As our friends vanish from our future with +the approach of their death, the effect on our thoughts and affections +is as it would be with you if you forgot them by lapse of time. As our +dying friends grow more and more indifferent to us, we, by operation of +the same law of our nature, become indifferent to them, till at the last +we are scarcely more than kindly and sympathetic watchers about the beds +of those who regard us equally without keen emotions. So at last God +gently unwinds instead of breaking the bands that bind our hearts +together, and makes death as painless to the surviving as to the dying. +Relations meant to produce our happiness are not the means also of +torturing us, as with you. Love means joy, and that alone, to us, +instead of blessing our lives for a while only to desolate them later +on, compelling us to pay with a distinct and separate pang for every +thrill of tenderness, exacting a tear for every smile.” + +“There are other partings than those of death. Are these, too, without +sorrow for you?” I asked. + +“Assuredly,” was the reply. “Can you not see that so it must needs +be with beings freed by foresight from the disease of memory? All the +sorrow of parting, as of dying, comes with you from the backward vision +which precludes you from beholding your happiness till it is past. +Suppose your life destined to be blessed by a happy friendship. If you +could know it beforehand, it would be a joyous expectation, brightening +the intervening years and cheering you as you traversed desolate +periods. But no; not till you meet the one who is to be your friend do +you know of him. Nor do you guess even then what he is to be to you, +that you may embrace him at first sight. Your meeting is cold and +indifferent. It is long before the fire is fairly kindled between you, +and then it is already time for parting. Now, indeed, the fire burns +well, but henceforth it must consume your heart. Not till they are dead +or gone do you fully realize how dear your friends were and how sweet +was their companionship. But we--we see our friends afar off coming +to meet us, smiling already in our eyes, years before our ways meet. +We greet them at first meeting, not coldly, not uncertainly, but with +exultant kisses, in an ecstasy of joy. They enter at once into the full +possession of hearts long warmed and lighted for them. We meet with that +delirium of tenderness with which you part. And when to us at last the +time of parting comes, it only means that we are to contribute to each +other’s happiness no longer. We are not doomed, like you, in parting, to +take away with us the delight we brought our friends, leaving the ache +of bereavement in its place, so that their last state is worse +than their first. Parting here is like meeting with you, calm and +unimpassioned. The joys of anticipation and possession are the only food +of love with us, and therefore Love always wears a smiling face. With +you he feeds on dead joys, past happiness, which are likewise the +sustenance of sorrow. No wonder love and sorrow are so much alike +on Earth. It is a common saying among us that, were it not for the +spectacle of the Earth, the rest of the worlds would be unable to +appreciate the goodness of God to them; and who can say that this is not +the reason the piteous sight is set before us?” + +“You have told me marvelous things,” I said, after I had reflected. “It +is, indeed, but reasonable that such a race as yours should look down +with wondering pity on the Earth. And yet, before I grant so much, I +want to ask you one question. There is known in our world a certain +sweet madness, under the influence of which we forget all that is +untoward in our lot, and would not change it for a god’s. So far is +this sweet madness regarded by men as a compensation, and more than a +compensation, for all their miseries that if you know not love as +we know it, if this loss be the price you have paid for your divine +foresight, we think ourselves more favored of God than you. Confess that +love, with its reserves, its surprises, its mysteries, its revelations, +is necessarily incompatible with a foresight which weighs and measures +every experience in advance.” + +“Of love’s surprises we certainly know nothing,” was the reply. “It +is believed by our philosophers that the slightest surprise would kill +beings of our constitution like lightning; though of course this is +merely theory, for it is only by the study of Earthly conditions that we +are able to form an idea of what surprise is like. Your power to endure +the constant buffetings of the unexpected is a matter of supreme +amazement to us; nor, according to our ideas, is there any difference +between what you call pleasant and painful surprises. You see, then, +that we cannot envy you these surprises of love which you find so +sweet, for to us they would be fatal. For the rest, there is no form of +happiness which foresight is so well calculated to enhance as that of +love. Let me explain to you how this befalls. As the growing boy begins +to be sensible of the charms of woman, he finds himself, as I dare say +it is with you, preferring some type of face and form to others. He +dreams oftenest of fair hair, or may be of dark, of blue eyes or brown. +As the years go on, his fancy, brooding over what seems to it the best +and loveliest of every type, is constantly adding to this dream-face, +this shadowy form, traits and lineaments, hues and contours, till at +last the picture is complete, and he becomes aware that on his heart +thus subtly has been depicted the likeness of the maiden destined for +his arms. + +“It may be years before he is to see her, but now begins with him one +of the sweetest offices of love, one to you unknown. Youth on Earth is a +stormy period of passion, chafing in restraint or rioting in excess. But +the very passion whose awaking makes this time so critical with you is +here a reforming and educating influence, to whose gentle and potent +sway we gladly confide our children. The temptations which lead your +young men astray have no hold on a youth of our happy planet. He hoards +the treasures of his heart for its coming mistress. Of her alone he +thinks, and to her all his vows are made. The thought of license would +be treasop to his sovereign lady, whose right to all the revenues of +his being he joyfully owns. To rob her, to abate her high prerogatives, +would be to impoverish, to insult, himself; for she is to be his, and +her honor, her glory, are his own. Through all this time that he dreams +of her by night and day, the exquisite reward of his devotion is the +knowledge that she is aware of him as he of her, and that in the inmost +shrine of a maiden heart his image is set up to receive the incense of +a tenderness that needs not to restrain itself through fear of possible +cross or separation. + +“In due time their converging lives come together. The lovers meet, +gaze a moment into each other’s eyes, then throw themselves each on +the other’s breast. The maiden has all the charms that ever stirred the +blood of an Earthly lover, but there is another glamour over her which +the eyes of Earthly lovers are shut to,--the glamour of the future. +In the blushing girl her lover sees the fond and faithful wife, in the +blithe maiden the patient, pain-consecrated mother. On the virgin’s +breast he beholds his children. He is prescient, even as his lips take +the first-fruits of hers, of the future years during which she is to +be his companion, his ever-present solace, his chief portion of God’s +goodness. We have read some of your romances describing love as you know +it on Earth, and I must confess, my friend, we find them very dull. + +“I hope,” he added, as I did not at once speak, “that I shall not offend +you by saying we find them also objectionable. Your literature possesses +in general an interest for us in the picture it presents of the +curiously inverted life which the lack of foresight compels you to lead. +It is a study especially prized for the development of the imagination, +on account of the difficulty of conceiving conditions so opposed to +those of intelligent beings in general. But our women do not read your +romances. The notion that a man or woman should, ever conceive the idea +of marrying a person other than the one whose husband or wife he or she +is destined to be is profoundly shocking to our habits of thought. No +doubt you will say that such instances are rare among you, but if +your novels are faithful pictures of your life, they are at least not +unknown. That these situations are inevitable under the conditions of +earthly life we are well aware, and judge you accordingly; but it is +needless that the minds of our maidens should be pained by the knowledge +that there anywhere exists a world where such travesties upon the +sacredness of marriage are possible. + +“There is, however, another reason why we discourage the use of your +books by our young people, and that is the profound effect of sadness, +to a race accustomed to view all things in the morning glow of +the future, of a literature written in the past tense and relating +exclusively to things that are ended.” + +“And how do you write of things that are past except in the past tense?” + I asked. + +“We write of the past when it is still the future, and of course in the +future tense,” was the reply. “If our historians were to wait till after +the events to describe them, not alone would nobody care to read about +things already done, but the histories themselves would probably be +inaccurate; for memory, as I have said, is a very slightly developed +faculty with us, and quite too indistinct to be trustworthy. Should the +Earth ever establish communication with us, you will find our histories +of interest; for our planet, being smaller, cooled and was peopled ages +before yours, and our astronomical records contain minute accounts +of the Earth from the time it was a fluid mass. Your geologists and +biologists may yet find a mine of information here.” + +In the course of our further conversation it came out that, as a +consequence of foresight, some of the commonest emotions of human nature +are unknown on Mars. They for whom the future has no mystery can, of +course, know neither hope nor fear. Moreover, every one being assured +what he shall attain to and what not, there can be no such thing as +rivalship, or emulation, or any sort of competition in any respect; and +therefore all the brood of heart-burnings and hatreds, engendered on +Earth by the strife of man with man, is unknown to the people of Mars, +save from the study of our planet. When I asked if there were not, after +all, a lack of spontaneity, of sense of freedom, in leading lives fixed +in all details beforehand, I was reminded that there was no difference +in that respect between the lives of the people of Earth and of Mars, +both alike being according to God’s will in every particular. We knew +that will only after the event, they before,--that was all. For the +rest, God moved them through their wills as He did us, so that they had +no more dense of compulsion in what they did than we on Earth have +in carrying out an anticipated line of action, in cases where our +anticipations chance to be correct. Of the absorbing interest which +the study of the plan of their future lives possessed for the people +of Mars, my companion spoke eloquently. It was, he said, like the +fascination to a mathematician of a most elaborate and exquisite +demonstration, a perfect algebraical equation, with the glowing +realities of life in place of figures and symbols. + +When I asked if it never occurred to them to wish their futures +different, he replied that such a question could only have been asked by +one from the Earth. No one could have foresight, or clearly believe that +God had it, without realizing that the future is as incapable of being +changed as the past. And not only this, but to foresee events was to +foresee their logical necessity so clearly that to desire them different +was as impossible as seriously to wish that two and two made five +instead of four. No person could ever thoughtfully wish anything +different, for so closely are all things, the small with the great, +woven together by God that to draw out the smallest thread would unravel +creation through all eternity. + +While we had talked the afternoon had waned, and the sun had sunk below +the horizon, the roseate atmosphere of the planet imparting a splendor +to the cloud coloring, and a glory to the land and sea scape, never +paralleled by an earthly