The false eye is not of flesh but one of manufacture. It is placed in sensitive connection with the optic nerve, on which images are thrown by the delicate mechanism of the false eye. The sight thus obtained is almost one-half as distinct as that which is enjoyed by the normal eye.

These medical wizards also make artificial ears which are about as satisfactory as the natural ears. In certain lines of surgery we are equal to these Dore-lynites, but we cannot register with them in the whole category of surgical achievements. They have simply distanced us by five hundred years. That is, I believe that in five hundred years we can reach the fields of glory which they now occupy.

Think of laying bare a human lung and treating it with a special preparation for extreme cases of lung diseases, and also treating it with a "baking" for department cases of a disease similar to pneumonia. Perhaps the most wonderful class of operations is performed on the heart and the brain.

The heart is laid bare under a sheet of thermal rays. Fatty tissues are removed and other obstructions eradicated during the regular heart beats.

The government grants certain privileges of experimenting on her lowest class of criminals, and it is well nigh incredible what has been accomplished by cerebrum operations.

Certain murderers of vile propensities have been so changed by an operation on the cerebrum that they have no power of recalling their past life and are incapable of uttering an oath. And what is more strange, they are intent on leading an upright life and being intensely religious withal.

I am compelled to crowd a world of glorious life into a few paragraphs, but I hope that I have given such as will be for our good.



CHAPTER XIV.

A World of Low Life.

When one witnesses an exhibition he must, of necessity, look upon the poorer parts of it. This was my experience in my universal journey, for on some worlds which I visited I found that human civilization was at a low ebb. One of the most notable of this class is the world next beyond Dore-lyn.

This sphere is one thousand times as large as ours, and the beastly creatures that inhabit it are four times our size.

The toilers in the deep valleys of Mars are favorably intelligent compared with these specimens of humanity. For convenience, I will call this world Scum. Its people are so constituted that their two arms can be used as legs; so it is quite common to see these Scumites travel over their planet like the more graceful of our quadrupeds. Their walking, however, is principally after our fashion, and they can change about at pleasure. Either way of travel seems as natural as the other. When they walk on two limbs, the body is erect, presenting a stature of such gigantic proportions as to over-awe a representative of our world.

According to the universal standards of symmetry, these giants have an animal beauty that is anything but handsome, and they also lack those facial expressions of higher intelligence that come only through generations of cultured thinking. Their health is quite perfect and they live to a great age.

These Scumites have a language singularly their own. It is so totally different from any of our conceptions of speech that I can scarcely find words to describe it.

The medium of conversation is the Notched Rod. It is about twelve feet long with various kinds of notches cut along the two sides. Such a stick is possessed by every Scumite who expects to hold extended or descriptive conversations. It is usually held by a skin strung around the neck. While one of these persons is talking, two or three of his fingers pass from notch to notch along the rod. These indentures of the rod represent, in their language, certain kinds of sounds and are used to assist the vocal organs in expressing the more intricate combinations of ideas. Naturally, the listener watches the fingers more than the mouth.

It is amusing to see a Scumite busily engaged in delivering a speech to a few of his fellow creatures. It would remind you of a person playing a fife or violin without producing any sound.

The children of Scum learn this rod language just the same as our children at first learn to speak our language by observation and practice.

The face of a Scumite does not resemble a human face of our planet. The mouth and jaws are at right angles to ours and this arrangement seems to be just as convenient to these Scumites as the formation of our mouth is to us. The nose lies above the mouth, but is relatively much higher, its point coming between the two eyes which are situated more toward the sides of the head.

The startling fact about this world is that at one time in its past history fair intelligence reigned on a few parts of the planet. These intelligent sections were working their way upward on the measureless incline of progress and had won some distinctions in their sciences, as well as their religious devotions. These bright spots on the surface of this large orb were surrounded with large black patches of war-like humanity and, between these two extremes, a warfare of subjection or extermination raged without any hope or peace.

The educated Scumites had a few advantages in methods of war, but with all this they were not able to withstand the vast hordes that swept down upon them. Brute force won the battle and the accumulated light of four thousand years flickered until it was no more.

It was a fatal day for Scum when its mad inhabitants blew out the last of the candles that had promised to give them light.

When this sad and blighting victory was accomplished, these uncivilized tribes rejoiced more hilariously than at one time our Indians rejoiced when celebrating their victories in the wild scalp dances.

Thus the dark shadows fell on this huge world. The captured educated classes made a heroic effort to continue their cultured manners and religious life, but the prejudice against them and their ways was so great that they were compelled to live in the lower strata or suffer the pain of death. In process of time, the wild woods flourished where once the temples of science and pure religion reared their imposing pillars.

What can we expect of such a race of people who have drifted from the light of civilization for so long a period? As I looked at their customs and their ways, I was reminded of a garden that has run wild. Here and there I could see traces of the once thrifty life now almost choked out by the overpowering crop of weeds.

Gradually the people became worse and worse. Sin played havoc and built carnal fires around which these children of men gathered. Sensuality became the ruling passion and, in less than five hundred years of our time, the last family observance had died away and these creatures wallowed in the quagmire of fleshly lusts, compared with which the brute life of our world is highly respectable. "Free Love" was rampant and human offspring was cared for by mothers, or at least by such as were willing to assume the task. No one was supposed to know who was his father.

I saw this sad and sickening spectacle against which my instincts revolted with horror. It is true that if man is left totally unbridled, he sinks to a depth which it would be impossible for any species of the animal creation to reach.

As I continued looking on this low life with its horrors too numerous and too dreadful to mention, my thoughts flew back to the world whence I came, and to America where I was born, and I remembered of some who advocated "Free Love." "Let their arms be withered," I cried, rather than have such a thistle fasten itself in the soil of our social life.

Let the libertine of our world go to the world of Scum where he belongs, or rise to the dignity of man whose image he bears.



Compared with our world, the physical features of Scum are all fashioned on a much larger scale, and the mountains, rivers and vegetation are five times greater than ours; so are also the many varieties of wild and domestic animals.

The inhabitants of Scum are divided into many warring tribes, and it is fearful to see the conflicts that take place. During my brief stay I witnessed one of the big battles between two of the stronger tribes. One hundred and fifty thousand men went dashing into an enemy of greater numbers. It was a foot ball melee on a vast scale. Weapons were all of the hand-to-hand type, except the spear wagons which were indeed clumsy weapons of war.

Nothing is known of surrender or a flag of truce, so the conflict raged horribly to a bitter end until eighty thousand bruised victors participated in the jubilant feast that followed. Over two hundred thousand Scumites lay dead on the field and along the mountain ridges. According to past history, another such great battle is not liable to occur for another generation.

The past religion of these giants is not even on a par with idolatry. There are many saints sleeping in their graves, bright remnants of the time of the old civilization and religion.

Amidst all this present moral wreck of humanity, there are a few indications that point to better times. The nobler people of Scum are banding together with the avowed purpose of bringing back the light of culture and refinement. But it will require several thousand years of determined effort to climb to the height from whence their ancestors were cruelly and thoughtlessly dragged.



CHAPTER XV.

A World of Highest Invention.

After my profitable stay in this immense solar system in the Milky Way, I crossed the vast dome of the heavens and lighted on Sirius, the brightest star in all the canopy of night. Here I found the fire life of Alpha Centaurus repeated, but I did not pause to study the odd phases presented to my view.

Onward I moved to survey the remarkable systems of worlds that revolve around Sirius. It is a veritable medley of planets, large and small, inhabited and barren, sinless, sinful and millennial. A little universe packed in a nutshell, figuratively speaking.

The orb of this group that first held my attention is very notable indeed. I have labeled it "High Invention," and it is still entitled to that distinction. It revolves around Sirius at a distance of seven million miles and is thirty-three times as large as our world, with physical features and climate quite dissimilar.

