UC-NRLF -' liiiiltljf 27M SEE TO THE POLES GIFT OF To My Boys and the millions of other YOUNG PEOPLE who are standing on the threshold of America's Golden Age every horizon aflame with promise, and the accumulated glow of centuries to come, illuminating the pathway that leads to the land of the MORNING, this volume is affectionately inscribed. Allen Kendrick Wright. . . t To the Poles by Airship OR AROUND THE WORLD ENDWAYS By Allen Kendrick Wright SECOND EDITION 1910; I Baumgardt Publishing CoV Los Ange'es, Cal, * 4 " t > ' " . * ' v ' -'. : ; 4 - COPYRIGHT 1910 BY A. K. WRIGHT it S3 273586 "We are living, we are dwelling In a grand and wondrous time, In an age on ages telling To be living is sublime!" Coxe. For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see Saw the vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be. Saw the heavens filled with commerce, argosies of magic sails, Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales. Tennyson. Cloud-continents swing at anchor, Where backward curves the sky; Headlights gleam as flashing comets, From airships sailing by. Wright. Preface This book stands without a rival. Occu- pies a field absolutely new. Offers to the reader three things which every manly man and every womanly woman has longed for, does now long for, will hereafter long for. First A trip around the world endways, for which fortunes have been pledged and scores of human lives sacrificed. Second A voyage thru the air, over lands unexplored seas unknown. Third Chemicals from the laboratories of nature for the solution of the mightiest problems that have challenged human attention in all ages, together with the material for the most wonderful pictures ever gazed upon by human eyes. The gates of America's golden age are ajar; let us enter. THE AUTHOR. Introduction Three unmeasurable advantages neces- sarily attach themselves to this voyage: First Our magnificent speed 325 miles per hour brot scenes and incidents of the voyage so close together that they appear on the canvas of memory as a flash-light of the world by instantaneous method. Second We were able to study by con- trast the difference and influence that cli- matic conditions make upon plant and animal life, as well as zone influence upon civilization, and indeed upon the race of mankind. Third Traveling above the earth with adjustable-telescopic-lens-windows,wesaw, not simply a ribband or strand of land- scape immediately adjoining our pathway, but practically a continent of width, with mountains, plains and waterways in sub- lime and entrancing panorama. With these advantages clearly in mind, let the reader enter the last chamber of Discovery in the physical temple of planet Earth. Table of Contents Sailing on Together Poem. PART I. First Day New Orleans to North Pole. Second Day North Pole to Jerusalem. Third Day Jerusalem to Pretoria. Fourth Day Pretoria to South Pole. Fifth Day South Pole to Buenos Ayres. Sixth Day Buenos Ayres to New Orleans. PART II. Afterglow. a Voice of the Sphinx, b Armageddon. c Progress. d Fruits of Peace. e Conservation of Natural Resources, f The Afterglow Poem. PART III. Twentieth Century Poems. The Desert 110 A Desert Rain 112 The Old Prospector 113 How the Almighty Paints 115 Mother's Room 116 I Know Not 117 Longing for You 118 The Children's Burden 119 Do It Now 121 A Woman's Heart 122 Love 's Wireless 122 Spring Fever 123 My Wish for Thee 124 Our Boys 125 Where Dwellest Thou? 126 The Homeward Trail. 128 SAILING ON TOGETHER. If I have you and you have me, Why should we be caring, We will sail life's summer sea, Joy and sorrow sharing; Bravely meet the swelling tide, What e'er the wind or weather, Swiftly outward safe we ride, Sailing on together. A sapphire vault the sky above, Cloudlets floating o'er us; Softly sings the bird of love, We will join the chorus; Raise your voice so sweet my dear, 'Twill help a friend or brother, Doing good we've naught to fear, Sailing on together. Emerald seas on every side, Too deep for mortal sounding, We are floating on a tide, With life and love abounding ; When our sailing here is done, All past earth's wind and weather, We shall surely still be one, Sailing on together. Till we reach that mystic clime, Life's secrets all revealing, And catch the glory of the chime, Love's golden bells are pealing; Or what to me is more sublime, (I often think I'd rather) Come back to earth a second time, And sail again together. To the Poles by Airship Parti FIRST DAY. New Orleans to North Pole. The tidal wave that fell upon Galveston like a destroying angel and swept our whole southern coast with a hurricane of disaster and death, had spent its force, but the ground swell still lingered in the Mississippi valley and caused the great lakes to tremble in their mighty basins. The morning of September 10th, 1900, broke over the crescent city wondrously clear, unnaturally calm. To the south and west low-lying clouds skirted the horizon, as if nature had spread a funeral pall over the scenes of her desolation, but above and northward the sapphire vault was as clear as a Herschel lens. Our entire party had remained in their state-rooms during the night, and were ready for the lifting of anchors at six o'clock, A. M. Slowly, steadily, as a crea- 14 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP ture endowed with life, and conscious of power, the stately ship rose for TWO THOUSAND FATHOMS moving neither forward nor backward, swerving not to right or left. Full five minutes we remain- ed motionless, drinking the glory of the scene, while limitations melted away before the growing sense of possibility. With face lighted with joy and gladness, as of one about to consummate a long- cherished hope, Lieutenant Peary, the in- trepid explorer of northern climes, stood with his right hand upon the helm, while his left pressed the button that turned the liquid-air into VACUUM-ALUMINUM- Corliss engines. Throbbing with power the ' 'NEW ERA" tossed her beamed frontlet upward for an instance, balanced and shot forward like a thunderbolt, and the first voyage around the earth endways was begun; the voyage that should disclose the great secrets of the UNKNOWN under the frozen constel- lations of the north and reveal the won- drous mysteries that lay beyond the hori- zon of discovery under the fiery serpents of the south, the voyage that should be TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 15 to the world of science and progressive thot, what the voyage of COLUMBUS was to the geographic and commercial world; the voyage, that on one hand should reveal more wonders than ALADDIN'S LAMP professed to do, and on the other put an end to the loss of life and property in vain attempts to reach the poles by waterways. It was a sublime and tremendous moment. Unconquerable mind was about to begin her reign over material forces, as contemplated by JEHOVAH when He created Man and gave him dominion over terrestrial things. White as the sheen of a falcon's wing lay league after league of the cotton belt, set in frames of stream and forest that shaded into orchard, meadow or wheat- field of the farther north, which in turn gave way to the wooded hills, mountains and lakes of the mighty SASKATCHE- WAN of British Columbia and later on the unexplored empires of the Yukon and McKenzie that also yielded to an unbroken sea of snow-scrolls, frost-crystals and ice fields that stretched away to the north- 16 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP ward beyond the horizon of mortal knowl- edge. All were comfortably settled in the observation section, which for several rea- sons had been located in the center of the vessel, and enjoying beyond measure the play of light and shadow upon the broad bottoms, rugged slopes, winding valleys and purple hills that terraced to the trans- continental divide on the west, or the great forests and quiet valleys of the Cumber- land and Blue Ridge, when a thunderous blast from the fog-horn followed by intense darkness and a trembling motion of the great ship brot panic to every heart. For the fraction of a minute only did the dark- ness last and then an unnatural light of dazzling brilliancy enveloped us. Fearful lest some atmospheric maelstrom or elec- trical cataclysm threatened destruction, our pilot threw out the fin-like anchors, reversed the propellers and brot the vessel to a balance. As soon as the eyes could adjust themselves to the intense light, we discovered the city of Memphis directly below us and also discovered the cause of the marvelous phenomena about us. TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 17 Earthward and apparently close to the ground lay a dark circle possibly two hun- dred miles in diameter, with intense black spots at a number of points. The whole thing had the appearance of an enormous bicycle tire which suddenly inflated had punctured here and there, throwing out ink-black jets of smoke blown into circles and rings as often seen blown from loco- motives. Viewed from above, these energy centers seemed sometimes circular, some- times elliptical in form, the outer walls ever dark, the inside changing, sometimes black, sometimes blazing like fire, some- times like molten sulphur. Whatever color assumed, their motion was constant and of frightful velocity. Without question these were cyclones and but parts of a tre- mendous whole, and as far as we could discover the entire area of the circle was being swept with electrical energy whose source and origin was then unknown but destined to be revealed before our journey ended. One fact which was clearly established later on may as well be set down here; namely, that heat and cold in their rela- 18 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP tion to the earth are controlled by the atmosphere whose grain or fibre is vertical, and for this reason causes the heat and i cold to develop chutes or chimneys, sometimes small, at other times covering vast areas, but whether large or small, dropping in spots, so to speak, Thus it will be seen that certain localities may develop extreme temperature in either di- rection, while only a few miles away there may not be any marked change. With these facts before us we can understand why zero weather may obtain as far south as Texas, while on the great lakes or even Hudson Bay country almost autumn weather reigns. As a matter of fact, these hitherto supposedly abnormal conditions have been frequently noted but could not be satisfactorily accounted for on the old theory that temperatures were affected only by " Humidity, Altitude and Lati- tude. ' ' Having made sure that we were in the roof regions of an enormous cyclone dis- trict two hundred miles or more in diam- eter with here and there danger centers capable of swift destruction, our pilot TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 19 weighed anchor, allowed the vessel to rise two hundred fathoms and proceeded on our way. As the "NEW ERA" swept on and out of the storm zone and descended to our former level we were all conscious of a wonderful relief. From a sense of intense nerve tension that caused our fingers to tingle and our cheeks to burn with hot rushes of blood, we suddenly became nor- mal and serenely comfortable; but the won- derful exhilaration of physical life together with the quickening of mental faculties was remarked by all, and the infinite sense of healing and strength resulting from the electrical bath we had just passed thru will always remain one of our most pleasant memories. The everyday affairs of life are the most interesting transactions, and when fully understood often the most wonderful. We scarcely realize how much of variety and beauty of the physical world about us depends upon the changes produced by the storms and clouds. During the first hours of our voyage we were considerably puz- zled over certain brilliant areas which 20 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP appeared suddenly and as suddenly dis- appeared in various sections of our land- scape. Acres of flame gave way to the limit of blackness thru which ever and anon swept rivers of fire mingled with blood, Great electric storms they were pouring rain in torrents upon the earth from the lower side, but bathed in un- broken sunshine on the roofs, with waves of electricized-ether (commonly called sheet lightning) playing wild games over the roof ridges, racing down gutters and dripping from the eaves of these marvel- ous cloud structures. Deep-toned, the voice of thunder was not wanting, but passing upward thru the atmospheric fibre like the pipes of some vast organ, all sounds were softened and harmonized into richest music. This ORA- TORIO of the planet earth was the gather- ing up and blending into one sublime harmony of all terrestrial sounds. The thunder's voice, the roar of onrushing trains, the tenor of whirring trolleys, the song of birds and murmuring of waters, the swish of electric currents thru watery vapors, the sudden rending of cloud fibres, TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 21 the steady thrum of the cities strong cry- ing and laughter, and the fusing of noxious gases, all caught up to these roof regions and swept back and forth by the tides of this aerial ocean was music indeed that enraptured and soothed while it fed and satisfied every attribute of body, mind and spirit. That all sounds, especially the human voice, travel upward better than down- ward has long been recognized, but that all earthly sounds should be thus blended and translated thru, not six, but scores of octaves by electric-ether fingers on God's aeolian harp, was never dreamed by our wildest imaginations till now it was demon- strated by this voyage thru the hitherto supposed voiceless realms of atmospheric solitude. However, some intimations of this marvelous process have long pre- sented themselves to mortal intuitions and poets have dreamed and orators have sung in all ages of "THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES"; but these phantom outlines upon the canvas of mortality's latent senses now but occasionally made visible by the flash-light of genius, will some time be 22 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP realized for the world's entertainment and profit; and some as yet unborn EDISON will probably in the near future not only record the voice of the earth as it sweeps along the star-decked plains of its orbit, but also the very movements of the stellar constellations as they swing grandly on along their shining pathways around the cloud continents and thru and across the vaporous oceans of limitless space; and thus for man thru the economy of GOD shall be conserved the broken fragments of universal sound in the voiceless music of the stars. The minimizing effect of vertical views is plainly discernible from high buildings, monuments or ferris wheels, but imagine if you can the degrees of this influence thru two thousand fathoms of space, Except for our telescopic-lens-glass-bottomed boat (even as visitors to Avalon, Catalina island, view the submarine gardens) we could not have distinguished any earthly objects, but thanks to the wisdom of our ship builder everything on earth was clearly seen, the only change being that all color values were absolute (no shades) TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 23 and only the seven primary colors ever appeared. Human faces upturned were absolutely white, their