OQUA'S VISIT--THE REVELATION--A STORY OF PERFIDY AND WRONG--CASSIE
VANNESS--RAPHAEL GANOE--RICHARD SAGE--A DESIGNING GUARDIAN--FALSE
CHARGES AGAINST GANOE--A FRAUDULENT MARRIAGE--HOME ABANDONED--ON THE
HIGH SEAS--JACK ADAMS--GANOE FOUND--EFFECTS OF A FALSE EDUCATION--LEGAL
WRONGS VS. NATURAL JUSTICE--OQUA HOPEFUL.
[Illustration]
AS the sun disappeared behind the western edge of the verge, I was
reclining upon my sofa awaiting the promised visit to Oqua. I was
now as anxious to tell the story of my sorrows to a sympathising
friend as I had formerly been to conceal it from all the world. Since
my conversation with Oqua, a longing sensation had come over me to
confide to her the story of my life. The hour had arrived for my
meeting with her, and a minute later she was by my side. Laying her
hand on my head, she said:
"Nequa, I have come at the time designated, and in order to be able
to assist you, I must not be left to surmise what is the matter. By
the very act of telling me your troubles, you will to a certain extent
obtain control over your own feelings, and thus take the first step
toward finding a remedy."
"Then you shall know all, from my earliest recollection," said I. "My
name is Cassie VanNess. I was born and raised near New York City. My
mother died when I was an infant, and I was cared for by my devoted
old father, James VanNess, and a kind motherly colored woman who had
been a servant in the family. My father died when I was fifteen years
old, and I went to live with my guardian, Richard Sage, who was also
the uncle and guardian of Raphael Ganoe, whom he had taken to raise
when an infant. At this time Raphael was eighteen years of age. Our
school days, of about five years, were the happiest, nay, I may say
the ONLY really happy days of my life. When I was twenty and Raphael
twenty-three years of age, he was offered a lucrative position on a
ship engaged in the Chinese trade. During our vacations we had crossed
the ocean together, and he desired to travel in the Orient. While on
this voyage he expected to circumnavigate the globe, stopping at all
the leading ports. On his return we were to be married.
"He promised to write to me at every available opportunity, and for
the first few months his letters came regularly, always couched in the
most affectionate terms and often referring to our coming marriage as
the beacon light of all his fondest hopes. Then his letters ceased
altogether, and though I wrote repeatedly to him, I never heard from
him again.
"As the months rolled by, often at noontime, when the music of birds
filled the air, and all was life and light, or at eventide, when the
mellow twilight was over hill and dale, and the activities and light of
day were giving place to the stillness and shadows of night; when the
perfume of the flowers filled the air, or the yellow leaves of autumn
fell about my feet, I, the forsaken, and perhaps forgotten, could have
been seen seated beneath some broad-spreading tree, where we used
to read and converse together. I would sit thus for hours in silent
meditation, recalling the tender words and caresses of my absent lover.
Then arising sad and disconsolate, I would leave the lonely spot and
try to bravely wait and hope for the word that never came.
"My guardian professed great sympathy, and with seemingly the most
poignant grief informed me that his nephew had committed some desperate
crime in foreign lands for which he had been tried, convicted and sent
to prison for a long term of years. Yet, with this black shadow resting
upon him, the truth of which was vouched for by his uncle, I continued
to write as it had been agreed between us and many were the tear
stained missives I addressed to him, hoping that comrades on the ship
would see that they reached him. Though he might be a criminal and an
out-cast from his kind, my affection for him never wavered for a single
moment.
"My guardian, in order to make his deception more complete,
pretended to deplore the actions of his nephew, and even his own
unthoughtfulness, in telling me of them, and thus causing me so much
suffering. He seemed to be aging very fast, and I feared that he, the
only friend to whom I had never looked in vain for kindly counsel and
advice, was falling into a decline from the crushing weight of what I
believed to be our common sorrow, and consequently, my woman's sympathy
and pity went out to him in what I regarded his disconsolate lot.
