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diff --git a/old/53193.txt b/old/53193.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 95c34dc..0000000 --- a/old/53193.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2796 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Intermere, by William Alexander Taylor - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Intermere - -Author: William Alexander Taylor - -Release Date: October 2, 2016 [EBook #53193] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INTERMERE *** - - - - -Produced by Ralph and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from -images generously made available by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - -Transcriber's Note: - - Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. - Punctuation and possible typographical errors have been changed. - Archaic and variable spelling have been preserved. - The Table of Contents has been added by the transcriber. - - - - -CONTENTS - - Page - - CHAPTER I - The tourist lost in mid-ocean is mysteriously introduced - into Intermere, and meets the first citizen and other chief - officials. 10 - - CHAPTER II - Xamas, the first citizen, explains the polity and principles - governing the Commonwealth and promoting the interests of all - the people of Intermere. 30 - - CHAPTER III - Maros places Anderton in communication with his mother, and - dissipates his superstitious ideas and otherwise enlightens him - as to the possibilities of science. 54 - - CHAPTER IV - A trip by air and land and water through the provinces, cities, - hamlets and gardens, with matchless beauty and enjoyment on - every hand. 73 - - CHAPTER V - The philosophy of life, and the faculty of its enjoyment as - personified in the persons and vocations of the entertainers. 95 - - CHAPTER VI - The secret of Intermere partially revealed to Anderton, and - when he least expects it he is restored to his home and kindred, - much to his regret. 119 - - CHAPTER VII - Le envoi. 148 - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - - INTERMERE. - - _BY - WILLIAM - ALEXANDER - TAYLOR,_ - - COLUMBUS, OHIO. - - 1901 - - - 1902 - - THE XX. CENTURY PUB. CO. - - - - - COPYRIGHT BY - WM. A. TAYLOR, - 1901. - - - - - THIS IS THE STRANGE AND REMARKABLE STORY, IN SUBSTANCE, AND LARGELY IN - DETAIL, AS NARRATED BY GILES HENRY ANDERTON, JOURNALIST AND AMERICAN - TOURIST. - - - - -I. - - THE TOURIST LOST IN MID-OCEAN IS MYSTERIOUSLY INTRODUCED INTO - INTERMERE, AND MEETS THE FIRST CITIZEN AND OTHER CHIEF OFFICIALS. - - - - -I. - -THE MISTLETOE. - - -The Mistletoe, staunch, trim and buoyant, steamed across the equator -under the glare of a midday sun from a fleckless sky, and began to -ascend toward the antarctic circle. - -Three days later we came in sight of a great bank of fog or mist, which -stood like a gray wall of stone across the entire horizon, plunged into -it and the sun disappeared--disappeared forever to all except one of -the gay and careless crew and passengers. - -For days, as was shown by the ship's chronometers, we steamed slowly on -our course, surrounded by an inky midnight, instinct with an oppressive -and fearsome calm. As we approached the fortieth parallel of south -latitude a remarkable change set in. The deathly calm was suddenly -broken by the rush of mighty and boisterous winds, sweeping now from -one point of the compass, and then suddenly veering to another, -churning up the waters and spinning the Mistletoe round and round like -a top. - -In the midst of the terror and confusion, heightened by the unheeded -commands of the officers, a glittering sheeny bolt, like a coruscating -column of steel, dropped straight from the zenith, striking the -gyrating Mistletoe amidships. - -There was a deafening report, the air was filled with serpentine lines -of flame, followed simultaneously by the dull explosion of the boilers, -the hissing of escaping steam, the groaning of cordage and machinery, -the lurching of the vessel as the water poured in apparently from a -score of openings, a shuddering vibration of all its parts, and then, -amid cries and prayers and imprecations, the wrecked vessel shot like -a plummet to the bottom. - -I felt myself being dragged down to the immeasurable watery depths, -confused with roaring sounds and oppressed with terrors indescribable -and horrible. The descent seemed miles and miles. Then I felt myself -slowly rising toward the surface, followed by legions of submarine -monsters of grotesque shapes and terrifying aspects. - -With accelerated motion I approached the surface and, shooting like a -cork above the now calm sea, fortunately fell upon a piece of floating -wreckage. Looking upward as I lay upon it, I saw the blue sky and -the brilliant stars far overhead. The fierce winds and inky darkness -and blackness of the night were disappearing beyond the northeastern -horizon. - -I tried to concentrate my scattered thoughts and piece out the awful -catastrophe that had befallen the ship and my companions, but the -effort was too great a strain and I ceased to think--perhaps I ceased -to exist. - - * * * * * - -I seemed to be passing through a vague twilight of sentient existence. -Thought was rudimentary with me, if, indeed, there were any thoughts. -They were mere sensations, perhaps, or impressions imperfectly shaped, -but I remember them now as being so delightful, that I prayed, in -a feeble way, that I might never be awakened from them. And then -gradually the senses of sight, hearing, and full physical and mental -existence returned to me. - -At length I was able to determine that I lay on something like a -hammock on the deck of a smoothly gliding vessel. Turning my head first -to the right and then to the left, I imagined that I was indeed in -Paradise, only the reality before me was so infinitely more beautiful -than the most vivid poetic descriptions I had ever read of the longed -for heaven of endless peace and happiness. But this could not be the -Paradise of the disembodied souls, for I realized I was there in all my -physical personal being. - -I was sailing through a smooth, shimmering sea, thickly studded with -matchlessly beautiful islands. They lay in charming profusion and -picturesque irregularity of contour on the right and the left, each a -distinct type of beauty and perfection. I could make out houses and -gardens and farms and people on each of them. - -Looking to the right I saw what appeared to be a mainland with majestic -and softly modulated mountains and broad valleys, running from the -distance down to the sands of the seashore. Above the mountains shone -the unobscured sun, but not the burning orb I had known of old in the -lower latitudes. It kissed me with a tenderness that was entrancing, -filling my weakened frame with new life. - -The breezes toyed with my tangled and unkempt locks, fanned my brow -and whispered such things to me as did the zephyrs when I stood upon -the threshold of guileless boyhood. - -Finally I was able to frame a consecutive thought, in the interrogative -form, and it was this: - -"Where am I? Is this the Heaven my mother taught me to seek?" - -I had as yet seen no one aboard the ship, or whatever it was, although -I had heard the hum of what seemed to be conversation from some point -beyond the line of vision. Again I silently repeated my mental question. - -As if in response to my unuttered query, a being, or a man, of striking -and pleasing appearance came to my side and laying his hand softly -on my forehead, addressed me in a tongue at once familiar but wholly -unknown, as paradoxical as that may sound. - -I remained silent and he again addressed me. - -I did not feel disconcerted or awed by his appearance and said: "I -speak French and German imperfectly; English with some fluency." - -His rejoinder was in English: "You speak English, but are not an -Englishman except by partial descent. You are an American. Not a native -of the eastern portion of the continent, but from west of the range of -mountains which separate the Atlantic seaboard from the great central -valley of the continent. You are from the tributary Ohio valley, and -are, therefore, better fitted to comprehend what you will be permitted -to see and hear, than the average habitant of the eastern seashore, -especially of its great cities." - -You can possibly imagine, in a faint way, my unbounded surprise to be -thus addressed by one who was more than a stranger to me. - -"You asked yourself two questions. I will answer the first: You are in -Intermere." - -"And where is Intermere?" - -"It lies at your feet and expands on every hand about you. Let that -suffice. - -"No, this is not the Heaven to which your mother taught you to aspire. -It is a part of your own planet, inhabited by beings sprung from the -same parent stock as yourself, but differing from all other nations -and peoples; a people who are many steps nearer to the higher and -better life, and is, by comparison, the Paradise or Eden that masks the -gateway of the true Heaven, in a sphere beyond in the great Universe." - -He motioned to some one, and two persons appeared with refreshments. - -"Partake," he said, "and renew your exhausted physical and mental -powers." - -The proffered refreshments and cordials seemed to be the acme of the -gustatorial dreams of my former life: the suggestion of other things, -yet unlike them. After I had partaken, a new life thrilled every nerve -and fibre of my physical being and pulsated through every mental -faculty. - -I arose from my recumbent position and was conducted forward upon the -softly carpeted deck and presented to a score of others who received me -with every token of marked respect, unkempt and bedraggled as I was. -They were men of unusual physique, a composite of the highest types of -the human race I had ever seen or read of. Each possessed a distinctive -mien and personality, as individuals, yet presenting a harmonious -whole, taken collectively. - -Xamas, as I afterward learned to know him, when I saw him presiding as -First Citizen over this wonderful people, said to his fellows: - -"This is Giles Henry Anderton, a citizen of the interior of the great -Republic of North America. I have fathomed him and know that he is -worthy our respect and considerate treatment. He has dreamed longingly -of the things whereof we know, and which he has never even recognized -as a possibility. It will be our mission to show him the grand -possibilities of human life before we restore him to his kindred and -friends. - -"Not understanding that Nature had lain all treasures worth possessing -in lavish profusion at his feet in his own land, and guided by merely -commercial instincts, he sought for paltry gold in distant lands and -seas, and, escaping the vortex of death, has been placed in our hands -for some great purpose. He will be addressed in the English tongue -until it is determined whether he is to be admitted to ours." - -This was spoken in a language absolutely unknown to me, and not a word -of which I was capable of framing, and yet I understood it as fully as -though spoken in English. So great was my amazement that he should know -my nativity, my name, my hopes, my ambitions and my purposes, I could -scarcely reply to the salutations extended to me. - -"Do not be surprised," said Xamas, reading my inmost thoughts, "at what -I say, nor need you ask how I became possessed of your history. All -that will be made plain to you hereafter." - -Turning to one who stood near, he said: "Conduct Mr. Anderton to my -apartments and see that he has proper 'tendance and is supplied with -suitable clothing." - -With that I was conducted below to a charming suite of apartments lying -amidships, bathed, was massaged and shaven by an attendant, as lofty -of mien as Xamas himself, and furnished with clothing suitable to the -company with which I was to mingle, not more unlike the workmanship -of my American tailor than his would be unlike the handiwork of his -French, English or German fellow-craftsmen, and yet so unlike all of -them as to fit perfectly into the ensemble of the habiliments of my new -friends. - -The ship, or Merocar, as I subsequently learned was its general -designation, was a marvellous affair, unlike any water craft I had -ever seen. Its length was fully one hundred and fifty feet, and its -greatest breadth thirty, gently sloping both to stem and stern, where -it rounded in perfect curves. The upper, or proper deck, extended over -all. The lower deck was a succession of suites and apartments, richly -but artistically furnished, opening from either side into a wide and -roomy aisle. All the work was so light, both the woods, and the metals, -that it seemed fragile and unsafe, but its great strength was shown by -the fact that none of its parts yielded to the weight or pressure upon -it. - -There was not a mast, a spar nor a sail on board. The light and richly -wrought hammocks swung on lithe and polished frames, apparently -intended to sustain the weight of fifty pounds, yet capable of -sustaining five or ten times as much. They were unprotected by -awnings. Sunlight rather than shade was apparently the desideratum. - -In some unaccountable way the long and lithe Merocar was propelled -at any desired rate of speed, and was turned, as on a pivot, at the -will of the man who acted as captain, pilot and engineer. There was -no steam, no furnace belching black volumes of smoke, no whirr of -machinery, no strain or creaking as the craft shot, sometimes swiftly, -sometimes slowly, through the rippling water. Even motion was not -perceptible to the physical senses. - -The captain-pilot-engineer did not tug at a wheel in his railed-in -apartment, elevated a few feet above the center of the upper deck. He -placed his hand upon the table before him and it shot forward with -incredible speed; he touched another point and it stood still, without -jar or vibration. A movement of the hand, and the prow of the Merocar -swept gracefully from north to east in less than its length, to pass -between two beautiful islets or round some sharp promontory. Hundreds -of other Merocars, differing in size and form, were visible. - -How they were propelled was so incomprehensible to me that I attributed -it to supernatural agencies. I learned that it was a simpler process -than the utilization of oars, or sails, or steam, which the progenitors -of these mariners had abandoned before the days of Tyre and Sidon and -Memphis and Thebes. - -Rejoining the company, I endeavored to carry on a conversation with -them, but I fear I