clothes if dark abso- lutely black. Trees and meadow lands as well as all artificial objects painted green, appeared rainbow green; blue tinted struc- tures, flowers, lakes and rivers appeared indigo blue, while stubble lands and fal- low fields were saffron, and mahogany and carmine railroad trains raced as streams of blood over the ground great arteries running in every direction, but here and there gathered into ganglion nerve-centers the cities. Among the multitude of extraordinary things upon which we gazed perhaps none were more wonderful and awe-inspiring than the sunshine effects along the slopes of the rocky mountains late in the after- noon. Whether caused by the obtuse angle of reflection or by some to us unknown and peculiar condition of the atmosphere, I know not, but the sun's rays seemed broken up and blended into an ocean of flame that rolled and swelled in mighty surges of color from the Yukon to the Rio Grande and involuntarily the possibility of 24 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP the conflagration of a continent was borne upon the senses and the wreck of matter and crush of worlds seemed imminent. As we gazed entranced but awe-stricken upon this new creation, an exclamation from one of the ladies caused us to turn our eyes eastward where a scene broke upon our vision that appalled every heart and blanched all faces a scene that brot consternation to all faculties and threat- ened reason itself. From Hudson Bay to the Aztec sea the earth seemed to have dropped away and a mighty void where power creative never yet had energized and existence still slept in the wide abyss of possibility had taken its place a void as unfathomable as space and black as a gulf of despair and we seemed on the verge of universal chaos. So vast and unmeasurable seemed this utter blackness, so awful our possibility of drifting into it, that only the sun in his course and the great forests below us were able to recall us to assurance and a sense of safety. This weird and supernatural phenome- non lasted only a few minutes, but long TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 25 enough to leave an impression that still causes the soul to quail when flashed across the canvas of memory. Each one felt that to us had been given to approach the un- known and unknowable to stand for a moment on the borderland of temporal and eternal realities and see the veil that sep- arates between the finite and the infinite blown aside by the breath of the eternal and omnipotent God. From the snow-crowned peaks of Alberta and the frost-white sentinels of Alaska to the Laurentian Hills and Hudson Bay, a splendid forest weeps and waves in primeval grandeur. With here and there magnificent parks of meadow land where feed the caribou by thousands, and great lakes upon whose broad bosoms or reedy borders waterfowl by millions take their summer outings and rear their young in safety, while winding thru all like silver ribbands thru fabrics of gauze are laugh- ing brooks and mighty rivers alive with fish of many kinds. Behold the sportsman's paradise! The wheat-fields of generations yet unborn and lumber camps, once they are opened, that 26 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP shall build the cities of a world, and then let us blush at thought of our hue and' cry about the exhaustion of the world's natural resources. 0, we of little faith! The same hand that built the world and laid the corner- stones of a universe still controls the sea- sons and flings far and wide all round the world the conditions for a million harvests. Our HOME shall not be made desolate if we but do our part. Hearts thrilled hopes beat high antic- ipation was pregnant with mightiest ex- pectation and all involved in a mysterious sense of the untried, when at time of set- ting sun we sailed into the arctic circle, passed from sight of land and began our flight over watery wastes and hundreds of leagues of snow and ice. But the sun did not set. Into the land of deathless day we entered; thru misty moonlight, o'er arctic seas, into the AURORA BOREALIS the "NEW ERA" plunged. Electric waves flashed from her brazen prow hung in splendid halos around her mighty hull and streamed far out behind in flaming grandeur like the TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 27 luminous pathway of a comet's train. On, still on, till the soul is lost in wonder amid these scenes of phantom splendor that threaten to overtax sight and sense amid our new surroundings. From henceforth be it known to you, children of Time, that amid these vast soli- tudes God's hand hath set the batteries of snow and ice charged with electricity, ether and oxygen that generates the ozone for a world's life, the motive power for a solar system and the air that angels breathe. The rush and roar of these elemental forces the grind and crash of ice fields broken up, the launching of bergs and the boom and thunder of contending tides thrown up in crystal spray and sparkling scrolls conspired to present a scene like unto Creations' Morn when the stars sang and the Sons of God shouted for joy. On, still on, we sped thru this carnival of carnelian splendors till we shot out over an open sea that sparkled and dimpled in rainbow green beneath the beams of the midnight sun when, lo ! an island not many leagues in extent, but clothed in matchless 28 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP verdure, loomed across our pathway and the Log-Book told us the goal was won. In a small but beautiful natural park, traversed by a tiny brook and surrounded by noble trees whose wondrous bloom and odor ravished our souls with their fra- grance, the "NEW ERA" came to anchor. All passengers immediately sought their state-rooms, but so balmy was the air, so exhilarating and full of life-giving power and tissue-building properties that two hours of rest and slumber was all that any of us required, and by three o'clock in the morning the entire party were walking about the island. No words can describe nor pen convey the buoyancy and elasticity of body and mind the ineffable sense of strength and youthful super-abundance of health and vitality that came from the oxygenated- electricized-salined atmosphere of this aboriginal clime. Not alone thru the lungs were we conscious of this marvelous influ- ence, but every organ of the body, the very flesh and bones, seemed renovated, strengthened, and functional power quick- ened; the brain and spirit revelled in crea- TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 29 tive power. Great problems heretofore shrouded with mystery suddenly became luminous. Doubts and questions gave way to full assurance of knowledge, and the spell of intuition became dominant in human affairs. We seemed to have in- stantly passed from all restraint and sense of limitations into an absolute freedom generous as the sunshine, boundless as space, where the mind and heart did not need longer to struggle and labor for attainment, but immediately possessed accurate information on any proposition as if by right of inheritance. Strange, mysterious, blessed land! Land of cloudless skies and deathless days; land of solitude where no voice was ever heard since God spoke worlds into being and gar- mented thy bosom with fragrant flowers and velvet greens. No breath of unclean- ness was ever wafted across thy pearly strand, nor noxious weed or bristling thorn did ever find root in thy soil. No pestilen- tial vapors ever rise from thy mossy brakes and tranquil pools. Death thou hast not known, for crushed and broken hearts have never wended their way in funeral proces- 30 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP sion along the banks of thy crystal streams nor digged lonely graves in thy fertile soil wherein to bury forms of love. No requiem nor funeral dirge has ever sounded across thy dewy lawns; and of saddening mem- ories thou hast none. Peaceful, glorious land! War and bloodshed have never fal- len upon thee, nor strife or tumult entered thy gardens of delight. Waters from thy fountains are pure as nectarous sweets; flowers and fruits thine orchards bear, such as to mortal sense were ne'er before re- vealed. No wreck lies beneath the quiet waves of that stormless sea, whose tranquil tides wash thy vine-clad shores, for a sail has never whitened upon its emerald bosom. How low thy skies of azure bend as if to bring nature's warmest, kindliest greeting to her ardently worshipping chil- dren permitted to rest for a few hours in this summerland of the soul. The reader is asked to accept the fore- going statements not as vagaries of the imagination, but as sober sense based on at least three well-known facts, namely: First That on desert lands in Nevada and Arizona, fruits, vegetables and meats, TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 31 in many instances, do not putrefy, but are dried and preserved by nature's processes accredited to pure air and sunshine unpol- luted by the conditions of civilization. Second That the atmosphere of moun- tain solitudes, especially in the regions of perpetual snow, is pure with an exhilarat- ing effect that is often almost intoxicating in tonic power. Third That the inhabitants of certain islands of the Orkney or Orcades group have not been subject to colds for two hun- dred years, except when visited by the crews of trading vessels. Moreover, all arctic explorers freely testify that colds and influenza cease among their men in the intense cold of the far north and only return with the return to civilization. The open polar sea has been talked of and believed in by all arctic explorers, but it remained for the voyagers in the "NEW ERA" to establish the fact and account for it on the scientific basis of extraordi- nary electrical and atmospheric conditions which undoubtedly obtained in the earlier ages of the world's life, when men lived to be hundreds of years young, and has 32 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP thru the inscrutable wisdom of God been preserved in this polar region safe from the degenerating influences of mankind, tho destroyed in every other portion of the globe by the re-adjustment that followed the Noachain Deluge. And this splendid remnant of the glorious possessions once allotted to man not only serves as a re- minder of what was lost thru the trans- gression of beneficent laws and the rejec- tion of God's leadership, but a token as well of the transcendent glories which await the race at the " TIMES of the resti- tution of all things" and the dawn of that glorious era when broken, thwarted lives shall be made perfect and that which was missed and lost shall be regained. 'Twas hard to break away from this enchanted land, and the ship's chronom- eter indicated full thirty minutes past six o'clock the following morning when we finally weighed anchor and bade regret- ful farewell to this matchless gem of the ocean. SECOND DAY. North Pole to Jerusalem, Syria. For a thousand fathoms the majestic ship cleft the air in vertical lines and still the little island could be seen, a tiny spot of living green in the ocean's shoreless blue. Smaller, and fainter outlined, at last it seemed to dissolve in mists as the ' 'NEW ERA" was, like a flashing meteor, hurled acros the aerial ocean that rolled and swelled its sublime declaration of independ- ence across the vast unknown between us and Siberia's ice-bound desert-prisons. How long! Oh, how long shall it be, SPIRIT of JUSTICE, ere the hand of oppression shall be lifted from this land of mighty possibilities and a people long made to serve with rigor may lift their faces toward the light which glows above the hills and illumines the pathway that leads to the lands of MORNING? Secure in the knowledge that two or three hundred leagues of water lay between us and any known land, and presuming on 34 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP a repetition of the conditions of yesterday, our pilot pulled the throttle wide open and the "NEW ERA" responded with a burst of terrific speed that came near to being our undoing. A thousand fathoms below the plane of our former sailing, we were virtually plowing thru rather than skim- ming the waves of the atmospheric ocean, and at an altitude where the air was com- paratively dense. Like a giant RORQUAL, the noble ves- sel plunged on and into the Aurora zone, leaving behind, not a pathway of foam, but tongues of fire and scrolls of flames when a roar and thunder of mighty volume and paralyzing power broke about us. We were in the midst of an arctic hail- 1 storm. The air was full of great blocks of ice and masses of snow flung upward in wild and awful fury from the ice-crusts below pierced by electric currents of irre- sistible voltage, Quickly elevating the prow and dropping the propeller shaft, we rose a thousand fathoms, and above the ice and snow belt (tho still swept by winds of frightful velocity) and discovered the genesis of an arctic blizzard. For scores TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 35 of leagues, south, east and west, a great storm- wave swelled its magnificent billows in unconquered and unconquerable might. Having reduced our speed to a couple of degrees per hour, we studied this splendid mood of storm-king amid the ice-palaces of the dazzling north, and it is safe to say that no more sublime and inspiring scene was ever gazed upon by human eyes. One moment there was an ocean of mountain peaks as if congealed in the act of up- heaval, then quickly subsiding, vast plains or quiet valleys lay spread out in ravish- ing beauty, but soon rent by fathomless chasms, then all the above combined in splendid and endless variety and finally tossing in billows covered with whitecaps as the ocean whipped by fierce winds. Swelling in tumultuous splendor this wide-flung paralysis of the northland rolled on. But behold! Its face has changed expression. Here and there it is shot thru with glory. Electric waves submerged yet ever stronger growing have created a sea of blood that soon gives way to crimson and gold. Stronger and stronger flows the electric tide until the submerged cur- 36 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP rents break above the surface, first in jets of fiery drops, then tongues of flame and finally in long, fine-spun fibrous-lightning like millions of gleaming lances flinging out over a universe God's wireless mes- sages of life and health, calm and storm. A signal service that falling now on mor- tals slow of heart and dull of comprehen- sion, awakens only idle curiosity, but some- time rightly interpreted, will warn of earthquake shock, volcanic upheaval, cy- clones, monsoons and tidal waves, to the end that famines and pestilences be for- ever expunged from the catalog of human affairs and of this earth it may be said, as before sin fell upon it, "all is good and very good. ' ' Like a sea of sunshine this electric flood swept on in marvelous transformation, lighting up league on league of this bound- less ocean of spotless white, and flashing upward, illuminated with matchless glow the sapphire vault above us. Instinctively each to the other looked, knowing by sudden consciousness upon our spirits borne that we were in the midst of the Aurora Borealis that grandest of TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 37 all natural phenomena God's illumina- tion of a hemisphere. How mighty, how majestic, and how mysterious