sunset. Already the familiar constellations +appearing in the sky reminded me how near, after all, I was to the +Earth, for with the unassisted eye I could not detect the slightest +variation in their position. Nevertheless, there was one wholly novel +feature in the heavens, for many of the host of asteroids which circle +in the zone between Mars and Jupiter were vividly visible to the naked +eye. But the spectacle that chiefly held my gaze was the Earth, swimming +low on the verge of the horizon. Its disc, twice as large as that of any +star or planet as seen from the Earth, flashed with a brilliancy like +that of Venus. + +“It is, indeed, a lovely sight,” said my companion, “although to +me always a melancholy one, from the contrast suggested between the +radiance of the orb and the benighted condition of its inhabitants. We +call it ‘The Blindman’s World.’” As he spoke he turned toward a curious +structure which stood near us, though I had not before particularly +observed it. + +“What is that?” I asked. + +“It is one of our telescopes,” he replied. “I am going to let you take +a look, if you choose, at your home, and test for yourself the powers +of which I have boasted;” and having adjusted the instrument to his +satisfaction, he showed me where to apply my eye to what answered to the +eye-piece. + +I could not repress an exclamation of amazement, for truly he had +exaggerated nothing. The little college town which was my home lay +spread out before me, seemingly almost as near as when I looked down +upon it from my observatory windows. It was early morning, and the +village was waking up. The milkmen were going their rounds, and workmen, +with their dinner-pails, where hurrying along the streets. The early +train was just leaving the railroad station. I could see the puffs from +the smoke-stack, and the jets from the cylinders. It was strange not to +hear the hissing of the steam, so near I seemed. There were the college +buildings on the hill, the long rows of windows flashing back the level +sunbeams. I could tell the time by the college clock. It struck me +that there was an unusual bustle around the buildings, considering +the earliness of the hour. A crowd of men stood about the door of the +observatory, and many others were hurrying across the campus in that +direction. Among them I recognized President Byxbee, accompanied by the +college janitor. As I gazed they reached the observatory, and, passing +through the group about the door, entered the building. The president +was evidently going up to my quarters. At this it flashed over me quite +suddenly that all this bustle was on my account. I recalled how it was +that I came to be on Mars, and in what condition I had left affairs +in the observatory. It was high time I were back there to look after +myself. + +Here abruptly ended the extraordinary document which I found that +morning on my desk. That it is the authentic record of the conditions of +life in another world which it purports to be I do not expect the reader +to believe. He will no doubt explain it as another of the curious freaks +of somnambulism set down in the books. Probably it was merely that, +possibly it was something more. I do not pretend to decide the question. +I have told all the facts of the case, and have no better means for +forming an opinion than the reader. Nor do I know, even if I fully +believed it the true account it seems to be, that it would have affected +my imagination much more strongly than it has. That story of another +world has, in a word, put me out of joint with ours. The readiness with +which my mind has adapted itself to the Martial point of view concerning +the Earth has been a singular experience. The lack of foresight among +the human faculties, a lack I had scarcely thought of before, now +impresses me, ever more deeply, as a fact out of harmony with the rest +of our nature, belying its promise,--a moral mutilation, a deprivation +arbitrary and unaccountable. The spectacle of a race doomed to walk +backward, beholding only what has gone by, assured only of what is past +and dead,’ comes over me from time to time with a sadly fantastical +effect which I cannot describe. I dream of a world where love always +wears a smile, where the partings are as tearless as our meetings, and +death is king no more. I have a fancy, which I like to cherish, that +the people of that happy sphere, fancied though it may be, represent the +ideal and normal type of our race, as perhaps it once was, as perhaps it +may yet be again. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Blindman’s World, by Edward Bellamy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLINDMAN’S WORLD *** + +***** This file should be named 22701-0.txt or 22701-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/7/0/22701/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: The Blindman's World + 1898 + +Author: Edward Bellamy + +Release Date: September 21, 2007 [EBook #22701] +Last Updated: October 2, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLINDMAN'S WORLD *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + THE BLINDMAN’S WORLD + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Edward Bellamy <br /> <br /> 1898 + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p> + The narrative to which this note is introductory was found among the + papers of the late Professor S. Erastus Larrabee, and, as an acquaintance + of the gentleman to whom they were bequeathed, I was requested to prepare + it for publication. This turned out a very easy task, for the document + proved of so extraordinary a character that, if published at all, it + should obviously be without change. It appears that the professor did + really, at one time in his life, have an attack of vertigo, or something + of the sort, under circumstances similar to those described by him, and to + that extent his narrative may be founded on fact How soon it shifts from + that foundation, or whether it does at all, the reader must conclude for + himself. It appears certain that the professor never related to any one, + while living, the stranger features of the experience here narrated, but + this might have been merely from fear that his standing as a man of + science would be thereby injured. + </p> + <p> + THE PROFESSOR’S NARRATIVE + </p> + <p> + At the time of the experience of which I am about to write, I was + professor of astronomy and higher mathematics at Abercrombie College. Most + astronomers have a specialty, and mine was the study of the planet Mars, + our nearest neighbor but one in the Sun’s little family. When no important + celestial phenomena in other quarters demanded attention, it was on the + ruddy disc of Mars that my telescope was oftenest focused. I was never + weary of tracing the outlines of its continents and seas, its capes and + islands, its bays and straits, its lakes and mountains. With intense + interest I watched from week to week of the Martial winter the advance of + the polar ice-cap toward the equator, and its corresponding retreat in the + summer; testifying across the gulf of space as plainly as written words to + the existence on that orb of a climate like our own. A specialty is always + in danger of becoming an infatuation, and my interest in Mars, at the time + of which I write, had grown to be more than strictly scientific. The + impression of the nearness of this planet, heightened by the wonderful + distinctness of its geography as seen through a powerful telescope, + appeals strongly to the imagination of the astronomer. On fine evenings I + used to spend hours, not so much critically observing as brooding over its + radiant surface, till I could almost persuade myself that I saw the + breakers dashing on the bold shore of Kepler Land, and heard the muffled + thunder of avalanches descending the snow-clad mountains of Mitchell. No + earthly landscape had the charm to hold my gaze of that far-off planet, + whose oceans, to the unpracticed eye, seem but darker, and its continents + lighter, spots and bands. + </p> + <p> + Astronomers have agreed in declaring that Mars is undoubtedly habitable by + beings like ourselves, but, as may be supposed, I was not in a mood to be + satisfied with considering it merely habitable. I allowed no sort of + question that it was inhabited. What manner of beings these inhabitants + might be I found a fascinating speculation. The variety of types appearing + in mankind even on this small Earth makes it most presumptuous to assume + that the denizens of different planets may not be characterized by + diversities far profounder. Wherein such diversities, coupled with a + general resemblance to man, might consist, whether in mere physical + differences or in different mental laws, in the lack of certain of the + great passional motors of men or the possession of quite others, were + weird themes of never-failing attractions for my mind. The El Dorado + visions with which the virgin mystery of the New World inspired the early + Spanish explorers were tame and prosaic compared with the speculations + which it was perfectly legitimate to indulge, when the problem was the + conditions of life on another planet. + </p> + <p> + It was the time of the year when Mars is most favorably situated for + observation, and, anxious not to lose an hour of the precious season, I + had spent the greater part of several successive nights in the + observatory. I believed that I had made some original observations as to + the trend of the coast of Kepler Land between Lagrange Peninsula and + Christie Bay, and it was to this spot that my observations were + particularly directed. + </p> + <p> + On the fourth night other work detained me from the observing-chair till + after midnight. When I had adjusted the instrument and took my first look + at Mars, I remember being unable to restrain a cry of admiration. The + planet was fairly dazzling. It seemed nearer and larger than I had ever + seen it before, and its peculiar ruddiness more striking. In thirty years + of observations, I recall, in fact, no occasion when the absence of + exhalations in our atmosphere has coincided with such cloudlessness in + that of Mars as on that night. I could plainly make out the white masses + of vapor at the opposite edges of the lighted disc, which are the mists of + its dawn and evening. The snowy mass of Mount Hall over against Kepler + Land stood out with wonderful clearness, and I could unmistakably detect + the blue tint of the ocean of De La Rue, which washes its base,—a + feat of vision often, indeed, accomplished by star-gazers, though I had + never done it to my complete satisfaction before. + </p> + <p> + I was impressed with the idea that if I ever made an original discovery in + regard to Mars, it would be on that evening, and I believed that I should + do it. I trembled with mingled exultation and anxiety, and was obliged to + pause to recover my self-control. Finally, I placed my eye to the + eye-piece, and directed my gaze upon the portion of the planet in which I + was especially interested. My attention soon became fixed and absorbed + much beyond my wont, when observing, and that itself implied no ordinary + degree of abstraction. To all mental intents and purposes I was on Mars. + Every faculty, every susceptibility of sense and intellect, seemed + gradually to pass into the eye, and become concentrated in the act of + gazing. Every atom of nerve and will power combined in the strain to see a + little, and yet a little, and yet a little, clearer, farther, deeper. + </p> + <p> + The next thing I knew I was on the bed that stood in a corner of the + observing-room, half raised on an elbow, and gazing intently at the door. + It was broad daylight. Half a dozen men, including several of the + professors and a doctor from the village, were around me. Some were trying + to make me lie down, others were asking me what I wanted, while the doctor + was urging me to drink some whiskey. Mechanically repelling their offices, + I pointed to the door and ejaculated, “President Byxbee —coming,” + giving expression to the one idea which my dazed mind at that moment + contained. And sure enough, even as I spoke the door opened, and the + venerable head of the college, somewhat blown with climbing the steep + stairway, stood on the threshold. With a sensation of prodigious relief, I + fell back on my pillow. + </p> + <p> + It appeared that I had swooned while in the observing-chair, the night + before, and had been found by the janitor in the morning, my head fallen + forward on the telescope, as if still