Life in a Thousand Worlds

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Mute World.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"I am neither."

"What then can you be?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"How soon shall we see you again?"

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

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

Brief.

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

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

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

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

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

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

JOURNALISM.

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

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

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

THEIR FOOTWEAR.

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

THEIR RAIMENT.

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

TRANSPORTATION.

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

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

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

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

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

PUBLIC HIGHWAYS.

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

In the world of Brief the state prescribes the manner of public highways and each citizen must contribute his share to their creation and maintenance.

These Briefites excel us in more than a score of ways. They are much purer in morals, more refined in manner, more harmonious in government, and unusually bright in mathematics. Very intricate and elaborate problems are solved by these people of a few years. They are inferior to us in a hundred ways. In the broad fields of manufacture and invention they lag a long distance in the rear. This is principally due to their lack of time.

RELIGIOUS LIFE.

The religious life of the people of Brief is, on an average, of a higher type than is found in our world. Their belief in immortality has run parallel with their existence as a people, and their devotion to their Creator is marked with unusual fervor.

Their Redeemer is worshiped quite separately from God, and with distinctive adorations. The name of their Redeemer, phonetically rendered, is Kerm-Cher. The most faithful translation of this word into our language would be God-affluence.

Kerm-Cher, or God-breath, appeared upon Brief full grown, and pronounced his benediction on the race, declaring his origin, and the purpose of his coming. Similar to Christ, he confirmed his identity by unanswerable miracles.

Many, however, disbelieved in Kerm-Cher, and held to the old axiomatic truths. Thus creeds were prevalent and they remain until now, only there is much less variety than is found amongst us.

Kerm-Cher set up a new reign, and accepted a temporal throne for a season. He finally announced that his ambassadorship would soon cease and that his followers would lose the throne of civil power, that they would be tested for a season in the valley of humiliation and by the fires of terrible persecution, and that they who would endure unto the end would be glorified.

These religious features are remarkably similar to the system under which the Christian religion of our globe is fostered.

The Life on Wings.

As I darted from world to world, I was not then fully conscious of the vast stretches of space that I had covered. No mortal nor angel tongue can even commence to describe the vastness of created things and the trackless oceans of space in which the ponderous suns and planets revolve.

According to the classification of our astronomers I next found myself in the constellation of Perseus, and was again convinced of the weakness of our most powerful telescopes, for I now saw thousands of immense stars, hitherto invisible to me. Not one of these stars is within a trillion miles of any other.

In this distant system of our universe I saw that the same plan of creation obtained. Around a majority of the stars a group of various sized worlds revolves. On many of these worlds human life abounds in endless degrees of development and in a countless variety of manifestations. I marveled anew as I saw the endlessness of the Infinite Mind, supporting not only the conscious life of this whole constellation, but also of all the constellations of our universe, and of all the universes scattered at large throughout the unending depths of space.

I paused at a star of variable magnitude in the Milky Way, but took only a passing glance at the physical wonders of this great sun, compared with which our own Sun is a mere pigmy. Onward I hastened to one of the larger worlds of this solar system which, for my convenience, I will call Swift.

Here new wonders opened wide to my view. Human beings, charmingly beautiful, moved over the face of the planet or on wings through the air at pleasure and with great ease. These creatures are about three-fourths of our size, and are most gracefully formed. Their whole physical appearance is more similar to a bird than to a human being of our Earth. They are relatively much lighter than we, and are covered with nothing akin to feathers.

If you were to see them standing in their erect posture and walking with man-like dignity, you would at once feel that they are the lords of the creation on their world, and so indeed they are.

These ethereal creatures have the loveliest eyes of any human beings I ever beheld in any world. They sparkle with the brilliancy of a diamond and move with the quickness of electricity. The head is small but symmetrical and all physical proportions are most harmoniously adapted even to a nicety that would be pleasing to the most refined tastes of our world.

At first I could not understand how these people of Swift could travel so conveniently in the air, for their wings are very small and the exertion when flying is very limited. But the lightness of the body, the heaviness of the air, and the unusual strength of the Swiftites, each conduces its share to the fortunate result.

In my thoughtlessness I envied these gifted people and wished that when I would return to my world, I could enjoy such privileges of flight. I soon checked this rising covetousness, and again contentment flung over me its white mantle.

The bodies of these Swiftites are covered by nature with a clean growth of soft, silken hair. They change their garments with the seasons, but at all times dress very sparingly and neatly. They are so easily clothed that all their apparel occasions them no more trouble than the more seasonable covering of the head gives to our women.