are nature's works! When the air is calm, where sleep the stormy winds? In what chambers are they reposed in what dungeons confined? But when He who holds them in mighty leash is pleased to awaken their rage and throw open their prison doors they rush forth with irresis- tible might. The aerial flood pours itself over mountains, seas and continents till universal equilibrium of material forces is established, the books of God's natural laws are balanced and the universe rolls on in sublime and harmonious peace. We watch the clouds as they grow out of everywhere into the here, and call them storm-centers danger spots to be dreaded. Ah, no! They are God's scavengers of the skies gathering up the waste and poisons of the planet into great rubbish heaps, but gilded by His hand with a beauty more glorious than the incarnation of morning mists, till He shall see fit to set them on fire with electric currents that inspire our admiration. Washed, purified, vitalized, 38 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP the unbranded air returns to us each morn- ing bearing the freshness and balm of the wooded mountains the sweetness and fragrance of life and joy. Close students of geography have been impressed with the fact that in the western hemisphere the mountain ranges extend north and south, while in the eastern hemi- sphere the general direction is east and west. This striking difference was most clearly defined from our pathway among the clouds, also the barren steeps and tree- less wastes that hold back growth and progress in central eastern Europe and western Asia were clearly outlined as we shot out of the gates of this exposition of arctic wonders and were thrilled by sight of land, forests and streams. Far to the westward the domes and spires of St. Petersburg gleamed in the rays of the declining sun, while lake Baikal on the Siberian steeps already grew purple with the shades of approaching night. Far to the south and east rose the Ghauts and Himalayas, while the Alps, Pyrenees and Mediterranean were dimly outlined south- west. Beneath and between us and these TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 39 lay the east and west valleys and table- lands bathed in the saffron flood of the afterglow, a marvelous picture of peace- ful beauty, such as these happy valleys should know were tyranny, war and racial problems forever past. Glorious as the vision was, it soon gave way to a beauty and sublimity hitherto undreamed even in our farthest-flung imaginations. Scarce had the afterglow faded and darkness settled when the moon at its full flung its soft radiance over Asia and Europe, and we were sailing on and on as thru an eternal calm of illumined clouds and cloudless azure till this goddess of the Ancients hanging high in the heavenly blue proclaimed the midnight hour and the "NEW ERA" anchored in the vale of Esdraelon that battle-field of the nations (future as well as past) and the ARMA- GEDDON* of a world was flamed across the horizon of our dreams. *Note See Afterglow. THIRD DAY. Jerusalem to Pretoria. Sunrising found us twenty-five hundred fathoms above the plain, all Europe bathed in crimson and gold resistless waves of sunshine speeding across Asia as if breaking in surges of color from the Yellow Sea while Africa was a dimpling ocean of emerald and the Indian Ocean appeared one flaming sheet of molten gold. To the north and west like stately ships anchored in spacious harbors, great, fleecy cloud-islands floated back and forth im- pelled by the soft lapping waves of an atmospheric sea. While above us and beyond the influence of the earth's motion upon its axis the trade winds and ajl sur- face disturbances the grain of the ever- stable ether and elemental gases shown in vertical prisms like rainbow-pillars of some grand cathedral or temple of the spirits of the air. Whether this remarkable demonstration of the higher regions should be accredited TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 41 to the horizontal sun-rays of the early morning, or was caused by a congestion of color values due to the presence or absence of humidity or was but the fore-gleams of a terrible and tremendous storm (thru which we sailed some hours later) we could not determine; tho probably the latter, as indicated by the presence of "False-Suns" and "Halo-Rings" often preceding storms. For a short time we paused above Jeru- salem, musing on departed greatness, longing for a vision of future glories. 1 ' 0, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that kil- lest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often I would have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Behold your house is left unto you desolate. ' ' For two thousand years the flood of thy sorrow hath not been assuaged, nor the tides of thy unbelief abated. The shame of thy deso- lation is known of all men. Fear not. Thou shalt be redeemed. Where art achieved her proudest monu- ment and poetry found her sublimest theme of song, immortality and eternal life shall 42 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP be brot to light and thy glory be greater than in former centuries. Turning sharply westward we sailed above the great sea till the delta of the Nile was reached, when once more our ves- sel was headed southward and the Dark Continent was ours to view. The SAHARA, wind-swept, appeared a yellow haze, but the valley of the Nilus Granary of the nations and Mother of civi- lization shown luxuriant with abundant harvests. The SPHINX looked calmly over the valley, even as she has looked for six thousand slow revolving years of his- tory, the embodiment of self-control and peace, an expression of antediluvian con- ception of two sublime attributes of the ever-living God. Africa, Africa! Thou birthplace of civilization, home of ART and GENIUS. When shall thy greatness be renewed, the wands of thy superstitions be shattered, thy darkness dispelled, thy matchless waterways and inland seas be opened to commerce and thy impetuous, emotional people disenthralled, and their chains of slavery broken? When shall thy diamond TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 43 reefs, golden dykes, and primeval forests, yield streams of plenty and peace for thine own people and thou once more take thy place in the activities of a WORLD-LIFE? Surely thy second BIRTH must be close at hand. Verily, thou hast slumbered long, but the DAY of OPPORTUNITY for thee cannot be forever past. Nations shall yet rise up and call thee blessed, and gener- ations yet unborn shall worship in the temples of thy greatness, drink from thy fountains of refinement and culture and learn statecraft and self-control in thy schools of WISDOM. Magnificent beyond description, easily outranking all other landscapes for scenic beauty, the upper valley of the Nile occu- pies a place solitary and above all others. Tanganyika, Albert and Victoria Nyanza, the Congo Basin, and then illimitable storm-clouds heaven-high rolled across our southern horizon. Occasional rifts in the clouds revealed unrivaled landscapes, but most of the time the "NEW ERA" rolled and plunged thru watery wastes now black as a soul's dishonor, now gleaming with scrolls and tongues of flame as electric cur- 44 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP rents blazed pathways thru dark vapors and thick clouds. Even as we had witnessed the strength and fury of the earth's elemental forces in the polar regions, so today we were to experience the full and perfect might of an equatorial storm working out its gas- eous equations in cloud-pavilions above the DARK CONTINENT. From the chariots of morning whirl- winds flung themselves into the conflict, while upon the hurricane decks of a con- tinent the oilskins of space were drenched with foam. CLOUD-SAILS ripped from the masts of some dismantled planet hung as tattered awnings over vast vaporous plains, where electric batteries thundered in spirit-battle. 'Twas a day of gloom and dread to all on board. How long would the storm last? Could the "NEW ERA" outride the fury of elemental forces? Pestilential vapors and poisonous gases threatened life itself. Caught in vacuum-flues the noble vessel descended almost to the tree tops. Grip- ped in the upward rush of expanding gases she shot upward thousands of feet TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 45 into regions of intense cold or scorching heat. Surely we were learning something of the fundamental forces with which this old world has to contend in its progress around the sun. Fortunately the steering apparatus suf- fered no damage and the storm-zone was crossed ere night had fallen and in com- paratively fair weather we proceeded to Cape Town, where we anchored in safety, glad that the glories, wonders and dangers of a voyage thru an African equatorial storm were forever past. And yet this matchless day must ever remain in mem- ory as a splendid symbol of that glorious time when the souls of men loosed from the moorings of earth shall sail the broad Pacific of eternity with their God. FOURTH DAY. Pretoria, Africa, to South Pole. The gaseous cataclysm of the previous day having restored the equilibrium of the atmospheric world, morning broke over southern seas in wondrous and well-nigh perfect tranquility. Soft lapping tides and gentle swells proclaimed the mighty deep free from contending forces, and the glassy surface stretched away in unbroken beauty. PEACE, white-winged, brooded over this vast realm of the unknown. Shadowy, intangible creations of the imag- ination were the only beings that had ever explored its fartherest mysteries, but, ' ' Full well we know that fair and bright, Far beyond human ken or dream, Too glorious for our feeble sight, Thy skies of cloudless azure beam.' Human souls must ever seem timid in the presence of the infinite and eternal and all our spirits throbbed in minor strains as the "NEW ERA" swung grandly into TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 47 space, cut loose from the known and visi- ble, threw out her challenge to elemental forces and began her voyage over seas unknown and continents strange. Sun- shine fell in unobstructed splendor every- where. No need to sound fog-horns or flash headlights now, for no other craft ever sailed these seas, save snowy clouds that dipped their white wings into the glit- tering foam of far-off curved horizons. Degree after degree of latitude dropped behind. The ship's chronometer marked twelve o'clock high noon before shad- owy outlines of the ANTARCTIC CONTI- NENT appeared. Dropping five hundred fathoms, but with undiminished speed, we proceeded till wide- spreading lowlands gave way to low- lying hills and sharp buttes, when sud- denly, to left and right, giant beacon lights* loomed, vast columns of smoke shot upward followed by sheets of flame that were quickly displaced by tremendous pil- lars of volcanic ashes. Fine dust filled the air for leagues in all directions, sulphurous smoke partially obscured the sun and a weird spectral light pervaded all space. *Note Mts. Erebus and Terror. 48 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP Combine the haze of Indian Summer with the mists of winter, fling over it the soft languorous radiance of autumn days with the tonic and balm of springtime, and you will have the essence of this wonder- ful day. As the smoke mounted higher and higher, denser and denser, and was flung outward as from a central dome in great awnings, sunlight failed, the lurid gleam of sulphurous fires mingling with the finely powdered ashes took on the countenance of a sea of blood about and below us, while upward against the background of cloud- ing smoke appeared flashing scrolls as of molten metal whipped by mighty winds. This amazing spectacle continued for the space of half an hour. Then dull rumblings were heard, followed by a tremendous roar, and mud, stones and molten lava were thrown upward with irresistible force many hundreds of feet. Shortly all noise and tumult ceased, save the hiss of escap- ing steam, from the smaller volcano, the fiery mass in the larger crater subsided, dropping down, down hundreds of feet to a mere speck as seen from our telescopic TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 49 windows. But the calm lasted for only a few minutes and was followed by seem- ingly redoubled energy. A roar as of a thousand thunders combined rose with appalling vibration, the crater suddenly expanded causing great chasms in the rocky sides thru which great streams of white-hot lava flowed outward to the sea. This last terrific outburst was followed by a tremendous earthquake shock that set the hills trembling, rent the plains with mighty seams and flung the sea backward till vast plateaus hitherto submerged momentarily appeared, but were soon enveloped by the returning tidal-wave which seemed to permanently overflow all but the highest peaks of the entire conti- nent. Terrific tho the convulsions of nature had been, almost normal conditions pre- vailed in three hours, the smoke cleared away the last lingering rays of the sun fell over an unbroken sea, the fiery ser- pents of southern constellations gleamed in the azure vault of heaven and calm and holy night filled terrestrial space and held in thrall all earthly things. 