observing, but my body cold, rigid, + pulseless, and apparently dead. + </p> + <p> + In a couple of days I was all right again, and should soon have forgotten + the episode but for a very interesting conjecture which had suggested + itself in connection with it. This was nothing less than that, while I lay + in that swoon, I was in a conscious state outside and independent of the + body, and in that state received impressions and exercised perceptive + powers. For this extraordinary theory I had no other evidence than the + fact of my knowledge in the moment of awaking that President Byxbee was + coming up the stairs. But slight as this clue was, it seemed to me + unmistakable in its significance. That knowledge was certainly in my mind + on the instant of arousing from the swoon. It certainly could not have + been there before I fell into the swoon. I must therefore have gained it + in the mean time; that is to say, I must have been in a conscious, + percipient state while my body was insensible. + </p> + <p> + If such had been the case, I reasoned that it was altogether unlikely that + the trivial impression as to President Byxbee had been the only one which + I had received in that state. It was far more probable that it had + remained over in my mind, on waking from the swoon, merely because it was + the latest of a series of impressions received while outside the body. + That these impressions were of a kind most strange and startling, seeing + that they were those of a disembodied soul exercising faculties more + spiritual than those of the body, I could not doubt. The desire to know + what they had been grew upon me, till it became a longing which left me no + repose. It seemed intolerable that I should have secrets from myself, that + my soul should withhold its experiences from my intellect. I would gladly + have consented that the acquisitions of half my waking lifetime should be + blotted out, if so be in exchange I might be shown the record of what I + had seen and known during those hours of which my waking memory showed no + trace. None the less for the conviction of its hopelessness, but rather + all the more, as the perversity of our human nature will have it, the + longing for this forbidden lore grew on me, till the hunger of Eve in the + Garden was mine. + </p> + <p> + Constantly brooding over a desire that I felt to be vain, tantalized by + the possession of a clue which only mocked me, my physical condition + became at length affected. My health was disturbed and my rest at night + was broken. A habit of walking in my sleep, from which I had not suffered + since childhood, recurred, and caused me frequent inconvenience. Such had + been, in general, my condition for some time, when I awoke one morning + with the strangely weary sensation by which my body usually betrayed the + secret of the impositions put upon it in sleep, of which otherwise I + should often have suspected nothing. In going into the study connected + with my chamber, I found a number of freshly written sheets on the desk. + Astonished that any one should have been in my rooms while I slept, I was + astounded, on looking more closely, to observe that the handwriting was my + own. How much more than astounded I was on reading the matter that had + been set down, the reader may judge if he shall peruse it. For these + written sheets apparently contained the longed-for but despaired-of record + of those hours when I was absent from the body. They were the lost chapter + of my life; or rather, not lost at all, for it had been no part of my + waking life, but a stolen chapter,—stolen from that sleep-memory on + whose mysterious tablets may well be inscribed tales as much more + marvelous than this as this is stranger than most stories. + </p> + <p> + It will be remembered that my last recollection before awaking in my bed, + on the morning after the swoon, was of contemplating the coast of Kepler + Land with an unusual concentration of attention. As well as I can judge,—and + that is no better than any one else,—it is with the moment that my + bodily powers succumbed and I became unconscious that the narrative which + I found on my desk begins. + </p> + <p> + Even had I not come as straight and swift as the beam of light that made + my path, a glance about would have told me to what part of the universe I + had fared. No earthly landscape could have been more familiar. I stood on + the high coast of Kepler Land where it trends southward. A brisk westerly + wind was blowing and the waves of the ocean of De La Bue were thundering + at my feet, while the broad blue waters of Christie Bay stretched away to + the southwest. Against the northern horizon, rising out of the ocean like + a summer thunder-head, for which at first I mistook it, towered the + far-distant, snowy summit of Mount Hall. + </p> + <p> + Even had the configuration of land and sea been less familiar, I should + none the less have known that I stood on the planet whose ruddy hue is at + once the admiration and puzzle of astronomers. Its explanation I now + recognized in the tint of the atmosphere, a coloring comparable to the + haze of Indian summer, except that its hue was a faint rose instead of + purple. Like the Indian summer haze, it was impalpable, and without + impeding the view bathed all objects near and far in a glamour not to be + described. As the gaze turned upward, however, the deep blue of space so + far overcame the roseate tint that one might fancy he were still on Earth. + </p> + <p> + As I looked about me I saw many men, women, and children. They were in no + respect dissimilar, so far as I could see, to the men, women, and children + of the Earth, save for something almost childlike in the untroubled + serenity of their faces, unfurrowed as they were by any trace of care, of + fear, or of anxiety. This extraordinary youthful-ness of aspect made it + difficult, indeed, save by careful scrutiny, to distinguish the young from + the middle-aged, maturity from advanced years. Time seemed to have no + tooth on Mars. + </p> + <p> + I was gazing about me, admiring this crimson-lighted world, and these + people who appeared to hold happiness by a tenure so much firmer than + men’s, when I heard the words, “You are welcome,” and, turning, saw that I + had been accosted by a man with the stature and bearing of middle age, + though his countenance, like the other faces which I had noted, + wonderfully combined the strength of a man’s with the serenity of a + child’s. I thanked him, and said,— + </p> + <p> + “You do not seem surprised to see me, though I certainly am to find myself + here.” + </p> + <p> + “Assuredly not,” he answered. “I knew, of course, that I was to meet you + to-day. And not only that, but I may say I am already in a sense + acquainted with you, through a mutual friend, Professor Edgerly. He was + here last month, and I met him at that time. We talked of you and your + interest in our planet. I told him I expected you.” + </p> + <p> + “Edgerly!” I exclaimed. “It is strange that he has said nothing of this to + me. I meet him every day.” + </p> + <p> + But I was reminded that it was in a dream that Edgerly, like myself, had + visited Mars, and on awaking had recalled nothing of his experience, just + as I should recall nothing of mine. When will man learn to interrogate the + dream soul of the marvels it sees in its wanderings? Then he will no + longer need to improve his telescopes to find out the secrets of the + universe. + </p> + <p> + “Do your people visit the Earth in the same manner?” I asked my companion. + </p> + <p> + “Certainly,” he replied; “but there we find no one able to recognize us + and converse with us as I am conversing with you, although myself in the + waking state. You, as yet, lack the knowledge we possess of the spiritual + side of the human nature which we share with you.” + </p> + <p> + “That knowledge must have enabled you to learn much more of the Earth than + we know of you,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “Indeed it has,” he replied. “From visitors such as you, of whom we + entertain a concourse constantly, we have acquired familiarity with your + civilization, your history, your manners, and even your literature and + languages. Have you not noticed that I am talking with you in English, + which is certainly not a tongue indigenous to this planet?” + </p> + <p> + “Among so many wonders I scarcely observed that,” I answered. + </p> + <p> + “For ages,” pursued my companion, “we have been waiting for you to improve + your telescopes so as to approximate the power of ours, after which + communication between the planets would be easily established. The + progress which you make is, however, so slow that we expect to wait ages + yet.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed, I fear you will have to,” I replied. “Our opticians already talk + of having reached the limits of their art.” + </p> + <p> + “Do not imagine that I spoke in any spirit of petulance,” my companion + resumed. “The slowness of your progress is not so remarkable to us as that + you make any at all, burdened as you are by a disability so crushing that + if we were in your place I fear we should sit down in utter despair.” + </p> + <p> + “To what disability do you refer?” I asked. “You seem to be men like us.” + </p> + <p> + “And so we are,” was the reply, “save in one particular, but there the + difference is tremendous. Endowed otherwise like us, you are destitute of + the faculty of foresight, without which we should think our other + faculties well-nigh valueless.” + </p> + <p> + “Foresight!” I repeated. “Certainly you cannot mean that it is given you + to know the future?” + </p> + <p> + “It is given not only to us,” was the answer, “but, so far as we know, to + all other intelligent beings of the universe except yourselves. Our + positive knowledge extends only to our system of moons and planets and + some of the nearer foreign systems, and it is conceivable that the remoter + parts of the universe may harbor other blind races like your own; but it + certainly seems unlikely that so strange and lamentable a spectacle should + be duplicated. One such illustration of the extraordinary deprivations + under which a rational existence may still be possible ought to suffice + for the universe.” + </p> + <p> + “But no one can know the future except by inspiration of God,” I said. + </p> + <p> + “All our faculties are by inspiration of God,” was the reply, “but there + is surely nothing in foresight to cause it to be so regarded more than any + other. Think a moment of the physical analogy of the case. Your eyes are + placed in the front of your heads. You would deem it an odd mistake if + they were placed behind. That would appear to you an arrangement + calculated to defeat their purpose. Does it not seem equally rational that + the mental vision should range forward, as it does with us, illuminating + the path one is to take, rather than backward, as with you, revealing only + the course you have already trodden, and therefore have no more concern + with? But it is no doubt a merciful provision of Providence that renders + you unable to realize the grotesqueness of your predicament, as it appears + to us.” + </p> + <p> + “But the future is eternal!” I exclaimed. “How can a finite mind grasp + it?” + </p> + <p> + “Our foreknowledge implies only human faculties,” was the reply. “It is + limited to our individual careers on this planet. Each of us foresees the + course of his own life, but not that of other lives, except so far as they + are involved with his.” + </p> + <p> + “That such a power as you describe could be combined with merely human + faculties is more than our philosophers have ever dared to dream,” I said. + “And yet who shall say, after all, that it is not in mercy that God has + denied it to us? If it is a happiness, as it must be, to foresee one’s + happiness, it must be most depressing to foresee one’s sorrows, failures, + yes, and even one’s death. For if you foresee your lives to the end, you + must anticipate the hour and manner of your death,—is it not so?” + </p> + <p> + “Most assuredly,” was the reply. “Living would be a very precarious + business, were we uninformed of its limit. Your ignorance of the time of + your death impresses us as one of the saddest features of your condition.” + </p> + <p> + “And by us,” I answered, “it is held to be one of the most merciful.” + </p> + <p> + “Foreknowledge of your death would not, indeed, prevent your dying once,” + continued my companion, “but it would deliver you from the thousand