made little headway, so deeply was I absorbed in the -wonderful panorama that lay before me. - -Raising my eyes from the shimmering, island-studded and beauty-bestrewn -sea to the blue above, I uttered an ejaculation of surprise at what I -beheld. There I saw "the airy navies" of which Tennyson had written -under the spell of an inspiration which must have been wafted from -this unknown land, but marred by the hostile environments of his own. - -Every quarter of the heavens disclosed graceful barques sailing hither -and thither, passing and repassing each other, gathering in groups, -filled with people, many of them holding mute communications with -my companions, as though friend were talking with friend, without -utterance, sign or gesture. - -"I am beyond the confines of earth," I said to Xamas. "This is a higher -and spiritual sphere, and I am not Giles Henry Anderton, but his -disembodied spirit." - -"You are at fault. You are within the mundane sphere, but with a -people infinitely in advance of yours--a people who, by evolutionary -processes, have unlocked a large proportion of the secrets of Nature -and the Universe, and turned them to ennobling ends, not to selfish -purposes. These facts will come to you in time, and you will be -convinced. - -"See," he continued, "the city is slowly coming into view across the -horizon." - -My glance followed to the point indicated, and I saw a city of -ineffable magnificence, softly rising from the bosom of the deep, as -though obedient to the wand of a master magician. - -Soon I could see that it swept around the broad semicircle of the bay, -many miles in extent and artistically perfect in contour, the land -rising gently from the strand into a grand and massive elevation, cut -into great squares and circles, and crowned with noble buildings, great -and small, in a style of architecture which embraced all the beauties -and none of the blemishes of European and American creations. It was -the full and perfect flower of the crude buds of other lands. - -For a time my companions remained silent as I contemplated the -entrancing scene and drank in its beauties. Then Xamas interrupted me: - -"Yesterday the allied armies of the Western Nations entered the capital -of China, and are now bivouacked in the Forbidden City, from which the -Empress, Emperor and Court have fled." - -I shook my head incredulously: - -"When I sailed from New York six months ago there was no thought of -war between any of the Western Nations and the Chinese Empire. Russia -may have invaded one of its provinces by way of reprisal. That is a -possibility." - -"Great events focus and transpire within six months. What I tell you is -true. The hostile standards of England, Russia, Germany, France, Japan, -and your own Republic, which has departed from its wise traditions, -flout the Yellow Dragon in the precincts of his own citadel and temple. -Is not this true, Maros?" turning to one who looked the prophet and -seer. - -"Aye, indeed, and the best loved of this man's kindred fell in the -assault. He will know if I am permitted to name him." - -"Shall he be permitted?" - -"Freely." - -"Albert Marshall, a sergeant of Marines, your playmate and foster -brother, the next beloved of your mother, the son of her deceased -sister; your mother reared him as her own son, and she knows, as -yet, nothing of the disaster which has befallen you nor the loss of -her foster son. He was of your own age, and like you tall, athletic -and vigorous, with fair hair and complexion and blue eyes, the very -counterpart of yourself--a man fit for a higher destiny than butchery." - -"O Albert! O unhappy, stricken mother!" I cried in agony. - -"Revered sir, I believe your words. They are absolutely convincing. -Tell me how you came into possession of this strange information." - -"In time; but be patient. Lament not for the dead; sorrow not for the -living. We must presently debark. Come to my garden tomorrow. It lies -within the shadow of the Temple of Thought, Memory and Hope. My home -is unpretentious, but you will be welcome. There is need that you -should come. Tomorrow your mother will be apprised of the death of your -kinsman; almost simultaneously will come rumors of your shipwreck. She -must be assured of your safety within twenty-four hours, if you hope to -meet her again." - -"But how can I com----" - -"Peace, patience; sufficient unto tomorrow is the labor and issue -thereof." - -The Merocar gently ran into its slip, and we debarked, Xamas carrying -me to his home in a vehicle of strange design and mysterious power of -propulsion. - - - - -II. - - XAMAS, THE FIRST CITIZEN, EXPLAINS THE POLITY AND PRINCIPLES GOVERNING - THE COMMONWEALTH AND PROMOTING THE INTERESTS OF ALL THE PEOPLE OF - INTERMERE. - - - - -II. - -THE FIRST CITIZEN. - - -I shall so far anticipate as to say that the city in which I found -myself was known as the Greater City, in contradistinction of the -Lesser City, lying at the opposite end of the inland sea or mere. - -This body of water extends in an oval shape or form north and south, -its length being approximately four hundred miles, and its greatest -width at the latitudinal center two hundred miles, gradually narrowing -toward the opposite extremes, where it gently expands into rounded -bays, forming the extended water fronts of both cities. - -The Greater City was clearly the original seat of the present -civilization, from which it extended southward along both shores until -it met at the southern apex and became the Lesser City. I was able, -however, to distinguish but little, if any, difference between the two. - -The twelve hundred miles of shore line is studded with farms, gardens, -towns, villages, hamlets, private residences and public edifices, -extending over highland and plain, as far as I was permitted to see, -toward the outer boundaries, the location and character of which I can -not even conjecture. - -Many rivers, limpid and sparkling, coming through level and spreading -valleys, and from almost every point, contribute their waters to the -mere. - -The current of the mere is phenomenal--not violent, but distinctively -marked. Twice within every twenty-four hours it sweeps entirely -around the oval, affecting one-half of the mere as it moves. With the -early hours of the morning and evening it sweeps from north to south -throughout the eastern, and with noon and midnight through the western -half of the sea. - -This current may be described as anti- or trans-tidal; that is, the -general water level falls or is lowered on the side where the current -runs, and rises correspondingly in the opposite half. - -The effect is this: From 6 a. m. to 12 noon and from 6 p. m. to -midnight, throughout the eastern half, the tide runs in from those -rivers falling in from the east, and correspondingly rises and moves -inland in those falling in from the west, and then the current flows -north on the western side from 12 noon to 6 p. m. and from midnight to -6 a. m., so that for half the time the rivers on either side ebb or -flow into the sea, and for the other twelve hours rise and flow to the -interior, east or west as the case may be. - -The effect of this is singular indeed, or it was to me. The rivers -appear to run inland from the sea a part of the time, and then run from -the landward into the sea for twelve hours, or an equal period, while -the sea itself appears to be a subdivided river forever flowing in an -elongated circle along the opposite shores. - -The description of the Egyptian high priest, carefully guarded by his -successors for nine thousand years, then revealed to Solon, and by -Solon narrated to Plato, and by Plato transmitted to the modern world, -must have had its basis here. Is not this the Atlantis which enthralled -the Egyptian sage, philosopher and priest more than ten cycles ago? - -To the Egyptian the ever-flowing rivers returned to their common source -through valleys and landscapes of ravishing beauty, renewing themselves -forever. They laved the feet of cities, irrigated the endless -succession of farms, gardens and residential demesnes, and mirrored the -mountains, clothed with perpetual verdure and crowned with the stately -monuments of genius, wisdom, art, civilization, learning and human -progress, a century of centuries agone. - - * * * * * - -I have spoken of the singular vehicle in which, with Xamas, I left -the pier and ascended the gentle slope into the city. It might be -likened, faintly however, to the best types of our automobiles. But the -comparison would be much like that between the ox-cart and the landau. - -It more resembled a double-seated chair set upon several small elastic -wheels, scarcely visible beneath the rich trappings which dropped -almost to the smooth street, as scrupulously clean as a ballroom floor. - -Xamas pushed a tiny lever, almost hidden in the rich upholstery of the -arm-rest, and it moved swiftly and noiselessly forward without jar or -oscillation. A delicate and a deftly concealed spring guided it along -the graceful curves of the streets, or sent it at a right angle when -the streets crossed at tangents. - -An adjustment lowered the speed to a strolling pace; another movement -gave a high speed, while the reversal of the lever brought us to a -standstill that I might silently admire some stately architectural pile -or revel in the contemplation of some lovely private home. - -As we journeyed Xamas said: "Ask with all frankness such questions as -you desire. Wisdom is the child of patience, so be neither impatient, -if the answer is not immediate, or if it is at first incomprehensible. -It will be some time before your understanding can grasp all that you -see or all that you hear. - -"Your people undertake the impossible feat of putting a gallon of grain -into a pint vase. Result: The vase is crushed and broken and the grain -is spilled and lost. The human mind is the vase; Knowledge is the -grain, from which Wisdom will germinate. The vase expands by a process -too subtle for your comprehension. To crowd it beyond its capacity -with the idea of expanding its receptiveness is a dangerous and fatal -folly. That is why mental dwarfs multiply and mental giants diminish in -proportion to the increase of your people. Two things are uppermost in -your mind: - -"First, you believe you are in a supernatural sphere and surrounded by -a supernatural people. In this you are absolutely at fault. Accept this -assurance without reservation. You will tarry with us long enough to -fully comprehend that fact. You will see nothing during your stay that -can not be accounted for on natural and scientific grounds. - -"Second, you are consumed with curiosity to know how I propel this -Medocar and make it obey my every wish, so to speak. The full -explanation of that I shall delegate to another, who will acquaint you -with our mechanisms and the principle that moves them. - -"When you have patiently and intelligently listened to him you will -know that we have achieved what your wisest and deepest and least -appreciated thinkers have but vaguely dreamed of and hoped for during -long and intermittent periods. But here we are at my residence. Let us -enter and I will introduce you to my family and friends." - -The Medocar halted with the last word in front of a two-storied, -many-gabled house with broad verandas, situated in the center of -spacious grounds, beautified with trees and shrubs and flowers and -bubbling fountains. - -Ushering me into a spacious reception hall, he presented me to his wife -and children--grown-up sons and daughters--and then to a number of -men and women who had called to greet him, some on social affairs and -some on matters of public business, concluding with: "Mr. Anderton is -a castaway from the other side of the world, who is entitled to our -sympathy and care." - -If my newly made acquaintances were curious as to my being, personality -and history, they had masterful control of their feelings. In all -things they treated me with the most refined courtesy and gentle -consideration. They did not embarrass me with expressions of pity or -consolatory suggestions. - -They addressed me in my own language, made me feel that I was welcome -to their society. Each extended an invitation to me to visit them at -their homes, some of them in distant provinces, and these invitations -were gratefully accepted. There could be no mistaking the deep -sincerity they implied. - -After an hour's pleasant conversation on many and varied subjects with -my host and his guests, Xamas led me to a suite of apartments intended -for my use, and said: - -"Attendants will provide you with refreshments and ascertain your -every want. Rest and fully recuperate. Later in the day I shall explain -to you the polity of our Commonwealth, in which I perceive you are -deeply interested." - -What a remarkable man! He seemed to read my inmost thoughts. - - * * * * * - -As the sun was hanging like a softly beaming lamp above a cone-like -mountain beyond the western line of the Greater City, Xamas and I were -alone upon an open veranda, overgrown with clambering vines of many -kinds in full bloom, radiant with exquisite colors and shades. He -abruptly said to me: - -"This Commonwealth is a pure democracy. Titles and offices confer no -merely meretricious distinctions. They temporarily impose additional -responsibilities, duties and burdens; the chief distinction of the -citizen is conferred by labor, for labor is honorable and praiseworthy -above all things else. The second is justice. When and where all men -labor and all men are just, there can be no wrong, no sin, no evil. -Where there is labor and not justice, the strong enjoy, the weak suffer -and endure, opulence flourishes for the few, pain and poverty afflict -the many. Where there is neither labor nor justice, where might makes -right, barbarism in its worst form curses the land. - -"The ascent from the third condition to the first is a highway leading -through the second, where labor is oppressed and justice is a stranger, -until at last justice and labor join hands and produce a happy and a -great people. I touch only on the three cardinal points. The process of -ascent is slow and purely evolutionary--an evolution that constantly -conforms itself to ever-changing environments. - -"Your own so-called Declaration of Independence, which so many of your -people do not care to comprehend, was drawn from the keystone of our -own national arch--Human Equality, the climax of human civilization -and happiness. - -"Thousands of years before the feet of the more modern