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QColourad ca¥an/ CouMftura da coulaur r~~| Conn danufid/ Coumrtura andommaiia Conn raitond and/or laminatad/ Counrtun mtauria at/ou pallieuMa Conr titia mining/ La titra da coimrtiin manqua D Canat gtogi a phiqim an coulaur with other matarial/ anc d'airaai documanti QColourad inli (i.a. other than talua or Maekl/ Encn da coulaur li.a. autre qua Maua ou noln □ Coloured platei and/or illustrationi/ Planches et/ou illustrations en coulaur □ Bound wi^ Reli« asac □ Ti^t binding mar rtusa shadows or distortion along intariar margin/ La rallun serrie peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion la long de la marge intirieun □ Blank leant added during restoration may vpaar within the text Whenenr potsiMa. these han been omitted from 'ilming/ II te peut que certaines pages Wanchet eioutiet lors d'una resteuration appereissent dans la texta, mais. lorsque cela Mait possible, cas pages n'ont pet Mi filmies. n Additionel comments:/ Commentairet tupplimentaires: This item is filmed el the reduction retio checked below/ Ce document est f ilm< eu teu> de reduction indiqut ei-dessout. L'Institut a microf ikni le meilleur exemplr're qu'il luiaMpostJMedeteprocL.er. Les dMails da cat axamplain qui sunt peut-fttre uniques du point de vue I. qui paueant modifier una image . ou qui paunnt axiger una modif ication dans la mMhnda normje de f ihnaga tont indiquis ci-dessous. Cohiurad pegri/ □ CohM Pages □ Pag>s restored end/or tamkuted/ Pages rastaurtes at/ou paHicuMes Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages dicolorias, tachatias ou piquies □ Pages detached/ Pages dtochies QShowthrough/ Transparence □ Ouelity of print >ariet/ I n I Queliti inigele de I'impression Continuous pegination/ in continue □ Includes indexlesi/ Comprend un (des) index Title on heedar taken from: / Le titn de ren-ttte prosient: □ Title page of Page de litre I I Caption of issue/ issue/ de le livretion Titn de dipert de le liyreiton Masthead/ Ginirique Ipiriodiques) de le livreison I I Mesthead/ 10X 14X 1IX 22X 2«X Xx \J 1 — r— 1 n n ^2x 1CX aox 2*X nx i— J L_J 15 » Tha copy flimad hara has baan rapreduead thank* to tha ganarotlty of: National Library of Canada L'axamplaira film* fut raproduit grlca i la gAntroait* da: Blbllothique natlonala du Canada Tha imagaa appaaring hara ara tha baat quality poaalbia eoniidaring tha condition and lagibllity of tha original copy and In kaaping with tha filming contract apocif Icatlona. La* imaga* aulvantas ont ttt raproduitai avac la plu* grand *oin, compta tanu da la condition at da la nattai* da I'aaamplaira film*, at an conformM avac la* condition* du contrat da filmaga. Original cepia* in printad papar eovara ara flimod baginning with ttM front covar and andlng en tha laat paga with a printad or llluatratad Impraa- *ion. or tha back covar whan appropriata. All othar original copiaa ara filmad baginning en tha firat paga whh a printad or llluatratad impraa- aien, and andlng on tha laat paga with a printad or llluatratad impraaaion. Laa aaamplalraa originaun dont la eouvartura an papiar aat Imprimda *ont fllmi* an commancant par la premier plot at an tarminant soit par la darnWre page qui comporte une empraint* d'Impraaaion ou d'illuatratlon, *oit par la second plat. **lon le caa. Tous la* autraa aaemplaira* originaui aont fllma* an commancant par la premiere pege qui comporte une emprainta d'Impraeaien ou d'llluotration at en terminant par la demitre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. The laat recorded frame on each microfiche ahell contain tha lymboi —^ Imeening "CON- TINUED"), or the lymbol ▼ Imeening "END"), whichever appliaa. Un da* *vmbole* (uivent* apparaltra «ur la dernlAre imege de cheque microfiche, talon I* ca*: le *ymbole ^» eignifie "A SUIVRE". le eymbole V eignifie "FIN". Mep*. plate*, chart*, etc.. mey be filmed at different reduction ratio*. Thoaa too large to be entirely included in one expoaure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand comer, left to right and top to bonom. a* many frame* ■* required. The following diagram* illuanata the method: le* canaa. pianche*. tableaux, etc.. peuvent itre fllmto A de* taux de reduction different*. Loraque le document e*t trop grand pour itre reproduit en un *eul cllchi. il e*t flime 1 partir da I'lngia aupArieur gauche, de geuche 1 droita, at de haut en be*, en prenant le nombre d'Imege* neceeaaire. La* diagramma* (uivant* lllu*trent la methoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 MKROCOPr RHOUJTION TBT OMtT (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) 1.1 la 123 |Z5 |Z2 ■ on 1.8 mi^t^ A y^PPLIED IIVMGE Inc S^ 1053 East Wain SIrMt KS RochMtcr, New Yorti 14609 USA ^S (7^^) ^2 - 0300 - Phone ^S (716) 288 - 5989 - Fox )%4^i/^y /^// AFTER THE CATACLYSM A Romance of the Age to Come BT H. PERCY BLANCHARD Cochrane Publishing CoD ure fa?;i;°[J, .'':?rair''r' ^ "*»'' -« '" «tat- %"re had Just^lX t mtcul" '^T^- " "" 8:'ve her an easy grace L^ • development to masculine or flelhfb^t vet '°T°"' '*^*"^''' "°t feeoleness or frailty A d^ ; . /° «"ggestio„ of 'ent to her comp,e2o„ a ttf ofheSrhT l' ."^"'"^ vivacity of blue-ffrav ev« I"^""*"' *« which the mouth gave willing verf£io " tT'""^ «^*"«='-°« such rare faces and CrThlr u"^ '"*" ^ ^*^ -thing Of simpiicitn5^s;s,*!::SiiSc: AFTER THE CATACLYSM about her expression, that my mind confessed to me as new. Her dress, though charmingly in harmony with its wearer, was slightly startling. I recalled in a hazy way pieces of Grecian statuary I had seen. The material, a kind of jersey cloth of a silky fleeciness like finest wool, soft, and yet with sub- stance, draped the undulating figure to the feet. The left arm was fairly covered, yet not encumbered, with the abundant cloth, but the right arm and shoul- der were bare and free. In color, a creamy white, the tint of the robe made a gently pleasing contrast to the darker shade of her abundant hair. But not very long did the subject of my meditation leave me to pursue my mental observations. With an expression of mock solemnity upon her laughing mouth, she held her finger up impressively and delivered her message : " My father says you are to have nothing to eat, " and as she paused amused at the woeful effect her words produced upon my falling countenance, she added, " but that I may give you a little of this to dnnk, " and, suiting the action to the word, she on one knee beside me, raised my head and held a temp- ting goblet to my lips. As the welcome vitalizing fluid, of a body like a syrup, yet with a decidedly fruit-like flavor, reached my grateful throat, a peculiar smile that I could not repress prompted the girl to ask its reason. It seemed so absurd, and yet that taste had carried 13 AFTER THE CATACLYSM me back to my boyhood. The teacher's interrogation as to what was meant by the nectar of the Gods, re- curred to me, and my perfectly earnest answer, that nectar was probably made from the juice of cherry preserves mixed with honey. When I related the incident then to Vera, she aoberly remarked. " Who knows, perhaps you were nght. When I all too soon drained the wax-like goblet, I noticed perhaps in grim contrast with the fair arm near me, that my own skin was still coated with scales of mud. The girl at the sar.,e time read my thought, and as if in apology said: " Yes, you are muddy, but my father did not think It wise to disturb your rest. But now, if you think you can walk, we will try to see what a bath can do. " The under-robe still wrapped around me, was pre- canous covering. However, desperately clutching my garment I managed with assistance to get upon my feet and with Vera's helping arm around r^, ,^1 gered, rather then walked forward JLtT*J "^-^t •'■* '•P*'* ^'"^ *"^«*y of some gutter-painted inebriate in the embrace of the gentle f next I met His Honor's greeting of: "Four dol- lars, or twenty days. Next ! " ,Zf ""^ *'°"^ *•"" stone-paved floor, and through some airy apartments, we came to a small room stone-paved hke the others, and wit., two little bTs' or square cisterns cut in the floor. The water entered 14 AFTER THE CATACLYSM at the left into the first recess, then into the second pool, and then disappeared. It was a charming little place, more like a natural grotto than a work of art. Large uncut stones piled on each other, formed the walls, and in the interstices, vines and flowers grew unrestrained. A rustic, but yet weather-proof roof, closed out the sky. Vera seemed amused at my dismayed survey of the clinging clay that festooned my bony arms, and as she went out, she turned to caution me not to stand still too long, or I might begin to throw out roots and grow. It did not take me long to give the second pool a color like my own. Then on my transfer to the upper bath, I managed finally, after much prospecting, to pre-empt myself. It was only a slight exertion ; yet, tired but clean, it was a pleasure to sit down on the basin edge to rest. Just as I had gone through the process of an " at- mospheric dry, " I heard Vera's light step approach- ing. The door opened. Then around its corner the hand and arm of the undisclosed owner appeared ; and, with a quick throw, a clean soft robe dropped to the floor beside me, and again the door closed. It was a matter of some study to me to decide how to put the thing on. As I held it up, the garment seemed to be made of a large square of goods, folded comerwise. The diag- onal was about a yard longer than my height. The matched edges on one side were sewn together to 15 y^t arm .„d .ho„ der th J u **"' "^ ^ead .„d o' point fell „«„r,ii„ Z h! 1 7 ' ""* *°P «ten.ion extended to a little above th/L ^™"*' ">« »e«ni ou. draper, «-.mewh.t e„fX" h ' ?" *"' ^°'"™' " but th«*r;a?;; rhji^tr '"'""^ ''"««'; "'in style, ,„d so, well. wh.J Z '"""' '* »"""<' «<» . I Muntered out in mv h^, , * mattered? «"«•» .. . decided "tSessn ""'■ "•'" " """^h JW •P'te of my bravado S;„/;""'"*.'' "•" '««4. ^n comings. P"'"'""y conscious of my short- Vera and her fath- randah.^^ "" /.the. were waiting fo, ^^ o„ the ve- Oh. " she said " r /_ 16 ^Pter the cataclysm I. ?Tfu '**' *•*' •'^°' *•'•*='' *" velvet-like, uid had .ii 5,!: **° T' ']"'•"«"«'<= «>"»iiieM. the fruit M? Wh ? ?!, " '^J?' '"" «PPe.r.nce; .nd when Mr. White asked me if I recognized it, I quoted in the clMiic Italian of the festive D«go: «« "» «e " He-le-a. He-Ie-a, le lipe pin Bananio. " It need not be denied that I was very curious to Jeam my position and surroundings; but to all mv q estionings, both Mr. White and Vera smiled a polite rehisal. though with the implied promise of a byrand 17 r CHAPTER III. A WEEK of sleep and quiet lounging, interspersed with meals and happy chatter, that seemed to do me equal good, passed by. The delightful spring-like air, the steady sunny weather, with only heavy mid-night dew to give the needed moisture, sent into my bones new energy and vigor. " You have been wondering, as I would judge by your so far unanswered questions, what i; the ex- planation of your peculiar position? That it is pecu- liar, cannot be denied. " I nodded, but my silence spoke the eagerness with which I looked for the answer. Mr. White without waiting proceeded : " You may be surprised to know that this is the month of January in the year of Our Lord (as perhaps you were accustomed to designate it) nineteen hun- dred ar.i. thirty-four. I do not know what the date was when you ceased consciousness. " " Nineteen hundred and one. " " Yes, I supposed about then. Last week when my daughter was working in her garden, the earth sud- denly subsided under her feet, making a hollow on the surface that at once arrested our attention. It 18 AFTER THE CATACLYSM was more a matter of curiosity than any expectation of advantage that prompted me to investigate. At my daughter's earnest solicitation (here Vera nodded at me her corroboration) I dug away the earth. About a foot below the surface, we came upon some bits of rotten board; and to shorten the story, we found that the coffin in which you had seemingly been buried, had, except where the glass over the face had partly preserved the wood, so decayed as to let the earth fall in upon your body. " We were amazed to find that although the clothing had rotted and disappeared, your body was in perfect preservation- There was no re?,;iration. Was it life, — or death ? Yet if the first, — how was consciousness to be restored? " To the mystery, the innumerable reddish blue spots on your face, which still give you probably some discomfort, suggested a solution. In any event the experiment was worth trying. On the presumption that you had been shocked by a heavy discharge of mechanical electricity — " " Yes, it was from a broken arc light wire, I expect." " Exactly. On that presumption we knew that, pro- vided the nerve system had not been actually burned out, the reception by the body of a heavy electric dis- charge would induce unconsciousness, to continue until the magnetic influences of the fluid were with- drawn. At the same time, a suspension of all motion, including an arrest of disintegration, would be created ; in that every organic atom would be held in magnetic 19 AFTER THE CATACLYSM tension so long as the corporeal battery continued charged It remained to so withdraw the influence gradually that the tissues would naturally rebound and assume their normal muscular pulsations in re- action from the molecular rigi,?icy. Acting upon this reasonmg, .t was but the work of a few minutes to loosen some surface clay, place your body on it, and except for your nostrils, cover you with a few inches of damp earth. This treatment, in many instances when people were injured in using the unrefined fluid, has succeeded. "You will comprehend that, although you had been under ground many years, not until the coflin had broken and the soil caved in on you that day. had the clay come m direct contact with your body, and direct actual contact is essential. If. when the earth fell in no acfon had been taken, the electricity holding your v.tahty m suspension would soon have been dissfpated. and then, without recovering consciousness, you would have been repulsated. next, suffocated, and finally in the fullest sense dead, upon which, of course, putre- faction would undoubtedly have ensued. For about twenty-four hours, though keeping a close watch over you, we left you in your damply application, and were at last rewarded by your re^ gaining consciousness, and becoming as you now are our ven. welcome guest. Perhaps I have^old yl aj much at present as your renascent mind can easily Mr. White stopped, and although my curiosity was 20 AFTER THE CATACLYSM far from satisfied, I restrained with some effort further questionings. But I could not resist asking if, where we were, was not the outskirts of Rochester. " Yes, it is plainly apparent that our garden covers part of wh; • was the Suburban Cemetery of that city. Out there is probably the very spot where you were originally interred, unless— but never mind, we will discuss that again." 21 CHAPTER IV. been outside the sS In kT'""'' ^ '''''' "«ver host. I .ay in^r t^LTtf ""'" °^ "^ «y time, even of the d.v ^ ^'■*'^* P«" of defence of this iL „ess U Tan T"* '■:. ^''"P' ""*' '" .™wi. b„i,o„/ :■ i:'t,i, ;? ,r '"°'' .'■" '■«'• »",, . w... ,: ";Vw";v°™ '""""^ •«■"- --«---^.u';.s::;;:Vb:;c„»iL« 22 AFTER THE CATACLYSM exceed in area the ground-floor of a large sized man- sion. Except for a mass of brilliant bloom on a high slop- ing bank in the left foreground, nothing at all corres- ponded to the type of landscape gardening with which I was familiar. The delicate beauty of the picture was in part se- cured by a certain ruggedness of groundwork and a subdued brown of rock and leaf which formed the undertint, over which was draped and contrasted daintiest palms and ferns and creepers, offset again with powerful begonia-like foliage and strong color. The garden as a whole, was conceived as a painter would design a picture,— to be viewed to best advan- tage from a certain standpoint and in a certain light. But in the comparison, this little paradise had much the superiority, in that, not from one point of view, but from some twenty different spots, the alternating situ- ations unfolded each its own surpassing panorama. I must admit an unpoetical temperament and an mchnation to look at things from what we are pleased to call the practical. That the cobweb on an angel's statue may hide from us the entrancing loveliness of the marble is sad to contemplate, yet if we are so constituted, what else can we do? This explanation IS but precedent to my further admission that, as I lingered admiring this charminj retreat, the thought of the immense labor of weeding such a place sug- gested itself to my mind. When, in such contempla- tion, Vera told me that half an hour a day was all the 23 AFTER THE CATACLYSM time she found necessary to spend upon her garden, and further, that no other hand but hers had touched a plant or leaf, I naturally asked: "But how do you keep down the weeds ? " "Weeds? We make no distinction between one class of plant and another." " Then you grow weeds and all ? " " Yes." control*? "°"'* ^^^ ^'"''^ spread and pass beyond your "No But I see what you mean. I remember the books tell us that in your time certain plants had seeds to which were attached little downy wings or some such adjuncts that carried the seeds vety often great distances Nearly all of these plants were what you call weeds, and I can easily imagine the trouble one wou d have .n following these airy atoms flying with hL^T^\ ^°^' """ '"^" "° "**•" ^ eroJ. We have the plants, but their seeds are as if the little wmg had been clipped off, and when the seed ripens it falls to the ground at the foot of the plant. In conse- quence, we are not troubled with that redundant fe- cundity of which you complained. "Why this present difference I cannot explain. Pos- sibly ,t IS only a reversion to primitive nature. It rji' *, ' '^''*" '^^ ^'°''*'^ ^"rf«« began to cool, n^l?!i, ""^"* vegetation of the coal formation period thereupon experienced, in the increasing chill rlTf '.f- "°r,^'="°"« «t^"rele for existence, the latent faculties of the seed therein originally implanted 24 AFTER THE CATACLYSM by the Creator were called into action, and these downy attachments and such added auxiliaries took form; and so the plant in the presence of increasing natural difficulties may have developed these hereto- fore dormant aids to propagate and multiply. " Now with our equable temperature, and a cHmate comfortably warm the whole year round, the necessity which in your time existed has ceased; and so with the necessity has ceased those expanded faculties which that necessity demanded. " A native of the Tropics carried quickly to the Arctic regions would by his innate reason be impelled, for his own comfort and preservation, to cover himself with warm clothing, which again he would remove upon his return to his southern home. The lower animals, insects and even vegetable growths will often, by a slow process, change and assume another color or even contour, as a protection to their existence. This not by intelligent reason, but by an inherent propensity inferior even to instinct. How can we deny that the Creator in giving life and a means of propagating life to the humblest plant creation, could not therewith give, (just as in more generous measure He gave to man himself), a latent ability to that plant to adapt itself in preservation of its species to a changing environment. " It may be true that, with the cultivation of the ground, man found this seed fecundity, so necessary in the wilderness, superabundant and a menace and burden to him. But while a continuous warfare with 25 AFTER THE CATACLYSM nature was entailed, which showed man in his conflict out of harmony with the creation, these provisions superabundant in his eyes, may yet have been neces- sary to the plant in its struggle, not with man in his plowed field, but with wild nature for the preservation of its existence. With nature now a less formidable antagonist, the seed has laid down some of its habila- ments of war." Stopping to admire a flower, or passing to where some new and charming vista unfolded itself, we un- consciously had come, at the extremity of one of those winding bays which I have mentioned, to a mound of newly dug earth. Vera turned away as if to draw me elsewhere, but the very action confirmed in my mind the surmise that this was the scene of my first introduction to this hospitable family. Yet, the memory of the event still carried with it a certain uncanny repugnance to the place, a feeling Vera seemed to share. At the same time, this suggestion of my past projected be- fore me the question of my future. What my next move would be, where I would go, now that my health and strength had fully returned, pressed with a puzzling interrogation upon me. I frankly mentioned to Vera my perplexity. " But you must remember that it is not for you to decide; you belong now to me." "How so?" "You will not deny that yonder hole and mound of earth are m my garden— my very own garden?" 