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LIFE IN A THOUSAND WORLDS
by
REV. W. S. HARRIS.
Author of _Mr. World and Miss Church-Member_, _Modern Fables and
Parables_, _Sermons by the Devil_, etc., etc.
Illustrated
Published by
The Minter Company,
Harrisburg, Pa.
1905
[Illustration: REV. W. S. HARRIS]
TO
MY MOTHER
WHO FOR MY GOOD COUNTED NONE OF
HER SACRIFICES TOO GREAT AND
WHO IS NOW RECEIVING HER
REWARD IN THE CELESTIAL
LIFE THIS VOLUME IS
LOVINGLY
DEDICATED.
[Illustration: Decorative element]
Illustrations.
1. Portrait of the Author
2. Gazing at the Starry Firmament
3. A City on the Moon
4. How a "Trust" Monopolizes Rain and Light on Mars
5. The Largest Telescope in the Universe
6. An Air Ship on Saturn
7. Living in Fire on a Fixed Star
8. Fishing for Land Animals
9. Monopolizing Liquid Air on Airess
10. Floating Cities of Plasden
11. A Captive on a Planet of Duhbe
12. The Millennial Dawn
13. Low-life Warfare on Scum
14. Battle Between "Flying Devils" in the Air
15. "Trusts" in the Diamond World
16. Tunnel Through Holen's Center
17. A Scene of Rejoicing in Brief
18. Beautiful Plume and Her Wings
19. A Glimpse of Heaven
Contents.
1. Are There More Worlds Than One?
2. A Visit to the Moon
3. A Visit to Mars
4. A Glimpse of Jupiter
5. Beautiful Saturn
6. The Nearest Fixed Star
7. The Water World Visited
8. Tor-tu
9. A Problem in Political Economy
10. Floating Cities
11. A World of Ideal Cities
12. A World Enjoying Its Millennium
13. A World of High Medical Knowledge
14. A World of Low Life
15. A World of Highest Invention
16. A Singular Planet
17. The Diamond World
18. Triumphant Feat of Orion
19. The Mute World
20. Brief
21. The Life on Wings
22. Heaven
Synopsis of Contents.
CHAPTER I.
Are There More Worlds Than One?
Why are countless worlds swinging in the endless regions of space?
The author believes that thousands are inhabited by intelligent
beings.
CHAPTER II.
A Visit to the Moon.
Description of a novel city of over 60,000 Moonites. The
inhabitants of the Moon are described as dwarfs having no noses
because they live by eating solid air. Their odd houses,
expressive paintings, strange religion, wonderful history, novel
government, happy home life, etc., interestingly described.
CHAPTER III.
A Visit to Mars.
Marsites described as giants needing four arms. The ultimate
results of capitalistic oppression graphically portrayed by a
curtain system. The description of the Marsite curtain system
embodies a tremendous thrust at monopolistic trusts, and should be
read by Americans by the millions. The author captured by Marsmen.
Illustration.
CHAPTER IV.
A Glimpse of Jupiter.
Jupiterites described as colossal giants averaging twenty-five
feet in height. Their language a marvel of simplicity far
surpassing the English language. What Jupiterites can see with
their powerful magnifying lenses. The author looked, through their
largest telescope and saw ships sailing in New York City harbor.
Illustration.
CHAPTER V.
Beautiful Saturn.
Physical features. Woman the ruling genius. Excursions in
airships. Illustration. Marvelous language-music. Churches on
Saturn far better than those on Earth.
CHAPTER VI.
The Nearest Fixed Star.
The inhabitants of Alpha Centaurus live as comfortably in fire as
Earthites live in air or fishes in water. One of their aerial fire
carriages described. Illustration.
CHAPTER VII.
The Water World Visited.
On Stazza the people live in water about as fishes do on Earth.
Their homes and cities under water described. Fishing for land
animals. Illustration. Some of their inventions far surpass those
of our own world.
CHAPTER VIII.
Tortu.
A far more beautiful world than ours. The moral life of Tortu the
cleanest found in any world, and interesting reasons given.
CHAPTER XI
A Problem in Political Economy.
On Airess the inhabitants live on liquid air, and hence have
neither noses nor lungs. Monopolists control liquid air on Airess
as petroleum is controlled on Earth. Illustration. Method of
breaking up the power of monopolies. This chapter is worth reading
by millions of American men and women.