Europeans trode -the soil of your continent we had reached this point, and discovered -that we had but reached the initial period of our usefulness and higher -destiny. - -"It required centuries to expel first the animal instincts, and then -the barbarian nature from our race, not by savage repression and -ruthless aggression and slaughter, but by the study and application of -the laws of Nature and the Universe, which at last ultimated in the -principle and entity of Brotherhood and the equality of all men--not -equality of stature, mental equipment or material endowment, but the -equality of common rights and common opportunities. Labor and Justice -maintain and preserve this equality and Brotherhood. - -"Thousands of years before Magna Charta we had founded our -Commonwealth on the great principles of human equality and the right of -life, liberty and the pursuit of rational happiness, and my ancestors, -comprehending the profound laws of Nature unknown to yours, wafted -to them these precious seed, trusting that they would fall on genial -and generous soil, and the inspiration thus transmitted through the -agency of our progenitors was inscribed by yours upon rescript of your -national autonomy. - -"Its growth, once so promising, has become painful and pitiable. The -upas of human greed and selfishness withers it, and the prophecy -of bloom and fruitage is unfulfilled. The animal instinct and the -barbarous appetite which reaches after the gaud and tinsel of excessive -wealth and accumulation, the two aggressive forms of selfishness -combined in one, hold civilization and human progress in check, and may -in your case, as in a thousand others, lead back to the fen and morass -of primal barbarism. - -"No, this is not the Paradise of Socialism, as you call it," said he, -interpreting the thread of my thought. "That is but an idle dream, the -recrudescence of primal, undeveloped and undesirable conditions, which -occasionally flashes through irresolute minds, unfitted to solve the -great problem of human existence and happiness. - -"This is the land of absolute individuality as well as absolute -equality. Every man who reaches maturity becomes the individual owner -of property in one or more of its forms, the foundation being the soil -for residence or productive purposes, or both, at his option. All lands -are subject to individual ownership, within clearly defined limits, the -public domain being held in reserve to meet new demands of increasing -population. It is the common property of all until it passes into -individual ownership, to be used for agricultural or other purposes, -under fixed rules, a specific proportion of the product, or its -equivalent, being turned into the common treasury, to prosecute public -improvements and for other public purposes. - -"This stands in lieu of taxation in other countries, and it is only -on rare occasions that it is necessary to supplement it with a direct -tax on the people, except as to the municipal and provincial taxes for -local purposes, in which case each man of mature age, or twenty-five -years, pays the one hundredth part of his earnings monthly into the -treasury, the sum thus paid being evenly divided between the treasuries -of the province and municipal division. When a surplus equal to the -previous year's expenditures accumulates this tax is remitted for the -ensuing year. - -"A man may own a home and a separate farm or garden, or business or -manufacturing site; nor may he engage in more than one business or -employment, except the public service, at the same time. He may change -from one line of business to another, but may not buy or sell real -estate for mere speculation. He may not acquire property other than his -earnings until he reaches maturity, and designs to marry and become the -head of a family. If his intent fail, or remains unfulfilled for three -years, the home thus acquired becomes public property, and may be sold -to another who assumes the marital relation, and the proceeds divided -equally between the municipal treasury or bank and the former owner. - -"Residences may be exchanged, as may farms, gardens, business sites -and factories, including the line of business or manufacturing, but -neither may be alienated by the owner, except with the approval of -the Custodian of the Municipality upon a satisfactory showing of the -reasons therefor. - -"All persons of both sexes must take up an occupation at the age of -twenty, and continue therein, or in some other occupation, until sixty -years of age, unless incapacitated, and deposit in the municipal bank -or treasury at least one-twentieth of their monthly earnings. At sixty -they may retire from active life, and their accumulations are subject -to their wants and demands under salutary rules. The residue, along -with their other personal property, is distributed pro rata among their -direct descendants, and if there be none, in is turned into the general -treasury of the Commonwealth. - -"Women are entitled to their earnings, but may not own real estate, -the policy being that men shall be the home-makers and women the -home-keepers. The wife is entitled to the prevailing wage from her -husband for attending to his household affairs, in addition to the -other provisions for household matters and economies which he must -make. - -"Under our system there is neither opulence nor poverty in the -land. Great wealth has no existence with us, and therefore has no -allurements. Charity is not a gaunt pack-horse, overloaded with -offerings which come after the eleventh hour. The equality of -opportunity closes every inlet to the wolves of Hunger and Poverty -which ravage other lands amid the riotous revelry of the unjustly -opulent. We have had, at intervals, persons who rebelled, through -recurrent heredity perhaps, against our admirable system, and to them -we administer lex dernier--they are transported to some other land, by -methods known only to ourselves, there to mingle with a new people, -with but a faint conception of their nativity. They constitute those -mysterious beings found in all other countries, whose origin is forever -hidden, and as a rule they are excellent and strangely wise citizens, -for they are permitted to carry with them much of the knowledge, with -some of the wisdom, of their ancestry." - -I shall abbreviate much that Xamas gave in great detail. From him -I learned that every male is entitled to participate in all public -affairs, including the right of franchise. All are eligible to office. -The Commonwealth is composed of twenty-four provinces, each province -being composed of twelve municipal divisions. - -The elective officers are, in their order: 1. First Citizen of the -Commonwealth. 2. Chief Citizen of the Province. 3. Custodian of the -Municipality. - -The First Citizen is the executive head of the Commonwealth, serves -but a single year, and is not eligible to re-election. The Chief -Citizens, or executives of the provinces, constitute his Board of -Counselors to determine all matters affecting the public welfare and to -select the various Curators of the divisional interests of the entire -Commonwealth. They meet to perform these duties twice each year, -alternating between the Greater and Lesser Cities. - -The Chief Citizens are the executive heads of the Provinces, the -Custodians of the Municipalities constituting their respective Boards -of Counsellors. They, too, meet twice each year to consider and -determine matters of provincial interest, and to decide all questions -of difference which may come up from the Municipalities. Their tenure -of office is two years, and they are not eligible to re-election. - -The Custodians are the sole heads of the Municipalities, and decide all -questions arising therein, and appeal lies from their decisions to the -Provincial Board of Counsellors, who determine the question finally. -They hold the office three years, and may not be re-elected. The above -officials appoint all the necessary clerical and other assistants -necessary to carry out the duties imposed on them. - -None of the elective officers receive salaries, but are allowed out of -their respective treasuries 20 media per day for all necessary expenses. - -The media is equivalent to 20 cents American currency, and is the -unit of exchange. It is divided into four equal parts, the coin being -designated quatro, while a third coin, equivalent to 5 media, is -denominated cinque, so that the three coins are quatro, silver; media, -gold; and cinque, gold and platinum in equal parts, of nearly equal -size and weight, representing five, twenty, and one hundred cents of -our currency, and nearly the size of an American quarter-dollar. - -Twenty media is the wage of the master artisan, and 15 media the wage -of all other males. Females receive a wage of from 8 to 15 media. The -master artisan's wage is the compensation of all official assistants -in whatever capacity, as well as the expense allowance of the actual -officials. - -In addition to the above officials of the Commonwealth there are: -Curator of Revenues; Curator of Works and Polity; Curator of Learning -and Progress; Curator of Scientific Research and Application, and -Curator of Useful Mechanical Devices. Their duties are suggested by -their titles. They receive the expense allowance, no salaries, are -chosen for terms of seven years, ineligible to a second term, by the -First Citizen and his Counsellors, and appoint their own subordinates -and assistants. - -There is a Curator of Revenue appointed by the Chief Citizen of each -Province to care for the provincial, and by the Municipal Custodian to -care for the Municipal revenues. - -The marriageable age of men is from 25 to 30, and women from 20 to -25. The offspring of the marriage relation varies from two to six, -seldom less than two, or more than six, the average being four, hence -population increases slowly, while the great majority live from 80 to -100 years, retaining both physical and mental faculties to the last. - -"There is no mercenary incentive to hold office," said Xamas, "and it -is absolutely open to all, and men leave it, not with regret, but with -the consciousness of having performed a necessary duty and service. -Three months hence I will leave the chief office of the State, and -resume my occupation as mechanical engineer under one with whom I have -been for a score or more of years. He is now my Secretary, but that is -nothing unusual. It is a leading part of our history. - -"But it is time for rest. You have an important engagement with Maros, -our Curator of Scientific Research and Application, tomorrow morning, -and he exacts promptitude." - - - - -III. - - MAROS PLACES ANDERTON IN COMMUNICATION WITH HIS MOTHER, AND DISSIPATES - HIS SUPERSTITIOUS IDEAS AND OTHERWISE ENLIGHTENS HIM AS TO THE - POSSIBILITIES OF SCIENCE. - - - - -III. - -A DAY WITH MAROS. - - -I called on Maros, the Curator of Scientific Research and Application, -as per appointment, and found him surrounded with everything calculated -to contribute to the enjoyments of earthly existence. His residence -differed in many respects from that of Xamas. All its appointments -and environments were in the most exquisite taste. But this may be -said, once for all, of every private residence and public edifice in -Intermere. The taste of architects and occupants differed, but all were -on lines of beauty, comfort and convenience. - -There is no luxury in Intermere, as we use the term. Luxury is a -merely comparative term in the rest of the world, distinguishing -those who have much from those who have little or nothing. Here every -rational taste is gratified in all particulars. The people have clearly -discovered the hidden springs of Nature's kindly intentions toward man, -and utilize them at individual and collective will. - -"You are prompt," said Maros, seating me in his study. "Let us proceed -with the matter in which you are interested." - -He placed before me a perfectly drawn map of a section of the United -States, embracing the place of my nativity, and asked me to point out -the exact vicinity of my mother's home. I found it readily. - -"The point you now occupy is the lineal opposite. Turn to the point, or -direction, you have designated, and direct your concentrated thought -there. If a responsive impression comes to you, communicate its purport -to me." - -I sat in silent thought a few moments, Maros closely regarding me. - -"I am impressed that my mother is prostrated with grief; that she has -just learned of the death of my kinsman; that rumors of the loss of -the Mistletoe have reached her, being first cabled from Singapore to -New York, and from thence transmitted to the press, and that she is -impressed with the belief that I, too, am dead. I fear that she will -not survive the double shock." - -"Frame such a thought as you would wish impressed upon your mother's -consciousness and faith, and tell me what follows." - -This is the thought I framed: "Mother, I am alive and well in an -unknown land, surrounded by kind friends, and will ere long return to -you." - -Later to Maros: "I am convinced. My mother has partially recovered from -the shock. My death would have been the fatal blow. She smiles with -pious resignation, through the tempest of her grief, and extends her -arms as if to embrace me. This, however, is wholly an impression; I -do not see or hear her, but we seem to stand face to face, and both -realize it." - -"Give yourself no further concern, nor seek further communication with -her until you meet her in person. She knows you are alive and will -return to her. Nothing she will hear will change that belief." - -"Tell me by what divine or celestial power I am thus enabled to project -my thoughts across unknown seas and continents, and receive responsive -thoughts. Only supernatural agencies could accomplish this." - -"You have what you call the telephone?" - -"Yes." - -"You communicate alike with friends and strangers hundreds of miles -distant in an ordinary tone of voice?" - -"Yes." - -"Is that supernatural?" - -"No; it is the result of scientific achievement and natural phenomena." - -"Would one, coming out of the depths of absolute ignorance of -scientific achievement, as you call it, regard it as a supernatural -agency?" - -"He undoubtedly would." - -"What would you think of his conclusion?" - -"That it was the result of superstition." - -"And yet you who have just stepped out of the dawn into the full day; -you who have transmitted uttered thoughts to remote distances through -a coarse steel or copper