50 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP Swiftly but quietly the "NEW ERA" sped on. Our hearts were awed and our voices hushed in contemplation of the majestic phenomena we had just witnessed. A new conception of OMNIPOTENCE was born in every life, and something of what this earth has passed thru the smelt- ing of its materials in the fierce fires turn- ing of the mighty lathe the rasping of the surface with floods and glaciers to fit it for the habitation of man dawned on our slow hearts and dimly we wondered, if such be the process of material things, what must be the might and splendor of that new heaven and earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, and the infinite and eternal glory of that after life in a PARADISE without a tempter, an inheritance incor- ruptible and undefiled, where life and light and love shall be triumphant forevermore and God be all in all. Planet earth holds no counterpart of the unutterable desolation of the physical con- ditions of the south pole regions. No open sea. No verdant land. Snow and ice hold sway over all. The solitude TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 51 of death is on every hand. Silence unutter- ably oppressive, appalling, commands all form and substance. No sounds save the adjustment of ice-crystals and the low wash of distant seas on far-away ice-bound coasts where bergs were quietly slipping from parent shores into waters that should carry them to a more hospitable clime. Sleep, we could not. An ever-increasing sense of exile of lostness bordering onto annihilation gripped soul and sense, filled brain and eye. That spectral sense of soli- tary confinement that drives criminals to insanity when placed in the death-cell, raced thru nerve and artery like electric currents in the muscles of a galvanized corpse. Flesh and blood could not long stand such tension, and gladder hour hearts of mortals will never know, than was ours when our noble vessel weighed anchor and flung herself a thing of life and power thru rainbow-mists and halo-clouds towards Patagonia's rock-bound coast. Tho eight thousand miles away, HOME was ours, by power of anticipation and wireless messages of the mind. 52 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP How marvelous is the mind of man! We are transported on shining seas of ecstacy at sight of a beautiful photograph, but gaze with common-place feelings upon the scenes of long past years or sublimest panorama of mountains, seas and conti- nents as transferred by human eyes to the canvas of memory. We contemplate with awe, and almost worship the genius that can engrave the Lord's Prayer upon a sil- ver quarter, but forget that upon the gray- matter of the brain God hath written the history of all ages past and traced in fade- less outline the matchless landscapes of youth, maturity and age upon sensitized- films that forever retain their lines and definition with power of absolute re-pro- duction when placed in the bath of mem- ory. FIFTH DAY. South Pole to Buenos Ayres. Mindful of our dangerous experience over arctic seas, we proceeded slowly and kept sharp lookout for strange phenomena, and had we not done so, we should have missed one of the most remarkable and momentous discoveries of our entire voy- age, Matchless theme for song or story a submerged continent, the "LOST ATLAN- TIS" has been located in various quar- ters of the globe by different writers, until, like the great American desert, this funda- mental factor in the world's development during bygone ages, had become a fugitive and vagabond with no permanent resi- dence, no settled run, and its very exist- ence was questioned. Some three degrees from the pole we noticed a peculiar expression on the coun- tenance of the mighty deep as of shallow water breaking over shoal-lands; also dis- covered that a vast area immediately 54 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP northward shown amber color as if re- flected from white sands. Our pilot brought the vessel to anchor, descended to within fifty fathoms of the water whence submerged forests of splen- did trees became visible. For league after league the submerged coast-line of this pre- historic continent was clearly defined by rocky bluffs, wooded heights or splendid lowlands. Many of the larger trees had fallen as if in the path of some fierce tor- nado, but many were standing, thru whose leafless branches washed the Antarctic sullen tide. Winding valleys once fertile and well watered by splendid rivers could be traced far inland, dotted with houses and frequent villages, all built of stone, quarries of which appeared in many places. Far inland and probably quite centrally located (tho we did not discover either east or west boundaries) arose magnificent ruins of a once populous and splendidly built capital city. Large areas of the resi- dence portions with regularly platted blocks and wide avenues still remain in almost perfect condition, but the business TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 55 blocks, most of which were evidently two and three-story buildings, were badly wrecked, almost certainly by earthquake, as great fissures still appeared in many places. The flat-tiled roofs, broad veran- das and spacious gardens of the residence portions indicated a love of outdoor life, as well as a comparatively mild climate, while the architectural beauty and variety spoke of refinement and thrift. Perhaps the most interesting feature of this incomparable ruin was a number of well preserved ships, with gaunt, spectral masts and shreds of tattered sail, anchored in the spacious harbor, the lake source of a navigable river. Their builders have vanished, but they remain, mute witnesses of former greatness with sodden hulls and decks washed white by ceaseless waves, telling with voiceless language of departed glory. But who can summon their dead crews to life? Unfurl their shredded sails or unloose them from their moorings for another voyage? Would that some power could translate their log-books, reprint the story of their voyages and tell of the car- goes they carried. 56 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP More interesting still would be the his- tory of this vanished race. How long ago did they live and whence came they? Were they the LOST TRIBES of ISRAEL thus doomed to utter extinction the an- cestors of the HYKSOS or shepherd dynasty that overthrew the Egyptian Pharaohs preceding the advent of Israel in Egypt the progenitors of the mongol race, the Incas, Aztecs or Mound-Builders or antedating all of these did they belong to that race once called the "SONS OF GOD" who, contracting marriages with the daughters of men introduced such wicked- ness into the world that God destroyed them with a flood that could not be abated? How little of the world's history we really know! And much of that is pre- served only in ruins. The overgrown hearthstones, crumbling walls, dismantled towers, broken columns, thwarted hopes and blasted dreams. Just a few fragments here and there and most of these are blood- stained and battle-scarred. The civilized nations stagger under THIRTY BIL- LIONS of WAR TAXES today and still we summon armies, build navies, TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 57 strengthen fortresses and prepare for one supreme world-struggle when once the forces of hate shall dethrone reason and gain the ascendant in the hearts of man- kind. How long, Lord, ere the nations shall comprehend the victories of PEACE and get far enough away from barbarism to appreciate the charm, dignity and glory of brotherly love; grow a race of statesmen with brains and hearts large enough to understand the PATRIOTISM of PEACE, and predicate world-power and greatness upon the proposition that ALL MEN are BROTHERS, and that each man's weal shall be every man's care; That it is higher statesmanship to prevent war than to plan magazines of destruction? With reluctant, sobered hearts we sailed away from this indestructible mausoleum of a race, pondering deeply many ques- tions, when, lo, that mysterious, intangi- ble, unexplainable thing hitherto known as the " MIR AGE of the DESERT" loomed on our northward horizon. The "NEW ERA'S" secretary has wit- nessed this remarkable creation many, 58 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP many times on the plains of northeastern Colorado, before that stretch of desolation was subjected to Irrigation's Dominion, when streams of living water broke forth in the desert, mighty lakes nestled among the sand hills and lapped their crystal waves on grassy wooded slopes, and magic cities appeared in the Lowlands, but noth- ing ever half so marvelous as this which now seemed to emerge from and brood over the southron sea. First came the white-fog in snowy scrolls and fantastic forms, rolling, twisting, turn- ing like a living thing, permanent but ever- changing towards evanescence like the gos- samer outlines of some half-forgotten dream; Then great steel-blue banded col- umns, surmounted by Alhambran arches, domes, turrets, minarets, bastions and cathedral spires in endless profusion were lifted into place by the viewless hands of gravitation. Now advancing, now receding, like the myriad changes of the starry constella- tions in the eternal minuet of the centuries, this unsubstantial creation of the atmo- sphere assumed form and beauty as glori- ous as the incarnation of the morning TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 59 mists; Rainbow tints hung in festoons from cornice and facade or flashed in halos from turrets and domes till cities reeled, houses became heaps, and all dissolving in the twinkling of an eye naught remained save the broad bosom of the unruffled shin- ing sea. Whether these matchless creations that enrapture beauty-loving eyes are caused by varying degrees of temperature and humidity, and the presence of some undis- covered element in the atmosphere, or are the negative outlines of prehistoric cities photographed upon nature's ether-films (as trees are sketched on photographic rocks) I do not know; but certainly it is worth a trip half way round the world to see one of these marvelous moving pic- tures produced by Nature's magic powers. At four o'clock P. M. the islands of Tier- ra-del-Fuego, the Straits of Magellan and the mainland of South America were sighted, and a shout of joy and thankful- ness arose from every throat. By sun- down we were anchored in the spacious harbor of Buenos Ayres, glad and happy that in one more day our voyaging would be o'er. SIXTH DAY. Buenos Ayres to New Orleans. Since ADAM first led his blushing EVE adown the rose-bordered pathways of EDEN, even to the still waters of Hidde- kel, no more beautiful scene was ever gazed upon by mortal eyes than the wide- flung Llanos and Pampas plains of Argen- tina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil when spring-time freshness clothes their mighty greens and adorns their sunny slopes. Lowing kine in peaceful valleys, wind- swept fields of wheat on breezy uplands. Grazing lands sufficient for the flocks and herds of a hemisphere; Wheat fields large enough to grow the breadstuffs of a world are here spread out in unbroken levels that bewilder the mind by reason of their large- ness. Somewhat of their vastness may be judged from the fact that the Trans-An- dean Argentine and Chile railroad now building has one stretch of track one hun- dred and seventy-five miles long, as TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 61 straight as a beam of light, and many sweeps of thirty miles without a curve. Upward, still upward, rose the "NEW ERA" till the great city blocks appeared as pawns and bishops on a giant chess- board, and the snowy crests of the Andes gleamed like immense mirrors westward, and Rio de Janeiro was visible on our forward port. In the realm of souls far on toward the steeps of the eternal hills lie breezy up- lands, well watered as a garden of delight, where mortals first feel the veiled intima- tions of their Immortality, autumn days filled with the harvests of achievement. What this stands for in the soul's world, South America is to the planet earth. No- where else such vast plains, such lofty mountain ranges, such magnificent forests, such tremendous waterfalls, such an abun- dance and variety of animal and vegetable life. This is God's CLEARING-HOUSE of the world's physical forces; The chem- ical laboratory whence are generated the gases necessary to sustain animal and vegetable life all over the earth; The navel of the planet where converge all the ele- 62 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP mental forces, and radiate all the streams of physical energy. From this inheritance, untouched, un- polluted and forever inviolable, flow the streams of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and carbon that are forever purifying and re- generating winds and waters, producing vegetation, neutralizing putrefaction and maintaining the permanency of the sea- sons. From this laboratory of nature, with converters of immeasurable capacity, gases are blown, vapors condensed, colors mixed, shades and tints in endless variety compounded, till the whole lower atmo- sphere, violent with deadly fumes and on the verge of self-destruction, is caught by the trade winds and borne to distant lands, where affinities coalescing conserve the vegetable and animal life of the world. Viewed from above, the grain and fibre of the atmospheric ocean furnished vast prisms for the refraction of sunlight, till from the mouth of the Amazon to the crest of the Andes and the Uruguay to the Ori- noco the rolling tides of a continent wide rainbow glowed and blazed in indescriba- ble splendor. TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 63 Like all the sunrise and sunset glories of a thousand ages past commingled and blended in harmonious proportions, this sublime landscape fell fresh from the hand of the great Limner, changeless forever- more. Six thousand slow revolving years of history record but little change. Some- how in the inscrutable wisdom of the In- finite these vast solitudes seem almost im- mune from the changeful touch of human- kind. For beasts and birds and creeping things this vast domain seems held in trust. Here the lower orders of creation must make their final stand against the en- croachment of the forces of destruction. "Summer and winter, day and night, cold and heat, seed-time and harvest, as long as the earth remains." Let flood and flame and famine do their worst, " Behind the dim unknown Standeth God within the shadows, keep- ing watch above His own/ The eternal years are His. The "Pearl of the Antilles," the flash- ing tides of the Carribean, and the Panama Canal, all in full view, make a splendid 64 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP picture as they lie framed by the coast-line of Central America, Mexico and the United States, but more wonderful and entrancing than any or all of these is a scene below, about and above us, never before looked upon by human eyes, The mightiest rivers of the globe flow in the ocean, the Japan Current and the Gulf Stream. The flow of all land streams combined could scarcely equal these. Born in the Indian Ocean and the Carribean Sea, they flow on forever; al- ways full, yet never overflowing their banks, these mighty arteries supply the waters that make the circulatory system of a universe. Out of these vast cauldrons ever brimming full by the fiat of the eter- nal God, land-locked and sun-heated, rise the mists and vapors that supply all the land streams as well as the equalizing currents which satisfy the compensation- escapement of the expansive heat of the tropics, and the congested cold of the poles. Without these, the frigid ZONES must be destroyed by eternal cold, the torrid ZONES consumed by endless burnings. From our thousand fathoms of altitude TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 65 we could clearly define the beginnings of this tremendous river, and its fountain head is in the Carribean Sea. Carefully scrutinized by the aid of our telescopic windows reinforced by the laws of light refraction, the tiny currents, ever larger growing, reaching out like root- fibres, but converging to a common point, the tributaries of this perennial stream could be seen gathering volume and mo- mentum until the vast flood becoming irre- sistible burst all barriers, and sweeping by the Floridan coast took up its splendid rush for the heights of Labrador, Green- land's promontories and Europe's wide- flung coast lines. How great the influence upon European climate, vegetation, animal life and rain- fall of this majestic flood, has perhaps never been fully realized; But certain it is that southern California has had two or three serious droughts and consequent crop failures, in less than forty years, co-inci- dent with the time when from some un- known cause the Japan Current has been deflected northward to the Behring Sea, thus failing to distribute necessary vapors from the Golden Gate southward. 