Here, in this world of ours, we are proud of the wonderful genius displayed by our inventors, and is not this conceit pardonable?

If this world should stand and inventive genius continue at its present compound rate of progress, what may we expect to see a hundred or a thousand years hence? Now imagine yourself looking down upon a world where the highest inventive skill is found. Such was my privilege at this time in the course of my universal journey.

This surprising world is inhabited by a persevering race of human beings, among whom are a large number of illustrious characters who walk in the light of ten thousand years of human achievements.

It need not be said that I was intensely interested in the study of this phenomenal world which I will call Ploid. I went from one portion of the planet to another, continually remaining invisible. After I had witnessed the unequaled sights, I paused to complete my memoranda and now, as I review my jottings, I am at a loss to know what few things I should select to try to make intelligible to my fellow-men who live on this infinitesimal speck which is our world. First, let me call attention to:

THEIR TRIUMPHS IN THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.

The people of Ploid have in their possession a remarkable line of fertilizers, not in the form of ground bones, but acidulous juices. These juices were improved for three thousand years until there was a particular liquid suited to each separate class of vegetables.

As used at the present time, a certain amount of the growth-acid is poured directly about the seed at the time of planting. This acid has a magical effect upon the soil and it is possible, by repeated fertilizing, to raise in two weeks a crop of zoftas, a vegetable similar to our potatoes. For raising a crop in two weeks the fertilizer costs one-half the value of the zoftas, and for maturing a crop in four weeks the fertilizer costs about three-eighths of the value of the zoftas.

Thus it is possible to raise six of these crops in one of our years. This law obtains throughout the whole vegetable creation. However, in ordinary circumstances, the stimulating acid is used in very light quantities. The people have learned by experience that vegetables have a better flavor when they have been brought to maturity by the slower processes.

These wonderful fertilizers are a blessed boon in the time of "crop failures," for then the same crop can be grown anew from the seed and hurried to maturity before the close of the season.

The curse of the vegetable worms has been reduced to a minimum on this world of Ploid. The chemists have labored patiently for one thousand years to produce a substance that will not destroy vegetable seed and at the same time kill all forms of parasites. The results have been gratifying, and with considerable pleasure I viewed a garden of the various odd-shaped vegetables that are grown, without being repulsed at the sight of such crawling specimens as tomato and cabbage worms.

The happiest result of this worm-killing substance is seen in the work it accomplishes on fruit and nut trees. There is triple the variety of nuts on Ploid, and they are used for food more generally than in our world. There is no such an animal as a hog and no lard is used. The substitute is found in four varieties of nut oil, the result of a sweet and clean vegetable growth. Nuts are raised in great abundance, for they also supply the base for a spread just as appetizing and more economical than butter.

THEIR MODES OF TRAVEL.

The Ploidites have been traveling in the air for twenty-five hundred years, but they cannot control their air-ships sufficiently in all kinds of weather. The atmosphere of Ploid is relatively lighter than ours, which has made aerial travel more difficult to perfect than it would be in our world.

The main traffic, both passenger and freight, is carried on by the Tube Line, a wonderful system perfected through thousands of years of painstaking labor.

Two immense tubes, lying side by side, each ten feet in diameter, made of a substance more durable than steel, form the road bed of this lightning system of travel. The cigar-shaped cars have hard rubber-wheels and fit over raised bars all around on the inside of the immense Tube.

The motor power is called Sky-rallic, and is communicated throughout the whole Tube Line by Brosis, a porous metal running in thin narrow bands.

This Tube Line runs without a curve from one division of the road to another, except in rare cases where a bend is absolutely necessary. In a mountainous region I noticed a stretch of Tube Line without a bend running sixty miles, according to our measurement. On prairies, the unbroken stretches are much longer.

The cars in this Tube Line travel with fearful rapidity. It requires two or three miles to reach dashing speed, after which a run of fifty miles is made in eight or ten minutes. No precaution need be taken by the motorman as nothing can get into the tube and only one train is allowed in a section at one time. Certain hours are given to passenger traffic and others to freight traffic. An immense amount of freight can thus be carried in one hour. It is possible to send a through freight car two thousand miles in ten or twelve hours. Express cars are never connected with passengers cars. They are run on their own schedule and sometimes attached to freight cars.

This immense Tube Line was built by the government at great expense, but it is proving very satisfactory. No storms or floods interfere. No grade-crossings and no flying dust are known in this Tube Line which has brought the ends of Ploid together. Think of a person crossing a vast continent in a day, for the cars in this Tube Line run with frightful speed across the long stretches of level. They make as high as a three-hundred mile run in forty minutes, without stopping.

The signal and telegraph stations are fifty miles apart, sometimes more. In these long runs the motorman stops only when a signal is turned against him or if by accident he discerns a train in the Tube ahead of him.

The Tube Line is lighted by oval transparencies, in size and shape resembling an egg, soldered in specially prepared holes of the Tube. The cars are not supplied with air from the tube. Fresh air is obtained from the evaporation of a semi-solid.

On the top of this Tube Line there is a double railroad used for local travel, both passenger and freight.

THEIR STORAGE BATTERIES.

Compared with our world, the fuel of Ploid is very scarce, but less is required to supply the industries. Nearly all power is obtained from the winds, running water and the sun's energy.

The winds are harnessed so that they blow not in vain. Almost every home of ordinary intelligence owns one of the many kinds of storage batteries used in this world. These batteries are usually located beneath the lowest floor of the house, and they constitute the reservoir whence is obtained the necessary power for lighting, heating and cooling the apartments of the home.

People who live along streams of water utilize these streams for similar purposes. It is now conceded in Ploid that the storage batteries of the home can be supplied as economically and effectively by winds and the sun's heat as by running streams; hence it is a common sight to see residences throwing out the old water machinery and introducing the latest design of wind-employers or sun-harnessers.

There are certain emergencies when the storage batteries fail to work or when the power is exhausted; this happens when there is a very slight wind for several days or a heavy drain of power. In such cases fuel is used for heating and lighting.

PALACES OF PLOID.

The palaces of Ploid are dreams of beauty and convenience, outshining and surpassing by far the finest mansions on the face of our globe. In these abodes the sum total of glory and convenience converges, flowing from almost numberless discoveries during the last one hundred years. In round numbers, there have been five hundred thousand patents issued in the United States in the nineteenth century, but the Ploidites excel us by double that number for a similar territorial limit.

THE REWARD OF INVENTORS.

Patents are not issued in Ploid. The government gives liberal rewards to each inventor or discoverer. The applicant appears personally before the District Committee on Inventions. If this Committee considers the invention worthy of a reward, the applicant is recommended to one of the Central Committees at the seat of the government.

This Central Committee carefully considers the invention or discovery, places on it an estimate as to its local or governmental value, and fills out papers in accordance with its findings. This paper must be signed by the Chief Inventor, and the applicant at once receives his first installment which is continued, in some instances, during natural life. In the case of some extraordinary invention, the immediate relatives of the inventor are pensioned for five or ten years in his honor.

Naturally, under this system, the government owns all inventions, and reaps a heavy return from them, enough to pay all the installments to the inventors and the officers employed to carry on this branch of the government work.

SOME PARTICULAR INVENTIONS.

One of the most convenient inventions I saw on this planet of Ploid was the carrying of a photograph or image along a wire. The people of Ploid cannot only talk to one another many miles apart, but they can also see each other while they are talking.

This wonderful attachment to their telephones, by which the human face is also carried over the wire, was perfected over one thousand years ago. I herewith give a few uses to which this invention is applied.

1. Office men have photograph wires connected with their homes, and they can thus talk to and see any one of the family at their pleasure.

2. It can be so arranged that the wife in the home can, by touching a little knob, see into her husband's office with which the wire is connected, or the husband in the office can see into the room of the house with which the connection is made. At either end of the wire, the vision can be obstructed by drawing a curtain over the sensitive plate.