26 AFTER THE CATACLYSM " No; that is admitted. " "According to tJie fundamental rules that now govern title, or private ownership, the right or prop- erty and possession exists in whatever is made by the labor of our hands or raised by us from the ground by our own exertions." " But then," I objected, "you merely dug me up upon my first disclosing myself to you, at my own instance, by means of ray earth subsidence. It was as if you had released a prisoner confined in a house you had acquired after his incarceration." " Oh, no. Had you been a mine discovered, a min- eral dug up, you would belong to the Community, sub- ject to a recompense for the exertion expended in prospecting for you. Had you been a shrub growing in the unkept field or forest, you would belong entirely to the Community; but, should any one transplant you, as he would have full right, you would belong, upon being replanted in his private garden to the one who appropriated or potted you." " Then as a human mineral, I belong to the Com- munity. " " Have you forgotten that when you, as you claim, discovered yourself, my father at my instance dug you up, and that then we replanted you under a gentler covering of clay, a little distance from your first location ? " You will understand that the original putting you in the earth long ago in your so-called burial, consti- tuted a virtual abandonment of you, not only by your- 27 AFTER THE CATACLYSM Mlf. but aUo by your community. You will alao notice that under the bouted laws of the nineteenth century the thirty years in which the soil of my garden ft«d you m possession, adverse to yourself, lost you under your twenty-year statute of limitations any claim to yourself, even upon the stretched presump- tion that your person had ceased to become personal property and had become real esUte. You will not deny that the soil held adverse possession of you. in tftat, dunng the tenun;, you could enjoy no use or se.mce o yourself, and it was only with the consent IH'I^' ''''" "'^ •*' "*"*' ■''• '" demagnetixing you, that you came to yourself. I '/?.*''' ■*"■*' °^ '=°""*' *•"»» accretions to the land ultimately revert to the final owner, and so we might conclude, that as I am the owner, I take with the soil also the appurtenances. This should give me title under your own law. But even under ours, you re- member as I have already stated, that I dug you up. and transplanted you to another place. That esub- lishes appropriation which gives us now a full claim, especially after a previous abandonment. Perhaps you are unaware that, after replanting you, as the earth covering of my new found orchid lost its mois- ture, I watered you and tended you as I would a 3 ?1-f°"';- ^''"'' ""'" y°« ^«- -d bfos! somed into life and vigor, and I plucked my anemone and have you here beside me now full blown, am I not right in saying:— you are mine?" The assumed seriousness of her expression as she 28 AFTER THE CATACLYSM finished her unanswerable argument melted away at sight of my blank lack of comprehension, and, as a sympathetic smile enfu.ed her face, in more than pardon and atonen.ent for the perplexity she had so wilfully caused me. she gently threw her arm about my neck and playfully kissed my cheek. 29 CHAPTER V. It was a Monday afternoon. fivr^crk.'" *"* "'" *"**™ "''^ •''°*''* *°"' *" Mr. White and I had. with our outward eye. each intent upon his own unspoken thoughts, been follow- ing the birds as they flitted from twig to twig, or gaz- ing may be far away into the fleecy clouds that slowly fJltM wt" T"' '" *•'* ""'* «P»"« "bove. At tfons '" "'~" *''* *"*"" °' °"' '««"- things that seem somewhat out of the order of your previous existence?" I explained my great difficulty to be, that although so srort a penod as only thirty years had elapsed it was hard for me to identify anything of t> pres;nt in any way as a projection or elaboration of the civili- zation of my own times ; in fact, it seemed to me more like a beautiful past than even an Arcadian future. yes, I agree with you, there is some foundation for your impression, how much you yourself will be i'n thl°hl f ?'" ^ '^" '" " ''" '''^*°""' '"<=id«nts ..,,... "^ y^""" ""conscious existence. When your faculties failed you, in the opening 3Q AFTER THE CATACLYSM r„*«.f ♦»•'•'*«'"«»»• century, certain nebulous phan- tom, long threatening the social stability of the world began to materialize. Protective tariffs but hastened the .nevitable The hand looms and small indiS L.m ted Liability Companies, which in turn by com- Slder mo" T"**'"." ""• ""'«'•* »"«' '"'*«"• .?t T? *'*'«-»P'«d corporate control. To fight these Trusts, laws were enacted to pre- vent co-related, establishments from pooling their profits or adopting interpreferential rat^or^ariff The unlooked for but not illogical result was "ha two or three superlatively wealthy financial ma^iltes mJJest fn tllTh' """"^ ''~"^''* -* ^ ~"SS dvS [, -^'"*'" P™''"«='"» enterprises of th! civilized worid. Once the smaller corporations had aggregated the scattered crumbs of indu^ry, i tTd not rate Zs" T ^""' ^^^"^^ *° '"--^"e glom- erate mass. For a time the people were arhast at th. portion and threatening p^ssfbiJes fin,;* J ong centuries to servile submission to the laws thev found themselves tied hand and foot by tL ^e^ "Nationalization became the popular cry Had it been adopted years before, and an efficient Ln"ng in self-management inculcated into the people this mfei^ have afforded a remedy. Unfortunatelv a cau" is oftener judged by its promoters than by hs ^eHt The emptiest absurdity draped in the Sus^-dS 31 AFTER THE CATACLYSM mantle of a reverent antiquity will masquerade for generations as profoundest wisdom, if vouched for by a venerable defender. " So, too, when socialists and cranks at strife with things that be, by chance held by its hottest end some burning truth, waving its blazing beacon light above the pirate flag of anarchy; timid and ignorant humanity looked fearfully at these unbalanced sponsors for the truth, and in their fright denounced the truth as lies. Not 'that the world were wise to follow the blatant ravings of the demagogue, but only that the diamond in the gutter is a diamond still. " When thoughful but influential voices urged radical measures to crush or even hold in check the Trusts ; those in the Legislature, still clinging to their shreds of vanishing authority, opposed the step. It would be spoliation, it would be robbery to expropri- ate the national heritage without compensation, and as the Syndicate already owned all, the people had noth- ing with which to repurchase their birthright. " Many good men, actuated doubtless by the best and most honorable of motives, argued from the altruistic level. These were seconded by the ablest intellects that could be subsidized by the Syndicate. " The common people, denied the comfort and sup- port which the active or even passive sympathies of their statesmen and men of literature might have afforded, became desperate, morose and bitter. To be told that they were but fleeing from the shadowy phan- tasmagoria of a redundantly fertile imagination was 32 AFTER THE CATACLYSM small assistance. Th :> looked f , r relief, not rhetoric. i.2l ! ""^°"'^ *^'-' '•■'' ""'^ i" the Syndicate a Bit'th ^'''^^"'^"^^ -^ y«t -net them facet tace. But the menace of a threatening fact was there • and labor without liberty of choice wfs slavey "' This state of affairs was not confined to the Conti- nent of America. All Christendom was in the grj p to curta^r^rnfTr'" ^*'^^'"^"'' *''°"^''' '^ ^'i-' «^JZ . ^^ P°^" °f the Syndicate was mainly commercial and financial. tar7tnH^"'°''"'" ^"^""""^"ts. so far as their mili- tary and agrarian predominance surmounted the dressed for money, the smaller States such as Spain, Portugal, Greece and even Italy, so d out fo ca h sueh unattached provinces and islands as I ^e not of vital importance to them, parting with Ten he sovereignty therein, and at th; same tLTbes o" ihf pur^chS"" "'"^" ''' tn-'ti-millionaire who 11 off'f?*'^' r"''' *° *•"* *=''''8:rin of Russia, had traded oe to some Jewish bankers the whole of Palestine for wi hffrTrr,"; ""? *° ^"^'-"'' ConSi^o ^' "f Great Br^tTiiV'"''' """^^ *''* *^«=«*y P^°t*<=tion ^aftak n^ f and Germany, an Israelitish Republic was taking form and substance in the Holy Land. One of those comparatively small events in histor, ,, ,, British-Boer'war. about ht last t?on;t:;;trr*'erntThrt''^'' " ^ '''''°'-- J s cater extent than its importance would 33 AFTER THE CATACLYSM suggest, aflFected the military systems of the world. Its teaching was to arm the whole population as civilians, not as soldiers. The nations wise in their generation, quickly put the lesson into practice, and soon their vast standing armies, like huge billows towering over all Europe, subsided into the great sullen sea of labor, only to add to the plethora of in- dustrial production. The human engines of war were not destroyed; they were only dismounted. "Each group of artisans in Europe and America was in disguise, a squad of soldiers. The sergeant and subaltern were fellow workers at the bench- Only the National Guards required to hold the cowering populace in check, and the absolutely necessary regi- mental units retained their uniforms. So thoroughly were the plans laid out, that, on a trial mobilization, at headquarters, an electric button pressed, and six million Germans, ere the second sun had set, stood fully armed and accoutred to defend the Fatheriand So, too, in the United States, in Canada, in Mexico, each able-bodied man within twelve hours could reach his rifle. " With the same mathematical precision, taught by the same masters, the different trades had each their unions, their centres, and their Federal and National Organization, with a Grand Council that formed a copestone uniting practically all the manual laborers in Chnstendom. So were affairs at the beginning of the second decade of this century. " Surely the fuel was well arranged to invite the 34 AFTER THE CATACLYSM conflagration. The carefully laid trains from maga- zine to magazine, were now complete. The explosion quickly followed. F'"»ion rJiu^ 'V^^ ""''" ""'"" ''^ ^" "^''y Nevada, the little spark was struck. On that certain memorable h„ K '™^" *>•*?"*« "°se between a workman and Jl r^ 7 ' "'" '" ^°'"^ ^^-^ the mine to the dump had forgotten his shovel, or else expected to find one waiting for him. The boss, angered at the care- essness. threatened to dock his pay for the half hour's iTilt^ '? ^°T^ ^"" ^"'^ ^^"'"^ '^' implement. Tn tft J '?'"'* '^'" *''"* t*" *•'<"« g>ng struck. To take their places, the owners brought fn a new lot of men. mainly starving creatures and negroes who were not in any Union. To meet this, the e^n^ers and hands on the spur that joined the mine wSh th^ tnmk road all went oflF. In consequence, the owners closed down indefinitely both mine and branch l"« In revenge, the crews on the trunk road struck a^d when the concern endeavored to keep their traffic moving the railway was boycotted anS In mwl placed by the National Union on its coal supply "^ Naturally enough, one of the neighboring mines for under the Syndicate all their interests were m" ^a ' disregarded the embargo and sent in coal. Th^r^ol lowed a strike of the mines. Blame was not whoSy Pride of' uJ^T,"""' °' '^°'--« opposed the pnde of wealth. If avarice and power impelled thl Syndicate to despotism, the selfish intoIeZ" of the 35 AFTER THE CATACLYSM Unions even toward their fellows outside the Brother- hood, rendered the workmen tyrannical. They felt their power, they knew that upon equal terms they were resistless. The skill, the finesse, the dexterity of the intellects that fettered them they discerned. They were like giants smashing blindly with their club against a rapier. They were enmeshed with silk, not iron chains; and, as they felt the web now tightly spun about them, they hurled themselves with insolent defiance upon those whom they chose to call their op- pressors. How often does selfish inconsideration brmg striio. often calamity. A little coolness and reason might perhaps have made hiotory otherwise, but that was not to be. " For a time, both sides stood firm, but when hun- ger joined in alliance with the Syndicate, desperation urger desperate measures. " After the mines struck, the owners endeavored to put in other laborers. The result was a riot. The few police failed to restore order, and the Syndicate made «ie fatal mistake of requisitioning the National Guard. The Government dimly foreseeing the danger, and yet powerless in the hands of the Syndicate, could not refuse. " To evidence their sympathy with the local miners out, Headquarters gave the signal, and every Union miner in America laid down his pick. When the European producer began to relieve the pressure bv shipping to the States the needed fuel, the Brotherhood of Man compelled the transatlantic miners to come to 36 AFTER THE CATACLYSM the rescue, and they too struck. With the stoppage of the coal supply, factories had to close their doors. "The crisis had come, and it was the Syndicate against the People. " The Syndicate now determined, by the aid of negroes and large importations of Chinese under mili- tary guard, to open the mines of Pennsylvania. They sent two regiments of Nationals down to the collieries. The strikers showed violence- When the women and children pelted the soldiers with sods, the order was given to fire, and at the first volley a swath of starving humanity was mown down. " 'To the arsenals I ' arose the cry ; and, ere the authorities could intervene, fifty thousand rifles in the hands of the maddened miners rushed to wreak ven- geance on the National Guards. In the conflict that followed, in which every man was trained to his weapon, no mercy was shown. The Nationals brought mto antagonism to the people through many such jobs of terrorism, at the instance of the Syndicate, had become by this time as hated by the citizens as once were the mercenaries of the decaying Roman Empire. " When the news of the battle at the collieries was flashed over the Continent and across to Europe, a panic ensued. The armories were plundered, ammuni- tion seized, and each man armed himself as best he could. Barricades were thro^vn up, trenches and de- fences everywhere appeared, and all Christendom be- came a battle ground. Plundering for provisions the 37 AFTER THE CATACLYSM well-armed mobs attached the great Syndicate pro- perties; and the National Guards, and such troops as obeyed the summons were thrown into the defence. Ij I The issue was not for long in doubt. The mercen- I anes were driven back, overpowered, and, when j i "*'*•'«'■ ™an, nor woman, nor child were spared, anni- jl !; hilated. '' ! " ^s the people tasted blood, their thirst for blood mcreased. An awful fear, a sense that each man's hand was against his ^ neighbor, a panic of terror com- pelled the stroke to anticipate the expected thrust. With the last semblance of authority vanished, lawless- ness went mad. If here and there some few would counsel moderation, the demon of destruction dashed them down; lest, in a retributive justice once estab- lished, the murderous excesses should meet punish- ment. They had gone so far that no one dared turn back. "At the first great call to arms, the farm and work- shop both had been deserted. When approaching Autumn chilled the fevered blood, cold and starva- tion threatened. How the miseries of that winter were met and endured is not to be told. Robbery and arson filled up the quota famine lacked. Many a starving family would wake in the gray morning to find their little treasured fuel or food stolen while they slept. During that single year, a third of Europe and America perished from the bullet, or just as deadly cold and hunger. " In the Spring, many with such of their families 38 AFTER THE CATACLYSM as survived, fled to the forests and the wilderness. Here, planting such little seed crops as they could, they struggled through the summer, living on such wild berries and roots as nature provided. Yet, even here, marauders sought them out, and despoiled and often murdered them. " During the first year of this widespread reign of terror, the only European country that had any fair measure of escape was Russia. Shut in from much communication with the rest of civilization, her popu- lation mainly on the soil, the virus did not thoroughly permeate the masses. Her army mobilized on the first warning of trouble, such of the people as showed rest- lessness were handled without mercy. " In the first calm, after Winter had somewhat checked the raging madness, such as still had property began to count up their few remaining assets. Invest- ments outside the great cyclonic circle were partially intact. The unprecedented exodus of Jews from Russia into Palestine withdrew from the former country much of its ready money. On the loss of all confidence in paper accommodation, the totally in- adequate coinage threw gold up to an immense prem- ium. The Palistinean Israelites began a wholesale foreclosure of the claims they still held on their many needy Russian debtors. So great was the aggravation and misery that overwhelmed the thriftless Muscovites, that at last they called for help and protection to their Government and nobility. The response was as ready as it was surprising. With a cry for vengeance on 39 AFTER THE CATACLYSM dient army into m^l . *" ''*"'• P"* his obe- tun,cd toT,;d Je^aier "'• ^'^^ *"''' ^«~ for assistance G?