deaths + you suffer through uncertainty whether you can safely count on the passing + day. It is not the death you die, but these many deaths you do not die, + which shadow your existence. Poor blindfolded creatures that you are, + cringing at every step in apprehension of the stroke that perhaps is not + to fall till old age, never raising a cup to your lips with the knowledge + that you will live to quaff it, never sure that you will meet again the + friend you part with for an hour, from whose hearts no happiness suffices + to banish the chill of an ever-present dread, what idea can you form of + the Godlike security with which we enjoy our lives and the lives of those + we love! You have a saying on earth, ‘To-morrow belongs to God;’ but here + to-morrow belongs to us, even as to-day. To you, for some inscrutable + purpose, He sees fit to dole out life moment by moment, with no assurance + that each is not to be the last. To us He gives a lifetime at once, fifty, + sixty, seventy years,—a divine gift indeed. A life such as yours + would, I fear, seem of little value to us; for such a life, however long, + is but a moment long, since that is all you can count on.” + </p> + <p> + “And yet,” I answered, “though knowledge of the duration of your lives may + give you an enviable feeling of confidence while the end is far off, is + that not more than offset by the daily growing weight with which the + expectation of the end, as it draws near, must press upon your minds?” + </p> + <p> + “On the contrary,” was the response, “death, never an object of fear, as + it draws nearer becomes more and more a matter of indifference to the + moribund. It is because you live in the past that death is grievous to + you. All your knowledge, all your affections, all your interests, are + rooted in the past, and on that account, as life lengthens, it strengthens + its hold on you, and memory becomes a more precious possession. We, on the + contrary, despise the past, and never dwell upon it. Memory with us, far + from being the morbid and monstrous growth it is with you, is scarcely + more than a rudimentary faculty. We live wholly in the future and the + present. What with foretaste and actual taste, our experiences, whether + pleasant or painful, are exhausted of interest by the time they are past. + The accumulated treasures of memory, which you relinquish so painfully in + death, we count no loss at all. Our minds being fed wholly from the + future, we think and feel only as we anticipate; and so, as the dying + man’s future contracts, there is less and less about which he can occupy + his thoughts. His interest in life diminishes as the ideas which it + suggests grow fewer, till at the last death finds him with his mind a <i>tabula + rasa</i>, as with you at birth. In a word, his concern with life is + reduced to a vanishing point before he is called on to give it up. In + dying he leaves nothing behind.” + </p> + <p> + “And the after-death,” I asked,—“is there no: fear of that?” + </p> + <p> + “Surely,” was the reply, “it is not necessary for me to say that a fear + which affects only the more ignorant on Earth is not known at all to us, + and would be counted blasphemous. Moreover, as I have said, our foresight + is limited to our lives on this planet. Any speculation beyond them would + be purely conjectural, and our minds are repelled by the slightest taint + of uncertainty. To us the conjectural and the unthinkable may be called + almost the same.” + </p> + <p> + “But even if you do not fear death for itself,” I said, “you have hearts + to break. Is there no pain when the ties of love are sundered?” + </p> + <p> + “Love and death are not foes on our planet,” was the reply. “There are no + tears by the bedsides of our dying. The same beneficent law which makes it + so easy for us to give up life forbids us to mourn the friends we leave, + or them to mourn us. With you, it is the intercourse you have had with + friends that is the source of your tenderness for them. With us, it is the + anticipation of the intercourse we shall enjoy which is the foundation of + fondness. As our friends vanish from our future with the approach of their + death, the effect on our thoughts and affections is as it would be with + you if you forgot them by lapse of time. As our dying friends grow more + and more indifferent to us, we, by operation of the same law of our + nature, become indifferent to them, till at the last we are scarcely more + than kindly and sympathetic watchers about the beds of those who regard us + equally without keen emotions. So at last God gently unwinds instead of + breaking the bands that bind our hearts together, and makes death as + painless to the surviving as to the dying. Relations meant to produce our + happiness are not the means also of torturing us, as with you. Love means + joy, and that alone, to us, instead of blessing our lives for a while only + to desolate them later on, compelling us to pay with a distinct and + separate pang for every thrill of tenderness, exacting a tear for every + smile.” + </p> + <p> + “There are other partings than those of death. Are these, too, without + sorrow for you?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “Assuredly,” was the reply. “Can you not see that so it must needs be with + beings freed by foresight from the disease of memory? All the sorrow of + parting, as of dying, comes with you from the backward vision which + precludes you from beholding your happiness till it is past. Suppose your + life destined to be blessed by a happy friendship. If you could know it + beforehand, it would be a joyous expectation, brightening the intervening + years and cheering you as you traversed desolate periods. But no; not till + you meet the one who is to be your friend do you know of him. Nor do you + guess even then what he is to be to you, that you may embrace him at first + sight. Your meeting is cold and indifferent. It is long before the fire is + fairly kindled between you, and then it is already time for parting. Now, + indeed, the fire burns well, but henceforth it must consume your heart. + Not till they are dead or gone do you fully realize how dear your friends + were and how sweet was their companionship. But we—we see our + friends afar off coming to meet us, smiling already in our eyes, years + before our ways meet. We greet them at first meeting, not coldly, not + uncertainly, but with exultant kisses, in an ecstasy of joy. They enter at + once into the full possession of hearts long warmed and lighted for them. + We meet with that delirium of tenderness with which you part. And when to + us at last the time of parting comes, it only means that we are to + contribute to each other’s happiness no longer. We are not doomed, like + you, in parting, to take away with us the delight we brought our friends, + leaving the ache of bereavement in its place, so that their last state is + worse than their first. Parting here is like meeting with you, calm and + unimpassioned. The joys of anticipation and possession are the only food + of love with us, and therefore Love always wears a smiling face. With you + he feeds on dead joys, past happiness, which are likewise the sustenance + of sorrow. No wonder love and sorrow are so much alike on Earth. It is a + common saying among us that, were it not for the spectacle of the Earth, + the rest of the worlds would be unable to appreciate the goodness of God + to them; and who can say that this is not the reason the piteous sight is + set before us?” + </p> + <p> + “You have told me marvelous things,” I said, after I had reflected. “It + is, indeed, but reasonable that such a race as yours should look down with + wondering pity on the Earth. And yet, before I grant so much, I want to + ask you one question. There is known in our world a certain sweet madness, + under the influence of which we forget all that is untoward in our lot, + and would not change it for a god’s. So far is this sweet madness regarded + by men as a compensation, and more than a compensation, for all their + miseries that if you know not love as we know it, if this loss be the + price you have paid for your divine foresight, we think ourselves more + favored of God than you. Confess that love, with its reserves, its + surprises, its mysteries, its revelations, is necessarily incompatible + with a foresight which weighs and measures every experience in advance.” + </p> + <p> + “Of love’s surprises we certainly know nothing,” was the reply. “It is + believed by our philosophers that the slightest surprise would kill beings + of our constitution like lightning; though of course this is merely + theory, for it is only by the study of Earthly conditions that we are able + to form an idea of what surprise is like. Your power to endure the + constant buffetings of the unexpected is a matter of supreme amazement to + us; nor, according to our ideas, is there any difference between what you + call pleasant and painful surprises. You see, then, that we cannot envy + you these surprises of love which you find so sweet, for to us they would + be fatal. For the rest, there is no form of happiness which foresight is + so well calculated to enhance as that of love. Let me explain to you how + this befalls. As the growing boy begins to be sensible of the charms of + woman, he finds himself, as I dare say it is with you, preferring some + type of face and form to others. He dreams oftenest of fair hair, or may + be of dark, of blue eyes or brown. As the years go on, his fancy, brooding + over what seems to it the best and loveliest of every type, is constantly + adding to this dream-face, this shadowy form, traits and lineaments, hues + and contours, till at last the picture is complete, and he becomes aware + that on his heart thus subtly has been depicted the likeness of the maiden + destined for his arms. + </p> + <p> + “It may be years before he is to see her, but now begins with him one of + the sweetest offices of love, one to you unknown. Youth on Earth is a + stormy period of passion, chafing in restraint or rioting in excess. But + the very passion whose awaking makes this time so critical with you is + here a reforming and educating influence, to whose gentle and potent sway + we gladly confide our children. The temptations which lead your young men + astray have no hold on a youth of our happy planet. He hoards the + treasures of his heart for its coming mistress. Of her alone he thinks, + and to her all his vows are made. The thought of license would be treasop + to his sovereign lady, whose right to all the revenues of his being he + joyfully owns. To rob her, to abate her high prerogatives, would be to + impoverish, to insult, himself; for she is to be his, and her honor, her + glory, are his own. Through all this time that he dreams of her by night + and day, the exquisite reward of his devotion is the knowledge that she is + aware of him as he of her, and that in the inmost shrine of a maiden heart + his image is set up to receive the incense of a tenderness that needs not + to restrain itself through fear of possible cross or separation. + </p> + <p> + “In due time their converging lives come together. The lovers meet, gaze a + moment into each other’s eyes, then throw themselves each on the other’s + breast. The maiden has all the charms that ever stirred the blood of an + Earthly lover, but there is another glamour over her which the eyes of + Earthly lovers are shut to,—the glamour of the future. In the + blushing girl her lover sees the fond and faithful wife, in the blithe + maiden the patient, pain-consecrated mother. On the virgin’s breast he + beholds his children. He is prescient, even as his lips take the + first-fruits of hers, of the future years during which she is to be his + companion, his ever-present solace, his chief portion of God’s goodness. + We have read some of your romances describing love as you know it on + Earth, and I must confess, my friend, we find them very dull. + </p> + <p> + “I hope,” he added, as I did not at once speak, “that I shall not offend + you by saying we find them also objectionable. Your literature possesses + in general an interest for us in the picture it presents of the curiously + inverted life which the lack of foresight compels you to lead. It is a + study especially prized for the development of the imagination, on account + of the difficulty of conceiving conditions so opposed to those of + intelligent beings in general. But our women do not read your romances. + The notion that a man or woman should, ever conceive