The average length of life is nearly four hundred years of our time. There are very few worlds in space where the general health of its inhabitants is as perfect as is found on this beautiful planet. There are but few doctors because there is but little demand for them. Those who are engaged are under government service, and all persons who are unfortunate enough to become ill receive at least all medicine and professional attention free.

We are quite an exceptional world in our medical system. In all my journey I saw comparatively only a few worlds that have the private system of medical treatment. Have we not noted the laboring husband bending at his toil for eight or ten hours to pay the physician who calls for a few minutes? In some cases this program is continued for weeks, until the honest toiler finds himself confronted with a doctor's bill and medicine bill to haunt him until the debt is either forgiven or paid at great sacrifice.

On the world of Swift and in the vast majority of civilized worlds in space, the community or government furnishes a salaried physician within reasonable reach of every home. The doctors of Swift are not expected to work night and day. They have shifts to divide the toil equally.

In architecture this distant planet excels us by far. I improved the opportunity and went to witness a magnificent temple of worship which has been in process of erection for over two hundred years. Any conceit that I previously had on account of the large structures of my own world quickly vanished at the sight of this imposing edifice. During my visit the winged workers were laboring on the upper stories and I watched them with great wonderment as they descended from the clouds to carry materials to the higher stories. Can you imagine the picture of workmen flying in all directions with tools, each one busily employed? It is promised that the present generation of employees will live to see the completion of this notable structure.

This vast building is the national religious center of the Swiftites. Each government has such a central station, and from it all temples of worship are controlled. Here the church and the state are yet married, and the state maintains its religious departments with careful scrutiny. The chief ambition of each government has always been to outshine the others in the glory and magnificence of its central temple which, of course, is fire proof and almost time proof.

One may wonder as he gazes upon this extensive structure why there are seventy thousand sleeping rooms and dining halls built after such extensive plans as to entertain, at one time, twenty-five thousand guests. All this is to accommodate the vast throngs that take their sacred pilgrimage once in a year under an arrangement by which one tenth of the able-bodied go each thirty-nine days, which corresponds to our month.

The most notable feature of this central temple is the main service room, built at fabulous cost and capable of accommodating one hundred thousand pilgrims at one time. The most costly sections of this one room are guarded night and day by armed government soldiers.

The religion of these Swiftites is of a very pure kind. The ministers of this national church are fully equipped before entering upon their office. The training schools for ministers attracted my closest attention. Fortunately, these people have no language complications as we have, so that a prospective minister can spend some of his time studying the Book of God's Revelation instead of spending a great portion of his training period in learning the languages in which the book had once been written.

A minister's training consists as much in voice culture and the many branches of elocution as it does in acquiring a correct knowledge of God. But in illustrative teaching Swift leads us by far. I was profitably entertained in the main temple as I listened to one of the famous orators discoursing to an audience of eighty thousand. Not only did his canary-like voice penetrate to all parts of the large room, but his objective illustrations clinched the truth remarkably well.

A series of special services is held at the close of each month. The most wonderful of all these exercises, or renditions, is called "The Mediator Service." This is one of the most spectacular and impressive exercises outside of Heaven. Even the famous Passion Play of Oberammergau (our world) with the less glorious exhibitions at Horitz and Selzach, all dwindle into insignificance compared with "The Mediator Service" on the world of Swift.

During my visit I witnessed the full program of this sublime rendition. The music was inexpressibly grand as rendered by the vested Mediator Choir. Naturally the Swiftites have sweet, bird-like voices. Can you conceive the effect of a triple choir of these human warblers all trained in perfect harmony and unison?

When you consider that nearly the whole population witnesses these special exhibitions at least once a year, you can the better understand why the spiritual condition of the people has reached a high very level.

I investigated the many interesting features of this inviting world and found that in some respects we are inferior to these human bird creatures, although in many other respects we are superior. Electricity is known in their world, but they have not yet harnessed it; hence they are ignorant of telegraphy and a long list of similar inventions which we enjoy.

In agriculture the Swiftites are ahead of us. They raise their crops with less labor relatively than we. All things considered it is easier to live on Swift than here.

Knowing that my time was limited, I decided to secure some nuggets of truth by a personal interview; so I concluded to appear to the wisest person on the planet, who was a woman of wonderful mental acquirements. In addition to her superior intellect she was also bewitchingly beautiful.