"He fully realized the sincere and all pervading character of my
sympathy for him, and took advantage of every opportunity to impress
me with the dangerous state of his health. He intimated that the chief
cause of his suffering, aside from the grief caused by the wayward and
criminal course of his nephew, was the agony that it gave him to leave
me all alone in the world, with no one to guard and protect me from
the manifold dangers that threatened an inexperienced girl when thrown
upon her own resources in this cold and unfeeling world. He did not
ask my affection, except as a daughter, but suggested that under the
circumstances, I had better become his wife, and then my position in
the world, as his widow, would be secure. I would be protected against
the intrusion of society and would be alone, as he felt sure I so much
desired.
"'You are already in mourning,' he said, 'and yet, your grief is
so indefinable that no one will be disposed to respect it as I do.
Besides, situated as you now are, with no female companion, you are
in some sense at the mercy of the evil-minded who never lose an
opportunity to asperse the character of the good and pure, while as my
wife, you would be safe, and your position honorable in the eyes of the
world. I could then, even more than now, console you, and sympathize
with you in your affliction.'
"I told him that I had never thought of my position as being in the
least compromising, in the home of my lawful guardian, and if it was
so, I would go away at once, but I could not be his wife. He besought
me again and again, and I continued to give him the same answer. In the
meantime, I was greatly troubled by what he had intimated regarding
my compromising position in his house without a female companion. I
had all faith and confidence in his unselfish and paternal regard for
my welfare. For years, he had treated me with marked kindness and
consideration, such as a loved daughter might expect from a kind and
loving father. For this, I regarded him with the filial affection
of a devoted and trusting nature. To leave him now, when stricken
with sorrow and apparently with one foot in the grave, was repugnant
to my feelings, as it seemed to me that it would be an act of base
ingratitude, and yet, it was brought to my ears that people were
beginning to make flippant and disrespectful remarks concerning my
position. Yet I felt that I could not be so cruel as to forsake him
now. The situation was a most trying one to me, as I never for a moment
suspicioned that it had been made up for the occasion to influence my
feelings.
"He continued his importunities under the guise of paternal counsel
for my own good as a loved daughter. One day he brought me a newspaper
clipping which stated that Raphael Ganoe had died in prison. He seemed
to be so grief stricken and depressed, that for many days I feared that
he would drop off at any moment, and he seemed so entirely dependent
upon me that I dared not leave him for a moment, and yet my position
was such that I must necessarily often give place to others, who had
no such regard for him as I had. If I were his wife in the eyes of the
world, I might do much more for him, and believing that my affianced
husband was dead, I at last consented to become his legal wife and the
ceremony was performed while he lay as I believed, on his dying bed.
"Two hours later, feeling lonely and disconsolate, I had gone into
the library and taken a seat in one of the deep windows behind the
curtains, where I was hidden from view.
"He seemed to have fallen asleep and my long watch was wearing upon me.
I was exhausted and took this opportunity for rest and communion with
my own thoughts. I soon fell into a reverie, in which the past came up
before me like a panorama, and again the fancy I was with my handsome,
happy lover--when suddenly I heard voices in the adjoining room where I
had left my guardian asleep. A strange voice asked:
"'Where is your young wife?'
"'Gone to her room to rest,' said my guardian. 'She thinks I am very
sick and she has watched by my side, to minister to my pains until
she is worn out. I got easy and told her that she might go and rest
herself, as I would, now that the pains had ceased for the time, be
able to take a long nap. She remained until I was seemingly fast asleep
and then she tiptoed out of the room as softly as a cat for fear she
would awaken me.'
"'You worked it well,' said the stranger, 'but what shall I write to
Ganoe? He has written me a long letter engaging my services as his
attorney to find out all about Cassie. What shall I say to him?'
"'Here,' said my guardian, 'are the letters I have written to him in
regard to Cassie's change of mind. You can take your cue from these and
be governed accordingly.'
"'But,' asked the attorney, 'what if she should suspicion something,
and drop a letter to Ganoe into some street box? It might prove to be a
serious matter for us if she should learn the truth.'
"'I have provided for that,' said my guardian. 'There is a round
million in the deal for us, after all the expenses are paid, and no
mail can reach him on the ship, without being inspected by a man who
has as much interest as we have in preventing him from hearing from
Cassie. If a letter should not be intercepted by my agent in the
postoffice, which is not likely, it would be intercepted at the ship.