3. The foreman of an industrial work shop can see from his home the men under his charge.

4. The superintendent of any large works can, at his will, peer into any apartment he wishes from his head office. The advantages of this arrangement can be easily seen.

5. A minister can see from his study the nature of his audience before he leaves home.

6. Farmers can watch their cattle and their fruits without leaving the house or barn, according to where the connections are made.

7. Persons can be in bed at night, and if they imagine they hear a robber in any room they can first turn on the photograph current and then the light flash. In this way one can look, without leaving his bed, into each room of the house.

Having given a few illustrations of this marvelous invention, the reader can readily see the variety of uses which it will serve.

Their latest discovery in light is a decided improvement over our electric light. I know of no sensible name to give it, but the name that comes nearest to describing it, according to our terms, would be Phosphorous Light. It gives a mild but yet positive radiance, and closely resembles diffused sunlight.

THE AGES OF PLOID.

One of the strangest theories of the whole universe I found on this cultured world of Ploid. They divide time into three general periods of ages:

1. Age of Fire.

2. Temperate Age.

3. Age of Ice.

The people teach that there was a race of human beings who inhabited their world when it was yet in a molten state and that, as their earth cooled off, the race became extinct.

This age, they claim, was followed by the Temperate Age, or the age in which they are now living.

It is also claimed that, when their earth cools and the frigid blasts freeze out the world, there will gradually commence the Age of Ice, or the age in which human species will exist by reason of the earth's stiff coldness.

I had no way of learning the truth or falsity of this theory.

THOUGHT PHOTOGRAPHY.

These Ploidites have distanced us in the study of the nervous system, including the intricate problems of the cerebrum and cerebellum. They have ascertained, by long ages of observation and experimenting, the exact effect of every kind of impulse on the brain matter. The experts are able to tell, at a post-mortem examination, what kinds of thinking were most prevalent during the subject's life, just as easily as we can judge the great or little use of the arm by an examination of its muscles.

But more wonderful, a thousand fold, is their ability to follow the course of thought in a living cerebrum after the brain has been made visible by a light more potent than the X ray. After this exposure the operator, with his wizard magnifying lens, watches the tiny tremulous brain cells in their infinitesimal quivering, as they carry messages from the soul to the world of sense and being.

The voluntary nerve action is distinguished from the involuntary, and there is no escape from the conclusions formed by an expert observer. The parts of the brain at work must of necessity determine the nature of the thought, and amplified experiments have been made to prove the correctness of these processes.

This scientific mind reading impressed me as the highest expression of inventive skill that had come to my attention in any world of space, and gave me new light on some of the old mysteries of mind and matter.

I tarried as long as possible on this instructive planet and have not yet forgotten many of the valuable hints of inventions that can be reproduced in my own world. Surely we are far enough away from Ploid to escape any charge of infringement, should we proceed to patent some of their inventions.



CHAPTER XVI.

A Singular Planet.

I visited the other seventy worlds that revolve around Sirius. Among them is one of note, called Zik, which is forty-two hundred millions of miles from its sun, and is slightly smaller than our world. It is inhabited by a race of pigmies which I will call Zikites. Wonderful indeed is the intelligence of these creatures, although their form is out of symmetry according to our standards. I will therefore avoid a description of their physical features, lest it might mar the picture of their accomplishments.

The air of Zik is heavy and the sky is opal in its effects. The chemists have thus far found in nature ninety elementary substances, and it is partly due to this large variety that the Zikites have surpassed their fellow men in thousands of worlds.

As you study the past events of this unusual planet, you are reminded of our own history. On Zik there are heathen tribes and all grades of conflicting civilized nations.

War has reddened this distant world for several thousand years, and as yet there is no peace. Notwithstanding all this unceasing upheaval, the tide of human progress has steadily risen. It does appear that the highest light of intellect is generated like electric light through sharp friction.

The Zikites have had their Men of War, vessels of mighty strength and death-dealing in their action. But all such defense has been abandoned over five hundred years ago, and it came about in a natural manner. One of the many illustrious inventors perfected the submarine boat and the flying-machine at about the same time. Their flying-machine might appropriately be called in our language, the Flying Devil, for such it is if you consider its destroying power. One of these ominous looking machines is capable of destroying a whole navy as fast as it can move high in the air from one vessel to another.

It can also tear to pieces an enemy's camp that lies in the open field. All this is accomplished by dropping shells composed partly of some elements not found in our world. These shells are made in such a way that they explode as soon as they touch any substance, and the concussion is much more terrible than is caused by our most powerful explosives. Because no ship could hold together under such destructive shells, the nations abandoned their navies and devoted their energy to devising a safe camp for soldiers and to building these air-vessels with additional improvements.

It was found that the only way to protect a camp was to cover it with a water proof shed, so constructed that nine or ten inches of water would remain on the roof. Then a wide shallow trench was dug around the shed and kept filled with water. These shells will not explode if they fall in that depth of water, but will explode in water of greater depth. You can see at a glance how difficult it is to manage an army under these circumstances. The only redeeming feature is that the enemy also is compelled to resort to the same protection. An international law forbids the destruction of homes in times of war.



Wars are of short duration. Usually the decisive conflict is fought in the air, and is the most terrible of them all. Imagine two of these Flying Devils approaching one another far above the surface of Zik. Each vessel is set in action long before it is in range of the other in the hope of firing the first effective shot. Each party of the conflict knows that the air vessel first struck will be at an end forever, for it will be blown to pieces and every life on board will be shattered into shapeless masses, while the wreckage falls amidst the burning of the combustibles. What a horrible ending of a short battle!

The wisest of the Zikites have proposed many plans to settle international differences but, like us, they have failed to suggest any plan that has proved to be practicable.

The largest nation of Zik has advanced far ahead of us on the labor question, but this was not reached until the contest between capital and labor had left its blood-marks through many centuries.

A brief description of the manner in which the industrial problem was solved will not be out of place. I will waste no words n showing the many points of difference between our customs and those of Zik.

After hundreds of years of painful struggling, the many laborers of this largest nation completed a solid organization and thereby gained control of the whole government. Then, in their zeal to legislate in favor of the laboring classes, the ruling element stepped to the other extreme by passing many unreasonable laws. Things passed along in this unsettled condition until a certain few of the labor leaders, having become wealthy themselves, yielded to a heavy bribe and amended the laws so as to favor the wealthy minority. The magnates of capital shrewdly took advantage of this traitorship and, in the following campaign, won the national election.

The wealthy, now having the reins of power in their own hands, took the initiative and called for a consultation between the heads of the government and the chief leaders of labor.

This proved to be a wise political move and, as a result, a new system of laws relating to all trades and occupations was enacted. The following conditions still prevail:

1. A day's work consists of one-fourth less hours.

2. A minimum scale of wages is adopted for each trade. This scale is based upon the price of certain staple articles, and within a certain limit it rises or falls with the price of these necessities.

3. All regular citizens must be supplied with work if they desire it. If they cannot get employment from some firm or corporation, the government officials represented locally must supply it or its equivalent in money. The government controls enough of the business to employ two-thirds of the male population. This enables the government to take so great a responsibility and bear it with satisfactory results.

4. Any man through negligence failing to support his family is put to the government penitentiary service, and his family is thereafter supported from the public treasury.

5. A widow or orphan is cared for by regular authorities. The by-laws of this fifth article regulate the work of women.

6. No credit is allowed except on a government credit-slip signed by the local representative of the state. If the bill is not paid by the one making the debt, the amount of which is always stipulated, the government will pay it and proceed to collect it in one of three ways. The last resort is according to article four.

There are several other sections governing private ownership of property, land and business. These new laws have had a very good effect. The number of persons getting immensely wealthy gradually decreased, and the average wealth of the laborers increased. The government has the power at any time to form a trust or combination of any line of business by paying liberally to those already engaged in it. This assists the government in carrying its heavy financial burdens, and every family is assured of support if the soil produces enough to feed the people.