I waited for the best opportunity and came near to her as she was about to spread her wings for a morning flight from the beautiful summit near her summer home. Not wishing to cause her undue alarm, I at first spoke softly, remaining invisible and watching her rare eyes send their glances toward the palmy trees around me, as her wings were relaxing quietly at her side. She was positive of having heard a voice, and as she still further scanned the immediate surroundings I saw that perplexity was furrowing marks upon her face.

"Hast thou time to spend with a friend from another world?" I calmly inquired as I was still unseen by her.

She was nervously agitated, but being of strong fibre she quickly rallied with her answer, "Where art thou and who art thou?"

"I am on a peace mission from a far distant world," I quietly said as I slowly became visible to my audience of one.

Naturally she was alarmed at my appearance, and consequently I drew gradually farther and farther away until she gained more self-possession and turned interestingly toward me.

"Ah! how can you be a spirit without wings?" were her first unexpected words.

"But I am no spirit," I said assuringly.

"You cannot be otherwise," she insisted.

"Believe what you wish, we have no time for parley. I am delighted to visit your world and I desire, if possible, to have some mysteries solved. Can you help me?"

Plume, for that is the name I called her, was much unsettled. She scanned my form with wild curiosity and I feared that she would at once use her wings at their swiftest.

"Pray do not fly hence," I quickly urged. "I will never harm you, even though we could converse together forever. Believe me true, and rest your wings and heart in peace."

My words had some effect toward calming her mind and with more placid features she still looked at me half shrinkingly.

"Are you not happy that you have wings with which fly?" I continued, hoping to create a more natural familiarity.

"Happy? No more than for my feet, my ears, or my life," she answered in a more composed manner. "You say that you are from another world. Where can that be?" was her welcome query.

Then I pointed my finger in the direction of our world and remarked:

"If you could travel in that direction on swift wings day and night for a few millions of years, you would still be far, far away from the world where I live."

"And is that world inhabited by sensible creatures?"

"It is."

"But how could you have traversed so great a distance?"

"Never can I explain that mystery to you. Be content that I am here."

"Are you in the image of the other human creatures in that far away world?"

"In general they are all fashioned as I am."

"No one having wings?" she added with surprise.

"Not one."

"How can that be true?"

"Because we were made without them."

"And have you no way of moving through the air at pleasure?"

"Not without artificial machinery."

"Artificial machinery?" she repeated. "What can you mean by that?"

Of course they have no word for balloon or flying machine, and I found it difficult to describe the shape and explain the philosophy of these things. I did the best I could in her language, and after I had finished my description she for the first time smiled and said:

"That sort of a construction would be a fine thing for the indolents of our world who, through misuse or lack of use of their wings, have no more ability to fly."

This was interesting to me and I closely inquired as to the cause of this loss of the wing power. Plume grew more and more familiar in her address and in a long conversation told me of the many conditions that make people unfit to fly. I deduce from our conversation a few of these causes.

1. Simple neglect.

2. Gluttonous life.

3. Sensuality of a low and heavy life.

4. Pride. Some yield to a superstitious notion that it is honorable to make but little display of themselves, and allow their wings to be bound or partly clipped.

5. Certain kinds of sickness render the wing-chords inoperative.

I learned that altogether nearly one-half of the population are unable to fly. How my mind flew back to our own life as I was learning of these sad conditions. There is a sort of a life on wings in our world, although the wings are invisible. But on account of the low, mean lives so many are living, they never rise above the miasmic contagion of the sin and self level. These unseen wings are either paralyzed or clipped.

Plume now actually stepped toward me. What a graceful tread. She was indeed the most charming creature I had met outside of my own world. She seated herself near me on the rustic bend of a tree unlike any in our world and hurried her questions at me as if she realized that I would not tarry long. At length she gratefully said:

"I am beginning to believe that you are really a son of another world, or else I am reveling in a day dream."

"Happy am I that I can learn from you some of the truths after which I am seeking," was my evasive reply. "Tell me, Plume, something about your faith religiously."

"I worship the God who made all things and am hoping to live in the wider life after my mortal days are ended."

"Do you expect to meet, in that wider life, representatives from other worlds?"

"Ah! I have often thought that it might be so," she answered, as her face brightened in poetic fervor, and her eyes sparkled with seraphic luster.

"It shall all be so, and much more," I declared. "In that life you can fly without wings and mingle with the pure from the unnumbered worlds of space."