CHAPTER X.
Floating Cities.
Palaces and large cities built on water. Illustration. A number of
wonderful inventions described. Far surpass our world in reform
movements.
CHAPTER XI.
A World of Ideal Cities.
Inhabitants described. Author made captive. Rich and poor. Ideal
cities, how governed.
CHAPTER XII.
A World Enjoying Its Millennium.
How the Millennium was ushered in. The conditions under which
millennial life is enjoyed.
CHAPTER XIII.
A World of High Medical Knowledge.
On Dorelyn four billions of inhabitants all enjoy perfect health.
The government controls the whole field of medical science just as
we do the post office department. No patent medicine on Dorelyn.
Many new ideas picked up in medicine and surgery.
CHAPTER XIV.
A World of Low Life.
On Scum exist the lowest conditions of life found in any stellar
world. "Notched Rod" language explained. Lizard like human forms.
No Scumite knows who is his father or mother. A big Scumite battle
witnessed. Illustration.
CHAPTER XV.
A World of Highest Invention.
A fertilizer invented making possible the raising of six crops in
one of our years. A Tube Line for passenger and freight traffic.
Wonderful storage batteries. A telephone that not only carries
sound, but transmits the gestures and faces of the speakers.
Thought photography.
CHAPTER XVI.
A Singular Planet.
On Zik decisive battles between nations are not fought by armies
on land or navies on the sea, but by flying war ships called
Flying Devils sailing in the air. A battle witnessed.
Illustration. A practical way of settling the strife between
capital and labor. The art of maintaining youthful vigor in old
ago.
CHAPTER XVII.
The Diamond World.
On the brightest planets of the universe diamonds are as plenty as
soil is on our Earth, but soil is as scarce and valuable as
diamonds are in our world. The heart-rending oppression of the
"Soil Trust" in the Diamond World portrayed. Illustration. The
insatiable greed of "Trusts" follows the poor people into their
sepulchers.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Triumphant Feat of Orion.
Description of a tunnel through the center of Holen, a globe 500
miles in diameter. Illustration of passenger car used. Its
operation explained.
CHAPTER XIX.
The Mute World.
Muteites have no audible language. They converse by pure thought
transmission, and no one can conceal evil thoughts. When a Muteite
criminal is brought before a Court of Justice the doors of his
soul are unlocked so that all past thought-images, photographed on
the sensitive living plates of his mind, are thrown open to view.
No hypocrisy, no conventional lying.
CHAPTER XX.
Brief.
The world of Brief sustains the shortest lived human beings of our
universe. What we in our world crowd into seventy or eighty years
of life the Briefites crowd into the narrow compass of about four
years of our time. Journalism, footwear, raiment, transportation,
public highways, business, religious life, etc., portrayed under
such mad-rush environments.
CHAPTER XXI.
The Life on Wings.
The inhabitants of Swift are charmingly beautiful, and many of
them can be seen gracefully moving on wings through the air. A
charming conversation with Plume, the most beautiful woman in the
universe. Illustration.
CHAPTER XXII.
Heaven.
Its greatness, permanency, inhabitants, degrees, seven typos of
intelligences, unity, employments, transportation, sexual
affinities, structural aspects, etc., uniquely portrayed.
PREFACE.
Any person having a reasonable education will admit that there are many
planetary worlds besides the one on which we live. But whether or not
they are inhabited is an open question with most people. We had been in
doubt on this point for many years, but now we are settled in our
conviction that human life exists in many different worlds of space. We
can give no proof of this except that we have just returned from the
greatest journey we ever took. We went from world to world over long
distances of space as easily as one could go from place to place on the
surface of our earth. _This was a journey of the soul_, for surely flesh
and bone could not have traveled such amazing distances. At times we
were lost to this world, being entirely absorbed in the glimpses of
other worlds that were flashing upon our view in happy succession.
It can been seen without saying that this book contains no more than a
fragment of the things we saw and heard--the fragment that is most
easily understood by human creatures born under the rules and
regulations of this little dark world of ours.
There are, in certain other worlds, such wide extremes of bodily
formation and mental capacities, that a picture of them in word or art
would only be unbearable and in some instances decidedly revolting, just
because we are trained here to one set of standards and chained to one
surface of world conditions. It will be different in the after-death
life to those who are wise enough to be pure and good in this world.