And now if I knew how to describe elements that have no resemblance to anything in our world, I would proceed to tell a story of interest to chemists. These Zikites have formed gases and solids unknown to us, and naturally they are capable of performing experiments more wonderful than anything ever known in our world. When I saw their wizard-like performances I thought that the marvelous feats of the Orient were being performed on a scale more mysterious and magnificent.

To see a man play with red hot irons and dance in a seething furnace, makes one believe that his eyes are deceiving him.

I saw a man draw the birds from heaven and dormant reptiles from the soil, but ask me not to tell how. A few of these Zikites have discovered some wonderful secrets of nature and will not disclose them except to certain ones of their own lineage. One of these secrets is the art of embalming the dead so perfectly that human features are retained forever unless destroyed by fire or human effort. The embalming fluid contains some of the elements not found in our world, but this is not the total secret. The body must lie in an air-tight receptacle into which a secret gas is pumped. The dead body, lying in this receptacle for two hours, absorbs certain parts of the gas which enters the pores and touches those parts of the dead body not reached by the injected fluid. By this process no part of the body is subject to putrefaction and the muscles all retain their rigidity, so that one hundred years after burial the features are full, although discolored.

Not many of the common people are thus embalmed. But the bodies of prominent men and women are thus treated at government expense and unborn generations can look upon the full contour of their faces.

Another secret held by these experts is the art of maintaining youthful vigor in old age. This is a very expensive method and the government prohibits any one securing this treatment who has not won special honor in one or another particular channel. One of the highest distinctions bestowed upon any citizen of Zik is to grant him the "Angel's Honor," which entitles him to receive the Vigor Treatment during the balance of his natural life. This one thing, more than any other, is the secret of Zik having so long a list of illustrious characters. It is the ambition of each boy or girl to make progress and some day win the "Angel's Honor."

The religious life of these Zikites is unusually intense. Their language is much more cumbersome than ours. They have a small book which contains a list of great truths whose authors claim to have been influenced by the All-Powerful, or the same as our God. This book has had a remarkable history, and has moulded the life and character of millions. Every person is left to his own notions in religion, and we see here the same picture that confronts us on our own planet, the very good and the very bad in the same house and neighborhood. They build but few churches, but here and there a home of a believer is the center of a worshiping company. On special occasions the worshipers rent or secure large public buildings and have an enthusiastic time.

At many places their Bible speaks of a place where the departed go after death, beyond the Zik life. These worshipers are linked to their God by the same kind of love-chords that bind Christians to their Master in our world.

You cannot imagine my interest and my joy as I learned that the Zikites are looking forward to a period of time corresponding to our Millennium. Their religious literature is full of references to this coming golden age, and many poetical compositions point to it with rapturous melody of language.



CHAPTER XVII.

The Diamond World.

When one reads of the size and population of our world he is thrilled with the idea of its greatness. But when he travels over land and sea, visiting the many points of interest, he is impressed four-fold with the magnitude of the Earth and the vast numbers that populate it.

It is infinitely more so in regard to the many suns and planets that compose the universe. I had read of the distances of space and of the number of celestial bodies that are scattered throughout these measureless expanses, and I was profoundly impressed with the vastness of created things and the eternal revolutions of the countless spheres. But when I took my continued flight away from the solar system of Sirius and was privileged to get a passing glimpse of many other solar systems, I was overawed a thousand-fold at the myriad motions of the myriad worlds, each serving its little part through the passing cycles to carry out the plan of the Infinite Mind.

My next pause was at the glorious constellation of Orion on the star Rigel. This brilliant orb is not inhabited, but more than one-half of the worlds revolving around it sustain human life.

After I had taken a passing glimpse of a few worlds belonging to this system, I proceeded to visit another world that revolves around Rigel at a distance of sixteen hundred million miles. It is a trifle larger than our world and is inhabited by only about one-tenth as many people.

This is the brightest planet I had ever seen, for it dazzled and sparkled like pearls of ice in the sun, and yet it gave forth no light of its own.

I soon learned the secret of all this scintillation. I had come to a world that seemed to be covered with diamonds and precious stones. The mountains were barren of all vegetation and glistened with all the glory of a hundred rainbows.

I presumed that I had come to immense beds of quartz, but the rare brilliancy of the whole scene set me to work to ascertain the value of these stones. To my astonishment, I found that the shining mountains and valleys were filled with genuine diamonds and precious stones, some of which are very rare according to our classification. I was dazed at the sight, first because of its brilliancy and beauty, and next because of the fabulous fortunes that were lying at my feet.

Then I transported myself to another part of the planet that I might get a view of its living fields of vegetation. Alas, I again met the shining of countless gems, set by nature in ledges of rock and massed in confused heaps all around me.

"What a rich world!" I inwardly murmured. "How can people live on diamonds?"

As I was thus musing I sped onward to one of the soil centers of this world. Here I found a small city built of diamonds and choice stones of which the people thought no more than we do of the stones brought down from our quarries.

The soil was almost worshiped. Only the wealthiest could afford to have it in their homes for the growth of flowers. Fortunately, the soil is very productive and, by reason of its scarcity, it has received such careful attention that all worthless weeds have been actually choked out several thousand years ago.

Thus, the soil being so desirable and staple an article, it was eagerly sought after by all who lived on this shining world. Yea, some sacrificed their all that they might obtain a goodly portion of the soil. This desire was so great that it became the ruling passion of many people to accumulate soil all the days of their life, and many died of grief because they could not succeed in satisfying their ambitions.

Now when the speculators saw that the soil was so indispensable and much desired by the people, and that out of it were the issues of life, the wealthier and more crafty of them said among themselves:

"Come, let us buy all the soil, we and our brethren in all the soil centers, and let us call ourselves a Trust, signifying that we will trust one another to the secrets of our enterprise."

And behold this saying seemed good in the eyes of these wise men, and they labored diligently until, in the passing of a few years, they had secured unto themselves full possession of all the soil of the Diamond World.

And it was so in the course of time that these corporations held a great meeting and they said:

"Barns we will build to store products of the soil, and behold we will sell from these storehouses to our workmen for the labor that they may render unto us."

This scheme was pleasing to all the capitalists and they rejoiced in the bright prospect of the future. So they built great barns and thus laid away the products of the soil. Then they appointed agents to sell whatsoever the people wished.

And it came to pass, as the seasons came and went, that these capitalists gave the laborers less for their toil, and charged them more for food at the supply stations. Thus the conditions became so severe that a man could work from the rising of the Sun to the setting thereof, and they earn scarcely enough to keep his family alive.

After this manner the land owners grew more and more wealthy, built unto themselves handsome little villages, and lived in happiness and refinement. They also erected for themselves select schools and reserved beautiful plots for their luxury and amusement.

Then did the members of this Trust, in order to protect themselves from all possible trouble, pass a civil law forbidding any laborer to own an inch of soil. Thus it was very easy to convict a man of theft if soil could be found upon his person or premises.

Now, behold, there were many little spots of vegetation scattered here and there over this whole world. But the agents of the Trust sent out numerous expeditions to gather up all the loose earth that could be found and carry it to the soil centers. This work was so completely done that every nook and corner yielded its accumulated dust to enlarge the gardens at the soil centers and thereby increase the riches of the Trust.

Now, as time passed on, the children of the laborers were also employed to assist in earning bread, and in the course of a few hundred years the school houses in the district of the laborers were torn down, as it was impossible for these children to receive an education, since they must needs work for their sustenance.

After many ages the members of the Trust had become so hardened that they no longer regarded the wishes of the laboring people, but pushed everything to increase their own selfish gain, insomuch that they succeeded in securing the passage of certain laws making the burdens of the laborers still more heavy.