"What an incentive to a pure life," she quickly added.

"Talking of wings, do you object if I see more closely the cut and style of your wings? I never saw before a human creature possessing a pair."

After a moment's hesitancy she raised her right arm and with it the one wing unfolded. I ventured near enough to see the intricate network of muscle and bone woven around the arm and filling the space between the raised arm and the side of Plume's body. She was surprised at the interest I manifested in the human wing. After this she offered to furnish an able escort to conduct me to several points of interest.

All this I declined and informed my talented friend that I must hasten away to another world.

"Let me go with you," she strongly insisted.

"Your wings are not of the right kind," I replied hurriedly.

"They are strong enough to bear us both," were her inviting words.

"But not beyond the atmosphere of this world," I explained.

I quietly arose, scanned once more the beautiful valley before me, and indicated that I was about to wane into the invisible. Then did her womanly nature assert its supremacy and she, for the first time, touched my hand imploringly:

"Have I been dreaming, or do my eyes deceive me? How can all this be true? Your hand is sensible to my touch. I implore you to remain until I speak to you more about the sciences of your world."

In all my journey I never yielded to persuasion before. But somehow I consented to spend a season longer of most charming fellowship, talking of the elements in nature, their chemical affinities, and the laws of matter and mind. Plume was unusually bright in the philosophies, and I gathered from her many truths which had always before been hidden to me.

Finally I became rigid in my determination to leave, for I knew that I could not stay.

"Grant me one request," she begged.

"Let me hear it."

"Promise me that you will return."

"Impossible, impossible!"

The parting that followed was indeed memorable. Without any further notice I suddenly vanished, but still tarried invisibly in close proximity.

Plume was now left in deep bewilderment, and I could not even conjecture the details of her warring thoughts. Finally I saw that for which I had tarried. Plume lifted her wings and flew skyward as beautifully and gracefully as any bird of our earthly air.

Heaven.

After my ambition to visit one thousand worlds had been realised, and I was darting toward the confines of our own little Solar System, instinctively I looked out once more over the vast stretches of space. All around me, at amazing distances, loomed up the millions of spheres which I had not visited by reason of my limited time. I felt like some one who, after gaining his first thousand dollars, has a wild craving to accumulate ten or one hundred thousand more.

Still I scanned the heavens while deeper longings pervaded my soul. While in this mood the most unusual vision flashed upon my eyes. Suddenly I forgot whither I was going and in wild astonishment I drank in the first view of Heaven. Inwardly I marveled that I had not seen at least a part of it before.

Heaven is fashioned on a transcendently large scale. It is not a single sphere, but a universal chain of vast and luminous star-groups, scattered harmoniously throughout the infinite regions of space, so that a part of it lies suspended preciously near to our own Solar System. Heaven is more real and substantial than the suns and planets of the universe, although not one of its numberless parts can be detected by the human eye, or discerned through a telescope. These luminous orbs that constitute Heaven control the movements of the planets, suns and systems which we call material. They are whiter than snow and shine with a luster not dazzling, but restful to the eye capable of seeing them.

How this glimpse put to naught all my former crude conceptions of Heaven, and if I found myself unable to describe the wonders of many a dark world which I have visited, how much less could I portray the vastly superior beauties of Heaven which are so far beyond the glory of dark, rugged worlds that I felt an inexpressible desire to take up my abode there at once and to remain forever.

Inwardly I shouted for joy as this new light illumined my face, and I loathed to think of proceeding on my journey to any sin-cursed world of the universe, for the ties of kinship, friendship, and earthship all vanished at the sight of such resplendent spheres.

THE GREATNESS OF HEAVEN.

There is no language to be employed that can fitly describe the parts of Heaven I saw, and I know that the greater glory was curtained from my view. But the size of the lustrous orbs is not equaled by the large material suns that blaze in the depth of immensity. Heaven's diamond splendor extended as far as my unassisted eyes could reach, and according to the way it appeared it must extend without limit.

It would require one hundred millions of years for a child of God to take one excursion trip to the physical worlds of our universe. Then there are millions of such universes, (I know of no better name to use) each one occupying its own immense stretches of space. These universes average about sixteen hundred millions of worlds each.

Heaven is infinitely greater than this whole material fabric, so that if a spirit is inclined to travel, he will need all eternity to study the works of God as displayed in the glorious abodes of Heaven and in the changing aspects of created worlds.

Let us give a deeper meaning to the stanza of the poet by substituting "million" for "thousand."