To make the book as practical as possible we have given a picture of
some worlds where human life is inferior to ours, and of others where it
is vastly superior,--saying nothing of the millennial life which we
found in far off space.
Comparisons are made throughout the book between the life, habits, and
customs of other worlds and our own. In picturing the low life of
certain worlds we are led to see what a highly favored and greatly
civilized people we are, and in describing the human achievements of
certain other worlds we are led to see how short a distance we have
traveled in the path of human glory and civilization.
We have also endeavored to set forth in this humble volume the common
relation of all rational creatures of all worlds to one Infinite
Creator. We do not question the truth of this fact, and those who ask
for proof must wait to find it.
We hope that this book will be inspiring to every thoughtful mind who
loves to learn more and more of the great system of intelligent life of
which the human creatures of this world form one link in the chain. If
the reading of this volume should open to your mind numberless
suggestions and compel you to ask a host of questions, perhaps you will
do as we have done,--spend a long time in training your wings to be
swift enough to take the journey yourself. If you will not do this, you
must patiently wait until the clods of clay are shaken off, so that your
free spirit may go out to live the life more vast in other worlds.
We pray that the highest kind of good may result from the truths here
advanced. If this shall be accomplished, we shall have our best reward
for having given this book to the printing press.
Truly yours,
THE AUTHOR.
December, 1904.
INTRODUCTION.
It may seem like great exaggeration to say that this is one of the most
interesting and profitable books that has been placed upon the American
book market for many years. _It follows no old rut; it has found a new
path_, and the reader is permitted to walk in regions which he never saw
and of which he never read before. It is indeed a triumph of literary
genius to give a picture of intelligent life in other worlds upon a
scientific and philosophical basis. Other writers have attempted to give
a description of conditions on the Moon, Mars, or some other single
planet, but no one has succeeded in picturing the mysteries of life in a
number of star worlds with such a fascination as is here found.
Some one may say that the book is only a work of imagination, but we
challenge any one to produce a book that gives more timely thrusts at
the evils of our present day life. By showing how the people of other
worlds have fallen into their sad conditions the author sounds a note of
warning to the people of this world, and by giving a glimpse of the
manner in which other worlds have reached their great triumphs, he gives
to the people of our world a spur to loftier ideals, to greater
inventions, and to a purer life.
The publisher of this volume is proud to put upon the market a book of
such high value and dignity. It is quite unusual for the subscription
book market to see such a princely book come into its midst. Here we
have ten dollars worth of _new ideas_, packed into cream form, all for
one dollar, and we positively assert that nothing like it can be found
anywhere in literature. _Great books have no companions._
The illustrations are from the masterly hands of an artist of special
merit for this class of work. He happily places himself into the midst
of other worlds in order to draw the beautiful pictures that illustrate
and adorn this volume. The illustrations are well worth careful
examination and when studied in connection with the reading matter they
are seen in their greatest beauty and value. _The Publishers_
[Illustration: Looking Towards a Thousand Worlds.]
CHAPTER I.
Are There More Worlds Than One?
Our world is large enough to excite our interest and invite our study
until we close our eyes in death. Yet there are countless other orbs
scattered through the solar system and throughout the vast stretches of
the starry heavens. Some of these worlds are smaller than ours, but the
majority of them are hundreds or thousands of times larger.
Looking away from our solar system, we find that each star is a sun, in
most instances the center of a group of worlds. So, for the lack of a
better phrase, we shall say that there are millions of solar systems
distributed through limitless space, each one serving its part in the
great universal plan.
For what purpose are all these immense worlds shining and swinging in
the depths of immensity? Could it be possible that they are nothing more
than vast pieces of dead machinery, barren of all vegetable growth and
intelligent life, whereon desolation and solitude forever prevail?
Our own Earth is inhabited by a large variety of living forms ranging
from the microscopic bacteria and animalcula to the glorious form of man
with all his superior endowments. The air, earth and water are teeming
with their billions of sensitive creatures; even a breath of air, a drop
of water, or a leaf on a tree often contains a miniature world of living
forms.
Amidst all this confusing animation around us, is it not absurd to
suppose that other worlds, larger or smaller than our own, are barren of
all life, and that from them no songs of thanksgiving ever arise to the
Maker and Ruler of all things?