~T'' ?"*"'" ""<" Germany, land, tliough in sore straits never fl^^^ ' ^"8^" transports as were obtaf„,W?.^"*- °" '"^^^ ^^^ ried forward This smaH **'"" ''°°P' *"« ^ur- into Palestine. lL^^ T^rtV'""" ^^ ^"'^^ marched North, the fleot u!- :'*"*'*"« "am column protecting thefr left flani''T7.''.'''-««* °' *""" '»"'' inland to garrison Jetsalem '™" "" ^«P"*^h«=<' ta4ttSr^S^ J- •>eing collected and had traversed ASaMrl; ^^ '"^"^''' °^ «"«■» In the mounta^rofl^^^er the""; """'"^ «^"- the opposing forces met Tihlv T" ^"''^''^ °' the host of Musco"tes and Hun"'"'''*' '°"*''*'»'<1' filling the broad plain of £,1^ '"^""^ '''^'^"d, less squadrons. ThTs JtS rM°"u^'*'' ^"''^ ~"«t- J^th their naturaltSriuMtetaTh'TV^"*^ There, m very open order. th% atliJS tf it:!;!: 40 AFTER TH". CATACLYSM ing morning to begin the attack. In long parallel aSsTir/ ""'*' ""' '*'"*''' *"« '^o confuting arm es .aid down to rest and gather strength for the theThfllsTh: f "*^'n- ''° ^^"•'^ ''^ ^" " P-«t> the shells that dunng the afternoon had been thrown SriSrr. 'T *"' "'''^^ ^""•«" batterierth^ Bnt sh had placed their encampments on the we;t or sheltered slopes of the steep hillsides. In such array of he North at sunset of the twentieth of Tune 1914 But I must now go back a little in my story!^ p;rhaps though, I am wearing you?" remaps I assured him I was never more interested in my life, and on no account to stop. Just then Vera came in with a tray of fruit and the conversation was interrupted. 41 CHAi^TER VI. Mr. White resumed his story. " I must begin at the spring of 1914. As soon as winter loosened its grasp of the starving frozen popu- lace, new rioting began In the United States, the vestige that remained oi the Grand Council of the Brotherhood met and appointed a committee of ten to assume the government of the Republic. The same organization in Britain when it learned of this move, assembled as many of its members as could be col- lected to discuss the question of similar action. A good deal of bitter debate ensued, some vehemently de- manding republican institutions, others, with the sen- timents of the old monarchy still lingering in their breasts, opposing. " It had been a cruel year for royalty. Of Windsor Castle, only the old Norman Tower had escaped the vandalism of the mob. The King, with a few faithful fnends lived, or rather, existed, in the shelter of the ruins. What vestiges of government remained within the Empire were only to be found in the far away provinces and minor colonies. " In the midst of the stormy deliberations of the as- 42 AFTER THE CATACLYSM lembled Brotherhood, to their attoniahment a mes- senger entered with the statement that the King was at the door and requested admission. " After a short but tempestuous debate, the request was granted. Up between the rows of delegates King Edward walked, emaciated and old before his time, but with a steady step. "When he had reached the chair, he turned and spoke. In clear, brief sentences he pointed out to the assembly his position. He made no laws, he enforced no laws ; that was the function of the people. He was but the centre of a circle, the Empire was bounded by the circumference. His dignity was all in the reflected glory of his Country. As it was exalted so was he, as it became base, so he became ignoble. Did they seek the welfare of the people, then he was their fellow ; did they design the destruction of their breth- ren, he stood before them a victim ready as the willing sacrifice. In Britain, to destroy the Crown was to destroy the last vestige and emblem of authority. So far as he could see, the people were without represen- tatives. The nearest approach to a representative body was the assembly before him. He recognized that fact, and, as their King, he had taken them into his councils. Was he right? " Amid a vociferous applause and cries of ' Long live the King, ' he proceeded. Under the authority in him vested, he called and created the assemblage there present before him his Parliament of Great Britain. In their hands he now deposited the welfare and the 43 ■ M ii AFTER THE CATACLYSM responsibility for the security of their common country. " As he turned to depart he stopped and added fur- ther, that when, after these disturbances ceased, it pleased the people of Great Britain to elect a Parlia- ment by vote, he would dissolve the present assembly, and furthermore if it was the will of the people of his Empire to demand from him the Crown, he would comply, but otherwise he would keep his trust invio- late till death. " Turning again, he gravely saluled the chair and departed- " In Europe, the thrones of all but Russia had been swept away in blood, and blind anarchy was in high power. Murder and robbery were everywhere; and gorged with crime, the weary populace sought in de- spair for the help that never seemed more distant. " Pre-occupied with all things else, few took any notice of the unusual tides occurring upon and after the middle of June, nor marked the heavy meteoric shower of the nineteenth of that month. Were it not for an enormous star, mellow like a twin moon that blazed out in the Zenith of the midnight heavens, no comment would have been aroused. That some lone astronomer in less evil times would have cabled around the universe his warning, might have been but now his voice remained unheeded or unheard' Yet, ere the sun had set on the succeeding evening a terrified commotion filled the earth. " Tidings of fearful portent from the Far East had 44 AFTER THE CATACLYSM hurried westward on the wire. A clash of worlds im- pended. From far out in space, on our planetary plane, an immensity of matter, probably by internal explosion, had abandoned its orbit and was rushing with resistless speed toward the sun. " Directly between it and its destination interposed our globe, and, with the crash would come destruction. No wonder then the peoples of the Earth, warned by the wire, stood still in terror. But what a little object in the infinite of the expanse this world of ours is, was quickly to be demonstrat<;d. "At midnight, Greenwxh time, the ending of June the twentieth, the great threatening mass went flying by, avoiding us by going directly south or below our globe. "The imminent collision we had been spared, but only by the narrow margin of a hundred thousand miles. " None the less, the terrestial influences were enor- mous. " Sweeping across the ocean, vast mountains of water were piled up in gigantic tidal waves. " One immense deluge, gathering in the antarctic re- gions and rounding the Cape, swung north and west across the Atlantic, and, with its crest a thousand feet in height, submerged the whole eastern coast of Amer- ica. Then in its equal reaction it recoiled and again with more than railway speed recrossed the ocean, and laid for miles inland the low shores of Europe under its devastating waters. 45 AFTER THE CATACLYSM "In the Pacific, a counter-balancing tidal distur- bance brought similar destruction upon the populous seaports of China and Japan. " In the Indian Ocean, a burden of foaming waters hurried by a northwest course across the equator, and dashed in fury on the Arabian and Abyssinian coast. "^ Truly, the cities of the Nations fell. " The attraction exerted by the huge mass of stellar matter, as it rushed in such close proximity past our globe, was stupendous. The whole surface of our worid was shaken with earthquakes. The mountains parted and great islands emerged from the sea. " The Mediterranean joined its blue waters to those of the Persian Gulf. " The Geographical configuration of our earth sur- face was radically altered. In the seismic disturb- ances, our inland cities fell in ruins. "Thousands whom the mob madness spared, the water and the earthquake overwhelmed. " On the mountains of Israel upon that memorable evening, all communication with the trembling worid outside cut oflF, the portents of the sky and excessive atmospheric disturbances at first found little notice The shrieking shells, the dropping of rock rending explosives from the few airships undestroyed, gave plenty reason for the unusual color of the dying sun But ere the evening bugles called to sleep, the hos- tile camps discerned that warfare of the elements more terrible, more awful than their own impended. At last the tempest broke upon them. 46 AFTER THE CATACLYSM " With tornado speed, a mass of inky blackness, borne on the wings of the hurricane, swept in from the Persian Sea. " The stars were wiped away as with a cloth. It was darkness that could be felt. Drawn by some enor- mous pressure from behind, the atmosphere from a sv/eltering humidity turned suddenly chill coW. In shuddering silence the puny millions cowered as the heavens set in array to join the battle; but not for long. " As as a signal given, the sky burst into fire. The blazing lightning dashed its thousand glittering spean to the heart of quivering earth. Peal upon peal the echoing thunder rolled and laughed to mock the pigmy cannon of the angry nations. " Men clutched the rocks in fear and trenibling. " Then with an equal suddenness the tempest ceased. " OS through the mountains of Carmel it rolled its chariot wheels, while its yet fierce reverberations told of the rearguard action still in progress. "The stars shone out again. " But this was not the end. As after some crashing overture silence follows, and then the curtain rises on the play, so only for a moment shone the stars, then darkness. " Close in the wake of the thunder, rushed the cy- clone. From the south and east it drove, resistless in its frenzy. The water laden clouds had turned to ice, and the tornado, with its devastating hand curled its huge hailstones relentlessly and with the energy of 47 AFTER THE CATACLYSM cannon balls against the stormswept writhing earth. The slaughter wrought by the omnipotent artillery of the elements was terrible. •' The unfortunate Russians, exposed upon the open plain, met the full fury of the icy cannonade; and when the hour of destruction had elapsed, not twenty in a thousand survived. " More providential was the shelter of the Israelitish armies from the storm. The almost horizontal torrent of frozen death, withstood and warded off bv the op- posing mountains behind which they had crouched to escape the Russian shell, passed over them. But for the casualties from flying debris, the people were un- harmed. "On the morrow, in the hearts of the surviving antagonists, remained no further zeal for slaughter. In the horror of the event, aghast they sheathed their puny swords. Fearful and shuddering, the erstwhile enemies turned homeward and away from that moun- tain of decision, leaving to the fast gathering vultures their unburied dead. 48 CHAPTER VII. As the red-handed slayer of his fellow creature, the lust of murder sated, the choking fire of passion turned to ashes, the evil spirit fled, surveys in trembling horror his butchered victim ; even so man's inhumanity to man had reached its climax, and, in the presence of the great CATACLYSM, the shuddering world be- held itself aright, and realized the truth. On that twenty-second day of June, a new era of the ages dawned. To the unscientific, the gradually shortening day- light seemed but the usual concomitant of the ap- proaching autumnal season; but to the astronomer a strange confusion of stellar phenomena presented itself. After laborious calculation it was in fact established beyond question that the polar obliquity of the globe was slowly diminishing, and that the earth was grad- ually assuming a polarity rectangular to the plane of its orbit. At the time of the winter solstice, the equator had almost paralleled the planetary horizon. Scientists with grave apprehensions watched for and awaited developments. The winter was unusual in its mildness. It might 49 AFTER THE CATACLYSM almost be said that a continuing autumn passed into a long spring with no intervening coldness. In the Northern States no snow fell. As the anniversary of the g^eat tidal disturbances approached, the world had reached a high tension of apprehension. It was not a scientific conundrum, it was a question of life and death, — of the future habit- ability of the globe. Would the earth continue its slow gyration, or would it stop? , All precedent suggested the first dread possibility, and then within five years a completed quarter term would bring an arctic climate to the equator. From whence would come the enormous friction brake es- sential to check the once active and continuing energy ? It was apparent that when, eleven months previ- ously, the enormous meteor close below the earth in its mad race to the sun had just grazed our globe, the mid-summer suspension of our sphere had presented the south pole in its furthest position of obliquity from the sun. Just as a billiard ball, swiftly passing will, almost without contact, give to its stationary fellow a spinning motion, so the rushing stellar mass, crossing at right angles the line of the earth's orbit had, by molecular or mag^netic attraction, communi- cated to the south polar surface of our globe a gentle but positive rotation in the line of the meteor's course. This motion once established would in nature continue indefinitely, and, in the particular position of the earth, at the season of the summer solstice, such ant- 50 AFTER THE CATACLYSM arctic motion sunward would tend to perpendicularize the polar line. As the date of June twenty-second approached, it had been demonstrated that the enormous friction de- veloped by the gradual subsidence of the great tidal waves induced by the passing of the stranger months before, had noticeably diminished the already very slow meridi-n rotation. About the sixteenth, the watching astronomers were thrown into a state of perplexity on discovering that the tidal disturbances of the previous June were threatening a repetition of their actions. Forewarned, the people fled from the sea shores and waited in ill-concealed alarm the outcome. As the fated day began to dawn, the whole sky throughout the northern hemisphere poured down a continuous deluge of celestial fire. The meteoric debris, following in the wake of its huge ^" )rerunner was speeding by on its journey to the all consuming The explosion of the hapless planet had apparently shattered its northern hemisphere into myriad par- ticles, while its southern half had remained almost in- tact. This latter portion, its forward orbital motion ar- rested, had, owing to its greater size, first felt the solar attrection. In the long procession, each part arranged in strict accordance with its size, the fragments journeyed sun- ward. 51 AFTER THE CATACLYSM The primary unheaval had given these bits a northern inclination. Though, after the lapse of a twelvemonth, the meshes in the sieve of time were small, the quantity looked undiminished. Close underneath, our earth seemed almost to stoop as It passed below the empyrean torrent. The mete- onc dust that struck our arctic atmosphere burst mto flame. All day and night the fiery ashes fell. In the morning the delicate instruments of the trained watchers told the people that their cause of dread had ceased. The earth had regained its equilibrium. The combined influence of the myriad passing particles exerted in a direction opposite to that of the precedent portion of the lost planet had just sufficed to restore stability. A consequent as well as welcome result of the polar perpendicularity effected by the astronomic phenom- ena related, was that summer and winter had ceased to be. Day and night in equal measure came in suc- cession. Life was an eternal spring. From the same hmb depended the bright blossom and the full ripe fruit. A continuous mild climate with neither kill- ing frost nor torrid heat gave ample scope for the scientific development of all the tropical and temperate fruits and flowers. A hitherto unknown luxuriance crowned vegetation. With food in plenty growing to the hand, the willing work of life became a pleasure and needful exertion ceased to be a task- Such is the earthly and material environment of this present age. 52 CHAPTER VIII. About the middle of the forenoon of the next day as I was enjoying myself in a quiet stroll through the garden, Vera joined me. "Ah, I have found you at last. Are you getting tired of your usual morning nap?" I answered that I was feeling so strong and vigorous that I was contemplating a constitutional to the Rocky Mountains and back before dinner for an appetizer. " Then you are really feeling strong again? " "Strong! I never in my life, to my recollection, felt such a vitality and energy in my body; I feel as if I had eaten* a whole ox, and had assimilated both his muscle and his structure." " I am doubly glad to hear it. What say you to postponing for a few days your trip to the Rockies and coming instead