And now, when the capitalists saw that the people did not rebel, they again counseled among themselves on this wise:

"Why should there be so much labor lost in continually quarrying new sepulchers in our diamond ridges, and why should there be so much dust lying idle in the old graves? Come, let us have a law that the dust in all graves over one hundred years old shall be sold at auction, unless the graves are redeemed by a certain amount of soil. Then these empty tombs can be again filled with the dead of our servants and their children. Thus let it be continued throughout coming generations forever. Each year this auction shall be held to dispose of the dust remaining in one-hundred-year-old sepulchers."

These suggestions found favor in the eyes of the Trust who proceeded at once to take the necessary steps to incorporate these regulations into the laws of the commonwealth. The laborers stoutly opposed the adoption of these partial measures, but they were powerless because the Trust bribed enough of the legislators to carry their point.

All this happened many centuries ago, so that when I was there I saw the full program of one of these spectral auctions and was chilled with horror at the proceedings.

Every year this peculiar auction is held at each soil center. The wealthy are able to redeem their sepulchers, but the poor, having no soil, cannot satisfy the law; so the dust of their ancestors must be sold. Laborers are sent out to open the one-hundred-year-old sepulchers along the diamond ridges and carry the coffins to one place. Here they are publicly opened and the bones and dust gathered into one receptacle after which the weird auction begins. No one can compete with the corporations and no one tries.



The legal form of the auction is soon over and the half ton or ton of dust is legally bought by the corporations whose officers order it to be sprinkled over the gardens. It serves the same purpose as phosphate in our fields. This awful process is repeated each year. The sepulchers, emptied thus, are open for new burials. So you can see that with all the gruesomeness of this whole business, there is an economic side to it, and the people have come to view it all in a philosophical manner.

When this wretched custom was first inaugurated a bitter wail ascended from the ranks of the laboring classes, for they well knew whose graves would be opened. Never was there such a stir among the working classes of people. They held mass meetings and grew loudly indignant until the Trust became alarmed at the uprising.

Then did some of these rich sharpsters, who were best gifted in speech, go out to meet their servants, addressing them thus:

"Let your hearts be at peace, my fellow creatures. This new law that we have just passed is a boon to every toiler, for we seek to lighten your burdens by utilizing the idle dust from the tombs. Hereafter we propose to give, free of charge, a sepulcher to every toiler in which he may take his rest for one hundred years. These graves shall be for you and your children forever. Is it not a precious thought that one hundred years after you are dead, your bodies shall again mingle with the soil and, without voluntary effort or pain, help to support your kindred yet unborn?

"If our present silly customs should prevail, the time will come when half our soil will have been carried to the sepulchers, and therefore your tasks would be more severe."

After this manner spake the glib-tongued fellows and, behold, their speeches were as oil on the troubled waters. Under their sophistries the laborers were content and peacefully went to their tasks again after three months of unrest.

Then did the members of the corporations consult again and spake among themselves in this fashion:

"For our protection let us gather, from the laborers, the youthful and the strong, have them taught in tactics of war, and make it unlawful for any to carry deadly weapons, except these trained men, whom we will call our Soil Defenders, and if any of the laborers should ask: 'Wherefore are we called to do this work?' we will say to them, 'For the defense of the soil and the defense of our families are ye called, therefore quit yourselves nobly.'

"And it shall come to pass that when the laborers commence a foolish struggle for their own selfish gain, we can use these trained soldiers to keep them in peace, and thus we need not spend so much of our breath by way of persuasion."

Behold this thing seemed reasonable and seasonable in the eyes of the Trust. They did according to these suggestions and gathered unto themselves, in the name of the civil law, the strongest of the youth and trained them in all the ways of war. Thus did these workmen lose all their liberties by slow degrees, until they were no more troublesome, but labored like slaves to get the wherewithal to live.

As I witnessed this sad picture resulting from the inhumanity of man to man, I was at once reminded of what I had seen on Mars, and of the struggle now pending in my own world. Once more I breathed a silent prayer to the Ruler of all worlds in behalf of the crushed hands and bleeding hearts that are bruised in order that certain men may make their thousands in a day.

I studied the social life of the refined villagers and learned, with much interest, that the word they use for soil, is used in the same esteemed connection in which we use the word gold or diamond.

Preachers, teachers and orators make endless references to the soil. Finally I approached, in a visible form, a few professors who were engaged in a special discussion.

They were alarmed at my sudden appearance, not knowing whence I came nor what sort of an animal I might be. I quickly calmed their troubled minds by using language they easily understood, and explained that I was neither a ghost nor a spirit, but a mere citizen of another world, having, for a limited period, a free excursion ticket to a thousand worlds, and that I chose their planet as one whereon to spend a fleeting period.

Not having been accustomed to such visitants, they were at first skeptical and thoroughly overawed at my presence.

I purposely became as familiar as possible and cautioned them to remain in the selfsame room and spread no notice of my presence. To this request they reluctantly consented.

After my nonplused auditors gained their senses somewhat they ventured to reply to my coaxing questions; these finally led to the following interrogations on their part:

"How large is your world?" came a question from one.

"Not quite so large as this one," I replied.

"Have you much soil there?"

"A million times more than you have here."

"What a wonderfully rich world! The people must be gloriously happy with such fabulous wealth around them."

"The bulk of my fellow-men there are not happy," I sighed. "So many spend their lives looking for diamonds and gold, the most of whom are doomed to disappointment."

An incredulous smile crept over the faces of my newly-made friends, and by it I read the doubt that was arising in their hearts as to the truth of my utterance.

"My words are sincere," I insisted. "If you could take one bushel of your diamonds to the world where I live, you could get more soil for them than you have on your whole globe."

"That world is heaven," exclaimed a few of my hearers at once. "A world of such abundant soil cannot be any other place." Then I learned that their conception of Heaven is not a place of gold-paved streets, but a place where soil is freely distributed even on the sides of the streets.

I continued speaking, telling them how diamonds were considered in our world. These professors were astonished beyond measure at my description, and each one seemed to crave for the knowledge to transport a large consignment of their diamonds to our Earth and return with acres of soil to the Diamond World.

I spent a felicitous period with these queer-shaped scholars of the Diamond World. They prayed and begged that I should remain and appear before the corporations. Their spirits drooped when I told them that if I had any more time to spend visibly on their world I would prefer to comfort the laborers and their suffering families who had been so long deprived of the fair treatment they deserved.

My hearers became ashen with fear, now feeling doubly assured that I was a forerunner of some terrible curse that was about to fall upon the Trusts and corporations whom those professors were serving so assiduously, without ever speaking a word of protest in favor of the human slaves around them.

Once more I related my station. But I spoke in most convincing terms of the eternal curse with which the Infinite would visit the guilty of all worlds.

As I left them I saw that my last words brought no relief to their faces and, after a long silence, they nervously discussed the whole affair, not being able to account for the exceptional experience through which they had just passed.

I visited, in a form invisible, the mansions of the rich and found that the most choice ornaments on their parlor shelves consisted of vials of soil or dirt, and in the homes of the most wealthy only I saw flowering plants.

It chanced that I visited this world at the graduating period of the greater schools. This gave me privilege to hear an oration on "The Soil and the Diamond," a synopsis of which I will translate as correctly as I can. It will be remembered that I must use terms and style suitable to our language.

"O beautiful soil! Thou art but a type of thy maker invisible. Thou dost give birth to countless forms and nursest them all from thy own bosom. From the atom thou bringest the oak, and all its children fall back into thy arms for succor. From thy own heart spring the infinite types of vegetable beauty, all painted and frescoed by thy own exquisite touches.

"O mysterious soil! Wrapped in thy bosom lie a thousand secrets which, if I could but read, I might interpret and thus learn anew of my Creator. Thou holdest the ashes of the millions slain, and the dust of all our forefathers.

"O silent soil! How thou workest without the flying shuttle, or the hum of the busy bees. Thou doest thy greatest deeds without the sounding of a trumpet. Silently thy atoms take their places to serve in higher forms. O teach me thy mute language that I may live and sacrifice for others without my crying and my sighing.