Such a supposition not only gives us a strange view of the character and
attributes of God, but is at once repulsive to our instincts; anyone
wishing to accept it may do so, but as for me and for a large company of
my kind, we prefer to give a larger meaning to creation and a higher
glory to the Creator.
Let no one doubt that the universe is full of intelligent life, in
myriad types of existence and infinite stages of development. Physically
speaking, one cannot imagine the countless variety of ways in which
flesh and bone may congregate around the human brain to make a sentient
and intelligent creature.
Confined as we are to our little dark world, we know by sight of only
one way in which the brain conveys its messages and serves its ends,
namely, through a body of one hundred pounds or more of flesh and bone,
formed erect, and capable of rendering service upon a moment's notice.
Therefore some of us are conceited enough to believe that we are the
most perfect and beautiful beings of the universe, the highest
expression of creative art, and that all other creatures in a million
orbs take a secondary place.
True enough, we occupy an honored position in the scale of creation, but
while the people of many worlds are beneath us, yet there are many more
planets whereon human genius has surpassed us, and we must be modest
enough to take our rightful place in the drama of the worlds.
"How many planets, how many suns, how many milky ways are there?" you
ask in one breath. Speaking alone of our own universe, of which the
Milky Way is the backbone, I estimate that if we multiply the number of
stars by forty-nine, we shall have the approximate number of worlds that
are large enough to be classed with the family of inhabited planets.
In our immediate universe there are at least one hundred million stars,
a number of which have over five hundred worlds revolving around them;
others have only six or ten. The average, as above stated, is estimated
at forty-nine. Then, also, far out in the depths of space, there are
nebulous spots visible only through the most searching lenses. These are
new systems of milky ways or new universes, so immensely distant that
our most powerful telescopes cannot even resolve them into stars.
There are inhabited worlds so far from us that, if one could travel the
distance around our Earth in one second, he could proceed in one
direction, at this rate of speed, for twenty million years and yet see
far ahead of him the flickering lights of numberless other inviting
suns and worlds.
We cannot possibly grasp an idea of such infinite distances, neither can
we form any adequate conception of the long, long stretches between star
and star, which is the same as saying, between solar system and solar
system. In our Milky Way the stars seem to be crushed together into a
whitish jelly, but the awful truth looms up before us with all sublimity
that, although these stars seem to lie one upon another, they are
millions and trillions of miles apart.
In regard to our own solar system much speculation is rife as to the
existence of human creatures on the several larger planets. Theories of
all kinds have been advanced; some speculative or absurd, others so
plausible as to give rise to interesting questions, such as
communicating with Mars, and perhaps of taking a journey to the Moon.
These suggestions, while fanciful, awaken our interest and excite our
curiosity. Can any one predict the excitement that would prevail in our
world if a human creature from some other planet were suddenly to set
foot upon our soil? We would fling a thousand questions at him to learn
something of the strange realm from which he came.
And how great would be our amazement if we were to have the exalted
privilege of journeying to other worlds, seeing the types of human
creatures living there, and witnessing a thousand other things too
strange and wonderful to mention?
I invite you to listen as I tell a condensed story of a number of worlds
which I have visited, all within the boundary line of our own universe.
I cannot even tell a tithe of what I saw and heard, but must content
myself with giving a passing view of a thousand worlds, some of which
are situated in a very distant corner of our universe.
Well you may ask: "How could you travel from world to world and see the
various forms of human life, and then remain alive to tell a part of the
marvelous tale?"
If it is a mystery to you, it is also a mystery to me. I cannot describe
the pinions that carried me, nor tell whence came the strength that
moved my wings, any more than I can explain by what process I was
preserved alive in worlds of fire, in worlds of ice, and in worlds
without air. But the sight of all these things was as real to me as the
dreams of the night, and it must be admitted that dreams are often as
realistic as the acts of our wakeful moments.
For many years I looked outward toward the starry firmament, and at
times a deep yearning possessed me to speed away to converse with the
inhabitants of other spheres.
This hope I cherished so strongly that my thoughts completely
overpowered me, and ere I knew it I was living at the mercy of
indescribable emotions. All this continued during many revolutions of
the Earth on its axis. I felt as Columbus must have felt when he was
moving over strange waters. Then occurred the most notable event of my
life. In the twinkling of an eye I was caught away from the Earth and,
without any effort of my own, I was darting through space faster than a
sunbeam.