for a walk down to the Lake bhore ? " Charmed to. When ? " " Now. Come along." We passed through the gateless enclosure, turned to the left on reaching the smooth green highway, and set out at a brisk walk. There was an exhilaration in the air that made my tendons vibrate with the nervous tension of a well 53 AFTER THE CATACLYSM strung violin, and, ere my manners checked me, the old time habit overcame me, and one of Sousa's long lost melodies came carolling from my whistling lips. " Go on," she said. I had stopped. It flasi ed over me, — that same two- step, — that fated night on the echoing concrete of old Rochester. When thirty years ago I had dropped the tune, mechanically at the very note I had now picked it up again. The uncanny coincidence startled me, I remarked the odd circumstance to Vera. " Then finish it." When the last strain was ended, I paused for the applause- " I never heard it before. It is beautiful, it is life and real motion. Let me hear another." So whistling or maybe singing, we went our merry way, like children on a summer holiday. I had become by this time fairly reconciled to my costume, though I had, until I saw the contrary, pre- sumed that my companion's mantle was merely do- mestic apparel. Yet after all, it is by comparison we judge. The beach and the ball-room have their own several stand- ards, and it is not so much in what the garments are, but how they surpass in circumstance their own standard that they shock us. So it was more with a self-conscious satisfaction with my own superlative redundancy of raiment than with consternation at what others lacked, that I 54 AFTER THE CATACLYSM observed the youths and maidens whom we met. These both were as a rule clad in a sleeveless tunic, caught in with a cord or belt, that fluttered to their knees like kilts, and waved a highland greeting to the sandals far below. It was a simple outfit, and allowed completest free- dom to the agile graceful bodies which it draped. Yet though it gave exposure to an abundance of fair olive skin, nothing immodest or objectionable seemed to have the faintest abode in either the costume or the demeanor of the wearers. Another costume, in some respects even more simple than the former, in that it needed no shaping or cutting was simply a long, broad scarf, or strip of cloth several yards long. This was first thrown over the left shoulder and hung down the back to the knees. The front end was passed under the right arm, and around the hips and continuing several turns and then the end, carried down inside the windings fell to about the knees in front. Two or three buttons or toggles on each thigh caught the edges of material to- gether to form a very primitive skirt. The cloth was a woolen, very finely woven substance, and seemed to me to be a knit, rather than a woven manu- facture, but as fine a texture as could be desired. It was the yielding, compressible consistency that en- abled one to bunch it over the shoulder without un- sightliness, and, on the other hand to stretch it to its full width without undue diaphanousness. Only the caprice of the owner gave limit to the color, which 55 AFTER THE CATACLYSM. might vary from ivory white to the darkest purple maroon or olive. It required quite an art to robe oneself with such a simple drapery and to bring the ends out even. And yet. after a little practice it seemed as easy as knotting a necktie. There was in the costume that they wore, no distinction either of sex or age. Mr. White's inclination was toward the tunic; Vera and I preferred the scarf drapery As this one and another passed us, singing as they went alo.-ig and merely pausing for a salutation, I asked my companion the names. " Oh, I don't know." " They spoke to you ? " th J'be'fol'^""' "" ' '""'* *"""' *"- ' -- -- The impression that the people gave me was of the country side in happiest humor on their way to see the circus. Perhaps through association, the thought was suggested to me by our meeting two huge dogs. I actually supposed, even when quite near them, that hey were the ordinary brown bear native long ago to the locality, and was only undeceived when I^aw yrZ?" ' V"'"^ '^''' ^"""y ''"'^«- They sniffed around me rather suspiciously, I must confess, and I did not enjoy the dubious twinkle of their little beady eyes but at a word fror Vera they walked away satisfied apparently in their opinion of me fhHH^T.u"'" -^"f ''^^ *•"= '"""^ ^^« cultivated to Jn.1,? '* "^°^"^ " ""='' ^^^^h °f °^<=hard and shrubbery, among which flowers were not forbidden S6 AFTER THE CATACLYSM I do not recall any plowed fields or any large expanse of gram. "^ .J!'T "^"^ "° ^'""'' •""* ^™™ *•''« 't did not follow that there were no definite boundaries between neigh- Dors Yet no demarkation line of weeds or unsightly tion of good will and friendliness. With my knowledge of the climate, and the absence Tt,?!., T"*' u^''°"' °' ''""Sr* that once accentu- ated the atmosphenc changes and shifting seasons of the past, I could now understand how the frail sum- to';rdLand.''"'''"" *'" ^"'^"""' - -'-- ,„!?" ^r "^ '°.°' '""'' '"'■'ounded each dwelling; and while many homes showed evidences of excellent Ws^iTti: ZdJse.'^"'' ^•'°"^'' -"' ^PP--"''*' The ruins of the old city had been abandoned. cfTh!!" ^"^,*!"-»''bery held undisturbed possession to^J^ "^ ''°"' ^''"'^ *•«'* "'"''«d the devasta" of Stl s! ^T "■^'^'l"^'^- The castellated splendor bort,^^nftI "", "° "°"' '"* ^"^ "''gnificent lawns bordering the ample avenue were still, in their present occupation a scene of beauty. '^ Keeping to the westward, and skirting the city we contmued toward the lake. Charlotte and its desolate harbor had, under the hand of nature, taken on a guise that seni a touch oj S7 AFTER THE CATACLYSM sadness over me. The place resembled one vast ancient cemetery. It was not strange that the absence of all industry, or rather of toil, should suggest a subject of conversa- tion. I remarked upon the lack of vehicles. "You must remember,," said Vera, "that not twenty years have elapsed since the cataclysm. The energy and strife, the boundless ambition of the rich, the ceaseless struggle for existence of the poor, there reached a climax, and when the morning of another era dawned, it was not further labor, it was rest that came. How much of all the industry of your day tended to happiness? What purpose did all those mammoth productions serve? Then, those that had wealth built costly palaces, and filled them with ostentatious orna- ment. As shelter for the winter's cold and summer tempest, dwellings must necessarily be substantial. None the less, pride and emulation urged on the weary workers to gather about them v^anities that often had their only value in their cost. Even apart from the luxuries, so called, of the past, the struggle for their daily bread and for a shelter from the weather compelled continual labor. In how much of all this was real happiness? The railroads and ships carried from place to placr the food, the fuel, and clothing of the worid, the calls of business gave urgency to travelers. Some favored ones, in search of pleasure or excite- 58 AFTER THE CATACLYSM ment, wandered about the globe, seeing and being seen. True, much of this was in pursuit of proper knowledge and in ministering to a worthy enjoyment of nature. But much was only to find new flavors for an appetite sated with all luxuries that wealth could buy. To them the value was the money cost. Com- pare the beauty of the lily with the glory of great Solomon ; and then, against the dainty flower of the field, set up the barbarous gold and ornament which gratify the great, partly, perhaps, in that they dazzle the envious poor. If the dictum of the Teacher is correct, how false must be the eye that sees nothing to be desired but in the sparkle of the lapidary's art. Yet it requires an unperverted taste and judgment to give to the gems of Paradise, that deck the verdant bosom of our Mother Earth, the rose and violet, a higher honor than to the flashing diamond. The verdict differs in that wisdom and vanity have contrary standards. Eliminate pride and necessity, and, what is left? Given a constant climate such as now, food from the trees, provided by nature, and always waiting to be plucked, and free to all that choose to take it garments which serve rather to cover than to protect' then see how little is left. ' The occupation of the merchantman, the carrier of gram and coal is gone. When consumption ceases, the factories must close. With all this land about us, we choose a plot of ground, we build a little shelter from the infrequent 59 AFTER THE CATACLYSM rain, because we occupy it we possess it. That is our title." We were sitting on a wooded slope that commanded a fair view of the blue waters of Ontario. The cloud- less azure overhead, the steady and slow pulsing of the sleeping sea beyond, the fluttering bees and butterflies that danced in the fragrant sunshine, seemed like a dream of an enchanted Italy. Here might the wander- ing Grecians rest as amid the palms and lotus, ne'er to return to Argos or the Islands of the iEgean. From the branches swinging over us, offering their unforbidden fruit, we accepted our midday meal, eat- ing and chatting, at least for me, in thorough con- tentment with the present. Merely to rest and indolently gaze upon the picture spread before us was happiness. No morrow at the desk or workshop thrust its unwelcome visage in be- tween us and the comfort of the moment. There was a luxury in such quiet contemplation of this peaceful harmony unmarred by any jarring note. Simply to be, to breathe that balmy air whose every inhalation seemed like a vitalizing fluid, was exquisite enjoyment. The careless abandon of my companion, reclining on her elbow there beside me, laughing into my eyes as some remark of mine maybe amused her, or lazily toss- ing a little tuft of grass or flowers at her pretty toes or dimpled knee, suggested to me in a hazy way as from the distant past, a hint of impropriety in the situation. Yet I must do myself the justice of admitting that 60 AFTER THE CATACLYSM «y a strange perversity of mind, it almost iarred mv Do you want to hurt my feelings? " Far from it." * " VT. l°A "^"^ T ""^ *''*"• What is it? " out here »n r"' r"*''" ''""^ ^* ^^^'^ ^"""g away XhtTet?a";iTf" ''' '^ ""^— '^ tHat w^ fo^e'efem!;;^- ' *°'' '""' "°^ *° ^P- - back be- sion^ije this by themseLs. JuS fhem^l V^'^"'' ^^ uidn t you m your time? " " Well, toward the verv late «•„. . . our wheels and go into^l'^l^^^'^J^^f Jf « but the old folks found it hard n o-T ^''^."''"' modem ways." ° ^''^ reconciled tc '•And what did you yourselves think?" That depends. Not every one is fitted for liberty 61 AFTER THE CATACLYSM P !i I But then again, not every one is controlled by re- straint." " Ah, now I am beginning to understand you. No, you have not hurt my feelings even a little bit. Per- haps, in its subtlest form your underlying motive is a rare compliment. But, do you know, you have posi- tively contributed to my happiness." "How so?" " Has it occurred to you that you are to us as much a subject of curiosity, .or, let me say interest, as prob- ably this new environment is to yourself. You are a being of a past century projected into the New Age. " When you awoke to consciousness only a week or so ago, you had not in the interim divested yourself of your past personality. To meet you was as if I had taken a long step backward over those intervening thirty years and been introduced to you in some parlor of old Rochester. Yes, I can somewhat com- prehend just how the young men I might there meet would stare at me. This simple drapery, — I remem- ber how you looked at me when you awoke from your two days' slumber, how you clutched at your own disordered covering, and may I beg your pardon when I tell you it was the first real sadness I have felt since long ago. I thought, as soon as I said it, you would misjudge my seeming flippancy about your sandals, and yet, the very words you thought might pain me have given me more pleasure than you may imagfine." "Truly I am glad to hear it, but how?" " Well, candidly, suppose we take the step back- 62 AFTER THE CATACLYSM ward into, let us say 1899. On such a little excursion as this you meet some simple, pretty country girl, and. or rather this is what I mean, do you not see a different mental attitude to^ay in you from what you would expect in 1899? Why those proprieties that crcumscnbed the actions and intercourse of those times except as restraints to hold in check the weak- nesses of nature?" " But then some of us " ■' No, no! I find no fault with individuals as such. The pine .s readily shaped, is soft and yielding, will break beneath a trifling strain. But it is not t the mouth of the oak to boast itself in its greater hard- ness and endurance. Each is as nature made them and subject to the variations of environment. Per- haps this will not in full apply to man as in his fallen Tw.^c'^T'^"^'^^ ^'' wickedness and weakness to h s Creator, but at all events, it is not for us who \Z!r ^™'" *''"P.t''«on to stand in judgment over those surrounded with evil allurements. No, my heart would sooner go out in pity and compassion fo^ groaning humanity groping in blindness for the lisht ![, rr'""^ '" '^1"' *°"y *° ^ "^^PP-^s that is but s^elfilTs':^- ^''^"' ^^•=" ^ ""'^ ^^"^ '•^^ -- oi "A child! there you have struck the keynote. Did that as I look at you. as I look at myself, us two I more faultlessly angelic than the abandon of a perfect 63 AFTER THE CATACLYSM innocence? V/hat purer than the nakedness of in- fancy? But there the fact comes in that puzzles me. If what I have come through had been a resurrection, and a body just awakened from the sleep of death, I could comprehend the possibihty of a different nature." " No, it certainly is not the Resurrection, though it seems strangely like it. You have waked up, too, out of a long sleep, but that does not reach the diflSculty. When you awoke you were even as when you first lost consciousness. But since the awakening have you not progressed? There is where the answer to the riddle that interrogated myself when you first awoke is found. The people of the past thirty years went through the chastening of a bitter darkness before their new and better morning dawned. For you, that experience was eliminated. Would we in you find a being out of harmony with ourselves, or would you become conformed to our situation? That is the enigma, and to-day the solution is confirmed. But in justice to myself, don't accuse me of precipitating this to your peculiar, but to me perfectly proper situ- ation, in order to force or anticipate its mystery, and so gratify an impatient curiosity." " Still, to me the mystery remains." " When you recall your infancy and compare it with your manhood, what constitutes the difference in moral state? You have acquired a knowledge of evil ; unfortiinately, you have also developed a tendency lo evil. The inherent weakness as well as wrickedness of the flesh conspire with the temptations from the 64 AFTER THE CATACLYSM Wicked One directly or through your companions, to compel you to acts of evil. And yet your truer self, the remnant of that Lost Inheritance, even then has for some fleeting moments revolted against the bur- den of false allurement that weighed you down. You recalled that assertion of the better nature, conscience. And when you did evil, has not that better nature sometimes afterward lashed you for your folly; and yet, in spite of all, you turned to it again? " " In the past, a few, whom probably you mocked as enthusiasts or fanatics, toiled to stem the tide, but with such small success as you remember. Right- eousness, bleeding and crushed, would lie unburied m your streets, while vice rejoiced. So much was that a common thing, the unnatural in a good crea- tion the usual, that, when the order of the universe 1- now restored, you account these rather than the disjomted times, the miracle. " You remember as my father has told you, when the day dawned after that last shudder of a final earthquake, the people had found truth. Evil was then grasped and held by the Almighty with a strong hand, and the Eternal Pity wrought compassionately. If now, m the Restoration, we wish to walk aright the highway is prepared and the stones are gathered' up The temptation to do evil, the false allurements are destroyed. Given the desire for good, the having is secure. Don't suppose but that there are some, a min- ority, remaining who still are bad. Fome, perhaps, may never mend; but, however they may be at 65 11: I*:- AFTER THE CATACLYSM liberty to injure themselves, they can do no harm to their fellows. With ail other evil, they are under the restraint, and when with fullest time and opportunity they persist in evil, their sure end will be utter de- struction. Even the wild beasts of the forests are under the same control. But as to those who will be awakened out of the sleep of death, the same yet changed to what fundamentally now are we, what of their progression? Your problem is in a measure theirs ; can the abundance of present good absorb their residuum of evil; or of you, who awoke but from a trance, escaping the chastening of the great Tribu- lation, and in a measure their prototype, what stripes were in store for you ; how could we help or lead you, how would you adjust yourself to this new environ- ment? I was afraid, — I did not know, — but as I, with some trembling I confess, watched you and noted your changing differences; Oh, I am so glad! so glad!" And then we started on our homeward journey. Like little children, or like some elder brother from the war just home, there with an only sister, hand in hand we retraced our steps. The shadow of a g^eat mist had lifted from off me, and in the brighter sun- shine of a loftier light, music as from the morning songbirds filled my unburdened heart. (36 CHAPTER IX. I WAS surprised to notice that although our walk had covered twenty miles, I did not feel the least bit weary on my return shortly before tea-time. Mr. White met us as we came up the lawn. " You have been seeing the country? " " Yes, looking over the landmarks." "I think," pursued Mr. White, "you expressed some curiosity regarding our present flying machines. If you have nothing better in hand, would you care to come down to the post office and we probably will catch the evening aero delivering the mail?" Of course, I would be only too glad to go. Vera excused herself as I