66 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP We speak with great swelling words of OUR harvests and OUR progress and development in material prosperity, but forget that if GOD should cancel or change the movements of ocean currents, or post- pone the engagements of winds and clouds, or revise the schedule of the sun as he marks the standard TIME for the seasons, that the sky would become brass and the earth as iron. That " Pestilence would walk in darkness and destruction waste at noonday. ' If such be the might, grandeur, power and influence of these ocean currents, how shall I tell of the marvelous counterpart of these in the atmospheric world above us? Speculative science (guessing at the un- known) tells us that the earth is enveloped in an ocean of atmosphere fifty miles high (just why fifty miles is made the limit is not made clear), and beyond that is an unknown SOMETHING, probably lumin- iferous Ether (or diluted moonshine?) which pervades limitless space; Also that the upper regions are absolutely cold and forever dark because there is nothing from which the sun can be reflected. As tho the TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 67 almighty power that created all things could not make a sunbeam luminous in itself. Why should it be thot a thing incredible that the power which could create a sun- beam could make that sunbeam generate light by some other process than refrac- tion? In all seriousness let the reader ask him- self, "Why not suppose the sun to be composed of RADIUM, or some other sub- stance possessing inherent luminous prop- erties? The truth is that many of the deductions of scientific research are mere guesswork, and the scientists themselves are not agreed on many propositions and conclusions that the Common Herd are asked to accept without question. Some years ago Professor Haeckel, of Germany, stood before the scholarship of the world as sponsor for the theory of " Spontaneous Generation." He declared that " ONE-CELL-LIFE" (from which all other living organisms were subsequently developed, or could be developed) had been generated in bygone ages in Protoplasm, or 68 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP mud, at the bottom of the sea, where abso- lute darkness must have reigned. Within the last five years another cele- brated German professor has gone on rec- ord as believing that LIFE may be pro- duced by means of rays of light generated by RADIUM. Which, if either, shall we believe? Who can give satisfactory information as to the causes that produced the PETRI- FIED FORESTS of Arizona? The only SANE CONCLUSION that we may reach is, that there have been and are today forces, powers and processes at work in the material world about us that cannot be accounted for on any theory except that there is a CREATIVE INTEL- LIGENCE, The CHRISTIAN GOD, behind all things. As a matter of fact the upper regions are not generally and permanently cold, as has been abundantly demonstrated by ther- mometers attached to balloons that have reached an altitude of seven or eight miles, where warmer temperatures have always been recorded. Liquid air is produced by a series of con- TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 69 tractions and expansions, but all the heat generated by earth, seas and sun flows upward by expansive power, and there is no known cause for contraction, since the cold atmosphere always seeks the lowest levels possible, and the cold of the polar regions is continually brooding low over land and sea as it sweeps on toward the equatorial furnace. But its movements are forever being modified by electrical currents which are constantly emanating from the earth and at right angles from any given point; Who has not noted the warm and cold waves of air along the* country road, even in winter time, with snow heavy all around? In Colorado warm winds rush down from the eternal snow and ice-fields of the conti- nental divide in February and March, melt- ing the snow of the plains, the ice of the streams, and pull the frost out of the ground. As already stated, the ocean currents are born in the Indian Ocean and Carribean Sea; and here, too, originate the trade winds, those atmospheric currents that con- 70 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP trol the winds and storms of planet earth. With movements constant as the law of Gravitation they flow on forever, tho mod- ified by mountain ranges. Nature's means of transportation for the vital forces that constitute the air we breathe, and bringing to us, it may be, the things that once consti- tuted the brain of a Cicero, or the muscles of Rome's fiercest gladiator. Not unto angels but unto MAN was sub- jected the inhabitable world about to be. All material forces conserve MAN'S inter- ests. The earth has a thousand magazines of power for which MAN alone holds the keys. A million implements of blessing are ready for MAN'S hands. Tho we catch the sound of almost universal wasting all about us, still the forces that work for LIFE are stronger than those that work for death, and an eternal RESURRECTION to new life is ever going on in the things that do appear. And more than this, MAN him- self is the masterpiece and crowning glory of all the visible universe. Surely, surely there awaits MAN a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 71 and MAN is destined to IMMORTALITY. "0 the depth of the riches both of the knowledge and wisdom of God! how un- searchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out." The Gulf of Mexico, one burnished sheet of living gold, lay smiling and beautiful, kissed into tranquil glory by the last lin- gering rays of the departing sun. Purple shadows climbed higher and higher along the broad plateaus and breezy uplands that terraced the blazing summits of the Cor- dillera. Far beyond their rugged majesty the broad Pacific flamed in incomparable grandeur, while cloud-continents swinging full and free in the upper air reflected the tremulous radiance of the AFTERGLOW upon the western sea. But dearer far than the afterglow, than voices of sea or land, are the lights that flash and gleam from the towers and domes of the Crescent City as the "NEW ERA" drops to quiet anchor in the land of HOME, sweet HOME. 72 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP Low-arched to earth the heavens bend, The wind-harps thrummed and soothed to rest; Shades of night with day's rich colors blend, The sun has marked a trail of glory in the west. God's hand hath set the evening star So low, it soon must pass from sight Beyond the purple hills; and ocean's bar Shall darkened be. 'Tis calm and holy night. Part II AFTERGLOW Desirous of visiting the wonders of Egypt alone, I left the hotel in Cairo shortly after four o'clock in the afternoon with my "Liquid Air Motorcycle " and rode for eight miles along the shaded road- way to the Great Pyramid. Leaving the wheel, I climbed the great pile, passed round to the other side, and, descending, walked over to the Sphinx to watch the effect of a sunset across Sahara. This done, I passed around to the eastern base of the Sphinx and reclined between the mighty paws to enjoy the beauty of the valley. Somewhat weary, I soon passed into quiet slumber. When I awoke the twilight had shaded into glorious moon- light. Reluctant to break the languorous spell of the matchless hour, I leaned against the rounded throat in the shadow of the wondrous face, musing of the past, ponder- ing the future, when the great lips seemed to move and a voice of marvelous richness did speak. 74 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP Listening, this I heard: THE VOICE OF THE SPHINX. Part First. "The dream of the centuries is realized; the great canal is done. Upon the bosom of the southern sea float the navies of the world, gathered in honor of the opening day. All nations have joined hands and treasuries in building the 'Olive Branch.' Wood and metals of all lands are wrought into her mighty hull. Her drawing rooms are enriched with jewels from every clime; from her masts stream the pennants of the world. Even now the tranquil tides of the Carribean and the wide-flung Pacific, mingling in the great canal, are flashing from her gleaming prow on the trial trip thro the heart of the 'Cordillera'. "In all lands of the Orient this day, June 1st, has been declared a gala-day and the people everywhere are in holiday attire with celebrations and merry-makings of various kinds. In South America univer- sal truce had been declared and Revolution- ists vied with Governmentals to do honor TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 75 to the glad day, In the United States; enthusiasm is boundless; Uncle Sam has for once laid aside his peculiarly patriotic garb and passed to the parade grounds clad in spotless white. Ineed, he had issued a proclamation requesting all citi- zens, everywhere, to clothe themselves on that day in whitened Ramie-Cloth em- blem of universal peace. Arnid booming of cannons and playing of bands, the people gathered by millions to listen to inspiring and congratulatory addresses. Horses and carriages, automobiles, railroad trains and trolley lines, water-craft and flying ma- chines, all, everywhere, were decked in crystal sprays, even Nature herself appear- ing in robes fit for the Ascension morning. Yes, the Panama Canal is done. Her gate- ways wide-open flung invites the commerce of the nations. "The 'Cape to Cairo' Railroad recently completed, has just issued Time Tables and Freight Rates. Double-tracked, rock-bal- lasted, equipped with electric engines, Pull- man, Observation and Hunting Cars, sched- uled to one hundred miles an hour thro grandest natural scenery as well as the 76 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP most wonderful achievements of man for six thousand years, a passage by her splendid ways is necesasry to the future happiness and prosperity of the race of mankind. "Leaving Cape Town, one soon will reach the scenes of Bloemfontein, where spectre hosts of Boer and Britain still struggle in spirit battle drop over the rocky Velt to Orange River and the Brake- man shouts 'Kimberley and the diamond fields.' Ten minutes and you are off again, along the hills that skirt the Belus valley, past Johannesburg, with visions of Cecil Rhodes and streams of gold, to Mafeking. Leaving Pretoria to the right with her memories of 'Oom Paul', you enter the four-hundred-mile avenue of mighty forests and tangled swamps that leads to Buluwayo of the Matebeleland and the chasm and falls of the Zambezi. Shoshone, Niagara, Zambezi, these three, and the greatest of these is Zambezi. Inspiring, majestic, approaching the sublime, this handiwork of God appeals to you as noth- ing else can. A full thousand yards in width and fathoms deep, this mighty river TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 77 drops more than a hundred feet sheer into the lava-cleft furrow, regains its splendid quiet and tranquilly flows away to the sea. Slowly, steadily, the train glides out upon the longest, highest bridge man ever built, till you seem simply suspended by view- less hands in mid air and a sickening feel- ing takes possession of you as you think what a moment of time may mean to you. "Now, for the heart of the Dark Conti- nent. Thundering across plateaus, swing- ing around mountains whose bases are clothed in tropical verdure and their sum- mits white with eternal snow, sweeping thro beautiful parks, towering forests or winding slopes of magnificent waterways to Tanganyika, where an ocean liner awaits to carry you three hundred and fifty miles across the tranquil deeps of this inland tropical sea. Shades of Nim- rod! Surely the Happy Hunting Grounds of the Great Spirit are not far away, for a few hours in these mountain solitudes means Lion, Tiger, Behemoth, Elephant, Rhinoceros and Giraffe. Sweet dreams are these on a moonlit sea, but you are at the landing place, and 'The Ostrich Plume 78 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP Limited' is waiting to carry you on, and on, past Albert, Edward and Victoria Nyanza, the fountains of the Bahr-el- Azrek, Fashoda, Khartoom and the Six Cataracts of the Nilus Flood to Assouan, the longest dam, the largest artificial lake in the world and the greatest irrigation scheme ever planned, to Diospolis-Magna, Luxor, the Terrestrial home of Jupiter Ammon, Biban- el-Meluk with her broken sculpture, crumb- ling temples and six thousand years of history. Karnak's wondrous facade and spacious halls still smiles a welcome, but Twenty Stadium North and West the granite cliffs of the Hekatompylos, deep gashed and thunder riven, beckon, and Cairo with her Lotus-eaters and compara- tive study of humankind is near. Adown the banks of the Nilus. What memories stir the blood slow pulsing thro mine arter- ies! Israel and the land of Goshen; Moses and Amense; the Pillar of Fire and the First-Born slain; the Pyramids and Pharaoh, Alexandria, Cleopatra, Caesar and Antony. Behold a star is gleaming! Yes, the Ptolemys light-house, Colossus of Rhodes, has fallen, but a Radium globe has TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 79 taken its place and you are at your jour- ney's end. "The way of the Euphrates has been dried up that the way of the kings of the East might be prepared and already the iron horse is neighing across the Arabian sands and Mesopotamian hills from the Persian gulf to Jerusalem, where art achieved her proudest monument and poetry found her sublimest theme of song. "A line from St. Petersburg to Beyrut has cleft the Caucasus and already rations for a mighty army are being stored in the Cedars of Libanus. "Once more the forces of hate and de- struction are converging in Palestine; again the Spirit of War is brooding over the Plain of Esdraelon that battlefield of ancient nations. From Carmel to Mt. Gil- boa; from Tabor to the Hills of Asher shall the lines extend, till, reeking with human blood, Kishon again runs crimson to the sea. "THE DAY OF WRATH IS AT HAND." PART SECOND. Armageddon. " Peace negotiations are broken. Diplo- macy is at an end. The arbitrament of war is on. The nations of the world stand aghast. Yet for this hour all have been preparing. The standing armies, battle- ships and armored cruisers what else could all this artillery of destruction mean? Martial music girdles the earth and fills the sky. From near and far the clans are gathering. The savagery in man is once more in the ascendant and must find ex- pression in one supreme effort. The world's Armageddon is on. 