"O humble soil! Thy elements, when formed into man, or fruit, or any kind of food, return again without complaint when touched by death. May I, like thee, take all my condescension in the spirit of humility.

"O modest soil! Thou are not gaudy like the diamond, sparkling and dazzling in a brilliant show and living for nothing higher than display. But thou dost lay aside thy feathery tips, leaving the sun of heaven do the shining. Thou permittest water crystals to give the rainbow hues, whilst thou in thy own modest way, continuest to yield sustenance for man and bird and beast.

"O instructive soil! Wilt thou not, in thy own wise way, speak to the thoughtless man who feels content to grovel with the miserable diamond, who takes his lessons from the dead, dead rock, and feeds his soul upon such flinty food. Open his ears to hear thy words of life and light, and may he see in thee the brighter mirror reflecting the God of all."

This one oration condensed is a fair sample of the others. I listened to the whole program and then proceeded once more to view the diamond splendors before I left this world where I was well paid for my tarrying.



CHAPTER XVIII.

Triumphant Feat of Orion.

As I continued ranging among the planets of the constellation of Orion, I felt an indescribable desire to pause at a very small orb which revolves around Saiph, a star of the third magnitude.

Here I found, to my surprise, a gem of a world which I will call Holen. It is five hundred miles in diameter, and inhabited by a refined race of human beings, radically different from us in physical contour, but remarkably similar to us in their mental aspirations.

As a race they greatly excel us in mechanical engineering. Many evidences of their skill might be given, but we will be content to give a description of their monumental engineering feat.

Long ages ago Holen had cooled to the center, and it became the ruling passion of her most intelligent inhabitants to communicate from one side of the globe to the other through an opening of five hundred miles almost directly through the center of their earth, or more accurately speaking, through the center of gravity.

After forty-five hundred years of experimenting the marvelous feat was accomplished.

Of all the worlds in the constellation of Orion, large or small, Holen is the only one that has succeeded in this astounding feat, although it has been and is being tried on more than a dozen worlds.

This wonderful opening through Holen's center of gravity is lined with sections of ribbed metal which cost the governments fabulous sums. This vast tube was finished thirteen hundred years ago according to our time.

Many lives were sacrificed in the hazardous work of tunneling. Were it not for the ribbed metal which afforded protection with its shelving flanges, the tube could never have been finished.

At the present time the tube is used for commercial purposes and for passenger traffic. Air tight cars of special design are used, and only one car is allowed in the tube at one time.



You cannot imagine the frightful velocity of the ride, but the passenger is not as conscious of this as you might think. The first fifty miles of the descent is controlled by the exterior or surface engines. The speed is gradually increased until it reaches that of the falling body. Then the motorman releases the wizard car and the speed is steady and terrible until the car dashes past the center of gravity, after which the speed slackens at a regular rate. The car of its own momentum forces its way far toward the opposite surface of their earth.

Just as the carriage comes to a stop, the engineer or motorman, as we would call him, pulls his lever, thereby fastening the car to the ribbed side of the tube. At once a signal is given and the long, thin but strong rope descends to draw the carriage to the surface.

A perfect system of communication is established from one end of the ponderous tube to the other. It frequently happens when an attempt is made to fasten the car that the clamps fail to work and consequently the carriage commences its second journey toward the center. Another effort is made to hold the carriage when it again comes to a stop; but if this is not successful, then comes the most peculiar experience of all. The carriage of its own momentum continues dashing backward and forward until it comes to rest at the center of gravity. Then the engineer, by communicating with the surface, gets the longest stretch of rope and is drawn two hundred and fifty miles to the surface.

This world has no atmosphere and life is not sustained by breathing, neither by the process found on the Moon.

The inhabitants get their sustenance from the soil with which they must be connected, directly or indirectly over one-half the time, or they will suffer in a manner similar to us when we are suffocating.

From this faint glimpse of their life, it can be seen that the people of Holen in their habits are totally incongruous to all our conceptions, and if one of them were to make a visit to our world, everything he would here see would appear just as ridiculous and unthinkable to him as the things on their globe did to me.

As I surveyed this world, everything evidenced the fact that these people are born engineers. Our Eiffel Tower and Ferris Wheel would be mere playthings compared with the sky-scraping structures that adorn the various parts of this little world. It appears that the international mind runs in this one direction more than in any other, and while they surpass us in this respect, they are inferior to us in the limitless field of science and philosophy as well as in the variety of manufacturing plants.

In their religion, the Holenites have developed to a high degree. They have no sacred book akin to our Bible. Their whole authority comes from the lips of the Divine Family, as we would term it. This family serves for religion the same purpose as the Royal Family does for the civil realm in some countries of our world. The Divine Family are genuinely descended from their sacred ancestors who were, by a visible show of omnipotent power, appointed and consecrated to the sacred work of dispensing truth and officiating in all sacraments. The ordination of all the ministers of Holen must be held by a member of this Divine Family. By reason of this one source of authority, there is, therefore, no confliction of creeds. The great battle of the Church is with the several infidel organizations that give no heed to the genuine religion.

This Sacred Family received a code of laws which they have held from the beginning and, strange to say, no one is allowed to copy these laws in written or printed form. To do so is a type of blasphemy for which a severe penalty is imposed. Some of the infidel organizations find delight to print all or a part of these laws and scatter them secretly among the people. Such documents fall with as much pain on the premises of a believer as oaths do in our world on the ear of a delicately trained soul.

If an infidel wishes to insult a godly pilgrim, he can do it no more effectively than by secretly fastening to the believer's residence a piece of material on which is inscribed one or more of these sacred laws.

Every believer is required to commit to memory this code of laws by hearing them from the lips of the minister. It is therefore necessary to keep in constant touch with the church service so as to be a continual hearer of these laws, a part of which is repeated every worship day.

The minister does not preach in the same sense that we understand preaching. His work comes nearer filling the office of a priest under the old Jewish church. There is much more form and ceremony than is found in our system under the Mediator, Jesus Christ.

The civil law has absolutely nothing to say on the marriage question. All this is held in the domain of the Church. In truth, the Divine Family has always regulated this question. If the legality of a marriage is called in question, all that the civil authorities try to determine is whether the marriage ceremony was performed in accordance with the laws of the Divine Family. If this point can be established, the marriage is declared legal; if not, it is declared to be null and void. This one subject of matrimony has caused more friction between the Church and the infidels than all other issues combined. The infidels are bitterly opposed to take their marriage vows before the minister, yet this must be done to make their marriage legal. Divorce laws are unknown, although, in rare cases, papers of separation are granted by authority and under seal of the Divine Family.

The religious devotees of Holen look forward to a happier existence when their mortal life is ended. Their ideas of this future life are quite similar to our cherished ideas of Heaven.

In their moral life they have reached a higher plane than we. This is due to the fact that the Divine Family wield an influence in the civil realm that cannot be broken.



CHAPTER XIX.

The Mute World.

I proceeded on my journey until I had reached Alcyone in the famous constellation of Taurus. On one of the planets revolving around Alcyone, I found a distinctive class of human beings faintly resembling creatures that I had seen in several other constellations, but of which I have, as yet, made no special mention.

Among these people no audible language is used as a means of communication. One might think that high civilization would be impossible without such a vehicle of thought. But on this Mute world humanity has pushed far along in the great interstellar race for supremacy.

A description of the physical features of these Muteites would not only seem absurd, but would be distorting. Can you imagine a beautiful person without ears and void of vocal sound, having a head totally out of shape compared with ours, and with a bodily framework ridiculously new to us? Such would be a brief word sketch of these far-away mortals of unusual intelligence.

These people hold all their conversation by pure thought transmission. The sense-perception is almost infinitely keen, and gestures play no part in emphasizing thought. It is amazing to see with what facility these beings express their ideas one to another.