thanked her for her good com- pany, and we, Mr. White and I, started up the road in the direction opposite to that his daughter and I had taken m the morning. We reached our destination, a little country post office much on the old familiar type, with a good ten mmutes to spare. " You will understand, my friend, that during the past few years of the regeneration we have had many thmgs to do. The tangled confusion of aflFairs called for the first attention. As there were no masters, 67 AFTER THE CATACLYSM there were no servants. With no approaching winter demanding haste, each one took things leisurely. " The food problem had been solved by the spontan- eous and abundant provision of Nature. The devas- tation was so widespread that little choice of locality remained. Of course, for grain crops a level field would be in demand, but with an orchard, or for vines or bushes, a hillside was as good as meadow. " Each one took wl^at he felt he needed, and so laid out his lot as not to interfere with his neighbor's rights. There was land in abundance for all. No one appropriated more than personallyhe could reason- ably use. He could not hire men to work his land, for when there were no needy ones, wages had no attrac- tions. What would money buy? Food? Food could be had for the plucking. Raiment? This the community had early taken in hand, and what was needed could be procured for the asking, or by the few days' labor at the common looms, and with our simple garments that was a simple want. A dwelling? Any little booth would serve the purpose, and the erection of a larger house was but the pleasurable labor that gives exercise and lends interest to living. " The Public Services were not re-organized for fully five years after the CatacHsm. In fact, each individ- ual was so intent upon the home affairs that touched himself and family, or little group of neighbors, that no one seemed to realize the want of any National establishments. Even now, the postal service has 68 AFTER THE CATACLYSM small patronage, the mere carriage of correspondence between relatives and friends." Just then, skimming over a low hill-top about a mile away, and perhaps an hundred and fifty feet above the ground, Mr. White pointed out to me the mail courier. I had been looking with some expectation away up in the clouds, trying in vain to resolve an imaginary dot or distant bird into a flying-machine- So I was a good deal surprised to see the reality in the direction indicated. It was not what I expected. I had fancied I might see a huge elongated balloon someway or other pro- pelled, or maybe a great expanse of horizontal canvas, a big aeroplane, perhaps a double or a triple decker slicing the clouds as it swooped down from the heavens. Instead, as this dragon-fly thing approached, de- cidedly with swiftness, the view from front showed the line of an isosceles triangle inverted, its apex a very obtuse angle. Its spread was about twenty feet, and from this base or cross-tie to the lower angle was I should judge, six feet. In the mathematical centre of this triangle was a spindle, on the forward tip of which two tandem fans or propellers whirled in op- posite directions. Suspended below was a light, square-framed cage in which the driver sat. I had no time for further observation before the machine, keeping its speed close to the ground, was almost on us, and then I saw the driver with some AFTER THE CATACLYSM effort strongly pros the lever down. The result was that r level sail or plane hinged at its front edge to the upper cross-tie, took an angle of some thirty de- grees out of the horizontal, pointing forwa.d and up, and the machine with a little tilt and rise, diecked it- self quickly, and gracefully settled to the ground. The wide rimmed wheels at the extremity of four elastic shafts pointing forward and aft like the extended legs of a galloping horse, took up the small remaining motion, and, the propellers stopped, the thing was at a standstill within twenty feet of the spot where it had alighted. I now had a very welcome opportunity for exam- ining the affair. The driver, an intelligent and agreeable young fel- low of about twenty, while he waited the postmaster's pleasure, undertook to explain to me the mechanical construction of the machine. Built above the narrow oblong cage intended for the driver were a succession of light metal triangles shaped as I described, and stayed with cross-wires. Their lower angles were in a line so as to form a prismatic framework, its ends inverted isosceles triangles and its three sides rectangles about ten feet long. The under surface of the sides (except a strip about two feet wide adjacent the central bottom edge) was covered with a thin hard material like cellt'loid, and, over against this veneering, the inner sides of the ribs, to avoid unnecessary friction, were sealed with oiled cotton or silk. The first triangle frames graduated 70 AFTER THE CATACLYSM larger and their lower angle more acute, with the re- sult that the upper forward points had a very jaunty little upward tilt. A stiflFened sail or mat about ten feet square occupied the middle of the rectangular level or top of the prism. When the aero was in motion, this latter plane had sustaining power, but its special use was to check the forward motion of the n/xhine, and give it ease in alighting. In its flight I had not observed the, to me, extra- ordinary length of what I have called the spindle which ran from front to rear through the mathematical middle of the triangular framework. This spindle was fully sixty feet long, three-quarters of it abaft and one-quarter of it forward the centre of the aeroplanes. On the stem, as before mentioned, were propellers. On the tail end were four thin surfaces about five feet long and about two feet wide, two horirontal and two perpendicular, set like the feathers of an arrow. These planes were further extended, but were flexible and moved sideways or up and down as a double rudder according to the desire of the steersman. Probably to prevent vibration, as well as for further strength, this spindle was trussed with wire, and also was firmly affixed by braces to the prismic aeroplanes. That part of the spindle inside the prism was swollen like a bulb, or of torpedo shape, and at its largest diameter measured about two feet through. I could not see into it, but the driver told me that it was cellular inside like a honeycomb, and contained 71 AFTER THE CATACLYSM compreued air at a preasure of about four hundred pounds. Thi« compressed air could be supplied either from the power houses, or as an auxiliary, a small cylinder of liquid air could be clamped on and utilized. The driving machinery was very simple. The for- ward propeller was on a solid shaft that ran right through this bulb from end to end. For about eight feet of its length, inside the bulb, some fifty sets of little flat metal chisel teeth, two inches long, pro- jected like successive rows of spokes from a hub, but all like small propeller blades, turned on a certain angle in one direction. Toward the stem, these blades were a little longer and had a shade less pitch than at the bow. They were in sets, and between each annular set was a clear space of about an inch. The spindle of the other driving fan (this was a little larger and went somewhat slower than its fellow about two feet further forward) revolved on the same centre as the other, but its shaft was a tube which fitted closely on the shaft of the other. When this outer shaft or tube reached the interior of the bulb, it expanded into a larger diameter, forming a cylinder six inches through. From the inside of this' cylinder, like spokes from a wheel rim, when the hub is re- moved, projected a multitude of these thin chisel blades, but with a pitch counter to those bristling from the inner shaft, and in sets to occupy the vacant rings. Collars and flanges on these two shafts took up all lateral motion, but allowed them both to revolve 72 AFTER THE CATACLYSM freely. To start the power it wu only necessary to open a throttle valve, and let the expanding air through the forward box into the front end of the contra-toothed cylinder. As this air ,a !er pressure forced Its way to the external openlM^ r t»,e r,.,:,„ end, U drove the intervening little pr. k .I; -, to ie; c r nght and sent the both shafts .,. „u.,g :, opn.;,i, directions. As the compressed air in its re ctvoi, „ou!d u.nmt somewhat exhausted, the throu.e valw would be opened wider to compensate. The little mail bag had now arrived . .,i was nut with the other trifling freight in a canvas saddle or jacket slung around the bulb. We waited to see the machine start. The driver (who also was captain, engineer, purser, postman and the crew) first gave the rear of the uppe^ honzontal hinged plane a tilt of about ten degrees downward. Then his tiller turned the rudder tM to an opposite, but even more decided slant. The spectators seemed to understand the comin? manoeuvres and gave a clear right of way As the throttle opened, slowly the fan propellers began to sw.ri, then swifter, while the aero gently started forward acquiring speed at every yard untH at last from a slight elevation in the roZdway it dis- oJ tstrtt.tr""''' '"''"''' " "'''*' ^'"^"^ '"■'«' -th outstre ched pmions on its native element, soared aloft and quickly floated far away from sight The first fact that occurred to me, and which I re- 73 AFTER THE CATACLYSM marked to Mr. White as we were walking homeward, was that, taking the machine all for all, there was not a single mechanical principle nor motive force that was not perfectly familiar to our inventors years be- fore the beginning of the century. " That is so." " Well, how comes it that the flying machine then was not in use long before 1912?" " There are two reasons. Leaving aside any theory to the effect that inventions, like other inspirations, are only given to mankind when on the Almighty's calender the time is ripe, and that the Ruler of the Universe removes the scales from someone's eyes and discloses, as its hour arrives, some combination maybe of simple principles common to the race for perhaps a thousand years, and which theory has been at.aaced to explain why two inventors, continents apart, honestly and without collusion discover or uncover the same idea at the same moment; leaving this theory aside, you will notice that, while machinists had the mechanical principles, they had not perfected in union the arts of balancing. I say, in union, because the several and separate ideas were well understood. The scientific possibilities of the aeroplane were thoroughly comprehended. The metal-pointed, feather-tipped arrow had made us, Saxons victors in the far days of Cr6cy. When mechanics properly combined the arrow and the aero-plane, there was the flying machine. For years, it is true, the wings had been perfected, they forgot entirely the tail. Without the latter, the 74 AFTER THE CATACLYSM aeroplane dived here and there— was uncontrollable. " It was folly to attempt a canter through the clouds on such an unbroken Pegasus. Even with the weighted wings, the further mistake was made of sus- pending the burden and driving power like a keel in- stead -f centering it. " By putting the main weight and propellers in the middle between the planes, the air resistance or sur- face friction on the planes was always balanced on the centre of impact and propulsion. " A very light pendulum would serve to keep the air- ship on an even keel. " Instead, with the balance not respected, an eddying gust or varying wind would continually increase or diminish the friction on the light aeroplanes, while the energy or inertia of the heavier parts suspended would not feel a corresponding start or stoppage, and the top-heavy, or rather top-light affair would lose its equilibrium. But, with the arrow centered within its sustaining wings, the solution was found. " None the less, you might hand a perfect bicycle to a skilled mechanic; it would be one thing to under- stand its subtle principles, an altogether different thing to ride and master it. " So with the air-cycle, only that with the latter a tumble or an accident meant death. "Experiment thus was circumscribed. However, with the wireless telegraphy, a steering gear witn valves like a pneumatic organ under compressed air was easily constructed. By his corresponding tiller 75 AFTER THE CATACLYSM safely fixed on mother earth the manager through his conjoining electric force could steer his model air-ship high above. "After many failures, and much delicate material smashed to atoms, ultimately the proper proportions and right methods were discovered, and then, with heart of oak and triple brass, the first bold captain on the Ethereal Sea launched out, and the motor airship was in being." " I notice, Mr. White, that you have not yet replaced the telegraph wires. Have you so little need for dis- patch in these days of leisure, that you can dispense with an electric service? I don't think that I have noticed a single line anywhere? " " Your mistake, my friend, is in supposing we need wires now at all. That is one of the few instances where an advance in invention decidedly favored the government. Marconi discovered that by diffusing the electric vibration into the atmosphere a sensitive instrument could be influenced many miles away. * The Roentgen ray revealed a co-relation between light and electricity, whereby the motion of light rays could be so intensified by electric power as to cause the actinic influence of light to penetrate several inches of opaque matter. " It was not long until the reverse of this principle was worked out, namely, that electricity could be so intermeshed with the more subtle light waves as to • Note. This chapter was written in 1900, just after Marconi's hrst unimproved wireless invention. 76 AFTER THE CATACLYSM assume certain properties belonging to light. Among these was reflection of the electric rays. Reflection comprehended also the ability to focus or concentrate electric radiation by curved deflectors or lenses. " It was found that the reason why Marconi's signal- ing from balloons or very high towers gave better re- sults than from a lower level, wa" cot so much be- cause the magnetic influence travelled easier in the upper ether, as that the rotundity of the globe in- truded between the terminal points, cutting the straight line of electric direction unless the transmit- ting and receiving points were sufficiently high. " The next step was to perfect relay instruments at proper distances apart, to take up, augment by batter- ies, and automatically pass along as received, the travelling message." " Possibly that tall mast at the Post Oflice has some- thing to do with the afl?air? " " Yes, if you examine those four black square boxes at the top, you may perhaps conclude that they are ordinary locomotive headlights, only that in place of the flame is a bristling copper, shaped like the spike flower of the Scotch thistle. Then the reflecting sides are made of highly polished vulcanized rubber, backed with pure zinc. These are 'senders" and they are turned, just as a search-light would be aimed, in the exact direction of the next oflice or relay instrument. Above these reflectors and so out of their influence, you may have noticed trumpet-shaped "receivers" of 77 Ill AFTER THE CATACLYSM similar rubber, pointed horizontally in the course from which their ray is coming. Inside this bell mouth, at the far end, is a thin disc of flat copper. The parabolic curve of the transmitter governs the concentration of the electric emanation. Concentra- tion tends to economy of the force, but it is not always desirable to confine the rays too much. Several offices need to be served by the one diffusion, some in the same line, others a little to the right or left. The focus is accordingly made to suit, and embrace in its angle of influence all the interested offices. At first a difficulty existed to individualize the tele- grams so that each might get its own and no other message. But this trouble was finally surmounted. Each office had its own musical tone, which, how- ever, must not be in harmony with any other. Nor must the pitches be multiples or over-tones of each other. For instance, the pitch of M's office is 643 vibrations, that of Q is 710, and that of Z i« 6S7. Set in the virire between the receiver and the recorder is the vibrator. In the sender's office, in the wire between the transmitter and the radiator, is a vibrator which can be tuned quickly to any desired pitch. This the sender first adjusts to the exact note of the intended receiving office- Then putting his vibrator, as set, in motion, he opens his key and a long preliminary dash causes its prime or similarly pitched vibrator in the other office also to agitate. On this like oscillation a sufficiency of continuous current is given for a satisfactory telegraphy. The message, too, 78 AFTER THE CATACLYSM is practically secret, as to steal it one must erect his instrument in. the line of direction and also must know before hand to a vibration the arbitrary pitch. To tap a wire in the olden days was a much simpler job. It was about 1904, when this system was perfected. The Telegraph Monopoly saw the peril to themselves of the invention, and as the saccessive patents were granted, bought them in order to prevent competition. Our Post-master General had also been awake, and had set his heart on making the telegraph system national, in common with the mail service. He took the Secretary of War into his confidence, and between them they concocted their plans of action. It happened that the inventor of a successful field gun had sold his rights to the French Government, and the French, to prevent the other governments from using them had impudently patented them in Ger- many, England and the United States. Of course, on the ground of not putting the article on the market, the patent could be attacked, but all the same it af- forded the desired excuse. Our Secretary of War, on the pretence that he was after this foreign ordinance, got a measure through Congress to the effect that whenever the holder of any patent or an invention in the United States failed or neglected to put the patented article in the market, and give the general public an opportunity to purchase the same at fair prices, then the United States could at its option confiscate the patent, and itself manufacture as it chose the article, and develop the invention for 79 AFTER THE CATACLYSM tfc« benefit of the people, or for the advantage of the public services. The Telegraph Monopoly was caught napping. Our government appropriated the wireless telegraphy pateats. As fast as the Post Office Department could manu- facture the machines, system after system was in- stalled, and the public were given a "twenty-five words for a nickef'service. Of course, big lawsuits followed and the Telegraph Combine did its best by competition and other methods not mentionable to hold their monopoly, but, for once, the government triumphed. The main reason for the victory was that the government intended and desired to win. And so it came about that their thousands of miles of wire were reduced to scrap and were left to rust in the ocean of watered stock of the great Telegraph Mon- opoly. 