'For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be fam- ines and pestilences and earthquakes in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.' Verily, I say unto you this nation (the Hebrews) shall not pass (from power) till all these things be fulfilled. The chronometer of the universe is strik- TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 81 ing Twelve: THE HOUR OF THE JEW HAS COME. "Intoxicated by her triumph over Rus- sia, Japan has inspired the people of Asia to demand in international diplomatic circles a recognition of the Monroe Doc- trine as applied to Asiatics. This granted, emissaries of the Sunrise Kingdom have easily stirred the people of the Philippines and Hindostan to demand absolute self- government, also China to inaugurate a commercial war upon the United States on account of the harshness of her Chinese exclusion laws and also to insist that Chi- nese be admitted to equal privileges with European nations whose people desire to emigrate to America, while Islam and Buddha's millions have risen in one heroic, half -frenzied effort to force back the tide of the Nazarine's teaching. France and Germany, forgetting old troubles on account of the common danger Mongol invasion have joined hands with Russia in a final attempt to crush Japan, while Italy and Turkey have sep- arated on religious grounds. "Thus the summer of 191 found the 82 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP armies of the world concentrating their engines of slaughter on the old battle field of nations the plains of Megiddo. Ex- tending from Mt. Carmel to Gilboa were the trained legions of the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Austria and England, twenty millions in battle array, while northward from left to right, China, Turkey, Japan and India had thirty millions of stalwart defenders ranged along the Hills of Asher to Mt. Tabor. Defences of stone and earth reached the entire distance from the Great Sea to Jor- dan valley and a half million cannon of every range and calibre were massed in batteries on either side. "As the sun rose over the heights of Gilead on the morn of Sept. 1st, 191 , five hundred thousand brazen throats spoke in tones of death from Carmel to Gilboa. The hosts of Buddha, Mohammed and Confucius responded with equal power and for four murderous hours the air was full of shrieking shot, hurtling shell and bursting bombs. Suddenly the hills of Asher became silent, the smoke of battle lifted, and down the slopes and across the TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 83 valley swept a million men with guns gleaming and banners flying, while fierce battle-cries rent the air and the earth trembled beneath their splendid tread. The infuriated hosts of Islam and Buddha with their red caps and shining bayonets seemed a river of blood mingled with fire cleft in twain by the saffron plumes of the Mongol horde. Up the slopes they come. They are met by sheeted flame cannon balls mow great swaths thro their ranks, leaden hail smites them down in windrows electric wires, blazing from mighty dyna- mos, scorch and wither thousands under- ground nitro-glycerine magazines explod- ing creates havoc for a moment, but nof nearthly power can stop this human tide; higher and still yet higher it rolls, over the breastworks they go and swords flash blood-red in hand-to-hand conflict. The roar of artillery has ceased; friend and foe mingle in personal combat. 'Tis a strug- gle for self-preservation. The chug of bayonet and swish of sword, rush of charge and dying groans extends over hill and vale till the sun dips in the crimson tide of the great sea and night shuts out that aw- 84 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP ful scene. Slowly, sullenly, the Oriental warriors recross the Kishon, but they leave behind on those blood-stained heights one hundred thousand, lovers, husbands, fath- ers, silent in the embrace of death. Hoping for confusion and disorder that might change to panic, sunrise of the second witnessed seven hundred and fifty thou- sand Anglo-Saxons hurled like a human avalanche across the plain. The attempt was futile. All day long the battle ebbed and flowed, a mighty sea of death wherein valor and patriotism availeth not. Plainly it was a war of extermination, or universal peace; neither side could surrender; all should not die. "The genius of destruction seemed to have entered this maelstrom of hell. To the awful carnage of deadly strife was added the horrors of Asiatic cholera on the one side and a scourge of black death on the other, and all aggravated by the hot- test September Syria shall ever know. "Driven to desperation by the intoler- able stench of decaying bodies, the twen- tieth day saw cessation of hostilities, to bury the slain; over a million were laid in TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 85 unknown graves, but with reason de- throned and hate still in the ascendant on the morrow the struggle was on again. " Certain it was, at Home, desire for peace on some terms was gaining ground. The absolute and utter crime of war was growing plain to all nations. " Enervated by the intense heat, blinded by dust of the swirl and hurricane of charge and counter-charge, side by side with the dead putrefying in the trenches, the flower and manhood of the allied forces, day after day, week after week, resisted the onslaught of the seemingly ever in- creasings hosts of fanaticism and religious maniacs, who fought like furies rather than men, and revelled in destruction like fiends incarnate. "So passed September's thirty leagues of time, and October's golden scroll began. A crescent of fire the moon hung in the sap- phire vault where worlds are born, stars cradled and suns are wrapped in swad- dling bands of fire. Meanwhile the sinews of war are gathered up by the sons of Abra- ham, and not a dollar on stocks or bonds could any government borrow with which 86 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP to prosecute the conflict. Like Hagar in the desert, the armies in the field seemed on the verge of famine when the sun of October ninth dipt into the western sea, leaving a trail of amber light that hung like a golden mist over the hills of Pales- tine while the contending armies were awed into a truce by an unnatural calm as often precedes some great calamity about to overtake the world's material forces. Are the laws of gravitation about to be sus- pended. Light and heat withdrawn? Consternation appeared on every face. Every heart trembled on the verge of panic. At nine P. M. the moon was gone the plain of Esdraelon was silent as a tomb. When lo! a cohort of mailed war- riors in forms of lambent flame swept down the valley, Saul (Israel's first king) in the lead. Benhadad and the Syrian horsemen soon followed, and then appeared in mar- tial array the hosts of Joshua and Gideon, the Philistines and Samson, Goliath and Israel's poet king, the vassals of Persia and Egypt's heroes, Sennacherib and the ANGEL OF THE LORD, Tamerlane, Tancred, Richard of the Lion Heart, Sala- TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 87 din and the Crusaders. In sublime and en- trancing pantomine the battles of the ages past were reproduced the spear and shield, battle-axe and sword, fiery chargers and swift footmen, kings, princes and prophets, one marvelous vision of the eternal failure of war and forces of hate to solve the earthly problems of the Offspring of God. "As the fiery squadrons wheeled into spirit battle, now advancing, now retreat- ing, a sickening sense of the awfulness of war was borne in upon the reason and con- science of the mighty armies of flesh and blood witnessing the God-revealed phe- nomena of the midnight hour upon the accursed plain. "With the first streaking of dawn of October 10th, the vision passed. The im- pression indelible forever, remained. "As the sun broke across the Galilean hills a strain of wondrous music swelled along the plain from Carmers heights to Jordan's flashing tide. As the echoes, faint from farthest distance borne, ceased, a tremendous blast of bugles rent the air, and changing, a mighty voice became, from 88 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP out of the EVERYWHERE into the HERE, slowly, grandly saying, 'PRO- CLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT THE LAND TO ALL THE INHABITANTS THEREOF! THE YEAR OF JUBILEE HAS COME!' "Thrilled forty million hearts! A uni- versal shout of 'PEACE' arose till the hills seemed to reel and tremble as with an earthquake shock; Rabbi Ben Israel rode slowly adown the valley with a magnificent banner of pure white borne proudly aloft, inscribed with one word, 'PEACE' in letters of gleaming gold, that waved and tossed, a thing of life in the tranquil atmo- sphere as if by fitful breezes borne. "The first to join him was the com- mander of the American forces, bearing aloft the Stars and Stripes, but above them streamed a pennant of white. England, Germany, France, Russia, Austria and Italy, all with white above, flags below, soon followed, and were quickly met by Japanese and the Hindostan, Ottoman Crescent and Cross, and the fiery dragons of SHIH-PA-SANG, all, all beneath the streamers of shimmering white. TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 89 "A proclamation of UNIVERSAL AND EVERLASTING PEACE was immediately signed by representatives of every nation, dispatched to Beyrut, cabled to every seat of government, ratified and spread abroad in every land. "The SPIRIT of everlasting LOVE has come to reign f orevermore. ' ' PART THIRD. Progress. "Five years have passed into eternity. Years of absolute peace and world-wide prosperity. National debts everywhere have been paid in full, a spirit of brother- hood and universal good-will is abroad in every land. The navies of the nations converted into merchant marine are busy with the commerce of the world. Receipts of the Panama Canal alone have been suf- ficient to satisfy every national obligation of the Americas, while the millions hereto- fore expended upon the army and navy have been invested in highways of com- fort and free telephone lines for every Home. That bane of country life iso- lation removed, the congested population of the cities flowed out upon the farms, and wages rose in mills and factories, shops and stores, till the family income warran- ted setting the children free; and the Red Cross Society is being recognized in such a way as to provide homes and education for every child of misfortune. TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 91 "The reduction of taxes alone in Ori- ental lands has warranted the opening at public expense, Chautauquas and public libraries in every community; also pleasure parks with magnificent art galleries and pavilions where trained orchestras dis- course matchless music every evening of the year. So pronounced has been the favor of the people for these better things that beer-gardens and wine rooms have been abolished from want of human beings who would waste their lives in everlasting shame. "The Spirit of Universal Justice en- throned in a majority of lives, Hope gilds every face, and ignorance and superstition, children of hate and fear, have given place to knowledge and wisdom. Business has come to mean friendship, and government the highest exponent of love: That mael- strom of destruction for manhood and bot- tomless pit for money, the Standing Army, has become a fountain of blessing, produc- tive energy, in every realm of human de- sire, and the face of planet Earth is fast becoming a garden of Delight, A paradise 92 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP without a tempter, an inheritance without a stain. "By means of underground waterways the Nilus is fast converting the Great Des- ert into an empire of material splendor that shall call forth the admiration of the world and SAHARA shall yet become the HOME of a self-reliant and happy people, the ages-oppressed-long-suffering sons of Ham. "By universal consent and the everlast- ing laws of Truth and Right, Palestine belongs to ISRAEL. Gathered there ere long shall be the splendid remnant of that mighty people who have wrought the per- petual miracle of maintaing their per- sonal identity, customs, laws, govern- ments and heroic virtues without a coun- try, without a Home, thro Two Thousand years of unflagging persecution, wherein Millions have suffered wanton cruelties and violent martyrdom, unprovoked, yet thro all have ever led in the far-flung battle- line of progress, gracing every age, enrich- ing every land, inspiring all people with the very Genius of unsullied and unfad- ing greatness. Call the Roll ol earth's greatest in every realm! Summon the TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 93 dead to life from Mesopotamia westward thro Three Hundred and Sixty Degrees of terrestrial Longitude! Round the Cape of Good Hope in every worthy achievement! bcour the broad Pacific of Time even to the Golden Gate of Eternity, Statecraft, Poesy, Music, Art, Finance, Moses, David, Raphael, Angelo, Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Rothschilds, Disraeli, and fathom if you can the vision of Jehovah's promise 'I will bless thee and make thee a blessing/ " " Vigorous from the loom of suffering with infinite patience borne, the King to his own has come. " Oh Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Streams of honor and blessing shall yet flow from thy gates to Mount and sea in every land. "In the Pyrenees, Alps, Ural, Caucasus, Himalayas, Ghauts and Altai mountains unmeasurable water power has been devel- oped, and electric car lines extend all over Europe and Asia, with the result that dia- lects and tribal relations have been broken down, and social and business intercourse unrestricted makes for mutual apprecia- tion and respect, and the vast multitudes 94 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP that have lived in hopelessness and desper- ation are fast exploring the wonders of the new worlds abounding on every hand at their very doors, while facile transporta- tion has banished famine, and what was worse, the fear of it. "In the Hindoo-Koosh Mountains hot springs abound, and following their under- ground channels vast beds of radium were found. Pyramids of this original source of Light and Heat (substance of the central Sun of our Universe) have been erected at frequent intervals across northern Europe and Asia, resulting in such a modification of temperature that these magnificent areas have become the most desirable agricul- tural regions, thus relieving the unpleas- ant conditions of the overcrowded popula- tions that have for centuries blocked the ways of moral and individual progress. "In the extremely cold portions of the earth liquid air factories have been estab- lished, and liquid air is piped to all equa- torial regions. These factories consist of steel flues one thousand feet high, with suction fans at the bottom. From thence the atmosphere, greatly reduced in temper- TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 95 ature, is forced through a series of vaults and pipes that alternately expand and com- press it till liquefaction is reached. Ozone, electricity and oxygen thus combined, have proved an absolute remedy for Tubercu- losis in every form, and the White-Death- Scourge is limited to the present genera- tion. "Thus shall be consummated earth's physical redemption, and all her forces and powers become subject to man's dominion to conserve the health, happiness and prog- ress of a race destined to ultimate perfec- tion. "PEACE, PATIENCE, LOVE! Un- conquered, unconquerable, immortal pow- ers! These three shall work their ways sublimely on to universal dominion and their victories shall be as enduring as the light of the fixed stars, their reign as glori- ous as the presence of the Infinite God in an eternal EDEN. "Six thousand slow revolving years have passed since I was born; Highest ex- pression of Humanity's loftiest Ideal wrought in enduring stone. I stand thro all ages for ABSOLUTE SELF-CONTROL 96 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP and EVERLASTING PEACE, Sublime attributes of the EVER-LIVING GOD." High in the heavens a golden ball by viewless hands of gravitation swung, the moon flooded the Earth with a splendid radiance, lighted the tranquil face with infinite charm and kissed the placid Nilus with unfading glory as the midnight hour returned me safe to Cairo. THE FRUITS OF PEACE. With the heresy of war expunged from the catalog of human affairs, all tides of mortal energy flowed in streams of blessing that wrought abundant prosperity in all material lines; but most pronounced was the leaven of progress in personal up- lift to mind, conscience and aspiration, which not