In our life one may conceal his thoughts from the most searching human eye, but this cannot be done on Mute. As a consequence each one can read the character of his comrades, and the normal citizen well knows what necessary allowance to make for the impure thoughts that flit through the mind of his neighbor.

I studied, with absorbing interest, the many phases of this mental telepathy, or mind talking, between two or more persons even though widely separated. Imagine how glorious it must be to have real fellowship with a friend whose face you cannot see and whose hand you cannot touch.

There are limitations to this delightsome way of talking. A person can hold conversation with only one absent friend at a time and then only when each one concentrates his thoughts on the other. What wireless telegraphy is to our world, this mental conversation is to the world of Mute, and it is possible that we may reach a higher degree of proficiency in this direction after we become still better acquainted with the laws of the human mind.

When I think of the many unaccountable heart-thrills that send their emotions of joy and hatred into our passing life, I am somewhat persuaded that we speak this tongueless language more than we imagine. Some day we may learn the secrets that are now so heavily veiled and thereby put to naught the glory of our present modes of communication. Until then we will plod along with the telegraph, telephone, wireless telegraphy and our ever-changing knowledge of telepathic intercourse.

I will give the philosophy of this perfect means of expressing thought as clearly as I can.

As sound waves are created in our atmosphere by actual vibration, so are thought waves created on Mute by mental activity focused in any one point of the brain. Our way of expressing thought by audible words is not conceivable to these people. If one of their inhabitants were to visit our Earth, he would be at a loss to account for our movements of mouth and gestures of body when we are in the act of conversation.

The social life of Mute is marked with many peculiarities. Males and females seldom ever associate together, and social purity sends its sweet influences over the whole planet.

A science which is similar to Phrenology plays an important part in all the social customs of this sphere. It decides the marital destiny of each person, and no two are recommended to join in wedlock until they have been pronounced physical and mental mates by the official psychologists.

On this interesting world I found the most summary punishment for adulterers and fornicators. When these crimes are clearly proven, the guilty parties are put to death after a lingering sentence. This is a most terrible punishment, but it has proven that, although a few must suffer this penalty, the general good of the whole population is thereby much increased.

I was much amazed at the construction and possibilities of the human mind when I observed the manner in which certain suspected criminals were examined in order to prove or disprove the crime of which they were charged. The doors of the soul were unlocked and the past thought-images, with their mental impressions, were thrown open to view. How can a Muteite deny the crime which is photographed on the sensitive living plates of his own mind! This reproducing can be effected only by a very special process and is never done against a person's will unless ordered by civil authority.

When I saw, on this world of Mute, the possibility of uncovering the past records of the mind, it at once suggested to me the possible nature of the final Judgment of our world when each one will stand face to face with the record of his own deeds, brought before him vividly under the light of eternity. In such an event who would think of showing a bold front to deny the accuracy of such a direct reproduction of himself in the flesh!

Possibly the human mind may be likened to a phonograph into which we can speak while the cylinder of thought revolves; at any time afterward every syllable may be reproduced accurately.

Another striking feature of these mortals is their lack of hypocrisy. Only a small degree of it is found among all the inhabitants of this peculiar planet. No doubt hypocrisy would be greatly lessened in our own social life if we could no longer hide our real thoughts. In Mute it is very unsafe to practice deception, for as soon as the deceived one appears personally he can readily conjecture, by the mental state of the deceiver, the nature of the thought that had transpired.

Can you realize what a refreshing moral atmosphere exists in a world where conventional lying is almost unknown? In our life the daily sin of the millions is the white, or the blue lie. Think of how many we tell in our regular routine of life! We generally give false excuses instead of the real ones. We very seldom blame ourselves for errors, but rather think diligently to study out a way to shift responsibility. Nearly the whole brood of our apologies is hatched from the serpent's egg, and then we ignorantly or hypocritically manifest surprise that our own offspring should develop an inclination to deceive or misrepresent!

Here I saw, in wide contrast to our own social order, the results springing from sincerity that has thrived through a long line of generations. Such blessings are as a breath of Heaven, rare and beautiful.

One might think, when considering this strange manner of conversation, that it would be difficult for the people to express their ideas clearly. It is just the opposite from this, for it is almost impossible for them to express themselves vaguely. They talk from the headquarters of one mind directly to the headquarters of another, instead of through a medium of cumbersome words which in our life are so often misunderstood. Thus we must admit that we have a ten-fold greater struggle than they to be perspicuous in language.

I was charmed at this most superior mode of conversation and saw in it a higher glimpse of the Heaven language than in any other type that had yet met my observation in all the worlds of space.

The Muteites are rapid thinkers, and although they have no sense of hearing, yet they are ultra-sensitive to substantial emissions of vibrating bodies. According to all I could see, these people were not hampered by this lack of senses. They live as conveniently in their flesh life as we do, and in their mind or spirit life they are much more refined than we are.

Their earth is so different from ours in chemical combinations that the soil is almost transparent and in general has the appearance of glass. Their homes are built mostly under surface, owing to the terrific cyclonic storms that follow one another in very uncertain succession.

The average length of life is two hundred of our years. They reach their maximum energy of mind at about one hundred years, and among the brighter of the inhabitants can be found a glorious order of intellect. Some of these mental celebrities outshine the brightest creatures of all the solar systems of that region of the heavens.

After some hesitancy, I yielded to a desire to appear in a visible form before an assembled company of Muteite philosophers who were gathered in one of the under-surface halls of architectural beauty for consultation.

As I entered the vast hall in my natural manner I attracted unusual attention. It was amusing to see how all eyes were fastened upon me as I calmly walked toward the front of the audience. Here I had one of the hardest tasks of all my journey, to converse in a soundless language. I lacked faith at first to make the attempt, but this delay was but for a moment, for I first fixed my mind upon what I wished to communicate, and instantly a dozen or more Muteites signified that they were in sensitive touch with my thought.

I will give a small portion of the mental telepathic conversation between myself and my auditors, although I must relate it as if words were actually spoken, or it would be totally unintelligible to the people of my own likeness.

"Let no one be alarmed," I hurriedly addressed them, as a thousand giant forms were trembling at my appearance. "My mission is one of peace. I have come to help rather than harm," I continued.

"From what section of our world have you come?" came a hundred thought flashes in wild confusion.

"I am not from your world, but from another," I answered with closed mouth as best I could.

Then I learned an important feature of this mind language. A hundred or more interrogations came flying at me in thick confusion. At once the chairman or leader of the meeting gave restrictive orders which actually prohibited my audience from further communication with me, although I might address them. The chairman bid me commune with him and he thereafter acted as the spokesman of the whole assembly. It was no more difficult for these philosophers to keep their minds closed to me than it is for us to keep our mouths closed in an excitable meeting or debate.

The chairman, looking with increasing curiosity at my strangely shaped face and head, interrogated me thus:

"Are you an angel of light, or one of darkness?"

"I am neither."

"What then can you be?"

"I am a created being from a far-off region of space. I was born on a world which revolves around a star untold millions of miles distant."

"If you are not a spirit, how could you have traveled such incredible distances?"

"That is yet a mystery to me," I admitted. "The power of my flight is much like the mode of your communication, for each is alike mysterious to me."

By this time the excitement was intense. No one attempted to grasp me or even approach toward me. I saw by the perplexing mental atmosphere of the chairman that he was being besieged by a host of questions and suggestions; so I relieved the situation by continuing my words:

"No one need consider my appearance as an evil omen. I am not empowered to curse or bless your world except by what may flow from my immediate conversation with you."

In these sentences I thoughtlessly gestured with my arms; this set my audience wild with mingled merriment and curiosity.

"Are all as small as you whence you came?" queried the chairman.

"They are all after my pattern with some variations."

"Pray, tell me, what are those gummy flabs at the sides of your head?"