80 CHAPTER X. Vera and Mr. White were both engaged in the after- noon of next day, and so I started out by myself to see what I could discover. The general locality I fairly understood but I felt that the present roads were new to me, the oM land- marks lost, and the possibility of losing myself w«s certainly existant. I announced my intention to Vera, and at the same time cautioned her not to lock me and ? " " Yes, they were once so foolish as to give me solo cornet." " You never playsd a violin ? " " No, though I did a little on the flute." " And if you had your comet back again — ? " " I would try to coax the fellows to let me join the band." "Wouldn't you rather dance?" " No. Oh, well, turn about, but say, have you the entree to the orchestra balcony?" " Now you want to run away from me." " No. Now it's you that is cruel. I only want just 90 ^FTER THE CATACLYSM to look in, not that I suppose that they would take me on the strength." " Well, come recruit." This was between the dances. About the centre of the building, on the north side, we found among the vines a narrow stair which led to the balcony above. As we reached the upper step, we met a young man about to come down. " Oh, Charlie," said my pilot, "we just wanted you Are you busy?" " Never." " I have brought you an old bandsman of the last century— do you remember Vera White's friend?" " Very glad to meet you. Won't you both come in and see us ? " " Do you know he has been criticising your music? " "See how my sins have found me out. But, in revealing my ignorance, I have already endured my punishment." "I am sure there are many things in our music that will justify criticism— and what did he say?" " He said he wanted to join." " Then join he shall." " But Charlie, after he criticised your music ; " "Just the man we want," and without further ado, he reached out a hand to each of us and drew us into the gallery square. " A bandsman of the last century." " A bandmaster of the year '94," added my indorser. 91 m MM PI I > 'Mi ' AFTER THE CATACLYSM " I certainly was given a cordial welcome, and be- iore the next number struck up, was sworn a true and trusty kinsman of the order. There was no instrument there that I could play. A violin or 'cello was not in my line, and, in any event not a scrap of music was visible. It was time by now to warm the wax again, and I wanted to see them start. They could all play by note, I understood, but, fol- lowing the solo, each one took his part, and picked the harmony by ear. It was a thing impossible to do with absolute cor- rectness, to preserve the balance of the chords, and not to trespass upon another's note. I marvelled at the ear that they displayed, the almost intuition with which they judged the harmonies and musical pro- gression all seemed alike to anticipate. It is one thing to throw in a "second " to a familiar melody, a totally dififerent task to create a score to embrace an orchestration of ten different instruments. Given such innate talent, training and the proper in- struments and music would make a band to beat the world. " Come, let us go down and finish this waltz." " With pleasure." The narrow stair descended, away we drifted on that glittering surface, borne on the pinions of the dreamy melody, away and among that multitude of joyous faces, eddies of happiness upon a sea of purest pleas- ure. 92 AFTER THE CATACLYSM I must have been preoccupied, rudely so, for when we stopped a moment, I was rallied on my silence- " I was thinking." " Does it always affect you that way? " " No, but I have a little scheme on hand." " Open your palm then and let us see." " I will think it over a little first, where will I see you and Charlie in the morning?" " Yoti will see me at breakfast if you will come home with me this evening and honor our roof with your company over night." " I will be delighted to see you home, but—" " There is no ' but,' and surely you would not leave me at the door step. Of course, you will stay with us, and my mother and sisters— to be sure you will. My mother would, I know, like to meet you, and then your scheme,- we will have that in the morning, and Charlie is less than a mile away. There is still a little of this waltz left, and I like your step. Do you notice how ours is a lit'Je longer and more sideways? " " Yes, we used to call that the 'English glide.' My own has a touch of the shorter curved movement of the ■ Boston' in it." I met some very fine dancers on the floor that even- ing; they were all good dancers. They seemed to have an instinct of rhythmic motion in them that made their every movement responsive to the music. It was not so much that they knew the step. Simply they floated on the melody. When here it hovered as m hesitation, the indecision held them balanced with 93 AFTER THE CATACLYSM an equal pause, or, else again, it caught them with a stronger grasp, and swung in swifter circles the puls- ing feet that swept the floor. In truth, it was not that they walked or hopped, as books would teach the step, they danced,— as a bird soars in the sky, as a salmon in the stream, as creatures in their native ele- ments, strong, lithesome, graceful, it was the acme of terrestrial motion- Some of the figures and steps were new to me. They had abandoned the fancy additions to the lan- ders, and had returned to the old original. One very pretty thing was a square with at least sixteen couples. It needed plenty of room, went to schottische music and was danced with the two move- ments of the militaire. It was so new to me that I failed to follow it fully. One figure somewhat re- sembled the 'grand square,' though it was m double couples instead of partners dividing. The ' half right and left across' with all joined hands and preserving their proper spaces and alignment was pretty to watch, but surprisingly difficult to execute. The third figure, with a similarity to the old 'cart wheel,' was perhaps the most attractive, as the radia- ting couples instead of completing the circumference took the ' kick ' step all circling to right two steps, then to left the same, twice ; and then in 'partners to places' shot out from the centre in straight lines like the explosion of a rocket. Another figure, somewhat the reverse of the third, I felt like naming the ' Union Jack ' was danced from 94 AFTER THE CATACLYSM the eight points, all crossing at the centre by '>'l coup- les together. There was a suggestion of ' ladie^ -hain ' in the way approaching couples passed each other, the disengaged left hand o. the gentlemen high in air, touching as they swung. The neat execution of these spectacular dances would have done credit to Barnum and Bailey's Nero;" and evidenced intellijjence and inspiration, and incidentally, a good deal of practice. I must admit that, attractive though the floor was, I spent fully a quarter of my time up with my friends in the orchestra. The view, too, from the balconv was very engaging. Although the simplicity of the costume gave only a single color to each dancer, yet the various tints from purest dazzling white to deep maroon and purple, from the daintiest shades of cream and lavender to royal b ue and gorgeous crimson made, as they intermin- gled, a kaleidoscopic panorama of eastern splendor I had just got back to my partner of the first dance, my chaperon and pilot, and we had just finished a swinging ' deux temps. ' Those couples strolling about the grounds came in. Mow all were silent. " This is the end, " said my partner. One note, the herald of a heavy chord, and as each voice took up the sound, with a grandeur that held me spell-bound, two hundred throats i„ song rang forth that wondrous music of the "Anthem of the Ages. Only an eight line verse; but while I may 95 ' i" AFTER THE CATACLYSM describe the thrill, the effect, it had upon me, there is nothing in nineteenth century harmony to serve as parallel. The energy of the Russian Hymn, the sweet- ness of Schubert ;-but it is impossible. We know the heat and brightness of the Sun, but who can paint His glory. So, too, there are things that, should we strive to drape them in our language, only consume our words, as molten iron turns to ashes the feeble cloth laid on to cover it. 'il! I 96 CHAPTER XI. It was many momenta before Jean Blair and I walk- ing home together broke the silence. What her thoughts were I cannot divine; but the feeling that subdued my spirit was not so much an oppressive awe, such as some solemn music or event may produce as of a happiness that in its greatness seemed almost a burden. As if a simple child had received some gift that over-spanned its every expectation or imagination, and stands spell-bound, dumb to the very thanks it owes the donor; so the pleasure of the evening culminating in that ecstatic song to the Great Giver of all Good rhings, left me oblivious to all but my meritless con- dition, even to contain the overflowing measure of His Bounty. A sound and dreamless sleep, and I awoke in the morning refreshed and without a bodily suggestion of my long walk or of my exertions of the evening Jean followed me out and joined me just after breakfast. "And now. Sir Knight, has that plan sufficiently matured to warrant its disclosure?" " How far is it from here to Mr. White's?" " Homesick so soon ? " 97 AFTER THE CATACLYSM " No, but they will expect me this morning, and I do not want them to be put to any anxiety on my account. " " Ten miles. " " Then I will make my apologies just now to your mother, walk down and report, and return shortly. " " You can telegraph 'all well.' " " I have no money. " " Money? it does not need money to telegraph. " "No? But I must find out first from Mr. White some things. " ' " Perhaps we can obtain the information for you without so much trouble- " " I'm afraid not. I would like though first to see Charlie. " " And you are leaving me out of the secret? " Wail till I cook my cake. If it turns out all right you shall have a frosted slice. " " Very well ; but I will have the satisfaction of help- ing to cook it by finding Chariie for you. Will we go now?" " I am yours to obey. " It was not long till success rewarded our search. I talked over my little plan with Chariie for some moments, while Miss Jean, with a well simulated pout, pretended to cool her dignity at a distance. " Ready? " "Coming; all through." She heard Charlie's last words:— "I don't know where you can get them, but perhaps Mr. White can 96 AFTER THE CATACLYSM help us. But, if you can manage it, old fellow, count on all of us. " " Thanks ; I knew you would come into it ! " " And can't I come into it too? " " If you're good. " " Are you off so soon? " "Yes; I must go now to see Mr. White. May I have the pleasure of walking home first with you, Miss Jean?" " Delighted. " Just as we went out of the yard, Charlie called out;— " Why not get a ride down on the Aero? It stops just beyond Jean's house in about a half hour, and will alight you right at home. " " Is that another of the things that cost nothing? " " Nothing costs anything. If any of the services can oblige you they count it a pleasure- They exist to contribute to people's happiness. " " Will you be back this evening? " asked Jean " I hardly know. " " Bring Vera with you. " "Shall I? Thank you; if she can make it conven- ient; after I see Mr. White you will hear from us. " We soon arrived at the Aero landing. " How many passengers will it carry; Miss Jean?" " About four, not including the driver. " When the Aero alighted, the driver proved to be the young man whose acquaintance I had made a few days previously. He was alone and seemed pleased to have company. 99 i!iiii{ ; ii AFTER THE CATACLYSM The seat assigned me was just in front of his own. It was explained to me that not more than two could ride in the lower cage. Additional weights or passen- gers were placed above, around the bulb or air cham- ber. As the fans started to whirr, Jean called out to hold on tight. I dared not let go to wave a parting salute and I am sure my desperate grip and set expression must have afforded some amusement to the bystanders. As we gathered speed and took the leap into empty air, I held my breath and looked dizzily down through the grated flooring at the fields and bushes whizzing past. However, my terror was but momentary. The seasick, undulating motion I had anticipated was pleasantly absent. Instead, the feeling was that of riding in a well cushioned Pullman over a new steel rail on a perfect track- There was no sensation of a perilous suspension over some bottomless abyss. Per- haps it might recall crossing in a railway car a deep valley spanned by some lofty trestle; but the im- pression was that an invisible solid bore the Aero up and gave its transparent track as a safe and perfect surface along and upon which our vehicle sped for- ward. The only disagreeable sensation was when we alighted ; that lit'le tilt and settling before we touched the ground; a feeling like in a quickly descending elevator. 100 AFTER THE CATACLYSM As we gathered headway, the wind began to whistle past us like a hurricane ; and for my comfort the driver pulled down the side panels of celluloid, or whatever the transparent material was, and also the panel be- hind us. This gave a clear view in front and pro- tected us from the breeze. It also, resultantly, as the rear panel went into place, gave the Aero a slight dip downward; but this was quickly compensated by a movement of the horizontal rudder. The journey lasted only about five minutes. Thanking the driver for his kindness, I was soon at home again. 101 CHAPTER XII. It was yet early in the forenoon 'vhen I reached home. I soon found Mr. White, reading and comfortably seated in a big arm-chair in his usual retreat. His back was to nie as I entered, and so interested j 1 in the enjoyable book was he, that he did not notice my approach. I had the ill manners to glance over his shoulder and see the subject of his study. The open page was at the last chapter of the Prophet Isaiah. As I spoke he looked up. " So you have brought the old Book through the fire?" "Yes; history repeats itself: — nee lamen cotuume- batur." . . " Well ; I am glad to see it ; and yet I must admit I was a poor student. As for the Old Testament, it was to me dryest of the dry. " " I believe you, my friend, that such was your feel- ing. But, did you ever see one of those 'lightning sketch ' chalk drawings, made by some able character- artist? Here and there are lines, those short and zig- zag, others great swelling sweeps that cover the board from end to end. 102 AFTER THE CATACLYSM " The audience puzzles to anticipate the coming pic- ture ; the design is one vast hieroglyphic ; when, pres- to! a mouth line here, and there, above, an eye, and behold, the portrait clear and understandable, com- plete. So with the Prophesies and, to some extent, the whole Book. " But, since your day, many deep lines have been burnt into the page of history. Now, the wise begin to understand. With different mind we look differ- ently into the things written. The 'eye' has been added, and soon, very soon, will come the 'mouth ' the Word which will explain to the world this mighty portrait of Man. Perhaps, my friend, -; our leisure we will read the Book together; and maybe if will interest you, — now." " I really think it will, Mr. White ; and I will ap- preciate the privilege. Are many copies to be had? " "They can be got; and, no doubt, a great many thousands are to be obtained for the searching in the abandoned dwc:;ngs of the old towns and cities now forsaken. " "But they would belong to the owners?" " Not necessarily. A thing abandoned voluntarily, with intention to .please it, may be appropriated by the first one who chooses to convert it to his own use. The shops, warehouses and libraries over yonder are full of goods without an owner. They are as free to the taker as are the shells on the seashore. Much once worth hundreds of dollars has now no value sufficient to warrant the carrying away and the bur- 103 ;■ i AFTER THE CATACLYSM Nil : ■ ! What dening of the acquisitor with the accumulation, once was of value may now be worthless. "Those very shells, yesterday the home, the life protection, of their molusk tenanU, to-morrow may be empty and of no avail to anyone. " " Then, if one should now find use for any of those things, even as one finds use sometimes for shells, he may help himself? " " Assuredly ; if a book, a piece of machinery or tool, a plant or a piano ; take it There s no reason to sup- pose that you will cumber yourself with things around you which you cannot' use ; and, if you use the thing, you cause it to serve its purpose. " " I understand. Do you know where Vera is, Mr. White?" " I think she is at the further end of her garden. " It did not take me long to find the young lady ; a rose among the lilies. "Welcome back. And where have you been, truant? Did you get lost, or were you stolen? " I laughed. " Ah 1 stolen ; and Jean Blair is the cri ninal. " " How do you know? " " Confess then ; it is so? " " Yes, it is so, at least to the extent that I am in- debted to Jean Blair, principally, for an extremely pleasant excursion. But how do you know?" " Jean telegraphed to me last evening that she had persuaded you to stay over night. Didn't you like her? And you had a good time? " 104 AFTER THE CATACLYSM " Perfect ; and so that explains your sorcery. Let me see you palm ;— no, the other one. " Vera laughed as I scrutinized her outstretched open hand. " You are going on a journey. Yes, we might as well sit down. Toward water. It will be about a day from now. You have three companions. One is a young man about twenty. I see also a dark young woman with handsome black eyes; also a fair man tall, lightly built ; and of an age that oscillates between th.rty-five and seventy. This journey that I see is in the nature of a picnic and lasts about a day. It seems also like a search or prospecting party, but there is nothmg to indicate the results achieved. " The expression on Vera's face was so comically cu- nous, that I had to laugh. It was apparent that all this ngamarole of mine was wasted on the desert air. Of the mysteries and occult sciences she was com- pletely ignorant. My crude imitation of the chicro- mancer conveyed no suggestion to her of the genuine counterfeited. Of course, she had heard of fortune-telling and palm- istry as she had beard of the oracle of Delphi, but the method and procedure was a new experience. She recognized the fact that I was endeavoring to mimic the soothsayer or forecast the coming event, and to that extent my act amused and was intelligible The book of life, as written on the hand, I had once studied with some diligence; and, to find topic for conversa- tion in that smooth and finely traced palm outstretched 105 AFTER THE CATACLYSM in mine, struck me as a rather clever conceit on that bright forenoon. " And now, " she said, " let us bar the mystic, and explain this journey. " "What say you to a picnic, if convenient, 'to- morrow?'" " I would like very much to explore parts of the city ; possibly among the debris I could find my way. With Jean Blair and Charlie Silverthom, we would make a party of four; and I would like very much to have Charlie with us. ". " It would be splendid. Have you arranged with them about it?" " No ; I could not till I saw you- Now I must either go down to see them, or possibly we could send a mes- sage- " ., . " A letter could be sent by the noon -nail, and an answer might be expected in the evening. " " It seems to me that the Blair's place is over yon- der, in which event, the city and here give us the other points of an equilateral triangle. We and they are about equally distant from the city. It might be more convenient for us all to meet there. What land- mark could we decide upon for a rendezvous? " "No trouble about that. Their road and ours join just outside the cit^. " " Can we all get there by eleven in the forenoon?" "Easily." " Then f the others can make it convenient, it is 106 AFTER THE CATACLYSM settled. Will you write Jean to come and bring Charlie along with her?" " Very well. " By the evening mail came the reply that tl»y would be delighted to join us at the place appoii](ed, at the hour mentioned. 