the idea of marrying + a person other than the one whose husband or wife he or she is destined to + be is profoundly shocking to our habits of thought. No doubt you will say + that such instances are rare among you, but if your novels are faithful + pictures of your life, they are at least not unknown. That these + situations are inevitable under the conditions of earthly life we are well + aware, and judge you accordingly; but it is needless that the minds of our + maidens should be pained by the knowledge that there anywhere exists a + world where such travesties upon the sacredness of marriage are possible. + </p> + <p> + “There is, however, another reason why we discourage the use of your books + by our young people, and that is the profound effect of sadness, to a race + accustomed to view all things in the morning glow of the future, of a + literature written in the past tense and relating exclusively to things + that are ended.” + </p> + <p> + “And how do you write of things that are past except in the past tense?” I + asked. + </p> + <p> + “We write of the past when it is still the future, and of course in the + future tense,” was the reply. “If our historians were to wait till after + the events to describe them, not alone would nobody care to read about + things already done, but the histories themselves would probably be + inaccurate; for memory, as I have said, is a very slightly developed + faculty with us, and quite too indistinct to be trustworthy. Should the + Earth ever establish communication with us, you will find our histories of + interest; for our planet, being smaller, cooled and was peopled ages + before yours, and our astronomical records contain minute accounts of the + Earth from the time it was a fluid mass. Your geologists and biologists + may yet find a mine of information here.” + </p> + <p> + In the course of our further conversation it came out that, as a + consequence of foresight, some of the commonest emotions of human nature + are unknown on Mars. They for whom the future has no mystery can, of + course, know neither hope nor fear. Moreover, every one being assured what + he shall attain to and what not, there can be no such thing as rivalship, + or emulation, or any sort of competition in any respect; and therefore all + the brood of heart-burnings and hatreds, engendered on Earth by the strife + of man with man, is unknown to the people of Mars, save from the study of + our planet. When I asked if there were not, after all, a lack of + spontaneity, of sense of freedom, in leading lives fixed in all details + beforehand, I was reminded that there was no difference in that respect + between the lives of the people of Earth and of Mars, both alike being + according to God’s will in every particular. We knew that will only after + the event, they before,—that was all. For the rest, God moved them + through their wills as He did us, so that they had no more dense of + compulsion in what they did than we on Earth have in carrying out an + anticipated line of action, in cases where our anticipations chance to be + correct. Of the absorbing interest which the study of the plan of their + future lives possessed for the people of Mars, my companion spoke + eloquently. It was, he said, like the fascination to a mathematician of a + most elaborate and exquisite demonstration, a perfect algebraical + equation, with the glowing realities of life in place of figures and + symbols. + </p> + <p> + When I asked if it never occurred to them to wish their futures different, + he replied that such a question could only have been asked by one from the + Earth. No one could have foresight, or clearly believe that God had it, + without realizing that the future is as incapable of being changed as the + past. And not only this, but to foresee events was to foresee their + logical necessity so clearly that to desire them different was as + impossible as seriously to wish that two and two made five instead of + four. No person could ever thoughtfully wish anything different, for so + closely are all things, the small with the great, woven together by God + that to draw out the smallest thread would unravel creation through all + eternity. + </p> + <p> + While we had talked the afternoon had waned, and the sun had sunk below + the horizon, the roseate atmosphere of the planet imparting a splendor to + the cloud coloring, and a glory to the land and sea scape, never + paralleled by an earthly sunset. Already the familiar constellations + appearing in the sky reminded me how near, after all, I was to the Earth, + for with the unassisted eye I could not detect the slightest variation in + their position. Nevertheless, there was one wholly novel feature in the + heavens, for many of the host of asteroids which circle in the zone + between Mars and Jupiter were vividly visible to the naked eye. But the + spectacle that chiefly held my gaze was the Earth, swimming low on the + verge of the horizon. Its disc, twice as large as that of any star or + planet as seen from the Earth, flashed with a brilliancy like that of + Venus. + </p> + <p> + “It is, indeed, a lovely sight,” said my companion, “although to me always + a melancholy one, from the contrast suggested between the radiance of the + orb and the benighted condition of its inhabitants. We call it ‘The + Blindman’s World.’” As he spoke he turned toward a curious structure which + stood near us, though I had not before particularly observed it. + </p> + <p> + “What is that?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “It is one of our telescopes,” he replied. “I am going to let you take a + look, if you choose, at your home, and test for yourself the powers of + which I have boasted;” and having adjusted the instrument to his + satisfaction, he showed me where to apply my eye to what answered to the + eye-piece. + </p> + <p> + I could not repress an exclamation of amazement, for truly he had + exaggerated nothing. The little college town which was my home lay spread + out before me, seemingly almost as near as when I looked down upon it from + my observatory windows. It was early morning, and the village was waking + up. The milkmen were going their rounds, and workmen, with their + dinner-pails, where hurrying along the streets. The early train was just + leaving the railroad station. I could see the puffs from the smoke-stack, + and the jets from the cylinders. It was strange not to hear the hissing of + the steam, so near I seemed. There were the college buildings on the hill, + the long rows of windows flashing back the level sunbeams. I could tell + the time by the college clock. It struck me that there was an unusual + bustle around the buildings, considering the earliness of the hour. A + crowd of men stood about the door of the observatory, and many others were + hurrying across the campus in that direction. Among them I recognized + President Byxbee, accompanied by the college janitor. As I gazed they + reached the observatory, and, passing through the group about the door, + entered the building. The president was evidently going up to my quarters. + At this it flashed over me quite suddenly that all this bustle was on my + account. I recalled how it was that I came to be on Mars, and in what + condition I had left affairs in the observatory. It was high time I were + back there to look after myself. + </p> + <p> + Here abruptly ended the extraordinary document which I found that morning + on my desk. That it is the authentic record of the conditions of life in + another world which it purports to be I do not expect the reader to + believe. He will no doubt explain it as another of the curious freaks of + somnambulism set down in the books. Probably it was merely that, possibly + it was something more. I do not pretend to decide the question. I have + told all the facts of the case, and have no better means for forming an + opinion than the reader. Nor do I know, even if I fully believed it the + true account it seems to be, that it would have affected my imagination + much more strongly than it has. That story of another world has, in a + word, put me out of joint with ours. The readiness with which my mind has + adapted itself to the Martial point of view concerning the Earth has been + a singular experience. The lack of foresight among the human faculties, a + lack I had scarcely thought of before, now impresses me, ever more deeply, + as a fact out of harmony with the rest of our nature, belying its promise,—a + moral mutilation, a deprivation arbitrary and unaccountable. The spectacle + of a race doomed to walk backward, beholding only what has gone by, + assured only of what is past and dead,’ comes over me from time to time + with a sadly fantastical effect which I cannot describe. I dream of a + world where love always wears a smile, where the partings are as tearless + as our meetings, and death is king no more. I have a fancy, which I like + to cherish, that the people of that happy sphere, fancied though it may + be, represent the ideal and normal type of our race, as perhaps it once + was, as perhaps it may yet be again. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Blindman’s World, by Edward Bellamy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLINDMAN’S WORLD *** + +***** This file should be named 22701-h.htm or 22701-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/7/0/22701/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: The Blindman's World + 1898 + +Author: Edward Bellamy + +Release Date: September 21, 2007 [EBook #22701] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLINDMAN'S WORLD *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +THE BLINDMAN'S WORLD + +By Edward Bellamy + +1898 + + +The narrative to which this note is introductory was found among +the papers of the late Professor S. Erastus Larrabee, and, as an +acquaintance of the gentleman to whom they were bequeathed, I was +requested to prepare it for publication. This turned out a very easy +task, for the document proved of so extraordinary a character that, if +published at all, it should obviously be without change. It appears that +the professor did really, at one time in his life, have an attack of +vertigo, or something of the sort, under circumstances similar to those +described by him, and to that extent his narrative may be founded on +fact How soon it shifts from that foundation, or whether it does at +all, the reader must conclude for himself. It appears certain that the +professor never related to any one, while living, the stranger features +of the experience here narrated, but this might have been merely from +fear that his standing as a man of science would be thereby injured. + + +THE PROFESSOR'S NARRATIVE + +At the time of the experience of which I am about to write, I was +professor of astronomy and higher mathematics at Abercrombie College. +Most astronomers have a specialty, and mine was the study of the planet +Mars, our nearest neighbor but one in the Sun's little family. When no +important celestial phenomena in other quarters demanded attention, it +was on the ruddy disc of Mars that my telescope was oftenest focused. I +was never weary of tracing the outlines of its continents and seas, its +capes and islands, its bays and straits, its lakes and mountains. With +intense interest I watched from week to week of the Martial winter the +advance of the polar ice-cap toward the equator, and its corresponding +retreat in the summer; testifying across the gulf of space as plainly as +written words to the existence on that orb of a climate like our own. +A specialty is always in danger of becoming an infatuation, and my +interest in Mars, at the time of which I write, had grown to be more +than strictly scientific. The impression of the nearness of this planet, +heightened by the wonderful distinctness of its geography as seen +through a powerful telescope, appeals strongly to the imagination of +the astronomer. On fine evenings I used to spend hours, not so much +critically observing as brooding over its radiant surface, till I could +almost persuade myself that I saw the breakers dashing on the bold shore +of Kepler Land, and heard the muffled thunder of avalanches descending +the snow-clad mountains of Mitchell. No earthly landscape had the charm +to hold my gaze of that far-off planet, whose oceans, to the unpracticed +eye, seem but darker, and its continents lighter, spots and bands. + +Astronomers have agreed in declaring that Mars is undoubtedly habitable +by beings like ourselves, but, as may be supposed, I was not in a mood +to