wire and received other uttered thoughts in -return, regard with superstitious awe, as supernatural, what you have -just experienced. Wherein do you differ from the untutored barbarian?" - -I sat in silence. - -"The telephone wire is to the thread of sentient thought which may span -the universe itself, what the horseback mail-rider is to your modern -methods of communication--what the earliest dawn is to the full day." - -Maros explained at full length how he became possessed of the knowledge -of my identity, family connections and my misfortunes, summing up: - -"When you were found in the remote and outer ocean and brought within -the precincts of Intermere, you were physically unconscious, but still -possessing partially dormant mental faculties; that is, you continued -to think feebly and intermittently. We traced your two intermittent -lines of thought to your mother in America, and to, or rather toward, -your kinsman at some unknown point. Tracing again to your parent we -learned that Marshall had accompanied the American expedition to -China from Manila. Following this clew, we ascertained that he had -been killed, and that that fact would reach his home in due course, -as well as the fact that information of the loss of your ship would -reach America almost simultaneously. What your mother now regards -as premonitions of impending evil or misfortunes were communications -with her consciousness, far more refined and perfect than the -subsequent cable communications, but quite as natural, and in no sense -supernatural." - -"This is indeed amazing!" I exclaimed. - -He further said that this was an individual case and purely the -result of my condition. "We do not seek, as a rule, knowledge of -individualities in the outside world, but confine our inquiries -to matters of general moment. We know of the steps of progress, -retrogression, of savagery and butchery and wrong and oppression which -dominate an embryotic civilization. Amuse yourself for a time with the -pictures and tapestries, and I will give you a record of the outer -world's important matters of yesterday." - -He opened a cabinet, and assumed the mien of expectant inquiry and -meditation. Soon his hands began to move with rhythmic rapidity over -the curiously inlaid center of the flat surface of the open cabinet. -At the end of ten or fifteen minutes his manipulations ceased, a -compartment above noiselessly opened, and eight beautifully printed -pages, four by six inches, bound in the form of a booklet, fell upon -the table. - -It was printed in characters more graceful than our own Roman letters, -from which they might have been evolved, or the Roman Alphabet might -have deteriorated from what appeared before me. The English language -was not used, and yet I could readily read and comprehend the lines. -The pages before me comprised a compendium of yesterday's doings of the -entire world, and included a note of my own case. - -They told of all the military operations in China, in the Philippines, -in South Africa, in the far East and in the remote West; of labor -troubles in the mining districts of America; the strike of the textile -operatives on our Atlantic border; the unrest of the Finns and Slavs; -of plots and counterplots, and political assassination and revolution, -attempted or accomplished, and the full catalogue of such happenings, -with now and then a flash of loftier civilization. - -"What you read is being reproduced in every divisional municipality of -the Commonwealth, with such a number of instantaneous duplications as -may be required for the perusal and study of all who desire to compare -tinseled and ornamented barbarism with true civilization. - -"Selfishness, oppression, slaughter, pride, conquest, greed, vanity, -self-adulation and base passions make up ninety-nine one-hundredths -of this record. What a commentary on such humanity! To it love, -brotherhood and mutual helpfulness are too trivial for serious -consideration. - -"The nations and their rulers, differing somewhat as to degree, stand -for organized and dominant wrong, based primarily on selfishness--the -exact reverse of the conditions that should exist." - -"This," said I, still contemplating the pages, "compares with our -newspapers." - -"As two objects may compare with each other as to bulk or form, -but in no other respect. This is to promote wisdom. The newspaper -to feed vicious or depraved appetite, as well as to convey useful -information. This is the cold, colorless, passionless record of facts -and information, from which knowledge and wisdom may be deduced to -some extent. Your newspaper is the opposite, taken in its entirety. It -consists of the inextricable mingling together of the good and the bad, -of the useful and the useless, and the elevating and the degrading, -the latter always in the ascendant. - -"It foments discord instead of promoting profitable discussion, which -is the bridle-path leading into the highway of wisdom. It is built upon -the cornerstone of selfishness, the other name of commercialism, and is -thoroughly imbued with the spirit of greed. - -"It caters to the public demand regardless of the spirit or the -depravity behind it. 'Quatro! Quatro! Quatro!' is the burden of -its cry, and for quatro it is willing to lead the world forward or -backward, as the case may be. It has been growing in stature and -retrograding in usefulness for fifty years throughout the world, in all -save increasing facilities, and avidity for pandering to the worst and -most uncivilized propensities of mankind, and it will probably continue -to grow worse for a century to come. - -"Fifty years ago it was blindly controversial, but there was enough of -reason in its discussions to give hope for the future. Now it is a -mere mental and moral refuse car, and its so-called religious form is -devoted only to a more refined class of refuse, if that expression is -allowable. - -"As a whole, it represents classes and not the whole community; -prejudices, and not principles; it advocates selfish, not general -interests; it panders to petty jealousies; it indulges in tittle-tattle -in mere wantonness, and has no aim save the grossly materialistic." - -I winced under his fierce arraignment and invective, for I am a -newspaper man myself. - -"I know that I have touched you in a sensitive spot, but I speak of -the newspaper in a general sense. There are worthy exceptions, despite -all the untoward environments; but, unfortunately, their influence -is limited. Your masses read and re-read accounts of how two beings -beat each other out of human semblance on a wager, and pass, unread -and unnoticed, the best thoughts of your greatest scientists and -profoundest thinkers. It is not the canaille who do this alone, but -your statesmen and rulers, men of large affairs and men of the learned -professions." - -I turned the conversation, saying: - -"It is incomprehensible to me how you produced this record of events in -so short a time and without apparent mechanical or physical effort." - -"Doubtless, but not more incomprehensible to you than your linotype -machines and perfecting press would have been to Gutenberg. And your -discoveries and inventions would be no more incomprehensible to him -than would his types and crude multiplying press be to the papyrus -writers, scriveners and hieroglyphants of the earlier world. - -"The transition from the work of the papyrians to the achievements of -the Intermereans is the result of that evolution known as scientific -research into Nature's beneficence, in which mechanical invention is -a mere incident, and its application to a high, unselfish and noble -purpose, instead of selfish, base and ignoble ends. - -"We had outstripped your present ideals ages before the Chinese began -block printing, or Gutenberg fashioned his types and press. Both -these, as well as your own advanced mechanism, as well as your every -other great achievement in science and research, were the result of -the thought-seed sown or diffused from this land, but which fell on -absolutely barren soil, or only grew in puny or defective forms, far -short of ripening or maturity. - -"Your Franklin comprehended the supreme and all-pervading power and -genius of the Universe, the knowledge of and the power to utilize which -makes man godlike, but the dense ignorance and gross materialism of his -day prevented him from enlightening his people. - -"Your Morse conceived and executed the scheme of telegraphic signals -cycles after we had discarded it. - -"Your nameless and unknown discoverers, whose weak but apprehending -genius was utilized by Bell, gave you the telephone ages after it had -been supplanted here by our more nearly perfect system of intelligent -communication with the entire terrestrial world, and we are now -exploring, with it, the adjacent systems of the Universe with promising -results. - -"Your Edison and other electrical discoverers are more than a cycle -behind us, and have as yet but touched the outer surface of the great -secret. To them and to others the current of the Universe is a constant -menace and a danger. To us it as gentle and as harmless as the flowers -that bloom by the wayside, and responds to our every wish and use with -absolute tractability. - -"The fault of the rest of the world is that all great discoveries, -all the unlockings of Nature's treasure-house, are turned to selfish -ends, to the aggrandizement of the few, and the detriment, if not the -oppression, of the many; hence civil commotions, wars, tyrannies, the -insolence of opulence, and the failure to carry forward the process of -civilization and the elevation of the race by the unselfish application -of attained wisdom. The barbarian spirit of Self is dominant. - -"You were about to ask if you might carry this record home. No. You -will be permitted to inspect it and others similar during your sojourn, -and carry their remembrance with you, and thus be enabled to compare -them with your own current records of contemporaneous dates; but that -is all. - -"The Western nations have opened their own gates and invited eventual -destruction by this apparently temporary invasion of the East. This -war, if it may be so called, will be of short duration, followed -by the oppression inseparable from selfish greed, commercialism and -the love of conquest and arbitrary power which compels the unwilling -obedience of peoples. - -"But the 400,000,000 Chinese and affiliated races, are more insidiously -dangerous than you know. They will cultivate the seed now being sown, -and prepare the dragon's harvest of blood. In the remoter provinces -they will soon breed soldiers and captains, who will eclipse the bloody -and destructive achievements of Genghis Khan and Tamerlane, profiting -by your present superior knowledge of mechanism and the arts of war, -which they will appropriate and assimilate, and turn to terrible final -account. - -"The commercial greed of the West will be the enemy of the Western -peoples themselves. It will fit and arm the aroused avengers for their -world-wide invasion and conflict. Selfish capitalists will do this -in spite of all inhibitions, under the plea of creating prosperous -conditions and extending commerce, and their people and their posterity -will perish by the enginery which selfish commercial greed placed in -the hands of their enemies." - -Maros presented me to another official, and politely dismissed me to -visit the places of interest in the city. Upon my return to America -I compared the contemporaneous history of the world with the daily -records I had been permitted to inspect, the remembrance of which -I vividly retained, and found every fact therein to be absolutely -correct. - - - - -IV. - - A TRIP BY AIR AND LAND AND WATER THROUGH THE PROVINCES, CITIES, - HAMLETS AND GARDENS, WITH MATCHLESS BEAUTY AND ENJOYMENT ON - EVERY HAND. - - - - -IV. - -A TOUR OF SIGHT-SEEING. - - -What a wonderful land is Intermere, and what a wonderful people live -and enjoy life in it to the full! - -Twenty days of visiting ten of the interior provinces, bordering -on the mere, was more like a dream of happiness, sight-seeing and -indescribable enjoyment to me than a reality. For reasons not explained -to me I was not carried into the fourteen remaining provinces, which -evidently lay in all directions toward the exterior borders of the -land. I rather suspect that this was because it might have enabled me -to form some definite idea of the geographical location of Intermere. - -What I saw and experienced I still retain as a beautiful and -ineffaceable memory, but it is a picture I can not wholly reproduce or -describe in anything like complete details. I can at best only give the -impressions I still retain. - -The delightful journey was under the direction of Karmas, the Custodian -of Works and Polity, accompanied by other chief officers, and the -officials of the provinces, the title and character of which had -already been given me by Xamas. - -They have three modes of travel: by Medocar, by Aerocar, and by -Merocar. By the first you travel on land; by the second through the -air; by the third on the water. While these vehicles of transportation -are divided into three general classes as designated, they comprise -thousands of beautiful and curious designs, upon which individual names -are bestowed, as we bestow names upon our horses and our ships. - -There is no preference as to the mode and method of journeying. Each of -them seems absolutely perfect. There is no physical sense of motion in -either, as we realize it. - -They glide over the broad, smooth and perfectly kept roadways, -through the depths of the ether, or along the waters, with the same -imperceptible motion, and can be put to a rate of speed that makes our -limited railway trains seem like lumbering farm wagons. All resistance -of the elements seems absolutely overcome. - -The power of propulsion was wholly incomprehensible at first, and -later I was only able to learn as to its principle, and left wholly to -conjecture as to its application. - -Roadways, or, perhaps more properly, boulevards, interlace the -whole country. They are the perfection of road-building--smooth, -even-crowned, and free from dust, water or other offensive substance. -The surface is like a newly asphalted street, but hard and impervious, -with no depressions, cracks or flaws. The engineering could hardly be -improved on. Accepting the statements made to me that the most of these -highways have been in use for centuries, with few if any repairs, they -may be looked on as not only permanent