107 IIP Hinii II t! I I CHAPTER XIII. On the morrow we set out, Vera and I, to meet, at the hour appointed, our friends at the rendezvous just outside old Rochester. The short fragrant grass, all of a single dwarf spe- cies that made the highway one vast lawn, was like a velvet carpet undemeith our sandals. The road-bed, so I understood, had been graded and then seeded down with this special grass; and once there rooted nothing else would invade the sod. With no wheeled vehicles to rut the track nor heavy rains to wash or gully, the perfect foot path was practically indestructi- ble, for now very little rain fell ; only the heavy mid- night dew, with slight nightly showers at intervals of about a fortnight, when the moon was about half full, gave needed moisture to the plant growth. Naturally our conversation drifted to the dance I had lately had the pleasure of attending. I recalled how in my day many people, good people, had object 1 strongly to such gatherings- Now, among even bet- ter people, not only was there no objection raised, but the pervading happiness of heart seemed to find nat- ural and fitting outlet in what was once termed frivol- ity. I myself recognized the justice of some of the old time objections to certain amusements ; that occa- 108 AFTER THE CATACLYSM sion was offered for questionable actions; and that nghtly discountenanced. After all. was it not in us. rather than in the amusement that the evil existed? I led up to the matter in indirect fashion, under certain circumstances these mixed ntherinn were associated with improprieties, and so were Uo you remember telling me. Vera, that the differ- ence between now and the last century was that then •n my time as we will say, to do evil, (I don't mean the great sms of murder and the like, but I mean those many everyday things that may be simply dubi- ous) had n, ,t a certain pleasure and spice of enjoy- ment, while on the contrary true goodness was a con- stant striving and a toilsome fight; whereas now good has ,n Itself an essential happiness, while misery dogs the steps of wickedness? Why this reversal of the nature of humanity?" "I think my father would answer you in this wise. CrZ% r^" '" ^T *'•""• ^''^ *''« Kingdom of Roml?^'^ °' ^'^"''' °^ ^*"'''' °' ^'"«' °f " Perished. " " The mere fact of some monarch reigning now over these self-same territories, over subjects the lineal de- scendants of those old citizens of Nineveh or Mace- donia does not of necessity work a continuation of the Empire of Cyrus or Alexander. A kingdom may be destroyed without the deslruction of the people. The overturning of the ruler is what makes the difference. Were the whole world under one Prince; and he be 109 rl : P. i'l AFTER THE CATACLYSM over-thrown and a new dynwty e»Ubli»hed, but over the self-same subjects, we might yet call it a new world, especially if the new power brought liberty In- stead of unhappiness to the citzens. Once long ago this old earth, which « are told "endureth forever, was visited by a Flood which destroyed all govern- ment, yes, and all the people, except those eight whom the Ark carried over. That was the first Age or Aeon, what the Apostle Peter called " the Old Worid or " the world that then was. " " True, in the destruction of the first world at the flood all but eight of the antediluvians perished. Then came the "second heaven" when the world was heaved up or lifted up out of the waters and a mw order of the ages began. During this period God left man largely to his own devices. The Prir.ce of this Age was Satan. Christ would not buy, through doing homage to its Prince, the rulership of this worid. In- deed he told Pilate his kingdom was not of this Age. But having redeemed the Worid from sin, which sin rendered it subservient to Satan the author of sin, the usurping Prince of this Worid was in due vime cast out, and a people as joint heirs to rule with Christ having been by him gathered out of the World, the ovcrcomers who in his strength ame through great tribulations and trials; that Woild or Age the king- ship of which Christ disclaimed came to an end in the great purging fires and fervent heat of the great Cata- clysm of a few years ago, the very elements of author- ity and society being melted by the flames of anarchy 110 AFTER THE CATACLYSM •nd trouble, and now is ushered in the "World to Come. " " This is the World in which we now are, the Sab- bt.t.i after the long week of toil and groaning; the period of which the year of Jubilee was but a type; the day of rest and gladness ; in this the morning of which all nature and humanity is moving forward to the final development of perfection. " Then our actions are attuned to our environment. " " How do you mean? " " What we once did in the time past might in itself be perfectly right and devoid of evil, provided we and our companions v .-re devoid of evil ; whereas, if the contrary condition existed, these actions might be means of temptation or bear the appearance of evil. " " Undoubtedly. For instance, in your day, among those that countenanced and indulged in dancing, cer- tain restrictions were rightly observed. The better the people, the less artificial checks necessary. To the absolutely pure (who unfortunately did not then exist) all things would be pure. " But as evil to a greater or less extent was every- where present, every action was circumscribed by conditions. For instance, nothing in itself may be purer than a I- is. It may be defined as a manifesta- tion of aflFection. And yet this method of salutation was restricted absolutely to those whose ties of rela- tionship or prospective interest precluded the pre- sumption of improper sentiment. In the general es- timation a kiss otherwise was counted at best merely in h . m : i 111' lili: :i!i I I I ill I AFTER THE CATACLYSM the butterfly condition of an ugly grub. Now, it is an expression of that pure brotherly love, of that aflfec- tion enjoined upon us as members of one great family, children of one Father. " Then, too, purity as well maybe as shame, would compel the mn or woman to hide from each other's eyes that most beautiful of all of God's creation, the humen body. But now Shame has departed with her sister Sin. Now, this necessity of dress no longer governs, and though as a tribute to the weakness of the past, and for the sake of some few who have not yet progressed as far as could be desired, we still give our forms certain indifferent coverings; it may be that some day clothing will become a mere matter of adornment; but now we have not reached that stage. In fact, as I have told you, we are all of us develop- ing. " " Then you think the future of this Age will be dif- ferent from what is now ? " " Decidedly. We are only yet on the threshold of the present and advancing era. Each year witnesses an advance both in us and in nature. Even we can- not anticipate the possibilities twenty years from now." " During the first few years of the new Order of Things, (I was only an infant then) an invisible yet more or less recognizable compulsion took hold of surviving humanity. " This power has since g-adually relaxed ; until now, among most of us, it is almost unfelt, giving place to 112 AFTER THE CATACLYSM an inward and inherent desire on our own part to pur- sue an altruistic course." " Yes, " I answered, " I think I can myself testify to this same sweet compulsion, the mental and the moral uplift of my true inward spirit. " 113 CHAPTER XIV. %) !:| ': liHlll !:i ? illii We had now reached our rendezvous and I looked about expecting to see Jean and Charlie. Instead, a stranger »PP-''«^*'^V' 'H^dWrnTo con- that our friends had wired him and wished him to con vey the message, that Jean would be detained for ab^ut three hours on "Duties for the Community which she had not anticipated; and would we call her up. This we did, and arranged that as it was then no later than eleven in the forenoon, she and Charlie should meet us at the self-same spot at two in the Sternoon, and that in the meantime Vera and I would do a litle preliminary exploring on our own account Accordingly, with definite intention, I ^t-red °ur course over the rubbish and obstructions and really Tngerous tumuli till we reached what I thought was ntdty ::?': heap of debris. No attempt appar ently had been made to clear away the wreck. The earthquake followed presumably in some d-tncts by fire, had utterly overthrown man's work; and the un- checked upgrowth of trees and vegetation had made the ruins almost unrecognizable. From our point of vantage on a precanous heap of rusTy iron and concrete. I was able at last to find 114 AFTER THE CATACLYSM such certain semblance in spots to the street's tracery of the Rochester of yore as to feel satisfied as to my position. The narrow harbor of Charlotte was choked to a succession of ponds; and I thought I could outline the railway up from the Port to the City. To the south- ward was possibly State Street with a row of tall trees bordering level grounds, the latter dotted here and there with shapeless mounds, the sole remains, of what were once magnificent mar ons. We ourselves apparently were now standing beside Main Street. " Do you see that depression over yonder, a line running in that direction? " Vera followed the direction of my pointing finger. " Over by those three elms? " " Yes. I think that is West Avenue. My home was there. No. 480. Follow that line a little, and then southward from those same elms ; there, over to where that clear patch of grass is. I believe that is where the fire was— my last act in the grand finale of "the World that Was. " For perhaps an hour we followed our lesson in an- cient geography; I, for a wonder, the teacher, not the pupil. To Vera the recital seemed full of interest. It was as if some palet :\. : cave dweller re-incarnated, had sat down upon sonie prehistoric tumulus and told of how his stone axe brethren had fought the mammoth pelegasauros or hunted the cave bear in the dense fern-growth forests. 115 AFTER THE CATACLYSM Finally we determined to explore the ruin on which we were standing. It was decidedly a dangerous thing to do ; as, covered by the thinnest carpet of green growth, cavernous depths might yawn below. Tracing out protruding girders and joists of .ron we finally concluded that the debris about us was that of a moderately lofty but yet narrow "skyscraper. It had fallen side ways, breaking in two in Us descent; and so rested as a gothic arch over the top of an older fashioned brick building under it. The result was to form an excessively strong truss roof braced around the more modest shop once its neighbor, preservmg it to a certain extent against the convulsive forces of the earthquake. Through an upper window we let ourselves down into the third floor. The fourth and other higher stories were crushed out of shape; but from the third flight down, the place was in fair condition except for fallen plaster and a wreck of over-thrown merchandise. In the dim light, one had the feeling a burglar or other interloper might entertain when he stealthily meanders through some silent mansion. At any mo- ment, it seemed, the owner's challenge should rudely check our marauding fingers. ^ But it was " no man's land " in which we wandered. Co-tiy pianos, instruments of wood and brass (for it seemed to be as I had planned and expected, a whole- sale music store we were exploring) whole orchestras in fact, were ours for the taking; and what we left was no one's- 116 AFTER THE CATACLYSM The law of abandonment worked a complete relin- quishment; the law of personal and utilizing appro- priation gave title. I left Vera on the second floor examining with some interest the intricate mechanism of a smashed grand piano; while after a hurried search of what that flat contained 1 hurried down to the main shop. There was method in my madness. Rooting through the broken glass and dust and cob- webs in a shattered showcase, ray search was at last rewarded. With a cry of joy I drew from out the accumulated rubbish, a flute, a perfect silver flute, full keyed on the most up to date Albert System as I recalled it. Imagine my supreme delight. In a delirium of joy (for was not now the one thing I longed for mine) I shook oflF the clinging dust, and with trembling fin- gers raised the precious instrument to my lips. Just as a thrilling A vibrated in the air there came a crash. The precarious ceiling almost over my head was breaking; and, through the parting woodwork feet foremost shot the lithe body of my companion. As she fell, the sash-like end of her drapery caught in the splintered joist and held; and, unwinding, spun her white glistening body around like a top, her left arm helc' aloft grasping in her hand the dependent end of her raiment, and just one extended tip-toe resting on a massive table below. It was, I say it in all modesty, a beautiful picture Unconsciously, or rather unwittingly, she had as- 117 li •ill ■■H- 4. ■":i\ m AFTER THE CATACLYSM S to he calamity and UiU the baser thought. Or yet again, there is a height of heart affecUon. an ex pulsive love that leaves no room for ev.l I admit that I was startled when she fell. She was not huTt; that I realized almost in the same ms ant sti 1 as sLe stood there naked yet so serene. I reahzed hat I should be shocked ; yes scandalized, most blush- Sy embarrassed. Yet, candidly I was not. Vy un- quaMed admiration was provoking y akm to amuse 1 T ronfess it And then again recurred to me *i,..