be satisfied with considering it merely habitable. I allowed no +sort of question that it was inhabited. What manner of beings these +inhabitants might be I found a fascinating speculation. The variety +of types appearing in mankind even on this small Earth makes it most +presumptuous to assume that the denizens of different planets may not be +characterized by diversities far profounder. Wherein such diversities, +coupled with a general resemblance to man, might consist, whether in +mere physical differences or in different mental laws, in the lack of +certain of the great passional motors of men or the possession of quite +others, were weird themes of never-failing attractions for my mind. +The El Dorado visions with which the virgin mystery of the New World +inspired the early Spanish explorers were tame and prosaic compared with +the speculations which it was perfectly legitimate to indulge, when the +problem was the conditions of life on another planet. + +It was the time of the year when Mars is most favorably situated for +observation, and, anxious not to lose an hour of the precious season, +I had spent the greater part of several successive nights in the +observatory. I believed that I had made some original observations as +to the trend of the coast of Kepler Land between Lagrange Peninsula +and Christie Bay, and it was to this spot that my observations were +particularly directed. + +On the fourth night other work detained me from the observing-chair +till after midnight. When I had adjusted the instrument and took +my first look at Mars, I remember being unable to restrain a cry of +admiration. The planet was fairly dazzling. It seemed nearer and +larger than I had ever seen it before, and its peculiar ruddiness +more striking. In thirty years of observations, I recall, in fact, no +occasion when the absence of exhalations in our atmosphere has coincided +with such cloudlessness in that of Mars as on that night. I could +plainly make out the white masses of vapor at the opposite edges of the +lighted disc, which are the mists of its dawn and evening. The snowy +mass of Mount Hall over against Kepler Land stood out with wonderful +clearness, and I could unmistakably detect the blue tint of the ocean +of De La Rue, which washes its base,--a feat of vision often, indeed, +accomplished by star-gazers, though I had never done it to my complete +satisfaction before. + +I was impressed with the idea that if I ever made an original discovery +in regard to Mars, it would be on that evening, and I believed that I +should do it. I trembled with mingled exultation and anxiety, and was +obliged to pause to recover my self-control. Finally, I placed my eye +to the eye-piece, and directed my gaze upon the portion of the planet +in which I was especially interested. My attention soon became fixed and +absorbed much beyond my wont, when observing, and that itself implied no +ordinary degree of abstraction. To all mental intents and purposes I +was on Mars. Every faculty, every susceptibility of sense and intellect, +seemed gradually to pass into the eye, and become concentrated in the +act of gazing. Every atom of nerve and will power combined in the strain +to see a little, and yet a little, and yet a little, clearer, farther, +deeper. + +The next thing I knew I was on the bed that stood in a corner of the +observing-room, half raised on an elbow, and gazing intently at the +door. It was broad daylight. Half a dozen men, including several of +the professors and a doctor from the village, were around me. Some were +trying to make me lie down, others were asking me what I wanted, while +the doctor was urging me to drink some whiskey. Mechanically repelling +their offices, I pointed to the door and ejaculated, "President Byxbee +--coming," giving expression to the one idea which my dazed mind at +that moment contained. And sure enough, even as I spoke the door opened, +and the venerable head of the college, somewhat blown with climbing the +steep stairway, stood on the threshold. With a sensation of prodigious +relief, I fell back on my pillow. + +It appeared that I had swooned while in the observing-chair, the night +before, and had been found by the janitor in the morning, my head fallen +forward on the telescope, as if still observing, but my body cold, +rigid, pulseless, and apparently dead. + +In a couple of days I was all right again, and should soon have +forgotten the episode but for a very interesting conjecture which had +suggested itself in connection with it. This was nothing less than +that, while I lay in that swoon, I was in a conscious state outside +and independent of the body, and in that state received impressions +and exercised perceptive powers. For this extraordinary theory I had no +other evidence than the fact of my knowledge in the moment of awaking +that President Byxbee was coming up the stairs. But slight as this clue +was, it seemed to me unmistakable in its significance. That knowledge +was certainly in my mind on the instant of arousing from the swoon. It +certainly could not have been there before I fell into the swoon. I must +therefore have gained it in the mean time; that is to say, I must have +been in a conscious, percipient state while my body was insensible. + +If such had been the case, I reasoned that it was altogether unlikely +that the trivial impression as to President Byxbee had been the only one +which I had received in that state. It was far more probable that it had +remained over in my mind, on waking from the swoon, merely because it +was the latest of a series of impressions received while outside the +body. That these impressions were of a kind most strange and startling, +seeing that they were those of a disembodied soul exercising faculties +more spiritual than those of the body, I could not doubt. The desire +to know what they had been grew upon me, till it became a longing which +left me no repose. It seemed intolerable that I should have secrets from +myself, that my soul should withhold its experiences from my intellect. +I would gladly have consented that the acquisitions of half my waking +lifetime should be blotted out, if so be in exchange I might be shown +the record of what I had seen and known during those hours of which my +waking memory showed no trace. None the less for the conviction of its +hopelessness, but rather all the more, as the perversity of our human +nature will have it, the longing for this forbidden lore grew on me, +till the hunger of Eve in the Garden was mine. + +Constantly brooding over a desire that I felt to be vain, tantalized +by the possession of a clue which only mocked me, my physical condition +became at length affected. My health was disturbed and my rest at +night was broken. A habit of walking in my sleep, from which I had +not suffered since childhood, recurred, and caused me frequent +inconvenience. Such had been, in general, my condition for some time, +when I awoke one morning with the strangely weary sensation by which +my body usually betrayed the secret of the impositions put upon it in +sleep, of which otherwise I should often have suspected nothing. In +going into the study connected with my chamber, I found a number of +freshly written sheets on the desk. Astonished that any one should +have been in my rooms while I slept, I was astounded, on looking more +closely, to observe that the handwriting was my own. How much more than +astounded I was on reading the matter that had been set down, the reader +may judge if he shall peruse it. For these written sheets apparently +contained the longed-for but despaired-of record of those hours when +I was absent from the body. They were the lost chapter of my life; or +rather, not lost at all, for it had been no part of my waking life, but +a stolen chapter,--stolen from that sleep-memory on whose mysterious +tablets may well be inscribed tales as much more marvelous than this as +this is stranger than most stories. + +It will be remembered that my last recollection before awaking in my +bed, on the morning after the swoon, was of contemplating the coast of +Kepler Land with an unusual concentration of attention. As well as I +can judge,--and that is no better than any one else,--it is with the +moment that my bodily powers succumbed and I became unconscious that the +narrative which I found on my desk begins. + +Even had I not come as straight and swift as the beam of light that made +my path, a glance about would have told me to what part of the universe +I had fared. No earthly landscape could have been more familiar. I stood +on the high coast of Kepler Land where it trends southward. A brisk +westerly wind was blowing and the waves of the ocean of De La Bue were +thundering at my feet, while the broad blue waters of Christie Bay +stretched away to the southwest. Against the northern horizon, rising +out of the ocean like a summer thunder-head, for which at first I +mistook it, towered the far-distant, snowy summit of Mount Hall. + +Even had the configuration of land and sea been less familiar, I should +none the less have known that I stood on the planet whose ruddy hue is +at once the admiration and puzzle of astronomers. Its explanation I now +recognized in the tint of the atmosphere, a coloring comparable to the +haze of Indian summer, except that its hue was a faint rose instead +of purple. Like the Indian summer haze, it was impalpable, and without +impeding the view bathed all objects near and far in a glamour not to be +described. As the gaze turned upward, however, the deep blue of space +so far overcame the roseate tint that one might fancy he were still on +Earth. + +As I looked about me I saw many men, women, and children. They were in +no respect dissimilar, so far as I could see, to the men, women, and +children of the Earth, save for something almost childlike in the +untroubled serenity of their faces, unfurrowed as they were by any trace +of care, of fear, or of anxiety. This extraordinary youthful-ness +of aspect made it difficult, indeed, save by careful scrutiny, to +distinguish the young from the middle-aged, maturity from advanced +years. Time seemed to have no tooth on Mars. + +I was gazing about me, admiring this crimson-lighted world, and these +people who appeared to hold happiness by a tenure so much firmer than +men's, when I heard the words, "You are welcome," and, turning, saw that +I had been accosted by a man with the stature and bearing of middle +age, though his countenance, like the other faces which I had noted, +wonderfully combined the strength of a man's with the serenity of a +child's. I thanked him, and said,-- + +"You do not seem surprised to see me, though I certainly am to find +myself here." + +"Assuredly not," he answered. "I knew, of course, that I was to meet +you to-day. And not only that, but I may say I am already in a sense +acquainted with you, through a mutual friend, Professor Edgerly. He was +here last month, and I met him at that time. We talked of you and your +interest in our planet. I told him I expected you." + +"Edgerly!" I exclaimed. "It is strange that he has said nothing of this +to me. I meet him every day." + +But I was reminded that it was in a dream that Edgerly, like myself, +had visited Mars, and on awaking had recalled nothing of his experience, +just as I should recall nothing of mine. When will man learn to +interrogate the dream soul of the marvels it sees in its wanderings? +Then he will no longer need to improve his telescopes to find out the +secrets of the universe. + +"Do your people visit the Earth in the same manner?" I asked my +companion. + +"Certainly," he replied; "but there we find no one able to recognize us +and converse with us as I am conversing with you, although myself in +the waking state. You, as yet, lack the knowledge we possess of the +spiritual side of the human nature which we share with you." + +"That knowledge must have enabled you to learn much more of the Earth +than we know of you," I said. + +"Indeed it has," he replied. "From visitors such as you, of whom we +entertain a concourse constantly, we have acquired familiarity with your +civilization, your history, your manners, and even your literature and +languages. Have you not noticed that I am talking with you in English, +which is certainly not a tongue indigenous to this planet?" + +"Among so many wonders I scarcely observed that," I answered. + +"For ages," pursued my companion, "we have been waiting for you to +improve your telescopes so as to approximate the power of ours, after +which communication between the planets would be easily established. The +progress which you make is, however, so slow that we expect to wait ages +yet." + +"Indeed, I fear you will have to," I replied. "Our opticians already +talk of having reached the limits of their art." + +"Do not imagine that I spoke in any spirit of petulance," my companion +resumed. "The slowness of your progress is not so remarkable to us +as that you make any at all, burdened as you are by a disability so +crushing that if we were in your place I fear we should sit down in +utter despair." + +"To what disability do you refer?" I asked. "You seem to be men like +us." + +"And so we are," was the reply, "save in one particular, but there the +difference is tremendous. Endowed otherwise like us, you are destitute +of the faculty of foresight, without which we should think our other +faculties well-nigh valueless." + +"Foresight!" I repeated. "Certainly you cannot mean that it is given you +to know the future?" + +"It is given not only to us," was the answer, "but, so far as we know, +to all other intelligent beings of the universe except yourselves. Our +positive knowledge extends only to our system of moons and planets +and some of the nearer foreign systems, and it is conceivable that the +remoter parts of the universe may harbor other blind races like your +own; but it certainly seems unlikely that so strange and lamentable +a spectacle should be duplicated. One such illustration of the +extraordinary deprivations under which a rational existence may still be +possible ought to suffice for the universe." + +"But no one can know the future except by inspiration of God,'9 I said. + +"All our faculties are by inspiration of God," was the reply, "but there +is surely nothing in foresight to cause it to be so regarded more than +any other. Think a moment of the physical analogy of the case. Your eyes +are placed in the front of your heads. You would deem it an odd mistake +if they were placed behind. That would appear to you an arrangement +calculated to defeat their purpose. Does it not seem equally rational +that the mental vision should range forward, as it does with us, +illuminating the path one is to take, rather than backward, as with you, +revealing only the course you have already trodden, and therefore +have no more concern with? But it is no doubt a merciful provision of +Providence that renders you unable to realize the grotesqueness of your +predicament, as it appears to us." + +"But the future is eternal!" I exclaimed. "How can a finite mind grasp +it?" + +"Our foreknowledge implies only human faculties," was the reply. "It is +limited to our individual careers on this planet. Each of us foresees +the course of his own life, but not that of other lives, except so far +as they are involved with his." + +"That such a power as you describe could be combined with merely human +faculties is more than our philosophers have ever dared to dream," I +said. "And yet who shall say, after all, that it is not in mercy that +God has denied it to us? If it is a happiness, as it must be, to foresee +one's happiness, it must be most depressing to foresee one's sorrows, +failures, yes, and even one's death. For if you foresee your lives to +the end, you must anticipate the hour and manner of your death,--is it +not so?" + +"Most assuredly," was the reply. "Living would be a very precarious +business, were we uninformed of its limit. Your ignorance of the time +of your death impresses us as one of the saddest features of your +condition." + +"And by us," I answered, "it is held to be one of the most merciful." + +"Foreknowledge of your death would not, indeed, prevent your dying +once," continued my companion, "but it would deliver you from the +thousand deaths you suffer through uncertainty whether you can safely +count on the passing day. It is not the death you die, but these many +deaths you do not die, which shadow your existence. Poor blindfolded +creatures that you are, cringing at every step in apprehension of the +stroke that perhaps is not to fall till old age, never raising a cup to +your lips with the knowledge that you will live to quaff it, never sure +that you will meet again the friend you part with for an hour, +from whose hearts no happiness suffices to banish the chill of an +ever-present dread, what idea can you form of the Godlike security with +which we enjoy our lives and the lives of those we love! You have +a saying on earth, 'To-morrow belongs to God;' but here to-morrow +belongs to us, even as to-day. To you, for some inscrutable purpose, He +sees fit to dole out life moment by moment, with no assurance that each +is not to be the last. To us He gives a lifetime at once, fifty, sixty, +seventy years,--a divine gift indeed. A life such as yours would, I +fear, seem of little value to us; for such a life, however long, is but +a moment long, since that is all you can count on." + +"And yet," I answered, "though knowledge of the duration of your lives +may give you an enviable feeling of confidence while the end is far off, +is that not more than offset by the daily growing weight with which the +expectation of the end, as it draws near, must press upon your minds?" + +"On the contrary," was the response, "death, never an object of fear, +as it draws nearer becomes more and more a matter of indifference to the +moribund. It is because you live in the past that death is grievous to +you. All your knowledge, all your affections, all your interests, +are rooted in the past, and on that account, as life lengthens, +it strengthens its hold on you, and memory becomes a more precious +possession. We, on the contrary, despise the past, and never dwell upon +it. Memory with us, far from being the morbid and monstrous growth it is +with you, is scarcely more than a rudimentary faculty. We live wholly +in the future and the present. What with foretaste and actual taste, our +experiences, whether pleasant or painful, are exhausted of interest by +the time they are past. The accumulated treasures of memory, which you +relinquish so painfully in death, we count no loss at all. Our minds +being fed wholly from the future, we think and feel only as we +anticipate; and so, as the dying man's future contracts, there is less +and less about which he can occupy his thoughts. His interest in life +diminishes as the ideas which it suggests grow fewer, till at the last +death finds him with his mind a _tabula rasa_, as with you at birth. In +a word, his concern with life is reduced to a vanishing point before he +is called on to give it up. In dying he leaves nothing behind." + +"And the after-death," I asked,--"is there no: fear of that?" + +"Surely," was the reply, "it is not necessary for me to say that a fear +which affects only the more ignorant on Earth is not known at all to +us, and would be counted blasphemous. Moreover, as I have said, our +foresight is limited to our lives on this planet. Any speculation beyond +them would be purely conjectural, and our minds are repelled by +the slightest taint of uncertainty. To us the conjectural and the +unthinkable may be called almost the same." + +"But even if you do not fear death for itself," I said, "you have hearts +to break. Is there no pain when the ties of love are sundered?" + +"Love and death are not foes on our planet," was the reply. "There are +no tears by the bedsides of our dying. The same beneficent law which +makes it so easy for us to give up life forbids us to mourn the friends +we leave, or them to mourn us. With you, it is the intercourse you have +had with friends that is the source of your tenderness for them. With +us, it is the anticipation of the intercourse we shall enjoy which is +the foundation of fondness. As our friends vanish from our future with +the approach of their death, the effect on our thoughts and affections +is as it would be with you if you forgot them by lapse of time. As our +dying friends grow more and more indifferent to us, we, by operation of +the same law of our nature, become indifferent to them, till at the last +we are scarcely more than kindly and sympathetic watchers about the beds +of those who regard us equally without keen emotions. So at last God +gently unwinds instead of breaking the bands that bind our hearts +together, and makes death as painless to the surviving as to the dying. +Relations meant to produce our happiness are not the means also of +torturing us, as with you. Love means joy, and that alone, to us, +instead of blessing our lives for a while only to desolate them later +on, compelling us to pay with a distinct and separate pang for every +thrill of tenderness, exacting a tear for every smile." + +"There are other partings than those of death. Are these, too, without +sorrow for you?" I asked. + +"Assuredly," was the reply. "Can you not see that so it must needs +be with beings freed by foresight from the disease of memory? All the +sorrow of parting, as of dying, comes with you from the backward vision +which precludes you from beholding your happiness till it is past. +Suppose your life destined to be blessed by a happy friendship. If you +could know it beforehand, it would be a joyous expectation, brightening +the intervening years and cheering you as you traversed desolate +periods. But no; not till you meet the one who is to be your friend do +you know of him. Nor do you guess even then what he is to be to you, +that you may embrace him at first sight. Your meeting is cold and +indifferent. It is long before the fire is fairly kindled between you, +and then it is already time for parting. Now, indeed, the fire burns +well, but henceforth it must consume your heart. Not till they are dead +or gone do you fully realize how dear your friends were and how sweet +was their companionship. But we--we see our friends afar off coming +to meet us, smiling already in our eyes, years before our ways meet. +We greet them at first meeting, not coldly, not uncertainly, but with +exultant kisses, in an ecstasy of joy. They enter at once into the full +possession of hearts long warmed and lighted for them. We meet with that +delirium of tenderness with which you part. And when to us at last the +time of parting comes, it only means that we are to contribute to each +other's happiness no longer. We are not doomed, like you, in parting, to +take away with us the delight we brought our friends, leaving the ache +of bereavement in its place, so that their last state is worse +than their first. Parting here is like meeting with you, calm and +unimpassioned. The joys of anticipation and possession are the only food +of love with us, and therefore Love always wears a smiling face. With +you he feeds on dead joys, past happiness, which are likewise the +sustenance of sorrow. No wonder love and sorrow are so much alike +on Earth. It is a common saying among us that, were it not for the +spectacle of the Earth, the rest of the worlds would be unable to +appreciate the goodness of God to them; and who can say that this is not +the reason the piteous sight is set before us?" + +"You have told me marvelous things," I said, after I had reflected. "It +is, indeed, but reasonable that such a race as yours should look down +with wondering pity on the Earth. And yet, before I grant so much, I +want to ask you one question. There is known in our world a certain +sweet madness, under the influence of which we forget all that is +untoward in our lot, and would not change it for a god's. So far is +this sweet madness regarded by men as a compensation, and more than a +compensation, for all their miseries that if you know not love as +we know it, if this loss be the price you have paid for your divine +foresight, we think ourselves more favored of God than you. Confess that +love, with its reserves, its surprises, its mysteries, its revelations, +is necessarily incompatible with a foresight which weighs and measures +every experience in advance." + +"Of love's surprises we certainly know nothing," was the reply. "It +is believed by our philosophers that the slightest surprise would kill +beings of our constitution like lightning; though of course this is +merely theory, for it is only by the study of Earthly conditions that we +are able to form an idea of what surprise is like. Your power to endure +the constant buffetings of the unexpected is a matter of supreme +amazement to us; nor, according to our ideas, is there any difference +between what you call pleasant and painful surprises. You see, then, +that we cannot envy you these surprises of love which you find so +sweet, for to us they would be fatal. For the rest, there is no form of +happiness which foresight is so well calculated to enhance as that of +love. Let me explain to you how this befalls. As the growing boy begins +to be sensible of the charms of woman, he finds himself, as I dare say +it is with you, preferring some type of face and form to others. He +dreams oftenest of fair hair, or may be of dark, of blue eyes or brown. +As the years go on, his fancy, brooding over what seems to it the best +and loveliest of every type, is constantly adding to this dream-face, +this shadowy form, traits and lineaments, hues and contours, till at +last the picture is complete, and he becomes aware that on his heart +thus subtly has been depicted the likeness of the maiden destined for +his arms. + +"It may be years before he is to see her, but now begins with him one +of the sweetest offices of love, one to you unknown. Youth on Earth is a +stormy period of passion, chafing in restraint or rioting in excess. But +the very passion whose awaking makes this time so critical with you is +here a reforming and educating influence, to whose gentle and potent +sway we gladly confide our children. The temptations which lead your +young men astray have no hold on a youth of our happy planet. He hoards +the treasures of his heart for its coming mistress. Of her alone he +thinks, and to her all his vows are made. The thought of license would +be treasop to his sovereign lady, whose right to all the revenues of +his being he joyfully owns. To rob her, to abate her high prerogatives, +would be to impoverish, to insult, himself; for she is to be his, and +her honor, her glory, are his own. Through all this time that he dreams +of her by night and day, the exquisite reward of his devotion is the +knowledge that she is aware of him as he of her, and that in the inmost +shrine of a maiden heart his image is set up to receive the incense of +a tenderness that needs not to restrain itself through fear of possible +cross or separation. + +"In due time their converging lives come together. The lovers meet, +gaze a moment into each other's eyes, then throw themselves each on +the other's breast. The maiden has all the charms that ever stirred the +blood of an Earthly lover, but there is another glamour over her which +the eyes of Earthly lovers are shut to,--the glamour of the future. +In the blushing girl her lover sees the fond and faithful wife, in the +blithe maiden the patient, pain-consecrated mother. On the virgin's +breast he beholds his children. He is prescient, even as his lips take +the first-fruits of hers, of the future years during which she is to +be his companion, his ever-present solace, his chief portion of God's +goodness. We have read some of your romances describing love as you know +it on Earth, and I must confess, my friend, we find them very dull. + +"I hope," he added, as I did not at once speak, "that I shall not offend +you by saying we find them also objectionable. Your literature possesses +in general an interest for us in the picture it presents of the +curiously inverted life which the lack of foresight compels you to lead. +It is a study especially prized for the development of the imagination, +on account of the difficulty of conceiving conditions so opposed to +those of intelligent beings in general. But our women do not read your +romances. The notion that a man or woman should, ever conceive the idea +of marrying a person other than the one whose husband or wife he or she +is destined to be is profoundly shocking to our habits of thought. No +doubt you will say that such instances are rare among you, but if +your novels are faithful pictures of your life, they are at least not +unknown. That these situations are inevitable under the conditions of +earthly life we are well aware, and judge you accordingly; but it is +needless that the minds of our maidens should be pained by the knowledge +that there anywhere exists a world where such travesties upon the +sacredness of marriage are possible. + +"There is, however, another reason why we discourage the use of your +books by our young people, and that is the profound effect of sadness, +to a race accustomed to view all things in the morning glow of +the future, of a literature written in the past tense and relating +exclusively to things that are ended." + +"And how do you write of things that are past except in the past tense?" +I asked. + +"We write of the past when it is still the future, and of course in the +future tense," was the reply. "If our historians were to wait till after +the events to describe them, not alone would nobody care to read about +things already done, but the histories themselves would probably be +inaccurate; for memory, as I have said, is a very slightly developed +faculty with us, and quite too indistinct to be trustworthy. Should the +Earth ever establish communication with us, you will find our histories +of interest; for our planet, being smaller, cooled and was peopled ages +before yours, and our astronomical records contain minute accounts +of the Earth from the time it was a fluid mass. Your geologists and +biologists may yet find a mine of information here." + +In the course of our further conversation it came out that, as a +consequence of foresight, some of the commonest emotions of human nature +are unknown on Mars. They for whom the future has no mystery can, of +course, know neither hope nor fear. Moreover, every one being assured +what he shall attain to and what not, there can be no such thing as +rivalship, or emulation, or any sort of competition in any respect; and +therefore all the brood of heart-burnings and hatreds, engendered on +Earth by the strife of man with man, is unknown to the people of Mars, +save from the study of our planet. When I asked if there were not, after +all, a lack of spontaneity, of sense of freedom, in leading lives fixed +in all details beforehand, I was reminded that there was no difference +in that respect between the lives of the people of Earth and of Mars, +both alike being according to God's will in every particular. We knew +that will only after the event, they before,--that was all. For the +rest, God moved them through their wills as He did us, so that they had +no more dense of compulsion in what they did than we on Earth have +in carrying out an anticipated line of action, in cases where our +anticipations chance to be correct. Of the absorbing interest which +the study of the plan of their future lives possessed for the people +of Mars, my companion spoke eloquently. It was, he said, like the +fascination to a mathematician of a most elaborate and exquisite +demonstration, a perfect algebraical equation, with the glowing +realities of life in place of figures and symbols. + +When I asked if it never occurred to them to wish their futures +different, he replied that such a question could only have been asked by +one from the Earth. No one could have foresight, or clearly believe that +God had it, without realizing that the future is as incapable of being +changed as the past. And not only this, but to foresee events was to +foresee their logical necessity so clearly that to desire them different +was as impossible as seriously to wish that two and two made five +instead of four. No person could ever thoughtfully wish anything +different, for so closely are all things, the small with the great, +woven together by God that to draw out the smallest thread would unravel +creation through all eternity. + +While we had talked the afternoon had waned, and the sun had sunk below +the horizon, the roseate atmosphere of the planet imparting a splendor +to the cloud coloring, and a glory to the land and sea scape, never +paralleled by an earthly sunset. Already the familiar constellations +appearing in the sky reminded me how near, after all, I was to the +Earth, for with the unassisted eye I could not detect the slightest +variation in their position. Nevertheless, there was one wholly novel +feature in the heavens, for many of the host of asteroids which circle +in the zone between Mars and Jupiter were vividly visible to the naked +eye. But the spectacle that chiefly held my gaze was the Earth, swimming +low on the verge of the horizon. Its disc, twice as large as that of any +star or planet as seen from the Earth, flashed with a brilliancy like +that of Venus. + +"It is, indeed, a lovely sight," said my companion, "although to +me always a melancholy one, from the contrast suggested between the +radiance of the orb and the benighted condition of its inhabitants. We +call it 'The Blindman's World.'" As he spoke he turned toward a curious +structure which stood near us, though I had not before particularly +observed it. + +"What is that?" I asked. + +"It is one of our telescopes," he replied. "I am going to let you take +a look, if you choose, at your home, and test for yourself the powers +of which I have boasted;" and having adjusted the instrument to his +satisfaction, he showed me where to apply my eye to what answered to the +eye-piece. + +I could not repress an exclamation of amazement, for truly he had +exaggerated nothing. The little college town which was my home lay +spread out before me, seemingly almost as near as when I looked down +upon it from my observatory windows. It was early morning, and the +village was waking up. The milkmen were going their rounds, and workmen, +with their dinner-pails, where hurrying along the streets. The early +train was just leaving the railroad station. I could see the puffs from +the smoke-stack, and the jets from the cylinders. It was strange not to +hear the hissing of the steam, so near I seemed. There were the college +buildings on the hill, the long rows of windows flashing back the level +sunbeams. I could tell the time by the college clock. It struck me +that there was an unusual bustle around the buildings, considering +the earliness of the hour. A crowd of men stood about the door of the +observatory, and many others were hurrying across the campus in that +direction. Among them I recognized President Byxbee, accompanied by the +college janitor. As I gazed they reached the observatory, and, passing +through the group about the door, entered the building. The president +was evidently going up to my quarters. At this it flashed over me quite +suddenly that all this bustle was on my account. I recalled how it was +that I came to be on Mars, and in what condition I had left affairs +in the observatory. It was high time I were back there to look after +myself. + +Here abruptly ended the extraordinary document which I found that +morning on my desk. That it is the authentic record of the conditions of +life in another world which it purports to be I do not expect the reader +to believe. He will no doubt explain it as another of the curious freaks +of somnambulism set down in the books. Probably it was merely that, +possibly it was something more. I do not pretend to decide the question. +I have told all the facts of the case, and have no better means for +forming an opinion than the reader. Nor do I know, even if I fully +believed it the true account it seems to be, that it would have affected +my imagination much more strongly than it has. That story of another +world has, in a word, put me out of joint with ours. The readiness with +which my mind has adapted itself to the Martial point of view concerning +the Earth has been a singular experience. The lack of foresight among +the human faculties, a lack I had scarcely thought of before, now +impresses me, ever more deeply, as a fact out of harmony with the rest +of our nature, belying its promise,--a moral mutilation, a deprivation +arbitrary and unaccountable. The spectacle of a race doomed to walk +backward, beholding only what has gone by, assured only of what is past +and dead,' comes over me from time to time with a sadly fantastical +effect which I cannot describe. I dream of a world where love always +wears a smile, where the partings are as tearless as our meetings, and +death is king no more. I have a fancy, which I like to cherish, that +the people of that happy sphere, fancied though it may be, represent the +ideal and normal type of our race, as perhaps it once was, as perhaps it +may yet be again. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Blindman's World, by Edward Bellamy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLINDMAN'S WORLD *** + +***** This file should be named 22701.txt or 22701.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/7/0/22701/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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