but indestructible. - -The purpose of each of them is self-evident. Every rod of it is for use -and to meet some requirement that presents itself. They are bordered, -wherever they extend, with beautiful homes, monuments and temples, -commemorative of some great achievement in civilization and progress. - -The residential grounds, farms and gardens are marvels of exquisite -taste without an exception, so far as I was able to note, modeled after -countless designs, which give the earth's surface a versatility of -beauty that is enchanting. - -There are farms and gardens everywhere except in a limited number of -the compact squares of cities, small and perfectly kept, and productive -in a sense and to a degree absolutely incredible to the dwellers of any -other land. - -As to these roadways: They are of the uniform width of two hundred -feet wherever you find them, whether skirting sea, lake or river, -penetrating valleys or clambering around and around the ascent of the -mountains from base to apex, where some monument or temple, or both, -are perched, overlooking hundreds of square miles. - -As already stated, they are everywhere as smooth and kept as clean as -a tiled floor, with a sense or quality of elasticity, and seemingly -indestructible. I would have regarded them as natural phenomena had -I not seen a mountain being terraced and a roadway being graded and -finished without any of the paraphernalia of our own methods of -engineering and construction. - -Earth and rock seemed to melt and become mobile under the influence of -some unseen power, and gangs of men, following with levelers of light -machinery, modulated the grades and contours of the crumbled rock and -soil. Others followed these, compounding, expanding and laying down -a plastic and rapidly hardening envelope, thus finishing the surface -like the roads over which we were gliding, some of which, I was told, -had been in use for many centuries without the slightest change of -condition. - -I expressed a doubt as to their longevity. - -Karmas smiled and said: - -"You judge by experience. In your cities you import material from some -distant country or island, and by mechanical manipulation and chemical -combination and processes fit it to be laid down as a pavement. When -finished it looks almost as smooth and beautiful as yonder landway -being newly constructed to accommodate the expanding population of the -district. But the resemblance ends here. - -"Your chemists and engineers and constructors have only the crudest -ideas of landway or terraneous works. The asphalt is a suggestion, but -the builder's compound turns it in the direction of deterioration. -Instead of going forward, they go backward. They know little of the -character of the materials they seek to utilize, and nothing of the -true principles of chemical combination. - -"Our material is at hand, as it is at hand everywhere, containing the -elements which need only to be properly combined and assimilated to -become practically indestructible. - -"You take a clay, and by machinery, crude perhaps, reduce it to dust, -then moisten it back into pliable clay, fashion it, subject it to -an intense but unrefined heat, and you have what will retain its -form and consistence for centuries, and resist the elemental attacks -longer even than granite. This is but the dawn of possibilities. The -semi-barbarous, thousands of years ago, went further and made them -flexible as well as durable. Their discoveries were long ago forgotten. - -"Your people never go beyond the point of discovery. They stop short -of the possibilities. They lose these possibilities in material and -commercial utilization. Ego stands between the discoverer and the -world, and progress ends. - -"While the rest of the world has thus, again and again, stood still on -the threshold, or moved backward or forward intermittently, for obvious -and selfish reasons, we have steadily moved forward in scientific -discovery and research, and the application of great principles. - -"The example is before you. Without any of your crude and cumbersome -machinery, the mountain is being terraced and fitted for the abode -of man, the elemental constituents are being disintegrated, properly -disposed, rearranged and the surface recombined in a new form and -proportion by natural laws, and remote generations will find yonder -landway as our workmen will leave it. They could level the mountain as -readily as they terrace it, distributing it over the adjacent plain, -leaving it a level and fertile glebe, instead of a towering height of -rock and sand overspread with soil. - -"All that you see or will see is the result of knowledge and wisdom -turned to noble and unselfish ends for the common betterment and -elevation of the race. - -"Your progenitors learned to dig the hard and soft ores from the earth -and produce iron, then took a step forward and converted it into -steel, of greater strength and durability, capable of light forms and -high polish, and there you have stopped at the very beginning. You -are incapable of saving your own handiwork from disintegration. The -elements corrode your finest steel products, and they flake away to -the original conditions of the crude ore, losing a large proportion of -their original virtues and constituents. We have, on the contrary, gone -forward to the ultimate. - -"You have denuded your lands of forests to use as a cumbersome material -for building, and furniture and other purposes, the wood, which decays -and is soon destroyed. You have, without understanding the process, -macerated and reduced woods to a pulp and fashioned it into paper, -which in several forms you utilize, but you have stopped at the -beginning of the journey. - -"We have carried it forward, and a large proportion of the material -used in the construction of our houses and furniture and bridges and -cars are the product of our forests in a new and better and more -enduring form--light and capable of the most graceful fashioning. -This is used in combination with the metals in all departments of our -economies." - -I had already noticed the fact that but little of the woodwork was in -the natural form, and that while it was incredulously light, it was -incredibly strong. The same was true of the wrought metals, all of -which differed from our own forms. - -In my examinations of the bridges across streams, both large and small, -I noted the fact that they were constructed in about equal parts of -wood, or a substance I took therefor, and metal, differing greatly from -the metals we use, yet not wholly unlike them. Both materials were of -tubular construction, appearing almost fragile in their lightness, -but strong and firm, and showing none of the ravages of time and the -elements. - -So far as I was able to judge no paints were used, but everything was -perfectly polished. The bridges were light, airy constructions, swung -from lofty and graceful piers, a span of a thousand feet appearing to -be as firm and strong as one of fifty. - -I also noticed that in their construction of cars, furniture, houses, -and the like, the woods and metals were indiscriminately used, more for -beauty and ornamentation, perhaps, than for strengthening purposes or -utility. Lightness and gracefulness were in evidence everywhere. There -were panels and inlays of wood in its natural state, highly wrought and -polished, as hard and impervious as the metals. - -"You seem to be able to make everything indestructible," I said to -Karmas. - -"It is your privilege to draw your own conclusions," was his reply. - - * * * * * - -The people I met and mingled with, both men and women, were superb -specimens of the human race, full of life, full of hope, full of high -ambitions, and capable of infinite enjoyments. - -Games, sports and social amenities were the order of their daily -life, albeit every one of them engaged in some laborious or business -occupation during a part of each day. I learned that under their system -of economy less than four hours out of the twenty-four were necessary -for the comfort, sustenance and requirements of each adult, so that -labor did not degenerate into slavery. Every fifth day was a holiday, -during which no labor was performed, except such as was necessary for -the enjoyments of the day. - -Manufacturing and business of different kinds were diffused in -proportion to the population. There were no great factories or business -houses, but innumerable small ones. No manufacturer employed more -than ten persons, usually but five, and two or three employes were -sufficient for the business houses. - -The remarkable discoveries and inventions of the land revolutionized -all our ideas of manual labor and mechanics. Heavy and bulky machinery -is entirely unknown. - -There were no smoking furnaces, no clangor of machinery. The factory -was as neat and practically as noiseless as the private home. Useful -and necessary devices and machinery were turned out as quietly as a -housewife disposes of her routine labors. Science had apparently solved -the rough and knotty problem of labor and production. - -Nowhere did I see a furnace; in fact, fire was visible nowhere; and yet -I could see its offices performed everywhere. I asked Karmas to explain -the phenomena. - -"That," he replied, "will be explained to you by Remo, Custodian of -Useful Mechanical Devices. That is his official sphere." - -Another incredible phenomenon presented itself during the journey. We -passed through one province early in that journey, and my attention was -called to the fact that the farmers were sowing their cereals, which, -by the way, greatly resemble our own, but in a much higher state of -cultivation and infinitely more nutritious. - -Ten days later we repassed the same spot, and they were harvesting the -ripened grain. - -"In my country," I said to Karmas, "from eight to ten months, dependent -upon the season, elapses between the sowing and the harvesting of -wheat. Here the period is reduced to from eight to ten days. I can not -understand the discrepancy." - -"But it is an absolute mystery to you?" - -"It is." - -"And yet your own people have approached the twilight of its solution. -By selection of seeds and combination of soils, and other perfectly -natural processes, they have been able to change the nature of -vegetation and produce new vegetable being. The period for the growth -and maturing of nearly all your grains and vegetables has been -perceptibly shortened, and entirely new forms produced, within the past -century, and largely within the period of your own lifetime. - -"Your floriculturists and horticulturists have carried the evolution -the furthest, and yet they do not even faintly comprehend the real -principle which produces results. We understand and intelligently apply -it. Hence with us but ten days elapse between seedtime and harvest, and -shorter periods in the production of our common vegetables. - -"We are able to produce flowers of all shapes and colors at will, and -with the absolute certainty of the operation of fixed and immutable -laws, while your florists, groping in the dark, occasionally stumble on -a result, knowing nothing of the law that produces it, and give their -fellows a nine-days' wonder. - -"Yesterday you asked me why all the farms were so diminutive--'merely a -ten-acre field,' as you expressed it. The explanation is before you. -Each of these small farms is capable of producing food for one thousand -persons with their constantly duplicated crops. There is room for a -million such farms in the Commonwealth, without impinging upon the -residential demesnes or cities. - -"There is no need to put these farms to the full test of their -productiveness. The twentieth part suffices. We have a population of -50,000,000, increasing at the rate of scarcely one per cent each year, -and two-thirds of the Commonwealth is public domain, for the benefit -of the countless generations yet unborn. Each year and each day brings -their immediate needs, and they are met with plenteous fullness." - - * * * * * - -Karmas later gave me a fuller idea of the general polity of the -Commonwealth. - -All men become voters at 25, if they are married, and participate -in the choice of officers. All are eligible to office. On the day -fixed for the election of public officials the voter calls up the -office of the Municipal Custodian and registers his choice in the -ballot-receiver, which automatically records, and at the end of the -balloting announces the result. If for provincial officers, it is -instantaneously transmitted to the capital of the province, and if for -Commonwealth officers to the Greater City. In your land this would open -the door to fraud, but in Intermere there is neither fraud nor chicane. - -There are no armies, no warships, no police, no peace or distress -officers, and no courts and no lawyers. Sometimes citizens may differ, -as they differ in other lands, as to their respective rights or -obligations. In such case they repair to the Municipal Custodian and -state the respective sides of their case. The Custodian decides at -once, and that ends forever the controversy, unless one or the other -appeals to the Chief Citizen of the Province and his Counselors, who -consider the original statements submitted to the Custodian and render -the final judgment. It is seldom an appeal is taken, and seldom that an -original decision is revised. - -The educational period continues from birth to 20 years of age, in what -may be called a common school, held in the temples, which all enter at -the age of ten. - -The spheres of the two sexes are clearly marked, and both live within -them, that of the female being regarded as the highest and most sacred. -The men make the homes and the women care for and beautify them, and -receive the homage universally accorded them. - -Neither sex looks upon necessary labor as a drudgery or in any manner -degrading. They all receive a like education, and the superior mental -equipment invariably asserts itself in some appropriate direction. - -Almost invariably the children of the household marry in the order of -their birth, being absolutely free to choose their mates. There are no -marriages for convenience and no second marriages. All are the result -of affection and natural affinity. - -The last child to marry inherits the homestead at the death of the -father. The surviving mother becomes the Preferred Guest of her child -during the remainder of her life, and is treated as such. If the -father survives, he retains his position as head of the household. -The personal estate of a deceased parent is divided equally among the -children. - -"In short," said Karmas, "We aim to dispose the burdens and distribute -the enjoyments of life equally and justly among all. - -"Tomorrow we will be accompanied by Alpaz, the Curator of Learning and -Progress, who will answer the other questions in your mind." - - - - -V. - - THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE, AND THE FACULTY OF ITS ENJOYMENT AS - PERSONIFIED IN THE PERSONS AND VOCATIONS OF THE ENTERTAINERS. - - - - -V. - -SOME OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE. - - -The environments of life have much to do with its philosophy. This -thought impressed itself forcibly on me in Intermere. - -The environments of its people contribute much, if not most, to their -philosophy, or the faculty of life's enjoyments. - -They are pleasantly housed, handsomely habilitated, physically and -intellectually employed, sans the driving spur of necessity or greed, -with profound and earnest aspirations beyond their present stage of -existence. This is not confined to the few, but animates and elevates -all. - -Learning, in a loftier sense than we understand the term; art, music -and all the senses of physical and mental enjoyment, and the promotion -of all of them, are pitched in a high and harmonious key. - -Personal adornment and physical beauty in both sexes have no tinge -of vanity, and awake no envy in others. Intermerean dress and its -adjuncts are as closely looked after as their wonderful mechanism and -its mysterious soul or motor-spirit, which enables them to travel with -celerity and safety by land or air or sea, or that subtler principle -by which men and women, separated by distance, talk to each other by -thought instead of speech, and would render the clumsy deception of our -own diplomats and other hypocrites an impossibility. - -The clothing of the Intermereans, wrought from native materials not -wholly unlike, except an to quality, those utilized by other peoples, -is of a texture and finish beyond the conception of the outer world, -and of such colors and combinations of tints as to breathe, as it -were, both art and aptitude. - -The garments of both sexes more nearly resemble those in Europe and -America than any others, and yet they are very unlike in striking -points. Speaking of this similitude, I may say that the polity and -institutions, and mental and physical characteristics of the people -who live under them, more nearly resemble those of America than of any -other nation or people. - -But at that, how wide and deep and apparently impassable is the -gulf that separates them. Ours is but the faint promise; theirs the -fulfillment of the completed prophecy. - -Did we start on the journey? Have we halted just beyond the first -milestone? Will the journey be resumed? Will our remoter generations -reach the Ultima Thule? What splendid hope or what illimitable despair -and misery depend upon the Sphinx's answer to these questions! - -While Intermere is not sown with diamonds and pearls and precious -stones and metals, they were to be seen in profusion everywhere, not -as matters of garish display, but of artistic taste. I doubt not that -the Intermereans, through their successful study of Nature, possess -the Philosopher's Stone, capable of combining and transmuting every -substance into the riches for which men die and women sacrifice more -than life, and nations crush nations, and peoples destroy peoples, -gathering the Dead Sea fruits that turn to bitter ashes on their lips. - -These people place no more commercial value upon these than they do -upon the tints of the rainbow, or the purple haze that hangs like a -halo above the mountain tops. To them they are but artistic types of -beauty that add to life's true enjoyments. - -In mingling socially with the men and women--they do not speak of them -as ladies and gentlemen--of Intermere, I was struck with their ease -and delicate frankness of entertainment. They were very human indeed in -every way. There was no affectation in speech or manner. They were good -listeners as well as good talkers, fond of art and the lofty literature -in which they were naturally at home; anxious to learn something about -the outside world from their visitor, and yet not inquisitive, never -asking an embarrassing question. - -Their literary and social entertainments, many of which I attended, -while altogether new and strange to me, were none the less thoroughly -enjoyable. Their social games were unique--to me--and in all respects -I was struck with their great superiority, and forcibly impressed with -the belief that their lives were indeed worth living. - -Their conceptions of art were of the highest and most exalted -character. Their tastes were not only refined but sublimated, and -I felt abashed at my own inability to follow them rapidly, or fully -comprehend them on the moment. - -The women were splendid types of physical beauty as well as mental -endowment; the men were trained athletes, and the devotees of physical -as well as mental culture, and I watched with keen zest their prowess -in the athletic games everywhere indulged in. I did not see a physical, -mental or moral derelict in the land. All were robust and perfectly -formed. - -There were no classes. Laborers and officials met on an equal footing. -There were no telltale differences in dress to indicate sets, circles, -position or titles among the men. The same was true of the women. -Mental superiority or maturity was discernible to me and recognized on -every hand, not to be envied or decried, but to serve as the guide to -other feet. - -And all this was easily reconcilable to me. All were coequal laborers. -All were coequal sharers of the common benefits of their governmental -system, and they all had a common incentive--to ennoble and dignify -the race by ennobling and dignifying themselves individually, but -contributing alike to the common stock of blessings. - -Never before did I fully realize the meaning of the Divine Master when -He said: "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so -to them." Before me and around me was the literal fulfillment of the -injunction in the form of the model government for mankind, founded -upon the highest attribute of Divinity. - -But there was neither cant nor affected solemnity in the never-ending -performance of this duty. It had become absolutely and essentially a -part of their nature, and was at once the cornerstone and the Temple of -their Religion; but their ideas of Religion were widely different from -ours. They never expounded, but lived it. - -Delightful people accompanied us if we traveled in Aerocars; -delightful people met us with Medocars when we came to terra firma, -and accompanied us through the bewildering lanes and mazes of beauty -by land; and delightful people met us with fairy-like Merocars when -we sought to thread the enchanting islands of the strange pulsating, -moving sea. - -Thus day by day I was carried from province to province, from city to -city, from valley to valley and from mountain to mountain; relays of -entertainers met us at every stopping-point to take the places of those -who had accompanied us thither. Nothing could have seemed more unreal; -nothing could have been more exquisitely enjoyable. - -Now we wound through gardens smiling with beauty and redolent with -balm and fragrance; anon we were in orchards plucking the ripened -fruit; then in the harvest fields of the husbandman, and next in shops, -factory or store; I wondering at all I saw, and my conductors kindly -wondering at me, no doubt, but of that they gave no significance or -sign. - -Almost literally speaking there is no night in Intermere. With the -twilight myriads of lights flash out everywhere along the streets, -highways, lanes, and from residences, temples and monuments, more -luminous than our electric lamps, diffusing a mellow and pleasing light -everywhere. But one sees no wires, as with us, to feed the lamps of -many sizes and shades of light, each one of which, so far as we can see -and realize, is independent of all others and everything. - -Merry parties make moonlight and starlight trips by Aerocar. I enjoyed -one of them, and there are no words adequate to the description of what -I saw and enjoyed. With the moon and stars above and the millions -of lights below, with music, song and laughter ringing through the -ethereal depths, I was in a new world, and one beyond ordinary human -conceptions, much less description. The Aerocars themselves were -studded with countless lights of all the colors and shades, and shone -like trailing meteors at every angle of inclination, singly here, -grouped there, and in processions beyond. - -It may be said in this connection that while the Intermereans eat -the flesh of both domestic and wild animals and fowls, resembling in -general features our own, and fish, they subsist chiefly on a vegetable -diet, especially between the age of infancy and twenty years, and after -sixty. - -One of the mysteries confronting me was that of cookery. They used no -fire, nor any of our ordinary cooking utensils, and yet they served hot -meals and drinks, prepared in what may be called, for lack of a better -name, chafing dishes and urns, and yet there was no sense of heat or -fire, except when in close contact with the utensils. - -In a chafing dish they broiled or roasted or baked; in an adjoining urn -they brewed a delightful hot drink resembling coffee, while in another -near by they made the most delicious ices. - -The housewife maintained neither dining-room nor kitchen. Meals were -prepared and served wherever most convenient, on veranda or in the -house proper. The table was spread in beautiful style with exquisite -furnishment, and presided over by the housewife. A woman assistant, -or more than one, according to the requirements of the occasion, had -charge of a suitable sideboard, where the entire meal was prepared, and -from which it was served to the company as desired. There were no odors -from the cooking, and nothing to suggest the kitchen or scullery. - -This is so unlike our methods that its appropriateness can not be -realized short of the actual experience. The culinary utensils are -rather ornamental than otherwise, and the preparation of the dishes -occupies an incredibly short period of time. - -On our various journeys by land and sea and air, I found that a full -stock of provisions was carried, along with the culinary paraphernalia, -and were served regularly and with as much care and taste as in any -residence. Ices and confections were made as readily in mid-air as on -land or sea, by some mysterious and never-failing process. - -One day as we rested in a charming suburb of the Lesser City, Alpaz, -the Curator of Learning and Progress, appeared in a splendidly -appointed Aerocar, accompanied by his entire family and attended by -a fleet of Aerocars carrying his assistants, provincial officials -and men and women, who made up his entourage. It proved to be a most -delightful company. - -After sailing overhead for hundreds of miles we descended to an island, -along the beach of which lay a complement of Merocars, to accommodate -the entire party, as well as some of the insular citizens who begged to -accompany us. - -Then ensued a voyage the memory of which still lingers with me. -Such dreamlike beauty I never expect to see this side the gates of -eternity. It changed with every moment, and never palled nor paled. -Through this maze of land and water and bewildering enchantment we -journeyed, listening to conversation and music, till finally touching -the mainland, we found the Chief Citizen of the Province, and his -attendants and officials, with Medocars, in which the entire party -was carried to his capital, which crowned a grand elevation some two -hundred miles inland. - -Here we were entertained in magnificent simplicity for a day, and here -Alpaz discoursed to me on the many matters in which I was interested, -and which fell within the sphere of his Curatorship. I cannot recount -them all, but shall endeavor to bring out the main points. - -"You would learn something of our educational system?" he said, as -though I had plied him with a question. - -"It is quite simple. It involves no complexities. We follow only the -path of nature. From birth to the age of ten the infant is in the -exclusive control and tutorship of the mother. She alone is entirely -capable of moulding the infantile mind, and setting its feet aright in -the pathway of manhood and womanhood. - -"In your land, as in others, all too often she delegates this great -duty to alien and unfit hands, and reaps the bitter harvest of sorrow -in the afternoon of motherhood. - -"At the age of ten, when the mother has fitted the mind for stronger -impressions, the child enters the broader field of learning. Our -temples, which you meet everywhere, are our schoolhouses, our altars of -Learning and Knowledge, the cherubim of Wisdom. - -"These temples are the abode of Knowledge and Wisdom, handed down in -the records of the ages, showing each successive step taken and to what -it led. Here they are taught by the older men and women, who having -retired from the activities of life, with a competence assured them, -matured in thought, filled with knowledge and possessed of wisdom, -perform their final labor, a labor of love for the younger generation. - -"At the age of fifteen every boy and every girl develops the line of -effort to which they incline in the respective spheres of the sexes, -and thereafter, to the age of twenty for females and twenty-five for -males, they are instructed along these lines by their tutors, in the -meantime devoting a part of their time to some useful occupation. The -result is men and women in every way fitted to fulfill their destiny. - -"No; we have no clergy, no ministers as you term them, to teach either -the old or the young in what you name religion. We have no churches. -Reverence for the Supreme Principle of the Universe is instilled into -every mind, from infancy up, and all our people live these teachings. -They do not listen to them one day in seven and neglect to follow all -or the majority of them for six. - -"We know nothing, except as lamentable facts, of the various so-called -religious divisions which convulse the rest of the world--Confucianism, -Hindooism, Mohammedanism, Buddhism, Taoism, Shintoism, Judaism, -Polytheism and Christianity, and the many warring or antagonistic -sects into which they divided and subdivided. - -"We know only loving reverence for the Supreme Principle of the -Universe, filial love and piety, and justice to all creatures. This -is the soul and essence of your religion, Christianity, and the basic -principle of all others. We prefer the last analysis to the inchoate -mass of contending creeds, that have drenched the earth with blood -for time out of mind, and filled it with doubt and misery; and even -now, in the twilight of your Nineteenth Century, and in the name of -the Child of Nazareth, promulgates Christianization and evangelization -at the cannon's mouth and with the sword and torch, of peoples whose -only offense is that they believe that their God requires thus and so -at their hands as a prerequisite to their entrance into His heavenly -kingdom. - -"By gentler and educatory teachings, untainted by the corroding canker -of selfishness, they might be turned in the right direction and their -generations be led into the light, provided that your educational -system moved on a loftier plane than theirs; but blood and violence, -and all the carnal lusts that follow like jackals in their wake, can -only eventuate in driving them into lower depths. - -"The spiritual instructors of the outer world, past and present, are -and have been, in the main, sincere and earnest, but with a limited -idea of the spiritualism they essay to teach. Powerful prelacies have -grown up in all the religious divisions, ambitious of temporal power, -and untold evils have resulted, not from the system of religion, but -from the love of power and authority, non-spiritual in its nature, and -as a result the spirit or principle of religion has suffered undeserved -obloquy. - -"To us the ideal God of your religious people is strangely -contradictory and irreconcilable. He is portrayed not as a spiritual -being, but as a common mortal in many of the essentials. Their -conception of Deity is that He rules as a king in heaven, before whom -the redeemed and the saints forever prostrate themselves in adoration -or sing praises by voice, and adulate Him with harp and lute and other -musical instruments, confessing hourly their unworthiness to come into -His presence. - -"This is an earthly, barbarous conception of the Supreme Power of the -Universe. It was probably of Chinese or Oriental origin in the days of -supreme despotism, when every subject must prostrate himself in the -dust in the presence of majesty. - -"This idea was transmitted to Christendom in the West when royalty -proclaimed itself the symbol of Godhood and religion. The subject was -taught that the monarch was the direct representative of God, and his -court was modeled after the court of the King of kings, where homage -and adoration and humiliation were the endless order of all future life. - -"We have an entirely different conception of the Supreme Principle, -and do not regard it in the light of a ruler or king, in the mortal -sense, but the embodiment of justice and love, that neither exacts nor -receives adoration of those who pass to the world beyond, the returning -children of the great and enduring Principle which exists everywhere, -strengthened and broadened by a previous state or states of existence, -wherein they were clothed about with mortal and perishable habiliments. - -"We look forward to the passage from this world to a better one beyond -with joyous expectation, and with no sense of terror or apprehension, -and there come us no pangs of dissolution. We have sought diligently to -live up to the law of love in this life, and have the fullest assurance -that our efforts will meet the approval of the Supreme Principle, -whose beneficences invite and permit us to enter the broader fields -and more perfect worlds of a higher existence. - -"Death, or the exchange of worlds, has neither terrors for those who -go, nor the stings of affliction for those who tarry. It is but the -inevitable and necessary parting of friends and relatives for a little -period, and we know that the shores of reunion lie just beyond the -filmy veil of the future. - -"The end or change is never hastened nor retarded by the violation -of Nature's sacred laws. There are but few partings or deaths in the -earlier periods of life. They go with joyful alacrity, as to a feast, -at four or five score, and their memory, works and examples cheer and -sustain those who remain. - -"No; we have no physicians. If, perchance, some law of Nature is -violated and mortal ailment ensues, it needs no specialist to discover -that fact, or recommend the proper method of rectifying it. That is a -part of the education of all. Literally, we neither know nor care to -know what physic is. We live simply and in accordance with Nature's -laws, and disease, such as prevails in your land and others, is unknown -in this, and has been for ages. Science and scientific discovery, as we -utilize and employ them, have freed us from disease and made death but -the exchange of lives. We know more than we care to tell of the life -beyond." - -He ceased abruptly after saying: - -"Tomorrow you will be the guest of Remo, the Curator of Useful -Mechanical Devices. You may learn much from him." - - - - -VI. - - THE SECRET OF INTERMERE PARTIALLY REVEALED TO ANDERTON, AND WHEN HE - LEAST EXPECTS IT HE IS RESTORED TO HIS HOME AND KINDRED, MUCH TO HIS - REGRET. - - - - -VI. - -THE SECRET OF INTERMERE. - - -The secret of Intermere--its great mechanical secret--was revealed to -me, but, alas! only in part. It was as if the sun be pointed out to a -child who is told that it shines and is a prime factor in the growth of -all forms of life, animal and vegetable. - -The child realizes that the orb of day shines, but remains wholly in -the dark as to the processes of its rays; why it inspires animals and -vegetation with life and growth, and produces the prismatic colors of -the rainbow. - -So with me. I know the fountain-head or cause that gave momentum to all -the mechanism of the land, shortened the period between germination -and maturity in vegetation, banished fire while retaining warmth, -turned the night into a season of beauty equaling the full day, kept -every street and highway free from debris, prevented foul emanations, -with their contaminations, and did countless other things which our -own scientists demonstrate are desirable and necessary, but still -unattainable. But of the details, of the why and the wherefore, of the -effects and the processes by which so many different results emanated -from the same apparent cause, I learned nothing. - -One morning, after a season of delicious, invigorating slumber, as -I walked in the spacious grounds of my host, the Chief Citizen of -the Province--grounds sweeter and fairer than the fabled Gardens of -Gulistan--I saw a fleet of Aerocars approaching, led by one of the most -magnificent, and by far the largest, that I had yet seen. It could not -have been less than one hundred feet in length and twenty in breadth -at the midway point, and yet it seemed to float as lightly as a feather -in the aerial depths. - -When almost directly overhead the fleet halted, and remained -stationary, as though firmly anchored to some immovable substance, and -then the leading craft slowly sank to the earth at my feet, as lightly -as you have seen a bird alight. - -It was the Aerocar of Remo, containing a score of people. I had not -hitherto met Remo, the Curator of Useful Mechanical Devices. However, -he needed no introduction to me or I to him. The recognition was mutual. - -He came forward and greeted me cordially, and later presented me to his -fellow voyagers, and said: - -"I know you are anxious to learn something of the motive principle of -our mechanisms. That I shall impart to you, at least partially. Our -journey will begin to suit your convenience. We will breakfast en -route." - -I hastened to say my adieux to the Chief Citizen, Alpaz, and the -members of the household, and then entered the Aerocar, taking a seat -near Remo. At a signal to the pilot, the craft rose as lightly and -majestically as it had descended. - -I looked about me at the passengers, hampers of provisions, culinary -utensils and table equipment, and estimated that the Aerocar was -carrying not less than four thousand pounds of dead weight. - -"You are wondering how so much bulk and weight ascend without apparent -cause." - -I assented to the proposition. - -"When you are at home and see an inflated balloon ascend, carrying a -man weighing one hundred and fifty pounds, with seventy-five pounds of -sand ballast, you can understand how it ascends?" - -"Readily." - -"By mechanical contrivance of immense comparative bulk, aided by -chemical product, the power of gravitation is sufficiently overcome -or neutralized that a disproportionately small amount of weight is -carried into the upper air. We ascend for the same general reason, the -resultant of a greater, a different and a fixed principle. - -"Our pilot, by means of the mechanical and other power at his command, -neutralized the attraction of gravitation, and without the aid of any -other appliance arose, carrying a weight of more than four thousand of -your pounds avoirdupois. It has ascended in a direct or perpendicular -line, despite the breeze, which would otherwise have carried us at a -western angle. I will have the pilot produce an equilibrium, stopping -all movement." - -A signal was given the pilot, and, after a slight manipulation, it -stood still. - -"Now we will descend, first perpendicularly and then at an angle of -forty-five degrees." - -One signal and one manipulation, and the Aerocar described the first -motion. A second signal and manipulation, and it described the other. - -"Now we will ascend, first by the reverse angle and then by the -perpendicular." - -Again the signals and again the manipulations, and again the exact -movements through space. - -"If your flying machine and airship builders could do that, what would -your people think?" - -"That the world had been revolutionized." - -"But the world will not be thus revolutionized until science is freed -of gross materialism and human aspiration becomes something higher -than selfish greed, commercialism, war, conquest, opulence, and the -despotisms they engender. You must expel all the gods with whom you -most closely commune, before you may commune with the true God or -Supreme Principle of the Universe." - -In the meantime the Curator's Aerocar had rejoined its consorts, and we -floated away to the northeast, where a great semicircle of mountains -were dimly outlined, and then descended upon a city looking like a -pearl in a semicircular valley, bisected by a broad river, spanned with -bridges at short intervals as far as the vision reached. - -With my watch I had timed the voyage. It had lasted two hours and -thirty minutes. - -"How far have we traveled?" I inquired of Remo. - -"One thousand of your miles." - -"That is four hundred miles to the hour; six and two-thirds miles each -minute." - -"The speed might easily have been doubled." - -My amazement was unbounded, but I did not doubt Remo's statement then. -Later, I recognized it as an easy possibility. - -Remo detained me until the rest of the company had left the Aerocar, -and then said abruptly: "You would learn the secret of the motive -principle that moves our mechanical devices and performs other offices -which seem to you miraculous. It is this: It is the electric current -which we take direct from the atmosphere at will--electricity, which -is the life-giving, life-preserving and life-promoting principle, the -superior and fountain of all law affecting the material Universe and -intervening space. To command that is to command everything. - -"This is the capital of my Curatorship. Here all my predecessors have -served the Commonwealth; hither all my successors will come. Here every -mechanical device is tested, approved or rejected, and from hence their -production is directed, as a public right, in every municipal division -of the Commonwealth. - -"Nearly every monument you have seen, as you have doubtless noticed, -is dedicated to some Chosen Son of Wisdom, and some of them date back -tens of centuries. Whoever makes a great discovery, such as taking the -electric current direct, or dividing its capabilities into useful and -necessary directions, or perfects some great mechanism, securing the -full beneficence of the current, brings it here and dedicates it to the -Commonwealth and its sons and daughters. Its benefits are common to all. - -"His reward is that he is elected by universal acclaim as the Chosen -Son of Wisdom, a monument commemorative of his achievement is erected -at once, and he is installed in a home furnished out of the public -revenues, receives a stipend of fifty or five cinque media daily, and -is the honored guest on all public and private occasions. - -"I shall show you many of our devices; some of them will be -self-explanatory, some will, to a degree, be explained, others left to -your conjecture, and for obvious reasons." - -With this he led me through a large number of what we would look upon -as diminutive manufacturing establishments. In the first one visited he -exhibited to me two crystalline elongated globes, the size of an egg -each, connected by a small tube or cylinder of the same material two or -three inches in length. - -The globes were filled with a whitish substance, or granulation, the -upper intensely white, the lower somewhat shaded. The upper one was -fitted with a movable disk, and could be opened by touching a lever. -A cluster of rather coarse wires, apparently an amalgam of several -metals, rose above the granulated contents. A double coil of wires, of -a different material or combination, running in opposite directions, -filled the connecting cylinder, while a cluster of almost imperceptibly -fine wires, of still a different material or combination, projected -from the bottom of the lower globe. - -These globes resembled glass, and were, to all appearances, extremely -fragile. Remo dashed it upon the hard floor, as though he would -destroy it. It rebounded, and he caught it as an urchin would catch a -rebounding ball. - -"I did this," he said, "to show you that these appliances are not -amenable to accident. This is the accumulator or receiver of the -current." - -He touched the lever and opened a small aperture directly over the -cluster of wires in the upper globe. - -"Hold your hand below the lower portion," he said. - -I complied, and instantly my hand was moved away with such resistless -force that I was turned completely around and sent across the room. -Remo smiled at my undisguised consternation, and said: - -"You will not be harmed. What you experienced was the flow of the -electric current, but it has not harmed you. It is physically -harmless. You would call this a twenty-horse-power motor in your -country, although it looks like a toy. Take it and handle it as I -direct. You may handle it with perfect safety. Place it horizontally -near that fly-wheel and push the lever." - -He pointed to a fly-wheel scarcely a foot in diameter, with seven -radiating flanges set slightly at an angle. I did, and opened the -aperture. In less time than it takes to tell it the wheel was revolving -at a rate of speed so high that it seemed like a solid motionless and -polished mirror. - -"Close the aperture, go to the side in which direction it is revolving, -and again open it to the current." - -I did so, and instantly the wheel was motionless. - -He pointed to a huge block of granite, which rested on a metal -framework a dozen inches above the floor, and said: "Banish all -nervousness, invert the accumulator, and hold it under the center of -the block, which weighs five of your tons." - -I did so, and it slowly rose toward the ceiling. - -"Close the aperture slowly, and finally close it entirely." - -This I did, and it settled back to its original place. - -"There," said Remo, "you have the direct current and its direct -application to machinery and inert bodies. You know enough about -mechanics to understand what that means. The ascent and flight and -movements and descent of the Aerocar; the running of the Medocar and -the sailing of the Merocar, are not such a profound mystery to you as -they were yesterday." - -He conducted me into another factory and exhibited a number of -accumulators, each filled with apparently the same granulated -substance, but of different colors and admixture of colors. Remo opened -the apertures of a long line of them upon a wire rack, and they flashed -into brilliant lamps of every hue and color and shade--a light that was -as steady as that of the stars. He closed them one by one, showing the -absolute independence of each. - -"Our lamps, with which we beautify the night, are no longer a mystery -to you--that is, not an absolute mystery." - -In another factory he exhibited more accumulators with varicolored -materials in the globes. He opened one and directed its power toward an -ingot of metal. It melted like wax. Turning its force upon a fragment -of rock, it was transformed into the ordinary dust of our roadways. -With another he turned a vessel of water into a solid block of ice. - -"Our topographical construction, our culinary economy and the absence -of fire are now plainer than they were." - -"But how do you achieve all these different results with apparently the -same means?" - -"The first device shown you is the primary; the others are subsequent -discoveries. By the primary medium we were able to produce or secure -the electric current in the form of dynamic power, eminently tractable -and harmless with ordinary prudence. New combinations of the medium -gave us all the other results, at intervals, subsequent to the original -discovery. And the field is not exhausted." - -Remo explained that the crystalline substance in the upper globe of -the accumulator induced or gathered the electric current, giving it -controllable direction as well as defined volume, while that in the -lower determined its significance or divisional use. - -In the minuter accumulators, for the lamps only, did the current -present itself in the form of light, spark or flame. All the colors, -from pure white to deep purple, with their prismatic variations, were -the direct result of their differing chemical combinations in the lower -globe, each of the silk-like wires throwing off countless rays of -unvarying intensity and steadiness, but gave off no electric phenomena -or effects. - -The heat accumulators gave moderate or intense heat, according to the -chemical combinations through which the primary current passed, but -there was neither glow nor light-flash. So, too, the cold accumulators -gave off varying degrees of cold, for the same reason. - -In none of them was there either the electric shock or its effects, -and all were tractable and free from danger in what we may term the -electrical sense. The dynamic force of the primary and the intense heat -or cold of the divisional currents, common prudence avoids. Still it -would be easily possible, by chemical combination, to produce a current -destructive of life and capable of annihilating nations, without hope -or possibility of escape. - -"Your own scientists know," said Remo, "that with the direct current -all that you have seen, and infinitely more, is but the result of a -simple process, capable of infinite multiplication." - -"But what are the constituents of the medium in the accumulator, and -what are the formulas of the various combinations?" - -"If you knew that you would know as much as we." - -This was the nearest a jest I had heard in Intermere, but I knew from -the character of Remo's speech that the rest of the secret would remain -hidden from me. - -As we sat at his table later he said: - -"You have been nearer to our secret than any one else in the outer -world, and we shall see whether the seeds will grow into the tree of -Knowledge and produce the fruits of Wisdom. Neither your people nor any -other people could be trusted with this secret in their present moral -condition. A few learned men dependent upon the rulers in one nation, -knowing it, could and would plot the destruction and exploitation of -all others. The sacrifice of human life and the accumulation of human -woe and misery would be appalling. - -"If your leaders, with the suddenly awakened hunger for conquest and -dominion, could literally command the thunderbolts and control the -elements as against the rest of the world, they would sack Christendom -in the name of Liberty, Humanity and the Babe of Bethlehem, but in the -spirit of Mammon, Greed and selfish love of power and riches. - -"You will make some progress in discoveries along scientific and -mechanical lines, but no real good to the race can result until these -discoveries are turned to a nobler purpose than that of seizing -commercial supremacy, subjugating alien and unwilling peoples, -slaughtering those who resist, exploiting those who lay down their -arms, gathering wealth regardless of justice and the rights of mankind -and building up an artificial race in the form of a ruling class, who -base their right to exclusive privileges on wealth and the perversion -of every principle of justice and the Christianity they profess. - -"You have been wondering why, with our great knowledge and -achievements, we do not go forth and dominate the world. What would -it profit us? Could we find anything that would contribute to our -enjoyments, our hopes, our aspirations? No. - -"Even we are not proof against the paralyzing touch of deterioration. -We pay more heed to the world's history than do the nations and -peoples who made that history, during the centuries. History is but -the lighthouse which warns against the reefs and rocks where -countless argosies have been lost. The mariners who sail the ships -of state dash recklessly upon the rocks of destruction, despite the -friendly warnings of the dead and engulfed who have gone before." - -Turning to lighter themes, Remo spoke of the various economies of -the Commonwealth, and explained how the obstacles which confront our -civilization are overcome. Garbage and all debris, for instance, are -disposed of by instantaneous reduction to original conditions, and -then a recombination and distribution upon the grounds, farms and -gardens. The sewage question, the standing menace of all dense and -even sparse populations, is solved by the same process of purification -and recombination. This work is constantly performed under the eye of -the municipal authorities, and under fixed rules and service. Thus the -absolute cleanliness which prevailed everywhere was readily explained. - -In answer to my query why Intermere had so long escaped discovery from -navigators, he said, interrogatively: - -"Would it not be possible, with our superior knowledge and wisdom, to -put their reckoning at fault whenever they came within a fixed sphere -of proximity?" - -To my question as to the equability of the seasons, the absence of -storms, and the regularity of the descent of moisture in the form of -gentle rains, he said: - -"Do not imagine that our scientific knowledge stops with the mere -discovery of the direct electric current or our mechanical devices." - -Nothing further could I elicit from him or any other Intermerean on -these or kindred subjects. The Book of Knowledge had been opened and -apparently closed. - -After two days' stay in Remo's capital the Aerocars took up a goodly -entourage, and we moved softly and swiftly to the Greater City. - -There Xamas and all his officials awaited us, along with every -Intermerean of both sexes I had met in my journeys, as well as every -Municipal Custodian of the realm, and in addition the Chief Citizens of -the fourteen Provinces I had not visited. - -A reception fete was given me in the chief temple of the city, hoary -with age and instinct with wisdom. There were songs and music by the -young and happy, and apropos discourses by the older. I essayed the -role of orator, thanked my entertainers for their many courtesies and -the happy hours they had conferred upon a wanderer in a strange land. -The afternoon and evening were a season of unalloyed happiness. - -As I dropped into slumber in the house of Xamas I soliloquized: "This -kindness and these honors seem significant. Perhaps the Intermereans -intend to adopt me into all their knowledge and wisdom. Perhaps"---- - - * * * * * - -I felt that I was tossing on the swell of the ocean. Then there was a -sensation of physical pain, as if from long exposure to the elements. - -So keen was this sensation that I awoke fully, started up and looked -around me. It was a grayish dawn, purpling in lines near the horizon. -Towering above me I saw the outlines of a great ship, lying at anchor -and lazily nodding as the swells swept into the harbor. - -I found myself in one of the individual Merocars, intended for a single -passenger, but the compartments containing the accumulatory motors had -been removed and the marks of removal deftly concealed. - -It was one of the most finished Merocars of its class with the -exception of the motor, constructed entirely of prepared wood, -resembling a piece of wicker work, but impervious to the sea, and -floated like a cork or a feather. - -I was trying to determine where I was and how I came to be in my -present situation. Then came to me this in the Language of Silence: - -"You have been safely delivered to those who will restore you to your -land and home. Discretion is always commendable." - -I knew whence this thought came, and soon the increasing light showed -me that I was in the harbor of Singapore, lashed with a silken cord to -the forechains of an East Indian merchantman. - -To my infinite regret I found that I was clad in the same clothes I -wore when the Mistletoe went to the bottom. The same trinkets and a few -coins and the other accessories were still in the pockets. - -But the handsome and natty garments of Intermere were gone. I was back -in the world just as I left it, how long ago I could not tell, for -the memories of Intermere seemed to cover a decade at least, and I -estimated that those who lived to one hundred enjoyed a thousand years -of life. - -The lookout on the ship finally discovered me, and shortly after I and -my curious boat were lifted to the deck and became the center of a -gaping crowd. - -As I could not account for myself reasonably, I became merely evasive -and did not account for myself at all, and left the crew and passengers -equally divided as to whether I was a lunatic of a cunning knave. - -Among those on board was one whose presence suggested Intermere. -I listened and observed, and learned that he was the Secretary of -a native Rajah on board the ship. He inspected me with curious -disappointment. The Merocar he seemed to worship both with eyes and -soul. - -"Sell it to him, for you need money." - -That was Maros; I could not be mistaken. - -The Secretary motioned me to a distant part of the deck and said -abruptly: - -"I will give you five thousand rupees for the--for the"---- - -"Merocar." - -He started as though shocked by a bolt of lightning. - -"I dare not talk--I cannot remember--but I dare not talk. Will you sell -it me for five thousand rupees, Sahib? It is all I have, but I will -give it freely." - -"It is yours." - -He went below and soon returned with the amount in bills of exchange -upon the bank at Hong Kong. - -He carried his purchase to his stateroom, amid the laughter of -passengers and sailors, who did not conceal their merriment that any -man would pay such a price for a wicker basket, and my cunning and -hypnotic knavery were thoroughly established. - -I remained a few days in Singapore, converting my bills partly into -cash and partly into exchange on London and New York. - -Sailing later to Hong Kong, I there fell in with an American military -officer whom I knew, and who gave me the full particulars of Albert -Marshall's death. With him I made arrangements for the shipment of my -cousin's remains to his old home, via San Francisco. - -Two days later I sailed for London, and within six weeks reached New -York, and the home of my childhood. I shall not describe the meeting -with my mother, nor speak of what was said in relation to the strange -and brief communications which passed between us months before. - - - - -VII. - -LE ENVOI. - - - I HAVE READ THE FOREGOING. IT IS A FAITHFUL REPRODUCTION OF WHAT I WAS - ABLE TO COMMUNICATE TOUCHING MY EXPERIENCES. AND YET THE PICTURE DRAWN - IS FAINT, HAZY AND FAR AWAY. COMPARED WITH THE BEAUTIFUL REALITY, IT - IS "AS MOONLIGHT UNTO SUNLIGHT, AS WATER UNTO WINE." G. H. A. - - Glenford, 1901. - - - * * * * * - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Intermere, by William Alexander Taylor - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INTERMERE *** - -***** This file should be named 53193.txt or 53193.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/1/9/53193/ - -Produced by Ralph and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from -images generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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