«. "vae are but little children. ''na7gh". in part encouraged by my friend's calm countenance that showed in itsel a trace o h"mo. What would, in the days of old. have been a httle tragedy, a something within our memory to cover wnth a veil a something that again from t.me to time Uld'send the unbidden color to - cheek, was th.s and now, strange, as grotesquely small as .f showed a dangling shoe lace. In the olden time, thus in black and white to relate 118 Ifi 11 AFTER THE CATACLYSM such an embarrassing incident, even to hoard up the memory of it among one's secret mental records, woul '. be treason to true friendship. The only possi- bility would be absolutely to forget what could not be; forgotten ; to treat as a trifle of nothingness what alas was a huge disaster. And yet, now, here we stood, both of us laughing, not as two hardened criminals, but as it were two little children upon whom the ignorance of evil had not even impressed the first iesson of guilty silence. It would appear that when the first ripples of my new found flute had startled Vera, she had stepped quickly backward, perhaps to hear the more distinctly ; and, not noticing, or perhaps not realizing the fraility of the laths under the broken floor, the woodwork had given way beneath her, and she had crashed through, and got a fall of maybe fifteen feet. That she was not hurt was a wonder. Possibly the fact of her drapery catching as it did had saved her from a broken limb or worse. As I was congratulating her on her fortu- nate escape, I chanced to notice, about at her shoulder blade, a stain which seemed alarmingly like blood. " You have hurt yourself after all. There surely is blood on your scarf (it wasn't much more) at your shoulder. " " O ! that is nothing, it is only a trifle." On my insisting, she allowed me to turn back the edge of her mantle to examine the scratch, and to my horror, there disclosed was a clear cut or tear fully three inches long and almost to the bone. It was 119 Hi' ) I AFTER THE CATACLYSM gaping open and dripping a few drops of blood, but otherwise the gushed sides were almost dry. To my persuasion that we hurry home or to some surgeon to get the wound properly dressed, she only laughed and persisted that it was a mere trifle. There was nothing I could do. A roll of passe-partout which I found in a drawer in the stenographer's table, I first thought could be utilized as sticking plaster; but on examination it turned out that the sticker on it was valueless. " Never mind, it does not pain me at all. What s that you have there? Was it on that you were play- ing?" " Do you remember my flute of which I have often told you? This is one like it only better. " "Then play it. Play for me- " Nothing loath, I raised the somewhat tarnished and yet perfect instrument to my lips. A little fragment of "Martha;" then the thrilling vivacity of the " Mocking Bird ;" one bit of melody after another fol- lowed. I was back again in my old " den " on West Avenue with the last glow of sunset fading into night. Songs of the twilight came again to me, and then as the last dying notes of " Home, Sweet Home " still lingered, I looked up at my companion. Her eyes were moist and she caught her breath in the stillness. " It was beautiful. That last melody, what is it? There is something pathetic in its sadness. Tell me about it. " 120 AFTER THE CATACLYSM Again on solid ground, returning to our rendezvous, I told her the story of the man without a home who sang its sweet praises. " It is only the heart that moves the heart, " was all her comment. I 121 m CHAPTER XV. iM We had so timed ourselves that on reaching our place of meeting, Jean and Charlie had just arrived. First 'Tom the trees near by we gathered sufficient food for our mid-day lunch; and then, lolling on the grass, I began to unfold my plans. It was, after all, nothing very excitingly important ; but the idea had grown on me as an inspiration from the dance. I wanted to organize a full brass and reed orchestra, something on the basis of the big institutions of my own day. Talent, time, and taste were available, the only thing I had thought impossible was the obtaining of in- struments and music But this latter problem the morning's prospecting had served ; and so I explained it all in full to my companions. As I hoped, they were enthusiastic. The decision was to return to our music store at once and see if we could get a complete or at least sufficient outfit. We soon retraced our steps, and carefully crept into the building Vera and I had ex- plored only an hour before. It had once in my childhood been a matter of de- light and surprise to me that the old castaway Crusoe, 122 AFTER THE CATACLYSM the Swiu family Robinson, and the like, when in dire extremity always found the thing so necessary in a chest or wreck opportunely cast up by the sea after some very accommodating tempest. Such also was our own good fortune. In the Shipping Room, for so it seemed to be, were about a dozen cases, all addressed to a Rio Janeiro Band, and the freight boss' invoice on top of one of the boxes. The outfit included some sixty-four pieces. With the exception of one instrument, the names were all familiar to me. It was a "clarion." The name was in a fashion old; and yet I adjudged it was really a new instrument. My curiosity impelled me to open the box the in- voice indicated. By a comparison of the instruments on the list I could see that this novelty must likely take a leading part, as otherwise the others named did not show sufficient solo. Further, it must take a cornet score. This on investigation I found correct reasoning. The instrument had the valves and bell of a cornet, but the brass of the bell had a covering of what re- sembled vulcanized rubber nearly half an inch thick, right back to the valve; and the mouth piece had a small reed peculiarly attached. This reed was much smaller than that of a clarionet. As I was well acquainted with both the cornet and clarionet, I found very little trouble in getting a fair sound out of the instrument. My notes were crude 123 ■n AFTER THE CATACLYSM indeed, but accidently I got a few tones fairly correct, somewhat resembling a comet, but with more of the mellowness of the low notes of a clarionet or saxa- phone. There were shelves upon shelves of what seemed like excellent band music, but we decided to take chances in the meantime on the assortment of music included in this intended Brazilian consignment Now that the instrument question was solved, it was determined to organize our orchestra, and then come over in mass to our grand " Crusoe's chest " and outfit. It took but a few days to gather together our or- chestra. A nucleus already existed in the little band of musi- cians whom I had met at the dance. With sufficient added young men and women to make the full com- plement, we organized, distributed parts, and set out to collect the instruments. The humdrum detail of practice and instruction is of no interest. Suffice to say the drudgery and repe- tition of scale and exercise which every musician must undergo to attain skill, technique and general effi- ciency were ours. No royal road to learning had yet been discovered. None the less, all the advantage that high intelligence, willingness, and marvellous memory give was ours. One thing though was noticeable, and this was that repetition of a theme did not nauseate; nor did music admittedly agreeable when new be- came stale and monotonous. 124 AFTER THE CATACLYSM This fact so struck me, that one day 1 remarked it to Mr. White. I discovered it in the others, I realized it in myself. Once when some operatic air or fetching song caught the popular ear, it was for a week or two on jveryone's lips, sung or whistled; the newsboys had it, then the hurdy-gurdies; and at last every one wanted to consign it to the place of burning; until finally to hum a bar of it was to invite sudden death or grievous bodily harm. " Yes, " said Mr. White, " I agree with you as to the past and also with your statement of present con- dition. One main difference between music and noise is that the former, unlike the latter, is an orderly se- quence of sound vibrations having a certain arithmet- ical co-relation. I have a supposition that if we could in ?o-ne waj efficiently plot out these relations, joining them with lines, the result would be figures and curves which as tracery, would also be pleasing to the eye. " In music, the movement and undulations of the melody, and also the mental anticipation of the coming and pleasingly expected chord to follow are two phases of enjoyment. " But to pulsate in certain nerve cells a definite suc- cession of sound curves, and then again and again to indent the same nerve with identical traceries, finally caused such a laceration as to become absolutely pain- ful ; unless (and here is where our present superiority lies), that nerve has such instantly recuperative 125 •I' ill AFTER THE CATACLYSM powers as to oflEer to each successive repetition what iTpractically a new or unscarified nerve surface. "You will remember when Vera got home that even- ing from your reconnaissance of Rochester, and threw off a portion of her drapery, your surprise in finding that the tear in her shoulder was absolutely healed, merely a white scar left, and that in the mormng even the scar was gone. " Similar expedition in reconstructing nerve tissue eives opportunity for repetition of mental impression on unwearied, because on renovated sensatory con- volutions; and so what is to-day pleasing or engaging to the eye, the ear; the taste, continues to be so irre- spective of recurrence. " In other words-physical and mental perfection continuously so, means continuously perfect enjoy- ment of the once enjoyable; and contra, what is not primarily and positively disagreeable never becomes so by monotonous repetition. Given as we had to hand, ability equivalent to the genius of a born musician, in every one of our bands- men, it is not surprising that in the course of a short time our big orchestra of sixty-four pieces was able to render high class music with magnificent eflfect. Our first public performance had apparently been well advertised. At least a couple of thousand people gathered on a beautiful afternoon of one of those glo- rious days of perpetual June in a little grass carpeted hollow enclosed by a circle of forest; a perfect amphi- theatre. 126 AFTER THE CATACLYSM Until nearly sunset we played from our well chosen repertoire (thanks to some able musician of ; i..st days who had made selections) receiving enthusiastic cl cores in some cases of especially pleasir -^ ..'ndition',. It was interesting to me to note the ta=tt. tho dis- crimination, the judgment of our audience. The music that appealed to them was either an ex- ceedingly simple theme of a sad or pathetic nature, some sweet love song or plantation melody; or else heavy involved harmony. There seemed to be no middle ground. Wagner's "Pilgrims' Chorus" and his wedding march in Lohengrin each got several repeats " by re- quest. " At last the audience dispersed ; the unanimous ver- dict pronouncing the Rochester Philharmonic a grand success. The bandsmen, leaving their instruments stacked in a circle, disappeared among the assemblage to greet friends and acquaintances. I was left to walk home with Mr. White who spoke very enthusiastically as well as flatteringly of our music. I felt and acknowledged that there were among the rank and file many who were greatly my superiors in musical genius and real ability. My sole pre-eminence was practical experience. When they attained to that, I must take a very lowly place in the chorus ; unless! as I inwardly hoped, I should myself progress and con- tinue to develop. Not that I coveted the leadership; 127 J i AFTER THE CATACLYSM for we had almost come to a state when we might dis- pense with the leader; mutual intention and mter- mental cognition being sufficient to preserve unity of '"'iT was about ten o'clock in the evening when I lay down to sleep. I was pleased with the work accom- ''' The'^kindly expressed congratulations I had received from so many friends as well as strangers had warmed my heart with happiness. Neither vanity nor pride found place, but rather a great content that I could be of even small service in giving others pleasure and that their words had helped me realize their ap- preciation of my effort. ^ , j r „i,.„ As I rested myself there on the border land of sleep, music, the music of the afternoon came back to me as if from dreamland. But yet not so. for nearer and nearer it came; and wide awake I listened. It seemed to be away up overhead. \t last in the moonlight I made out a large speck in'the sky slowly descending. There, at an altitude of about five hundred feet was a huge aerodrome slow y circling around me as a centre, and in 't, '^PP-'ntly to serenade their beyond his ment appreciated band- master were the now famous Rochester Orchestra. A w^y" playing with them, in the centre of the m- stn;ments, I haJ actually never before really heard '^Zi this was their music. Suspended there in the 128 fV^f^ AFTER THE CATACLYSM heavens above me; floating out on the still night air it seemed celestial. Then as they slowly sailed away, the strains of Sa- bastian Davids' " Night in the Tropics " from "Chris- tophe Columbe " orchestrated by Ripley with its lux- uriously golden melody dying away in the distance, I fell asleep, and the dream-palms and lotus of the en- chanted Land of Forgetfulness embowered me. 129 11' W'' '^' CHAPTER XVI. It was well planned and beautifully executed, the appreciated serenade of last evening that my fellow bandsmen had so kindly given me. The big aerodrome that had brought some of our audience to the Musical Festival (but which I had not been permitted to see) aiver returning .ts Passeng^f; had been requisitioned by the Orchestra w>th mtent to give me this agreeable surprise. Shortly afterwards I had the opportunity to inspect the huge machme. In appearance, it was primarily three huge gas bags shaped like fish; sharp at both ends; not round, but oval shaped in cross section ; and with the fish back a straight horizontal line, but the belly below sagged to extend like a fin keel. In profile it was thus roughly an obtuse angled isosceles triangle with inverted apex. This gas holder was not a yielding bag enclosed m a net; but was a tightly stretched skin covenng an in- terior multiple trussed framing. Not only so but this trussed interior was a honey comb of aeroplane cells so constructed that in case of accident to the gas bal- loons whereby their sustaining power was gone, a quick pull of reefing lines would strip off the skm in 130 AFTER THE CATACLYSM sections and bind it in horizontal layers to the main structure ; by the aid of which and the material assis- tance of the aeroplanes practically composing horizon- tal surfaces filling the interior trusses, the huge aero- drome would soar easily to the ground. As already stated ; there were three balloons or gas holders to each machine. Two of these were a little above the main cabin deck about eighty feet apart ; and one was in the centre about thirty feet below the cross line of the upper pair. These dromes, driven by powerful propellers, made an average speed of about forty miles per hour. A simple machine generating the lifting gas, a com- pound much more efficient than hydrogen, was placed in ihe interior of each balloon and operated by a slow combustion of certain conflicting chemicals. Unfortunately my scientific education was so limited as to prevent me from understanding the detailed ex- planation as to the ingredients ; sufficient to me from the practical standpoint that they were obtained with little trouble and in ample quantities. The whole framework of these dromes was so sub- stantially built, cross-stayed and trussed as to be rea- sonably rigid. In ascending, it rose perpendicularly as a balloon, though the machine at rest on the earth had a fraction below the specific gravity of atmosphere. The actual uplift was accomplished by several heliocoptic propel- lers, properly distributed, whirling in a horizontal plane, and needing very little force to overcome the 131 m I AFTER THE CATACLYSM trifling preponderance of weight remaining after ailow- init for the powerful effort of the gas containers. Some of these airships had several aeroplane sur- faces which, as soon as a fair speed was attamed came SS ;.Uy and allowed the horizonUl heliocopter to be 'Tlughiing. the forward motion was as near as possible checked, and the machine settled qu.etiy down to the ground, head to the wmd and rested on twelve spirally f;<:xible legs terminating with smaU broad tired wheels. Ill till illSSIti 132 CHAPTER XVII. It was a beautiful summer afternoon ; but then the afternoons were all beautiful, and it was always sum- mer. I had been idly lying on my elbow examining one by one and enjoying the many tints and colors of a bed of pansies in a far away comer of Vera's garden. Perhaps it was because I was softly whistling a scrap of old time opera, or perhaps because the velvet-like carpet of grass deadened her footfall, or both, for I was not aware of the owner's approach until she bent over me and kissed me. Then, seating herself oppo- site me on the turf, she asked me in what I was so in- terested. " No ; but it seemed to me that here with everything in nature so favorable, they might be grown much larger." " The pansies are perfect in color and with all the fragrance of the violets. Still, I have seen in the gar- dens long ago, right here in Rochester, pansies as large and as pretty. " " Did you ever see any that were larger' " she asked- " That would appear to be reasonable ; but why was it that the old Rochester florists reached and could not pass a certain limit? I will tell you." 133 AFTER THE CATACLYSM " We have come to the conclusion that each thing in nature has a certain *ta"d»^^ of perfection m sue as well as in other respects. W.th man, there is a fixed dimension to perfect excellence, i" .*»""«. '" „i„d. and in power. There have been .n all ages ' freaks' that in one dimension perhaps went beyond the sundard, but they were the result not of surpas- sing ability but of an abnormal growth. In some other relation they sho^yed a corresponding weakness In the lower kingdom and with animals that man had bred or trained, when the summit hne was reached there came a decline. So far shalt thou go and no further, was the law. " Yes " I interrupted. "I have seen that. 1 re member particularly, when we speak of Pl^"*^; °J J^* beautiful Lillium Auratum, the queen of the l.Ues. Florists produced it in a magnificent wax-like expan- sion of flower with golden yellow stamens But as they pushed it to still grander expansion, such a weak- ness of root and plant was developed that it finally succumbed to disease, and any hopes of further ad- vance had to be abandoned. I remember the same thing in regard to a famous herd of Jersey cattle. The stock was bred, and fed, and pampered until t^^ir at- tainments were almost beyond belief, they sdd for a fabulous price; and then.-they all succumbed to tu- berculosis. That was the end of the Jersey. So too in our last century also with man. They crowded into the cities. Some accomplished wonderful mental work; their achievements rank with anything the 134 AFTER THE CATACLYSM world ever accomplished ; but their brains burned out their bodies, and in a generation or two the family was extinct. " " On the other hand though," said Vera, "you do not allow for the imperfection then of humanity- What you call surpassing excellence was only perfect development; and the other attributes being much below perfection failed to give the support that an all round perfection would contribute. Now, we are tend- ing toward that perfection under which every faculty will reach the limit of the standard coupled with a lack of weariness, as you know, that tends to a continuous enjoyment of that faculty to its ultimate. " " Then when you say tending toward, you consider you have not yet reached that limit, irrespective, I mean of such constant accretion of knowledge as comes from experience ? " " Oh, by no means. Why, we are merely beginning. We are in a transition stage as yet. In the first place, we are scattered and few. How many people think you are there now living on this earth? Not more than forty million ; and at least half of those are and were English speaking. This globe as now consti- tuted, and with its prodigality of food-growth, could sustain and lavish comfort on thousands of millions; in fact more than all that ever breathed since Crea- tion. No, we are yet in a state of transition of de- velopment, toward perfection under invisible inward laws that practically compel advancement. My father told me yesterday that at the Conference of the Sen- 135 AFTER THE CATACLYSM ators, of which Senate he i» a member, it wa« felt Uiat 8