"Those are my ears," I said with grinning face. "They grew there for a purpose."

"And what can that purpose be?" further questioned the puzzled chairman.

"They are for the purpose of hearing," I quickly replied.

Then followed a curious scientific dialogue in which I endeavored to explain the sense of hearing. From this I described the manner of conversation in our world, and showed what an important part hearing played. But all this was beyond the comprehension of my auditors.

After a lengthy and most interesting discussion upon the philosophy of sound, the next point of interest centered on my mouth and vocal organs. It was pleasing to consider these subjects because my listeners were such eager questioners and surprised hearers. No wonder that they were unable to grasp such a crude system of conversation as ours!

Then the chairman verily begged me to explain the mystery of my mission and of my unprecedented itinerary. How could I have fully satisfied his mind, even if I had endeavored to do so!

After all this came the most pleasing communion thus far of all my journey. I learned much by the interchange of ideas. Nature's vast book opened to me some new and charming pages.

Toward the close of my stay the affinity between us grew to a marked degree. Although we were widely apart in physical aspect, yet we were supping from the same bowl of affection and, with this happy turn, we talked of our permanent companionship.

"But I cannot abide with you," I reluctantly answered.

"Ah, torment us not with such a thought," affectingly pressed the chairman.

"I have other worlds to visit, and must hasten away. Touch me not," I cried as the chairman unconsciously moved toward me in an urgent appeal.

"How soon shall we see you again?"

"No more forever, unless you see me in that widest expanse of life which in our world we call Heaven. There the pure of all worlds will gather and commingle in delightsome fellowship forever."

I was then urged beyond all etiquette to tarry a short period and visit certain parts of their world. But I informed them that I had seen more of their world than they imagined, and that the object of my visit had been reached.



CHAPTER XX.

Brief.

One of the medium sized worlds that revolve around Alcyone sustains the shortest lived human beings of our universe. It is seldom that any of the creatures reach more than four years of age according to our standards of time. They are nearly as large as we and relatively much lighter in weight. All the periods of physical growth are correspondingly decreased. Children walk four or five weeks after birth, and are capable of receiving regular instruction at the age of five months.

Strange as it may seem, this sphere, which for convenience we will call Brief, revolves very slowly on its axis, so that our world makes fifteen times as many revolutions as this planet.

It requires but little arithmetic to figure out that the people of Brief do not see the sun rise very often. When it does appear in the morning sky, all the public signals blow and the people appear in one or another of their places of worship. This beautiful custom has been in practice for over three thousand years. The worship is not sun worship, but a genuine service of thanksgiving to Him who ruleth over the sun and supplies it with fuel to burn. It appears that on all worlds everything is regulated in accordance with the length of human life. On this world, of Brief all vegetables mature in periods so short that one marvels when he hears it. Think of cereals reaching maturity in seven or eight of our days, or during one day of Brief. Early in the morning certain crops are planted and are harvested at night. Two or more days are required for maturing other crops. Actually the people of Brief raise their crops with less labor than is required amongst us.

If you were permitted to look upon the public and private life of this incredible world, your first sensation would be dizziness, not to mention the weirdness of all sights that would confront you at every turn. People would seem to be in a mad rush, and it would appear that all business is done with insane rapidity.

Furrows of care and trouble begin to deepen on the faces of these Briefites as they approach an age of what we would call three years, and if by lease of strength they pass on toward an age of four years, it is but an evidence of their exceptional vitality. It seems to be true that the experiences of a long life of sixty or eighty years is crowded into a narrow compass of four years by a miracle of spheres not comprehended by finite minds.

No doubt a detailed description of this whirling and dashing life would be of interest to us slow, deliberate creatures. But I can give only a passing glimpse.

JOURNALISM.

Things happen in such quick succession that the news is hustled out at all hours of the day and night; not on sheets of paper, but through automatic news-receivers, machines somewhat akin to our telegraph instruments.

The state supplies each home with an automatic news-receiver. Thus a record is kept in each home of all messages received so that they can be read at leisure. To speak in a manner more easily understood, I will say that the news is telegraphed to each home as soon as possible after the events transpire. But compared to our customs, the news is very scarce. There being no competition, no time or space is required for sensational trash. Thus, if nothing of importance occurs, nothing need be transmitted. The official news-censors decide as to the relative importance of occurrences. There need not be a certain amount of news telegraphed each hour. The government verifies, as much as possible, all reports before they are transmitted. There are indeed some advantages in the government being in constant touch with each home under its care. The advertising department pays nearly all expenses of this whole system of journalism. Announcements for private gain are paid at a regular rate. It costs more to advertise at certain periods than at other times, all regulated by the customs of the people.

Under these regulations everybody receives the news, and only the essential news, except advertisements which must come in batches at certain intervals. Of course, people take their choice as to reading advertisements.



THEIR FOOTWEAR.

The soles of the feet of these Briefites are composed of a substance most nearly resembling hoof material. They never think of covering the feet under any change of climate. If one of the Briefites were to step upon the shores of our rugged Earth and see the cotton or wool and leather that lies around our feet, it would appear to him as the most ridiculous thing imaginable, and no doubt his shapely feet of ivory cast would be of more than passing interest to us.

THEIR RAIMENT.

Their raiment is altogether after new models. Neither the men, women, nor children seem to seek this means for self-beautifying. They seem to think that beauty of character has a radiance more to be desired than the flash of opals or the luster of silks. Their garments partake of the loose flowing order. For instance, a strong fabric of chosen shade is fastened at the neck, hip, knee and ankle, and lies carelessly over the parts between. The females never graduated to the corset degree, and while they do not cut a scientific figure, yet they surely develop a more ruddy waist after the model intended by the Designor of the body.

TRANSPORTATION.

The methods of traveling are so contrary to our conceptions and practices that I almost forbear to attempt any description. Yet I was entertained and instructed as I witnessed the moving of humanity along a street of a busy city. Have you ever noticed how quarters of beef are carried from a car to an elevator or refrigerator on steel rods connected with wheels running in a groove or on a specially prepared track? In a city of Brief, overhead tracks after such an order run along all business streets and certain residence streets. Spare me a detailed description of this peculiar traveling system. Suffice it to say that a person, in lightning rapidity of motion, rushes from a store, springs upon a passing seat and is hurled away by the power of an overhead cable system. When an exchange of seats is necessary, it is all done so easily and so quickly that you would wonder why we tolerate trolley cars.

In traveling from city to city, a system is in use that I will call the Toboggan Slide System, although the cars run on wheels. The car is raised in a shaft about one hundred feet and then by gravity it dashes two or more miles according to the lay of the land traversed. Then another rise more or less than one hundred feet is experienced, and then another wild dash. I have no words of praise for this system, although the Briefites can cover considerable territory in an hour. They look upon this gravity system as a wonderful achievement, for it has not been in operation for more than three hundred years.

The power of steam has never been utilized. No genius of all this active world of Brief ever conceived the idea that almost unlimited power lies wrapped up in thin vapory water. But they have discovered what we would call gaseous oil, and have learned to put it to work, so that it is the main force employed in hoisting and all other purposes where power is required.

Nothing like a traveling locomotive has ever been made, although I learned that a bright wizard was experimenting and that he prophesied great changes when his gas-propelled vehicle was perfected.

Think of how much value an ordinary citizen of our world would be to these Briefites, if he could step upon their world and communicate with them concerning the magic wonders of steam and the manner of constructing stationary and movable engines, to say nothing of the hidden wonders of electricity. Quadrupeds that take the place of our horses are used for drayage, although nothing except the two-wheeled class of vehicles was ever used until some eighty-seven years ago.

PUBLIC HIGHWAYS.

These interesting people excel us in their style and manner of home-building, fencing and making public highways. We are heathenish in our progress along the line of road making especially. In all my vast journey among the worlds I found only a few, comparatively, whereon the roads were inferior to ours.