simply renovated, but absolutely re-created the basis of character: Lofty purposes and holy ambitions possessed all thot and life: Unconquered mind and Freedom's holy flame blazed the ascending pathway for an exalted patriotism which expressed itself in an enthusiasm for the maintenance of government, her laws and ordinances. To live for one's country. To pre- serve and conserve the dignity and glory of highest citizenship became a pas- sion among the youth of the world. Every- where the reach and grasp of finer sensi- bilities and keener susceptibilities became apparent. Rapidly and permanently all the higher virtues were invested with the 98 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP charm of heroism. Courage was no longer considered as simply a physical trait, but entering the realm of TRUTH men dared to quit white-lying and legal trickery, abandoned diplomacy that sought to out- wit the other fellow (tho still employing splendid skill and finesse in every worthy enterprise) and standing in the open in- vited inspection of motive whether in busi- ness or politics. Both men and women came to see that moral excellence and per- sonal worth should be the standard of social rank, rather than wealth that too often flowed in streams of debasement. Out of this new interpretation of the so- cial order came a generation of children no longer hedged by artificials, not cut and plugged to size, but natural. The genius of each one developed under inspiration of highest motives and absolute freedom, the scope and field of educational attainment is infinitely widened. Not simply five, but scores of senses are manifested. Extraordinary powers physi- cal, musical, intuitive, hitherto regarded as GIFTS and their possessors as 11 FREAKS," are now known to be but TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 99 normal conditions for mankind and the creations of inventive genius necessary to satisfy the new conditions have led to un- limited fields for business and govern- mental effort. Instead of millions for battleships, gatling-guns and other magazines of de- struction, governments now appropriate millions for schools of INVENTION, where sons and daughters of a race of ever-increasing longevity reign as kings and queens in the realms of discovery or creative force, or serve as priests and priestesses in the temples of domestic hap- piness across whose thresholds no shadow of war or pestilence ever falls, for with right-thinking and living almost every form of disease and scourge has vanished from the earth. Relieved from the financial burdens of war, with the millions of men who com- posed standing armies returned to indus- trial pursuits and producing wealth instead of destroying it, the resources of nations have so tremendously increased that ample provision has been made for all unfortun- ates as well as criminals, the slums of cities 100 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP have been almost abated and poverty and crime have almost ceased to exist. With the reign of perennial peace came an appreciation of the real value of life, its range and register clearly defined gave new zest and wider interpretation of man- hood, an exalted MANHOOD that was more than surface polish, beyond esthetic culture, above all earthly rank partaking of divine permanency and greatness, as the standard of desire and hope of attainment. With no spirit of war, ghost of ven- geance, nor phantom of destruction racing thru heart and brain in the earth-life watches of the soul, all deformities of De- sire and Disposition (as well as of body) largely disappeared and a well-balanced self-controlled, beautiful race multiplied and replenished the earth and received for INHERITANCE, dominion over all mate- rial forces. Thus was consummated man's physical regeneration, ever-inspired and led on by "THE PRINCE of PEACE." CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES. My purpose holds To sail beyond the limit of seasons, And the pathways of all wandering stars, Till I reach the TREE of LIFE, In the midst of the GARDEN of HOPE, And eating thereof, live forevermore. How large the life in the GARDEN of HOPE ; How sweet the fruit of the TREE of LIFE ; How mighty the strength that surely can cope With the spirit of Shadow, Darkness and Strife. How matchless the vision of Growth and of Growing ; How sweet to the senses ; Oh the infinite span Of the healing and feeling and rapture of Knowing The mysteries and wonders and glories of MAN. "New occasions teach new duties; Time makes ancient good uncouth. We must upward still and onward Who would keep abreast of truth. 102 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP Lo! before us gleam her campfires; We ourselves must pilgrims be, Launch our Mayflower and steer boldly Thru the desperate winter sea, Nor attempt the future's portal With the past's blood-rusted key.' When the Bell of Destiny summons to the hereafter and the gray night of Time fades into the crimson of Eternity's morn, it will be found that most of our ills have been imaginary; that the calamity howler has been the worst foe of progress; the demagogue the most troublesome pest of the ages; the pessimist the most dangerous microbe that ever afflicted humanity. Ever since Pharaoh instructed the mid- wives of Egypt to strangle the male chil- dren of Israel, "Lest the Hebrews crowd us out of the land and we be homeless/' the exhaustion of the public lands has been a favorite cry of the political shepherds of every nation. And yet, viewed from the standpoint of bread-stuffs, the world today is larger and richer than ever before. Not to draw too fine a point, let it be roughly stated that from the Dakotas northward for a thousand miles stretch the TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 103 virgin soils of Canada and British Colum- bia, rich in all the elements of wheat-grow- ing and favorable to highest civilization. While the great Plains of Argentine Re- public, South America, could grow food- stuffs for all of Europe for centuries to come. As far back as '97, Siberia's frozen steeps produced three hundred thousand tons of potatoes, with possible capacity of millions, while her mines yielded in thirty years, half a billion of gold, and yet we think of her, and have been taught to think of her as a barren waste of snow and ice. To the above let there be added the mil- lions of acres being reclaimed by irrigation in America, Africa and India. Above all these place the fact of intense farming. With improved methods, five acres now produces more of the eatables of life than fifty acres did a few years ago. In fact, one enterprising American ad- vertises to show a comfortable living for a family from twenty hens and the rear end fragment of a city lot. That man ought to be hailed with the 104 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP ECLAT of a Columbus, receive a gold medal for meritorious services to his coun- try, be brevetted a Brigadier General in the realm of Finance, and have his name inscribed in the HALL of FAME by a grateful people. If a blessing is pronounced upon a man who causes two blades of grass to grow where only one grew before, how much more honor ought this genius to have who piles up heaps of dollars where nothing was visible before, and also adds to the gayety of nations and the entertainment of his neighbors by the songs of thoroughbred hens? "The world's supply of fuel is about burned out, and as for timber to build cities, there soon will not be enough left to grow sprouts sufficient to whip bad girls with." So shouts the demagogue and would-be statesman; and yet there are billions of feet of untouched forests in Oregon alone, while more millions of tons of coal are today within easy reach of railroads' trans- portation than was ever before known. The golden fringe of day dawning upon TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 105 the Dark Continent brings to view the emerald foliage of more timber than has been cut since Columbus discovered Amer- ica. Add to this all the underground oceans of crude petroleum whose mighty fountains are being touched by diamond drills all round the world, and the new processes for reinforced concrete and structural steel that engineers are daily offering to growing cities and begin to understand that this old world has not yet attained her prime. That the " barrel of meal has not wasted, the cruse of oil has not failed. ' ' With vision cleared and hope renewed, let us swing the TELESCOPE of PROG- RESS away from the slow ascending plains of material resources to the cloud- less peaks and unmeasured heights of that limitless realm of man's energy, progress and possibilities. The waste of all peoples in all lands in all centuries past in all other lines cannot equal, by any standard of measurement, the waste of war alone, namely MIL- LIONS OF HUMAN LIVES and still we cry out for increased armies and enlarged 106 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP navies. If we really mean business, let us be consistent. Administer the ordinances of PEACE to the affairs of nations and enforce them upon the conscience of mankind by the persuasions and visions of prosperity and real progress, and the conservation of the world's natural resources will assume a form and vigor that will enlarge the orbit of a world and cause the powers of dark- ness to sit up and take notice. HUMAN LIFE IS THE GREATEST NATURAL RESOURCE OF THE UNI- VERSE. But what has all this to do with airship squadrons hovering about the poles, sail- ing thru luminous pathways of comets, whose orbits and habits of flight are as yet undetermined or a summer outing trip to Mars? Simply this: Young people need to get a vision of largeness. Need to get out of the whirlpools and eddies of the current of time, away from the merry-go-round of scientific limitations, into the broad, swift-flowing channels of WISDOM that TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 107 break from the FOUNTAINS of INTEL- LIGENCE and CREATIVE POWER that direct winds and tides, sunshine and storms, and hold a universe in their grasp. Need to understand that next to GOD, Man is the largest and most wonderful being ever created. Need to know that as all fruits and fowls and animals and grasses and grain have been improved only by be- ing operated upon by a higher intelligence, even so Man himself can be improved only as directed and inspired by a higher intel- ligence. Need to get out of the guide lines of Lati- tude that have always limited man's prog- ress around the world to commercial lines and slow-changing seasons. Need to sail GOD'S Longitudinal world, where seasons change in an hour, and fauna, flora and climate, mark STANDARD TIME with the pendulum of epochs. Need to know that * ' There is a spirit in man and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding." Need to know that this old world is and always has been the object of creative watch-care and love. 108 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP Need to know that "The eternal God is our refuge and underneath are the Ever- lasting Arms." If this much has been learned from our trip around the world endways, we shall have made the greatest discovery possible to mankind and our reward is infinitely great. Dear young people: My song is ended; my story done. When your voyaging is over, your sailing past, may you rest on the shores of everlast- ing life Where living waters forever flow, Where trees of beauty and healing grow. VALE. TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 109 THE AFTERGLOW. The light falls softly over the hills, As in autumn days of the Long- Ago. The thrush's song by the woodland rills And the plaintive voice of the whippoorwills With memories sweet my being thrills And the tender light of the Afterglow Brings rest and peace; rest and peace. Forgetting age and its weight of pain, A boy again I roam the fields; The cow-bell's jingle I hear again Barefooted splash thru mud and rain Breathe fragrance-sweet of new-cut grain. Earth, sea and sky new beauty yields From worry and care, sweet release; sweet release. Sometime, somewhere in the Afterglow I shall pass the heights of time and place ; Where living waters forever flow Where trees of beauty and healing grow In the spirit-world I shall surely know The welcome smile of my Father's face; Be led in paths of peace; perfect PEACE. 110 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP Part III TWENTIETH CENTURY POEMS THE DESERT. There is a wondrous fascination in her wide- flung desolation, And a splendid nerve and courage that solitudes inspire. There is a fierce determination born of Hope's glad inspiration, With the light and life and gladness of Ambition's holy fire. She has days for languorous pleasure under skies of wondrous azure, She has crimson dawns, and sunsets that with richest saffron glow. She has every scenic treasure, beyond mortal pen to measure, When the sun has flamed her grizzled buttes agleaming white with snow. When the purple twilight changes into night across her ranges, And a soft and subtle radiance floods the earth and low arched sky, Stands she then in wondrous glory, matchless theme for song or story, Clothed in tranquil nameless splendor, most entrancing to the eye. TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 1 1 1 Over silent sagey washes flames the sign of gains and losses That allured the empire builders in the days of Forty-Nine, Silver-pro wed in days of olden, now they're copper-hued or golden, Ships of fortune, treasure laden, proudly swinging into line. She has matchless lights and shadows over vast but grassless meadows; She has prehistoric cities that with magic mirage grow; Also crystal lakes and fountains nestled in among the mountains, While adown her sun-baked washes streams of mighty volume flow. Till the soul is lost in wonder, fadeless scenes of phantom splendor She will surely bring you from the realms of legends bold; Facts and fancies she will render of romances strong but tender, That alone in voiceless language of the desert can be told. Land of legend and tradition, hopes renewed and high ambition, Land where men of largest genius for their souls true freedom found, Land of vague, mysterious longing, truth to other world belonging, Land where health and deepest wisdom doth forever more abound. 