So rest easy in regard to this matter. There is no danger; besides she
is now my wife, and I have all the legal rights of a husband. But as
we want to avoid everything like friction, it is best to prevent Ganoe
from returning to America, which will not be difficult if it is managed
well.'
"'All right,' said the lawyer, 'provided you deal squarely with me. I
am the only one who could defeat the plan and of course I will not lose
a million to do that.'
"'Of course not,' said my guardian, 'and you know that I have even
more to lose than you have--a life long reputation for integrity and
purity of character, which to a man in my position is worth more than
money. It would cut off my income as a favorite administrator on large
estates.'
"'Well, we are both in the same boat,' laughed the lawyer, 'and we can
well afford to trust each other. I guess that now you have recovered
from your very serious illness we may expect to hold our conferences at
the proper place.'
"'Oh certainly,' laughed my guardian, 'and my lovely bride will not
object to my being away, as she is in widow's weeds, mourning the
untimely death of her first and only love. So, good day. I must rest
and take a long and very refreshing nap to account for my unexpected
recovery.'
"'Just so,' laughed the lawyer, and I heard the door close behind him.
"The conversation that I had overheard froze the very blood in my
veins. I learned that I had been deliberately deceived and not only
robbed of a large fortune, but had been robbed of my affianced husband.
Worse than this, I had been induced to take a step that made me false
to him and at the same time precluded the possibility of our ever
consummating our plighted faith without violating the marriage laws, as
under the law I was his aunt and marriage with him would have been a
crime, for which under the law I could be imprisoned for a long term of
years.
"My whole nature arose in revolt against the iniquity that had been
perpetrated against me. I determined to find Raphael and explain the
whole matter to him. I hastily wrote a note to my guardian and left
it where he would be sure to find it, denouncing his treachery and
informing him that under no circumstances would I ever enter his door
again.
"I made my way into the city and disguising myself in male attire I
succeeded in finding a position as cabin boy on a steamer bound for
Liverpool. I was determined to find Raphael. I kept up the search for
nearly fifteen long years, visiting almost every part of the known
world, and at last found him at San Francisco, on the eve of starting
on an expedition to the north polar regions. Before revealing myself
to him I wanted to ascertain beyond any doubt whatever, from his own
lips, in just what light he would regard my marriage to his uncle and
my subsequent long career on the high seas in male attire. So I applied
for a place on the Ice King and succeeded in getting the position of
scientist. I cultivated the acquaintance of the Captain, secured his
confidence so far that he related to me the story of his life, which
gave the opportunity I wanted to draw him out, and soon learned, what I
had come to dread, that the prejudices engendered by social usages were
stronger than his sense of natural justice, and I heard my own conduct
denounced as perfidious and vile. But for the sudden sounding of the
alarm I must have fallen at his feet and thus have in all probability
revealed my identity.
"But I was saved that bitter humiliation and now, after a long and
perilous voyage, locked up with him on the same ship, I am at last
permitted to pour my tale of woe into sympathetic ears, far away from
the land where legal wrongs are honored while natural rights are
regarded as disreputable."
Oqua had listened to my story without a single interruption, and with
a sympathetic interest which drew me closer to her than ever. When I
ceased speaking, she looked at me with a puzzled curiosity, which I
shall never forget as she remarked:
"Your guardian certainly committed a great wrong against you, and
under the operation of an awakened conscience, I can well understand
that his remorse would be most excruciatingly painful, but you have
not committed any wrong, and I do not understand what it is that you
are feeling so badly about. The blame all rested with your guardian
and the fact that you discovered his perfidy so soon, and at the same
time discovered that the man to whom you were the betrothed wife, only
awaiting the time set for the consummation, was still living, ought, it
seems to me, to have been a source of rejoicing. While the deception
practiced upon you was painful to contemplate, it brought with it a
certain measure of compensation. Had you failed to make this discovery,
you might have unwittingly violated the most sacred obligation, that to
your betrothed husband. The wrong might have been much worse."
"You have mistaken my meaning," I said. "I was not under that
obligation to Raphael that you seem to think. I had only promised to
become his wife but I was actually married to another man. Under the
circumstances I do not see how the wrong could have been worse, and I,
as its innocent victim, was certainly excusable for feeling badly about
it. The wonder is how I could bear it at all."
"If I was mistaken," said Oqua, "in regard to your relations to Raphael
Ganoe, I fear that your explanation of the situation only makes the
matter more difficult to understand. I certainly understood you to
say that you loved Ganoe and that he loved you, and that you had both
agreed to go through life as husband and wife. This you had a perfect
right to do, and this agreement constitutes a marriage bond that cannot
be set aside without sufficient cause, as long as you both live, and
hence you could not become the wife of another man, without violating
the most sacred of all obligations. And if by misrepresentation you
were induced to enter into any such relation while Ganoe was living and
true to you, such relation would be on the face of it, null and void."
"But I was married to my guardian," I said. "Actually married. The
clerk of the court had issued the license which was a legal permit for
us to marry, and the minister pronounced us man and wife according to
the solemn rites of the church. My guardian took an obligation to love,
cherish and protect and I, an obligation to love, honor and obey; and
then the minister invoked the blessing of heaven upon our union and
pronounced the solemn warning to all who might object: 'Whom God hath
joined together, let no man put asunder.' Yes, I was actually married
to Richard Sage, according to law and the sacred rites of the church."
"The more you explain, my dear Nequa, the more incomprehensible your
ideas of marriage become. You say that you were actually married to
Richard Sage. That God joined you together, but before He could do so,
a permit had to be granted by the clerk of the court. Yet, in your own
soul you repudiated this fraudulent marriage, and for nearly fifteen
years you searched for your betrothed husband, to whom you felt bound
by the laws which God had implanted in your own soul. To me it seems
that this first engagement to Raphael Ganoe was the only true marriage,
in which God had joined you together and that the court and the
minister united to put you asunder. Your own inner consciousness, the
spark of divinity that is in you, forced you to take this view of the
transaction. From all the facts, just as you relate them, I must still
insist that you were not married to Richard Sage. That the ceremony was
a fraud and could not annul your obligations to Raphael Ganoe. Your
actions demonstrate, that your own true self, took the same view of
the matter, and that when you found your betrothed husband you loyally
stood by his side in the hazardous effort to reach the pole, and now
you are here with him in this inner world where we regard it as our
first duty to accept the true and discard the false in all of our
relations to each other, and to the universal system of which we form a
part."
"I agree with you," I replied, "that my marriage to Richard Sage was
false, and that in order to be true to myself and my higher convictions
of duty to my absent lover, when I learned that he was still living, I
was forced to rend these legal bonds regardless of the consequences;
but still, in the eyes of the law, of society and the church, I was
the wife of my guardian, the uncle of Raphael Ganoe, and hence his
aunt, and as such could never become his wife. Yet I realized that I
was united to Raphael in bonds of affection that never could and never
should be broken. But all the powers of law, religion, and society were
united to hold me to a union secured by deception, which I loathed and
abhorred. It was the environments established by this world wide power
that held me incarcerated, as it were, in a prison, from which there
was no escape but the grave."
"Thank you," said Oqua, "for the light which you have thrown on
the present state of your outer world civilization. It seems
almost incomprehensible that the laws and usages of any people
would seek to make right wrong and wrong right, but I can readily
turn to a corresponding period in our own history and trace the
evolutionary forces which must now be at work among your people.
The old institutional life is ever striving to preserve its forms
and ceremonies while the advancing spirit of freedom is continually
protesting. At first the advocates of the old order, persecute all who
protest against its dictum, and this protest in the name of liberty,
often only means license. Both extremes are essentially wrong. But
the friction between these two elements, in the end will lead to the
discovery of the truth upon which both extremes can unite, and this
truth will make them indeed free. The manifest progress of the race is
in the direction of the truth, and its logical culmination must be the
establishment of altruistic conditions in all the relations which exist
between individual members of the human family."
"Well, I am glad that you have at last penetrated my meaning," I said.
"The misunderstanding grew out of my inability to formulate my own
thought, so as to adapt it to your Altruistic conceptions. I like
the word altruism, but the thought that it expresses is so little
understood in the outer world, that the word is, as far as I know,
generally excluded from our common school dictionaries, while in
this country I find that it forms a necessary part of your every day
vocabulary. I realize that all of my troubles grew out of environments
which were the legitimate product of the false premises from which we
drew our conclusions. In speaking of myself as actually the wife of my
guardian I only used the popular phraseology to express the conceptions
of the people among whom I was raised. They regarded the license and
the ceremony as the actual marriage without reference to the plighted
troth of devoted lovers. I only used their language to express their
conceptions, while my own were expressed by my actions."
"Thank you," said Oqua. "I surmised that you spoke the language of your
environments rather than your honest convictions, but I wanted you to
say it yourself. You know that I insisted that you should say just what
you mean and leave nothing for me to surmise. In all that you have
to say, I want you to draw the line clearly between the true and the
false, in thought and action, just as you understand the terms, and
then we can ascertain where the trouble is and take steps to remove
it. You are now in a country where truth alone is recognized as a
standard for the regulation of human conduct, and it seems that there
ought to be much in the way of mutual explanations between you and
Captain Ganoe, and then all will be well."
"I dare not risk it," I said. "I thought just as you do when I secured
a position on the Ice King, but I deemed it advisable to conceal my
identity until I had ascertained in just what light he would regard the
course I had taken. The opportunity came as I have already told you and
as yet I have discovered no indications that he has in any way modified
his views in regard to such matters. I have ascertained beyond a doubt
from two years' association with him, that in him all the prejudices
of the popular education of the outer world, its laws, usages and
religious notions have crystallized. If he knew that I had spent years,
associated with men, in the character of Jack Adams, the sailor, his
sense of propriety would be shocked, and I should forfeit his respect,
which would be something that I could not bear."
"I cannot see," said Oqua, "how he could cease to respect you. I know
that as the scientist of the Ice King, he entertains the most exalted
opinion of your ability, courage and refinement of character."
"Yes, Oqua, I doubt not that he respects me as Jack Adams, the sailor.
He has given me numerous proofs of that. But as Cassie VanNess in that
garb he would regard me as unwomanly and immodest, much below the
standard of propriety and respectability of the women of the outer
world, with whom he would be willing to associate on terms of equality.
Remember that his education, like my own was as far removed as possible
from the spirit of altruism. When I left my guardian's home I was
penniless, except for an allowance known as 'pin money.' By the
marriage ceremony, my fortune had been transferred to Richard Sage. As
a woman, I stood no show of being able to acquire a competency, besides
I was liable to pursuit and arrest. I had no legal grounds for divorce,
and if I had been discovered as the absconding wife of Richard Sage,
the multi-millionaire, the courts would have declared me insane, and
I would have been incarcerated, most likely for life, in some lunatic
asylum. Hence it was from necessity, rather than choice, that I donned
male attire and sought employment as a cabin boy. My education, tact
and close attention to business led to more lucrative positions which
required ability as well as a strict integrity and close application.
By rigid economy, I succeeded in accumulating a moderate competence. As
a woman I could not have even procured a comfortable subsistence; but I
was in male attire, associated with men in all my relations to society,
and hence in the eyes of the world my womanly character was under a
cloud. For this reason I did not care to reveal my identity to Captain
Ganoe until I knew that he would approve the course I had taken. As
for myself I was prepared for altruistic principles. My association
with the working classes gave me a knowledge of their condition, and I
familiarized myself with the best thought of their leaders. But Captain
Ganoe had been differently situated. He had continued to move in the
narrow circle in which he was born. I had hoped that experience with
the world had broadened his views. But I found that I was mistaken. I
have studied his feelings and hence have resolved never to give him the
opportunity to reproach me for my unwomanly disguise and associations."
"How could he reproach you, Nequa, when he realized that it was all for
love of him?"
"You cannot, my dear Oqua, educated as you were in the most advanced
thought of this altruistic civilization, realize the almost
irresistible power of prejudices when they have been incorporated into
the education of a people for thousands of years. They constitute a
race belief, the correctness of which the people seldom, if ever, heard
questioned. When I assumed male attire and associated myself with men
in the ranks of labor, I knew that I invited not only social ostracism,
but laid myself liable to arrest and imprisonment, if my disguise was
discovered. And Captain Ganoe as a high spirited gentleman of the old
school, could not unite his destinies with such a social out-cast."
"But surely," said Oqua, "he will not entertain such mistaken
conceptions of honor when he learns that the people of this inner world
without an exception, would honor you for your heroic devotion to your
bridal troth and regard Captain Ganoe as the most fortunate of men in
having such a companion."
"That may indeed be true, sometime," I said, "but before I reveal
myself to him, I must hear from his own lips such expressions of
opinion as will demonstrate that he would not regard the career of Jack
Adams, under the circumstances, as unworthy, immodest and unwomanly.
There is a deep seated prejudice in the outer world against 'mannish
women,' and the donning of male attire is prohibited by law, and what
is even worse, it is regarded as positively disgraceful. Hence I must
know that he of his own option has abandoned all these prejudices,
before I will consent to be known to him as Cassie VanNess."
"I believe," said Oqua, "that his association with Altrurians will
certainly give him a higher regard for truth and correspondingly weaken
the influence of time honored errors. We can very easily ascertain
his views and if we should find them adverse, do not be discouraged,
for the atmosphere of truth which surrounds him is creative in its
influence and will surely establish itself in his mind. An error is
powerless to hold anyone in thrall very long where truth is cultivated
and free to express itself in thought and action. Truth is eternal and
cannot be destroyed, while error is transitory and disappears with the
ignorance on which it is based."
"I will leave this matter to you," I said, "with this understanding,
that to Captain Ganoe I must remain simply Jack Adams, or Nequa, until
I know that he approves and appreciates the sacrifices made by Cassie
VanNess. I love him too well to be willing to face his disapproval, but
knowing the purity of my own purposes, I will never put myself in a
position that will imply even in the remotest degree that I was wrong.
My self respect forbids this. My heart tells me that I was right and I
will never apologize to any human being for the course I have taken,
and least of all to Captain Ganoe, for love of whom I have braved the
danger of social ostracism as well as the dangers incident to the life
of a sailor, from the blistering heat of the tropics to the intense
cold of the frigid zones. I certainly could never ask him to forgive me
for loving him so well."
Oqua threw her arms around my neck and kissed me most affectionately,
saying:
"My dear Nequa, I knew that I was not mistaken in the estimate that I
had placed on your mental and spiritual character. You have a great
work to do, not only in the education of our people, but a work for
your own people. Intercourse between the inner and outer worlds must
be re-opened. In this work much depends upon the crew of the Ice King,
as you are the only people among us from the educated classes who
have ever penetrated the frozen regions which surround the verges.
Our people will of course assist in every way possible. But my dear
Nequa, a still greater work depends upon you, more than upon any of the
others, in which we can be of but little assistance."
"And what is that greater work?" I asked. "And how could I get along
without assistance? No matter what I undertake I want you as a tutor.
To me it seems, that in this inner world, I have everything to learn,
and I must have a teacher at every step."
"And I, too," said Oqua, "have much to learn from you. All that I have
learned of the outer world came from MacNair and the few books which he
saved from the sinking ship. With the Ice King comes a well selected
library of standard works and three scholarly, well read people, and
from this, I anticipate a most valuable addition to our knowledge,
especially of a scientific, geographical and historical character,
which has been hidden from the people of the inner world. We have, it
seems, made more progress along lines of a social, economic and ethical
nature and in mechanical inventions. So while we need that knowledge
which can be more readily acquired in the outer world, your people need
the lessons taught by our progress along other lines. Our libraries are
filled with these lessons and the work evidently marked out for you is
to gather this knowledge for the benefit of your own people. In this
you will have the cordial co-operation of the scholars of the inner
world."
"This," I said, "is certainly a work in which I am most anxious to
engage, just as soon as I can qualify myself for the task, and I
shall certainly need all the help I can get. I do indeed want the
people of America, the great republic of the outer world, to learn
that the highest ideals of their revolutionary sires, are not mere
'glittering generalities,' but realities, and have been carried out
to their logical culmination in this country with the most beneficent
results to humanity. To this end, that they should not only learn
this most significant fact, but that they should have laid before
them a clear and concise statement of the methods that have been used
so successfully to produce these results and evolve this wonderful
Altrurian civilization. I most keenly realize that it is my duty
to accomplish this work for humanity, but when I think of the vast
libraries, written in a strange tongue, that must not only be read but
studied, in order to trace the operation of the evolutionary forces
which have produced these grand results, I am overwhelmed at the
contemplation of the magnitude of the task set before me."
"Do not be alarmed," said Oqua, "at the multitudinous array of
ponderous volumes. These records are only preserved for reference. The
scholars of every age have been over them, with the special object in
view of condensing and simplifying their lessons, for the benefit of
students who could not afford to neglect other studies of the most
pressing importance, in order to familiarize themselves with the
details of so many thousands of years of history. Hence the lessons of
permanent value, such for instance as relate to the social, economic
and ethical progress of the people, have been carefully arranged in
the form of attractive condensations, with marginal references to the
authorities. With these lessons from History, designed for the use of
the pupils in our schools, the students can rapidly trace every step in
our progress, from the original half-civilized condition down to the
present time, and if there is any matter which they wish to examine
more closely, the marginal references will direct them to volume and
page. So, my dear Nequa, you will find that the greater part of your
work which looks so overwhelming, is ready made for you, in our School
Concordances. Another thing will help you; these lessons of progress
have all been treated in the shape of allegories and historical
romances, in order to make them attractive. Perhaps you could not
transmit them to your own people in a better shape, than by translating
some of the works that bear directly upon what they need to understand.
These works trace in a most attractive form the operation of every
evolutionary force which has contributed to our Altrurian civilization
as you find it to-day."
"This, indeed, my dear Oqua, relieves my mind of a load of doubt and
apprehension, which amounted almost to a dread, whenever I thought of
reading so many ponderous volumes in order to get a clear idea of the
forces which have contributed to your present ideal conditions. It also
explains to me how it is, that your entire people have such a clear
understanding of every economic, social and ethical problem. These
things are taught to the children in your primary schools."
"Yes," said Oqua, "the blessings of a high state of civilization
can only be preserved by educating the children of a country into a
comprehensive understanding of the laws of progress, by which these
blessings are secured. While a very few can set the machinery in
motion by which the masses may be relieved of any burdens that can be
imposed upon them, yet unless the children are universally educated in
regard to these matters, a few will be able to re-enslave them. These
so-called 'great problems' which you inform me are puzzling the brains
of your statesmen, ought to be thoroughly understood by the children.
Hence we teach these things to children while the mind is the most
receptive and the most capable of acquiring knowledge rapidly."
"But," I remarked, "it sounds so strange to hear you speak of children
thoroughly understanding these questions of world-wide importance, with
which the great statesmen of the outer world have grappled for ages,
without finding a solution."
"Nothing strange about it," said Oqua. "The mind of the child is
plastic and is remarkable for the facility with which it receives and
retains impressions. When it reaches the adult stage these impressions
become crystallized and are hard to change. Hence the importance of
starting the child rightly, with correct habits of thought on these
vital matters, upon which its future weal, and that of every other
human being depends. If the impressions on the mind of the child are
erroneous, they are liable to crystallize and be retained through
life, no matter how absurd they may be. As an apt illustration of
this tendency, I have only to refer to some of the notions which were
popular in this country at the time when the old economic system had
run its course and was producing widespread poverty and suffering among
the people. At that period all of the exchanges among the people were
on a money basis, and the few had control of the money while the many
were not able to utilize their labor to produce the wealth they needed
because they could not get the money to effect the necessary exchanges.
The reformers of that time were loud in the demand for more money,
while the controlling minds among the majority insisted that the one
thing needed was less money so that the money they had would purchase
more; and others were equally sure that more tax on products of foreign
countries was just the thing to relieve the industrial depression
by holding the home market for the products of our own labor. Keep
foreign products out by a high tariff and protect home industry, was
the doctrine. But we cannot help smiling as we read that these same
people who wanted to exclude foreign products from our markets in
order to protect our own labor, expected to get revenues from a tax
on foreign goods to run the government. It is difficult to imagine at
this time that any sane people ever entertained such absurd and self
contradictory opinions, but it is nevertheless a fact, as demonstrated
by the history of that time. These absurd notions could not have found
lodgement in the human mind, if as children, the people had been
trained to correct habits of reasoning."
"And such," I said, "are the notions which predominate at this time in
my own country and the result is, that a few are very rich while the
many are hard pressed and poor. The few who protest against this system
are denounced as cranks, agitators and dangerous characters."
"This is just what might be expected," said Oqua. "Like causes produce
like effects. The masses of mankind are always prone to deride and
persecute isolated individuals who know more than the mass, which is
physically so much more powerful. This is the protest of brute force
against mental, moral and spiritual superiority. This was why your
Jesus was crucified and this is why your reformers of the present day
are denounced as cranks, agitators and dangerous characters. It is an
invariable trait of human nature in a certain stage of development."
"I have long entertained these same views," I replied, "but the
object lessons which can be drawn from your history will cover all
these questions and they ought to reach our people with the first
announcement of the discovery of this inner world where all the great
problems of human development have been solved. I have found your
language remarkably easy to learn and from what you say, I expect
to find lessons from your history equally easy, but still I need
your assistance. I want to make the very best possible use of my
opportunities, and to that end, I want the benefit of your experience,
observation and knowledge of Altrurian civilization as it is to-day."
"Then, to begin," said Oqua, "my work as counsellor, I would advise you
to complete your account of the expedition which brought you into this
inner world; a brief description of your reception; the civilization
you found as it appeared to you at first sight, and the information
that you gathered from intercourse with the people in regard to
the progressive development of the country from the semi-barbarous
conditions which existed in early times. This ought to be sent to the
people of the outer world just as soon as possible. It will make an
excellent introduction to a series of works consisting of your own
observations in regard to the existing educational system, customs of
the people and business methods, together with translations from our
literature that will be of use to your people. In the preparation of
the account of your expedition and your discoveries, you will need no
assistance and when it comes to translations from our libraries and
travel over the five grand divisions, you will have the help of ripe
scholars wherever you go."
"Concerning the work here in this inner world," I said, "among such
a people, I have no doubt that it will be well done, but how are we
to transmit the information across the ice barriers at the verge? I
at first had great hopes from your airships, but I find that while
they are all right in this serene climate, they would be worse than
useless in the stormy atmosphere of the outer world and as at present
constructed the occupants could not live an hour in the intense cold of
the Frigid Zones."
"I do not," said Oqua, "apprehend any insurmountable difficulty from
this source. The inventors of the airship know nothing about storms
and cold and hence made no provisions for guarding against them. The
case is different with arctic explorers. Our inventors have learned
how to navigate the atmosphere, with ease and safety. This is the main
point. Now you people of the outer world can take up the work where
our inventors left off, and construct ships which can ride the storm.
I have learned since my return from the Minerva congress, that Captain
Battell is working on this problem with good prospects of success. I do
not believe that there is anything impossible to the human mind when it
acts in harmony with nature's laws. The airship factory at lake Byblis
is at your service, with every facility of material, machinery and
mechanical skill. All that is needed is a comprehensive understanding
of outer world atmospheric conditions, and you brought that knowledge
with you. This is all that our inventors needed in order to enable them
to construct an airship that would be equal to every emergency."
"You give me great encouragement," I said. "Captain Battell has asked
me to assist in this work by making experimental voyages to the verges,
in order to test the proposed improvements and make observations."
"Then all seems to be going well," said Oqua, "but there is no time to
lose. You must be gathering materials for your first volume as rapidly
as possible for I feel that it will soon be needed. To this end, I want
you and Captain Ganoe to go with me to-morrow to Orbitello, to see how
business is carried on. What do you think of it?"
"Think of it!" I said. "I have been very anxious to take this trip and
have only been awaiting your return so that we might have company, who
could assist us in our observations."
"Then," said Oqua, "we will start early, and I will telephone Polaris
and Dione to meet us and bring Battell and Huston. I know that Norrena
will be most happy to meet you. He is a walking encyclopedia of
knowledge and I know that you will enjoy his acquaintance. But," she
added after a moment's hesitation, "you need rest and I will go. Be of
good cheer. All is well, and do not forget that there is a wonderful
power in truth when it is left free, to remove errors from the pathway
of human progress,"--and kissing me good-night, she was gone.