112 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP A DESERT RAIN. The rain was falling very fast, The wind blew fiercely down the wash; It pulled my tent stakes up at last And blew me out of bed, b'gosh. It swelled my apples nice and plump, To batter turned a sack of flour; I tell you, sirs, it made me hump To keep real sweet in that dark hour. I couldn't sleep a single wink For holding on to bed clothes tight, And if I wandered round I'd sink To knees in mud, on that fierce night. There is no loss 'thout some small gain: The storm that pushed my castle o'er Swept every rat past earthly pain, Not one was left beneath that floor. So now I live serene and blest, No rats to gnaw my sour-dough bread, Nor scamper 'cross my peaceful breast When I am snugly tucked in bed. TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 113 THE OLD PROSPECTOR. There's a man with pick and shovel Camped beside a granite spring; Every day he's panning gravel, Every day I hear him sing: "Struck it rich in Colorado, Guess I'll find some pay dirt here Then go home to wife and babies, Bring them joy and hope and cheer. "Staked a claim in Boise basin, Quicked a thousand many a day; Heard of better things in Klondike, Sold my claim and walked away; Lost my all on Chilkoot passes, Snowslide caught me, went dead broke; Since then life holds naught but ashes, All my finds go up in smoke.' Thus I heard this hero singing As I paused upon my way, And I feel his tribe is bringing Wealth of empire day by day; Founding states in quiet fashion, Building railroads o'er the plain, Quiet, patient, hopeful genius, Deserves to strike it rich again. Kindly heart, tho' hands are caloused, Streaks of gray his temples crown; Tho' he's broke (or mighty near it,) Don't you think he will lay down. 114 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP Ever cheerful, hopeful, buoyant, Still the time for him must come, When from out life's purple canyons He must hit the trail for home; Pack the burro, throw the diamond, Leave the sluice box far behind; Cache the shovel, horn and rocker, Bare his breast before the wind; Hark, the call from o'er the mountains, Speed thee toward the setting sun; Never fear, he'll reach life's fountains, For his work has been well done. Now he looks with hunger-longing, To a land not far away; To a home of peace and plenty, In the realms of endless day; To that land beyond the river, Where prospectors can't grow old, Where the hills are rich in silver And the streets are paved with gold. TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 115 HOW THE ALMIGHTY PAINTS. Morning. Storm-dark cloud 'gainst heaven's blue, Lightning-flash by thunder's roar attended Plains, meadows, woodland flushed with dew, Rainbow tints with bursts of sunshine blended. Night's curtain folded; Stars at rest, Orchestral airs of winds and waves in chorus, Flames streaks athwart the blushing east Morning, glorious morning streaming o'er us. Noon. Wealth of sunshine falling o'er the world, Illumines mountain, plain and cool retreat; Like quivering lances penciled rays are hurled, In color-surges o'er fields of wind swept wheat ; In cataracts it rolls, o'er fleecy films of clouds, Till vast creation thrills with life and power, And all the earth in matchless witching mood, Proclaims life's zenith in the noontide hour. Night. Low-arched to earth the heavens bend, The wind-harps thrummed and soothed to rest, The shades of night with days rich colors blend, The sun has marked a trail of glory in the west; God's hand hath set the evening star, So low it soon must pass from sight, Beyond the purple hills; and ocean's bar, Shall darkened be: 'tis calm and holy night. 116 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP MOTHER'S ROOM. Twas very small, a baby's nest, (Ten feet or less by seven) Yet large enough to hold earth's best, And all I think of heaven; Where Mother sewed and Mother cried, And all our tears of sorrow dried, With tender loving kisses. From out this room at morn we went, All girded for life's work or play, And here we always were content, To rest awhile at close of day; Its peace and calm our foosteps lured, And all our aches and pains were cured, By Mother's pats and kisses. Oh, blessed spot to memory dear, Oh, land of childhood's matchless dreams; Thy memory still my heart doth cheer, Still thru my soul thy glory streams; Where quickly cured was every grief, And mother's presence brought relief, With low sung lullabies and kisses. Oh, Mother dear, my heart doth yearn, To know thy voice and love again, And oft thru memory still I turn, To thy dear arms for ease from pain To have thine arms around me thrown And call me once again thine own, And bless my face with kisses. TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 1 1 7 God grant again that Mother's room, May be my habitation; When far beyond all clouds and gloom, Long past earth's strong vexation, Oh, lead me then to Mother's room, Beyond the clouds, beyond the tomb, My Mother's room in Heaven. I KNOW NOT. I know not when the chord shall break That binds thee to this world of Time; I know not when thy soul shall take Its flight for some serener clime; I know not when that other land Shall need the light thy presence gives, I know not when some angel band Shall bear thee where thy Saviour lives; But this I know, so sweet a life Must some day pass to heavenly plains, Must leave behind all pain and strife To live where God forever reigns. Must reach that fount from whence it draws The Light and Love that brightly shines, Through highest truth and holy laws That keeps and saves by power divine. Must breathe the air that angels know, Must live beside that splendid river Where trees of Life in beauty grow And live with God for aye and ever. 118 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP I'M LONGING FOR YOU. We have splendid mornings bright and fair,- With cloudless skies and tonic air, And scenic beauty everywhere, But oh, I'm longing for you. At sultry noon a dreamy spell, Whose languorous ease no words can tell, Comes o'er my soul, (I love it well), But still I'm longing for you. There are twilight hours of wondrous calm, That fall o'er mind and heart like balm, Or rhythm and flow of sacred psalm, But still I'm longing for you. There is work to do and plans to lay, There is cark and busy care all day, But still my thought will flee away, Dear heart, I'm longing for you. Foul or fair, by land or sea, Best or worst, whate'er it be, Counts for naugnt away from thee, Evermore, I'm longing for you. Your love makes bright each darkened way,- Your presence gladdens every day, I'm lonesome when from you I stay, Sweet wife, I'm longing for you. TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 119 THE CHILDREN'S BURDEN. Talk not to me of "men with hoes/ Nor of burdens on the white man lain; I come to speak of children's woes, To tell of nerve and mental strain, Of boys and girls in public school, Reduced to nervous wreck by rule, For seven thousand this way went, Whom to the schools were last year sent. At three to kindergarten sent, and when The tale of bricks is done, and papers Nicely folded, or perchance in mats Of various fashion formed, The race is on. To gain the prize no effort must be spared, Nor yet the paling cheek and muscles Flaccid grown, considered be ; for these, You know, to culture and refinement, The outward symbols are; While hollow eyes and headache speak Of mental poise; and discipline of Mind exalted high is more desired Than health and other common things. 1 ' Keep off the grass, ' ' nor yet, By quiet waters 'neath shade-trees run, Tomorrow is : examination must be borne In seven branches (written work) And less than ninety is disgrace. So hot and fevered is the brain, that Slumber tardy comes, and troubled with Mutterings ; broken is rest, and the heart, Robbed of its growing time, no longer Blood supplies for lunches cold; Indigestion lays its murderous hand On nerve and brain ; the end is nigh. 120 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 'Tis time to speak of (mysterious Providence), With choking voice, but the truth is, A false standard of education has Upon ambition's altar Another victim placed. And truly the sacrifice is whole Intellect alone remains: the spirit-soul Has never cultivated been ; The moral powers are undermined, Because to accident is left their development. No text book in all their realm; Ambition's holy fires are kindled, Not, save to light the way for brains; Farther on in college halls (that realm of myth) Is found the torch of reason, By whose flickering light, Faith, Is entombed in the grave-yard Of dead languages. Spectre hosts of heathen gods As sponsors stand, when doubt is born ; Wrapt in science clothes, (Those swaddling bands of hell) Into the business world they go, Cold and keen as the surgeon's knife; Their motto: "Every man a rogue Till honest proved." Everything is questioned, Money alone is the measure of success. On with the dance of death; be still About these dangers, speak not the truth, Lest you be pessimist in heart and will, Old fogy, out-of-date, uncouth. TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 121 DO IT NOW! 'Tis well to sing of a home on high, (But the world needs workers now). Of a palace home far beyond the sky, Of great things we '11 do by and by, But the world wants work done now. In conventions we oftimes enthuse, (The world needs work right now) Resolve all our powers we'll use, But many times neglect or refuse, To do our best just now. Come, lend a hand to the poor and weak, The world needs this work now; The broken hearts some kind words speak, And keep your own life sweet and meek, Do your best, do it now! Go help that soul out of sin and pain, This help is needed now ; Till it stands straight for truth again, In cold or heat, or snow, or rain, Do the best you can; work now. This day is the best day for you, The world is calling now, For God and man be strong and true, Be helpers many or be they few, Do your best, Oh, do it now ! 122 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP A WOMAN'S HEART. Go scour the earth and sweep the land; Go search the angels' quiet home, Go visit all the shining stars That gleam in Heaven's sapphire dome. Go bring the wealth of ages past, Earth's jewels rare, all works of Art, Bring all the songs of seraph choir, Then go and win a woman's heart. Go place them in a balance fine, All treasures gleaned from everywhere, The wealth of stars and seas and land, All works of art and jewels rare; Against them weigh a woman's heart, A heart of love to hold in thrall; You will find a Christian woman 's Love Will surely far outweigh them all. LOVE'S WIRELESS. It flashes from her sparkling eyes, I caught it from her finger-tips; It came (as lightning from the skies) When first I kissed her rosy lips. Love thrilled her song with tender strain ; Love glinted from her waving hair; By day by night, Love's sweet refrain Now breaks in music everywhere. TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 123 SPRING FEVER. I long for hills and leafy woods Where streams come tumbling down; I long to leave far, far behind The pavements hot and brown. I long to rest where nature sheds Dewdrops and fragrance sweet; To substitute the winding trail For trolley-crowded street. I long to hunt and fish and dream Where feathered songsters call; Where eagles rush and bob-cats scream Near thunderous waterfall. I long to leave all work behind; To take slow quiet ease From all restraint of any kind And do just as I please. 124 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP MY WISH FOR THEE. I would that today through woodland ways By the pools of a sparkling river Where autumn leaves a carpet weaves, That with shadows and sunlight quiver, You might slowly walk and quietly talk With the soul of your own soul's choosing, Or rest on the leas 'neath the stately trees, While soul held soul in a double musing. I would that for thee 'midst wild-flowers and trees, Forgotten all heartaches and sorrow The prophet of ways for thy life's autumn days Naught could picture but a sweeter tomorrow. Till a beauty and glow like the autumn days throw Over woodlands and swift flowing river Reflected should be in soul chosen by thee, And your soul should be mated forever. TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 125 OUR BOYS. Oh! Bless the boys! The baby boys, In long white skirts and dresses; With rosy cheeks and dimpled hands With curls and golden tresses. And bless the boys some later on In kilts and knickerbockers; They rode the dining chairs for steeds, Made railroad trains of rockers. Then bless the boys with bat and ball, With marbles, tops; with bows and arrows; When sick with croup with colic wild We trod with them life's narrows; And bless the boys when school days came, When first from home they started; Both glad and sad we watched them go. Our Babies had departed. Ah, no! They are our Babies still, Though near to manhood grown; Each day they draw around our hearts New ties before unknown. Each day we love them more and more; They bring our deepest joys; God keep them safe for earth and Heaven, Our own sweet darling boys. 126 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP WHERE DWELLEST THOU? In lowlands damp, with poisoned air, In canyons dark with mid-day gloom, Where prejudice and ignorance are, And blatant self fills all the room; On sunlit mesas bright and fair, On mountain heights with glory kist; Mid wonder scenes and tonic air, With rainbow-lights and halo-mist. Ye men and maidens answer now This question fair, Where dwellest Thou? In palace high or hovel low, In brown-stone front or cabin rude? It is not this that I would know, But o'er what truth thy heart doth brood. Does high born zeal and lofty plan Engage your mind and thrill your heart, Does cheer and help for every man Appeal to you as noblest art? To this, your aim and purpose vow, A matchless realm, where dwellest Thou. Up, onward now to highest things ; Drink deep the joy achievement brings; To all that's best now lend thy aid, For progress stand. Be not afraid; Unconquered mind and daring soul (If purpose true once gain control), TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 127 To seas unsailed, to lands unknown, Thou shalt attain and claim thine own. All lands, all realms before thee bow To homage pay. Where dwellest Thou. Thy path illumed by sacred fire Leads straight to land of Heart's Desire; Where charm and glory rule the days And every hour is glad with praise. Fill full thy life with noblest deeds; Thy Soul's best, give for human needs; Uplift, sustain, the rights of man, Build only Love on Wisdom's plan. Let all the world bring tribute now. A great soul dwells where dwellest Thou. 128 TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP THE HOMEWARD TRAIL. The homeward trail is calling, To the kiss and the sunny smile, Where peace and calm are falling, And living is worth the while; There's help in time of trouble, There's love that's deep and strong, A face that more than doubles My joys the whole day long. There's a something (can't define it) That races my being thru, (If I would I couldn't decline it), That comes along with you; That lifts me out of the present, That brings content and rest, That makes my way all pleasant, And every day most blest. There's something about you, darling, That's more than a " woman's way; 1 Rich as the song of a starling, On wing at the break of day, That inspires to noble endeavour, The pure, the good, the true, Thru days and years forever, I'm looking upward to you. Sometimes I catch the vision, Then it's off and away again, And my soul is left at tension, That is close akin to pain; TO THE POLES BY AIRSHIP 129 Then the lilt and rapturous glory, Of your sunny hazel eyes, As a sweet and happy story, Lifts me up to the skies. So the homeward trail keeps calling, My pulse beats wild and high, To my soul is this absence galling, As the days drag slowly by; So over the hills and mountains, To the ocean's shoreless blue, To the soul-inspiring fountains Of a love that is strong and true. Forever this call is coming, To the home in the unseen land, And ever my heart turns homing, Led by your loving hand; I long for the peace and quiet, Your presence brings to me, Your rocker with mine close by it, To rest, sweet rest, with thee. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Due two weeks after date. VB 13394 273586 ,f UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY