URTSHIPS IN THE A 
 
 (HARLES ^. [ORENSON 
 
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 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME 
 OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT 
 FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY 
 
 HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924021766138 
 
COURT5HIP5 IN THE AIR 
 
 OR 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES 
 
 OF 
 
 HURRY HARRY 
 
 BEING 
 
 A ROMANCE IN TWO PARTS 
 
 WRITTEN BY HIMSELF AND NOW SET FORTH 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES LOEENSEN 
 
 BROADWAY PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 835 Broadway, New York 
 
 1914 > / /, 
 
 
Copyright, 1914 
 
 BY 
 
 Charles Loeensen 
 
 ?3 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The editor of this romance, which he entitles 
 "Courtships in the Air," is announcing to the world 
 that a man with a strange career and wonderful ex- 
 periences has lived in the immediate vicinity of New 
 York and Boston a considerable length of time 
 with his memoirs in the drawer of his library table. 
 The memoirs came accidentally to the present edi- 
 tor's notice, and he obtained, not without difficulty 
 and considerable argumentation, his permission to 
 arrange them into a respectable MS. and send them 
 to a publisher. Surprised that neither Boston nor 
 the Windy City nor the American metropolis had 
 ever heard of Hurry Harry, the editor could not re- 
 frain from acting as he did, and bring before the 
 public the singular career of a man of mystery who 
 has lived so long absolutely unknown in the imme- 
 diate vicinity of the greatest activity of the hustling 
 world. If he has succeeded to do justice to the 
 writer of the memoirs applaud not the editor, but 
 send your laurels to the real author, for if he fails 
 he shall consider his failure an unpardonable sin, 
 and expects no mercy and no forgiveness, neither 
 from the publisher, nor the critic, nor the reading 
 public. It seems to him, however, that the memoirs 
 cannot fail to interest at least the reading public of 
 America, for they contain, he believes, certain im- 
 portant hints and information on obscure subjects 
 which the whole world has long been waiting for. 
 
 With best wishes, therefore, for our mutual suc- 
 cess, he says to all whom it may concern: Respect- 
 fully yours as expounder of the singular career of a 
 New England Yankee, who, though nicknamed Hurry 
 Harry, is now abiding rather slow, and resting upon 
 his oars on the Stream of Time. 
 
 THE EDITOR. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 My given name is "Harry", my surname is of no 
 consequence to the public, for I have since early 
 childhood been called simply Hurry Harry. Being 
 rather proud of the nickname, as it is a suitable ad- 
 jective, and believing that my strange adventures 
 will interest and perhaps benefit all patriotic Amer- 
 icans, I wrote these memoirs. 
 
 Owing to the fact that the public clamor for news 
 is incessant, and believing that I have the right kind 
 to offer in my reports from foreign lands, I con- 
 sented to its publication. But as the primary spur 
 which drove me to writing was my Perpetual Dreams 
 of Fairyland, I believe that I am in a position to 
 open the way for a new and more universal patriot- 
 ism. I permit, therefore, that hobby of mine to suf- 
 fice as my excuse for offering these memoirs to the 
 reading public. 
 
 HURRY HARRY. 
 
 HI 
 
FOREWORD TO PHILOSOPHERS. 
 
 The satisfactory solution of all problems rests 
 with a conception or rather definition of Space which, 
 through an adequate system of reasoning by way of 
 analogy, shows that the Ultimate Reality reveals a 
 Monad to which the theoretical atom introduced by 
 science is a facsimile. 
 
 The disintegration, or breaking up of the atom, 
 recently discovered, is applicable to the Universe as 
 a whole. Not the dancing elements alone but all the 
 various and multifarious phenomena of space and 
 time are necessary consequences of that original 
 breaking up of the Eternal Monad which we are 
 called upon to recognize, not only as a voluntary act, 
 but as an Act of Creation. 
 
 The author's purpose in this volume is to an- 
 nounce to the world of thought that we have ar- 
 rived at a state of knowledge in which we are ripe 
 for an acute and decisive definition of Space and its 
 relation to the Finite. Bergson and Balfour and our 
 foremost representatives for thought are reasoning 
 from false premises and can never solve the urgent 
 problems which now present themselves to mankind. 
 They stand as calm mariners, but drift upon separate 
 rafts without instruments and are lost at sea. 
 
 Bergson has introduced the old question anew, 
 which, however, never will be answered in so far as 
 we find ourselves obliged to fall back upon mathe- 
 matics for solutions. Our methods of reasoning be- 
 come the unintelligible jargon of old, which neces- 
 sarily evolve when the Finite is appealed to for an 
 
 V 
 
VI FOREWORD TO PHILOSOPHERS 
 
 explanation of the Infinite. Bergson points out the 
 direction we should go in order to extricate ourselves 
 from the imprisonment in the finite labyrinth, but he 
 never himself ventures a single step into darkness, 
 and, though he seems to see that one penetrating 
 glance from the eyes of Reason is sufficient to ex- 
 plain the Universe, he remains in his lighted castle of 
 illusions. 
 
 The large comprehensive mind of Balfour wanders 
 with the eyes of Herschell into distant spaces and 
 scrutinizes with a Rutherford and a Ramsey the be- 
 havior of elements in the break-up of the atoms. But 
 his panorama remains a panopticon in which he con- 
 tinuously meets his own image in the multiple mir- 
 rors which confine his vision to a fatal finitude. 
 
 The author of these rather boastful innovations 
 came merely as a country lad into the city. Like the 
 court fool in Aladdin, he bounced his head against a 
 palace and broke a mirror at his first visit to a mu- 
 seum. Failing thus to solve the problems of juxta- 
 position, he retraced his steps rapidly to the suburbs 
 and the soil. Since then he has seen the fata morgana 
 in the sky, and though rather shy and reluctantly, he 
 now returns with a moving picture show of his own 
 and offers a free seat for all spectators. 
 
 We shall see at a glance why Spinoza failed to 
 make his demonstrations palpable to his hearers. It 
 was impossible for mathematics to arrive at a defini- 
 tion of the Infinite and it was likewise impossible to 
 explain the Finite by intellectual love. For Love 
 and the Infinite are coessential and coeternal and, 
 being identical with Space, are necessarily both mys- 
 tical verities. But the mystery becomes real to the 
 mind of man when the verities become divine. 
 
FOREWORD TO THE GENERAL READER. 
 
 It is to the reading public of the world that the 
 author is ardently desirous to represent himself, or 
 rather his mission, not merely as a philosopher, but, 
 as what Emerson (if I dare say it) probably would 
 term a poet priest. 
 
 Europe is imbued with pessimism, which, like a 
 pestilential bacillus, is threatening an invasion of the 
 West. How shall we arouse the public mind to the 
 serious things of life? is asked by those who stand 
 in a dilemma over the signs of the times. To imitate 
 Bacon would be futile. Let us rather decide with 
 Hamlet in Shakespeare that "the play is the thing" 
 which alone can touch the restless heart of man. 
 Fiction is always truth to the mind which is en- 
 raptured with the Ideal. But if the mind is not en- 
 raptured all writing and reading is a deplorable waste 
 of time. In my foreword to philosophers I shouted 
 beware of illusions! But here the command is re- 
 versed. Is the author attempting to humor his read- 
 ers then, or appealing, like a political haranguer, to 
 the caprices of perverted minds ? No. He is no con- 
 jurer, but merely juggling with a paradox, or an in- 
 nate condition in the heart of Being which becomes 
 paradoxical owing to our reasoning from false prem- 
 ises. Hence all our conclusions regarding our des- 
 tiny have missed the mark of truth. We have failed 
 to make them compatible with the constitution of the 
 world. Science has made excellent provisions for 
 our physical well-being and brought to perfection 
 nearly all material things, but failed utterly to satisfy 
 
 VII 
 
Vm FOREWORD TO THE GENERAL READER 
 
 the mind. But let us still grasp our illusions and 
 smile. For we still adhere to the old romantic school 
 and spell the solution of all problems with four let- 
 ters of the alphabet. They spell a mystery which is 
 real — we call it Love. 
 
 A multitude of contemporary authors spend their 
 energy to make their work appear as brilliant rami- 
 fications of colors in the twilight. They are victims 
 of substantially the same blunders as philosophers, 
 namely, the futile attempt to comprehend the In- 
 finite, which is immutable, by the Finite, which is 
 transitory. But the blunder is in the instinct of 
 Being and the various effects of it are all sacrificed 
 as means to one end in the evolution of things. The 
 vision of truth was the end and the individualization 
 of Being was the goal. The aim has been apparent 
 in the whole cycle of history which has moulded the 
 various races since Hindu drama and Greek thought 
 launched their respective boats upon the oceans of 
 time and which now again have anchored in the 
 Orient. Instead of producing a meteoric phenome- 
 non _ of shooting stars, which, though of ethereal 
 origin, have turned to gases and forthwith disap- 
 pear in the firmament, the author shall attempt in 
 these memoirs to transmit a few solid glimpses from 
 a morning star and herald the dawn of day. 
 
PROLOGUE BY PAN. 
 
 "Leaves of grass — 
 
 Feeble and effeminate leaves of grass 
 
 Whisper in the wind a secret language 
 
 And converse with the trees of the forest 
 
 On subjects not revealed to mortal minds. 
 
 Whilst the stately trunks fall over the ax 
 
 The grass complains of servitude to Man; 
 
 'Why have we served thee now in vain so long? 
 
 And why have we been left so far behind 
 
 By the trees in the long march of ages ? 
 
 For thee we flourished in our modesty 
 
 In the valleys of sacred eastern streams 
 
 And fed the herds of patriarchs of old. 
 
 Whilst the dreaming Nile poured forth her venom 
 
 We sent to Mediterranean ports 
 
 The ships by which was built Athens and Rome, 
 
 Which with Tyre, Cathage and Syracuse are gone 
 
 To oblivion as mist and dreams. 
 
 Whilst in the great Celestial Empire, 
 
 From Siberia to the shady side 
 
 Of lofty mountains in the Orient, 
 
 We served, and into golden grain evolved 
 
 In ages past, responding to the call 
 
 Of Man, who for his transitory bliss 
 
 Sustained the loss of beauty and that Love 
 
 To which mortal life from the beginning 
 
 Has ardently aspired, but failed to find 
 
 In this stupendous world of means to ends. 
 
 You have arrived in this great Occident, 
 
 Staring vaguely into the Pacific, 
 
 IX 
 
PROLOGUE 
 
 Still plotting to conquer another world. 
 
 But look ! — ^Look first to your own rusty shares- 
 
 For you must plow new furrows in the West ! 
 
 We have seen the rise and fall of kingdoms 
 
 And seen the sad destruction of empires, 
 
 But we retain communion with the sun 
 
 'Ari'6 we propose to serve you to the end. 
 
 But the end for which we have served as means 
 
 The crown of vour intelligence usurps ! 
 
 What's the object of thy ingratitude? 
 
 Dost thou brand thy forehead with the stigma 
 
 Of a fool and yet deride the fancies 
 
 Of^ vagrant tribes who, with gorgeous colors, 
 
 Painted distorted visages that were 
 
 Sadly deprived of beauty and of love ? 
 
 Your tribe of athletes are devolving fast 
 
 Into the lower minds of beasts and brutes. 
 
 Beware of the Spirit of the Forests ! 
 
 Dark and ferocious he lifts his ax 
 
 And he prepares to strike a fatal blow 
 
 At the root of the Banyan, in whose shade 
 
 You have reposed in tranquil peace so long! 
 
 And where the great Banyan stood a desert 
 
 Will for lack of fountains remain behind. 
 
 And in communion with the scorching sun 
 
 Hold sway in our old flourishing empire. 
 
 Then all is lost, for we can serve no more. 
 
 Recognize, therefore, O mortals, that we 
 
 As well as trees are children of the sun. 
 
 And in our solitary modesty 
 
 Enjoy the light you call the light of day; 
 
 For "live and let live" is the motto we 
 
 Observe in the red twilight of the West. 
 
 Permit us then to meditate with you 
 
 Our destinv. and avert the dangers 
 
 That lurk below, and threaten from above 
 
 To exterminate the little feeble life 
 
PROLOGUE XI 
 
 Which still is left behind to plod along 
 The sand and unstable shores of Time. 
 To the highest tribunal we send out 
 An ardent appeal in the name of Love, 
 Though we are only means and you the end 
 Which shall eternally endure beyond 
 The temporary orbits of the suns, 
 Providing you succeed in your attempt 
 To attain Freedom, which alone consists 
 In Emancipation of the Spirit !' " 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Preface .... 
 
 Intrdductidn. 
 
 Foreword to Philosophers 
 
 Foreword to the General Reader 
 
 Prologue by Pan . . 
 
 I 
 III 
 
 V 
 VII 
 IX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. In the Land of Dreams . . i 
 
 II. I Resume My Search for Wonders 6 
 
 III. The Automobile. . . .10 
 
 ' IV. The Speed Limit . . .15 
 
 V. Royal Blood . . . .18 
 
 VI. A New System of Cooling . . 23 
 
 VII: The Dark Spirit of the Forest . 29 
 
 VIII. A Delineation of the Unfit . , 35 
 
 IX. Hopes and Fears . . .40 
 
 X. My Flight to the Bretton Woods . 46 
 
 XL A Summer Night's Dream . .51 
 
 XII. Meditation on the Destiny of Man 60 
 
 XIIL The Meditation Blurred by the 
 
 Fog 65 
 
 XIV.' The Advance of Phoebus . . 69 
 
 XV. A German Aviator . . .74 
 
 XVI. The Aviator's Daughter . . 79 
 
 XVII. A New Woman's Mission to 
 
 America, . ' . . .84 
 
 XVIII. A Lover's Reverie . ., .. 90 
 
 XIX. The Aeroplane . ,., ,., ,., 94 
 
 •XX. The First Flight «, ""„, „. 102 
 

 CONTENTS 
 
 
 XXI. 
 
 A New Discovery 
 
 . 112 
 
 XXIL 
 
 The Revelation . 
 
 . Ii6 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 The Engagement 
 
 ,. 122 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Over Newport . 
 
 ,. 126 
 
 XXV. 
 
 The Utility of Wealth. 
 
 • 130 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 A Heart in Agony 
 
 . 144 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 The Eternal Feminine 
 
 ■ 153 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Startling News from Florid 
 
 1 . .164 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 The Unexpected Comet 
 
 . 170 
 
 XXX. 
 
 The Arrival . 
 
 • 175 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 A New Invasion of Cupid 
 
 ,. 179 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 Lovers' Delight 
 
 . 186 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 A New Departure 
 
 . 192 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 A Disappointment 
 
 ,. 202 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 Plot that Failed 
 
 ,. 208 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 The Explanation 
 
 . 214 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 Off for Europe 
 
 . 219 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 An Episode 
 
 :. 223 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 A Restoration . 
 
 :.. 234 
 
 XL. 
 
 A New Dress , 
 
 . 240 
 
 XLI. 
 
 A Metamorphosis 
 
 . 247 
 
 XLII. 
 
 A New Suitor ,. 
 
 .. 2S3 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 Soulmates 
 
 . 260 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 Off for the Fete 
 
 . . 26s 
 
 XLV. 
 
 The Ball ... 
 
 . 270 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 A Flight from Newport 
 
 . 287 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 Tidings from Germany 
 
 . 296 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 Tordenskjold 
 
 . 301 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 Over the Continent 
 
 . 310 
 
 L. 
 
 An Interrupted Wedding . 
 
 . 314 
 
 Epilogue 
 
 
 . 324 
 
COURT5HIP5 IN THE AIR 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 IN THE LAND OF DREAMS. 
 
 In early youth I roamed around the world in a 
 perpetual search for wonders. My father had re- 
 tired from Wall Street immediately after the first 
 stroke of "good luck," and, instead of imitating 
 Harriman, who went further West to explore what 
 there was still ahead, he went back East to search 
 for what he had left behind. I traveled extensively 
 with my father when a mere boy, now nearly two 
 decades ago. This has preserved me ever since from 
 contracting sedentary habits. We were traveling in 
 Great Britain, Germany, France and Italy when all 
 Europe was agitated by the strange doings of promi- 
 nent men, who, contrary to the ordinary course of 
 events, were really promising — ^promising in the 
 highest sense of the word — as stern defenders within 
 the crumbling battlements of society and — I dare say 
 — the social order. The sad fate of Parnell and 
 Boulanger, and a few lesser lights, were still fresh 
 on the minds of men. 
 
 What strange power in mere woman could draw 
 such men down? There was Parnell, the great 
 champion of individual liberty and advocate of 
 "home rule," unable to govern a few cubic feet oi 
 flesh and sank into oblivion in the attempt. There 
 
 I 
 
2 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 was Boulanger, declaring openly he could carry the 
 banner of the great mistress of nations and made 
 her believe that he was really advancing on darkness, 
 and had already made her put her standards a few 
 furlongs back into chaos when suddenly the ideal 
 bubble bursted, and the great reflector of all these 
 enchanting rays and gorgeous hues was drawn by a 
 woman — a mere woman — into the Great Unknown. 
 What is the significance of such calamities ? What is 
 the hope of society when at last, when a real leader 
 appears, he only appears as an enchanter, because a 
 strange feminine quality of a woman draws him into 
 the darkness he was so determined to expel? Can 
 that strange feminine quality be what Goethe termed 
 the "Eternal Feminine" (das evig weibliche), which 
 eventually will save all the bewildered races of men ? 
 
 Well, we will not attempt as yet to answer those 
 intricate questions, however urgently the problems 
 we are now facing clamor for solution ; but I will re- 
 late my own experiences with the Eternal Femi- 
 nine and attempt to come approximately near an ade- 
 quate definition of its nature. 
 
 When I traveled the first time abroad I was, as 
 aforesaid, a mere boy. I had resolved solemnly and 
 candidly, and even left a sworn affidavit with my 
 parish minister, to keep aloof of the opposite sex 
 until I had another confidential talk with him. I 
 therefore determined not to cast my eyes in the di- 
 rection of slender waists, hobble skirts, ladies' feet 
 and Cupid's bows. I kept my solemn vows until I — I 
 am not certain whether it was on a toboggan in the 
 snowbound north, on a Parisian boulevard, or in a 
 gondola at Venice on the Grand Canal — ^but I saw a 
 face which, alas ! set me a-dreaming. I do not know 
 whether it was a dream of ages past or a dream of a 
 distant future, but it took me out, once for all time, 
 0f the prosaic present. 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 3 
 
 The father of the enchantress was a stalwart Ger- 
 man, evidently a man of rank and power in the great 
 empire. But all I saw was that he caressed his 
 daughter and she called him father. All the ac- 
 quaintanceship we made was that my father had a 
 superficial conversation with him, he glanced at me 
 once or twice, while I glanced at his daughter, who 
 was at that time a mere child, scarcely arrived at 
 her teens. But she was a wonderful child, whose 
 face I could never forget, and the glances I ventured 
 set my head a swimming. When I crossed the At- 
 lantic homeward bound I had, at my arrival at the 
 American shores, written enough poetry and juve- 
 nile songs to fill a respectable volume. But no pub- 
 lisher has ever seen them, for, arriving at the upper 
 bay of the metropolis, in sight of that panorama 
 which, beheld from afar, is itself like a spiritual nu- 
 cleus in a land of dreams, I determined to drown my 
 private enchantment, and cast all my verses into the 
 sea. 
 
 But, alas ? my determination was of no avail ; for 
 whilst my verses took the water my dreams remained 
 on land. 
 
 All there was left for me to do now in order to 
 cast off the strange lethargy, I thought, was to open 
 my heart to the minister who had given me his rev- 
 erent advise and fortified me against the powers of 
 evil. But could I confess that I had disobeyed him 
 and swerved from the definite rules he had laid down 
 for me ? Could I confess that I had left the path of 
 rectitude and gone astray in the wilderness of the 
 world? Could I confess that I had been enchanted 
 by a precocious feminine child who had not yet ar- 
 rived at her teens? I felt it was necessary in order 
 to regain my mental equipoise. But, alas ! to my con- 
 sternation and despair, when I opened the minister's 
 'door the intelligence was imparted to me that my 
 
4 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 spiritual adviser was dead. The shock nearly over- 
 whelmed me. Though I was now relieved from the 
 pang of confessing my straying from the path of rec- 
 titude into the wilderness, I found no consolation 
 when I regained my mental equipoise. 
 
 My father returned to Wall Street and I returned 
 to college. Though now resuming my studies as a 
 sophomore, I was perpetually haunted by my dreams. 
 They did not disturb me as nightmares, but my mind 
 was continuously wandering in foreign lands. The 
 strenuous efforts of the professors to keep my wan- 
 dering mind concentrated upon my studies was futile. 
 When they instructed me in mathematics my mind 
 was concentrated on rhetoric; and when instructed 
 in rhetoric I was lost in a frantic effort to solve a 
 problem of the contemporaries of Euclid. When the 
 faithful professor instructed me in ethics my moral 
 conception was astray in the dim and remote past of 
 Egypt and the Chinese empire ; and when history was 
 the professor's subject I was generally speculating 
 on the summum bonum. When the dead languages 
 were on the program it was impossible for the pro- 
 fessor to keep my perplexed reasoning faculties from 
 Esperanto ; but when Esperanto came to the front my 
 admiration was absorbed to the verge of enthusiasm 
 in the literary style of Attica and Rome which had 
 been so admirably translated into English. But the 
 worst was not yet. When the professor one day in- 
 structed me in logarithms and the fourth dimension I 
 was sitting with a volume of "Paradise Lost" con- 
 cealed under my writing material. It was discovered 
 — and with it all the pencil marks and lines drawn 
 over hundreds of paragraphs in that esteemed classic. 
 I had written the words "to be quoted" with the in- 
 tention to incorporate at least four-fifths of the 
 twelve books in a volume I proposed to write on the 
 "Natural History of the Intellect"; the theme which 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 5 
 
 was Emerson's last hobby, but which he failed to set 
 forth »n account of failing memory. I confessed my 
 erratic intention and sprang at once into the limelight 
 of renown ; that is — as the archdupe of the whole in- 
 stitution of learning. To make things still worse to 
 the criticising eyes of the world, I was also a "molly- 
 coddle.'' For when my fellow students were in the 
 gymnasium or training for a ball game I was as a 
 rule ransacking the book stores or the library for the 
 latest novel recommended by the press. In short, I 
 was condemned as a failure, an impossibility as a 
 scholar, and an imbecile as a man. 
 
 My father was disappointed, for he had entertained 
 the hope of making me, besides a master of arts, a 
 doctor of philosophy. But just as I was considered 
 hopelessly lost to the world of thought as a strange 
 wanderer in the land of dreams, my father died. I 
 was still a sophomore ; but now my college life came 
 to an end. When I was of age I came into my in- 
 heritance and escaped at last into the wilderness I 
 loved so well. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 I RESUME MY SEARCH FOR WONDERS. 
 
 I do not know who first made the statement that 
 there are seven special wonders in the world amongst 
 the things accomplished by nature and the hands of 
 man, but I venture to declare openly, even under the 
 risk of being accused of prejudice, that it is a fal- 
 lacy and utterly false. The conception of the world's 
 wonders must rise above the idea of numbers be- 
 fore it becomes intelligible in the highest sense, for 
 the total contents of the world, whether wrought by 
 nature or the arts of man, is one stupendous won- 
 der to the man of science as well as to the poet. 
 When we lose ourselves in admiration of an object 
 whose profile stands out with a unique prominence 
 to our limited vision, we see but one stone whose 
 quality or beauty enraptures our imagination because 
 we fail to see the complete structure of which it 
 forms a part, though the arch is before us with its 
 symmetry. 
 
 When I escaped from college, though a wanderer 
 in dreamland, the routines of learning had succeeded 
 to impress my mind with the seven wonders, and in 
 order to obtain a fair view of them I set out at once 
 to foreign lands. 
 
 But my disappointments multiplied apparently ad 
 infinitum for the wonders failed to satisfy me and 
 impress my mind as wonders. I stood at the site of 
 Thebes and at the ruins of the Parthenon in the hope 
 of satisfying my longing for a glimpse of something 
 
 6 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 7 
 
 that would raise the mind above the common experi- 
 ence in a prosaic world. But all in vain. I flew with 
 frantic speed around the Mediterranean Sea; but 
 from the Pillars of Hercules to the Pyramids of 
 Egypt I felt nothing but the scorching sun. I flew 
 from the Karnak to the domes of the Bosphorus, but 
 the mental as well as the organic eye arrived at a 
 Black Sea, whilst clouds overhead prevented even 
 the faint reflection of the sun and stars. 
 
 I thence proceeded to the Far East. I had heard 
 the outspoken praise of Andrew Carnegie in refer- 
 ence to the temples of India. But I was struck with 
 terror when I saw that we are only insignificant imi- 
 tators in the architectural arts. Is the world really 
 going backwards ? I asked myself. The answer was 
 obvious. I found that all temple buildings from the 
 earliest ages to the present day represents Nirvana, 
 and that those of India are standing on the site of 
 the Lost Paradise. 
 
 But as I was looking for Paradise and not for Nir- 
 vana, I set sail for home and flew aghast from the 
 Orient with the speed of a hurricane. 
 
 After reproaching Mr. Carnegie for his danger- 
 ous misrepresentation of the splendors of the Orient 
 I resolved to try for the North Pole in order to in- 
 vestigate at close range the various phenomena of the 
 aurora borealis. I spent immense sums in prepara- 
 tions which I deemed absolutely necessary for a suc- 
 cessful expedition. To wit: I procured an icebox 
 especially made to order and shipped it to Africa. The 
 Arabs assisted me in shipping ice through the desert, 
 and when I offered them a compensation they insisted 
 that they would do all in their power free of charge 
 in the interest of science and the advancement of 
 learning. I, in the meantime, put myself under a 
 strenuous course of training by crawling into the ice- 
 box every day after running ten miles at a high rate 
 
8 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 of speed when the tropical sun was near the zenith. 
 This I kept up for several months until finally I con- 
 sidered myself adequately disciplined for the task 
 before me; and with a constitution absolutely im- 
 pervious to the effect of a climate totally devoid of 
 heat, I sailed for the Arctic regions April the first, 
 nineteen hundred and three. 
 
 My adventures in the frozen North are of small 
 interest to the Caucasian race, for we need not search 
 for the missing link amongst the Esquimaux. Noth- 
 ing strange happened to me, except that I found a 
 fraction of Andre's ill-fated balloon, and the only 
 dog that survived the strenuous life lost its tail in a 
 fight with a polar bear. But, alas! I failed in my 
 quest. For, though I advanced to a point consider- 
 ably farther than Dr. Nansen, I failed to get in per- 
 pendicular line with the North Star, and the aurora 
 borealis remained as remote as ever. I came home 
 with ears and other extremities considerably dam- 
 aged by frost, and learned to my complete consterna- 
 tion that the "pole" had been discovered — or, to be 
 more exact, found — "almost" simultaneously by Dr. 
 Cook and Peary. How lenient Providence is to some 
 of the earth's more favored sons ! I, despite my per- 
 sonal sacrifice and most strenuous effort, had to be 
 content with being mercilessly precipitated into the 
 stream of fate. 
 
 After all my failures in search for wonders I now 
 resolved to settle down, fully convinced that there 
 was nothing worthy of admiration under the sun. I 
 had nearly tried all but politics and the great Amer- 
 ican desert. But, afraid of being counted out in poli- 
 tics and afraid of perishing for lack of water in the 
 desert, I took to the woods. 
 
 A long time passed in absolute inactivity at my soli- 
 tary fireside, where I went to sleep like a bear in 
 winter, and during the summer I stretched myself 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 9 
 
 lazily like a snake in the sand of the highway. As I 
 lay there one day in June under the scorching heat of 
 the summer sun, disregarding extreme danger and 
 running the risk of being killed at any moment, either 
 by vehicles or strolling pedestrians who, I noticed, 
 knocked off the flowers at the roadside recklessly 
 with their walking canes — as I lay there dreaming 
 about what mercy such pedestrians would show a 
 poor snake, even if it was of the harmless green 
 species, not to mention a serpent with stripes upon 
 its back and which was likely to have venom upon 
 its tongue — I was suddenly awakened by the violent 
 reverberation of the tooting of a horn. I stirred with, 
 unwonted activity and arose to the full height of a 
 yellow adder on the island of Martinique. Whether 
 I was on the mountain of transfiguration or not I 
 do not know, but my form and altitude failed utterly 
 to scare the pacific occupants of the vehicle which, 
 propelled them so silently and swiftly across the 
 sands of time. 
 
 They stopped, and merely reprimanded me in a po- 
 lite and courteous manner for my carelessness and 
 went their way as silently and mysteriously as they 
 came. 
 
 The occasion afforded me but little chance to in- 
 spect the monster, but I resolved then and there — 
 though only depending on empirical reasoning and a. 
 defective and superficial faculty of perception— that 
 I had at last discovered the eighth wonder of the 
 world which was towering far above the conventional 
 "seven" whose history is buried in the ages of the 
 past. • 
 
CHAPTER HI. 
 
 THE AUTOMOBILE. 
 
 I learned afterward, by way of the local news, that 
 a careless loiterer on the state road had a narrow es- 
 cape from being killed by one of those horseless car- 
 riages we have honored with a name derived from 
 composited terms of a dead language, namely, an 
 Automobile. 
 
 I got so enamoured and enthusiastic over my new 
 discovery that I resolved to buy an automobile for 
 private use and try once more to stir the blood which 
 from prolonged inertia and sloth was flowing rather 
 lieavily through my veins. Though it eventually turns 
 out to be only a means to an end, which likewise is 
 only a means, an automobile plays a conspicuous 
 part in the narrative before us. immediately after 
 my rather sudden awakening I bought a car of special 
 make of a prominent New England firm. The maker 
 had baptized it "Thule," which, though he left out 
 "ultima," indicates that we are near the limit of the 
 mechanical skill of the Yankee, and consequently 
 near the extremes of the Universe. But, from what 
 there is beyond those extremes the Yankee seems to 
 shrink. They have evidently learned too much from 
 Herbert Spencer and are merely philosophers of the 
 "Knowable." But grant this, we must extend its 
 limits and remain Yankees to the end. Can we not 
 €xtend the limits of the "knowable" into the unlim- 
 ited sphere ? We must ! We must in order to perse- 
 vere in our being ! But what if it be Darkness ? We 
 
 ID 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR u 
 
 must explore it ! says the Yankee. We must advance f 
 But alas! will his candle do? It is evident that we 
 must light another candle, for the one we have at 
 present is flickering low. I have already seen many 
 Yankees who have shrunk and shriveled and turned 
 their backs upon darkness with the deplorable effect 
 of getting their sight blurred from staring too long- 
 into the sun. 
 
 Before we take our Thule on the "Ideal Tour" 
 through New England I will relate the singular ex- 
 perience I had in launching the last wonder of the 
 world. I employed what I believe was an original 
 method. The machine was delivered directly from 
 the factory on my premises. I was interrogated by 
 the driver as to my proficiency at the wheel, for he 
 had orders from the higher officials of the company 
 to offer me the first lessons in operating the vehicle 
 absolutely free with the bargain. But I declined po- 
 litely the offer. For, having driven elephants through 
 the jungles of India; camels through the Sudan and 
 Sahara: dog sleds to the "furthest" north (or at 
 least to a point further than that reached by Nansen,. 
 though I failed to cross the trail of Dr. Cook) ; grizz- 
 ly bears (Ursus horibilis) over the Rocky Mountains ; 
 cows to the pasture ; bronchos in the Wild West, and 
 buffaloes into the Great Lakes, I considered myself 
 (pardon my boasting) in all modes of travel on the 
 surface of the earth, an expert. 
 
 But after being left alone and after starting to 
 tinker with the new propulsion device, I realized that 
 I was guilty of the sin committed by the fiend in the 
 Garden of Eden, but had not, as yet, tasted the fruit 
 of the Tree of Knowledge. 
 
 I reasoned and meditated diligently on the problem 
 of "starting." Should I call in an assistant and con- 
 sider myself second and inferior in skill and ability to 
 any of my fellow men? No! it would not do. I 
 
12 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 knew too much, and had (even if I failed to reach the 
 pole) seen too much of the world. 
 
 I resolved, therefore, to start without assistance. 
 Owing to the gentle slope from my garage to the 
 highway, I managed with my utmost physical exertion 
 to push my new friend out and bring him in paral- 
 lel position with the direction of the road. As a pre- 
 caution of safety I tapped out the gasolene and left 
 but a pinch for filling the carburetter. The "crank- 
 ing" commenced. But (pardon my impertinence for 
 I had not been to church for a considerable length of 
 time) I mentioned the name of the Savior and even 
 the name of him who from the remotest ages has 
 been accused of corrupting mankind, at least a dozen 
 times before I realized my error and extremely de- 
 praved state of wickedness. I jumped frantically 
 around for an hour or more, but all efforts were fu- 
 tile — the monster refused to stir. I moved every 
 lever on the machine back and forth at least fifty 
 times. Finally, by moving one of the control levers 
 forward, I heard a click produced by gears falling 
 into mesh. Fully assured that I had this time struck 
 the vital point I resumed the cranking. But no result 
 followed and there was no perceptible change in the 
 mechanism. I let down another lever and "tickled" 
 the carburetter. I thence proceeded to crank. But 
 what happened next I only faintly remember. I felt 
 myself knocked down by the front axle and my last 
 recollection of sensibility was an additional opera- 
 tion on my nose performed by the rear pipe in the 
 "muffler." I was "muffled" for at least half an hour, 
 and, "coming to," found myself laying on a bed while 
 the grave old family physician was holding my pulse, 
 and besides my sister several sympathizing neighbors 
 were standing around me anxiously watching for 
 «igns of life. 
 
 I read in the following morning's local news that 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 13 
 
 Hurry Harry had been picked up on the middle of the 
 road for dead, or at least fatally injured, having been 
 accidentally run over by his automobile, but was af- 
 terward found to be only slightly bruised and stunned. 
 Untimely starting was the cause. The gasolene tank, 
 happily being empty,, the machine was found intact 
 at the top of a hill, where its wild career was stopped 
 after it had exhausted its meager supply of latent 
 energy. 
 
 I was now fully convinced that I had in my imme- 
 diate possession the greatest wonder of the world, 
 and resolved in the future to approach it and touch 
 it with the chaste dignity of a good Christian. 
 
 I hired a chauflfeur, who, being an honest fellow 
 of good family, indifferent to competition and rely- 
 ing on his own integrity, taught me his profession. 
 I soon found myself careering over the world in a 
 fashion never dreamt of before I found the eighth 
 wonder, for I had now discovered that I was a king 
 and every object on the earth were my ideal subjects. 
 I was: 
 
 Greeted by every blade of grass. 
 
 Presented rugs from a foreign land. 
 Speeding with celerity, I was 
 
 Greeted by beauties in the sand. 
 Complacently I'm looking down 
 
 Upon the Vikings of the past, 
 Envy no wearer of a crown. 
 
 For I'm myself a king at last. 
 
 O ! I mused, if Poe had lived in this twentieth cen- 
 tury his soul would not have remained in the shad- 
 ow of the "Raven." He would have been more mer- 
 ciful in his treatment of the "Black Cat," his super- 
 natural hatred of which terminated so disastrously 
 for himself and his wife. But in my happmess I 
 
14 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 will not be too severe in criticising Poe; no, I will 
 not condemn him; for in this twentieth century we 
 must hesitate in condemning criminals, especially 
 murderers, for the law of "survival of the fittest" 
 seems to be the Highest Law. I, moreover, was 
 rather thankful to Providence, for whilst Poe went 
 astray in the "bleak December," this godsend happi- 
 ness has come to me in June, and to-morrow is the 
 last day of Spring. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE SPEED LIMIT. 
 
 My mind was thus once more at ease, and I was 
 at peace with all the world. Though still leading the 
 "single life," I considered myself as blessed as if I 
 had actually emigrated to the fairyland of Conjugal 
 Love. But after my speed craze was interfered 
 with by fines and the revoking of my license, I saw, 
 besides the velvet green which the polite grass pre- 
 sented to me, also the obnoxious thistles and degen- 
 erate weeds which overspread so many abandoned 
 farms in New England. Yes; even occasionally my 
 eyes met those of an obnoxious serpent on the road. 
 
 What could I blame for this drifting of my mind 
 away from the Ideal back into a detestable prosaic 
 world? What could I blame for this gradual return 
 to my dreams of a Lost Fairyland? Apparently 
 nothing but the Law — the uncompromising law which 
 sets an undesirable limit to Speed. 
 
 The sequence of my reasoning showed in black 
 and white that all our mundane troubles must be in- 
 ferred from a speed limit which is undesirable and 
 sooner or later encroach so upon the human mind 
 that "open revolt" is an inevitable consequence. But 
 as the laws on earth only aim at protection for the 
 lives of mortals and show no mercy to those who in 
 their uneasiness drive too fast here below, the cause 
 of our crippled state of confinement under a clouded 
 canopy on a rugged crust of earth must be sought 
 in the celerity of speed with which the celes- 
 
i6 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 tial bodies float without obstruction through space. 
 We are crippled when we can conceive nothing but 
 the finite and transitory because Space is Infinite 
 and Eternal. The limit which was now again set 
 for my speed in this low region of the firmament 
 threw my mind back into the shades — not, however, 
 to the shades of the "Raven," but to the Maiden, 
 whose face enchanted me long ago in the gondola on 
 the Grand Canal. 
 
 Though I was not as yet ready to say the fatal 
 phrase "what is life without a wife," and subsequent- 
 ly blow out my confused brains, I was well aware 
 that the limit which was now set to my speed was 
 speeding me onward to the abyss of despair. I tried 
 philosophizing, but philosophy failed to assist me to 
 gain the ends to which I aspired. I had never been 
 in love with a woman (except that angel face on the 
 Grand Canal), for since I ceased to wander over the 
 world dnd foreign lands I had been a perpetual wan- 
 derer in the woods. My sister, the only relative I 
 have amongst the living, tried to introduce me into 
 society. But as society to me only represents an 
 awkward imitation of the dance of the Celestial Em- 
 pyrean, I declined with a horrified shudder which 
 was induced by contemplating the futile and rather 
 unconscious vanities of the world. Should I go back 
 to the woods and abandon the last wonder produced 
 by man? Should I consider this also a mere failure 
 in the incessant toil of nature in her endeavor of con- 
 veying Man to a higher and immortal destiny as his 
 end? No! I found after deliberate reasoning that, 
 though the middle course of life was either lonely, 
 dreary, or uninteresting, I could not pursue the ex- 
 tremes I loved. I stood in a dilemma. My mind was 
 at a dead-lock. But I felt this time that I had to 
 move. An imperative voice called me — neither south 
 nor east nor westward, but northward — northward 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 17 
 
 in search for the Great Carbuncle of Indian tradi- 
 tion. 
 
 Obeying the imperious call from the mysterious 
 realm of Silence, I prepared at once for an Ideal 
 Tour to the White Mountains, with their Bretton 
 Woods and their Crystal Hills. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 ROYAL BLOOD, 
 
 I set out alone with my young chauffeur in the 
 month of August from that beloved spot in Western 
 Connecticut I call my home. I had no special object 
 in view except obeying the Voices of the Night and 
 enjoying the celerity of speed. I nevertheless fol- 
 lowed the route mapped out by some ingenious Yan- 
 kee for the Ideal Tour so well known to motorists. 
 
 My first stop on the Ideal Tour terminated in a 
 discovery nearer home than I expected — ^in fact, im- 
 mediately beyond my own adjacent wood — ^namely, 
 the discovery that America as well as Europe has 
 hereditary nobility, and — Blood that is really Royal. 
 
 The stop referred to was accidental. A man of 
 rather ponderous proportions was laying crossways 
 on the middle of the road opposite a notorious corner 
 house in the town of W — on the turnpike of the Ideal 
 Tour to the Crystal Hills. My vigilant chauffeur 
 stopped instantaneously and I leaped out fl say 
 "leaped" for I was still as limber as any athlete of 
 twenty) and removed the obstacle in our way. We 
 thought at first it was a case of paralysis or acute 
 indigestion, for being in a "no license" Puritan 
 town, it could not possibly be a case of rum ! But, 
 if what I ahi relating now should happen to be un- 
 savory to the reader's taste, my only excuse for im- 
 pertinence is, that I am not writing fiction, but ad- 
 here strictly to actual experience and truth. 
 I A crowd of drunken maudlins soon gathered 
 
 i8 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 19 
 
 around us who thought their drunken comrade, who 
 happened to be the "lord" of the house, had been 
 instantly killed. He soon came to consciousness, 
 which, muddled as it was, could scarcely be called 
 self-consciousness. From the strange ejaculations of 
 the whole distinguished party, I reasoned then and 
 there that their actions were not performed under the 
 direction of individual self-consciousness, but mere- 
 ly under the passive obedience to the mysterious im- 
 pulses of the World Soul (Welt Seele) which is still 
 groping in Darkness for the Light. 
 
 I found, however, that all were Yankees, and not 
 Tartars, Russians, Poles, Slavonians, Hungarians 
 "Dagos," or Turks. Being myself a Yankee, and like- 
 wise groping in darkness — though, thanks to Provi- 
 dence, with a more definite direction and distinct 
 method — I resolved to explore the "inner circle" even 
 if Pluto and Lucifer were sitting at its center. 
 
 I therefore accepted their invitation to enter the 
 notorious corner house. The most ornamental fur- 
 niture of the place was a number of beer barrels and 
 a whiskey cask lined up along the wall. All of the 
 distinguished party were men with the exception of 
 two women who happened to be the wife and daugh- 
 ter of the man we had just saved from a violent 
 death. The wife (who also was a Yankee) was of 
 such symmetrical proportions that I reasoned by a 
 mere superficial glance her dimensions were exactly 
 the same (at least within a fraction of an inch) 
 whether her measurements were taken lengthways or 
 crossways. Her daughter was walking on crutches, 
 one leg being doubled up with rheumatism (or some- 
 thing of that sort). Five children of hers were 
 clothed in rags and covered with sores and eczema 
 and fistulas, at least, on every exposed part of their 
 bodies. I learned, by the way, that they were all 
 lineal descendants from the pilgrims who landed in 
 
20 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 the Mayflower at Pl3rmouth Rock. I had, therefore, 
 discovered "Royal Blood" and a New World nobil- 
 ity. It was evident enough from the fact that it 
 was revolting against confinement in the tiny bodies 
 of the children. 
 
 Beer and whiskey was offered me, and though I 
 was not thirsty, I felt it would be a serious blunder 
 of etiquette and an offence to royal manners to re- 
 fuse. My chauffeur and I drank sparingly, how- 
 ever. When the "royal" spirit commenced to culmin- 
 ate in "glory" one "nobleman" who had acquired 
 some rudiments of mathematics, crawled up on a bar- 
 rel — which, being empty, stood on end — and tried to 
 demonstrate that the top of a wheel moves twice as 
 fast as the bottom, and this rather obscure phenom- 
 enon, he insisted, was the only thing that prevented 
 the breaking of the spokes in the progress of mo- 
 tion. Though I intervened that I, by my inferior 
 judgment, thought some spokes in this brilliant com- 
 pany were seriously demolished, I would not dispute 
 the question with him, for this was evidently from 
 traveling either too slow at the top or too fast at the 
 bottom; and he, overmore, had perchance discov- 
 ered it on a dump-cart or behind balky horses, whilst 
 I had learned a contrary conclusion from the poet 
 Dante, where he concludes in his Divine Comedy in 
 the following lines: 
 
 "But now my will and wish were swayed by Love 
 {As turns a wheel on every side the same) 
 Love — at whose word the sun and planets move." 
 
 As the argument was thus easily disposed of by 
 way of arbitration without "appeal to arms" another 
 who had read the Bible through, climbed upon the 
 table and set forth, by way of a speech, that Jesus 
 would be our Savior if he had not been disgusted 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 21 
 
 with the world and delivered it over in the hands of 
 the devil and himself into the avaricious hands ol 
 the Jews. But, as circumstances are now, impend- 
 ing destruction is imminent. (I admitted there was 
 some truth in that). 
 
 Another followed him who delivered a sketch of 
 his family history. Feuds between themselves had 
 been perpetual since they conquered the Indians and 
 the wolves. His farm of five hundred acres, which 
 his grandfather had adorned with a stone house and 
 iron fences set in perrenial granite, had been in his 
 royal ancestors' possession nearly three centuries. 
 At the time milk was "cheap" it had supported sev- 
 enty-five cows, but now, though the price on milk 
 and beef is high and still soaring, the number of his 
 live stock had dwindled down to one, which, however, 
 he had disposed of the other day in order to satisfy 
 a blacksmith, who, with his black soul and ponderous 
 hammer had encroached upon him for settlement of 
 a bill of long standing for wheel tires and new 
 spokes. He was now a customer for the milkman; 
 but he showed us the last nickel of the last dollar he 
 had borrowed on a third mortgage on his inherited 
 estate, which was now in the hands of "receivers," 
 who, imitating the Savior, were bound to surrender 
 it into the hands of the Jews. When the roar "down 
 with the Jews!" deadened into silence, we had to 
 take a long draught from the last barrel. 
 
 But tired of speechmaking, the crowd soon com- 
 menced to indulge in exercise of a more violent or- 
 der. Fight issued; and in the twinkling of an eye, 
 almost every member were combating like tigers and 
 grizzly bears (Ursus horribilis), and if they had 
 been adorned with horns I believe they would have 
 played the pai-t of wild bulls. Several of the noble 
 men lost a part of their royal blood. Soon every win- 
 dow in the room was broken, flower pots were hurled 
 
22 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 out, the fat lady of the house, her thin and crippled 
 daughter and scrofulous children hurried upstairs, 
 and my chauffeur and I took a sidestep into the adja- 
 cent room. The frightened cat leaped on the table 
 and glanced with eyes of fire in silent wonder at the 
 courageous dog, who, eventually, evidently forebod- 
 ing extreme danger, made good his escape through a 
 hole in the door. 
 
 So instead of Pluto and Lucifer in the center of 
 this inner circle of Puritan descendants, I found only 
 a cat and a dog — the cat on the table and the dog 
 escaping through a hole in the door made by men 
 who now were laying paralyzed on a floor they had 
 stained with Royal Blood of Puritan New England. 
 
Stupefaction from drink had overcome them. 
 (Courtship in Air.) 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A NEW SYSTEM OF COOLING. 
 
 Almost at the instant the dog escaped, the royal 
 nightly revellers, apparently exhausted, all sank to 
 the floor almost simultaneously and snored imme- 
 diately in profound sleep. My chauffeur and I, 
 though suffering with a pain at our hearts for the 
 fate impending over the little scrofulous children who 
 looked down with bewildered eyes from the upper 
 steps of the stairs, repaired chuckling into a room 
 where we reposed on an old lounge (the only piece 
 of furniture in the room) till dawn. 
 
 In the morning, before we resumed our ride on the 
 Ideal Touri I wrote a letter to General Booth in Old 
 England and mailed it in the rural free delivery box 
 in front of the house. I thought it advisable to notify 
 the venerable head of the Salvation Army and ask for 
 new recruits as pilgrims in a new Mayflower; for 
 the white corpuscles are evidently leaking out of the 
 royal Puritan blood in the Western World. 
 
 We then resumed our flight northward in utter 
 disregard of the Speed Limit, though the day, at the 
 first appearance of Aurora, started in with excessive 
 heat. The previous night's experience continued to 
 haunt me. I evidently speculated on a new theory, 
 but to define its nature in my conception I ran- 
 sacked the defective faculties of my brain in vain. 
 Eventually, and rather suddenly, by observing the 
 vapor issuing from the front end of my automobile, 
 it dawned upon me that it was a New System of 
 
 23 
 
24 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 Cooling — cooling for the overheated Yankee blood in 
 order to give it direction and aim and increase its 
 sadly retarded speed. But, having determined the 
 theory, the next problem was the method and indis- 
 pensable devices to carry it into practice. William 
 James had utterly failed in his "psychology." Emer- 
 son, the once so brilliant transcendental star, had 
 receded like Hegel in Germany, into the remotest 
 realm of the Unknown, and was now perhaps far be- 
 yond the Milky Way, or hiding behind the South- 
 ern Cross, .merely taking a peek now and then over 
 the antipodes of our darkening, though, in the 
 most vital places, rather torrid earth. 
 
 Suddenly, just as my contemplative mood had 
 reached its most serious strain, my machine com- 
 menced to pound violently and simultaneously slack- 
 ened our speed just as if it was taking sides with the 
 detestable law which endeavors to confine "a man of 
 my stamp" (as Napoleon was accustomed to de- 
 scribe himself) to a certain limit of speed. We dis- 
 covered by investigating the matter that the fan belt 
 had bursted and the boiling water in the radiator 
 failed to cool the cylinders properly. What a strange 
 coincidence this was with my contemplation of the 
 feverish Yankee blood ! It set me probing still deep- 
 er in my quest. 
 
 Whilst the chauffeur tapped out the boiling water I 
 went to the nearest house with my bucket. Here I 
 became an unwilling and accidental witness to a 
 loathsome sight, which nearly stopped the circulation 
 of the blood in my veins. The first object I saw was 
 a white woman — a Yankee with good features — 
 working with sweat on her brow at a washtub. The 
 next object I beheld was a drunken, lazy mulatto 
 who was stretching himself on an old worn-out 
 lounge. The next was four half starved and more 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 25 
 
 than half naked children, which, though quarter 
 blood African, had good features to demonstrate the 
 constant effort of nature to improve the species. But 
 the squalor of the place was deplorable. What ex- 
 cess of heat in a young woman's blood could persuade 
 her to contract such a fatal marriage? The colored 
 man's soul was evidently as black as his skin. Was 
 his soul white when that unfortunate woman went 
 astray by taking such a fatal side step from the high- 
 way of reason? I was now more perplexed in my 
 quest, but I resolved then and there not to cease in 
 probing the deepest mysteries of nature until I found 
 what I was seeking, namely, a new system of cooling 
 — cooling the feverish Yankee blood, which now is 
 threatened with absorption in both the black and 
 white slavery of futurity. When I' left with my 
 bucket of water for cooling my obstinate motor, I cast 
 another glance upon the sad, melancholy face over 
 the washtub with its symmetrical Anglo-Saxon fea- 
 tures and sweat upon its brow. I then cast another 
 glance on the human monster on the lounge and at 
 the little children, who, with eyes full of wonder 
 stood contemplating the mechanism of my car which 
 the chauffeur had exposed to view. I handed the 
 woman ten dollars, and each of the children a quar- 
 ter. When I saw the flame of light and life it pro- 
 duced, I, who as a rule seldom give way to soft 
 emotions, shed a tear, which, I reasoned, came from 
 the bleeding of my heart. 
 
 When we again sped northward with our machin- 
 ery convalescent, I took my notebook and drew a 
 sketch of a new air cooling device for gasoline mo- 
 tors. I was just near a great automobile factory and 
 went straight to the office where I introduced my 
 air-cooling scheme as a substitute for boiling water. 
 The experts in their engineering staff took it reluc- 
 tantly out of my hand, looked at it, smiled, grinned. 
 
a6 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 and finally, after a mock consultation, shook their 
 clever heads with a superior air of wisdom. They 
 handed it back to me without their approval of its 
 efficiency, and declared it was inferior to systems they 
 had already tried in the line of air-cooling. They 
 looked at me just as if they would advise me to go 
 and see a doctor before the authorities took charge 
 of me, for I was evidently threatened with insanity. 
 
 Poor rogues ! They thought I had a new "patent" 
 to dispose of for a good royalty, whilst I was only 
 experimenting with the secrets of human nature. I 
 proceeded to the city of Hartford. 
 
 My reflective mood returned to pragmatism and the 
 "new" ideas of Bergson, which, failing to break away 
 from the yoke of the artificial methods of thought 
 which has hampered the minds of men in the Old 
 World since the palmy days of Greece and Rome, will 
 forever remain useless in the endeavor to find a per- 
 manent cure for the sick soul of man which is poi- 
 soned with art and can only be cured with an art 
 that springs directly from the root of nature. No 
 more grafting will henceforth be tolerated on the ar- 
 tificial Tree of Knowledge. The cauliflower again 
 turns into cabbage and the peach becomes once more 
 a bitter almond. Emerson has done all the grafting 
 we require on the tree of knowledge in the Primeval 
 Forests of the West. 
 
 After I left the automobile office I probed for the 
 cause of the absolute refusal of the engineering staff 
 to listen to air cooling schemes. Ah! The solution 
 came suddenly. The cause was adulterated oil, 
 which so long had worked havoc in motor cylinders 
 by deposing carbon and cause the fatal preignition 
 which retards and eventually puts an end to speed. 
 Adulterated Oil ! What a happy discovery ! Is not 
 the motion of human nature — ^is not the speed of the 
 human soul retarded and hampered in its progress 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 27 
 
 across the Sand of Time by an absolutely analc^us 
 method? Are we not administering adulterated oil 
 in feeding the body, in quenching the thirst, and in 
 cultivating the wandering mind of man? How long 
 will this madness continue? How long will this fatal 
 hydrophobia continue to make barking dogs out of 
 the human race? We see every day men turn into 
 monsters, because when held down by servility and 
 the laws they are but monsters in disguise — ^not 
 beings who stand on the pinnacle of Reason. 
 
 I am no enthusiastic reader of the Bible for I left 
 orthodoxy long ago with a stern determination to 
 seek a considerable space further back into history 
 for "real" antiquities, but in this case I will refer 
 the reader to Paul — not to mention the Master, who 
 said that only those are blessed who are pure in 
 heart — but let us merely refer to Paul who, compared 
 with the Great Master, was only a secondary re- 
 former in the Saturnalian age of Rome, yet he said 
 with emphatic voice: "Be ye filled with the Spirit! be 
 ye not filled with wine !" But, alas ! to "fill with the 
 Spirit" is now a lost art. The churches discontinued 
 that method of quenching the thirst of man long 
 aigo. Hence, Adulterated Oils are substituted every- 
 where. Nay! It is not even adulterated oil, but 
 merely artificial oil which has been made lubricous by 
 the ingenious chemistry of the recent ages. There is 
 no trace of organic substance in it ; and now and then 
 an inspector comes and transmutes it all into water 
 in a retort of his own make, and thus produces an 
 inconvenient friction for a little while. But "what 
 boots an inspector!" says the commercial adulterer; 
 "we will find a way to evade him I we have gold and 
 'keep' the law by buying it for cash!" But, gen- 
 tlemen, believe me ! if this is your method of squeez- 
 ing the juice out of the Universe, the extracted pro- 
 duct will soon prove to be unsavory to your taste. 
 
28 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 But, alas! I nearly forgot that you, too, are vic- 
 tims of the "Speed Limit" restrictions. Pardon me ! 
 I am still one of you." 
 
 In this mood I sailed into the capital of Connecti- 
 cut via Farmington Avenue, passing the house aban- 
 doned by Mark Twain, with my head as full to the 
 brim as that of the late humorist with new schemes 
 and basic methods for a new system of cooling mo- 
 tors as well as the feverish blood of the restless 
 world. 
 
 Suddenly, as I cast a glance over the city and the 
 river valley, it dawned upon me that this land of 
 dreams and its history is analogous to Palestine and 
 the fugitive children of Israel who fled from the op- 
 pression in Egypt. But we must go further with 
 analogy; we must include the allegory in the Gospel 
 of St. Luke — the story of the message of the Angel 
 to Virgin Mary. Is not this dreamland of the West 
 a Virgin and pregnant with child from being over- 
 shadowed by the Power of the Most High? Is not 
 Europe the old kinswoman "Elisabeth" who has al- 
 ready brought forth the "Baptist?" That Baptist 
 was Shakspear, and Avon was the river from which 
 he took the water wherewith he has baptized the 
 world. But as a family of Baptists has of late been 
 thrust upon us — Germany introduced her Goethe; 
 Norway her Ibsen ; Belgium her Maeterlinck, etc., — 
 we must infer that America is to bring forth the 
 Messiah. 
 
 But this time he comes not to be crucified but to 
 "judge." Though a son of Pan and a "Virgin 
 World," he will baptize with "fire and the Spirit," 
 and judge the living and the dead. He will therefore 
 not introduce himself as a Savior, but he walks "in- 
 visibly" in the forests of the West. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE DARK SPIRIT OF THE FOREST. 
 
 After spending the afternoon in the historic capi- 
 tal I stood towards evening on the Great Bridge mus- 
 ing on the fate of man. The red man has ceased to 
 paddle his canoe down the stream. We also will go 
 down the stream of Fate, but perhaps those arches 
 of stone will prove more substantial, or, at least 
 more serviceable than the aqueducts of Rome. But 
 we must beware lest men of hues more akin to the 
 red man revenge his fate. If we desire to escape the 
 humiliation of going down under their heels we must 
 carry the White Light of Reason on our banner. 
 
 Just as I pondered over contingencies in the fate 
 of the white man I heard the hideous howling of a 
 dog, standing on the middle of the bridge. This was 
 the foreboding of a funeral according to the lore of 
 superstition. But as funerals are frequent in these 
 latter days I had no particular contemplation to offer 
 upon matters pertaining to the canine instincts. But 
 I had, nevertheless, a private foreboding of evil 
 when I left the bridge for Springfield after the twi- 
 light had disappeared in the western sky. 
 
 We sped along with celerity until we were about 
 ten miles from the city. I then heard a scream of 
 agony and terror coming out from the darkness. We 
 stopped the machine, listened more attentively, and, 
 hearing it was a scream of a woman, now more ter- 
 rible, I leaped out, ordered the chauffeur to wait, and 
 advanced into the darkness. I stumbled a few rods 
 
 29 
 
30 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 from the road over a woodchopper's axe. I picked 
 it up, and, seeing it was a "keen cutter," I advanced 
 with a keen cutter's mood. Coming nearer the spot 
 from whence the screams issued, I crouched like an 
 Indian, holding the tomahawk ready for onslaught ; I 
 soon came near enough to notice a man and a woman 
 scrambling on the ground. The woman was fighting 
 desperately to free herself from her assailant's clasp. 
 He had almost completely stripped her clothing off 
 from her waist down, and when I caught sight of 
 them he was endeavoring to muffle her voice by 
 ■stuiEng a part of her torn clothing down her throat. 
 The nature of the case was obvious at first sight — 
 it was a clear case of rape, which likely would end in 
 a foul murder. I did not hesitate — I did not delib- 
 erate — I did not reflect on the cause which turns man 
 into a brute or a beast — I permitted the Indian to 
 take possession of my soul — I advanced with fury — 
 my soul became dark, and whatever it was pursuing 
 in that mood could be nothing but a shadow standing 
 between myself and the Light of Reason. I crouched 
 as silently as a skilled Indian chief without being no- 
 ticed. The next moment my axe struck off with one 
 terrific blow the assailant's head so that it flew to 
 the ground, turning round until it lay with open eyes 
 staring at the Milky Way, but without seeing that di- 
 vine mysterious stream which is so far away. 
 
 Next I doffed my automobile coat and wrapped it 
 around the body of the nude girl. I removed the 
 muffle and hushed her to silence, the object of which 
 she immediately understood, though only a girl in 
 the fourth year of her teens. Next I removed the 
 clothing from the trunk of the brute so that the; 
 crows could get at his polluted flesh. Then I buried 
 the axe in a tree, took the girl in my arms and re- 
 turned to the car, leaving the rest in the Shadow of 
 the Raveii. 
 
T left her wrapped in my coat at her father's door. 
 
 (Courtship in Air.) 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 31 
 
 Before I reached the car I instructed the girl not to 
 mention anything to any one, not even if detectives 
 should interview her in her home. She undertsood at 
 once that this course was necessary to avoid compli- 
 cations with the law and my indictment for murder. 
 The chaste girl explained to me that the rogue had 
 seduced her under a false pretense into the woods 
 from the automobile in which he had taken her for 
 a ride from the city. After dark he had prevailed 
 upon her to consent to his evil design, and she had 
 struggled with him until her strength was gone in de- 
 fending, her virgin honor. I left her with her chaste 
 body wrapped in my coat at her father's door. I 
 then drove off again into darkness with a clear con- 
 science and satisfied that I at least once had saved a 
 woman's soul from contamination with infamy. 
 
 Permit me now to defend myself and explain my 
 position. In the first place, it was not me who was 
 guilty of manslaughter, but it was the Indian in me, 
 who merely struck a blow at a shadow with the re- 
 sult of killing a beast, or, perchance, a demon. It 
 was no murder, but merely a quick administration 
 of the absolute justice of the Highest Law. Why? 
 Because the sixth commandment in the Law of 
 Moses is inadequate in these latter days and must be 
 modified thus: "Whosoever eats so much from the 
 Tree of Knowledge that excess turns him into a 
 beast shall die." The fruit from the tree of knowl- 
 edge avails nothing if the consumer fails to partake 
 of the fruit from the Tree of Life. We can only 
 bring woman into her proper sphere by accepting this 
 statement of Christ: "Sin against the Holy Spirit 
 cannot be forgiven neither in heaven nor on earth," 
 for woman represents the Infinite and the Infinite is 
 equivalent to the Holy Spirit. You protest that some 
 woman are frivolous, silly, and lead men astray. I 
 
32 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 will admit it; but I will simultaneously on this oc- 
 casion take the liberty to explain the cause : 
 
 Many women are frivolous because Man has so 
 abused Woman from the earliest ages that she event- 
 ually has been forced out of her proper sphere in 
 these latter days. Man, in so far as he is Man, must 
 eventually lead woman because she is the eternal 
 representative of Divine Love and the Infinite in the 
 temporal world and therefore blind in the highest 
 sphere of Reason. But, instead of leading her with 
 reason, man has followed her with passion — followed 
 her to his impending destruction. If man cannot 
 lead woman to her salvation he will be led by her to 
 his ruin, because he has attempted to make her a 
 plaything for himself alone. Has not nature put the 
 poison into her womb to burn the polluted flesh of 
 man? But know this as a truth: Woman cannot 
 commit the arch-transgression of man and sin against 
 the Holy Spirit, because she is the sole representative 
 of that Spirit in the Finite. 
 
 Man, on the contrary, represents the Spirit of 
 Time before the bar of the Infinite, and as such he 
 will lose his birthright as a man unless he becomes 
 the stern and uncompromising defender of the Cause 
 of Woman before the bar of Eternal Justice. 
 
 It is therefore that I, in the name of Truth, in 
 the name of Life, and in the name of the Law of 
 Love stand before you as a slayer of a beast, or, if 
 you please, a murderer, and as such I stand as an un- 
 compromising defender of the cause of woman here 
 and now and for all time to come, and as such I 
 will carry her cause to the tribunal of Reason. In- 
 dict me if you dare ! 
 
 But before you permit the hand of your law to be 
 laid upon me, remember that rape is a transgression 
 again the Holy Spirit for which there is nothing but 
 capital punishment according to the statutes of the 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 33 
 
 Highest Law. As woman is the sole representative 
 of the Infinite in the material world there is no equal- 
 ity possible between man and woman until we reach 
 the empyrean. Whatever my conduct be therefore 
 in my defense of femininity, I will take my chance 
 with God and the Devil (I say both Gk)d and the 
 Devil because we cannot depose one without deposing 
 both), the two Primitive Dragons, who, to many, are 
 still incomprehensible monsters, but to me they both 
 stand revealed in the light of the first cause. I shall 
 subsequently reveal them to the eyes of all the world, 
 and then they will melt as two unstable elements into 
 one base, which we will name the Law of Love. 
 Then, and then only, will man forever hold the scepter 
 of Empire in the united realm of Reason and of 
 Love — that divine realm which alone will survive the 
 Storms of Time. 
 
 Departing again into darkness, I stood a while on 
 the bridge and jotted down the following stanzas : 
 
 Tell me ! O, tell me, thou pulsating earth ! 
 
 Art thou warm with a flame out of heaven? 
 Or wilt thou surrender to fire and sword 
 
 All the splendor which to thee was given? 
 
 Thou art building a structure here below 
 
 Which, when raised, thou canst claim as thine own, 
 
 For over its visage and on its brow 
 The seeds of death and corruption are sown. 
 
 The law I mention is not eternal; 
 
 But dissolution will not cease to fight: 
 As long as this state remains infernal 
 
 It'll wield its weapon by day and by night. 
 
34 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 Shall I wield to the end the fatal sword 
 And take back what from above was given ? 
 
 O' tell me ! tell me, thou pulsating earth ! 
 Art thou warm with a flame out of heaven ? 
 
 I folded up the slip, placed it in an empty spark- 
 plug case and cast it into the river. Whilst the un- 
 couth rhyme would apply more fittingly to the to- 
 bacco growers above, the stream carried it toward the 
 peach orchards below, thus indicating that this, too, 
 is a Stream of Fate. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A DELINIATION OF THE UNFIT. 
 
 Out of the dusk of night, 
 
 Down from the skies above, 
 There comes a wondrous light 
 
 With all the hues of love. 
 
 Swifter than 'Aurora 
 
 And all the Northern Lights 
 
 It inspires the flora 
 
 To steady upward strides. 
 
 And vegetative men, 
 
 Who slumber in the sun. 
 Are crawling from their den — 
 
 For dreaming has begun. 
 
 When they hear the thunder 
 
 And see the clouds in fight 
 'Tis, they think, a wonder 
 
 That Darkness broods on Light. 
 
 I penned down above lines as I left the bridge again 
 and drove northward in my quest, namely, a new 
 system of cooling the feverish blood of man before 
 its temperature goes too high and afterwards sinks to 
 the zero of death. I could continue indefinitely in a 
 poetic strain ; but what is the use ? Poetry is not what 
 the world is waiting for, but good, solid, plain prose 
 — uprose that aims with the "big stick" and strikes the 
 
 35 
 
36 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 mark. I refer in above lines to a certain political 
 leader whose name I need not mention, for whoever 
 knows anything about anything knows him, and those 
 who do not know anything will not read my book. 
 
 In referring to that leader I am not as timid as 
 John the Baptist when he from his prison cell sent 
 his disciples to inquire whether Jesus was "the man" 
 or not. I am, thanks to Providence, not in prison, 
 though already a serious criminal to the eyes of the 
 "passive reason" of the world. No — I am not John 
 the Baptist, for I see that the leader referred to has 
 made the "lame" walk, the "blind" see, the "deaf" 
 hear, and last, but not least, he has arisen some, in- 
 cluding myself, from the dead. Has he already been 
 crucified by the felons in this New Jerusalem of the 
 West ? If so — then in the name of the Highest Law 
 I will set sail for a new Greece and a new Rome. 
 But they shall not catch me as they caught Paul. No ; 
 I will not be crucified with my head down; I shall 
 say, like Socrates of his soul, catch me if you can! 
 But neither will I drink your hemlock, for I am driv- 
 ing a fast car. 
 
 But I am not afraid of the laws of men unless they 
 conform to laws divine. I have tarried a little on 
 my way and stopped for slumber on a side road be- 
 tween the hours of midnight and dawn. Whilst I 
 am writing this in my note-book I am passing by the 
 scene of last night's episode. Lo! what do I see? 
 Myriads of crows almost obscure the light of Au- 
 rora! Ah! the chauffeur is pointing in that direc- 
 tion and is wondering what has attracted the crows 
 ill such multitudes to the spot. But I scarcely hear 
 him; my answers are the monosyllables "who can 
 tell?" I am busy writing, and tell the chauffeur to 
 mind his wheel. But the reader knows the errand of 
 the crows. The polluted carcass of that miscarriage 
 of humanity is already disposed of; and ere night 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 37 
 
 some stray dogs will have made good with his bones 
 and complete the task of sending a "would be" to ob- 
 livion. Looking at the crows, I almost chuckled with 
 delight to see how faithful the lower animals are in 
 assisting man when his cause is right. 
 
 What shall we say about the maintenance of the 
 unfit which of late has evoked discussion amongst 
 progressive thinkers? What shall we say about the 
 lenience shown by the tribunals of justice? Are we 
 not drawing a rather small circle around the unfit? 
 Are they not multiplying rather fast in all classes of 
 society ? How large shall we make the circle around 
 them ? They do not all go to the extremes of felons ; 
 but "Eskil's food" and Mrs. Winslow's "Soothing 
 Syrup" or "Castoria" do not seem to be the proper 
 diet for the children of men. Alas ! how many chil- 
 dren are already prepared for the hangman before 
 the age of puberty ! And when puberty arrives, how 
 many are not like the thistles and weeds we pull up 
 by the roots when it is green, and when it has seed 
 or pollen we stamp it out of existence by burning in 
 order to insure downright destruction by dissolving 
 it into thin air. But, alas ! we have committed seri- 
 ous blunders in establishing our World Kingdom. 
 But if our kingdom is only of this world we will be 
 overtaken by the deluge and we, too, will go down in 
 the waves by blindly opposing the decrees of the 
 First Cause. 
 
 What a calamity is impending for the human race 
 if in the orchards and gardens of society the weeds 
 and fungi and parasites of every imaginable shape 
 and form are permitted to overshadow the most 
 stately trees ! Alas ! the fruit becomes bitter ; the ap- 
 ples worm-eaten, and, though goodly looking, rotten 
 at the core; the grass becomes yellow; the walks 
 muddy, the bowers collapse and the flowers die. 
 What before was a garden of great promise is then 
 
38 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 only a fit abode for wasps and vampires and rats and 
 snakes which poison the air and completely obscure 
 the sun and stars until, eventually, all the writhing 
 vermin rots away. 
 
 We stand in our watch-towers, which we think are 
 invincible because they are fifty stories above the 
 ground ; we look down on China with horror because 
 they expose their shady side to the light of the sun ; 
 but we fail to see that we are ourselves in the same 
 Stream of Fate — and if we do not descend to their 
 level they will, by the aid of their Subterranean Fire, 
 come up to us and overwhelm us, like a tremendous 
 Cracatoa. 
 
 What shall I say then in my delineation of the Un- 
 fit ? I have only to take the position of Paul when he 
 came to Athens and Rome — when he declared that 
 Jesus had preached the gospel and arisen from the 
 dead. It only requires a few words : 
 
 The Unfit has been hit with the "big stick," and 
 the "big stick" will strike it again. 
 
 Now, do you understand me ? Have I made things 
 plain to you? Have I represented myself and my 
 maker — that is — the man who arose from the abyss- 
 mal abode of the dead? If so, applaud the performer 
 of miracles, who was born in the purple and reared 
 in a labyrinth of art, whilst I spring directly from 
 mother nature and the root of things. He has come 
 down with pride to humility, whilst I am going up 
 with humility to pride. 
 
 How do we know the Unfit? Are they branded 
 like Western bronchos? They have a history which 
 requires no deciphering of ancient runes. In their 
 childhood they are reared on soothing syrup and arti- 
 ficial food, in their youth they seduce women, in their 
 manhood they usurp business, and in old age (if they 
 do not die with syncope or acute indigestion) they 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 39 
 
 descend to the extreme folly of asses and attempt 
 the impossible inbreeding of mules. 
 
 We could easily continue to delineate and describe 
 the unfit ad infinitum, but I do not think it is neces- 
 sary to describe them in detail. Any man or woman 
 with a moderate faculty of reasoning can easily de- 
 tect them by their physiognomy, speech, dialect, gait, 
 decorum, manner, actions, behavior, etc. But, by all 
 means beware of attempting to detect them by the 
 color of their hair, the shape of their cranium, or the 
 bumps on their heads ! Beware of becoming "bump- 
 ologists" ! For their theories have long, though un- 
 consciously, been practiced in our whole social sys- 
 tem and have proved extremely misleading, being de- 
 void of respect for the soul. 
 
 I am now inclined to think that it is useless to probe 
 further into the reason why it is absolutely necessary 
 to obtain a more adequate and efficient system of 
 cooling in order to reduce the excessive heat of the 
 social temperature. The clinical instrument has been 
 properly applied and held close up to your eyes. The 
 mercury is at fever heat and continuously rising. 
 There is a limit at the scale which we cannot permit 
 it to pass with impunity; for when it recedes from 
 that fatal point it will not remain long at the temper- 
 ature of life but continue to sink to the zero of 
 Death. 
 
 But now I am near Springfield, and I must go 
 and buy me a new coat; we will therefore adjourn till 
 to-morrow. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HOPES AND FEARS. 
 
 Fully assured that I had determined the weights 
 and measures of the whole system of things which 
 so fatally gravitate towards a Dead Center, I stopped 
 at Springfield — the city of dictionary fame. As the 
 famous work of Webster stands for the adequate 
 definition of words and their proper use in twentieth 
 century English, I shall relate an incident that oc- 
 curred here in the immediate vicinity of the city, 
 which reminded me of the truism that a prophet is 
 not honored in his own country. But Webster can 
 scarcely be considered a prophet for he has certainly 
 been outwitted in the use of invectives. The dic- 
 tionary wizard stood always on the level in a peren- 
 nial sunshine and placed his hands carefully on all 
 he saw with the most amiable effect. But my first 
 impression of this place was that his fellow men in 
 this generation are standing on a precipice, imagine 
 themselves attacked by serpents, hurl missiles into 
 darkness and strike nothing. The encounter we had 
 with an owner of a herd of cows was rather discour- 
 aging for an Ideal Tour. An overheated Yankee 
 gave us an impression that things are rather too 
 tangible and prosaic here below. Are the descend- 
 ants of the Puritans dissipating the last flickering 
 spark of life that still remains in their intercourse 
 with grasshoppers? 
 
 Whilst I am jotting down these lines it suddenly 
 dawns upon me that we are all, as a rule, standing 
 
 40 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 41 
 
 like opaque monsters with our backs turned to the 
 hght and see nothing but our own shadow. Have I 
 not myself committed a rather rash act? If I look 
 behmd me I see nothing but a shadow; if I look 
 ahead the shadow is still there, and— lo ! there is no 
 light behind. Is Man then merely a Shadow of a 
 Shadow which will augment and end in total Dark- 
 ness ? Who can tell ? 
 
 I spoke out brave and bold in my defense for using 
 extreme measures in protecting the souls of women ; 
 but now, alas, I am already on the road to extreme 
 perplexity. I do not regret the deed, for I am satis- 
 fied that I have done the highest duty which comes 
 within the scope of man's activity in the order of na- 
 ture. But will that conviction of mine convince and 
 satisfy the world? The world and jurisprudence 
 may show lenience in my case and pronounce me in- 
 sane. But I protest. Whilst men in this material- 
 istic age insist that nothing but the tangible exist, I 
 come out of darkness and declare that the soul alone 
 is real. But will men believe me ? No ! I reasoned, 
 they will not. I resolved then to demonstrate that 
 the soul is tangible. I went back to my notebook. I 
 modify what I wrote in my defense. I erase. I re- 
 write. I destroy it all. I write a complete new copy. 
 I eliminate all that appears obscure. I destroy it 
 again. I curtail the sentences. I dispute the philos- 
 ophy of the ages. I condemn the bureau of detec- 
 tives. I condemn jurisprudence. I condemn society. 
 I condemn the individual. I condemn the nations. 
 For the sake of the salvation of a woman's soul I 
 condemn the world to extinction in the abyss of ever- 
 lasting night. But, alasl the world will not under- 
 stand me, and I destroy it all again and make a new 
 copy. 
 
 But I had scarcely completed my defense and dem- 
 onstration of the tangible existence of the soul when 
 
42 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 a newsboy threw the morning paper into my room. 
 There was a sensation headed with extraordinary big 
 letters. I read the sensational news, which approxi- 
 mately was as follows : 
 
 "The daughter of a prominent man of the city of 
 Hartford, a girl sixteen years of age, had been found 
 sitting on her father's doorstep in a half dazed_ con- 
 dition, almost completely denuded but wrapped in an 
 automobile coat. She refused to speak, and all ef- 
 forts to obtain an explanation from her has so far 
 been futile. A son of a prominent merchant, who 
 was a sophomore at Columbia College, had taken her • 
 for a ride in his auto and is missing. It is evidently 
 a case of attempted rape and homicide. Bloodstains 
 in the woods and a woodchoper's axe are the only 
 available clues " 
 
 O, blessed woman soul ! O, faithful dogs ! I so- 
 liloquized. Perchance a fox has come to their assist- 
 ance in justifying my cause and satirize the erratic 
 laws of man. He was a sophomore — what of it — I, 
 too, had been a sophomore; but a sophomore of the 
 felonious stamp of that seducer would unquestion- 
 ably have to suffer more than the momentary sensa- 
 tion produced by the woodchoppers's keen cutter if 
 he had been permitted to live the span of life allowed 
 a biped in the order of nature, and, besides that, he 
 would have made others suffer more — he would have 
 murdered the souls of many women and dispatched 
 them to their graves before the time appointed by 
 nature. 
 
 Whilst I reasoned thus I congratulated myself for 
 not being at variance with the Positive Law of the 
 Universe. But then I read further : 
 
 "An Hungarian woodchopper is held as a suspect 
 and indictment for attempted rape and murder is ex- 
 pected to follow soon. In the meantime a general 
 alarm has been sent out to the national bureau of de- 
 
CGUr.TSIlIPS IN THE AIR 43 
 
 tectives to be on the alert for suspicious looking au- 
 tomobilists, as the coat of the victim was found in his 
 own car on a side road, and the coat the maltreated 
 girl had on when discovered must evidently belong to 
 another motorist " 
 
 I stopped reading. Reflection upon my own posi- 
 tion called upon my immediate attention. I had pro- 
 cured an automobile coat in the first clothing store I 
 passed on the main street. Was it really safe for me 
 to remain here long? My chauffeur might be inter- 
 viewed at any moment by the omnipresent detectives. 
 Though detectives are really the only class of men 
 worth while nowadays (with the exception, perhaps, 
 of a few cowboys, especially those that are wielding 
 the "big stick" and can stand before kings), I was 
 now on the verge of temptation to condemn them 
 with all the rest, and consign them to a space within 
 the circle of the lowest regions of chaos. 
 
 Then I thought of the arrested woodcutter. But 
 whose life and liberty was worth the most, that of an 
 illiterate woodchopper or mine? What virtue, T 
 thought, could there be in a mere woodcutter except 
 that put into him by brandy and tobacco? Nothing 
 else ! Nothing of that kind which leads to the High- 
 est Good. Nothing of that kind which is immortal. 
 What if he expiated for my deed ? What if he made 
 atonement for a deed decreed by Providence? I re- 
 solved then and there that he must ! And what would 
 perchance be the result? Despite lack of confession 
 he would of course be convicted on state evidence and 
 consigned to the scaffold; but the governor would in 
 such a case commute his sentence to life imprison- 
 ment. And what would perchance be the result of 
 that? He might have the rudiments of an educa- 
 tion in him which now were laying dormant in his 
 brain. Brandy and tobacco might now be substituted 
 by spiritual food. He might have heard of Plato 
 
44 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 and Jesus, and Dante and Shakespeare or Milton, 
 and a desire to make more intimate acquaintance with 
 those saviors of mortal men might lift him out of 
 the abyss where brandy and tobacco are the only ra- 
 tions obtainable to stimulate action. In short, by ex- 
 piating for my deed, he might yet become a Man, for 
 the Ideal might become Real to him ; and, instead of 
 wielding his axe at the root of trees he might become 
 a companion of Hesiod and Homer, an actor in At- 
 tica and a hero at the siege of Troy. 
 
 I chuckled over the prospect that I in my rash act 
 had conferred a double blessing upon mankind. 
 Good becomes the cause of evil, which again returns 
 to good! What a happy multiplication of effects 
 rules this world of wonders ! 
 
 The fate of the woodcutter disposed of, my atten- 
 tion was now directed to the problems involved in my 
 escape and evading the detestable, fallacious and er- 
 ratic laws of man as they stand in the threatening 
 black and white in the antiquated statute books. 
 There they stand in black and white — in light and 
 darkness — but totally devoid of the rays of Love. 
 Where could I obtain counsel and advise. I felt that 
 I had none but my own. I stood a while in a di- 
 lemma as to whether I should remain and take my 
 chances with fate or whether I should flee aghast 
 from both time and place. I had no straw, and none 
 with me to do the drawing, so I could not dispose of 
 that question in the familiar way of gambling. I had 
 no God to interview for an oracle. Finally I de- 
 cided to examine my pulse and let the condition of 
 my nerves and blood determine what course to take. 
 If it was irregular and indicated fever I would re- 
 main and throw myself into the hands of the de- 
 tectives and the law, but if it was steady and indi- 
 cated convalescence, I would flee and defy the dark- 
 ness of both time and space. I felt upon my pulse. 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 45 
 
 It was steady and regular. I instantly put on my coat 
 and hat, aroused my chauffeur in the adjacent room 
 with a violent knock at his door and swore by the 
 faith of Socrates to defy the storms of time and steer 
 my boat against the currents which continuously are 
 flowing and drifting towards black abysses. 
 
 I hastened to the dining hall for breakfast, settled 
 my bill and hurried to the garage, followed by my 
 chauffeur, who was at a loss to understand my haste, 
 though too polite to ask questions. 
 
 Catch me if you can! I muttered on my way. I 
 have determined to dare or die, but your cup of hem- 
 lock shall not be drained by me. I have imitated 
 Moses, who slew the Egyptian tyrant, I have stood 
 before the "burning bush," and I will lead these 
 Western Israelites through a Red Sea before I will 
 carry a cross to Golgotha, and instead of ushering in 
 another fatal epoch of Darkness, I will cast my vote 
 for an epoch of Light. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 MY FLIGHT TO THE BRETTON WOODS. 
 
 Whilst I write this I am fleeing at terrific speed — 
 a speed far exceeding the legal limit — beyond Holy- 
 oke. I am just passing Mount Tom, which before 
 I looked upon as one of the scenic wonders of the 
 world, but is now to me dwindled down to a paltry 
 object which merely represents a branded spot on the 
 dead body of chaos ; and such it will remain as long 
 as I am standing alone with my views from the pin- 
 nacle of Reason — that view of the world which Spin- 
 oza termed sub quadram specie eternitatis. The des- 
 tiny of Man is now the subject which has taken com- 
 plete possession of my mind. Am I a man of des- 
 tiny? This is the question I now propound to my- 
 self. I feel that I am, and must therefore do some 
 rapping — rapping with the "big .stick" — already be- 
 gun by the Man on Horseback. 
 
 But a horse, though a faithful animal, is too slow 
 in the twentieth century. It would do for Napoleon ; 
 but in the twentieth century the speed of light alone 
 will suffice. 
 
 "We must be on the alert, chauflFeur, in order to 
 get there in time to keep my appointment," shouted 
 I to my driver, who was wiping the dust from his 
 goggles. 
 
 "The road is rather rough in places on account of 
 the new dressing of broken stone," replied the 
 chauffeur. 
 
 "No matter — open your throttle !" 
 46 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 47 
 
 "As you like it — ^it is your car; I'll keep it in the 
 road." 
 
 "What does the speedometer register now? Are 
 we beating it at seventy-five yet?" 
 
 "The rate is one hundred now." 
 
 "That will do. Keep it there." 
 
 At that rate of speed we left the dust behind us 
 until we in an incredibly short time found ourselves 
 climbing the foothills of the White Mountains. 
 
 Here, where most cars are forced to slacken their 
 speed on account of steeper grades, we overtook a 
 car whose occupants, contrary to the many we had 
 passed the last four or five hours, did not seem in- 
 clined to give us the road. My chauffeur blew his 
 horn frantically, but without efifect on the obstinate 
 motorists ahead. We then noticed a sharp curve in 
 the road in our immediate vicinity. The car ahead, 
 in making the curve, although at a somewhat retarded 
 speed, demolished the fence. We, followed close be- 
 hind at a still faster speed and were forced still fur- 
 ther to the left side of the curve, which, lo ! proved 
 to be a precipice. Whilst we swerved around on the 
 precipice our two left wheels were at least two feet 
 over the edge and I looked down, not without a tinge 
 of awe and horror, into the abyss, which extended 
 in a perpendicular line hundreds of feet below. 
 This is the nearest approach I have as yet made to 
 death. But it was a trifle nearer than I again de- 
 sire to approach that uncanny dispatcher of life in 
 the immediate future. But my thoughts were soon 
 directed away from such trifles as danger to mere 
 mortal man, for my mind was innoculated with 
 thoughts of my destiny, my mission and my quest. 
 
 We were soon alongside and steadily gaining on 
 the terrified occupants in the car ahead, whose mas- 
 ter shouted, as if inspired by the extreme peril we 
 had just survived : 
 
48 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 "Fly fast ye travelers from pole to pole 
 And mock the waves upon the Stream of Fate ! 
 I shout to all, both to the small and great : 
 
 'Ye cannot check the Currents of the Soul'." 
 
 "Bravo," I returned, "take that message to China, 
 we will expound it in America, and if you are able to 
 follow us you may listen and take notice." 
 
 This man was evidently a minister, and one of 
 those who, contrary to the general rule in these latter 
 days, still has a grain of truth in his metaphysical 
 make-up. 
 
 The car, however, failed to follow us, and was 
 soon far behind and disappeared from our view. 
 
 The question as to what I was really seeking in 
 the White Mountains now presented itself as a rather 
 dark cloud upon my mental horizon. The majesty of 
 the scenery, which so often before had enraptured 
 my imagination, interested me no more. It was to 
 me no more now than the monotonous view of a 
 desert. I had ceased to look up to nature, for I felt 
 that nature looked up to me. What was I seeking 
 then ? I felt that I had a mission to deliver man- 
 kind ; was I here then seeking inspiration for the task 
 of wielding the "big stick ?" But, alas, where should 
 inspiration come from now when there was nothing 
 in sight with capacity to inspire? The Great Car- 
 buncle was an Indian myth; but I had a foreboding 
 that it was a myth of some consequence. The au- 
 tomobile had aroused me, and so far performed its 
 task faithfully, but I was now near my destination 
 and felt that I was steadily sliding back under the 
 sway of the old lethargy. Would it perchance be bet- 
 ter to consign myself to the authorities as the real 
 culprit and save the woodchopper from the shadow 
 of the gallows? If the old lethargy was henceforth 
 destined to take possession of my soul why should I 
 
Whilst we swerved around the precipice our left 
 wheels were over the edge. 
 
 (Courtship in Air.) 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 49 
 
 permit another to expiate for me who stood on the 
 same level as I in the scale of evolution into that re- 
 mote and strange being we call Man? Should I per- 
 mit a woodchopper to expiate for me, who, more- 
 over, besides making himself useful by chopping 
 wood, was a consumer of brandy and tobacco, whilst 
 I, penurious epicurian as I was, subsisted mainly on 
 porridge and milk? It was perchance still an open 
 question who was the most useful citizen, one who 
 uses brandy and tobacco and all imaginable luxuries 
 of life, or one who merely subsists on necessities. If 
 all were like me millions of human beings would in- 
 stantly be thrown out of employment and forced by 
 circumstances back to the soil; cities would be va- 
 cated ; skyscrapers would stand like the pyramids of 
 Egypt as monuments to the dead ; churches would be- 
 come as ghostlike as a Stonehenge and a Karnack of 
 old; theatrical orchestras would waste their strains 
 of music on the desert air ; actresses and the follow- 
 ers of Terpsichore would become ridiculous perform- 
 ers on the stage and mere primitive species in the or- 
 der of primates. But — O, merciful God! — let us 
 cease. Perhaps the skyscrapers are already, even 
 with the staunch support of this epicurean world, 
 mere leaning towers, for Manhattan, though girdled 
 with water, may already be undermined by Subter- 
 ranean Fire. Let us cease to enumerate the terrible 
 changes that would take place if all individuals in the 
 human race imitated me in diet. Mankind would be 
 so distressingly healthy that all physicians and all 
 druggists would have to seek employment on the 
 farms and raise oats, or barley, or potatoes, lest we 
 would be obliged to appeal to China for rise in such 
 excessive quantities that it would transfer the finan- 
 cial stronghold of Wall Street to the Forbidden City. 
 O, Gk)d ! Let us beware of disasters ! Let us keep the 
 Spiderweb! The gossamer is fine. But let us have 
 
so COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 faith in the filament! It will hold! It will hold! 
 Many flies have been caught in it. It will hold, un- 
 less, peradventure, the seventeen-year locust should 
 overwhelm us from the swamps of the South and 
 West. Or, perchance, unless the "big stick" should be 
 wielded so rudely that it should kill the fat spinners 
 in the various centers of the web. But, O, what a 
 calamity! What a calamity for the feasting and 
 chattering children of men ! 
 
 But now I see the peak of Mount Washington and 
 I'll put up for the night on a side road in the woods. 
 I long for a glimpse of the Milky Way and a famil- 
 iar chat with Orion inspired by Aldebaran and Sir- 
 ius. 
 
 Whilst continuing to meditate before Mount Wash- 
 ington, whose peak stands so lofty over the adjacent 
 hills — I, O horror — I who had just conceived my 
 own substance as really identical with the Essence 
 of the Most High — I again was overshadowed by 
 a premonition that I was merely Lucifer, and, hang- 
 ing low in the sky, would soon disappear in the light 
 of Aurora. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 A SUMMER night's DREAM. 
 
 Arrived at the foot of "Jacob's Ladder," I felt 
 similar to Jacob of old, that I had a birthright that 
 justly belonged to me, though I was haunted by 
 mocking imps who claimed it as their own. But, 
 thanks to Providence, they had so far been mere 
 puny demons, and not to be compared with foes 
 half as formidable as Esau of old. I almost chuckled 
 as I thought of the trick played on old Isaak by that 
 true daughter of Eve, Rebekah, as recorded in the 
 Bible. That episode was one of the extraordinary 
 incidents in history when a progenitor of Abraham 
 fooled another of the same race. But we must re- 
 member that this happened before Judas was born, 
 and in these latter days that particular race, though 
 they issue as vermin from a ghetto, will only im- 
 pose on the Gentiles, except perhaps when occasion- 
 ally at long intervals they see, like Jacob, Angels on 
 a Ladder, which, instead of laying in an horizontal 
 position on the ground, reaches in to higher regions. 
 This fact indicates that even Dinah was no angel, 
 since her brothers, the "honest" and "moral" sons 
 of Jacob, resorted to such a felonious revenge on 
 Hamor and Sechem. But Joseph, on the contrary, 
 must have been an angel, since the same brothers, 
 with the same high "moral" standards, sold him to 
 the Ishmaelites who brought the "Dreamer" to 
 Egypt, where a higher destiny awaited him. But 
 he was a happy dreamer, perhaps because he was 
 
 SI 
 
52 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 the only one of the children of Jacob who was con- 
 ceived in Love, for, owing to that old rascal Laban, 
 the fate of Jacob was indeed tragic. Yes. the Jews 
 indeed are a race of destiny. They never betray 
 each other except when they see an angel from 
 heaven. There are but three principal incidents of 
 that kind recorded in the annals of history ; the cases 
 just referred to, and then there is that memorable 
 night (or whatever time in the day it was) in Geth- 
 semane when Judas Iscariot betrayed his Lord with 
 a kiss. He was perhaps in great need of "cash," but 
 the infamous rogue had nevertheless to commit sui- 
 cide, for he had evidently been too near the angel 
 eyes of the Savior to survive the effect of it ; for no 
 mere mortal man, especially men of that caliber, can 
 see God and live. 
 
 In that mood and with my face turned towards 
 Jacob's. Ladder, I wrapped myself up in my cloak, 
 leaned over in my tonneau, closed my eyes and pre- 
 pared to go to sleep. But I could not sleep. The 
 strange coincidence of my case with that of Jacob of 
 old haunted me. Have I not served the old "World- 
 Laban" a sufficient length of time now to receive 
 my boon? I reasoned. I am, nevertheless, content 
 with my fate of being a second son, for my birthright 
 is intact. While I chuckled over the extreme fool- 
 ishness of Esau I turned my face towards Sirius, 
 which now appeared over the horizon. With my 
 head towards the North Star and my feet towards 
 the Southern Cross, I closed my eyes. But, though 
 the mocking imps receded into the background, I 
 could not sleep. I dislike to speak disrespectfully of 
 the dead, but I was on the verge of cursing Mrs. 
 drowning for lending her genius to this foolish ut- 
 terance : 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 53 
 
 "Would now its weary vision close, 
 Would childlike on His love repose 
 Who giveth His beloved sleep !" 
 
 I cherish my "visions," and my own love is the 
 only love on which I "dare" repose, I mused, whilst 
 strange thoughts— myriad thoughts raked my brain. 
 
 Are the Jews, I mused, now again contemplating 
 to play the sinister trick of Judas Iscariot? If so 
 we will soon get rid of them — at least as mercenary 
 Jews with sordid pecuniary impulses — for, by firmly 
 establishing themselves in the Orient, they will, by 
 importation of "rags" from those distant shores, 
 again bring a cholera and a "black dead" upon Eu- 
 rope, and then all will sink into the Ocean of Death, 
 whilst the moon will still continue her ancient sport 
 with the waves ? "O," I said in a mood which must 
 have been the mood for which Jesus was accused by 
 the "high priest," "O, if I could but tear down this 
 world-temple of hypocrisy which has been built by 
 mortal hands, I would build a new one more divine 
 in three days." 
 
 In this mood I turned over on the other side with 
 my back toward Orion. But I could not sleep. 
 Finally drowsiness overtook me, but just on the 
 verge of sleep I was aroused by a cracking noise. I 
 sat up in the tonneau, and, though the sky was clear, 
 I heard the roar of thunder. Whilst my eyes scanned 
 the horizon a strange light came from the east, and 
 settled on the summit of Mount Washington near, 
 the top of Jacob's Ladder. I mused a while over 
 the strange phenomenon and attempted to sleep once 
 more. But this time I heard a roar of thunder right 
 over my head. I looked up again, but the sky was 
 clear and nothing but the trees and the stars was in 
 sight. I shook my chauffeur, who was snoring, but 
 my effort to wake him was futile. Thinking that 
 
54 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 perchance some invisible missile had struck him and 
 that his snoring was the coma of dead, I took his 
 cap and struck him violently in the face. But this 
 ordeal aroused him so that he, with an instinct of 
 alertness, grabbed hold of his wheel. I inquired if 
 he had not heard the terrible noises. But he de- 
 clared positively that he had heard nothing^ of that 
 sort, but had only dreamed that he was driving on a 
 narrow road and just on a narrow margin avoided 
 a collision. The next moment he was off again in 
 dreamland. I attempted once more to sleep, and 
 lying down, I stared directly into the twinkling light 
 of Sirius until my eyes closed by no effort of my 
 own. 
 
 But what did I dream? Ah! I saw again that 
 angel face I had seen many years ago in the gondola 
 on the Grand Canal! 
 
 But this time the little girl in her teens had devel- 
 oped into a mature woman of the most phenomenal 
 and transcendant beauty. She looked at me with 
 eyes more enchanting than I in my most lucid mo- 
 ments could ever have imagined to be in the actual 
 possession of mortals. She was standing on the 
 top of Jacob's Ladder, and I, bold adventurer as I 
 was, was sitting at her feet ; and, unlike Dante in the 
 Divine Comedy, I had advanced that far even with- 
 out the guidance of Virgil. I am now willing to for- 
 give Mrs. Browning, for the woman I saw in my 
 dream, who I was destined to meet the following day, 
 will henceforth be our heroine. 
 
 What she said I shall now endeavor to report 
 from the land of dreams to approximate accuracy. 
 It is impossible for me to repeat it word for word, 
 for it was only when the strange noises awoke me 
 and the vision disappeared that I had a chance to 
 record her message? J, missed perhaps the best part 
 of it, but, feeling that opportunity was rapping at 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 55 
 
 my door, I did all in my power to seize it and suc- 
 ceeded in jotting down the following, which she 
 spoke in rhyme: 
 
 "Take thy quest 
 On my behest 
 Through creation! 
 Every nation 
 Then will know 
 By thy brow 
 That, besides Truth, 
 Perpetual Youth 
 Will follow all 
 Who hear my call. 
 For I above 
 From realms of Love 
 Bestow on earth 
 My radiant mirth. 
 What men desire 
 With tongues of Fire 
 I will bestow 
 To those who know 
 That Divine Spark 
 Which in the Dark 
 Obeys the Soul 
 From pole to pole. 
 
 But tarry not — 
 Men seek and plot! 
 •; But all in vain, 
 
 For naught they gain; 
 Though every train 
 On tracks remain. 
 Whose extension, 
 By invention 
 Destroys Motion 
 By explosion: 
 
56 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 For those who fight 
 The clearer light 
 Will lose the race 
 With Time and Space 
 
 In all their sports 
 With foul Retorts 
 Men fail to see 
 Celestial glee. 
 All devotions 
 To Finite Motions 
 Are means to ends, 
 Whose dividends 
 Remain below 
 Beneath the snow. 
 Those who deride 
 Love's sweet delight 
 And quaff but wine 
 And sleep and dine 
 Will lose the boon; 
 And, like the moon, 
 Shed borrowed light 
 On worlds by night. 
 And when the sun 
 His course has run 
 Then all will perish. 
 What mortals cherish: 
 For all that burns 
 No more returns 
 To that sweet life 
 It lost in strife. 
 But to a goal 
 The human Soul 
 With a Free Will 
 Is moving still. 
 
 Strike down! ye mortals. 
 All hindering portals 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 57 
 
 Which keep you from 
 The life to come 
 The life of Fire 
 Which you desire 
 To win with sloth 
 Will come to naught. 
 Strike! now or never. 
 Lest ye forever 
 Remain below 
 'Neath sleet and snow. 
 
 As I have seen 
 The Empyrean, 
 I beg you leave 
 Your world of grief: 
 For all your gold 
 Is bought and sold, 
 And lost at last 
 In a fiery blast. 
 But you will see 
 When you are free 
 That Pearls above, 
 In wreaths of Love, 
 Lie strewn like sand 
 In Fairyland." 
 
 I awoke. The voice ceased. The vision disap- 
 peared. O, heavens! could I only conjure it back. 
 "Return! Return!" I shouted into the darkness, 
 and shouted so loud that the drowsy chauffeur sat 
 up and took notice. 
 
 "Did you hear that?" I inquired. 
 
 "Hear what ?" he replied drowsily ; "I heard noth- 
 ing. I only dreamed I went down to the garage and 
 you called me back, that's all." 
 
 He returned at once to his dreamland, and I laid 
 down again, this time on my back, for Sirius was- 
 
58 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 now nearer the zenith, and the vision indicated that 
 Sirius was my star. 
 
 As soon as slumber overtook me the vision re- 
 turned. Lo! this time my angel was adorned with 
 an aureole. But despite the aureole she now com- 
 menced to speak to me in prose in a language so 
 plain that it could scarcely fail to be comprehended 
 by any moderately intellectual man. I recollected 
 the following: 
 
 "I have often seen thee in iny dreams and know 
 the nature of thy quest, which by me shall soon be 
 revealed to thee in the most effulgent light. For 
 that purpose, and that purpose alone, have I come to 
 this shore from a distant foreign land. 
 
 "Despite all your wonderful achievements you are 
 still haunted by the Great Dark Spirit. The Dark 
 Spirit is indeed as formidable a foe as before the 
 trail of the Red Man disappeared from your forests 
 and your streams. I saw your deep, searching, fiery 
 eyes whilst I traveled with my father in Italy. You 
 saw me at Venice in a gondola on the Grand Canal. 
 We followed on your heels to Paris, to London and to 
 the Northern snow, and only lost track of you when 
 we returned to our native land in the center of Eu- 
 rope. I have there been industriously occupied on a 
 spinning wheel ever since, and the gossamer thread 
 which has fallen from my hands shall be wound 
 around the world. Despite the delicacy of the 
 ■filament I shall lasso the globe in my fibrous 
 yarn and sling it into a space as yet too 
 distant to be perceptible to mortal eyes. The 
 impetus will be tremendous. Whatever is unfit to 
 survive will speedily go to oblivion, whilst the fit will 
 go to the Empyrean. But all that is destined to per- 
 ish throughout the immensity of the universe will 
 eventually melt into one immense crystal by the con- 
 tinuity of universal gravitation. This crystal will 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 59 
 
 shine like an immense carbuncle. The Indian tradi- 
 tion of the mysterious carbuncle in the White Moun- 
 tains, Crystal Hills was the primitive Dream of 
 Reason which arrives at maturity in the eventual 
 Evolution of things. But the Ultimate Carbuncle 
 will not shine by its own light nor by the light of the 
 sun — for suns exist no more — ^but it will shine by 
 the radiance of those Spirits who have individualised 
 the invisible light of the first cause." 
 
 The uncanny imps returned and seemed this time 
 to be in my immediate vicinity. Half awake, I struck 
 out, with the instinct of an athlete, to left and right, 
 and landed at least one blow on the sleeping chauf- 
 feur's cranium, so that he, at least once in his mo- 
 notonous earthly existence, really, saw stars in his 
 dreams. I, in the meantime, to my abashment, dis- 
 covered that the buzzing mosquitoes were the only 
 disturbers of my tranquillity and peace. 
 
 I jotted down the above message from my Fairy- 
 land of Dreams. I reposed again; but it was now 
 near dawn, and too late for visions and for sleep.- 
 Sirius and Orion were now disappearing in the light 
 of Aurora, and I was staring directly into the light 
 of the morning star. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 MEDITATIONS ON THE DESTINY OF MAN. 
 
 My dream struck me at first more as a portent of 
 evil than as a revelation having scientific signifi- 
 cance. I deduced immediately, however, that there 
 is no prophecy of permanent good in that light we 
 are accustomed to call the light of day. But had I 
 really understood the oracle? Were the Indians the 
 only true prophets of all the races of mankind ? Was 
 that mysterious race, which apparently sprang di- 
 rectly from "Chaos and Ancient Night," the real 
 people of destiny whose aboriginal instincts were 
 based on true Ideals of Freedom? Here, then, in 
 this mysterious West, stands the cradle of the race 
 of Man. Aboriginal cataclysms in the remote ages 
 of the past separated the Western foresters by im- 
 mense gulfs of oceans from the races who were des- 
 tined to follow the course of the sun. Hence the 
 Indians represent that state in the evolution of races 
 which corresponds to the age of childhood in the in- 
 dividual. It corresponds to the idyllic state before 
 the age of puberty. 
 
 The. civilization in the Orient represents then the 
 dawn and the morning in the evolution of man, and 
 corresponds to the raving of youth which follow its 
 arrival at the age of puberty. In its Western march 
 it branches ofif into the aryan and the semetic, which 
 respectively represent the masculine and the femi- 
 nine elements in the world sex. One is continuously 
 tending to absorb the other. The perpetual war be- 
 60 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 6i 
 
 tween the masculine and the feminine natures, or, 
 respectively between Reason and Passion, reaches 
 its climax around the Mediterranean Sea. But one 
 could not be absorbed by the other with impunity. 
 The stagnation of India and China would ensue. 
 Helens and Cleopatras are as fatal conjurors on the 
 side of Passion as a Scipio and a Julius Caesar on 
 the side of action. Such universal conquests prove 
 fatal both for Reason and for Love and a Dark Age 
 must inevitably ensue. 
 
 But in the ultimate analysis of history we shall see 
 that the Dark Age was a period of evolution which 
 corresponds to the development of a fetus from 
 which a new incarnation was destined to ensue. 
 When the Aryan had absorbed the Semitic races, the 
 pistil of the world-flower had also absorbed the sta- 
 men, and the virgin world went to sleep, pregnant 
 from within by the Cross of Golgatha. Lo! the 
 world is still a virgin! But, being pregnant from 
 within, she is destined to bring forth her child. 
 
 Let us consider this important revelation a trifle 
 more than a pastime and look at it in detail. Let us 
 take an excursion to the various ports around the 
 Mediterranean Sea and look at the Virgin who still is 
 sleeping there in her beauty. 
 
 We enter into the sacred and secret precinct of the 
 sleeping Virgin via the Pillars of Hercules. Hush! 
 Let us be still ! lest we awake her and disturb her in 
 her dreams by exposing her nude innocence to the 
 gaze of a profane wqrld. Let us make good our es- 
 cape ere the hour arrives appointed by nature for 
 the divine event. Let us permit her to bring forth 
 her child in peace and in her private chamber. Lord 
 Byron roared aloud when he sailed for Greece; the 
 hour had not then arrived, but now the supreme mo- 
 ment is near at hand. Let us, therefore, merely 
 
62 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 whisper whilst we are here, and let the presence of 
 the physician suffice. 
 
 We stand on deck at the bow whilst our keel is 
 cleaving the delicious water in the direction of the 
 rising sun. The Pillars of Hercules are this time 
 straddling a strait of water more feminine and di- 
 vine than heretofore, though the inscription "Ne 
 plus ultra" is gone. We enter. We pass along the 
 coast of Spain and dream of fallen glory. We dare 
 not look to our right; Morocco is engulfed in dark- 
 ness despite the tropic sun. We glance to our right 
 as we continue our course eastward. Carthage is 
 gone. But the pirates of the Dark Ages, as well as 
 the followers of Mohammed, failed to disturb the 
 chaste Virgin in her sleep. We glance again to our 
 left. Here stood in masculine grandeur Syracuse 
 and Rome. Anthony, Csesar, Cicero, poets and pa- 
 tricians, directed their steps towards sunny Egypt in 
 utter disregard of asps and crocodiles which inhabit 
 the precincts X)i the dreamy Nile. They saw noth- 
 ing but Cleopatra in her transcendant beauty. But, 
 though guided by Virgil, they all failed in the stormy 
 affairs of Love. Cleopatra was no Beatrice. She 
 was not in the Empyrean. She merely sat at the top 
 of a pyramid whose steep slippery acclivities her 
 lovers failed to scale. She sat on the battlements 
 of a mysterious Karnak and watched her victims 
 being devoured by crocodiles ; but she consigned her- 
 self to the deadly asps when she heard the uncom- 
 promising voice of One Surviving Caesar who 
 threatened her inaccessible pyramid with subter- 
 ranean fire. 
 
 But the hero of ancient Rome was doomed. Turn- 
 ing home he was engulfed by the lava of Vesuvius, 
 which subsequently was inundated by the chaste 
 Northern Snow. Nero, by his wild staring into the 
 fire with which he played, delivered Rome into the 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 63 
 
 rude grasp of the Tartar which proved too severe 
 for the last hero — .the noble and valiant Antoninus. 
 
 But we are now passing the Island of Crete and 
 must not forget that we are modern dissectors as 
 well as antiquarians. Nature has been faithful in 
 her instincts of reproduction. Her poles have 
 operated in perfect harmony. Lo ! we discover now 
 that our bold adventure has taken us straight to the 
 Ovaries. Homer, Plato, Phidias, Pericles, Athens, 
 the Parthenon, Sappho, Lesbos, and Helen of Troy, 
 who met her "ne plus ultra" at the Black Sea and the 
 Bosphorus, stand in full array before us. Is it a 
 fetus? Is it alive? Are we really here discovering 
 a case of Parthenogenesis? Let us steal another 
 glance — just one. Lo ! as we turn our faces towards 
 Palestine we understand — we understand why the 
 fetus is turning in the womb. We feel desirous to 
 visit the site of Bysantium and pay homage to the 
 Turk for shooting his missiles as far as Vienna. But 
 out of fear to disturb the sleeping Virgin, we re- 
 treat in such a haste that we nearly suffer shipwreck 
 on the coast of Crete. We, as modern dissectors, 
 have now discovered that a Virgin has been actually 
 overshadowed by the Power of the Highest, and a 
 Divine Event is near at hand. 
 
 But hush ! let us be still ! Let us whisper our se- 
 cret in solitude! Let us steal away from the secret 
 precinct ! Let us depart as silently as we came, lest 
 we disturb and annoy the Divine Sleeping Beauty. 
 
 As our keel plows through the waves westward 
 towards the coast of Spain we stand astern with our 
 gaze fixed upon the isles of Greece. But hush! let 
 us be still ! The hour of the Divine Event is coming 
 nigh. The fetus is a child. Let us take heed not 
 to disturb the Virgin. Let us guard her chamber 
 and protect her nude innocence from the imperti- 
 nent eyes of a profane world. Let us steal away. 
 
64 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 lest the physician, when he arrives, should report a 
 fatal case of placenta privio. Let us abstain from 
 noise; the lives of both the Virgin and the child are 
 at stake. Let the Divine Event come off according 
 to the laws of nature and the laws of Love. 
 
 Meditating thus, gazing towards the Islands of 
 the Blest, where Sappho sprang singing into the sea, 
 we remain astern, whilst we retreat as we advanced, 
 between the Pillars of Hercules. Before we exit from 
 deck and repair into our cabin and to our private 
 dreams, we will bid the chaste Virgin farewell with 
 a clear conscience, for we have not disturbed her 
 slumber by our secret visit; and, whilst our keel 
 plows the waves of the Atlantic westward towards 
 the Gulf Stream, we will see that the drapery is 
 conscientiously folded around the entrance to her 
 sacred chamber. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE MEDITATION BLURRED BY THE FOG. 
 
 I awoke from my trance. Instead of finding my- 
 self aboard a steamer on the Atlantic at the Strait 
 of Gibraltar, I was sitting in my automobile look- 
 ing at the peak of Mount Washington, which was 
 barely visible above a dense fog. I had taken a 
 morning nap; and the fog struck me at first as the 
 veritable fog at the Banks of Newfoundland or the 
 Gulf Stream, which I was bound to pass on my re- 
 turn from my singular and, I dare say, rather poetic, 
 and ideal, excursion to Mediterranean ports. But, 
 alas! I found myself again in a prosaic present — in 
 a world of undesirable limitations. 
 
 The reader might have been under the impression 
 that the uncanny meditation was the effect of specu- 
 lative thought, but I have just jotted it down as a 
 dim and partial recollection of a dream, and will 
 here merely attempt to rehearse upon it, though with 
 hoarse voice, for which the fog is responsible. So, 
 though my report is unsavory to his taste, the stern 
 and scrupulous critic should spare me the pang of 
 vivisection, but rather attempt to explain the reason 
 why this wierd trance has come upon me and led 
 me astray in the fog. For sitting in my tonneau 
 staring through the dense fog, I am merely precipi- 
 tated to a lower world, deprived of the ability to fly, 
 and harassed with my distressing incapacity, for, in- 
 stead of outmaneuvering the winged dragon in spit- 
 ting fire, I can only move in a limited sphere and 
 only ejaculate the words of a feeble language. 
 
 65 
 
66 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 The persistent contention between the aryan and 
 the Semitic man harassed my faculties of reason. 
 But, lo ! I understand the nature of the struggle. I 
 understand its scientific significance. I see how the 
 First Cause was rooted in the Infinite at the founda- 
 tion of the world. It reveals that we shall have no 
 peace on earth and good will until the sceptre falls 
 from Judas. We stand as white spectres of a False 
 Day with one foot scarcely planted upon the terra 
 firma of a New World; we stand disrobed in our 
 gorgeous temples called upon to build a New Taber- 
 nacle upon an Indian mound. 
 
 But our meditation takes us back to the "life" or 
 "death" struggle in the East. Cleopatra and Egypt 
 sapped the virility from the Caesars and from Rome. 
 But Helen of Troy met her "Ne plus ultra" at By- 
 santium and the Bosphorus, and the aryan manhood 
 in Greece soared supremely high. The aryan has 
 again ppt his foot upon the dreaming Nile. But, 
 oh! her lethargy is profound! Nothing stirs there! 
 Why? Ah! now I see — we cannot encroach with 
 impunity upon the Virginity of the World. Virgin- 
 ity must remain pure and intact in order to insure the 
 eternal life of being. We fly, therefore, from Egypt, 
 and leave, like Joseph of old, our coat in the hands 
 of the_ harlot and our ships in the Suez Canal. We 
 fly with frantic speed over North Africa and 
 through Morocco — ^we preciptate ourselves into the 
 Strait of Gibraltar — we swim to the Coast of Spain 
 and fly aghast from the Pillars of Hercules. We 
 seize a boat at the Gulf of Biscay and, sailing north- 
 ward, we arrive at a New Rome, which this time has 
 been planted in the ocean and becomes master of the 
 seas. We invade the seas of the Vikings of old and 
 arrive at a New Greece, which this time has seized 
 a territory which corresponds to the Pillars of Her- 
 cuks of old. But, lo! we find here, nevertheless, 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 67 
 
 another Strange Duct! We pass through another 
 strait, but see no Pillars of Hercules and no inscrip- 
 tion of "Ne plus uhra." The analogy is instructive, 
 but also encouraging; for it does not seem to indi- 
 cate a correct and fatal repetition of history. We are 
 nearer the Land of Shadows, but we look for More 
 Light — more light than that which became the share 
 of Ancient Greece and Rome. We sail into the Bal- 
 tic to the Pomeranian coast in the hope of finding in 
 a more effulgent light what we saw dimly in the 
 Mediterranean Sea. 
 
 We glance in the direction of the Neva, for we 
 see there gay children playing between the Aurora 
 Borealis and the Eastern Light. They follow the 
 rhythmic rhapsodies of Terpsichore and see a Fata 
 Morgana in the sky, but, holding their festival on a 
 precipice, they dance themselves to death. Where 
 the ethereal currents so displace the atmosphere that 
 the earth is seen in a mirror of heaven, peril is at 
 hand ; for, as at the Straits of Messina, where actual 
 Fata Morgana is seen, subterranean fire lurks below. 
 
 Lost in reverie, I close my eyes and listen. I 
 hear strange noises here. What is it? Is the Virgin 
 awake? Is the divine event at hand? Ah! I hear 
 her shrieking in agony. I listen again, and glancing 
 over the plains of Germany towards Berlin I under- 
 stand the screams. What does it portend ? Ah ! now 
 it dawns upon me. The instincts of nature protects 
 Virginity and defend the Feminine Soul from con- 
 tamination in a profane world. It is therefore that 
 the stalwart guards of Britain still are stationed at 
 the Pillars of Hercules. 
 
 But how shall the child then be delivered which 
 is struggling to leave the womb and enter into the 
 light of day? Is a Csesarean operation necessary? I 
 'resolve it is. I draw my javelin and prepare to use 
 it as a surgeon's knife. I raise it to perform "das 
 
68 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 Kaiserschnitt." But, glancing again towards Ber- 
 lin, I see by means of an X-ray that, despite the per- 
 petual shrieks of the Virgin, the placenta is still 
 united with Rome. It dawns upon me that I have 
 crossed the Rubicon in vain and must retrace my 
 steps. I swing around my heel and glance towards 
 the coast of Scandinavia. Where am I ? What does 
 this strange duct represent ? Ah ! the instincts of na- 
 ture are supreme. The Ultima Thule and furthest 
 poles of the universe are feminine and masculine. I 
 stand here abashed over my extreme foolishness in 
 attempting to play the game of the Vikings of old. 
 I stand here like a microbe lost in the infinite sea of 
 immensity. I thrust my javelin into its cover, and, 
 unobserved by the guard at the entrance to the Bal- 
 tic, I skulk out of this open vagina of nature which 
 is both mysterious and real — mysterious still to all 
 the world but real to me. 
 
 I observed in my silent and rapid retreat that the 
 Highest Law will not permit the artificial perfor- 
 mance of a Cassarean operation. The germanic vir- 
 gin shrieks, but nature has found a way of deliv- 
 erance for her child. 
 
 When we return again Britain will remove her 
 guard from the Pillars of Hercules. The Virgin will 
 have ample protection, for we will be greeted, without 
 going to Canossa, by the Madonna and her Child. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE ADVANCE OF PHOEBUS. 
 
 I am in haste to inform the reader that this pecu- 
 liar and rather rapid excursion to the Baltic was like- 
 wise a dream. The repeated disturbances of my 
 slumber during the night made me drowsy in the late 
 morning hour. I am confessing it without blushing 
 for the chauffeur, despite his mental tranquillity, is 
 still snoring whilst I am writing my memoirs. I am 
 now finally wide awake, and, instead of finding my- 
 self in the Kattegat, I see Jacob's Ladder before me ; 
 for the fog is lifted and the morning dew is being 
 rapidly dispersed by the scorching rays of Phoebus. 
 
 But, owing to the effect of the fog and my dreams 
 on my metaphysical constitution, the sun irritated my 
 nerves. 
 
 "Away! away!" I shouted with a voice of thun- 
 der. "Away thou false prophet of the Orient I Away 
 with thy light, O sun ! it is not the Light of Day. Re- 
 turn, Orion ! Return thou real hero and defender of 
 the gentiles! Strike down with thy sword the false 
 christians and avaricious jews ! Strike down all wor- 
 shippers of false Gods! Thou art the hero of the 
 Ancient Night, and have in thy immense proportions 
 the real Light of Day in store, though not in thy in- 
 dividual suns, for they would be as impotent in the 
 firmament as a Carl Marx or a Maximilian Harden 
 on earth. Sink not down in the horizon of the 
 West! Be not a Semitic! Stand constant as the 
 Aryan God, and emerge like Thor with lightning 
 
 69 
 
70 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 from thy mysterious night ! Return ! return ! and ad- 
 vance on Chaos !" 
 
 The chauffeur, hearing my rather loud morning 
 prayer, awoke and became so affrighted that he near- 
 ly leaped headlong over the stearing wheel. He 
 looked around with bewildered eyes, and I imagined 
 at first that he thought I had become suddenly in- 
 sane. If he had heard me he would at least be in- 
 clined to think that a man talking so boldly to the 
 singing birds and buzzing mosquitoes would find 
 himself obliged to carry a real "big stick" if he 
 should venture to face more formidable foes on the 
 political arena. 
 
 But happily the lad had been sound asleep, and only 
 heard the last sentence, for when I inquired for the 
 cause of his excited behavior, he said: 
 
 "I dreamt that some nightly intruder had broken 
 into the garage." 
 
 We drove to an hotel for the only real advantage 
 we have gained in our national constitution and clan- 
 nish society over the Indians, namely the luxury of 
 a proper washing and a good breakfast of porridge 
 and milk instead of mere fish and fowl. In the mean 
 time it dawned upon me that the lack of culture and 
 universal education in the sciences was responsible 
 for the fanaticism of all so-called religious revivers, j 
 not excluding Buddha and Mohamed, but especially 
 the Smiths, the Mrs. Eddys, the Dowies, the San- 
 fords, and all third or fourth Elijahs, who, lacking 
 omniscience, all become "Holy Rollers" in the West. 
 I can now talk through experience. I, too, have now 
 had my "visions;" but, thanks to Providence, I had 
 previously obtained sufficient knowledge of the 
 sciences to understand the uncanny voices that issue 
 from darkness. I shall therefore not become a "holy 
 roller," but endeavor to represent myself and my 
 cause to the eyes of Reason. 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 71 
 
 Later in the day I drove around among the hills. 
 I took in the view of the "Old Man in the Moun- 
 tain" which was so familiar to me, but this time this 
 uncanny whim of nature struck me with a strange 
 feeling of awe. Did he represent the crystallized 
 form of the Indians — ithe children of the Ancient 
 Night who have lost their vast domains? Was the 
 landing of the White Man at Plymouth Rock the last 
 ray of the Great Carbuncle of Indian tradition, or 
 was it the first rays of that mysterious brilliant I 
 had just seen in my nightly dreams? 
 
 We came to a camp of tourists where we stopped 
 awhile. I left the car and the chauffeur on the turn- 
 pike and took a stroll down through the grove. It 
 seemed to me that all the cultured gayety of the 
 world was assembled here. Nothing but happiness; 
 nothing but signs of friendship and of love met my 
 searching eyes. But, alas ! poor children ! They are 
 playing still in the Eastern Light! They are play- 
 ing on a platform of gold under which there lurks 
 a Subterrranean Fire! 
 
 Here and there, happy lovers are sitting hand to 
 hand, and, perhaps, heart to heart. Here I pass a 
 handsome pair with their backs leaning against the 
 trunk of a tree, though leaving space enough for 
 the man's arm which was round her waist. His right 
 hand was paddling with a cane in ithe water of a 
 rivulet. They looked each other in the eyes and smiled 
 whilst I stood aloof and mused upon the Ideal of 
 Love. Had it mutually enchanted this pair in the 
 Dreamland of Wonder? Touch her tenderly, young 
 man! Handle with reverence this habitat of the 
 Spirit! Behold with reverence this temporary shel- 
 ter of a Divine Wanderer in a transitory world ! Be- 
 hold in wonder that divine form whose perfection and 
 symmetry has required the incessant toil of myriads 
 of ages! Touch her with reverence! Commit no 
 
72 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 crime against the Holy Spirit for which there is no 
 forgiveness, neither on earth nor in heaven ; but only 
 results in permanent loss of points on the Supreme 
 Record ! Touch her writh fear ! Beware of the Keen 
 Cutter! Beware, lest you lose the game in the Bat- 
 tle of Life ! 
 
 I passed along the grove and came to a spot where 
 I had an unobstructed view of a high precipice. 
 Though the least steep acclivity was very rough, a 
 woman had ascended to the highest rock and stood 
 at the summit near the uttermost edge of the preci- 
 pice, looking down on a pine grove on the shady side. 
 The picture before me was analogous to the career 
 of woman — ^not the conventional "New Woman" but 
 the career of woman through the ages, where she, 
 whether she ascends to the top or not, has made the 
 path for man on the rough acclivities of evolution and 
 of life. When man becomes a usurper in the rough 
 ascent, he will be left behind like those pine trees on 
 the shady side below, which, though they manage to 
 stay green in winter, must remain stationary with 
 their roots buried deep in earth, whilst they "pine" 
 in vain to reach the summit of the rock which the 
 woman has scaled from the Sunny Side. 
 
 What a picture was here before me ! It struck me 
 
 j with awe ! It struck me with wonder ! It compelled 
 
 I me to muse : 
 
 "The Spartan woman on the Sunny Side 
 Led the Grecian hero out to the fight ; 
 Whilst Rome in the clasp of Egypt below 
 Was buried with all in the Northern Snow. 
 
 But ere Rome sank under the Mountains of Fire 
 the dust of the Grecian Heroes was inoculated by an 
 impregnation from Palestine. Hence it has again Is- 
 sued from the dusk of night. Though the New Child 
 
Behold in wonder that divine form whose perfection 
 and symmetry has required ages. 
 
 (Courtship in Air.) 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 73, 
 
 of Love and Liberty is as yet but a fetus, we must 
 jrecognize the Savior, who, as a strange combination 
 of feminine and masculine elements sprang from 
 the root of nature and the sacred precinct of Pan. 
 But as His Kingdom was not in this world He could 
 get nothing in this world but a cross — a cross which 
 He carried as a Divine Hero to heaven. 
 
 Tears roll down my cheeks as I meditate upon that 
 supreme emotional Spirit, who was consigned by the 
 authorities of Rome under the instigation of the 
 Jews to Golgotha. There are millions of analogous 
 careers, but His alone has the privilege of posing as 
 the Universal Symbol of Divinity in the First Cause. 
 I have now arrived at a crisis in my career in which 
 the true mission of Jesus stands revealed to me in 
 the most effulgent light of day. My dreams were 
 Oracles. Yes ; now I understand Jesus, and, by un- 
 derstanding Jesus, I understand the world. But Jesus 
 was the Savior ; I am here to judge ; and, if necessary 
 — fight ! I must decapitate iniquity ! I must sharpen 
 my keen cutter and swing my Battle Axe ! 
 
 Cleopatra sank into the Nile, and the dust of the 
 Pharaohs have turned to mummies in the Pyramids,, 
 but the asps — ^the vipere aspis, have survived. Europe 
 is infested — even Germany. The vipers — the pelias 
 berus — have accumulated. I must advance on the 
 pelias berus. But in my mission a refined Spartan 
 woman shall lead me. She is coming— she is com- 
 ing from the northeast — she is coming with the dawn 
 of another day ! 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A GERMAN AVIATOR. 
 
 Whilst I sat musing on the lonely rock I took my 
 field glass in order to behold at closer range the 
 woman who so dexterously had ascended yonder lofty 
 summit. Lo! what did I see? Did I see the face I 
 saw many years ago in the gondola on the Grand 
 Canal ? or was it an halucination ? Was it a decep- 
 tion of a too ardent imagination? I looked through 
 the field glass again. The result of my inspection 
 was the same. I looked a third time, and the result 
 was still the same. I sprang to my feet and ejacu- 
 alted some rather inarticulate syllables. Had the 
 Great Carbuncle of Indian tradition arrived with 
 radiance from heaven to illuminate the Dark Spirit 
 of the forests? As I proceeded to look again a firm 
 hand was laid upon my shoulder from behind. I 
 looked around and beheld a majestic figure, who ad- 
 dressed me with the query: "Was ist der Mench 
 dasz du ihn kennst und dem Menchenkinde daszdu 
 ihnen annimmst?" 
 
 I recognized the face. It belonged to the father 
 of the girl I had seen in Venice fourteen years ago. 
 
 "How do you do? Herr Nietzche," I exclaimed 
 with wonder and astonishment, whilst I extended my 
 hand. 
 
 "Very well, thank you," responded the stranger; 
 "and I hope I meet you convalescent?" 
 
 "I am in excellent health now," I replied. "When 
 we met in the gondola I was a chronic sufferer with 
 
 74 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 75 
 
 headache and dyspepsia, but I have outgrown this 
 common American frailty." 
 
 "Where is your father?" 
 
 "In the grave." 
 
 "How did he die?" 
 
 "In battle." 
 
 "In the Spanish- American war?" 
 
 "No, in the struggle with the power of gold." 
 
 "He died a heroic death then, for the power of 
 gold is a formidable foe." 
 
 "Indeed it is; it has grown to be the arch-enemy 
 of the human race." 
 
 "I understand that, but there is a reason." 
 
 "There is, undoubtedly, but what is in your opin- 
 ion the cause of this annihilating scourge?" 
 
 "I entertain no opinions in regard to matters I 
 fully understand," replied Herr Nietzche. "Your 
 slow and cumbersome facilities for traveling are the 
 sole cause of all your impending calamities in the 
 Western world." 
 
 "Slow traveling facilities in the Western world?" 
 I inquired meditatively. "Do you exclude yourself 
 and the Orient?" 
 
 "I do." 
 
 "By what route did you come to our shores?" I 
 inquired, rather humorously. 
 
 "By the air-route," came the terse reply. 
 
 "Kindly explain your enigmatic utterances," I en- 
 treated. 
 
 "Have you never heard of the great innovation in 
 the construction of flying machines?" replied Herr 
 Nietzche. "Have you not heard of the glorious suc- 
 cess of Herr Nietzche in Germany, who is the first 
 man to herald the coming of a new Age of Reason 
 in which Man will become the omnipotent ruler of 
 both Space and Time? I have just crossed the At- 
 
76 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 lantic from east to west in a machine of my own 
 invention." 
 
 "Never heard of it," replied I, amazed, and rather 
 regretful for my negligence in not being abreast of 
 the times and in closer touch with the doings of the 
 day. 
 
 "The attempt to cross the Atlantic from west to 
 east," continued Herr Nietzche, "by your Mr. Well- 
 man in his imitation of the rather clumsy craft of 
 Count Zeppelin, you know came to grief, as it natu- 
 rally would, owing to the futility in relying on faith 
 in an unrecognized power above yourself. You 
 might just as well cast yourself headlong into the 
 anthropomorphic arms of the Almighty and permit 
 yourself to be carried by the God of Abraham like 
 a newborn infant into Paradise with its antique par- 
 lors so unartistically furiiished with bric-a-brac and 
 dusty shelves. Nay! Nay! my friend! such infant 
 schemes are still born and need no nourishment to 
 preserve a life which is non-existent." 
 
 "Do you ascribe your success to your own integ- 
 rity and genius?" I inquired. 
 
 "No !" came the prompt reply. "My integrity has 
 been an indispensable means, but I ascribe my ulti- 
 mate success to the assistance rendered me by my 
 daughter." 
 
 "Your daughter? That sounds strange! Is she 
 "with you?" I inquired rather officiously and almost 
 out of breath. 
 
 "Indeed she is, and it is on account of her mission 
 to America that I came here so swiftly." 
 
 "Where is she?" 
 
 "You have already seen her. She is going down 
 the rough declivity of yonder hill." 
 
 "She seems to be as dexterous as a young scout." 
 
 "She is a New Woman." 
 
 "What is her mission in the New World?" 
 
"You have already seen her. He is going down 
 yonder hill." 
 
 (Courtship in Air.) 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR -jj 
 
 "Owing to the fact that man has determined to 
 remain a restless pursuer of beauty and a slave to 
 the call of art, she has been extensively sought as 
 model by painters and sculptors in the Old World, 
 but her mission here is to explain an amendment to 
 the philosophy of Hegal regarding the ultimate na- 
 ture of the Absolute, entitled, 'Liberty, Equality and 
 Fraternity ' — the motto of the French Revolution, 
 you know." 
 
 "The Absolute?" I probed, half soliloquizing. "The 
 Absolute?" I continued, looking rather suspicious on 
 Herr Nietzche. "I have heard that term before. If 
 my dull memory don't deceive me, it was defined by 
 William James — or rather, not to offend the reputa- 
 tion of the dead, by the opponents of James — as a 
 "God down in the dirt." 
 
 "Yes, we heard that over in Germany, and con- 
 sider it father impertinent. We heard also a report 
 regarding your misrepresentation in America of all 
 that is French ; even the latest ideas of M. Bergson, 
 which in reality contain various germs of truth, you 
 have collected under one heading, or metaphorically, 
 stuffed them into one bag like a common heap of rub- 
 bish or Hebrew old clothes, and baptized it "Prag- 
 matism." "Well," I explained, "truth and reason in 
 philosophical and religious matters move slow in 
 American but uncouth ideas, hypocrisy and fanati- 
 cism spread like wild fire, even at the hazard of 
 bringing inevitable destruction to the human race. 
 
 "Do you remember my conversation with your fa- 
 ther in Venice, regarding the 'Phenomenology of the 
 Spirit?'" inquired Herr Nietzche. 
 
 I replied in the affirmative. But, seeing Herr 
 Nietzche's daughter returning and approaching us, I 
 decided to postpone an introduction, in order to pre- 
 pare myself for a conversation on subjects above the 
 commonplace trivialities and platitudes of life. 
 
78 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 "It is rather late," I said, "and I am keeping my 
 chauffeur waiting. Where can I see you to-mor- 
 row?" 
 
 "Where we landed in our aeroplane yesterday — 
 at the summit of Mount Washington." 
 
 "Adieu 1 and auf wiedersehen !" 
 
 We parted. When I turned my face towards the 
 departing mysterious visitor, I saw him arm in arm 
 with his daughter, who was now a mature woman 
 and no more the little girl of twelve I had seen in the 
 gondola on the Grand Canal. But I felt that she 
 was still the object of my dreams both by day and 
 night. And seeing her now in such a physical and 
 spiritual symmetry and perfection, my heart was 
 burning with a strange and ineffable desire. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE aviator's DAUGHTER. 
 
 The following morning I took the first train for 
 the summit with a view to meet Herr Nietzche and 
 obtain an introduction to my enchantress — the phe- 
 nomenal Superwoman of Germany. Strange feel- 
 ings irritated my nervous system. Was I now really 
 on my way to hear an oracle which the world of men 
 had never heard before? Was I to hear from the 
 lips of a woman an ultimate explanation of the per- 
 plexing mysteries of the Orient? Was I to hear 
 from the lips of a woman the Ultima Thule of phil- 
 osophy and science which so long has perplexed and 
 embarrassed the profoundest thinkers and savants of 
 the West? I looked with awe at the prospect; and, 
 though it was my first trip on the scenic Jacob's 
 Ladder, I saw nothing of the panoramic landscape 
 below. 
 
 I had taken leave of my chauffeur and instructed 
 him to take my automobile back home and hold his 
 tongue as to my doings and my whereabouts. He 
 as well as myself did not anticipate that morning 
 that our parting was to last several months. But 
 strange events, which, as far as I know, have no 
 parallel in history, were to be the result of my meet- 
 ing with the German philosopher and aviator. I 
 had in my foolish search for wonders sojourned 
 through every nook of Europe without dreaming 
 that I had niet and spoken to the most extraordi- 
 nary man in the Old World, who, in addition to his 
 
 79 
 
8o COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 personal merits, was the sire of a Superwoman who, 
 I dare say, was the only one of her kind in at least 
 that part of the globe which has been thoroughly ex- 
 plored by the white man. If it was not an irony of 
 fate it was a master stroke of Divine Providence 
 that we, after an apparently hopeless separation at 
 Venice, should meet again so near the romantic 
 Crystal Hills. 
 
 I was so delighted with the inherent wisdom in 
 the Universal Scheme of things that I, in my sub- 
 conscious trance, decided the train was going rather 
 slow, for I attempted to fly out of the window and 
 complete the trip by the air route. But, failing in 
 my rash conclusion, to consider that such a feat re- 
 quires an aeroplane to enable us as mere finite mor- 
 tals to overcome the fatal law of gravitation, I per- 
 formed a sudden motion which resulted in a scalp 
 wound and a broken window pane. The motorman 
 looked around, and, seeing my peculiar motions, 
 and subsequent embarrassment, called the conduct- 
 or's attention to me. I heard him say that if I 
 showed more signs of unmistakable insanity to calC 
 the attention of the authorities to the case and ad- 
 vise them to investigate my unbalanced condition. 
 
 I arrived at the summit and escaped further an- 
 noyance, however, by detectives and police and their 
 supernumerary agents, who are, thanks to American 
 prudence, rather spswingly distributed in this lofty 
 part of the world. 
 
 Whilst I sat on a lonely spot on the mountain a 
 strange feeling of anxiety jarred my mind. Was the 
 miracle of miracles going to happen — the miracle of 
 miracles which to me consisted merely of reaching 
 the bottom of things in the philosophical labyrinth 
 which man in utter foolishness has persisted in aug- 
 menting by building additions from the earliest ages 
 to the present day? Superstructures have been built 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 8l 
 
 upon superstructures, and now at last a Parisian Jew 
 adorns the huge pile with a tower, which, like the 
 tower of Pisa, is leaning but will not fall. But what 
 has M. Bergson seen from his serene height beyond 
 the stars? Nothing! — not even Darkness — for his 
 report is a blank sheet! Alas! it indicates that the 
 Jew cannot save the world. 
 
 But myriads of moving pictures passed through 
 my brain whilst I sat there in my solitary musing. 
 Did they portend eventual destruction of all the 
 leaning towers in the West by a sudden and in- 
 evitable cataclysm? Or was I fondled by the sweet 
 intelligence, and, I dare say, extraordinary phenom- 
 enon that a man of my age was really and earnestly 
 in love — in love with a woman he had seen but 
 twice, the first time as a little girl in her teens and 
 the second time from a distance of several hundred 
 feet? Who could tell? I at least was hopelessly 
 lost in attempting to answer the questions I pro- 
 pounded myself that memorable morning of impas- 
 sionate suspense. 
 
 As I sat there musing over the various contin- 
 gencies which are constantly hovering over the fate 
 of mortals a handsome middle aged man and a 
 young woman approached me arm in arm. I looked 
 up and beheld Mr. and Fraulein Nietzche coming 
 to put an end to my solitary dreams. 
 
 After our conventional exchange of greeting I 
 was introduced to the German lady, who was the 
 Ultima Thule of human perfection. 
 
 I shall endeavor to describe my impressions of the 
 lady's physiognomy, even by taking the risk of being 
 accused of the scrutinizing American critic of im- 
 pertinence. I shall, however, abstain from imitating 
 Solomon, who, despite his storehouse of Universal 
 Wisdom, I think was rather primitive and rude in 
 disrobing almost completely the chaste body of the 
 
82 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 fairest creature, and — I dare say — Creator in the 
 world. 
 
 All I have to say, therefore, regarding that part 
 of a woman's body which occupies the space between 
 her shoes and her neck-charm is, therefore, com- 
 pletely devoid of artistical enthusiasm. Art and na- 
 ture have gone hand in hand as comedy and tragedy 
 down through the ages, and eventually, as a crown- 
 ing glory of their various accomplishments, produced 
 something that is worth while, namely, that Divine 
 Form which unquestionably belongs in fee simple 
 and without incumbrances to a "perfect" woman — 
 but without incumbrances to a perfect woman only. 
 It is, therefore, a form which the eyes of man should 
 behold with reverence and with fear. When dis- 
 played in his immediate vicinity he should glance at 
 the sky and search from the horizon to the zenith for 
 a cloud, a rainbow or a star. He should never let the 
 fancy roam except when he beholds her from a dis- 
 tance, as I had beheld the superb figure of my lady 
 yesterday standing in graceful posture on the sum- 
 mit of the rocky hill looking over the precipice down 
 on the pines in the vale below. 
 
 It is, therefore, extremely important that you, 
 whether you meet a lady in the parlor alone or in 
 the dancing hall amidst the crowd, respect your man- 
 hood and control your manners so that you, when 
 conversation, or rather lack of conversation, pre- 
 vents you from looking her in the eye, take heed that 
 you look out of the window or on the floor. 
 
 But I must apologize for my uncouth didactics, 
 which I feel that the majority of my readers will 
 not need. Let us return to the lady in question, who 
 stands before me in her divine posture and mar- 
 velous symmetry. 
 
 Out of respect and fear of contaminating things 
 that are divine, I dared not contemplate at close 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 83 
 
 range her posture and her form. But, for the first 
 time in all my life, I looked into a pair of eyes as if 
 I looked beyond the stars into an Abyssmal Depth 
 which was Absolutely Infinite. My emotions trans- 
 cended the limits of Substance and of Time and car- 
 ried me away from the earth into the Infinity of 
 Space. I thought I saw a sky of the richest azure 
 covered with a succession of gorgeous rainbows, not 
 sectional arches, but complete circles, in the center 
 of which was an opening out into the total darkness 
 of the Infinite. And all this mystery was neverthe- 
 less surrounded by the white light of the sun. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 By the way, Helen (which was Fraulein Nietzche's 
 given name and with which she insisted on being 
 addressed by me), answering a question of mine, 
 said in excellent English with a voice as sonorous 
 as the deepest musical strains of Handel or Beetho- 
 ven: "I have come to America to teach the true 
 meaning of government 'of the people, by the peo- 
 ple and for the people'." 
 
 "Why!" I returned rather surprised, and, as I 
 am out of politics, rather disappointed, "that was 
 thoroughly explained by our Mr. Lincoln. I beg your 
 pardon, Helen, but I am sorry to find myself obliged 
 to inform you of the futility of such a philanthropic 
 project. You are over a generation behind the times 
 in the New World." 
 
 "We will see," said the lady with that buoyant air 
 of self-reliance which is possible only for a woman 
 of the highest culture. "We will see. But under- 
 stand, sir, that I am neither a champion of philan- 
 thropy nor a leader of suffragettes. My aspirations 
 are rather domestic, and I am at present studying 
 housekeeping. But, as you will learn through my 
 philosophy, it is the destiny of woman to take upon 
 her shoulders the two extremes in the struggle for 
 life. But to teach the world the true course woman 
 is to take in order not to transcend her limit in the 
 Finite — to point out merely the course man should 
 take in order to preserve in his Being and retain 
 
 84 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 85 
 
 the appropriate leadership in the battle for life— is 
 possible only for a woman from Germany, for there 
 ^yomen have been incessantly at work on the loom of 
 time which has furnished the clothes for the proud 
 nations of the West." 
 
 "Is your mission merely domestic, then?" I in- 
 quired, nearly at my wit's end in my effort to un- 
 derstand her meaning. 
 
 "I am here to prove that your 'honest old Abe' 
 fell into the same blunder in politics as William 
 James in philosophy and Mrs. Eddy and all your 
 latter day saints in religion. Their intentions were 
 noble, but their reasoning was inadequate. They all 
 failed to understand that process of creative activ- 
 ity which has flowed' spontaneously from that First 
 Cause which alone was free." 
 
 "What have you to say regarding the government 
 •of, by and for the people ?' " I interrogated with 
 awakened interest. 
 
 "The government you mention," she returned, 
 "can never perish from the earth. It will forever 
 remain of, by and for the people, and need no help 
 for preservation from individual enthusiasm. Its 
 liberality and its yoke of despotism variate with the 
 variation in the ascent and retrogression of the peo- 
 ple towards and away from freedom. The yoke of 
 tyranny is applied with a rhythmical motion as steady 
 and positive as that which keeps the planets in their 
 course." 
 
 "Was the emancipation which caused the Civil 
 War an error, then?" I asked. 
 
 "It is futile to say that 'right is might' until we 
 understand adequately what is right. That alone is 
 right which has the power to accomplish directly Di- 
 vine Ends. Seen from the pinnacle of Reason the 
 emancipation was an error, but it was right in so far 
 as the committing of errors are necessary means in 
 
86 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 the natural evolution of things. The original act, 
 or emancipation, is in itself not an error, but it takes 
 its stand with that First Cause which was blind, and 
 not, as Hegel thought, prompted by Reason. But it 
 is nevertheless identical with that Unconquerable 
 Will whose fortress the battalions, of the Finite 
 storms in vain. Their missiles are shot out from all 
 directions, but, despite the gigantic proportions of 
 the target, they fall in empty air. And, though at 
 last the sinister aim of a Wilkes Booth throws all 
 under a shroud of darkness, all the ammunition has 
 been spent in vain. For just as rays of light destroy 
 each other when they meet under conditions imposed 
 upon them by art, so does eccentric genius when 
 they meet each other as representatives of contra- 
 dictory forces, turn light into darkness by mutual 
 destruction. All special genius is in some way ec- 
 centric because it has not arrived at the full stature 
 of Man, and is, therefore, devoid of thoroughly prac- 
 tical power. If it was otherwise it would not be 
 special genius, but Universal creative talent operat- 
 ing in harmony with all the world. All special 
 genius points towards heaven, but moves continu- 
 ously in the direction it points and disappears at 
 last in the Darkness and leaves nothing behind but 
 the transitory glimpse of its own mysterious ray, 
 which appeared to the rest of mankind as a stranger 
 in the world. Genius must represent itself, or fail 
 in every experiment to guide the actions of men on 
 the path to Truth. Great statesmen are occasion- 
 ally as eccentric as great poets and musicians. As 
 special genius they find but one special avenue to 
 the Empire of Truth, whilst in the natural order of 
 things there are an infinite number of avenues, and 
 each and every one is as broad as the world: one 
 can be utilized without encumbrance to the others 
 and without displacing Substance, because Space is 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 87 
 
 Infinite. There is always room on top— and man 
 has proved himself a good climber. The First Im- 
 pulse of any action is always right, but when the ten- 
 dency to monopolization sets in, error and disaster 
 always become apparent in its Effect. Thus it has 
 always been since that First Impulse took place by 
 whose monopolization the Firmament issued spon- 
 taneously from the Darkness of Extremes. 
 
 "We are now called upon in the name of Free- 
 dom— -in the name of that freedom which has Indi- 
 viduality only under the banner of Love— to shake 
 off the lethargy of the Aboriginal First Cause, which 
 consists of a Blind Impulse, and is forced to follow 
 its Eternal Course until it is overtaken and appre- 
 hended by the Stream of Time. 
 
 "We stand now on the verge of an epoch in the 
 history and evolution of Man on this planet which is 
 analogous to a crisis in a disease: opportunity now 
 means liberty or death. The universal tendency 
 throughout the organic world counteracts the decree 
 of the First Cause. ' Both are blind forces, and the 
 creative activity which ensued is a Passive Reason 
 which loses and dissipates its Individuality in the 
 temporal and transitory Means. When Reason be- 
 comes active it arrests the tendency to dissolution in 
 the Ethereal Filament which environs the material 
 world and forms thereby Free Individuals by acting 
 as a concentrating power upon the Spiritual Es- 
 sence which is extant in the universal firmament. 
 
 "We see, therefore, that the world is pervaded by 
 a blind universal strife for freedom where no free- 
 dom can be obtained except in the peace of death. 
 If you tame beasts and let them run amuck you will 
 sooner or later have to resort to the lasso to obtain 
 their proper service, and in some cases, as with your 
 wild horses on your Western plains, you will have to 
 reduce them to compost and soap. The case in the 
 
88 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 class 'primates' in the order of mammalia is analagous 
 and identical. If moral forces prompted by the 
 united action of Reason and of Love are not betimes 
 and properly applied, wholesale slaughter by fire and 
 sword will alone solve your problems, and then only 
 temporarily. Besides your multifarious dilemmas 
 and perplexities you have now a negro problem. All 
 this has come upon you on account of your fallacious 
 conception of redemption. You believe in a redeem- 
 er, and rightly so, but your application of it to the 
 affairs of man is fatally delusive. Redemption be- 
 longs to futurity. All there is lost in the stream of 
 Time and Fate is lost forever to the eternal realm 
 of light and life. In order to be saved man must 
 identify himself as an individual with divine things 
 and renounce the world of transitory things by treat- 
 ing it as a means and not as an end. 
 
 "All in the tangible world which has issued from 
 the original electrones is destined to absorption in 
 the unfathomable sea of Nonentity. All our emanci- 
 pators can do to lessen the burden of slaves is to 
 teach by example how to bear it into a realm of 
 freedom. There is but one paramount example in 
 history of a slave who learned how to bear his yoke 
 into a realm of freedom, and there is but one ex- 
 ample of a redeemer who taught the lesson by his 
 unique career. Those two are familiar, at least by 
 name, to any one who knows a little of history. But 
 the heroism of Epictetus is at the present day more 
 in need of comments than the tragedy whose clos- 
 ing scene was played at Golgotha." 
 
 She ceased to talk. All I could answer was that 
 her philosophy, or, rather, her delineation of truth, 
 was not entirely at variance with my own notions 
 regarding the moral order of the world. But I was 
 now swayed by other feelings than those pertain- 
 ing to political and economic affairs. I was more 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 89 
 
 interested in the speaker than in any doctrine con- 
 cerning the world. I did not fall to the ground like 
 Dante, but he must have shared feelings similar to 
 mine when he met Beatrice at the gate of Paradise. 
 For now my mind was entirely swayed by Love, 
 and the world seemed to me to be far away. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 A lover's reverie. 
 
 My meeting with Helen, contrary to my expecta- 
 tions, failed to put an end to the strange feelings 
 which like a mystic veil had overawed my spirit ever 
 since my eyes beheld her standing on the rock. I 
 could not with the most painstaking scrutiny and 
 highest faculty of reason shake off the lethargy. 
 What had happened? Shall I confess it? How- 
 ever reluctantly I venture such a molly-coddle step 
 before the public I cannot refrain. No; I must! 
 That which to me was a miracle of miracles had 
 really happened; for without the least effort on my 
 part as well as the part played by the New Woman 
 from Germany, I was for the first time in all my 
 life really and earnestly in love — in love with a 
 woman I had known but a few hours and spoken to 
 but once, but in whose eyes of fathomless depth and 
 azure hue I had seen for the first time the mirror of 
 a soul. 
 
 I feel that it is rather difficult for an uninitiated 
 to comprehend and believe that I, as the reader has 
 learned in the foregoing, who entertained practically 
 the same theories regarding the origin of the uni- 
 verse and the beginning of things in general, as well 
 as the inevitable destiny of man and the world, as 
 my enchantress, should be so suddenly enamored. 
 Unless it can be demonstrated that there is a Higher 
 Law governing the destiny of Man, and that I had 
 drifted beyond the limits of carnal nature, the inci- 
 
 90 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 91 
 
 dent of my strange infatuation apparently contra- 
 dicts the latest conclusions of biologists regarding 
 natural selection and the survival of the fittest, and 
 apparently also the law of compensation. In short, 
 the incident, from a mere material point of view, 
 contradicted and disqualified the whole chart which, 
 with the most ardent zeal and painstaking scrutiny 
 the last two centuries has been mapped out by 
 science. But, whether my case transcended the pre- 
 cinct of science, or not, the fact is that I disregarded 
 my whole environment. I cared not a whit more 
 for theories, philosophy or science than the opinions 
 of the man in the street. The miracle of miracles 
 had happened — I was in love. 
 
 After my enchantress and her father left me that 
 critical morning, with the familiar German "auf 
 wiedersehen," I sat down to do what is generally 
 considered to be an act of a crazy man, namely, to 
 write a love song. I venture to expose myself to 
 public ridicule, but, being a mere amateur in versi- 
 fication, I hope that the critic will treat me with 
 compassion, and abstain from cutting me up like a 
 carcass for free distribution amongst the hungry 
 wolves which are running amuck in these primeval 
 forests of the West. I venture to publish it despite 
 gossip and ridicule, for I am fully convinced that 
 whoever can out-love can also out-laugh the world, 
 though he is forced to remain an actor of comedy 
 with the squirrels in the woods and the fishes in 
 some Walden Pond for his audience. 
 
 The complete song has several hundred stanzas, 
 but in order to remain on the side of prudence, I 
 venture only to incorporate the following: 
 
 Long have I wandered in a shady grove 
 And seen the flowers blooming by the way, 
 
 But never seen a prophecy of Love 
 Until I saw in thee the break of day. 
 
92 ' COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 Restlessly I flew over land and sea 
 
 In my attempt to reach the furthest pole; 
 
 But never yet it had occurred to me 
 That I was searching for a human soul. 
 
 In early youth I left my peaceful home 
 And crossed the ocean to a foreign shore; 
 
 I worshipped at the shrines of Greece and Rome, 
 But heard the oracles of old no more. 
 
 I likewise traveled every course in vain, 
 Upon the paths where science plods along ; 
 
 For, like the monotonous drops of rain, 
 Hope fell, and quenched the vigor of my song. 
 
 But thou hast come upon my path of fate 
 With tones of music never heard before; 
 
 I care but little for what on earth is great. 
 But thee I'll pursue and I'll search no more. 
 
 Above the mountains, streaming from above, 
 
 A beam (invisible to mortal sight) 
 Revealed to me the rivulets of Love 
 
 Which streams from Darkness, but makes Dark- 
 ness light. 
 
 I'll search no more below, nor search above, 
 For hidden streams which through the ages ran : 
 
 For now I see there was a Soul of Love 
 
 Moving through Space before the world began. 
 
 That soul is mirrored in thy beaming eye 
 
 As pearls and sapphires and as gleaming gold; 
 
 And within its fathomless depths there lie 
 Myriad gems that can't be bought or sold. 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 93 
 
 I'd die upon a cross to gain that boon 
 Moulded by nature in her sacred fire ; 
 
 For if I fail to win her then right soon 
 Through mental agony I must expire. 
 
 I could continue indefinitely in that strain, but I 
 doubt my ability to entertain an audience with my 
 uncouth rhyming and feel that I am wasting my 
 time. Moistened by a tear mysteriously produced 
 by sacred joy, I closed my book of verses. 
 
 Though imbued by deeper emotions than any I 
 had ever felt before, I entertained neither scorn nor 
 apathy for the impertinence and profanity of a tran- 
 sitory world. On the contrary, my heart was full 
 of pity and compassion. Poor world — I mused — 
 how brief are thy material pleasures in this finite 
 transitory realm of flickering lights ! Poor world ! — 
 it is a pity that thou must sacrifice the joys that 
 are eternal, by gaining so little here below ! 
 
 Though fully conscious of the fact that my in- 
 dividuality was intact, I felt that I was wholly ab- 
 sorbed in a verity which, though clothed in the flesh, 
 was eternal and immutable and not subject to con- 
 tamination by transitory things. That verity was 
 the Superwoman who had arrived by the air-route 
 from Germany, and who henceforth will be the hero- 
 ine in the adventures before us. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE AEROPLANE. 
 
 Awakening from my amorous reverie, my 
 thoughts returned to the tangible world where I was 
 destined soon to be thunderstruck with a great sur- 
 prise. I was for the first time in my life to see an 
 aeroplane, and, moreover, one that had actually 
 crossed the ocean and was entirely different in kind 
 to the frail butterflies use in America and France. 
 To be suddenly invited to see the highest perfection 
 of the most sensational invention and discovery of 
 the day without even having seen the much talked 
 about primitive types which occasionally were seen 
 flying about the country with the most reckless dare- 
 devils in their centers, was to me an extraordinary 
 event. I felt as if that in itself was a crisis in my 
 rather dull earthly existence. My expectations were 
 right; the phenomenal aeroplane proved a turning 
 point in my career — not a starting point of a mo- 
 notonous motion in a circle, as when a cat chases its 
 own tail, but of immense spiral glides, in which I 
 was henceforth destined to move through time and 
 space. 
 
 We met in the afternoon, and the great surprise 
 was thrust upon me as if I had been struck by light- 
 ning from a clear sky. 
 
 I saw nothing conspicuous, and inquired for the 
 whereabouts of the aeroplane. Herr Nietzche pointed 
 at some insignificant bundles lying on the ground. 
 They resembled more the luggage of emigrants, 
 
 94 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 95 
 
 landing at Ellis Island, than the wonder of wonders 
 produced by the mechanical arts. Yet Herr Nietzche 
 asserted that the rather squalid looking stuff was the 
 aeroplane. 
 
 I inquired for an explanation, and Herr Nietzche 
 proceeded as follows: 
 
 "I am not the sole ruler in the Empire of Space, 
 but my daughter Helen there is the power behind 
 the throne. She studied the classics, and every 
 branch of modern thought and science attracted her 
 attention until she eventually found what Plato and 
 Aristotle sought in vain. She concluded that, if it is 
 an axiom that Space is Infinite, it is likewise an 
 axiom that the Universe is Finite. (The initial act, 
 or First Cause of Creation, does not concern us 
 here, and we shall in its history refrain from going 
 beyond that Motion which began with the Electron.) 
 In order to assign a meaning to the apparent mys- 
 tery of things in the universe she concluded that it 
 was necessary to explain the conditions of its fini- 
 tude. Hence she discovered that the energy of the 
 interstellar Ether is latent, potential and static. This 
 constitutional paralysis in the ethereal filament is 
 due to the fact that a tendency to division ad in- 
 finitum has dilated it to an extreme state of tenuity. 
 (If philosophers like Spinoza or Bergson had con- 
 trived to explain the cause of this singular though 
 obvious phenomenon, they would have laid a founda- 
 tion for a pyramid of thought, instead of building 
 mere leaning towers for ephemeral reasoning. But 
 the Jew is not destined to save the world. He is ab- 
 sorbed in the means, and, though he plays a promi- 
 nent role in the world-drama, he cannot accomplish 
 the end. Even the Divine Gallilean, according to 
 Paul, will eventually become subject to Him who is 
 All in All). Now, the latent energy of the Ether be- 
 comes kinetic only by dynamics from within. The 
 
96 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 original electrones are microcosms, and identical in 
 miniature with the Form of the Eternal Being. Their 
 tendency is, therefore, to move in a straight line; 
 but the original impulse, or First Cause of Change, 
 had thwarted Freedom, and created, so to speak, a 
 Finitude for the Eternal Divine Urania. The mode 
 of motion we identify with heat evolved therefore 
 spontaneously in the inevitable contradiction be- 
 tween the centripetal and the centrifugal forces. 
 Crystallization and aggregation was the consequence. 
 This process is continuous, and has been through 
 the ages the modus operandi in the evolution of the 
 stars * * * " 
 
 "What, by the head of Medusa, has the evolution 
 of the stars to do with the propulsion device in those 
 bundles there, which seem to be quite terrestial and 
 conquered by the law of gravitation?" interrupted I 
 impatiently, whilst my eyes ventured a glance upon 
 the wondrous eyes and face of the fair Helen, who 
 now absorbed my interest to such an extent that it 
 was impossible for Herr Nietzche or any one else 
 to explain anything intelligibly to me by the means 
 of the plainest speech. 
 
 "Patience ! my friend," said Herr Nietzche. "Dys- 
 peptic nervousness is an uncommon ailment in Ger- 
 many. We move slow, but steady, and reach our 
 goal in due time. When we turn to navigation we 
 really navigate the air, and our speed has no limit 
 except " 
 
 "By the powers of the Gods of Greece! I rather 
 think your speed has no beginning," I interrupted 
 again, having heard only the last few words. 
 
 I proceeded to open a bundle on the ground 
 shaped like a pyramid. Herr Nietzche interposed in- 
 stantly and pushed me gently backwards. I was at 
 a loss to understand his cautiousness, and stared at 
 him rather wildly. 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 97 
 
 "Beware! beware!" he shouted. "Abstain from 
 experimenting with explosives you are unfamiliar 
 with." 
 
 "Are you carrying dynamite or nitroglycerine and 
 exposing yourself and your daughter to a violent 
 death ?" I interrogated, rather horrified. 
 
 "Patience; my friend," said the German wizard. 
 "We shall presently come to the revelation of the 
 corpus delecti, and you will find that there is no 
 offense connected with my visit to your shores, and 
 a board of safety is for us quite unnecessary. The 
 bundle you see there contains the crowning glory of 
 my life's work and my daughter's genius. I have 
 worked incessantly upon it since early youth, and 
 without the assistance rendered by my daughter I 
 
 should have failed miserably " 
 
 "To the point, friend ! to the point I I know the 
 virtue of your daughter by the fire in her eyes," I 
 interrupted again, seizing the opportunity to glance 
 at the object of my impassionate admiration. 
 
 "The bundle there contains a coherer. It is not 
 a coherer like that invented by Marconi, which re- 
 quires an induction coil and energy stored in the 
 tangible world of dynamics before it can be utilized 
 in the transmission of ether vibrations. It consists 
 of a shell rendered transparent by crystallization, 
 which is filled with the Vast Flowing Vigor, or con- 
 centrated ether. The shell, though transparent, is 
 metallic and not brittle like glass. The process by 
 which the shell is produced is merely an amendment 
 to the method employed by the discoverers of Radi- 
 um; and the process by which the contents is pro- 
 duced is an amendment of the process employed by 
 Rontgen and Sir William Crookes in their experi- 
 ments with the so-called X-ray. Its production re- 
 quires a dark room. Exposure to white light will 
 make no perceptible impression upon it, but it will 
 
g8 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 forthwith dispatch it through space with irresistible 
 power. It moves in obedience to Newton's laws, 
 and, as it moves in the direction of least resistance, 
 the direction of its motion must be determined by its 
 form. The effect of light upon it is analogous to the 
 effect of ignition on explosives, but, as the contents 
 of this tenacious shell is concentrated without a 
 chemical process, explosion will not occur, but as a 
 compensation for the tendency to infinite dissolution 
 it is propelled en masse through space when exposed 
 to light." 
 
 What could I say to this concise description of 
 the greatest wonder in the material world which 
 evidently is destined to revolutionize completely all 
 human affairs? I had listened as a sceptic, but the 
 more I reflected the clearer it became to me that I 
 was forced to believe. The more I reflected the 
 clearer it dawned before me as an unexpected reve- 
 lation. The dreams of Comte will now become posi- 
 tive. I saw before me the fulfillment of the promise 
 with which radium has deceived the patient savant. 
 I saw before me a goal for the restless human race 
 which now is either running amuck with insane fury, 
 standing in painful suspense, or palsied with a di- 
 lemma in selecting a course in the unceasing pursuit 
 of the Infinite. 
 
 I became delighted to the verge of enthusiasm, and 
 if my friend and his daughter had not understood 
 the impression the revelation had made upon me I 
 would indisputably have been considered a victim of 
 a sudden attack of insanity. But they understood me, 
 and knew that the whither and the whence of the 
 Universe was clearly revealed to my faculty of rea- 
 soning. I apologized for my impatience and im- 
 pertinence. Assuring them both of everlasting 
 friendship, I glanced again into that divine visage 
 and met again the glances from those wondrous eyes 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 99 
 
 which had lingered in my memory so long — the 
 glances which I persuaded myself to believe were 
 those which alone can dart from love. I was the 
 first man in the world to whom the secret of their 
 discovery had been revealed. We formed thus a se- 
 cret society with three members; but we have no 
 password, for we keep an open door to our halls of 
 music. 
 
 We proceeded to assemble the aeroplane. The last 
 operation was to place the coherer in a fixed posi- 
 tion in the center. I shivered like an aspen leaf by 
 touching the cover of that greatest wonder yet cre- 
 ated by man. Herr Nietzche smiled. Helen observed 
 my visage and remarked to her father that she 
 thought I suffered from chills and fever. We ad- 
 justed the seats for three to insure perfect equilib- 
 rium under all conditions in the atmosphere. The 
 center of pressure once located is positive and un- 
 changeable, owing to the fact that the coherer, as 
 soon as exposed to light, instantly overcomes all 
 gravitation towards tangible bodies in the finite ma- 
 terial world. The performances of the operator con- 
 sist of regulating the speed by degree of exposure 
 of the coherer, and regulate the direction of motion 
 by devices similar to those of other flying machines. 
 
 We took our seats; Herr Nietzche at the wheel, 
 Helen on the left in the rear and I on the right. A 
 crowd of curious spectators inclosed us from all di- 
 rections whilst we arose silently without the least 
 commotion from the summit of the mount. "Give 
 me your speaking trumpet," said I to Helen. "I see 
 you are silent, and I have something to say to the 
 throng below." 
 
 She responded to my request with her divine smile 
 and whilst her eyes met mine I looked again into that 
 eternal mystery — into her individual soul, which I at 
 that moment recognized as a transcendent glorious 
 
loo COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 entity I had seen in other worlds and known from 
 all eternity. 
 
 "Let me speak first," she said. She spoke the fol- 
 lowing rhyme whilst we flew in a circle around the 
 top of the mountain : 
 
 "Hear my message, ye who toil ! 
 Disregard the price of oil — 
 For without it we can fly 
 To the planets in the sky. 
 Men live not alone by bread 
 But by glories overhead, 
 And the voice comes from above: 
 'Men can live alone by LOVE.' 
 Hear my message, ye who toil : 
 Disregard the price of oil! 
 
 Look upon the sky for signs ! 
 Stay not in the swarthy mines! 
 For the power derived from coal 
 Will not take us to the goal. 
 Cease your hammering, there below! 
 Come to a diviner show! 
 Prophets of the Golden Age 
 Now will act upon the stage. 
 Look upon the sky for signs! 
 Stay not in the swarthy mines ! 
 
 Come into the purer air! 
 Stars are gleaming everywhere! 
 Grope no longer in the Dark ; 
 Swap your candle for a spark, 
 Which, with a new flag unfurled, 
 Throws new light upon the world ; 
 For the scorching Solar Ray 
 Was but prophecy of day. 
 Come into the purer air! 
 Stars are gleaming everywhere! 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR loi 
 
 Folly is your merriment 
 
 Till your minds are starward bent! 
 
 Your sojourn on earth is brief ; 
 
 Still you spend your time in grief: 
 
 Flying on a hobby-horse; 
 
 End your days in sad remorse; 
 
 All the precious time ydn waste 
 
 In your sanguinary haste. 
 
 Folly is your merriment! 
 
 Till your minds are starward bent! 
 
 By a magic light we fly ; 
 Those who stay in darkness die! 
 We'll show you our invention, 
 And hide nothing by pretension 
 To a sovereign art on earth. 
 Come and join us in our mirth! 
 If you further aid require 
 Strike your notes upon the lyre. 
 By a magic light we fly ; 
 Those who stay in darkness die! 
 
 Here we cannot long remain, 
 But we will return again. 
 We have found upon a mountain 
 Of Eternal Youth a fountain. 
 And by strenuous devotion 
 We've found perpetual motion, 
 And will visit while we fly, 
 Every planet in the sky. 
 We no longer can remain, 
 But will soon return again I" 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE FIRST FLIGHT. 
 
 As we in our aerial flight left the panorama of 
 the White Mountains behind I had forgotten to look 
 for the rays of the traditional carbuncle on the 
 Crystal Hills. My eyes were constantly upon the 
 lady, who since the day before had been the object 
 of my amorous dreams and the cause of my for- 
 getfulness and almost total indifiference regarding 
 the affairs of men and the world. 
 
 Who was sitting at my side? She was above 
 Ruskin's ideal of a Queen of the Air. She was not 
 a Helen of Troy, but a real queen. Judging by my 
 side view of her face a vague notion dawned upon 
 me that she was a veritable reincarnation of Cleo- 
 patra. 
 
 I was struck with a total absence of trinkets. Her 
 cloak and dress were admirably made in black and 
 white of plain materials. Her shoes had no fancy 
 buckles. There were no rings on her fingers; no 
 jewelry on her arms; no charm on her neck. Her 
 watch was in her pocket, and only a plain white 
 ribbon was exposed. The watch was of plain sil- 
 ver, but the movement was the best make of Ger- 
 many. Her hat had in the center over her forehead 
 an unusually large diamond of the purest ray. 
 
 What a veritable queen she was! What an aris- 
 tocrat in such a garb! What a superwoman with 
 such a face, whose sparkling eyes competed in bril- 
 liancy with the gem she wore above them ! She rep- 
 
 I02 
 
We represented the highest ideal of heaven moulded 
 in the mortal clay of earth. 
 
 (Courtship in Air.) 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 103 
 
 resented the Highest Ideal of Heaven moulded in 
 the mortal clay of earth. 
 
 I could not refrain from asking questions which 
 perhaps appear to some readers to be rather im- 
 pertinent. Begging her pardon for my rudeness, I in- 
 quired where her dress was made, whether it was 
 made in Paris or in Germany. She proceeded in 
 the most courteous manner to give me a complete 
 description of her wearing apparel; that is, that 
 part which is exposed to view. 
 
 "My shoes," she commenced, "were made to suit 
 my feet by our village shoemaker in my native 
 town in Saxony. Though my feet are of normal 
 shape," she continued, putting forward the daintiest 
 and most symmetrical lady's foot ever observed by 
 human eyes, "I failed to obtain a pair to fit prop- 
 erly in the great emporiums in Berlin. My cloak 
 and dress were made by myself out of cloth bought 
 at a bankrupt sale in Berlin. My father is not poor, 
 you see, but I have never squandered money except 
 in the interest of science and for the positive good 
 of the human race. The form of my hat was ob- 
 tained for one mark at a bargain counter of a de- 
 partment store in Berlin, and I trimmed it with an 
 excellent quality of plush I inherited from my 
 grandmother. The diamond in my hatpin was ob- 
 tained as an unredeemed pledge, which is my ex- 
 cuse for wearing an article not absolutely necessary 
 to complete a feminine attire!" 
 
 What could I say to such a confession of pru- 
 dence, economy and common sense by a woman of 
 classical education and wealth? Embarrassment 
 now joined my absentmindedness, and this is the 
 only excuse I have to ofiEer for my impertinence, 
 which went to extremes. Instead of complimenting 
 her for her attainments and wisdom, I inquired 
 about her standing with the culinary arts. 
 
■ 104 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 ' "I have heard," she said, answering my question, 
 "many sad and disastrous tales about the American 
 palate and American banquets. Brief pleasures are 
 the immediate results of the gratification of fond 
 desires, but the inevitable consequences are always 
 fatal and calamitous in so far as premature death 
 is considered a calamity. The culinary arts have 
 no attraction for me. My palate is simple. My 
 food is the plainest sort and requires but little skill 
 for preparation. Mortals here below are constantly 
 craving for something to irritate the senses, either 
 sweet or strong. But they fail to realize that that 
 something consists of the eternal virtue of the In- 
 finite which necessarily pervades in diverse attrib- 
 utes the elements of the transitory material world. 
 But, alas! these symbols of virtue, which manifest 
 themselves to the senses, cannot be tasted with im- 
 punity by organic beings, who, by striving to attain 
 ends in the pursuit of false ideals, precipitate them- 
 selves into the means. If we succumb to the force 
 of the passions we lose our birthright as children 
 of the Great Spirit, or rather, as individual mani- 
 festations of that Spirit who, by the act of creating 
 the world, is necessarily determined to reveal him- 
 self to the eyes of Reason, not as a personality, but 
 by a multitude of individual personalities." 
 
 "Is eternal life as Individual Entities then really 
 an assured fact and capable of scientific demonstra- 
 tion?" I interrogated with keen interest. 
 
 "Exceedingly so," replied Helen. "If Spinoza 
 had lived and written his Ethica in the twentieth 
 century and seen the modern revelations accom- 
 plished by science, his conclusion regarding the cre- 
 ation of the world would have been as adequate and 
 correct as his conclusion regarding the destiny of 
 man. But, owing to the fact that they failed to 
 see that Motion was possible ad infinitum throtigh 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 105 
 
 Space without change or dergradation of the mov- 
 ing Spirit, the theories of all philosophers, from 
 Plato to the present day, ended in perplexity and 
 confusion. Individual beings fail to solve the rid- 
 dles presented by the paradoxes that are inherent 
 in the relation between Space and Time until the 
 Infinite is fully understood and comprehended by 
 the Finite." 
 
 "Is the Infinite," I inquired, "understood by the 
 Finite when the chemists and physicists have dem- 
 onstrated that the elements of matter consist merely 
 of the original ethereal substance of the Spirit 
 which is deprived of life by a blind involuntary, 
 though inevitable resistence of the Effect which the 
 initial act or First Cause involved; that is, resist- 
 ance of the tendency to dissolution ad infinitum?" 
 
 "The Infinite is comprehended by the Finite 
 when man thoroughly understands woman," replied 
 Helen. 
 
 "I understand you and the scientific integrity of 
 your father." 
 
 "Then all is well, and the solution of the Great 
 Enigma is then imparted by Germany to the West- 
 ern world." 
 
 "Where are we bound for, Herr Nietzche," in- 
 quired I, when I, by looking down, could see noth- 
 ing but mist. 
 
 "Wherever Helen directs our course in the in- 
 terest of mankind," replied Herr Nietzche. 
 
 "Where can we do the greatest good for the 
 greatest number?" inquired Helen, looking me in 
 the eye. 
 
 "Can no permanent good be accomplished in the 
 world until man understands woman?" I asked. 
 
 "No! it is impossible!" replied Helen. "For 
 woman is the representative of the Infinite Power 
 both in spiritual and carnal nature, and must, in the 
 
io6 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 natural order of things, either drag man to in- 
 evitable destruction or to eternal life and unlimited 
 power." 
 
 "I am convinced, then, that there is no hope for 
 the world. The race of man is irreclaimably lost. 
 What can one woman do with but one man besides 
 her father who understands her? What can we do 
 by starting a campaign to redeem the world? The 
 project would be futile. It would be decried by 
 the rest of mankind, who mostly live and skate well 
 on surfaces. Like John Alexander Dowie, who 
 styled himself the third Elijah, we will be hissed, 
 hooted and outlaughed by a mob of illiterate hu- 
 manity who will hear nothing of redeemers because 
 there is nothing within their mental horizon des- 
 tined for redemption." 
 
 "We must try to bring the beautiful and sublime 
 within their scope of vision," remonstrated Helen. 
 
 "It is futile," I said. "We will have no support 
 from science, which is pedantic; no support from 
 philosophy, which is lost in space; no support from 
 the pulpit, which asserts that the task of redeem- 
 ing the world was accomplished nineteen hundred 
 years ago. Nay! let us leave this darkening globe! 
 Let us leave society to its dark fate, which is death 
 and destruction! Let us leave the solar system for 
 the spiritual realm of heaven! Let us leave the 
 plane of the orbits of the planets and set our course 
 as near as possible in the direction of the North 
 Star." 
 
 "Before man understands woman," said Helen 
 calmly, "he must be able to direct her course when 
 she goes astray, but he must also be willing to listen 
 when he needs counsel. Am I going astray now 
 since you attempt to direct my course?" 
 
 "No! no!" I replied vehemently. "On the con- 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 107 
 
 trary, I fully recognize that you have opened for 
 me the gates to the glory of heaven." 
 
 "Will you listen to my counsel then in the imme- 
 diate future before us?" 
 
 "I will; and I will appoint you sole director of all 
 my affairs." 
 
 "I could not accept your offer," said Helen mod- 
 estly. "You must direct your own affairs and only 
 accept my counsel when you need it in order to 
 demonstrate to mankind that you understand wom- 
 an and have discovered her proper place in the uni- 
 verse !" 
 
 "It is of no use," said I. "Mankind has drifted 
 beyond the utility of generalizations of any kind. 
 The world is a ruling passion which conquers rea- 
 son, and the children of men are irreclaimably lost." 
 
 "Whether it is the upper air or your enthusiasm 
 for the victory of truth that has unbalanced your 
 reasoning faculty, I do not know, but I now find 
 you guilty of prejudice. You fail to distinguish 
 the good from the bad. Condemn not so vehemently 
 the struggling world! For 
 
 "The ruling passions there below 
 Are but strings in a puppet show; 
 And all the actors there, you see, 
 Are only struggling to be free." 
 
 "But when the puppets obtain freedom," I rfe- 
 plied, "they only pull the wires for other mock 
 shows. Nay; the redemption of the world is a 
 hobby we must abandon. I desire to leave the 
 finite world behind, but I will follow you if you 
 will consent to be mine when we return to the dull 
 surface of the earth." 
 
 "This I cannot promise," returned Helen prompt- 
 ly. "The effect of our meeting is not with me a 
 
io8 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 case of love at first sight. But I will make you a 
 promise on conditions." 
 
 "And what are the conditions?" I interrogated, 
 almost out of breath in suspense. 
 
 "If you prove to be my highest ideal of a man, I 
 will give myself to you, but not on any other con- 
 ditions." 
 
 "Agreed!" said I. 
 
 "But the test," continued Helen, "requires a 
 flight over the continent from the Atlantic to the 
 Pacific, and the course you may direct, but it will 
 be subject to my approval." 
 
 "Have you decided on the North Star as your 
 destination ?" inquired Herr Nietzche, apparently im- 
 patient with our colloquy. , 
 
 "I prefer to fly in the direction of Philadelphia 
 in order to see the great ball game for the cham- 
 pionship," said I, probing for a German philoso- 
 pher's opinion of our popular sports. 
 
 "To be narrow minded," returned Herr Nietzche, 
 "is a crime against Divinity, though not subject to 
 punishment according to the legal statutes invented 
 by terrestrial legislators. But man, in so far as he 
 is endowed with the powers of reason, cannot 
 swerve from the highways of thought with im- 
 punity. The side roads lead to nowhere and to 
 nothing. If you yield to the attractions displayed 
 by the sideshows you will miss the parade on the 
 boulevards, and you will fail to be disillusioned by 
 the big performances of your world-circus, though 
 your illusions lead you into a bondage which you 
 despise." 
 
 "If your time is not more valuable than to be 
 squaiidered on such paltry affairs as ball games," 
 interposed Helen, "I prefer to comply with your 
 first wish and take you out of the solar system." 
 
 We had during the whole conversation been 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 109 
 
 speeding at an incline of nearly forty-five degrees 
 to the horizon and we were now in the upper re- 
 gions of the atmosphere. Shivering in the cold, I 
 commenced to show signs of fatigue and — shall I 
 confess it — ^fright. 
 
 "I am afraid that we are now on one of the side 
 roads which leads to nowhere and to nothing," 
 said I. 
 
 "We are now on the turnpike to eternity and 
 will soon enter the big show," said Helen, with a 
 smile, the irony of which indicated that she no- 
 ticed my pang. 
 
 Can the reader in his imagination form a con- 
 ception of our position in this extraordinary avia- 
 tion adventure? We moved without machine, 
 without propeller, and independent of the pressure 
 and currents of the air in so far as we flew in a 
 given direction. Were we really going to heaven 
 alive, like Elijah, without suffering the pang of 
 death? Helen's delightful mood indicated it. But 
 I was suffering with cold, and, for the first time in 
 my life, afraid of death; whilst Helen smiled and 
 Herr Nietzche sat as rigid as a Roman sentinel, ready 
 to obey orders. 
 
 "I prefer to start on a downward glide," said I. 
 "It is rather chilly, and I feel the blood is stiffen- 
 ing in my veins." 
 
 "You must adapt your constitution to lofty alti- 
 tudes," said Helen. "We will soon leave the sys- 
 tem of the sun, and our eyes will be opened by a 
 light that is real." 
 
 "I am freezing," said I. "I am nearly as rigid 
 as a block of ice." 
 
 "I am delighted with expectations of the eternal 
 beatitudes," came the reply. 
 
 "I will perish if we go higher!" cried I vehe- 
 mently. 
 
no COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 "Control yourself," said Helen. "Permit your 
 spirit to leave a smile behind upon the sculptured 
 clay. Enter a foreign land with conquest as a 
 hero! Adapt yourself to an eternal environment, 
 and discard that organism which the instincts of the 
 passive reason has built up below for the sake of 
 crawling about on a temporary habitat. Discard 
 the idea that you can live by passive reason in 
 heaven. Brace up! Have courage! Are you a 
 Christian? Have you not faith in eternity? The 
 sun will soon become dark! The material universe 
 will disappear! You will see with your own light 
 or remain forever in the Kingdom of Death! 
 Awake! Meet the new environment with your 
 dream power ! You will soon see living celes- 
 tial stars. You will soon meet the great spirits 
 of antiquity: Seneca, Jesus, Homer, Plato; yes, 
 even the Chinese Confucius will loom up conspicu- 
 ously in the spiritual firmament. Keep your cour- 
 age! Die at least like a heroic Roman! Die se- 
 renely like Petronius and his Concubine! but, like 
 a Christian, you should leave a smile behind upon 
 the sculptured clay!" 
 
 "O, eloquent minister to my soul! permit me to 
 descend to earth! I tremble before the Eternal 
 Mystery!" I whispered with the last effort of my 
 remaining vitality. 
 
 "I will obey you," said Helen, with a tender, 
 compassionate smile upon my aggrieved counte- 
 nance. "You are no more fit to go to heaven than 
 the poodle dog I left behind in my native village in 
 Saxony." 
 
 The next instant we were gliding back to the terra 
 firma of old New England soil. 
 
 "You are, after all," continued Helen, "a suitor 
 of the stamp of Vinicius, whose character was so 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR iii 
 
 admirably drawn by Sienkiewicz in his "Quo Vadis ;" 
 but we have a modern Ursus with us, and I will 
 play the part of Lygia to the end." 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 A NEW DISCOVERY. 
 
 Of all my various experiences in the quest of 
 wonders my invasion of the sky was the most 
 unique. I had been nearer the Great Mystery, and 
 also nearer the door of death, than in any of my 
 previous adventures. I had previously been nearly 
 frozen to death in the icebound North; nearly 
 roasted under an equatorial sun in the desert of 
 Africa; absent-minded to the verge of imbecility 
 and adrift under the shadow of a morbid melan- 
 choly in my own solitary nook of the world; run 
 over by my own auto through my own foolish en- 
 thusiasm ; swerved over the edge of a precipice a 
 fraction of an inch from death; escaped as a fugi- 
 tive murderer from the uncompromising hands of 
 the law; but not until my last adventure had I been 
 face to face with the Final Judgment. And now, 
 despite all my worldly wisdom, despite my des- 
 perate love of an amiable woman, and despite her 
 ardent zeal to introduce me to the splendor of eter- 
 nal glory, I saw nothing before me but the Vast 
 Unfathomable Abyss of Darkness. 
 
 Considering such a vast variety of experiences, 
 which, as yet, had led to nothing and nowhere, is it 
 a wonder that the wisdom of Solomon terminated 
 in a wail over the vanities of the world? I felt 
 now certain that, despite my adherence to Chris- 
 tian ethics, my reverence for the unique founder of 
 Christianity, my profound studies in classical phil- 
 
 112 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 113 
 
 osophy both of ancient and recent times, and de^ 
 spite my own scientific discoveries in radio-active 
 phenomena, I had been in my past life merely a 
 worshiper of the sun and space. But I had now ar- 
 rived at a climax in the pursuit of the Infinite, and 
 was desperately in love with a woman who was 
 demonstrating to me that the human race has been 
 philosophizing en masse for ages, and that individ- 
 ual prowess and achievements are negligible quan- 
 tities unless they circumscribe the Infinite so that 
 they survive without being, absorbed by its Mystery. 
 
 If we by philosophizing mean "seeking after 
 truth" we must concede that the wisest in that search 
 are the children because they paint for themselves an 
 Ideal World of Wonder and are happy in the per- 
 formance. The wisest thing ever uttered by the 
 unique Jesus was this rebuke to the Pharisees: 
 "Let the children come to me; for of such are the 
 Kingdom of Heaven!" 
 
 "O, if we could only idealize the real as in our 
 early years," said I to myself, as we glided back to 
 earth over the peaks of the Green Mountains. But 
 how do we treat our children when they are out of 
 harmony with the Finite? How do we treat our 
 children when objects disappoint their divine fancy 
 because they proved to be mere prosaic and transi- 
 tory things? Instead of guiding their infant minds 
 up to a higher Ideal, we resort in our ignorance and 
 narrowmindedness to punishment for an error, our 
 ov/n conception of which is itself a fatal mistake. 
 
 The advent of the automobile and my possession 
 of it as a toy and efficient meatis to obtain pleasure 
 had revolutionized my conception of the world and 
 the pursuit of happiness. It had added an exten- 
 sion to the finite and moved its limitation some fur- 
 longs into space. But it was an extension only, 
 and the faster we travel the quicker we reach the 
 
114 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 goal. But, alas! what goal? The bottom of Jacob's 
 Ladder was the limit of the New VVorld I had dis- 
 covered by means of the automobile. There was 
 again the end of my enthusiasm for a new discov- 
 ered wonder which proved an illusion — cosmos 
 again rolled into chaos. 
 
 The only excuse I have to offer the reader for 
 my pessimism is that I was only a child despite my 
 thirty-three years of actual . association with the 
 class primates. But what hope could I entertain 
 for a world which evidently has lapsed into a state 
 of unnatural and freakish manhood owing to the 
 very conception it entertains, namely, the prepos- 
 terous idea that the age of childhood has been left 
 behind? What hope could I entertain for a modem 
 world which looks back to Greece as to the child- 
 hood of our western civilization despite the fact that 
 the few individuals who take the really advanced 
 courses in learning and culture must resort to 
 Greece for their final lesson instead of their first? 
 What hope could I entertain except for my suc- 
 cess in pointing out that the child which is reared by 
 nature must instruct the man who is reared by art, 
 in order to prevent his eventual absorption in the 
 chaos which means to ends necessarily involves in 
 the struggle for life? And what hope could I en- 
 tertain at that period these incidents occurred, when 
 I, to my consternation, discovered that I was my- 
 self merely a semi-conscious player in the sport 
 which eventually is mercilessly sacrificed under the 
 uncompromising tyranny of Time and Fate. 
 
 My adventure to the upper regions of the atmos- 
 phere demonstrated to me that I, in spite of my vast 
 experience in the affairs of men, was as yet a mere 
 child. It was a fortunate discovery, for I became 
 convinced that there was still hidden behind that 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 115 
 
 very light which we mortals are accustomed to call 
 the Light of Day, another undiscovered world of 
 wonders. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE REVELATION. 
 
 Henceforth a woman shall lead me — 
 I will follow her guiding hand ! 
 
 And Grecian children shall greet me 
 At the entrance to Fairyland ! 
 
 "Now we will have real sport," said Helen, 
 when we the following morning prepared for a 
 second flight in the neighborhod of Lake George, 
 where we had landed after my first adventure to 
 the upper regions of our terrestial atmosphere. Her 
 assertion irritated my nerves. I was desperately in 
 love. But being aware of the requirements neces- 
 sary to win her, without understanding adequately 
 what deportment of mine would appeal most to her 
 fancy and her conception of the highest ideal of 
 masculinity, I stood in a dilemma as to what course 
 to pursue in my effort to win her highest esteem. 
 Should I play the game of hero? I felt it was 
 necessary. But how could I? How could I undergo 
 the ordeal which the art of flight imposed upon me 
 so suddenly after my escape from the narrow en- 
 vironment within the shell? I had just discovered 
 what an ungainly bird I was — scarcely fit to be 
 suspended in a nest in the top of a tree. 
 
 Sitting in our seats, awaiting the arrival of our 
 pilot, Herr Nietzche, I proceeded to tell my lady of 
 my African adventure and North Pole expedition; 
 how I had succeeded in reaching beyond Dr. Nan- 
 
 ii6 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 117 
 
 sen's and Abruzzi's furthest north. She listened 
 to me with cold indifference and total lack of in- 
 terest in North Pole expeditions. I was discom- 
 fited; but, noticing her staring at me with scrutin- 
 ous eyes, I became feverishly alarmed. What was 
 the object of her minute examination of my face? 
 At last she put an end to the suspense, but, alas, 
 only to plunge me still deeper into perplexity. 
 
 "Did you collide with an iceberg, since the ex- 
 tremities of your face still bear marks of violent 
 obstruction?" she inquired with a smile. 
 
 I was terror stricken for a moment and regained 
 with utmost difficulty my mental equipoise. Should 
 I tell a lie? Or should I tell the story of the auto 
 accident and confess my ignorance? There was no 
 time for deliberation. But, being fully convinced 
 that my new lady friend was not a daughter of Eve 
 to be easily tempted by the fiend, but would dis- 
 cover all moral depravity extempore, I decided to 
 shake the dice with fate and tell the truth. 
 
 To my surprise she was delighted and showed 
 keen interest in my story of the auto accident and 
 my stubborn self-reliance. 
 
 "In attempting to master the engineering of your 
 new toy without assistance," she said, "you played 
 the part of a hero. A man never comes to maturity 
 without self-reliance and a noble pursuit of the 
 goal of knowledge." 
 
 I felt that the opportunity now presented itself 
 to launch my ability of intelligible conversation into 
 smooth water. ^^ 
 
 "What do you consider the goal of knowledge? 
 
 "The goal of knowledge," returned Helen, "is to 
 conceive adequately that the real and the ideal are 
 one in essence. The great and sole calamity to in- 
 dividual consciousness is to see the world in frac- 
 
ii8 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 tions. Individual ability to see the world as a 
 whole is the purpose and strife of all evolution and, 
 therefore, the goal of knowledge." 
 
 Herr Nietzche came and interrupted the conversa- 
 tion. 
 
 "Where are you bound for this bright morning?" 
 inquired Herr Nietzche, with a voice befitting a 
 German chancellor. "East, west, north, south, and 
 all intermediate points of the compass are open to 
 your choice." 
 
 "There is a football game at the Yale field to- 
 day," said I. "I prefer to see real sport below to 
 ideal sport above, which is too remote for mortal 
 eyes." 
 
 "It is good for the novice, the, amateur, and the 
 apprentice; it is good for education," said Helen, 
 in a manner which intimated that she was not jest- 
 ing. 
 
 "What do you mean," I asked, "the sport below 
 or the sport above?" 
 
 "I mean the sport below," returned Helen. "I 
 mean the sports in the fools' paradise." 
 
 We now left the surface of the earth and shot 
 through the air in a direction according to my wish. 
 But in what altitude we flew I know not, and for 
 the direction and destination I cared not, for my 
 soul was aflame and burning in the mystery of love. 
 I had heretofore been an altruist, but since I had 
 met this most noble representative of altruism I 
 had suddenly devolved into an avowed egotist. I 
 glanced continuously at the object of my affection. 
 Yet I had no words and no subject at hand fit for 
 the occasion to reopen conversation. I, who here- 
 tofore had been extremely interested in the aifairs 
 of men and the world, found it impossible to speak 
 intelligibly on any topic whatsoever. A strange 
 passion — a feeling never felt before — ^was irresist- 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 119 
 
 ibly taking possession of my mind. I felt that the 
 soul spoke a Silent Language. 
 
 Herr Nietzche sat with a stern face, yet serene, 
 with the countenance of a conqueror over whom 
 the forces of the material world had no control. We 
 flew against the autumnal east wind, but the fury 
 of the elements lay vanquished at our feet. We 
 sailed as steadily as a boat in the gentle breeze of 
 a lake. We were not relying on the grossness of 
 the atmospheric gases for speed and motion, but 
 we were propelled through space upon the wings of 
 Ether and independent of the law of gravitation. 
 The aeroplane proper only served to control direc- 
 tion, which otherwise, that is, determined by the co- 
 herer alone, would be in a straight line forever. 
 
 My reflections went back to the First Cause and 
 the Unmoved Mover mentioned by Aristotle. A 
 strange coincidence was here exhibited between a 
 conception of an eternal free Unmoved Mover and 
 my present experience with the ancient mystery of 
 Love which so irresistibly strove to deflect all my 
 wonted ambition and thoughts in one direction, and 
 thus take complete possession of my being in favor 
 of a feminine individual, who, though human, was 
 unmistakably recognized by me as an Individualized 
 Spirit, who, mirroring the Eternal Soul, had taken 
 the form of perfect and immortal Beauty. 
 
 "We must amend our theory of Free Will," said 
 I to my amiable companion. 
 
 "Not I," returned Helen. "My conception of 
 Freedom of the Will is fixed and constant and, I 
 dare say, adequate." 
 
 "Have Hegel or Shopenhauer improved upon the 
 philosophies of the ancients?" 
 
 "Not directly." 
 
 "If indirectly, in what way?" 
 
120 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 "When the 'Absolute' is analyzed and recognized 
 by science." 
 
 "Science will have nothing to do with metaphys- 
 ics. 
 
 "No, I am well aware of that, and understand the 
 prejudices of science; but the results of analysis 
 have been applied to metaphysics by the poets." 
 
 "Do you refer to Shakespeare or Byron or some 
 unfortunate modern dreamers?" 
 
 "I refer to myself?" 
 
 "Are you a poetess?" 
 
 "My poetic sense penetrates the Cosmos." 
 
 "Give me an illustration of your view beyond it." 
 
 Helen recited the following: 
 
 "All alone from Eternity 
 
 Love travelled through the ancient night; 
 
 Divine was His being, and free. 
 
 For Darkness alone was his bride. 
 
 There was concord before the world 
 In the mysterious being; 
 But strife ensued when he unfurled 
 A burning desire of 'seeing.' 
 
 He left his bride for a season 
 And entered a circuit race; 
 Contrived with consummate Reason 
 To find the dimensions of Space. 
 
 But as Space had no dimensions. 
 And the Infinite had no bars. 
 They're sitting at vast conventions 
 And assembled in groups of Stars. 
 
 Reason submits queries to Love; 
 Love answers reluctant and shy: 
 'Go in quest of Powers above!' 
 But from Darkness comes no reply." 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 121 
 
 I did not know whether the poem was concluded 
 or not, but I interrupted the recital with an exclama^ 
 tion of wild enthusiasm over the corroboration of 
 my own revelation by a congenial spirit. My con- 
 ception of the Ultimate Reality was no dream or 
 hallucination after all, for it was now confirmed 
 by the adequate and sound reasoning of my amiable 
 companion. The history of creation, which hitherto 
 had been a painful, obscure and mysterious fact, 
 was suddenly laid before me like an open book. The 
 annals were recorded in the plainest type. The mys- 
 tery of existence, whose real nature has puzzled and 
 mislead saints and seers through the ages, and de- 
 fied the scrutiny of the savants of experimental 
 science to the present day, lay disclosed before my 
 mental eye. 
 
 "You have," I exclaimed, "amended the theory 
 of Hegel and made the nature of the Absolute intel- 
 ligible to reason. I have long been crying with a 
 wild voice into the mysterious darkness of the In- 
 finite, but now at last an answer has come home to 
 me like a resounding echo from a distant shore 
 whose mountain peaks were lost to view in the 
 clouds that now are rapidly dispersing before the 
 rising sun." 
 
 "The morning dew," returned Helen, "was but a 
 prophecy of a clear day." 
 
 We flew steadily against an eastern gale whilst a 
 contemplative silence hovered over our spirits. Our 
 feelings could find no expression in words. We felt 
 ourselves heirs to the embattled kingdoms of the 
 ages and absolute rulers in the Empire of Truth, 
 whilst we soared high over the Crystal Hills. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE ENGAGEMENT 
 
 "To know the world as a Whole," said I, as we 
 continued our flight eastward against the gale, "gives 
 a man courage to laugh when face to face with the 
 fury of the east wind." 
 
 "Yes," returned Helen, "and power to defy an 
 invasion from the Orient." 
 
 "What do you mean by referring to an invasion 
 from the Orient?" 
 
 "I mean that invasions from the Orient are as 
 threatening and formidable foes as eastern gales to 
 the western mariners on the restless seas of time and 
 fate." 
 
 "Your statement is not verified by history. You 
 seem to disregard the British sway of empire." 
 
 "Permit me," returned Helen, "to give you a defi- 
 nition of history. Permanent resistance of the de- 
 structive East has so far been futile. The so-called 
 materialism of the West has plunged the Occident 
 over a precipice into the abyssmal stream of fate. 
 The ministers of peace and war stand in two separ- 
 ate spheres. Greece fell over the precipice despite 
 the vigilance of Pericles and the victories of Csesar 
 and the ardor of Cicero, and the timber in the 
 doomed palaces of modern Europe is quivering even 
 under a gentle breeze of zephyr despite the eagle 
 €yes of Napoleon and his modern imitators, and de- 
 spite the peace committees. What will happen un- 
 der an Eastern Scourge can be conjectured to ap- 
 
 122 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 123; 
 
 proximate accuracy by looking up the records o£ 
 Attila when he suddenly appeared as an unbidden- 
 guest at Caesar's feast." 
 
 "Do you mean to say," I interrupted, that a yel- 
 low peril is imminent?" 
 
 "That is exactly what I mean, and the object of 
 our visit to your shores is to stir up a reaction in 
 this passive obedience to a fatal law." 
 
 "What of the current events do you consider ta 
 be portents of impending cataclysms?" 
 
 "The convulsions in China, the uprisings at the 
 Bosphorus, the ridiculous and awkward, though 
 rather successful imitation of Napoleon by Japan," 
 said Helen, "are the most infallible and unmistak- 
 able signs of the times which indicate that a union 
 of a higher order and different in kind to any now 
 existing in the Occident is absolutely necessary to 
 check the flood which with merciless waves threatens- 
 to inundate both orchards and deserts on the western 
 plains until nothing remains visible but Ararat tops 
 and extinct volcanoes covered with eternal snow." 
 
 "What is your program for your American tour?"^ 
 I inquired, curiously interested. 
 
 "To lecture on the science of political economy," 
 replied Helen, "and solve the problems involved in 
 the reasonless contention between capital and labor 
 by expounding the cause of the struggle for life, the 
 object of natural selection and the purpose of the 
 survival of the fittest." 
 
 "I fear," returned I, "that you will battle against 
 the Empire of Darkness in vain. You have in phil- 
 osophy arrived at the pinnacle of glory reached by 
 Milton in poetry by writing 'Paradise Lost' ; but in 
 your attempt to reform America your project can 
 only be compared with the blunder of Milton which 
 he advertised to the world by taking back his fugi- 
 tive wife and by writing 'Paradise Regained.' His- 
 
124 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 matrimonial career showed that the former was not 
 in conformity with reason, and the deterioration of 
 his blank verse in 'Paradise Regained' proved that 
 the latter was not in conformity with truth. 'Para- 
 dise Lost' was a metaphoric record of universal his- 
 tory, but 'Paradise Regained' involved a chronologi- 
 cal error, for Satan is still in his Eastern Pande- 
 monium and the Son of Man has not as yet com- 
 menced to save mankind." 
 
 "Shall I then imitate P. T. Barnum," returned 
 Helen, and conclude that the American public is not 
 satisfied unless it is entertained by an exhibition of 
 humbug?" 
 
 "No," said I, emphatically, "I would not cajole 
 mankind by hoaxes, but prefer to let the world roll 
 in its stagnant welter whilst we indifferently navi- 
 gate the air and retain our relation with the Infinite 
 by keeping at peace with the Finite." 
 
 "Plato did the same thing," said Helen, "and de- 
 spite the wonders he discovered in the realms of 
 truth, the world has been platonizing for thousands 
 of years and would continue forever in vain to blast 
 for gems in the mountain of philosophy and incom- 
 prehensible theorizing. No! I cannot persuade my 
 conscience to remain silent. I must place my reve- 
 lation before the bar of human judgment before I 
 retire from this campaign. I cannot keep still. I 
 may in your eyes be subject to the common feminine 
 weakness; but I cannot keep still; I cannot keep a 
 secret; I must impart the news — I must!" 
 
 "And if I refuse," said I, rather discouraged with 
 Helen's feminine enthusiasm, "to sanction your de- 
 termination, will this little feud of ours be the part- 
 ing of our ways?" 
 
 "It will," returned Helen, determined. 
 
 "Then I will follow you on your lecturing tour 
 of the continent by the air-route, and assist you in 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 125 
 
 your attempt to open the eyes of men, expel the 
 lethargy, and arouse a slumbering world. But I de- 
 mand as a stipulation full possession of your body 
 and your soul. In short, you must promise to be- 
 come my wife when we arrive at the Golden Gate." 
 
 "I promise and agree," said Helen, blushing 
 slightly with downcast eyes. 
 
 "We will then cross the Pacific and spend our 
 honeymoon in the Orient," said I, extremely de- 
 lighted. 
 
 "A honeymoon," returned Helen, "must not be 
 spent, but it must last forever if it is worthy of the 
 name. 
 
 In our delight we must reserve the name 
 Of our felicity, whilst on earth we stay. 
 But I admit, Love is the secret flame 
 Which now invites, and compels me to obey 
 
 But, if we ever become united into One, we must 
 find a way to extend the lunar periods or follow the 
 orbit of another star." 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 OVER NEWPORT. 
 
 "Where will you commence your lectures?" I in- 
 quired, whilst we were speeding steadily eastward. 
 
 "At Newport." 
 
 "At Newport?" I exclairried, rather surprised. "It 
 is an extremely bad place to talk on reform and at- 
 tempt demonstrations along metaphysical lines. I 
 fear the attempt will be most unfortunate and the 
 result will be disastrous for your future career on 
 the continent." 
 
 "My decision is firm. I will commence my lec- 
 tures at Newport." 
 
 "On what subject?" 
 
 "On the Utility of Wealth." 
 
 "It will fail. You will be hissed off the stage." 
 
 "Is not the United States a republic?" 
 
 "Yes, in name, but not a commonwealth. It is a 
 plutocracy with a system of government which can 
 only be approximately understood by adequate 
 knowledge of the laws of heredity and anthropology. 
 I venture to define it as a cross between the govern- 
 ment of an Indian clan and an Oriental despotism." 
 
 "In your attempt to frustrate my plans you are 
 rendering me some service. My lecture must include 
 a delineation of the life of the Indians in the prim- 
 eval forest, and the utility of the phenomenal Orient 
 in the general scheme of evolution." 
 
 "It is useless," I persisted. "The public, and es- 
 pecially the wealthy, will denounce anything pre- 
 
 126 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 127 
 
 tending to be new upon those themes. Cooper and 
 Longfellow have said enough about the life of the 
 Indians, and if the Chinese mandarins who occa- 
 sionally visit our shores fail to indicate the aim of 
 China, Lafcadio Heam has said enough about the 
 Flowery Kingdom to enable us to conjecture what- 
 ever remains obscure to the superficial observer re- 
 garding the strange ambition of the Orient. No! 
 Silence regarding those matters is golden, and 
 speech, even if silvern, will only produce an unde- 
 sirable litigation upon the smooth sailing exchange. 
 No; let those who choose enter the skirmish line; 
 but let us stay in the air and select our landing place 
 for repast in the peaceful woods. Let us withdraw 
 from a race which has become a felon on the chaste 
 body of nature. Let the chaste forest henceforth 
 be our abode in this western land of dreams." 
 
 But all my pleading was futile. Helen shook her 
 noble head and declared solemnly, that, in order to 
 fulfil her mission with a clear conscience, she was 
 forced to speak and publish the full conviction of her 
 mind at all hazard. It was much against my pru- 
 dence, and my hereditary Yankee blood revolted 
 fiercely. 
 
 "Shall we proceed to Newport?" inquired Herr 
 Nietzche. 
 
 "To Newport or to Eternity !" replied Helen. 
 
 Half an hour later we sailed silently over the 
 American dreamland of the wealthy. 
 
 "What do you think of the scene?" I asked, as 
 we circled around over the stately mansions below. 
 "Can there be anything superior to that in heaven? 
 
 "No," said Helen, "not superior, but more perma- 
 nent, because it is eternal. Not superior (for this, 
 I must confess, is a panorama of pure art whose 
 excellence is sanctioned by nature) but more per- 
 manent because those castles are subjected to the 
 
128 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 laws of gravitation and need foundations to rest 
 upon. Despite those massive pillars of stone they 
 will eventually crumble into the dust. However per- 
 manent they may appear under that aspect of time 
 which is measured by planets and the sun, their ser- 
 vice is brief as abodes for the occupants. The ruins 
 of the Forum have survived the senate. The sur- 
 faces of the Pyramids have resisted the elements for 
 thousands of years, but what there is left of the 
 mummies have also turned to stone. The Mauso- 
 leum of Hadrian is quite intact, but the dust of the 
 Csesars have long been mingled with the wind. 
 
 "Look!" interrupted I, pointing at the scenery be- 
 low. "There is the palace of the Vanderbilts; there 
 is the Gould's; there is Astor's; there is Havemey- 
 er's; there is Belmont's; there is Goelet's; there is 
 Whitney's; there is Drexel's; there is Ogden Mills'; 
 there is Morgan's. They are all representatives of 
 the American aristocracy, the greatest wealth the 
 world has ever seen, and the most gorgeous fashion 
 in human society; in short, representative of the 
 end of nature in her highest effort in the evolution 
 of the ages to produce a heaven on earth by means 
 of organisms and crystals in the material world." 
 
 "Yes, yes," interrupted Helen impatiently, "the 
 greatest effort of nature to extract the Spirit from 
 the Dust and individualize the Eternal Soul. But it 
 is as yet only an instinctive effort and not an aim 
 prompted by Reason. The end is not yet, for it 
 stands not for an Eternal Verity. It is an end which 
 like the Grandees of Spain and the Patricians of 
 Rome is destined to be absorbed as means. I read 
 the minds of the occupants of those mansions. The 
 roofs are transparent to the X-ray of my vision. In 
 ■spite of the splendor of their entertainments, their 
 gaiety, their mock pleasures, they are perpetually 
 haunted by the Dark Spirit of Ennui." 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 129 
 
 "Is it a part of your mission then to introduce by 
 your lecture an adequate remedy for the morbid 
 malady of ennui?" I asked. 
 
 _ "It is," said Helen. "It is my mission at least to 
 diagnose disease, but whether the remedy will be 
 adequate or not can only be decided by the future. 
 We can put no check upon possibilities when a crisis 
 is pending." 
 
 "Is the sight of this opulence and splendor ham- 
 pering your courage?" I asked, imagining that I no- 
 ticed a shadow of timidity in her otherwise beaming 
 eyes. 
 
 "No," said Helen, "it was only a compassion for 
 the errors of men which mingled in my mind with a 
 profound admiration for the feats of human wit and 
 the flights of art, though it is devoid of the ability 
 to soar. Architecture has its towers, but the artistic 
 piles remain below. The song of men is like the song 
 of the robin; its flight is like the flight of the swal- 
 low : it is dexterous, but too near the earth. It pad- 
 dles occasionally in the water and, instead of rising 
 to altitudes of the eagle, it remains with dripping 
 wings below." 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 UTILITY OF WEALTH. 
 
 Noiselessly and mysteriously, coming from the 
 Realm of Silence, we alighted in the early morning 
 hour near the Newport Country Club without draw- 
 ing much attention from spectators. The few we met 
 in the vicinity of the club were men of wealth, but, 
 instead of being haughty and opulent, these early 
 risers were communicative and courteous and seemed 
 to have heard the command of Emerson, "Speak to 
 men as if they were real — perhaps they are." 
 
 We met especially one man who welcomed us 
 with extraordinary cordiality, namely Mr. Young, 
 who will play a prominent part in the adventures 
 before us. He was a young man with ten millions 
 in his own hands and, having but one sister, was a 
 prospective heir to the bulk of his father's fortune. 
 
 We accepted Mr. Young's invitation and became 
 guests in his father's mansion. His parents and sis- 
 ter were cruising in their own yacht around the 
 world, so our amiable host occupied the mansion 
 alone with the servants. Helen revealed her mis- 
 sion to Mr. Young. He invited a coterie of friends 
 who represented the ultra fashionable as well as the 
 greatest wealth in the world. Helen was introduced 
 as a flying prophetess, and after the banquet stood 
 up and said as follows: 
 
 "Ladies and Gentlemen: I have arrived upon your 
 shores to lecture upon a theme of vast importance 
 to all who prize life and liberty and cherish in their 
 
 130 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 131 
 
 hearts a reverence and love of the divine order in 
 that scheme of things which lies at the base of the 
 universe, and I have come with a mission to those 
 who have faith in a higher destiny of man than the 
 general aspects of the street indicate to the super- 
 ficial observer, who is forced to hurry along with 
 his eyes fixed upon particular objects in the struggle 
 for life or in the pursuit of happiness. I have not 
 come to censure or condemn any of your institutions 
 but to announce a truth which is paramount and does 
 not permit criticism of what appears to be wrong 
 nor praise of that which appears to be right, for, 
 though this is not the best of possible worlds, I shall 
 endeavor to demonstrate that neither individuals nor 
 institutions are responsible for conditions as they 
 are. 
 
 "You have heard many disputes regarding the 
 Freedom of the Will. I shall begin with disclosing 
 the true nature of that freedom and, if possible, 
 bring you out of the difficulties and dilemmas with 
 which you, owing to a paradox, have been hampered 
 long. The natural foundation of that distressing 
 paradox is located in the Infinite. There is but one 
 free Universal Will. That Will is the tyrant under 
 whose uncompromising and merciless yoke you and 
 all the nations of the earth are staggering now. Can 
 we bear the burden? How long can we resist a col- 
 lapse? Such questions you ask yourselves in your 
 brief moments of leisure. I say brief, because you 
 are as busily occupied with mundane affairs in your 
 own way as the struggling masses who receive noth- 
 ing but daily bread flavored with the paltry gratifi- 
 cation of their passions. But, alas! you look into the 
 pit for an answer. You look into the pit where ful- 
 minate and brimstone, though as yet calm and ap- 
 parentlv harmless, is laying as a perilous cover over 
 a steadily approaching subterranean fire, whilst m 
 
132 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 every direction of the firmament there shines a star 
 of hope. Certain and various premonitions bring 
 about convocations to avert the lurking dangers, but 
 you adjourn upon the vote to throw water on the 
 elements and cruise confidently in your luxurious 
 yatchs toward sunny southern shores. But, alas! 
 you realize too late that you have drifted to the 
 Orient and saunter carelessly in the shade of a Cra- 
 catoa. 
 
 "I am not alluding to the failure of The Hague 
 tribunal or the sinister reports of a yellow peril, but 
 to all formidable forces which are thwarting your 
 frantic efforts to keep afloat on the ocean of fate. 
 Your cruise was idyllic on the great lakes of Time, 
 but you must pass a Niagara on your journey to the 
 Ocean of Eternity. You have indulged in the sports 
 of many a Windy City, but you are approaching the 
 edge of the Great Fall. The Great Carbuncle is 
 still far away and was lost to view of those who 
 have gone before. Dreaming of the promised land 
 beyond the ocean you disregard and are unaware of 
 the real obstacles on your course. Instead of aug- 
 menting your flotilla you should brace your boat 
 from within and place yourselves buoyantly in the 
 center and make adequate preparations for the or- 
 deal before you plunge headlong into the torrent lest 
 you perish and disappear in the foam of the falling 
 waters. 
 
 "Greece, too, was on the stream and sailed in the 
 same direction. She went through her idyllic state 
 and sang her heroic songs in childish wonder, but at 
 the age of puberty she committed the same blunder 
 which is now threatening to mislead you and plunge 
 you headlong to your destruction. Profane inter- 
 course with the Orient proved her ruin. The foun- 
 tains of her youth were drained before her prime and 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 133 
 
 she succumbed to the scorching fire of Rome. Like 
 the Wind girl in the last days of Pompeii she sprang 
 into the sea, 
 
 With eyes so radiant, yet so sightless, 
 uplifted to the sky. 
 
 "Rome had a stately ship and crossed the sea in 
 her victorious trirene. She was aware of the danger 
 and attempted to pass unmolested by fortifying her 
 strength. But her fortifications sapped her vitality. 
 She covered her craft with armorplates and her 
 night watch went to sleep; her captain and mates 
 saturated themselves with wine; her crew deserted 
 her for the gladiatorial arena; and when the crash 
 came she broke into fragments and all went into 
 darkness only semi-conscious of their fate. 
 
 "Now, let us hold for granted that you are the 
 most important of the new mariners on the romantic 
 sea of Time. You have passed the idyllic state; you 
 have sung the heroic songs of your homeric age and 
 arrived at the age of puberty. But how are you 
 going to enter the chaste kingdom of Love ? I prom- 
 ised at the outset not to censure or condemn your 
 individual actions or collective institutions, but I beg 
 you pardon my seeming impertinence, by asking a 
 few questions. Have you already blundered like 
 Greece when she was lead by the impassionate Alex- 
 ander into profance intercourse with the Orient? 
 You have equipped your stately ships, but have you 
 disregarded adequate precaution of safety from ex- 
 plosion of your own ammunition in the hold? Have 
 your crew seen an old, imperious lion dying on the 
 shore and kicked him like the long-eared ass in the 
 fable? Is your night watch asleep? Are your cap- 
 tains and mates drunk with wine instead of drunk 
 with the Spirit? Are your trirenes already over the 
 
134 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 brink? Are they already dashing against the rocks 
 and quivering in the fatal torrents? 
 
 "You have enjoyed a long era of peace; that is, 
 long when compared with the brevity of the indi- 
 vidual life of man on this planet, but an infinitesimal 
 moment when compared with the evolution which so 
 patiently has organized the world in the innumer- 
 able ages whose almost obliterated epochs we en- 
 deavor to trace in the sand of Time. The whole 
 history of the universe, from that beginning of crea- 
 tion which wrestled the first electrones from the 
 eternal ether to the present moment, is one long, 
 continuous tale of war and destruction. Those quiet 
 periods which we call eras of peace are in reality 
 only preparations for war. The longer the truce 
 the more severe will be the impending battles. Why? 
 Simply because the most cultured and refined are 
 trapped by the illusion that their leisure and advan- 
 tage in the world is a special privilege which is sanc- 
 tioned by a divine order and when the liquidation 
 comes the brute forces are the aggressors and will 
 prove victorious in the act of spending their fury. 
 
 "We see, therefore, that revolutions and the blind 
 mundane ambition of the proletariate are analogous 
 to and as inevitable as tornadoes, thunderstorms, 
 and the occasional sudden outburst of supposed ex- 
 tinct volcanoes. In our so-called eras of peace we 
 attempt to draw a circle around that Eternal Will 
 which pervades the world of matter and of mind. 
 We assign a limit to its field of action. But, alas, 
 we forget that the Will is infinite ; and, whilst it will 
 go astray in the infinitude of Space, it will not suf- 
 fer itself to be confined in the finitude of Time. It 
 takes the position of your Patrick Henry — it will 
 struggle to death if it fails to attain to Freedom. 
 
 "But our fate is subject to both contingencies, 
 that is, freedom or death. Whilst we are within the 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 135 
 
 reach of the hands of Providence we are as yet in 
 the stream of Fate. We see everywhere life pre- 
 servers, but in our blindness we take them for hooks 
 and baits of cunning sportsmen who have attained 
 a stand of safety upon the shore. We may as yet 
 go the way of the world. All planets are not suc- 
 cessful. As primitive humans our career and des- 
 tiny may be analogous to unfortunate planets which, 
 like Mercury and Venus, though nearer the sun than 
 our orb, are left without satellites, and are anchored 
 like magnets to the sun, and, with their better halves 
 in perpetual darkness, are forced to stare into the 
 scorching and annihilating rays of the orb of day. 
 We may, as a race, even become as hopelessly lost 
 as the moon, and eventually be forced by contingent 
 circumstances to revolve as a checkered slave, and 
 shed our borrowed light upon the shady side of a 
 secondary world. 
 
 "Our destiny depends now upon the nature of 
 the pending intimate intercourse with the Orient. 
 Have you already taken the position of the moon in 
 your relation to the Far East? If so, you must make 
 haste and retrace your steps for your peril is ex- 
 treme. If you prevail in the future upon the career 
 you have pursued in the past and force the currents 
 of your vitality through your coils of industry and 
 trade, the effect you produce in the Orient will prove 
 your ruin- for whilst the Orient is exceeding the 
 speed limit at your expense, your batteries will give 
 out without warning and your beneficiary in the 
 East will have a dynamo of their own. They will 
 thence overtake you from behind and you will come 
 to a miserable end in your circuit race. _ If you con- 
 tinue to furnish ignition for the motors in the Orient 
 it is high time that you look to the condition of your 
 batteries and have them properly recharged with 
 fresh electrolyte. If not, you will inevitably take a 
 
136 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 position analogous to the moon and shed borrowed 
 light on the shady side of a secondary world. 
 
 "But if the new electrolyte wherewith you are 
 called upon to supply your primary currents is not 
 within your immediate reach you must not get ex- 
 cited and resort to the cutting of the wires, for this 
 would result immediately in a short circuit and 
 you would then likewise be lost in the darkness upon 
 the track of Time. And then, alas, the motors of 
 the Orient, with savage blazonry, would fly like sin- 
 ister vampires over the extinct volcanoes in the 
 West. No, you must, for the sake of your life and 
 your freedom, continue to supply the current which 
 moves the world. You must in your industrial, com- 
 mercial, political and social vehicles install the im- 
 provements which have already been accomplished 
 by mechanical skill in the automobile. You must 
 install a high tension magneto and a stronger cable. 
 fThen you will avoid all future danger of short cir- 
 cuits and detrimental friction and ride safely to your 
 destined goal. 
 
 "The earth is still young, not old and effete, 
 though numberless species in the vegetable and ani- 
 mal kingdoms have persisted in the various cycles of 
 evolution which have rolled away. The Universal 
 Will is an uncompromising tyrant and will suffer 
 nothing save that which is perfect to survive. As a 
 race and as nations, we, advanced bipeds as we are, 
 still belong to the order canivora in the class of 
 mammalia. Is it not preposterous, is it not an insult 
 to the intellect to imagine that we in our present 
 state can survive indefinitely, or, even a considerable 
 length of time? Is not such a theory indefensible? 
 We have gone the limit with conservatism and must 
 now reform or perish. There is no alternative in 
 your choice between liberty and death. 
 
 "How far are we advanced as a nation over the 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 137 
 
 tribes who held sway in the primeval forests before 
 the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock? Are your 
 sporting clans of this commonwealth more entitled 
 to a pennant than the red men when the result and 
 dexterity of the game is laid before the umpires of 
 eternity? When you look westward as entitled heirs 
 to the great empire are your consciences clear? Is 
 this territory yours in fee simple and without in- 
 cumbrance ? Your eagle is flying high, but you strug- 
 gle in the valley for the pennant in vain. It is upon 
 the eagle's wings, but far above the summit of the 
 Rockies. You stare into the sky whilst a strange 
 umpire appears below the cirrus clouds. But he is 
 still deliberating whether the pennant shall go to the 
 Japanese, the Chinese, or the Yankees; and there is 
 a rumor in the air that it might possibly go to the 
 Dakotas or the Cherokees. 
 
 "Now, I have not come to your New England 
 shores to disturb you in your banquets or to rob you 
 of your bread and wine, but merely to offer you some 
 food of thought. I am not here to introduce myself 
 as your savior, for I feel that, like the Jews of old, 
 you would have me crucified by invoking the aid of 
 a foreign power. As a self-styled Savior I would- 
 be miserably lost in my enthusiasm. I would perish 
 in the act of pouring out my heart in the interest of 
 your salvation and your freedom. Even if you 
 indicted me reluctantly you would sentence me 
 like the Savior of old when the sun was setting in 
 the empire of Rome, for some Pontius Pilate would 
 succeed in washing his hands clean. No; I am not 
 here to save, but I am here to judge; and, m the 
 interest of your salvation, I am pointmg still to the 
 cross of Golgotha. . 
 
 "You have not yet seen the burnmg of Rome, but 
 you have sung your mundane songs at Nero's feast. 
 You have not as yet seen a Reign of Terror, but you. 
 
138 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 have served as courtiers at the thrones of despotism 
 and shamed the constitution of this glorious republic 
 for which your forefathers toiled in solitude and 
 sacrificed their lives and blood on the field of battle. 
 You have delivered your beautiful daughters over 
 to the unchaste embrace and profane love of effete 
 royalties in the Old World. I have shed tears in 
 solitude over this most deplorable fact. I have been 
 sweating blood in my ardent desire to save them. 
 It would be better to sacrifice your children to Mo- 
 loch or the crocodiles on the Nile; or, better still, 
 sacrifice your fair daughters like the Prolyxena of 
 Euripides, and permit them to (fie like chaste virgins 
 and heroines so that they may augment the glory of 
 lieaven instead of adding to disgrace on earth. 
 
 "You maintain your extravagant luxuries at the 
 expense of the basic vitality of life notwithstanding 
 that you have already commenced to pay the penalty 
 by facing a sea of troubles. But you still deliberate, 
 and some of you are still optimistic. You expect an 
 emancipator in due time. Yes; the emancipator 
 will come. Mirabeau came to France. But Mira- 
 "beau's have feverish blood and generally come too 
 late to save your royal kings and queens and hold 
 the mobs at bay from your luxurious Tuilleries. No ; 
 rely not on emancipators. Expect rather a sudden 
 storming of your Bastille, and look amongst your 
 boys for the budding Dantos, Marats and Robes- 
 pierres. Wait not, ye kings and queens! wait not, 
 ye occupiers of these castles of the West, for a 
 Mirabeau — for when he comes, he comes too late. 
 
 "What is the ultimate utility of your wealth and 
 accumulated riches in your artificial system of 
 things ? You have a variety of answers, theories and 
 opinions wherewith to meet this question, but, I tell 
 you, ladies and gentlemen, only one answer is to the 
 point, and in conformity with truth, namely, that 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 139 
 
 your wealth, despite all your prudent investments, 
 is eventually spent for tombs and monuments to the 
 dead, and you are in your artificial system of thing* 
 merely repeating the history of Egypt. You meet 
 the statement with accusation of prejudice upon your 
 lips, but the fact is there, and the tragic repetition 
 of history is advertised upon your highways, by 
 your free press, and performed on your moonlight 
 excursions as well as under the light of the sun. 
 
 "Our steel kings are building libraries for the 
 masses, you protest ; our oil kings are building labo- 
 ratories in the interest of science; others build ob- 
 servatories, but forget that Franklin's 'Almanak of 
 Poor Richard'' is still of far greater benefit to the 
 commonwealth than the weather forecasts and prog- 
 nostications of eclipses and visits of certain comets 
 in a distant future. You are enthusiastically patron- 
 izing the arts and fostering the higher culture, but 
 you fail to realize that there is a limit to the finite, 
 and unless we can soar high without becoming dizzy, 
 we will, when we leave the finite realm of light, re- 
 coil from the Darkness of the Infinite in terror. 
 
 "You are unconsciously fostering a literature 
 which is effete and dead; not to the few who are 
 awake, but effete and dead when called upon for 
 service in the capacity to awake a slumbering world. 
 Your intention is noble, your taste is refined, your 
 career was heroic, and I admire you as men, but 1 
 am forced to remain true to my convictions and de- 
 clare that you are unconsciouslv imitatinsf the an- 
 cient kings, and, like the Pharaohs of Egypt, voxt 
 should lay the foundation broad for your next archi- 
 tectural structure, attempt more ardently to gratity 
 your insatiable desires, and crown your final ettort 
 with a pvramid. . , 
 
 "You have mustered out an army to fight the 
 minute germs which are constantly irritatmg human 
 
I40 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 flesh and threatening the physical life of man. Is 
 it because you have heard rats in the attics of your 
 mansions which, though physically developed on a 
 far larger scale than the minute germs of disease, 
 are gnawing at your soul? Are they threatening to 
 devour you ? Are they annoying you in your sleep ? 
 Do they appear to you in your dreams? I have 
 seen you spending restless nights in your library 
 brooding over forgotten lore. Are you confounding 
 rats with germs? If so, I shall not advise you — I 
 only put my hands upon the tangible. I am no ex- 
 pert in germs. I know and care but little for their 
 various activities, and although I have no specific 
 remedy wherewith to resist them, I fear not their 
 onslaught, for I am no physician for the body, but 
 only a dispenser of remedies for the soul. 
 
 "And what shall I say to those amongst you who 
 bequeath fortunes to institutions of learning which 
 already stagger under the uncomfortable burden 
 of wealth ? I say stagger, not because it is necessary 
 to stagger under the burden of wealth, but the fact 
 is, that "learning" staggers as if it was actually 
 drunk with intellectual wine. But individual cases 
 have proved in every generation and in every age 
 that the higher culture, the only culture which has 
 intrinsic value for the race of man, can, in the 
 midst of extreme poverty, stand alone. 
 
 "To the generous philanthropists I venture to say 
 that they too are drifting with the stream. They are 
 delighted with the phosphorescence in the ripples 
 of the water and look unconsciously towards their 
 destiny with bright hopes, but it is of paramount 
 importance that they too reverse their boat and row 
 against the current. There is a fatal Niagara before 
 all idyllic mariners of a Windy City who are drifting 
 eastward on the great lakes of time. They are drift- 
 ing eastward in the hope of refreshing the memories 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 141 
 
 of their youth; but westward, westward, goes the 
 course of empire. 
 
 ^ "You may impatiently propound to me the ques- 
 tion, 'What shall we do then with our money ?' My 
 answer is a repetition of the statement I have al- 
 ready made, namely, that I am no physician of the 
 body, neither the social body nor the body politic, 
 and I carry no specific remedies to cure your dis- 
 eases, but, as before mentioned, my remedies are 
 neither ponderable nor tangible, but are remedies 
 for the soul. 
 
 "Pardon me if my questions appear to you too 
 officious and impertinent, but permit me to ask, 
 what is the ultimate effect of your higher education ? 
 You are absorbed in the means because you fail to 
 assimilate the end. In mathematics you need not 
 soar, in point of fact, you cannot, for it must neces- 
 sarily turn its back to the Infinite and look with 
 geometrical precision down upon mother earth, even 
 if it calculates the course of a comet's orbit or meas- 
 ures the exact parallax of a star. Now, as educa- 
 tion in all branches is extremely mechanical, do 
 you wonder why the most atrocious crimes, instead 
 of being confined to the lower elements of society, 
 the illiterate and the vulgar, now has made its sor- 
 did invasion into high places — into places where you 
 would least expect to find it — and the sinister re- 
 ports upon the daily bulletins strike you with con- 
 sternation. I tell you that those human wretches 
 you sacrifice from both extremes of society on your 
 gibbets are martyrs in the perpetual war of Reason 
 with the fanaticism of a false age. These human 
 wretches, composite in body but dissolved in spirit, 
 came into the realm of being like other more fortu- 
 nate children of men, with open eyes before the 
 world of wonders. They asked the same questions 
 to their seniors and their sires. But what replies 
 
142 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 did they receive? They pointed to the stars; they 
 asked questions about the Milky Way and the Au- 
 rora, and perchance they even set their infant eyes 
 upon the nebulae in Hercules. But what instruction 
 could you give them? You knew nothing about 
 these matters. You thought they were too remote. 
 You took away from them their Arabian Nights. 
 You advised them to leave their tales from Fairy- 
 land upon the dusty shelves. You laid the arith- 
 metic before them and forced them to study the 
 conventional grammar at the point of the rod. You 
 disturbed them in the dreams which should have 
 been their leading torch and guide through the Sinai 
 deserts and catacombs of life. And what has been 
 the result? The most deplorable is that your chil- 
 dren have ceased to wonder when they arrive at the 
 age of puberty. They look upon the world with a 
 cynic sneer, or cackle about their sports as if they 
 were the only things worth while and the most im- 
 portant matters in the universe. Their eyes are 
 shut to those ideals which alone are real and involve 
 verities that are eternal. Their souls are dead. Their 
 consciousness are awake in the finite and alive to a 
 rpatter of fact world. But the light of the soul is 
 obscure, and their matters of fact roll away. And 
 those who only worship matters of fact in a transi- 
 tory world roll along with them into the great em- 
 pire of Non-Entity, into extinction in the Darkness 
 of the Unfathomable Sea. 
 
 "Permit me to state that if the prevailing methods 
 by which you endeavor to maintain order under the 
 threatening attitude of the uncompromising law is 
 the light by which you permit yourselves to be guided, 
 then your light is darkness, and not the lamp of the 
 law. Permit me, then, humbly as I stand before you, 
 to hold up my candle to your light. Who knows. 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 143 
 
 but I may possibly save some of your children who 
 I see are all hovering over a precipice. 
 
 "I have received hints from the Orient by which 
 I am prepared to delineate an adequate cosmogony. 
 I shall, when we meet again, speak to you about the 
 true history of the universe and endeavor to open 
 your eyes for its Divine Destiny. Until then, I ask 
 you therefore to suspend judgment regarding my 
 mission on the American shore. 
 
 "Let me, in conclusion, state once more that I 
 blame not you for your actions, but the environment, 
 of whose existence and conditions you are abso- 
 lutely innocent. Your mental faculties are founda- 
 tions for great structures, but they have been sadly 
 perverted and distorted in your effeminate labyrinth 
 of art. Seek the solitude in external nature! Go 
 out on the hillsides and lay down leisurely on the 
 grass and listen attentively to her whispering voices 
 and watch her waving hands: listen to the hum- 
 ming of insects and watch the cirrus clouds. Follow 
 the flight of the eagle over the Rockies and the 
 Andes so that you may behold a brilliant sunset in 
 your Ideal Pacific, decipher the meaning in the signs 
 of the zodiac, and discover a living language in the 
 twinkling of the stars. The morrow will then be 
 heralded by a new Aurora, for then 
 
 You will within your labyrinth of art 
 Find a new picture of a human heart. 
 
 "Let us part to-night in the hope soon to see the 
 world united upon a higher plane. The race of 
 Man is young; but the globe is cooling fast and 
 speeding towards its fatal end. Let us therefore 
 have faith that Reason is fully equipped to check 
 the Subterranean Fire." 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 A HEART IN AGONY. 
 
 The lecture Helen delivered on the Utility of 
 Wealth made an almost incredible effect upon high 
 society in Newport. Helen and her father stepped 
 at once into the limelight of popularity. We re- 
 ceived invitations from far and near and wherever 
 that beautiful and eloquent Teutonic daughter went 
 she was received with open arms. Herr Nietzche, 
 as inventor of the wonderful aeroplane, whose phe- 
 nomenal propulsion device was still a secret of his 
 own alembic and considered a product of his own 
 scientific integrity, was likewise an object of admira- 
 tion, and his achievement as inventor furnished ma- 
 terial for the most interesting topic of the day con- 
 cerning the art of flight. Never in the history of 
 the past were two prophets, each in their own par- 
 ticular spheres, received with such courtesy, such 
 admiration, such love and esteem, and such faith 
 in their doctrines, than these two wizards, who so 
 suddenly and without previous announcement, had 
 come to the shores of New England from a foreign 
 land. They had arrived without passports as did 
 the passengers of the Mayflower when the abori- 
 gines were dumbfounded by the vision of a mystery 
 at Plymouth Rock. 
 
 As all eyes wherever we went were directed to- 
 wards Herr Nietzche and Helen, I became a mere 
 negligible quantity as their companion. Being in 
 love I was absent minded, and in this extremely 
 
 144 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 145 
 
 cultured and high society, I became anti-fashionable 
 and made the most deplorable blunders. I lost com- 
 pletely my wonted wit and social instincts and com- 
 mitted myself to the most awkward performances. 
 I acted like a stranger who belonged to another age. 
 I felt that I was gradually losing my mental equi- 
 poise and self-reliance and my timidity increased 
 day by day. 
 
 What was the cause of my misery? I had seen 
 glances across the table at our luncheons in the 
 mansion of Mr. Young between Helen and our portly 
 host which, as far as my most painstaking reason- 
 ing faculty could discern, was the unmistakable 
 flame of love. The sad fact changed my sorrow to 
 despair. For, churl as I was, I had not discovered 
 at that time that the glances of those wonderful 
 eyes could not be distinguished from love, even if 
 she frowned at iniquity, for she was the very per- 
 sonification of Immortal Love. 
 
 Could not my philosophy and knowledge of the 
 world help me? Could I not assume my wonted 
 attitude of the stoic and become indifferent to pleas- 
 ure and to pain? No! I could not. My steel had 
 lost its constitutional temper in the flame of love 
 and the white light of Reason had sunk to the tem- 
 perature of red heat. My self-control was gone, 
 and it was with utmost difificulty I could prevent 
 my awkwardness in public to take the appearance 
 of morbid insanity. In solitude my tears flowed 
 freely, and I withdrew to the shadows of the night 
 to contemplate the phases of the moon. 
 
 Had I sunk to the selfishness and weakness of the 
 amorous vulgar? Was I jealous? No! this was 
 impossible. How could I be jealous of one of the 
 most courteous and portly men I had ever met in 
 all my travels over the world? Could I hate him? 
 No- on the contrary, I loved him dearly and held 
 
146 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 him in higher esteem than any friend I had ever had 
 before. I was attracted by his culture and refine- 
 ment and magnetized by his manners. I recognized 
 him as a representative of a true American. I recog- 
 nized him as a harbinger of the promised coming of 
 the Superman. 
 
 What, then, was the exciting cause of my extreme 
 melancholy and strange mental condition? Could I 
 not afford to give to one whom I considered my 
 dearest friend that which was dearest to myself? 
 I felt, and would humbly confess, that he was my 
 superior as a man and developed on a higher plane 
 physically as well as intellectually. If his training 
 in Universal Knowledge was in proper proportion 
 to his meritorious endowments I was convinced that 
 he would prove the object of a higher Ideal than 
 myself to the penetrating eyes of an intellectual 
 woman. If so, then I was sure that Helen would 
 return his love, and my term of probation would 
 consequently come to an end. But could my wound- 
 ed heart relinquish its claim upon her and be at 
 peace? No! It was impossible. My intellect was 
 at strife with my emotions and strove in vain to 
 conquer a Superior Will. No! I could not relin- 
 quish and transfer to my friend that feminine beauty 
 which my soul claimed as its own. My soul was 
 burning in the fire of an insatiable desire — burning 
 in a fire out of which mocking imps shouted inces- 
 santly: "She is the vital part of your own soul. 
 There is no alternative between two contingencies; 
 there is no alternative between complete possession 
 of her and death !" 
 
 As I stood one day leaning against a wall on the 
 mansion grounds brooding over my plight, Helen 
 walked up to me and inquired about the cause of 
 the morose appearance of my face. 
 
 "The cause is disappointment in love," said I. 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 147 
 
 "From what premises do you infer the conclusion 
 that you have been jilted?" returned Helen, looking 
 me in the eye. 
 
 "From your behavior." 
 
 "I have kept my promise." 
 
 "How?" 
 
 "You are on probation until we reach the Pacific 
 in our flight." 
 
 "You have taken another passenger aboard," said 
 I, looking gloomily upon the ground. 
 
 "I have," returned Helen, "and that passenger is 
 a man as near maturity as any man I have yet seen." 
 
 "Then there is no hope for me" I inquired in 
 painful suspense. 
 
 "When my covenant was made with you," replied 
 Helen, "I noticed that you were growing and had 
 a chance to reach maturity. The law of nature ex- 
 acts continuous growth until maturity is reached by 
 individuals, and a continuous aim at perfection in 
 order to persevere in individual being. But I no- 
 tice your growth has come to a deadlock, and, being 
 still immature, you cannot persevere in your being 
 in your present condition. You must either advance 
 or retrograde. There is no such a thing in the life 
 of nature as a standstill, for, even when the elements 
 are burned out and dead or magnetized in their own 
 inertia, they are tossed hither and thither by exter- 
 nal forces. I notice that your will is inconstant and 
 you look with passive glances on the ground. In 
 order to reach the goal of life and love you must 
 obey a higher call of destiny, for the rest is Fate. 
 If you desire to avoid the tragedies of fate you 
 must look upon the stars." 
 
 Helen disappeared in the opposite direction from 
 whence she came, whilst the last words (I heard) 
 "the rest is fate," were ringing in my ears. 
 I stood as if I was pinned to the ground and 
 
148 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 unable to move for some moments. I was paralyzed 
 as with a shock by her speech. It was a paralysis 
 of the will. I had nothing left but passive ideas 
 unguided and uncontrolled by Reason. I had noth- 
 ing left of my intellect but mere animal instinct and 
 was apparently hovering over the abyss of insanity. 
 When I looked up I saw my Cleopatra looking back 
 upon me with a smile of satisfaction. And — O 
 horror! — I also saw Mr. Young's touring car wait- 
 ing at the gate with Mr. Young in the tonneau. Helen 
 stepped in, and the vehicle disappeared in the direc- 
 tion of Providence. She waved mockingly to me, 
 and, forsooth ! disappeared in the direction of Provi- 
 dence. 
 
 When I partly recovered from the shock a strange 
 muddle of thoughts went through my confused 
 brain. What was the cause of her delight in tor- 
 turing me, who was already rustling in the wind 
 like a dry and yellow leaf, ready to fall to the ground 
 and mingle with the dust? Was she a real Cleo- 
 patra, who, by her faithlessness and merciless tyr- 
 anny, was ruthlessly destroying her meek Anthony? 
 
 I stood for some time in a dilemma and did not 
 know what to think, what to do, or in what direc- 
 tion I should resume my wandering and aimless 
 steps. Then a clue to the cause of Helen's behavior 
 suddenly dawned upon me. She was ambitious, I 
 thought ; ambitious in ascending the ladder of fame. 
 By marrying Mr. Young, I thought, she would be 
 in immediate possession to attain her ends. She 
 was exposed to a temptation for which she would 
 sacrifice her honor and her love. For Mr. Young 
 was a man with ten millions in his own hands, and 
 besides that, he was an heir to a fortune of fifty 
 millions. What was my modest financial position 
 compared with such dizzy figures? My whole for- 
 tune was as a mere drop in the ocean and would 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 149 
 
 stand no comparison. Two hundred thousand dol- 
 lars rendered me comfortably independent, but it 
 represented scarcely a month's income of what my 
 rival was a prospective heir to. These circumstances, 
 mcludmg his personal merits, brought clearly before 
 my mmd that I had a rival in love too formidable 
 to permit any room for hope. No, I resolved, as I 
 looked down the highway upon which the touring 
 car disappeared in the direction of Providence, that 
 there was no Providence upon my path of fate. I 
 resolved then and there to bid farewell to Cupid, 
 assign my love to destiny, and myself to the storms 
 of fate. 
 
 But it was a sad farewell! I doubted and re- 
 flected and reflected and doubted until my own ex- 
 istence seemed a mere dream. I felt that my exist- 
 ence was insignificant and a mere accident in the 
 immense whirl of ages on the loom of Time. But 
 why should it not be a happy accident ? Why was I 
 here to be tortured. But, I reflected again, is it not 
 ridiculous to suppose that an infinitesimal being 
 like a man on a planet which is likewise infinitesimal 
 in the immensity of the firmament, should be en- 
 titled to special notice by a Divine Providence? For, 
 if Providence was omnipotent, it required not the 
 help from such a one as I ; and if not omnipotent its 
 help was unavailable. In short, I felt that I was 
 hopelessly and irreclaimably lost if — I — could not 
 stand alone. 
 
 Ah! it dawned upon me that I had undervalued 
 my self-reliance in my vain and foolish pursuits in 
 the interest of philosophy and science. All had ap- 
 parently come to naught. I felt (though rather re- 
 luctantly) that I had lost my opportunities by leav- 
 ing Wall Street and the Stock Exchange immedi- 
 ately after the first stroke of good luck._ I might 
 to-day have been in possession of as immense a 
 
ISO COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 fortune as Mr. Young and might have stood my 
 chances as his rival in love by being the first bidder 
 for the attractive and glittering commodity in ques- 
 tion. But, alas! it was too late. I had shaken the 
 dice with Fate and lost the game. 
 
 But, O horror! what am I at? Have I sunk so 
 low that I am now reducing a human soul to a com- 
 modity? Is it really possible that this germanic 
 dame could be ambitious like a Russian Catharine? 
 Is it really possible that such a royal dame with her 
 matchless culture, her omniscience, her stoic sagac- 
 ity, and her Spartan calmness, could be impassion- 
 ate like a Cleopatra? By her matchless social iu' 
 stinct and personal charms she could easily find her- 
 self at home in any social circle even if her culture 
 had only been secondary. But without the qualities 
 mentioned her culture and learning would have 
 availed her nothing in the high society of Newport. 
 But she was a born actress. And I, when matched 
 with that enchantress, was awkward to the point of 
 curiosity in the various social gatherings which I 
 had been compelled to join since that fateful day 
 we landed in Herr Nietzche's aeroplane in this 
 Mecca of fashion, which I was now tempted to 
 curse and consign to the very lowest circle in Dante's 
 Inferno. But I kept my peace. My dispositions are 
 for solitary retirement and strolling adventures in 
 the open field where the canopy of heaven can be 
 observed by day in perfect symmetry and where the 
 stars can be observed by night in their infinite azure 
 ocean. Perhaps Helen, as her lecture on the utility 
 of wealth would indicate, had noticed that? Perhaps 
 she was only an actress in my life drama and merely 
 trying my patience, my strength of character, with 
 a view to disclose what real benefit I had derived 
 from philosophy and the pursuit of knowledge. But, 
 despite my diligent reasoning, the fortress of my 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 151 
 
 brain was being constantly battered with the missiles 
 of alternating hopes and fears. But I eventually 
 reproached myself for my timidity and cowardice. 
 I felt that I was guilty of that awkwardness for 
 which, according to Emerson, there is no forgive- 
 ness in earth or heaven. Why could not I stand 
 nlone without the support of the Eternal Feminine? 
 Why could I not keep my balance and maintain my 
 equilibrium in this almost perfect organic environ- 
 ment of an ingenious world? Was I in my present 
 staggering attitude really entitled to the honor of 
 being called a Man. What excuse had I to offer 
 for my weakness and my plight? As I found 
 myself physically intact, what else did I lack? 
 What other claims did I have upon a world 
 which, to my knowledge, had never mortgaged 
 its solvent estate to me? What had I been 
 pursuing in my greedy avarice of the past? Had I 
 been pursuing the Infinite and eventually arrived at 
 a vacuum of total Darkness? No; this could not 
 be the case ; for, though I was convinced that Dark- 
 ness is the Eternal Ruler of extremes, I had betimes 
 returned from those external regions. What, then, 
 was the cause of the continuous multiplication of 
 failures in my checkered career? Had I employed 
 fallacious and fatal means in my pursuit? Ah! it 
 suddenly dawned upon me that I had been pursuing 
 Beauty without knowing it, though it had stood 
 continuously before me in all my wanderings 
 through the world. Beauty was the end, for the 
 attainment of which I had engendered so many fool- 
 ish means and sacrificed so much. But it was not 
 the beauty of the cathedral, nor the beauty of the 
 rose, nor the beauty of Aurora or the western hori- 
 zon in the twilight, or Japan beyond the Pacific. 
 Nay ! it was the living beauty of the Soul— the liv- 
 ing beauty of the individual human soul which must 
 
IS2 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 needs be immortal and transcend all the passive, illu- 
 sive and fugitive enchantments in nature and in art. 
 I was once more relieved from my morbid melan- 
 cholia and hypochondriac spell. I heard, or seemed 
 to hear, the Siren sing: 
 
 "Thy love is forced to borrow 
 
 Light from another day. 
 We've heard your tale of sorrow 
 And'll wipe your tears away." 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THE ETERNAL FEMININE. 
 
 Taking the hint of the sirens, I decided to leave 
 my friends and host, and notified my chauffeur to 
 meet me at New London with the car. I left the 
 Newport mansion at once and took the steamer to 
 Narragansett Pier. On my way to New London my 
 brain again became muddled with incoherent rea- 
 soning. For the first time in several months I 
 glanced at one of those brain-muddling instruments 
 we call "newspapers." O horror! what did I see? 
 There was nothing terrible under the "big letters" 
 heading — merely a report of Roosevelt's African ex- 
 ploits — ^but down in a corner, in small insignificant 
 type, there was an announcement that a woodchop- 
 per had been conveyed to the penitentiary for life 
 after his sentence for murder had been commuted 
 by the Governor from death to life imprisonment. 
 
 "Poor Soul!" I soliloquized. "But he must expi- 
 ate for me — he must! It cannot be avoided — it is 
 fate! But nothing is lost whilst there is something 
 to gain. All he will lose is his brandy and beer. Who 
 should remain a bound Prometheus, him or I? I 
 felt that he might attain in prison the wisdom of 
 Prometheus and sooner or later be able to say : 
 
 " 'I must bear 
 What is ordained with patience, being aware 
 Necessity doth front the universe 
 With an invincible gesture,' 
 153 
 
154 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 whilst all I could say was that 
 
 " . , I gave 
 Honor to mortals, and have yoked my soul 
 To this compelling fate because I stole 
 The secret fount of fire, whose bubbles went 
 Over the ferrule's brim . . . . " 
 
 I felt that the woodchopper, as a man of clay is, 
 also living by means of the stolen fire and must 
 remain bound until I could regulate the mercury by 
 which he was bound, to remain at the temperature 
 of life. I must go free and he must expiate because 
 he has nothing to lose by confinement, but all to gain 
 what there is to be gained by mortals. 
 
 When I returned to my estate I found neverthe- 
 less neither peace nor contentment. The auto re- 
 mained in my garage covered with dust. I never 
 looked at that world wonder which previously had 
 aroused me from my drowsiness and melancholy 
 dreams. I said nothing to any one about my adven- 
 tures, my romance in the aeroplane and my subse- 
 quent disappointment at Newport, but answered all 
 inquiries with the statement that business of a very 
 urgent nature had suddenly demanded my immediate 
 attendance abroad, and was the cause of my long 
 absence from home. I turned all my friends away 
 with the same indifference to their concern with my 
 well-being and with the same impertinence as before 
 the automobile for a brief period restored jny men- 
 tal equipoise. 
 
 Spring was approaching; but the tulips and the 
 birds of song had no effect upon my mind, which 
 was well nigh impervious to all hints whatsoever 
 of the divine order in nature. I roamed around 
 amongst the rocks and hills and in the woods like 
 a lonely eremit, but I did not share their content- 
 ment with their fate. My mind was not at ease. 
 The sirens had deceived me and joined the imps 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 155 
 
 ^vith their enticing and destructive songs. I some- 
 times wished I was a chauna chavaria so that I could 
 silence them with my screams. I wished in my 
 plight that I belonged to the family antrimidse instead 
 of to the family of primates. 
 
 But the peculiar and rather shy glances of my 
 former friends, my servants and all the local popu- 
 lation who knew me in my former state, soon indi- 
 cated that my irreverent wishes were being gratified 
 by the constant and never failing law of evolution 
 and especially the law of conformity to type. I 
 commenced to look like an ungainly bird which, like 
 the domestic fowl, had grown rather clumsy by too 
 intimate association with the other inmates of the 
 barnyard and lost the hereditary art of flight. My 
 clothes became shabby ; my hair remained uncombed ; 
 my face remained unwashed; my finger nails grew 
 like claws, and, save from my abstinence from eat- 
 ing grass, I was a veritable straying Nebuchadnezzar 
 in the wilderness. 
 
 My sister Lillian, the only near relative I have 
 still living, came home from an academy in Virginia 
 for the sole purpose of consoling me in my plight, 
 and render her assistance in restoring my reason 
 which, judging from external appearance, was par- 
 tially lost. But she failed utterly in her endeavor 
 to arouse me however ardently she persuaded me 
 to take interest in the world and keep my personal 
 appearance presentable to civilized society. She had 
 known me as a dreamer from her early teens, but 
 the lapsed state in which she now found me was 
 apparently the most serious. She nevertheless al- 
 ways approached me gay and smiling, being in the 
 earliest bloom of youth and always happy. She read 
 romances incessantly and found in them the pictures 
 of an ideal world of extreme delight. 
 
 "What are you doing there?" she said one day 
 
IS6 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 whilst I was sitting in the most lonely nook in mjf 
 pasture with my feet buried in snow. 
 
 "I am reading," said I, looking up from the book. 
 
 "Is the novel interesting?" 
 
 "I am done with novels. This is holy writ." 
 
 "Why — you don't say — ^are you really studying 
 the Bible?" 
 
 "I am looking for the first principles of the laws 
 of heredity." 
 
 "And what is your success?" 
 
 "I have found it." 
 
 "You have ! O, I am delighted to hear it. Would 
 it be impertinent if I asked you what it is?" 
 
 "Not at all. But it will do you no good to know 
 it. You are eating so much from the tree of life 
 and find the fruit delicious." 
 
 "Yes; but I am a daughter of Eve, and am just 
 now looking up with curiosity to the tree of knowl- 
 edge. O, please tell me about your discernment of 
 first principles." 
 
 "There is nothing in it, I assure you, that smacks 
 of the Garden of Eden." 
 
 "So much the better. I hate that story of pre- 
 established harmony, and I think I could resist a 
 tempter who came in the form of a snake." 
 
 "Feminine weakness is apt to stumble." 
 
 "What is you definition of feminine weakness ?" 
 
 "Curiosity." 
 
 "Well, tell me, then what you found in the Bible 
 about the first principles in the laws of heredity." 
 
 "It is a strange atavism." 
 
 "Atavism ! and strange too ! Why, the word itself 
 seems strange enough to me. I must consult the dic- 
 tionary to find the meaning." 
 
 "It is as I told you; the fruit that fall from the 
 tree of knowledge are bitter, especially the windfalls 
 in early autumn." 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 157 
 
 "Well, but what is atavism?" 
 
 "It means that God is jealous." 
 
 "Why ! you surprise me. Is that really the truth?" 
 
 "It is gospel truth." 
 
 "Even gospel truth ! You should not condemn the 
 novels then, for, according to the romancers, a man 
 can be jealous without offending seriously the divine 
 laws." 
 
 "It has placed me in a dilemma regarding certain 
 points of faith." 
 
 "What? the gospel truth that God is jealous?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Did you ever have any faith in a God ? You al- 
 ways said that you were born an infidel." 
 
 "I was. But by way of metaphysics I attained to 
 the faith of philosophy — the faith in a Superior Will 
 pervading the universe." 
 
 "What then is your difficulties with matters of 
 faith?" 
 
 "I cannot understand why Cain should be banished 
 by a divine decree for slaying his brother Abel." 
 
 "That is allegorical. Do not talk seriously about 
 allegory." 
 
 "Allegories are of some consequence. The ancient 
 Jews and Orientals were great story tellers you 
 know." 
 
 "I know. But I prefer the western romancers. 
 Get rid of that Oriental bug of yours." 
 
 "That is not easy." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "Because God, that is, the Superior Will, is jealous 
 and, being incarnated in my brother, I must slay 
 my brother in order to persevere in my being." 
 
 "Is that necessary ?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "You scare me, Harry ; is it necessary to become a 
 murderer ?" 
 
IS8 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 "It is, if a man is to persevere in his being." 
 
 "You are sick, Harry, drowsy, or dreaming." 
 
 "I am convalescent, buoyant and awake." 
 
 "Explain your obscure and enigmatic sayings 
 then." 
 
 "The Superior Will is jealous. I am the Superior 
 Will or nothing. My brother stands between me and 
 the Superior Will. I must therefore either kill my 
 brother or cease to be." 
 
 "You have no brother, my dear Harry ; you know 
 I am your only sister, and came home from school 
 to console you in your misery and do all in my power 
 to bring you out of this deplorable state of mad- 
 ness." 
 
 "I know, my dear sister. We are the only children 
 our dead parents have left behind to fight the battles 
 of life, which for us has been rather easy — too easy 
 — but I have brothers outside the family." 
 
 "And are you really called upon by an imperative 
 voice to fight them?" 
 
 "I must fight at least one." 
 
 "And who is that one ? Is it an imp of your imagi- 
 nation or a man" 
 
 "He is a man." 
 
 "And how are you going to fight him ?" 
 
 "I must kill him." 
 
 "You are talking nonsense." 
 
 "I am not trifling." 
 
 "Who is he?" 
 
 "A rival in love." 
 
 "O, this is most unfortunate." 
 
 "It is fate." 
 
 "But there is providence on the stream of fate." 
 
 "Not on the stream into which I have been precipi- 
 tated by the forces of nature." 
 
 "The stream may be fatal, but there is providence 
 both for you and me." 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 159 
 
 "We must brush away the demons then who stand 
 between us and the hght of life as monstrous shad- 
 ows." 
 
 "You mean between us and the light of love." 
 
 "Exactly. The light of love and the light of life 
 are equivalent and coessential." 
 
 "But do not kill! Love existed before the world 
 and will persevere in its being after the world has 
 passed away. Have you no faith in Love ?" 
 
 "I have learned too much in the school of thought 
 to use physical force." 
 
 "Are you taking hints from the Hague tribunal 
 then and resorting to arbitration?" 
 
 "My method is strategy still. I am going to fol- 
 low my father's vocation ; I am going back to Wall 
 Street." 
 
 "You are joking, Harry." 
 
 "I am serious, and mean what I say." 
 
 "If you are serious you are unmistakably raving 
 mad; but if you are joking I shall consider it a sign 
 of your recovering to a normal state of reason, for 
 you have not been joking since you returned from 
 your last mysterious trip abroad." 
 
 "Yet I am serious whether you deem me hopeless- 
 ly insane or not. But what do you mean by saying 
 that my trip abroad was mysterious?" 
 
 "I believe you have met with strange adventures in 
 foreign lands." 
 
 "I met with strange adventures, strange adven- 
 turers, and a strange adventuress ; but I did not go 
 beyond the boundaries of New England." 
 
 "You did not go abroad?" 
 
 "No; but i met people from abroad." 
 
 "You have a secret then to impart to me. A little 
 romance is hovering like a dark demon over jour 
 soul and throwing its shadow over your reason." 
 
 "There is some truth in your conjecture. I feel. 
 
i6o COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 however, that my reason is quite intact. But, as you 
 well know, I have, with the exception of brief pe- 
 riods, always been more or less estranged in my rela- 
 tions to the world, and when I now apparently have 
 turned my individuality completely away from your 
 foolish mundane affairs you should remember that 
 there is a reason and that I have a motive for my 
 behavior." 
 
 "And what is the reason, then?" 
 
 "The reason is this, that your opinion as well as 
 the opinion of others regarding my eccentricity is 
 based upon a delusion, because it is really the world 
 that is drifting into insanity, and I, seeing that de- 
 plorable fact, have gone into that precinct you call 
 the wilderness, but which in reality is a cosmos of 
 mountains from which a bird's-eye view is attained 
 over the chaos in the valleys below." 
 
 "You are a mysterious wanderer through space, 
 and as inexplicable as a comet. You would have 
 made excellent company for Thoreau at Walden 
 Pond. But what about your secret and your deter- 
 mination to enter the gambling on Wall Street?" 
 
 "I require millions to attain my ends in view." 
 
 "Millions?" 
 
 "Yes! millions; multi-millions!" 
 
 "You mean millions of reams for manuscripts to 
 keep the publishers' janitors busy carrying out waste- 
 baskets." 
 
 "I mean millions of dollars, and will hazard my 
 fortune at the stock exchange. I am done with 
 scribbling." 
 
 "Your project is ridiculous. You were so contented 
 with your first stroke of good luck — I mean your 
 inheritance — that you withdrew immediately. What 
 is your object? I know it is neither avarice nor any 
 other worldly ambition." 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR i6i 
 
 "My object is to obtain the highest boon for man, 
 a noble woman's love." 
 
 "It is rather flattering to hear the feminine sex 
 esteemed so high. But do you mean noble in virtue 
 or noble in title?" 
 
 "I mean noble in both. But without virtue a heredi- 
 tary title is a mockery." 
 
 "I am delighted to hear that there is a woman in 
 the case. Now, my dear brother, open your wounded 
 heart to me; disclose your secret, and I will do all 
 in my power to dispel your hypochondria." 
 
 I revealed my adventures in the White Mountains 
 (but mentioned nothing about the Dark Spirit in the 
 forest) and at Newport, and when she heard of the 
 wonderful aeroplane invented by Herr Nietzche and 
 the profound learning and culture of his charming 
 daughter, she became inflamed with an ardent en- 
 thusiasm to assist me in my suit for her heart and 
 hand. But the modus operandi she suggested as my 
 only possible hope to attain my ends was entirely 
 different to my own confused ideas. 
 
 "You must," she said, "keep away from Wall 
 Street. A lady who delivered such a speech at New- 
 port would not suffer a suitor to employ such or 
 similar means in his endeavor of winning her heart. 
 Such a woman's love is necessarily pure and identi- 
 cal with divine love, and the character and quality of 
 the man would here be the only avoirdupois on the 
 matrimonial scale." 
 
 "What shall I do, then?" 
 
 "You must cease your futile scientific experiment- 
 ing; you must cease philosophical scribbling and 
 write a romance." 
 
 "The idea is excellent. I will attempt it at once. 
 But can you assist me in forming the plot?" 
 
 "That is easy. You must write your autobiog- 
 raphy up to the present moment, fiction an ideal 
 
i62 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 career for the future, and, despite your thrilling ad- 
 ventures and alternating hopes and fears, permit 
 Providence at last to cross your path of fate. But, 
 when you commence, you must study the firmament 
 in a different light than heretofore. Your calcula- 
 tions and speculations regarding the precise distances 
 and movements of comets and of stars are too ab- 
 surd to be compatible with freedom, and are akin 
 to the bondage in a prosaic world. As long as you 
 adhere to this astronomical vanity you must agree 
 with Omar Khayyam: 
 
 "And that inverted Bowl they call the Sky, 
 Whereunder crawling coop'd we live and die. 
 Lift not your hands to It for help — for It 
 As impotently rolls as you or I." 
 
 There is a deadlock in the visible world; and the 
 cause of Motion must be sought in that which is ob- 
 scured to the gaze of mortal eyes. You must not kiss 
 the dust like the worm or the foolish rabble, but you 
 must identify yourself with the noblest and highest 
 affairs of men. You must identify yourself with the 
 Ideal of the First Cause and, thereby, subordinate 
 the Effects of the temporal and the finite." 
 
 "Shall I permit my imagination to mount itself up- 
 on wings and introduce various adventures until we 
 in our flight arrive at the Golden Gate ?" 
 
 "Certainly! And you must engineer a dramatic 
 scene at the utmost promontory at the Pacific and 
 prepare for a honeymoon in the Orient." 
 
 "Bravo! You are second only to my fugitive 
 fiancee. She has, however, specific opinions regard- 
 ing honeyrnoons. But what shall I do with the 
 MS.? Shall I send it to the same publishers who 
 have rejected so many of my former manuscripts." 
 
 "No, no ; you must send it directly to your lady." 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 163 
 
 I took my sister's arm and we started immediately 
 for home. I repaired to my study to commence my 
 new MS. Lillian went to her library of fiction where 
 she rejoiced in the hope that she at last had succeed- 
 ed in bringing me out of the land of shadows into 
 my proper sphere of action. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 STARTLING NEWS FROM FLORIDA. 
 
 For nearly three weeks Lillian and I were busily 
 occupied with the preparation of a MS. out of my 
 diary. I compiled during the hours of night, for, 
 like the peripatetics of old, I think best when I walk 
 in solitude as a lone companion with the stars. Lillian 
 typed the written matter. She approved the flight 
 of my imagination, but modified and embellished the 
 style. She did not think for a moment, however, 
 that I had actually decapitated the degenerate sopho- 
 more in the woods and actually played the role of 
 the Dark Spirit of the Forest. 
 
 Lillian wrote the following introduction: 
 
 "When a man undertakes to write his autobiog- 
 raphy before contingent events have occurred he 
 writes a true romance of real life, for, even if his 
 prophecy should fail to materialize in the irony of 
 time and fate, at least one merit remains, namely, the 
 Ideal has been real to him. It follows, therefore, 
 that even if a poet or romancer should appear upon 
 the stage of thought and art as a false prophet and 
 yet succeed in making the ideal real, he is entitled 
 to a hearing. I venture to introduce the author as 
 such a man. He has just emerged from fairyland 
 and begs to relate his dreams to other dreamers in 
 this world of dreams." 
 
 The MS. was ready; and, though it failed to 
 satisfy my own critical judgment, I consented after 
 
 164 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 165 
 
 some deliberation to Lillian's proposition and mailed 
 it to the heroine of the romance — my idealized and 
 beatified feminine reality, Fraulein Helen Nietzche, 
 who, I supposed, was still at the Newport mansion. 
 
 We heard nothing from it for several days, and I 
 fancied it had gone the way of all the former "seeds 
 of the soul" which I so profusely and indiscrimin- 
 ately had cast out to the mercy of the wind; I 
 fancied it had fallen amongst the ravens, on rocky 
 ground, or into the sea where the most buoyant 
 mariners of thought are on the verge of going down 
 a maelstrom, and would scarcely believe that an 
 anchor of rescue should suddenly appear upon the 
 agitated waves. 
 
 After a week of suspense two letters came. Lillian 
 brought them to me as I was in my garden cultivat- 
 ing the flowers of early spring. She came running 
 and smiling like a seraph, holding the letters above 
 her head. 
 
 I looked at the envelope and noticed to my sur- 
 prise they were stamped in Florida. I opened the 
 first letter which was written and signed by Helen. 
 With feverish pulse I started to read, rather timid, 
 but fully composed and determined to remain stoical 
 even if the contents should bring a message of dis- 
 appointment and defeat ; for I was satisfied with my 
 own conviction, that, if it was not done well, I had at 
 least done my best in my final effort. 
 
 "Daytona, Florida, April isth, 19 — . 
 "My Dear Beloved : 
 
 (I paused — could I believe my own eyes? Had 
 the star of my dreams really condescended to de- 
 clare herself to me and written the magic word — 
 beloved. But I looked again and found it there in 
 black, and white, and proceeded.) 
 
 "Your MS. at hand, read by all of us, and unani- 
 
i66 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 mously accepted as a masterpiece, for every sentence 
 bears the mark that the ideal is real to you. We have 
 often wondered why you so suddenly and mys- 
 teriously disappeared from Newport and left no 
 trace behind you, but now we all understand. 
 
 "The day we parted in Mr. Young's garden we 
 were both apparently at our wits' end in our en- 
 deavor to comprehend the mystery of Love, but 
 really, without knowing it, swimming in its delicious 
 fire and bathing in its light. I was the tyrant and 
 you were my tortured slave. But I am no Cleopatra, 
 except perhaps, as you fancy, in physical appearance 
 only. If you prove to be my Anthony I shall re- 
 main true. My heart is entirely at your disposal, for, 
 I have had no profane intercourse with Caesar. 
 
 "The day we parted I went with Mr. Young to 
 Providence to purchase some necessities for our 
 southern trip. We, that is, you and I, never spoke 
 about the proposed trip, for our conversation, as you 
 retrospectively will recollect, was as a rule taken up 
 by more important and serious matters. 
 
 "You fancied I loved Mr. Young, and I must con- 
 fess that you were right in your apprehension, which 
 so seriously appeared to disturb you in your dreams. 
 But I must make haste to state that our love is 
 platonic. I love him as a man, and I love you as a 
 betrothed. Now, let your emotions take full posses- 
 sion of your heart ! But let your tears fall upon the 
 letter you are reading, for your heart belongs to me. 
 Give your noble sister Lillian your hand for me— 
 I admire her, and send her my kind regards." 
 
 (I paused, and shook hands with Lillian, whilst 
 our eyes filled with tears, for our emotions, whilst of 
 a different order, were identical.) 
 
 "We left Newport nearly three months ago, and 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 167 
 
 after a short stop at Mr. Young's New York palace, 
 we took, owing to the too severe cold for aeronautic 
 performances, the water route in our portly host's 
 yacht for Jacksonville. Our time is mostly spent 
 at sea, although we have entertainments of a higfi 
 order. We have organized a literary society, and 
 all who join must qualify for membership by proving 
 their culture and knowledge of the classics. Mr. 
 Young, in addition to his various merits and attain- 
 ments, has become a literary enthusiast under my 
 influence. 
 
 "We took, of course, the aeroplane along, and my 
 father is kept busy explaining the phenomenal quali- 
 ties of the machine whose simple, insignificant ap- 
 pearance is puzzling the curiosity seekers from far 
 and near. He has raced Mr. Young in his fastest car, 
 and, of course, won, and amazed the speed enthusi- 
 asts. 
 
 "We are coming the first week in May by the air 
 route. Mr. Young has decided to make the trip with 
 us and has already ordered his yacht back to New 
 York. He is so anxious to make the acquaintance of 
 your sister that he can scarcely await the time we 
 have set for our northern flight. Who can tell wheth- 
 er or not the children of your imagination may some 
 day come nearer to your home and play and bring the 
 flowers into your garden bowers? 
 
 "I have banished from the high society in this 
 vicinity the dark spirit of ennui. By opening new 
 avenues on which we can travel forever without 
 reaching a limit, I have set a new pace for the cease- 
 less pursuit of happiness. By introducing Pan in our 
 society I have adorned the Goddesses, who include 
 several debutantes, with new faces and irresistible 
 smiles of joy. 
 
 "Assuring vou of my love ; assuring you of a love 
 that is pure and untainted by its contact with the 
 
i68 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 world and not contaminated by transitory things ; as- 
 suring you of a love that will never arrive at the 
 limit of joy because it moves in freedom and is unde- 
 filed by slime and slang; and assuring you of a love 
 that, even if it in this world of many contingencies, 
 should shuffle off its mortal coil, will waft imme- 
 diately into eternity and persevere in its being forever 
 where the Ideal is real — 
 "I remain with best wishes for you and yours, 
 
 "Helena Nietzche." 
 
 After reading the letter we sat down upon a seat 
 in the garden and remained silent for a few minutes 
 in deep meditation over the contents, and we both 
 felt the thrill of the transcendent joy which so sud- 
 denly had taken possession of our minds by this 
 happy turn of events. I opened the other letter and 
 read the following: 
 
 "Daytona, Florida, April i$th, 1910. 
 "My Dear Friend Harry : 
 
 "I was surprized, almost to the verge of amaze- 
 ment to hear that I had unconsciously been an excit- 
 ing cause of your mental affliction and a demonlike 
 intruder upon the most sacred precinct of your heart. 
 But I am content that I am in a position to meet 
 you face to face with a clear conscience and with 
 clean hands. 
 
 "I frankly confess, however, that I became enam- 
 ored in your amiable fiancee, but that was before I 
 was aware of the position you had taken in her 
 heart. I am not jealous! No; I am an American; 
 and my brow is cast above the chaos here below, for 
 I understand the world. She loves you, and she 
 will remain true to you forever. I have cast off my 
 dream of Cupid and the intercourse between your 
 lady and I is, and will forever remain, platonic. 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 169 
 
 WhenI cast myself before her feet she showed me 
 the brink of the chasm and the precipice upon which 
 I was standing. She rebuked me gently with her 
 'ne plus ultra.' The thrill was gymnotic, but I 
 have survived the shock. I look forward to a real 
 romance, for I feel that you are dictating my destiny 
 to your sister Lillian. 
 
 "Your esteemed MS. has gone to the publisher, 
 and all necessary arrangements connected with pub- 
 lication and marketing of your book will be attended 
 to by my secretary in New York. 
 
 "You can expect me as one of a party of three 
 the first week in May. Until then, and forever after, 
 I remain, 
 
 "Affectionately yours, 
 
 "Cyril Young." 
 
 "Oh, what a sudden and unexpected turn of the 
 wheel of fortune !" said I, after reading the letters. "I 
 believe now with Goethe that 'the eternal feminine' 
 will eventually save the world. How fortunate is the 
 man who has attained possession of a noble woman's 
 heart ! But a noble woman's heart is a battery which 
 will not suffer itself to be stormed with impunity to 
 those who attack with the force of arms. She will 
 only surrender the fortress to a meek conqueror who 
 is in full possession of power to command, and simul- 
 taneously remains pure in Spirit." 
 
 "You are lecturing to the suffragettes and to those 
 who oppose them," said Lillian. "But you are flat- 
 tering me, Harry; am I also a chip of the Eternal 
 Feminine ?" 
 
 Lillian looked imploringly upon me, and, whilst our 
 glances met, I declared : "You are, my dear sister, but 
 not of the species of the Gymnotus." 
 
 "A simple maiden in her flower 
 Is worth a hundred coats of arms." 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 THE UNEXPECTED COMET. 
 
 Contemplating my father's fate, who, after my 
 mother's death, made a competent fortune on Wall 
 Street before he himself departed, we picked some 
 flowers and went to the cemetery to plant them, mois- 
 tened with a tear, upon our parents' graves. 
 
 The period of suspense between the arrival of the 
 letters which announced my fortune, and the time 
 set for the arrival of our friends, was in the excited 
 days of the return of Halley's Comet. Most every- 
 body, high and low, young and old, were anxious to 
 obtain a glimpse of the singular phenomenon, owing 
 perhaps, to the rather sad and melancholy fact that 
 it involves an opportunity which only presents itself 
 to a human being once in a life time, except in rare 
 cases, where some sturdy individual with extraordin- 
 ary tenacity clings to the earth and to mundane af- 
 fairs a considerable length of time beyond the pro- 
 verbial three score and ten. 
 
 There was great excitement amongst the rural 
 population in the immediate vicinity of my home, 
 and not a few were preparing for the end of the 
 world shortly after the comet had reached its peri- 
 helion. But over two weeks had already passed into 
 history since the twentieth of April, and yet neither 
 the end of the world nor the day of doom had come ; 
 and, to the ordinary observations of the rural lay- 
 men, not even a glimpse of the Comet had been ob- 
 tained. 
 
 170 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 171 
 
 A number of friends and neighbors assembled 
 every night on my piazza and the site upon which 
 "'y ™"se is situated, which occupies the summit of 
 a hill. They watched the sky with eager expectation 
 J"s* ^l if the phenomenal Comet would shoot across 
 the whole firmament with terrific speed in the twink- 
 ling of an eye. But the sun sank below the horizon, 
 the twilight disappeared and the aurora returned as 
 a harbinger of day, but no sign of. the Comet in 
 neither East nor West. The most conspicuous ob- 
 ject which appeared above the horizon to gratify the 
 eager eyes was a faint light of an evening star. 
 
 But the curious crowd assembled night after night. 
 One evening my neighbor, a sagacious farmer who 
 had accompanied me on my ramblings through the 
 woods, stood up and declared solemnly that he had 
 seen the fugitive Comet at dawn, but its appearance 
 was only a momentary glimpse, and it would never 
 again appear to the eyes of mortals, for it had met 
 its fate in the corona of the sun and been merci- 
 lessly devoured in the fire of Phoebus. 
 
 His tale carried with it an eflf^ct of dismay to the 
 young persons present, relief from the portent enter- 
 tained by the superstitious, disappointment to the 
 pious who were waiting for judgment, and the old 
 and weary, who were waiting for the end of the 
 world were likewise disappointed in their expecta- 
 tion of a swift dispatch into the realms of the Un- 
 known. 
 
 "Regarding the true nature and history of the 
 Comets," continued the sage with a supreme air of 
 wisdom, "the ingenious calculators have been sub- 
 ject to delusions. The application of mathematics 
 to the phenomena of Comets in the same sense as it 
 is applied to the motions of the planets is absurd. 
 How could a Comet be swayed by the sun in such 
 elliptical orbits as they assign to them? The idea is 
 
172 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 simply preposterous. Only a few who make intru- 
 sions into the solar system, or, more correct, are 
 overtaken by a solar system in the zigzag motion in 
 which all bodies are compelled to travel on their 
 journey to their destined goal, ever escape from the 
 fatal grip of the sun. The ultimate destiny of all is 
 absorption in the orb of day. Newton observed that 
 fact but failed to understand its cause. But has not 
 the modern world made immense strides in science 
 and left Newton far behind? If Newton was here 
 to testify in my behalf he would rebuke the astron- 
 omers for their wild theorizing, for entering holy 
 ground with impious views, and for their attempt to 
 explain a divine fact by an artificial method. Comets 
 are miniature universes, but come too late into the 
 arena of universal history to be productive worlds. 
 They are absorbed in the means without attaining the 
 end which is the constant aim of creation. They 
 spring into being involuntarily, and issue from the 
 darkest regions of the interstellar ether. Aggrega- 
 tion of all bodies in the firmament is continuous, and 
 gradual transmutation of the Ether, which the First 
 Moment of creation left extant, is a natural conse- 
 quence. The material world is in bondage and will 
 eventually aggregate into one mass and cease to 
 move. The Spirit alone is destined to individualize 
 itself through the medium of the highest forms of 
 creation in the finite providing they attain to Free- 
 dom in the infinite Empire of Space." 
 
 All listened attentively to the sage, but few ap- 
 parently understood his definition of the true nature 
 of Comets. As the assembly were on the verge of 
 disbanding for the last time — for they all believed 
 that the Comet had really come to an end — a weird 
 and mysterious object suddenly appeared in the 
 southern heavens. 
 
 All eyes were observing the extraordinary phenom- 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 173 
 
 enon. An old man, nearly fourscore and ten, the 
 only human being present who had seen Halley's fa- 
 mous Comet in 1835, asserted that he recognized the 
 phenomenon as the unmistakable visitor he had seen 
 in his youth. The nucleus was there, and the coma 
 was intact, but part of the tail was gone. 
 
 As the object came nearer an extraordinary bril- 
 liant light was distinctly seen in the center, whilst 
 lesser lights were seen in a nebulosity similar to the 
 coma. As the faint nebulous light extended a dis- 
 tance to the rear considerably further than in front 
 of the great light, it represented an object which, if it 
 was not a Comet, would deceive any observer who 
 had no telescope at his command. All eyes followed 
 its movement, which was apparently more rapid then 
 the speed of any Comet ever seen before. It sank 
 lower and lower in the eastern sky, until it at last 
 disappeared below the horizon in the direction of the 
 Naugatuck valley. 
 
 The phenomenon was gone. No one appeared to 
 be satisfied with the spell of wonder, which, 
 mingled with ecstasy and joy, had been of so brief a 
 duration and so suddenly passed away. All looked 
 to our rural sage for an explanation, for they ex- 
 pected him at least to defend his position as a savant 
 and a prophet. But he had no oracle to offer. He 
 merely shook his sagacious head in silence and waved 
 off all inquiries regarding the chances of Comets to 
 escape from the fatal grip of the sun. Not a word 
 could be wrestled from him. He was evidently puz- 
 zled, for the behavior of the phenomenon had 
 brought his former convictions face to face with a 
 painful dilemma. 
 
 "I cannot understand," he whispered to me, "why 
 that Comet moved in the same direction as the 
 planets in their orbits around the sun." 
 
 I offered no explanation, for I had opinions which 
 
174 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 I preferred to retain for myself. The crowd grad- 
 ually disbanded, and soon all had disappeared and re- 
 paired to their private chambers to be left alone with 
 their own private and solitary dreams. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 THE ARRIVAL. 
 
 Lillian and I remained on the piazza with our eyes 
 upon the spot where the celestial blaze of light had 
 sunk below the horizon. We, too, had opinions and 
 private thoughts of our own. 
 
 "It must have been the aeroplane," said Lillian; 
 "their letter was dated Friday and they would be due 
 to-night." 
 
 "I believe so. But it would be well nigh impossi- 
 ble for them to find our home in the middle of the 
 night." 
 
 "Are you prepared to give the signal agreed upon ? 
 You know you must shoot three times into the air in 
 rapid succession when they approach our home." 
 
 "I have my gun ready. But I do not think they 
 will venture out over the Litchfield hills before to- 
 morrow." 
 
 "I believe they will be here to-night," insisted Lil- 
 lian. "When the heroes from Germany emerge from 
 darkness they always carry themselves to safety over 
 the ravines, whilst others perish in the twilight. Do 
 you remember the Roman legions at the Teutoburg 
 forest? Do you remember BIycker at Waterloo? and 
 do you remember Bismarck at Paris ?" 
 
 "You are going rather deep into the history of the 
 past, my dear sister, but I am only alive to the events 
 of the present. But what is that?" 
 
 A blaze of light arose steadily from the eastern 
 175 
 
176 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 horizon. It advanced with great rapidity in our di- 
 rection, and ere long it was seen from our nightly 
 point of view coming directly across the belt of the 
 Zodiac. The sight was divine. It transcends the 
 scrutiny of the intellect as well as the superior flight 
 of the imagination to describe our emotions in mere 
 words of a living language. We were pervaded by 
 emotions which private individual ecstasy alone re- 
 veals and understands. 
 
 Lillian was right in her apprehension and in her 
 faith in German integrity. Our friends were com- 
 ing from the south. They had merely landed in the 
 nearest town to inquire the way to our estate. 
 
 They soon came within the hearing distance of a 
 gunshot to our residence. Herr Nietzche could be 
 plainly seen at the wheel in the glare of the light 
 around him. Helen and Mr. Young were also plainly 
 seen in the rear. I signalized by shooting three times 
 according to request in their last letter. The aero- 
 plane instantly responded by changing its course di- 
 rectly towards us. They soon hovered over the house 
 and Herr Nietzche was looking out for a landing 
 place. They made a graceful curve north of the 
 house less than fifty feet in the air. They thence ap- 
 proached us from the opposite direction from whence 
 they came. This feat was an obvious demonstration 
 of the aviator's skill as well as the responsiveness of 
 the machine. The next instant they landed on our 
 front lawn in the immediate vicinity of the steps 
 leading to the piazza, and all three leaped out of 
 the machine with the agility of acrobats. 
 
 The customary greetings followed, as well as the 
 mutual introduction between my sister and the party 
 of three who had come in this semi-celestial chariot 
 from sunny lands. We thence repaired into the re- 
 ception hall. 
 
 "We are," said Lillian, "very inadequately pre- 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 177 
 
 pared to receive and entertain German scholars and 
 American multi-millionaires, for our pictures are 
 only imitations of real works of art, and we have 
 no busts of Pallas or Apollo." 
 
 "Refrain from apologizing, young lady," returned 
 Mr. Young, "for 
 
 But little for furniture we care 
 When a lord is sitting in the chair ; 
 And who will look upon the wall 
 When kings and queen are in the hall." 
 
 Answering my inquiry as to how Mr. Young liked 
 the new method of traveling, he said: 
 
 "I have experienced emotions never felt before. 
 The sensation has wrought transformations in me, 
 the most important of which is a radical change of 
 my view of the world and my conception of the 
 human race. I am done with sports of the lower 
 order. Henceforth I will only enter the races of a 
 loftier nature than those primitive farces here be- 
 low." 
 
 We entertained our friends with a plain repast and 
 a glass of excellent water. Lillian played a song on 
 the lyre which was composed by Helen to suit the 
 occasion. It consisted of but two verses. Here it is : 
 
 "We have arrived with greetings from the south 
 To dispel the storms from the northern shore. 
 Like the pilgrims of old we sought about 
 For a landing place as in days of yore. 
 With a message of peace we greet you here. 
 And you respond with a loving good cheer. 
 
 In search for a harbor I came to you 
 From the dusky shore of a foreign land. 
 We found it, and find that the hearts are true 
 
178 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 Who have eyes to see what is great and grand. 
 To repay the roses you sent to me 
 A garland of laurels I bring to thee." 
 
 This ended the entertainments of the first night 
 our amiable visitors spent under my roof. Each of 
 us repaired to our separate chambers to be left alone 
 in the happy Land of Dreams. ^ 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 A NEW INVASION OF CUPID. 
 
 Despite the late hour of retiring I arose early the 
 following morning and took my customary walk 
 about my garden and adjacent premises. My slum- 
 ber had been brief but full of strange dreams. I had 
 seen Homer in the form of a majestic figure and 
 been an actual eye-witness to the siege of Troy. It 
 almost depressed me with sadness to find myself 
 awake in a land of peace after leaving those grand 
 scenes of the heroic age of Greece so faithfully pic- 
 tured by Homer. But what is peace, I reasoned, 
 when life is dull? What is freedom where there is 
 no confidence? An age in which a man must seek 
 far and wide to find two men who can look with 
 absolute confidence into each other's eyes is an age 
 which must banish comedy and erect a stage for 
 tragedy. But, alas ! our poets have spit upon the face 
 of Apollo and our musicians have profaned the lyre. 
 
 What was the cause of the sentiment I entertained 
 that memorable morning which, considering all pri- 
 vate circumstances, should have been the happiest 
 morning of my life ? It was surely not my own 
 misery, for I was happy in the conviction of con- 
 quest. I was as content with my private affairs as a 
 general who had won the greatest battle of his life. 
 I was as content with my victory as Napoleon could 
 possibly have been when his sun of Austerlitz shone 
 bright in the heavens. But, I reasoned, would it not 
 have been better if he had kept an eye of imagina- 
 
 179 
 
i8o COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 tion upon a Waterloo and established a real World- 
 Empire? The failure, however, was the fault of 
 the world, which was still like an ungrafted tree and 
 could yield nothing but wild fruit. Napoleon was 
 merely grafting a world-tree, but he, being uncon- 
 scious of that fact, proceeded immediately to harvest 
 the fruit of the tree he cultured. But there was no 
 fruit to harvest. His operation was performed in 
 the early springtime of the world. He saw nothing 
 but the distribution of pollen and the fruit was still 
 far away. An empire of slaves was all he could 
 obtain. How are the conditions in the Great Repub- 
 lic, which, in order to persevere in its being, must 
 evolve into an empire of Men? But we see every- 
 where a prevailing tendency to drift into an empire 
 of slaves. But what is the matter with this World- 
 tree? Has it not been grafted? Yes; the grafting 
 has been conscientiously done. But were the graft- 
 ers primitive horitculturists or inexperienced garden- 
 ers ? No ! What is the matter then, since the fruit 
 are so defective, and even those who look like goodly 
 apples are rotten at the core ? "Alas !" I soliloquized, 
 "the orchard has been neglected! The worms — the 
 worms have raised havoc with our trees and de- 
 stroyed our garden flowers. We must fight the 
 worms " 
 
 "The trees look like veritable trees of knowledge, 
 and the culture of the flowers are nigh perfection," 
 came a voice to silence my soliloquy. 
 
 I looked around and my eyes met Helen's, who 
 emerged suddenly from behind the trunk of an old 
 elm. Whilst I blushed slightly Helen flew into my 
 arms, and I greeted her with the first good-morning 
 in that beloved spot I call my home. 
 
 "My soliloquizing," said I, "which you evidently 
 have heard, must have given you an impression of 
 silliness. But I was agitated by last night's dreamSj 
 
looked around and my eyes met Helen's, who 
 emerged from behind an old elm. 
 
 (Courtship in Air.) 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR i8i 
 
 and I am in a habit of being seriously concerned with 
 my dreams, as well as the affairs of the world, and 
 give occasionally audible expressions to my thoughts 
 in my solitary ramblings." 
 
 "I understand your emotions," replied Helen, "and 
 you must not blush before me like a maiden. But 
 your solitude has now come to an end, for I propose 
 to be your constant companion in the future." 
 
 "I am beatified in the thought of possessing you — 
 you are my world." 
 
 "Why do you then concern yourself so seriously 
 with the world outside?" inquired Helen, with a 
 smile. 
 
 "Because," said I, "the outside world is insepar- 
 able from onr environment; and, to do all in my 
 power to remodel the world into your likeness is my 
 ideal, and its accomplishment alone would completely 
 satisfy my desires." 
 
 "Then your desires are modest," returned Helen, 
 ironically; "but I have but small concern for desires 
 when I see that the heart is pure." 
 
 "Are the other guests still reposing in Dreamland ?" 
 inquired I, changing the subject. 
 
 "They are flown !" 
 
 "Flown ! — what do you mean ?" 
 
 "The birds are flown!" repeated Helen emphati- 
 cally. "When the birds of passage return from sunny 
 lands they make preparations for their nests in north- 
 ern climes." 
 
 "Your speech is still more enigmatic," said I, 
 rather perplexed. 
 
 "It is very obvious and simple. Mr. Young has al- 
 ready in his imagination lived through the part he is 
 playing in your romance and has begun its actual 
 performance upon the stage of hfe." 
 
 "O!" rejoined I, recollecting my wits, "I am de- 
 lighted to hear that he is taking his medicine like a 
 
i82 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 man, although it seems rather strange to me that he 
 should follow my prescription to the letter. He is 
 actually out with Lillian then on her first flight?" 
 
 "He is. The arrangements were all made last night 
 after your retirement. We are going to demonstrate 
 to the world that you are a true prophet." 
 
 "Our future is then really prophesied by me ?" 
 "It is. Our career is predetermined as far as the 
 promontory beyond the Golden Gate." 
 
 "O, mighty Csesar! What can be avoided whose 
 end is purposed by the mighty gods?" 
 
 "Nothing of that sort can be avoided. Are you 
 aware that our present meeting and conversation 
 is set forth in your romance?" 
 
 "Let me see — yes, it is. It is a mysterious phe- 
 nomenon. Let me see — ^yes — we have followed it to 
 the letter." 
 
 "There is nothing mysterious in it, for each par- 
 ticular actor has determined to play his part, and is 
 adequately prepared to act and speak as prescribed 
 by the author of the play." 
 
 "This is a true doctrine of predetermination." 
 "It may be so called," said Helen, meditatively; 
 "but really it is a final settlement of the conflict be- 
 tween Providence and Fate. Your sister and her 
 future lord are cared for by Providence, whilst you 
 and I must play the r61e of Fate. Are you pre- 
 pared?" 
 
 "I am prepared and ready for the flight." 
 "Even if a gale should blow us out of sight?" 
 "I still will keep my balance to the end." 
 "Let us go to the front piazza and see how the 
 birds fare in the loftier altitudes." 
 
 We went to the piazza where Lillian and I had 
 received our guests the night before. We looked up, 
 and sighted a point in the sky whose motion, as seen 
 through my field glass, resembled the glide of an 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 183 
 
 eagle. As there are no eagles in this part of the 
 country, and a§ our native birds scarcely venture to 
 fly at such lofty heights, we knew what the point 
 represented. It increased rapidly in size. The silent 
 flyer approached us gracefully, and soon the man at 
 the wheel as well as the passengers could be clearly 
 seen. The sun was about to rise and all the stars 
 were gone, but what there was left of the pale moon 
 was still visible in the sky. We observed a phenome- 
 non more singular and interesting than a transit of 
 Venus. We saw the aeroplane crossing the moon, 
 and, as it approached us in a straight line, it remained 
 from our point of view a considerable length of time 
 in its pale crescent. 
 
 They landed in a fashion similar to the night be- 
 fore, and on the same spot. I shall never forget my 
 sister's smile. It was too radiant to be mundane, and 
 too much alive to be mortal. 
 
 I inquired about her experience on her first excur- 
 sion to' the upper regions, "This will convey to you 
 my sentiments." 
 
 I read the following : 
 
 "O, my brother ! O what a strange delight 
 Has come to me in this most magic flight ! 
 Life ever has been sweet to me below 
 (I had but friends and never knew a foe) ; 
 But when I came into the upper sky 
 Methought it must be sweeter still to die. 
 When we ascend towards perpetual day 
 Then rolls the whole prosaic world away. 
 When our friends arrived half past eleven 
 I did not know how near I was to heaven. 
 But now I see that heaven is near the earth 
 As soon as we can modify our mirth. 
 And then with seeing eyes amend the soul 
 And cease to search for the terrestrial pole. 
 
i84 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 For when we see the suns of Love arise 
 
 The Soul is mirrored in the golden skies ; 
 
 And then we stand upon that central pole 
 
 Which forms the pivot of the moving soul: 
 
 The world is in the hollow of our hands. 
 
 And every force obeys our stern commands. 
 
 With graceful movements then we glide through 
 
 space, 
 And shames the speed of the terrestrial race. 
 To play with Cupid we no more decline. 
 But find the game delicious and divine: 
 For here there is no limit to the play 
 In this sweet clime of a perpetual day: 
 For here the Soul has reached its final home 
 And meet with Spirits both of Greece and Rome. 
 No more such pang our spirits shall annoy 
 As Helen's soul felt at the siege of Troy: 
 For here is light, and here we clearly see 
 That Love forever is divine and free. 
 Cupid haunts me, tho' sitting by my side ; 
 His fight is play and all his play is fight. 
 I meet his glance; he offers me his hand. 
 Which I receive, and dream of Fairyland. 
 But whilst below we must but dream, and dream 
 (The real 's above; we can but see the gleam) 
 Of bliss. When touched with grossness of desire 
 It disappears within the nether Fire. 
 This is my report — all you can expect — 
 And, if it seems to you not quite correct, 
 I can't describe the wonderful delight 
 That came to me in this most magic flight." 
 
 Finished reading, I looked at Lillian — I looked at 
 Mr. Young — and I saw what had happened: Cupid 
 had made another invasion, and shot his fatal arrow 
 out over the Litchfield hills ; two more souls had met 
 and melted into each other to part no more. 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 185 
 
 We repaired into the house where a little grape 
 juice was this time permissible and awaiting our cele- 
 bration of the morning event. We felt like congenial 
 souls greeted by a new Aurora whilst the window 
 panes admitted the first rays of Phoebus. 
 
 "It was a rash step," said I to Lillian, rather pry- 
 ingly. "Are you fully convinced that it is wise with- 
 out deliberation?" 
 
 "My heart is content, and my intellect is positive !" 
 returned Lillian, blushing slightly; "there is no de- 
 liberation necessary over matters which at their very 
 dawn upon the shores of Time are clearly seen to 
 have been settled from Eternity," 
 
CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 LOVERS DELIGHT. 
 
 A few days following the arrival of our guests 
 were not spent in the customary way of killing time 
 — ^not spent in the pursuit of happiness, for happiness 
 was now within our reach without pursuit — ^but spent 
 in stirring the emotions in order to keep the soul free 
 from passion. This was accomplished partly by 
 ramblings in the forest and amongst the flowers of 
 spring in the garden and the field, and partly by the 
 culture which the sages of the past and the protec- 
 tors of the present have brought within our reach. 
 The automobile and the aeroplane received their due 
 share of attention. Yet we found time to pay a visit 
 now and then to the silent guests who are always 
 present in the library and who are always ready to 
 speak at any moment and ready to answer any ques- 
 tion we may see fit to propound to them; for they 
 are royal guests, who, notwithstanding the long visit 
 they have paid us, will never annoy us with their 
 presence. When we tire of Shakespeare we can turn 
 aside from him without apologizing, and give our 
 attention to Dante, Milton, Sophocles, Homer, Plato, 
 or Emerson, and we are always certain there is no 
 offence committed; for when we return to Shakes- 
 peare none of the others appear to be jealous, but 
 remain standing, dignified as ever, in their silent 
 majesty. 
 
 But it is far better for ourselves if we have no 
 more questions to propound. In that case we walk 
 1 86 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 187 
 
 backwards to the library door, bow courteously to 
 the grandees of old, thank them for their services, 
 exit silently, and shut the door with reverence and 
 high respect for their experience and their age. We 
 thence repair into the drawing room, and, lo, there 
 we find our ladies composing their own songs and 
 setting them to music on the piano and the lyre. Here 
 is real delight. Here is delight divorced from the 
 melancholy pain which is always encumbering the 
 mind of the interrogator. 
 
 Even Mr. Young could not resist the temptation in 
 attempting a contribution to the Muses. I alone, 
 being not a born poet, had no rhyme to offer, for 
 what little poetic faculty I had seemed to have been 
 exhausted in my first love song in the White Moun- 
 tains. When the ladies called upon me for a con- 
 tribution of verses I excused myself with the state-, 
 ment that it was necessary for me to go to the moun- 
 tains for inspiration. But Mr. Young has still ideals 
 before him not as yet perfectly realized, and this was 
 his excuse for (in his own words) "making himself 
 ridiculous as a Man by joining the already over- 
 crowded army of songsters." He was only a tem- 
 porary volunteer" (these are his own words) for he 
 abhorred to be "chained as a slave in the ranks of 
 the regulars and lose his birthright as a man." He 
 (in his own words) "would not accept a position as 
 an officer, nay, not even the command of a regiment 
 in that army with its drums and bagpipes and jingle 
 rattlings and dude fighters on the smooth carpeted 
 floors of castle-land. No." he said, "we must adver- 
 tise our birthright as men and go out on fields where 
 rocks and stones abound — where we must climb the 
 mountains, combat the fury of the elements, fight the 
 beasts of the forest, mow down our foes to left and 
 right so that their corpses may serve as our shield ; 
 leap over crevasses, throw new bridges over ravines 
 
i88 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 and advance against odds of all kinds until at last 
 we arrive at that territory which has no boundaries : 
 that state which has no debt and can subsist on its 
 own dividends — that vast Empire which knows no 
 settling sun." 
 
 But here is his song, which is his first and iS likely 
 to be his last: 
 
 THE AMERICAN PATRIOT. 
 
 "I am the heir of ages 
 And slaves have toiled for me ; 
 But in the myriad pages 
 Of history I see 
 
 That those we pronounce as slaves 
 Were merely digging their graves, 
 Whilst slaves could still be free. 
 
 Severe was well the task 
 For the struggling human soul ; 
 But why do you blindly ask 
 The way so near the goal? 
 Whilst with superhuman sight 
 We advance into the light 
 With one foot on the Pole. 
 
 Whilst strange philosophies 
 Spring up on every shore 
 The glory of Rome and Greece 
 Return to earth once more. 
 To exist men still must fight. 
 Heroic and with delight, 
 Whilst immense cannons roar. 
 
 But we navigate the air 
 
 And we are flying high. 
 
 The pale stars are everywhere. 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 189 
 
 But comets passed us by 
 Whilst upon an immense pile 
 We alighted for awhile 
 To look upon the sky. 
 
 Whilst we sat on the mountain — 
 
 Ever ready to go 
 
 To any drinking fountain — 
 
 A shot came from below. 
 
 But we saw no signs of war — 
 
 It was an echo from afar; 
 
 But from a distant foe. 
 
 We are now too near the light 
 To go below and die ; 
 Whosoever will can fight, 
 But we will fight on high. 
 Hear our message now to you 
 (We believe that it is true. 
 And sing it with a sigh) : 
 
 March on in bold processions! 
 Each soldier is a slave. 
 You all are men of fashions, 
 Altho' you seem so brave ! 
 Shoot again — you can but fire 
 Down below into the mire, 
 And dig yourselves a grave!" 
 
 This appears to be a very unpatriotic song, espe- 
 cially for an American capitalist, and is apparently 
 contradicting its own title. But Mr. Young has 
 sanctioned its publication in these memoirs, perhaps 
 because he is barricaded by a nom de plume and here 
 represented by letters, which in mathematics stand 
 for unknown quantities. At any rate, I am left alone 
 to fight his battles with critics, snarlers, and whatso- 
 ever there contingently may present itself in the na- 
 
igo COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 ture of hostilities. I protested against its publication, 
 but he insisted that it could (in his own words) "not 
 be avoided even if it was an irony of Fate." 
 
 The songs written and played by the ladies in the 
 happy days our guests spent on my premises will 
 not be included in these memoirs because they are 
 veritable "hits" and well worthy of special copy- 
 rights, but, if published so imprudently, they would 
 be roared out immediately all over the English speak- 
 ing world free of charge except to those multitudes 
 who would exert themselves in doing the roaring. 
 But, as we scarcely hope to experience the transcen- 
 dent joy felt by those who are successful in enter- 
 taining the roaring multitudes, we will endeavor to 
 be prudent, and only attempt to entertain the few, 
 who believe that silence is golden. 
 
 Despite our happiness, contentment and delight in 
 love which is felt and returned, we were fully aware 
 of the fact that we were enjoying a leisure 
 we were not entitled to in a world like ours. 
 It was a freedom which, not being sanctioned 
 by a divine covenant, would, by prolonged indul- 
 gence, drift into slavery. We therefore resolved 
 to break away at the first warnings of the ad- 
 vance of the old enemy of civilized man — the un- 
 canny spirit of Ennui. For when ennui appears, we 
 are immediately informed of limitations and boun- 
 daries in the finite which we cannot cross with im- 
 punity. The appearance of that old enemy is al- 
 ways accompanied with a power to induce passions 
 and desires in the mind of man which, if gratified, 
 instantly puts an end to freedom. 
 
 If it had not been for the aeroplane and our access 
 to the art of flight we would have preferred to till 
 the soil and teach the world by example that men of 
 culture had discovered the nobility of labor, and 
 that manual labor is no disgrace to any man in a 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 191 
 
 world like ours, which is merely temporal and transi- 
 tory, and not as the action and behavior of most men 
 would indicate, eternal. But, as aforesaid, we had 
 the wonderful aeroplane to keep our bodies as well 
 as our souls on high, and unimpeded by the limita- 
 tions of the world below. We looked forward to the 
 cjouble wedding at the Golden Gate, and (if I dare 
 use the term), the honeymoons in the Orient, and 
 prepared for the great flight. But we had a problem 
 to solve. We, Helen and I, and Mr. Young and 
 Lillian, had discussed the as yet unrealized ideal of 
 making the flight together across the continent and 
 thence to the Orient. But the possibility and the 
 difficulties it apparently involved, rested with Herr 
 Nietzche. 
 
 We consulted him, therefore, with considerable 
 anxiety, though fully prepared for the shock disap- 
 pointment would inflict. When we, with throbbing 
 hearts, inquired about the extent of the power of 
 the coherer, and the difficulties involved in the prob- 
 lem of accomodating four passengers, we received 
 the following answer: "Its power is not measurable 
 by physical forces; to its carrying capacity there is 
 no limit; if we attach it to the globe the earth will 
 be drawn out of its orbit because its motion is as 
 positive and uncompromising as the original elec- 
 tron. All we need for accomodating more passengers 
 is more seats. 
 
 The new information rendered our confidence in 
 Herr Nietzche's integrity more permanent than ever. 
 We did not doubt for a moment, but accepted his 
 statement as correct and true. We prepared, there- 
 fore, immediately for our departure and our great 
 flight. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 A NEW DEPARTURE. 
 
 A certain sadness comes over the mind of any man 
 who is making his will, and much more so when he 
 has no direct heirs of his own flesh and blood to 
 inherit his earthly possessions. This at least was the 
 case with me, for the making of my will was a part 
 of my preparation for the great flight. 
 
 "Are you then going to fly to heaven?" asked my 
 old sagacious friend, the prophet of cometary fame, 
 who was one of the witnesses. 
 
 "Possibly," said I, "but not in the aeroplane." 
 
 "Do you consider the machine safe?" he contin- 
 ued. 
 
 "As safe as the foundation of the world," said I. 
 
 "Why, then, those scrupulous preparations?" 
 
 "Because we are never safe on the surface of the 
 earth. When we are in the air no harm can reach 
 us; but you know we are obliged to make several 
 landings in the Orient, and you know the sentiment 
 of the boxer element in China towards the foreign 
 devils. We are safe above, but never safe below." 
 
 "It is a pity." 
 
 "It is the fate of all that is mortal." 
 
 "Could you not fly over China and make the first 
 landing in Russia in the bosom of the faithful sub- 
 jects of the czar, or couldn't you shift your proposed 
 course northward and fly over Siberia to Europe?" 
 
 "The route is stipulated by my fiancee and she in- 
 sists that we must cross the center of China and 
 192 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 193 
 
 make several stops there. Her object is her own 
 secret. She is as stubborn as Luther at the diet of 
 Worms; she declares that it cannot be avoided and 
 I have no more questions to ask." 
 
 "But why is it absolutely necessary to wed at the 
 Golden Gate and go to the Orient on your honey- 
 moon ?" 
 
 "It is stipulated by my fiancee," I repeated, "and 
 is part of our covenant. That is all I know. The 
 rest is her own secret and I ask no more questions. 
 Will you please sign here where the attorney made 
 a mark?" 
 
 "It is necessary for me to know the contents of a 
 document before I sign it," said the farmer. 
 
 The attorney read the will, which was merely a be- 
 quest of my entire estate for the benefit of orphans in 
 case of death of myself and all of the party; but if 
 any of the party of five survived they were author- 
 ized to administrate the estate at their own discretion. 
 
 "You have faith in your friends," said the farmer, 
 after hearing the will. 
 
 "Absolute confidence," said I. "Confidence is the 
 foundation of Freedom, and can only be borne aloft 
 upon the wings of Love, and is therefore, next to 
 freedom and love, the noblest thing in the world." 
 
 "You have faith, then, that there was confidence at 
 the foundation of the world ?" continued the farmer. 
 
 "No," interposed Herr Nietzche, "there was 
 naught but Love at the original foundation. Confi- 
 dence is a birth of time, but it must be borne aloft 
 in order to bring Love back to the freedom it en- 
 joyed before it bursted from the Ultima Thule, in 
 which it existed mysteriously from eternity." 
 
 "You talk more like an oriental philosopher than 
 a modern chemist," said the farmer. 
 
 "Yes," returned Herr Nietzche, "for modern 
 
194 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 chemistry is merely an amendment to the philosophy 
 of the Orient." 
 
 The business transacted, we repaired into the draw- 
 ing-room, where a party of friends and neighbors 
 were assembled to bid farewell. 
 
 The conversation was everywhere on the time- 
 worn subject of matrimony. There were young la- 
 dies with their romantic dreams; young men with 
 their satiric remarks ; others with 'cynic smiles ; some 
 with their ridicule ; some with their stoical reticence ; 
 divorced men with their sarcasm deserted women 
 with their wail of sorrow; and spinsters with their 
 peevishness and contempt for the world. In short, 
 there was a miscellaneous gathering here of un- 
 stable elements which, under favorable circumstances 
 in some future generation could be melted into a 
 reasonable semblance of a — man. 
 
 Herr Nietzche was to deliver a farewell speech. 
 
 He arose after the plain repast and said: 
 
 "Ladies and Gentlemen: I am called upon by 
 our honorable host to address you. You would 
 naturally expect me to speak on the new science of 
 aeronautics and the new chemistry, but, though in- 
 adequately prepared, I have decided to speak on the 
 subject in which I hear, judging by your conversa- 
 tion, you are unanimously interested, namely, the 
 subjects of Matrimony and Love. 
 
 "As a German scientist and a chemist, some of you, 
 at least, will think it very inexpedient of me to talk 
 on the delicate subject of Love, especially that most 
 obscure form, Conjugal Love. Some of you may 
 protest that love is a private matter which concerns 
 the soul and comes not within the sphere of obser- 
 vation which the laboratory of the chemist involves. 
 But to such I reply that, even the subtile essence of 
 the soul has been thoroughly analysed in our cruci- 
 ble and distilled in our elembic. We have discovered 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 195 
 
 the ultimate electrons, and they have brought the 
 savant face to face with the First Cause. And there 
 he stands now, with his contemplative mind full of 
 awe and wonder. There he stands with his heart 
 full of compassion and pity for the world which, 
 owing to ignorance of the truth, sins and goes astray. 
 
 "In my talk to you I shall commence with directing 
 my speech to the little ladies who are present here 
 with their young minds filled to the brim with fond 
 hopes, and who love to cast their future into a 
 bright romance. I also have my views on that inter- 
 esting and, I should say, momentous subject of yours. 
 It is momentous for your happiness and perhaps the 
 salvation of your souls hangs in the balance. You 
 were born as prospective heirs to immortality, but 
 you may all lose your birthright in this world of 
 many colored pigments. I am not attempting to dis- 
 turb your romantic temperament, but, on the con- 
 trary. I will attempt to encourage you in your ideals. 
 But why do you consign your romance to the future 
 and so disastrously neglect the present? It is fatal — 
 it is fatal for your welfare — it is fatal for the reali- 
 zation of your ideals! Open your eyes and attempt 
 more seriously to modify your views of the world. 
 If you are successful your conception of your whole 
 environment will change at once. You will see 
 beauty everywhere, though you are obliged to keep 
 your eyes on the barnyard; you will recite poetry, 
 though you are linked to the prosaic affairs of the 
 kitchen. Though your leisure hours should fall 
 during a clouded night, you will see the azure hue and 
 the reflection of the stars below. 
 
 "Believe me, young ladies, unless you look out up- 
 on the world under the conception that it is One Stu- 
 pendous Romance, and unless you seek ardently to 
 realize your ideals in the present, the future has no 
 romance in store for you; but the comedy of the 
 
196 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 present and your Midsummer Nights' Dreams will 
 end, and — end in Tragedy. I abhor the thought of 
 consigning you to the deplorable fate of Shakespear's 
 Desdemona in 'Othello,' or to the fate of the fiancee 
 of Hamlet, but fate has for some of you still worse 
 destinies in store, if you neglect your opportunities 
 in the present and fail to realize your ideals. I do 
 not talk to you with the cold indifference of the 
 stoic, but, on the contrary, my heart goes out to you 
 with tender sympathy, and I am desirous, to the 
 verge of enthusiasm, to change your pleasures, which 
 will fail, into joy, that is eternal. 
 
 "To the young men who are present here I am 
 forced to confess that my heart grows colder, in or- 
 der to conform to truth. My mind takes the form 
 of a crystal and my speech becomes stern and severe, 
 for like the gamma rays in radium, it is not deflected 
 by a magnet, but goes forth — though not with the 
 fury of the storm — with irresistible force through 
 space and penetrates opaque substances. I have, how- 
 ever, no remedies or prescriptions to offer, though 
 I discover in your transparent bodies before me 
 many indications of coming diseases, and here and 
 there a tumor which bids fair to become cancerous 
 in the future unless it is speedily removed. I am 
 neither a divine healer nor a public quack, but, I as- 
 sure you, that, your individual cases require private' 
 diagnosis. I have but compassion to offer you in 
 public, that is, in so far as you err unconsciously and 
 lose your way through ignorance of observatory sci- 
 ence, in the jungle in which nature has placed you as 
 wanderers quite forlorn. But if you are conscious 
 of your error — if you sin knowingly out of mere 
 conceit — ^then I have but pity for you; for then you 
 are already condemned by nature because you have 
 attempted to unveil with vulgar hands a secret mys- 
 tery by misplacement and abuse of art. 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 197 
 
 "What shall I say to those of you who have pushed 
 the adventurous boat from shore and ventured out 
 upon the romantic sea? I understand that most of 
 you have suffered shipwreck. How shall I compare 
 your fates with the career of those few assembled 
 here who have managed to keep afloat? Have you 
 squandered more recklessly that power which you 
 received in abundance from the Vast Flowing 
 ^^igor? Have those who managed to keep afloat 
 obeyed the call of a loftier voice and realized higher 
 ideals than those whose boats have foundered? Per- 
 haps so; but not necessarily. How many couples 
 who have lived apparently respectable until the pro- 
 verbial age of three-score and ten or beyond can say 
 that they have really lived and loved together ? How 
 have they lived? How have they loved? These are 
 the paramount questions. Have they merely obeyed 
 certain duties prescribed by man and laws that are 
 merely temporal and human and always subject to 
 change without notice, but disregarded the Di- 
 vine Call, which is begging us continuously to 
 come to the divine dance in the Empyrean? If so, 
 they also have drifted out of course and failed to 
 heed the compass or failed to follow the direction 
 pointed out by the North Star on the unfathomed sea. 
 Are there not other voices more divine than the 
 voice of mati, which only roars through the pass- 
 ing storms of Time? 
 
 "Are there not other duties imposed by a diviner 
 call than those which are only concerned with 
 clothes, shelter, meat, bread, or the affairs of the 
 kitchen and the drawing-room? Are there no ends 
 to follow this multitude of means? There must be, 
 for otherwise there would be no divorces, no separa- 
 tions, no matrimonial infelicitv, and no domestic 
 troubles whatsoever; otherwise Man would have re- 
 mained a brute. There is a diviner call" which has 
 
198 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 beckoned through nature with a more imperial voice, 
 for it issued from eternity and will continue to eter- 
 nity whilst its continuous echo is heard down through 
 the ages and through every nook in the worlds of 
 Time. That voice is the irresistible assertion that 
 your highest duty, whilst you are wandering here 
 below, is the attainment of your own freedom. 
 
 "But how is this freedom attainable? How is this 
 divine liberty brought within your grasp? Is it at- 
 tainable by the methods which now universally pre- 
 vail in the world and in the daily affairs of man? 
 No! Never! Never! For man, nations as well as 
 individuals, are constantly in pursuit of false Ideals. 
 They confound means with ends — temporal symbols 
 with eternal verities. Instead of pursuing the ideals 
 which lead to freedom they drift into a more disas- 
 trous and deplorable condition of slavery day by day, 
 and year by year, though they obey the call of duties 
 which are stipulated by the laws of man ; and though 
 they attend regularly to their social conventions and 
 their Hague tribunals. Nay — not until you see the 
 soul swaying independently in the radiant splendor 
 of its native, eternal essence; not until you see that, 
 that love, of which conjugal love is the hint in the 
 finite, is immortal and divine, have you attained that 
 freedom which is everlasting and eternal, and to 
 which the world incessantly aspires. Touch, there- 
 fore, with fear and reverence those symbols in the 
 finite which you can only taste so briefly in this tem- 
 poral clime. They are sweet and tempting because 
 they stand as temporal symbols for verities that are 
 eternal. 
 
 "Until you realize these ideals sail cautiously on 
 the seas of your romantic world. Even though you 
 happen to spread your sail before the gentle breezes 
 of zephyr, there are dangerous reefs too near the sur- 
 face of the smooth waters: if you hurry along you 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 199 
 
 are only speeding to your ruin, for, even if you es- 
 cape the fury of the elements above, a fatal crash is 
 inevitable with those that lurk below. If you have 
 no higher ideals before you than the temporal, you 
 had better leave the pleasures you enjoy in your 
 domestic circle whether you indulge in them amidst 
 the squalor of poverty or in the luxury of stately 
 mansions, and seek an abode in the caverns which 
 sheltered our primeval ancestors. Go, ye men, who 
 do not realize the true ideals of Freedom — go, and 
 join the eremite, dig caverns in the crust of the earth, 
 or join the company of squirrels in the forest until 
 you see the dawn in the horizon of a clearer sky. 
 The clouds hang heavy above you and your high- 
 ways will be covered with the sleet of a dull autumn. 
 Why venture out in a dark night with stumbling 
 steed to see a worthless burlesque at your theater? 
 Why venture out when there is nothing to be gained 
 at your market place, and when there is nothing in 
 view but a certain loss of time? Can you afford to 
 stay at_your fireside? Can you afford to entertain 
 visitors who are waiting patiently at your door with 
 a new scheme to relieve you of all your domestic 
 troubles and assure you of the permanent happiness 
 you so ardently desire? If so, why shut the door 
 for them in your fits of passion? Your excuse is 
 that you have not seen them — you have not met face 
 to face those divine messengers. But I tell you, 
 they are there ! They are standing patiently at your 
 door, waiting to be admitted to your fireside. 
 
 "And you, ye ladies, who are so easily and often 
 led astray by'the charms of potency, why are you 
 also so easily and unconsciously led astray by phan- 
 toms which more than anything else in the world en- 
 tice men and often dissipate their masculine strength 
 and vigor? Simply because Love as well as Reason 
 has written its symbols in the temporal finite world. 
 
200 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 which, though conceived as indelible, are so transi- 
 tory, and which, one and all, only represent verities 
 that are eternal. Reason is an eternal verity which 
 is one in essence and inseparable from love. Reason 
 and Love are the eternal verities that are united in 
 form and constitute that eternal attribute of the Soul 
 which even mortals here below, have recognized as — 
 Beauty. 
 
 "Now, ye ladies, as we now have amended the defi- 
 nitions of Ancient Rome, permit me to ask, what 
 music are you playing on your lyre ? Is it fit for an 
 Aeolian harp? What ornaments do you employ to 
 embellish your beauty since you are so enthusiasti- 
 cally interested in the affairs of the club room, the 
 race track, the saloon, the various fields of sports, 
 and the — polls? What company do you entertain 
 with your music? For whom are you decorating 
 your bodies with jewels ? For whom are you wearing 
 the halo on your hair? You complain of wayward 
 husbands and domestic troubles, but I say to you, 
 that, if you cannot answer those questions without 
 blushing and embarrassment, go into your secret 
 chamber, rearrange your ornaments and your toilet, 
 and endeavor to strike some diviner notes upon your 
 lyre. Your music is hoarse, and your ornaments 
 have been handed down to you from the Orient — 
 from an Orient which with steady steps is passing 
 from the world. 
 
 "Permit me in conclusion to advise you to make up 
 a new program for your domestic matinees, and pre- 
 pare a new garb for your divine form. Let your 
 company wait at your door until they tire of waiting 
 and return to their own fireside ; or, if you happen to 
 be swift in preparing the surprise with which you 
 are to entertain your guests, show them into your 
 anteroom or let them wait at your atrium." 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 201 
 
 The loud applause which followed the speech in- 
 dicated that it had been appreciated and perhaps 
 even understood by at least some of the party, for it 
 does not seem possible that it could command ap- 
 plause for its witticism which, in the ordinary sense 
 of the term, was rather watery to the exacting ears 
 of common mortals. But Herr Nietzche cared little 
 for applause, and, without uttering another sylla- 
 ble, he donned his coat, his goggles, and his cap. The 
 time for departing had now arrived, and we were 
 escorted by every one present, to the aeroplane, which 
 waited in readiness to accommodate us at our door. 
 
 The five seats were arranged to insure comfort 
 and absolute safety. We had no baggage to encum^ 
 ber us on our aerial journey. We stepped in, and 
 the next moment we were off and ascended rapidly 
 into the sky. We looked back, and, besides waving 
 handkerchiefs, we observed that there rolled from 
 nearly every eye a stream of prophetic tears. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 A DISAPPOINTMENT. 
 
 In a short half hour we alighted on the estate of 
 Mr. Young at Newport. I was back again on the 
 spot which I a few months ago had left so extremely 
 despondent. I was back again with new assurances, 
 new convictions and brighter hopes for the destiny 
 of man. With a fiancee at my side who had rejected 
 millions in order to remain true to her First Love; 
 with a millionaire as host who, in my imagination at 
 least, formerly had stood between me and hope, but 
 who now, by the happy turn of events, was my pros- 
 pective brother-in-law, I exclaimed, as we alighted 
 at the Newport mansion: "Ah! what a happy turn 
 of the wheel of fortune!" 
 
 "We are playing on a magic wheel," returned Mr. 
 lYoung, with a smile, "which will always turn eventu- 
 ally in favor of those who play an honest game and 
 "have an inexhaustible capital to stake. You and I 
 are both winners, and fate alone has lost." 
 
 As soon as we entered the mansion we noticed an 
 extraordinary activity and nervousness amongst the 
 servants. The butler was running to and fro with- 
 out knowing his errands ; the janitor was shouting in 
 uncivil language to subordinates ; the cook was crazed 
 with headache: the first chamber maid was on the 
 verge of nervous prostration; the chauffeur was 
 -working frantically over an obstinate magneto in 
 4he limousine. We learned immediately the cause 
 
 202 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 205 
 
 of this frantic activity and turmoil. Mr. Youngs 
 •senior, was momentarily expected to return in his 
 yacht from Europe and, besides, Mrs. Young and 
 their daughter Virginia, a count Von Schonhausea 
 was returning with them from Germany. 
 
 "Just think of it," said the butler, "a count — a, 
 royal guest is coming here and we have no decent 
 champagne in the cellar." A telephone message had 
 brought the intelligence that the proper kind was 
 only obtainable in New York. But would it arrive 
 in time? That momentous question was still un- 
 answered, and a harassing dilemma as to what course- 
 to pursue was rapidly consuming his wits. 
 
 Whilst we stood almost prostrated with the sud- 
 den change of our environment, the magnificent 
 limousine, with a smiling chauffeur at the wheel 
 rolled out of the imposing gate. A message had just 
 been received that the yacht had arrived in port with 
 the distinguished party and their royal guest on 
 board. 
 
 We discussed for a while the difficult position into* 
 which a democratic disposed American is precipi- 
 tated when an introduction to royalty is suddenly 
 forced upon him. Mr. Young was ready for any 
 emergency; Herr Nietzche had his superior culture, 
 scientific training and thorough knowledge of the 
 world, which, of course, included a familiarity with 
 the aristocratic manners of Europe; the ladies, — my 
 sister as well as Helen — ^were at ease and unaffright- 
 ed; but I alone, as a plain country gentleman, un- 
 familiar with the manners of high society, was lost 
 and unnerved by the prospect of coping with an 
 ordeal which to me was abominable and detestable. 
 
 Whilst we stood in the atrium, all were encourag- 
 ing me and endeavoring to dispel my timidity, the 
 limousine appeared between the imposing pillars of 
 the gate. We stepped out upon the portico to wel- 
 
204 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 come the senior lord and lady of the house who re- 
 turned with their daughter and the royal guest. 
 
 A page opened the door, and four persons stepped 
 out. We were introduced by Mr. Young, Jr., (whom 
 we henceforth will call Cyril) to his parents and 
 sister Virginia. We were saluted courteously, but 
 coldly. The bows and the smiles, which were mutu- 
 ally exchanged, had the appearance of style and well 
 bred manners and behavior, but they were destitute 
 of the warm good will which springs spontaneously, 
 without any artistic effort, from the heart of love. 
 
 Cyril escorted his mother and sister, whilst the 
 senior lord went arm in arm with the count, and we 
 followed behind into the atrium of the mansion. 
 Here a formal introduction to the count took place. 
 He was a portly man of statelv manners and royal 
 bearing. He was not counterfeiting his title to nobil- 
 ity as many of the dissipated and effeminate noblemen 
 from England and France. But he bore the stamp 
 of high intellectuality upon his forehead and physiog- 
 nomy, and he exhibited a superior air of tact, wisdom 
 and power. His introduction to Herr Nietzche by 
 Cyril was most interesting. 
 
 "I present you to Count Herbert Reichenbach 
 Schoenhausen von Hohenzollern," said Cyril to Herr 
 Nietzche; and to the count, "this gentleman is pro- 
 fessor Nietzche, a philosopher emeritus from the 
 Fatherland, but still in the prime of life and very 
 active in America as the most wonderful aviator of 
 the day." 
 
 "Glad to meet you, Count," said Herr Nietzche, 
 whilst they shook hands cordially. 
 
 "Glad to meet an aviator," responded the Count in 
 excellent English, with almost imperceptible accent. 
 "But I beg you all pardon my desire to amend my 
 title. I was a Count in Germany, but in free America 
 I am a plain Mr. Reichenbach. We must drop this 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 205 
 
 Oriental pretention and charlatanism of the old 
 world. Call me Herr Schoenhausen, Herr Bismarck 
 or Herr Rudolf von Habsburg, if you please, but 
 Count or HohenzoUern never. I am no Mandarin, 
 and will not suffer myself to be borne aloft by syco- 
 phantic courtiers. Mark well, gentlemen, that I 
 recognize this place as a democratic precinct, and not 
 as an Oriental empire. No! I have too much rever- 
 ence and respect for the freedom of America and the 
 constitution of this fateful land of destiny, where 
 nobility is to be devoured by democracy, and where 
 democracy is to be promoted to nobility." 
 
 "You talk like a representative of that, amiable 
 class," said I, with unwonted- courage. 
 
 "I thank you for your compliment — I am," re- 
 sponded the Count. 
 
 But the uncanny declaration of the Count pro- 
 duced a scowl of disapproval upon the visages of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Young. They had looked forward with 
 felicity to the prospect of having the title of countess 
 conferred upon their daughter, and here came the 
 Count himself and rejected so unceremoniously his 
 precious birthright. Forsooth! What a disaster! 
 What a deplorable calamity ! What a reckless impru- 
 dence — to throw away a jewel they had appraised at 
 a value of millions. 
 
 But, to add to the consternation of the elder 
 Americans, both Cyril and Miss Virginia appeared 
 to be pleased with the behavior of the nobleman. And 
 as for me, I was relieved of my timidity and niy 
 fear of committing unpardonable blunders in eti- 
 quette. Here was a sturdy man with a front I was 
 well prepared to meet. Here was a man well pre- 
 pared to sing the joyous notes of spring without pay- 
 ing attention to the bandmaster or the conventional 
 orchestra, but considered himself as free as any bird 
 under heaven. 
 
2o6 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 "Thank heaven !" he exclaimed, "that the Atlantic 
 has separated me from the traditional hypocrisy and 
 conventionalism of Europe. My whole past appears 
 to me like a lethargic recollection of a nightmare. 
 I despise hereditary nobility. Royal blood is also 
 subjected to the universal laws of chemistry and even 
 more sensitive in its contact with the baser pigments. 
 Nay ; let us only recognize that which has been thor- 
 oughly distilled in the alembic of personal merit. Call 
 me an aristocrat if you please, but as such I am a 
 democrat of the new regime." 
 
 The butler, making himself ridiculous with his 
 pretentious bows and gestures, apologized to the 
 Count for the poor quality of wine. But the Count 
 smiled ironically, and assured him that beer was an 
 excellent drink after a voyage across the sea. 
 
 After the banquet, Herr Nietzche suggested a 
 flight in the aeroplane to the Count. He declined 
 courteously the offer on account of the many reports 
 of aeronautic fatalities from all quarters of the globe. 
 Herr Nietzche smiled; and after the Count had the 
 structure of the machine explained to him and 
 learned that it had no applied mechanics in connec- 
 tion with its mysterious propulsion, he accepted after 
 some deliberation. 
 
 But when his fiancee. Miss Virginia, insisted on 
 going up with him, a vigorous protest from her par- 
 ents intercepted the project. Herr Nietzche, with 
 his wonted eloquence, guaranteed the safety of all 
 who ascended, and he prononunced it as emphati- 
 cally as he had described the great variety of fatali- 
 ties to which we are exposed below. 
 
 But Mr. Young was a Yankee of the bluest blood, 
 and would stand for no contradiction. He even in 
 his heat of passion ridiculed Herr Nietzche's enthu- 
 siasm for aeronautic performances ?n the capacity 
 of a social and moral reformer. He accused him of 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 207 
 
 being an adventurer not to be trusted anywhere, and 
 that the reports of the strange doings oi his son in 
 company with charlatans had reached him in Eu- 
 rope and urged him to a speedy return. "You," he 
 concluded, "the toy you are playing with, and the 
 hobby you are promulgating, is one stupendous hy- 
 pocrisy and absolutely anti-American. Your daugh- 
 ter's pretentions to psychism are merely befitting a 
 demagogue." 
 
 Herr Nietzche did not utter a syllable in his de- 
 fence,, but, assuming the attitude of the stoic, he left 
 the room, followed by the Count, Virginia, Helen 
 and I. Cyril and Lillian alone remained to plead, 
 we presumed, in our behalf and, if possible, to ame- 
 liorate the apparent estrangement. 
 
CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 PLOT THAT FAILED. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Young called their "wa3rward" son 
 into an adjacent room. 
 
 Cyril responded, and, consoling Lillian, left her 
 to her own reflections and to look upon the superb 
 works of art which decorated that luxurious room. 
 Her virgin mind was full of anxiety, but she re- 
 frained from listening to the debate which reached 
 her auditory sense as indistinct and inarticulate 
 sounds. 
 
 It is from the report of Cyril I have the follow- 
 ing conversation: 
 
 "When I left for Europe," commenced Mr. Young, 
 "I left all my business in your care; have you done 
 your duty?" 
 
 "I have performed my duty to myself," retorted 
 Cyril. 
 
 "And what do you consider to be the nature of 
 that duty?" 
 
 "To advance a step or two further towards the 
 goal of man." 
 
 "And what- do you consider to be the goal of 
 man ?" 
 
 "Liberty — freedom of thought and freedom of 
 action." 
 
 "Can that freedom be attained by losing your 
 wealth? I have lost fortunes since I departed for 
 Europe, and the losses are solely due to your negli- 
 gence." 
 
 208 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 209 
 
 "Bah! O vanity of vanities! Care for your own 
 fortune, I'll take care of mine. But my idea of 
 wealth has changed during that space of time we 
 have been separated. Wealth, according to your 
 idea of it will never lead to freedom in any shape or 
 form. You are a slave to your gold; and you have 
 not as yet learned how to invest." 
 
 "You are using a language I fail to understand. 
 I know you are of age and have a fortune inherited 
 from your maternal grandfather in your own hands ; 
 have you been so extremely successful with your 
 own money that it has drawn your attention from 
 mine ?" 
 
 "I have had no time to keep track of my dividends, 
 and I might have drawn considerably on the princi- 
 pal for all I know. The rise and fall of stocks has 
 not concerned me much. I have had more important 
 business on hand these last few months." 
 
 "Are you joking?" 
 
 The financier moved in his seat with an uneasi- 
 ness which usually only the bad report of a ticker 
 could provoke. 
 
 "I mean what I say," returned Cyril. 
 
 "Then you are indiscreet to the verge of impu- 
 dence; or, to make the definition plain, a complete 
 failure as a man." 
 
 "A failure as a man of business — yes — for in your 
 business, business is the Man, but the man is not 
 your business. With you, Man is a commodity and 
 sold to the devil. But let me explain to you my 
 financial proposition. I can keep my money in a 
 vault and withdraw ten thousand a year, and at that 
 rate I can live high one thousand years without divi- 
 dends before my fortune is exhausted; and com- 
 pared with yours my fortune is only a negligible 
 quantity. Tell me, why shall we continue to accu- 
 mulate?" 
 
2IO COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 "We must accumulate in order to prevent civiliza- 
 tion from sliding back into the chaos of former 
 ages," said the financial sage. 
 
 "Now you are finally promulgating some sense. 
 But the paramount question is a question of method. 
 To insure stability to civilization you must help the 
 poor, but you must simultaneously encourage culture. 
 Can you assist the poor with money? If so, you 
 must change your method, for all your philanthropy 
 is a complete failure. Culture is our hope, you say. 
 You are right. But can you buy culture for a price 
 of gold? It has not been verified. On the contrary, 
 the absorbing enthusiasm instigated by the various 
 sports and the daily bulletins reporting crimes com- 
 mitted contradict that any further good will spring 
 from wealth. No ; your ideals are false and all your 
 dreams illusions !" 
 
 "I do not know you, and I fail to understand you." 
 
 "If you knew me you would understand. But I 
 have been on the mountain of transfiguration." 
 
 "What does that mean?" 
 
 "It means that I have a fiancee who has attained 
 the highest culture without the aid of wealth because 
 the heart was pure." 
 
 "I suppose your scheme, then, is to introduce a 
 new method in purifying hearts. But I am sorry 
 you made that step towards matrimony. It was only 
 up to you to say the word and you would have had 
 a fiancee with high culture and millions in the bal- 
 ance." 
 
 "But millions," said Cyril, with a face which' the 
 financier thought was too radiant for the masculine 
 sex, "millions could not tip the scale in my private 
 romance. I am in love — and Love is the avoirdu- 
 pois that moves the world." 
 
 "You are quite poetical; but, believe me, your 
 heart theory is a superstition and a fatal disease." 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 211 
 
 "Then I will prefer to dabble in a creed outworn, 
 spurn your formal logic, and be my own physician." 
 
 "Your association with that adventurer will work 
 havoc with your reason." 
 
 "Your wealth is working havoc with yours." 
 
 "I have ordered that thing you call an aeroplane 
 removed from my premises and sent my sailors to 
 take that infernal machine I have heard so much 
 about and sink it into the sea. I was out in the gar- 
 age and found it such an extremely ridiculous and 
 laughable affair that I thought it was well worthy of 
 a joke." 
 
 "I laughed myself the first time I cast my eyes on 
 the homely simplicity of the thing, and my friend 
 Harry nearly came to grief in his wonted hasty at- 
 tempt to see the inside of things. If you take my 
 advice, you had better call off that joke at your 
 earliest convenience ; you might, by taking that course 
 avoid a disaster." 
 
 "I am not worried about it; the thing looked too 
 meek and harmless." 
 
 "And so does fulminate when it is left alone." 
 
 "It'll take the water; ha, ha, ha!" 
 
 Before the sound of the laugh had vanished a com- 
 motion was heard in the room where Lillian was 
 waiting. When Cyril opened the door he found that 
 the party which had followed Herr Nietzche had re- 
 turned. All were calm and composed except the 
 daughter of the house, whose young mind was still 
 untrained to face the facts of the world when ad- 
 versity happen to cross our paths of pleasure or dis- 
 turb our joy. She was pouring out her wail to Vir- 
 ginia whilst she hung heavily on the arm of Helen, 
 who, though only a friend of a few hours, endeavored 
 to console with the assurance that nothing serious 
 can ever happen to any one in this world when we 
 are always prepared for an emergency; and, that 
 
212 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 even death, though its postponement is desired, is a 
 contingency which is not, when it arrives, a monstrous 
 calamity to those who are wide awake and pure in 
 spirit. The rest of the party, including myself, stood 
 silent, staring at the senior host. 
 
 Herr Nietzche walked up to Mr. Young and said: 
 "We received a cordial reception by our son and 
 were unaware that we annoyed you by our presence. 
 If you had sent us a notice to quit from Europe we 
 should have flown at once and this disaster could 
 have been avoided." 
 
 "What is the disaster?" inquired Mr. Young, 
 feigning surprise, whilst he was shaking nervously. 
 
 "Four of your sailors are dead, one of your auto- 
 mobiles is wrecked and one of your chauflfeurs is 
 blown to atoms and another seriously wounded." 
 
 The financier was amazed to the verge of conster- 
 nation — a trait seldom shown by an American finan- 
 cier. Cyril was anxious for an explanation, but re- 
 mained composed and asked no questions. 
 
 "I merely intended it for a joke — a. good old 
 American joke — that was all, and I fail to under- 
 stand the facts in the case, my dear sir," said Mr. 
 Young after he had recollected his wits. 
 
 "There are facts within the realm of the exchange 
 which you Americans have not as yet fully compre- 
 hended," returned Herr Nietzche. "You should, how- 
 ever, I think, have approached us like a gentleman 
 of the new regime. But you have gone back to the 
 days of wooden nutmegs, and such antiquated tricks 
 of the trade will not pass for virtues in an ultra- 
 scientific age. Mark Twain has done all the joking 
 for you by out-laughing the world. All there is left 
 for you to do is to go back to your old Whittier who 
 said so quaintly somewhere 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 213 
 
 "'God works in all things; all obey 
 His First Propulsion ' 
 
 "No! No! gentlemen — there is no more joking left 
 for you. The primeval forests are gone. But I rather 
 pity you, nevertheless, for, even your own amiable 
 old Emerson stated emphatically that "life was not 
 worth the taking to do tricks in." What a calamity is 
 this! For you are evidently inclined to reverse the 
 statements of your own sages, and, by contemplating 
 such a phrase as 'What is life without tricks?' you 
 now commit such awkward blunders which bid fair 
 to plunge you head over heels into overwhelming 
 disasters." 
 
 The telephone bell rang violently. Mr. Young re- 
 ceived a summons from the hospital, conveying the 
 intelligence that his presence was wanted at once at 
 a coroner's inquest to explain an accident which had 
 proved fatal to four of his sailors and one chauffeur 
 and mortally wounded another. 
 
 Mr. Young turned pale. His wife swooned. Herr 
 Nietzche, grasping the arm of Virginia, who was on 
 the verge of collapse, assured the hysterical ladies 
 that, whilst he could not bring back the dead, he could 
 relieve the embarrassment, for he still knew "a trick 
 worth two q£ thaL" 
 
CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 THE EXPLANATION. 
 
 "Do you know the true facts in this strange case ?" 
 inquired Cyril, after his father with the aid of ser- 
 vants had departed with the hysterical ladies. 
 
 "The old coachman," responded Herr Nietzche, 
 "who handed your father the key to the locker in 
 which the coherer was confined, gave us sufficient 
 information. The cause of the accident I conjec- 
 tured." 
 
 "But the fatal explosion still seems to me to be an 
 inexplicable mystery," continued Cyril. 
 
 "I will explain this very briefly," returned the 
 wizard. "The crowning glory of the effort of my 
 life, which to your father only represented the value 
 of a joke, was to chauffeurs and sailors an object of 
 curiosity. They had decided to see the inside and in- 
 cluded for that purpose an axe in their cargo. Now, 
 in order to make the apparent mystery palpable to 
 you I must necessarily give you a graphic descrip- 
 tion of the composition and constitution of the co- 
 herer. It has to this hour been my own secret. But 
 just as an explanation of the open secret of the uni- 
 verse is urgently needed for the salvation of the 
 staggering race of man, so is it now absolutely neces- 
 sary for me to clear myself from your suspicion of 
 being a charlatan and a dangerous pilot in aerial 
 navigation. 
 
 "The history of my invention is simple; and the 
 reason why such men as Berthelot, Roentgen, Ram- 
 214 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 215 
 
 say, Thomson, the Curries or others have failed to 
 produce this mobile perpetum is their indifference to 
 the nature of the First Cause — the Ultima Thule of 
 all motion. Their modus operandi of investigation is 
 based upon the fallacy that the physical forces have 
 existed from eternity whilst, in reality, the physical 
 forces are merely derivative. Thus they leave no 
 room for creation, or, a First Propulsion, and fail, 
 consequently, to distinguish between eternity and 
 time by filling the Infinite with an inconceivable sub- 
 stance. Just think of it — ^mere Man by sheer reason 
 attempting to fill the Infinite! 
 
 "Reason thus gives birth to chaos, because Being 
 tends to disappear before the very eyes of the reflec- 
 tive mind into Non-Being, whilst the Divine Law 
 spontaneously protests. But this protest in the par- 
 ticular (which, by the way, involves the contention 
 between suffragettes and suffragists) is merely a pas- 
 sive empiricism which, like philosophical empiricism, 
 eventually becomes effete because it is seen in the 
 ultimate analysis that the various phases of the pro- 
 test were only means, and not the ends which they by 
 blind reason were conceived to be. 
 
 "The discovery of the disintegration of the atom 
 marked the limit for physical science in search for 
 truth which so cunningly has managed to keep out 
 of human sight from age to age. But this achieve- 
 ment of science verifies the theoretical ideas which 
 were entertained by Plato. We see that the form- 
 less Ether is the common parent of all that lives, 
 moves and has its being in the firmament of myriad 
 worlds. But face to face with this formless Ether 
 the task of science ends, and, if the philosopher fails 
 here to grasp the banner laid down by the tired hands 
 of science, and carry it to victory in our fight with 
 Darkness, all is lost. 
 
 "I saw this in my secret laboratory in Saxony, and 
 
2i6 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 said with your Patrick Henry, "It is liberty or 
 death." So I proposed to carry on the fight. The 
 spontaneous disintegration of radium into the gases 
 of the argon series gave me the clue in my pursuit 
 of elusive truth. In my final dash for the goal I 
 took, besides radium, two other elements of heavy 
 atomic weight, namely thorium and uranium, and 
 dissolved them through a special process, forced 
 the product into a vacuum and succeeded in casting a 
 transparent metallic shell. In this I inserted a tube. 
 Thence I took it to a dark room totally devoid of 
 white light. I resumed the process of disintegrating 
 the same elements and forced the product this time 
 into the transparent shell in which I previously pro- 
 duced a vacuum. I continued the process for some 
 time and sealed the tube. I opened the door a little 
 to investigate the result. But lo! — I thought I wit- 
 nessed a miracle, but found that I had solved the 
 problem of perpetual motion ! As soon as the thing 
 I had manufactured was struck with white light it 
 moved with an irresistible force. I closed the door 
 rapidly, but the oval sphere had already made a dent 
 in the wall. I knew that the result of this first ex- 
 periment was useless owing to its shape and owing 
 to the fact that an object always moves in the direc- 
 tion of least resistance. I made an opaque cover 
 for it and removed it safely to my garden, where 
 I buried it deep in the ground. Before I proceeded 
 to make one in the shape of a cone whose direction 
 of motion could be controlled, I experimented with 
 this singular substance in the open air and found 
 that it exploded instantly with terrific force. Its 
 accumulation thus require absence of white light and 
 a vacuum. When exposed to the air in the dark it 
 will crystallize, but when confined to the air in a 
 vacuum it can be compressed in the ethereal forrn 
 so that it will have an explosive force far greater 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 217 
 
 than dynamite. It is the prium mobile dreamt of by 
 the Ancients, but, instead of discovering it in the 
 crystalline heavens, we have confined it within. It 
 is the dilated Ether — the subtile Materia Prima, 
 which we, mere bipeds as we are, have cunningly 
 wrestled with an antagonistic force, from the state 
 of extreme expansion which it so stubbornly has 
 maintained in interstellar space since creation, in 
 obedience to the Divine Law of Being and in obedi- 
 ence to the Fiat of the First Cause. 
 
 "You see, therefore, that the propulsion device, 
 which now has come to such a tragic end, was ac- 
 tually the original substance of the spirit, but devoid 
 of sentient life and reason, because, by the initial 
 act of creation, it became, so to speak, crucified 
 in the material world. In the moral aspect it is Love. 
 In the technical aspect it is electricity — that is. Ether 
 tending to disintegrate ad infinitum but resisted by 
 the negative principle of life, which is identical with 
 magnetism. 
 
 "Now, if I have made the history of my invention 
 as well as the propulsion device palpable to you, you 
 can easily see that this godsend of mobile perpetum 
 is absolutely safe when properly used under the guid- 
 ance of reason, whilst it is extremely perilous to mor- 
 tals in the organic world when encountered with 
 brute forces. Those sailors paid the penalty for 
 their curiosity, and by pounding the coherer with an 
 axe arrived at their doomsday unprepared. But we 
 must forgive your father, Cyril, for his joke, which 
 has cost a little more, however, than the ordinary- 
 price generally paid for jokes. What have you ta 
 propose to bring him out of his embarrassment?" 
 
 "I prefer to leave it all to you," replied Cyril. 
 
 "Now," concluded Herr Nietzche, "inasmuch as 
 the sailors were disgruntled to the verge of mutiny 
 on their last voyage, we must tell the coroner at the 
 
2i8 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 inquest that it was evidently a plot on the part of the 
 sailors to dynamite the mansion." 
 
 "The idea is amiable, but the surviving chaufifeur 
 may thwart it." 
 
 "If so, I will take the sole responsibility on my 
 own shoulders and abide by the coroner's decision." 
 
CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 OFF FOR EUROPE. 
 
 Harmony and mutual sympathy thus again pre- 
 vailed in the stately Newport m.ansion. 
 
 Despite the disaster to the aeroplane, the explicit 
 statement of Herr Nietzche cleared him of all sus- 
 picion. Even the conservative Count had now an 
 almost immutable faith in him. He was overwhelmed 
 with surprise over the strange doings of a country- 
 man he had never heard of in the Fatherland, but 
 who was evidently looming up rapidly and high 
 upon the arena of fame. Here was an extraordinary 
 man who had outwitted all the prominent scientists ia 
 Europe whilst he remained in his obscure retreat un- 
 til he loomed up in America to demonstrate his 
 power. But there were other things in store for him, 
 and fame was still far away. Fame, however, was not 
 what he sought, but action in the service of Man was 
 the object of his visit to the New World. But he 
 required freedom of action as well as freedom of 
 thought ; and the loss he had now sustained was det- 
 rimental to his freedom of action. Yet there was no 
 change in the buoyance of his spirit and his plans for 
 the future were made the very instant he received the 
 report of the disaster. 
 
 Mr. Young was exonerated at the inquest, but 
 Herr Nietzche, upon the evidence furnished by the 
 injured chauffeur, was indicted by the coroner for 
 operating motive power of a most perilous nature 
 without license. What an irony of fate! A maa 
 standing on the platform of the Law of Laws was 
 219 
 
220 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 declared subservient to the mere pusilanimity of hu- 
 man nature! 
 
 This apparently added to the embarrassment. For 
 Herr Nietzche had arranged by wire for a cabin pas- 
 sage in the fast SS. Deutchland and was to sail at 
 4 P. M. the same day for Germany. The prosecu- 
 tion decided to hold him for ten thousand dollars' 
 bonds. But, Oh, glorious capital! The bail was 
 immediately furnished by Cyril. 
 
 Cyril, the Count and myself escorted the wizard 
 to the pier. The ladies decided to take leave of 
 Herr Nietzche in Newport and await our return at 
 the mansion of our host. The parting of father and 
 daughter was not pathetic but rather interesting and 
 dramatic — interesting at least for me. 
 
 "Give this to mother," said Helen, whilst she hand- 
 ed her father a slip of paper. Herr Nietzche read 
 aloud the following: 
 
 "Mother! Mother! I have flown 
 To a home that is my own. 
 All my passions now are stilled; 
 My cup of life with love is filled; 
 Your hopes have been fulfilled in me ; 
 I'm a happy fiancee. 
 And the lord I here have found 
 Is a Prometheus unbound. 
 You have reared me, you have cheered me 
 To this happy destiny; 
 Therefore, my love, I send to thee. 
 Receive this tiding glad from me 
 In whatever realm you be. 
 I shall e'er remember thee 
 (For from anguish I am free) 
 In this land across the sea. 
 We defy the world once more 
 On this mighty western shore." 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 221 
 
 This confirmed, I fancied, the possession I had 
 taken of her heart. But, as a Prometheus, I felt that 
 I was still violently shaking- my chains, for, since 
 the loss of the aeroplane a certain lethargy had again 
 taken possession of me. Herr Nietzche looked at 
 me and then at his daughter, as if he would (I fan- 
 cied) accuse her of prejudice, or, at least of enter- 
 taining an unverified conception of me as a free 
 actor in this world-drama we so carelessly are play- 
 ing in the West. 
 
 But what Herr Nietzche thought of me or of us 
 Americans in general, I shall leave for Helen to dis- 
 close at some future time. She evidently read his 
 mind, for she returned his glance and adorned her 
 face with her irresistible radiant, optimistic smile. 
 Taking leave, she said: "I need not speak to you as 
 the Spartan women when their heroes departed for 
 the field of battle, for there is not in your case two 
 alternatives of victory: you will bring back your 
 shield and also come back upon it." 
 
 Helen referred, of course, to the wonderful aero- 
 plane, and the victory Herr Nietzche had won over 
 the brute forces of nature by assimiliating the power 
 of the First Cause. She knew his errand to Ger- 
 many, although Herr Nietzche had not as yet ex- 
 plained his peculiar haste in returning to the Father- 
 land. But we learned his secret aboard a shore line 
 express on which we soon found ourselves speeding 
 towards the metropolis. It was his intention this 
 time to make an aeroplane that was fool-proof. But 
 a speedy return to Germany was imperative in order 
 to obtain a certain indispensable chemical of which 
 there was but a Hmited amount extant on a certain 
 spot in Saxonv. If he failed to find it all hope was 
 gone to produce another world-wonder like the one 
 that was lost forever. 
 
 Herr Nietzche carried Cyril's check for one hun- 
 
222 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 dred thousand dollars to defray expenses. On the 
 pier we met several enthusiasts of the sporting world 
 who had met the wizard before in company with 
 Cyril in New York and Florida and who knew of 
 Herr Nietzche's enigmatic application of perpetual 
 motion to aeronautics. He received many orders for 
 aeroplanes, but declined them all, with the statement 
 that he for an indefinite length of time was unable 
 to make any promises whatsoever. He assured us, 
 however, that if the precious element was procured, 
 he expected to return in two months; and return 
 without being obliged to alight on the Azores. 
 
 Herr Nietzche was a marked contrast to the multi- 
 tude on deck, who, with their gay attire and waving 
 kerchiefs indicated that they were going to Europe 
 to spend a summer of leisure, and bring to their old 
 homes and the homes of their forefathers tidings of 
 prosperity and hope from the New World. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 AN EPISODE. 
 
 We returned by steamer to Newport. I had wired 
 to my chauffeur to meet me with the touring car at 
 Narragansett Pier. We had decided to return to 
 Connecticut, and await on my estate the return of 
 Herr Nietzche. 
 
 To the consternation of his host, the Count insisted 
 on accompanying us to Litchfield. We all found him 
 an amiable man, and we accepted gladly his offer 
 now, as we knew his tastes and his philosophy of life. 
 But we almost felt compassion for his hosts who had 
 carried him from Europe in their own yacht, and, in 
 their behalf, we even persuaded him to remain. But 
 his will was German and apparently unconquerable. 
 
 What was the cause of his preference for our 
 society and his attachment to us which prompted him 
 to snub a multi-millionaire family and insult an heir- 
 ess? The engagement to the heiress, which only 
 lacked the formal announcement, was apparently 
 merely a matter of business for both parties. He 
 was to gain access to millions which would reimburse 
 his crumbling estate in the Hartz Mountains and his 
 castle on the Rhine ; she was to receive in exchange 
 the title of "countess" — a title which the Count 
 himself ridiculed and rejected. Forsooth! the affair 
 was apparently the common blunder which had been 
 instigated by a foolish vanity. 
 
 Was there, then, no trace of love in the match? 
 Yes, the young debutante was apparently enamored 
 in her Count. But the Count was cold and indiffer- 
 223 
 
224 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 ent in her company. The gorgeous gowns and jew- 
 elry with which she was adorned in the most luxur- 
 ious fashion, failed to draw his eyes to her person- 
 ality. He went with us the following morning, and 
 left Virginia with her astounded parents to contem- 
 plate the uncanny behavior of the mysterious Count, 
 who seemed to care as little for their millions as for 
 his hereditary title to nobility. There was evidently 
 a reason; but what it was defied their scrutiny to 
 detect, and their imagination was likewise at a loss 
 to conceive a motive. But they knew not the secret 
 attributes of the human soul which will continue to 
 search through time and space until an object is 
 found that insures a permanent contentment! But 
 such an object must needs be infinite and eternal and 
 have small commerce with the trinkets of Time. A 
 real noble man had at last arrived in the New World 
 who found no contentment in the salient arts that 
 have sprung from the Orient and from gold, but 
 whose mind and eye had resolved to probe deeper 
 into the mystery of beauty and search for its true 
 eternal fountain. 
 
 As aforesaid, the Count left his little girl behind. 
 [But, contrary to cases of that kind, the girl took her 
 apparent loss to heart and was inconsolable in her 
 pang. She had evidently been touched by the true 
 flame of love. How could she be prepared for such 
 an emergency ? Who had been her teachers ? What 
 school had she attended? She had been treated like 
 a doll, and her kindergarten had been of a different 
 world — of a world foreign to the world of sorrow 
 and the world of love. The sudden change of en- 
 vironment was a serious blow to her mental consti- 
 tution, and it brought the physical along to the yawn- 
 ing gulf of darkness which presented itself to her 
 mental eye. 
 
 But where was in the meantime the Count ? What 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 225 
 
 was he pursuing? He walked around on my estate, 
 apparently indifferent to the advantages by which the 
 common type of Man is tempted — ^the worldly ad- 
 vantages of an immense fortune. But, despite the 
 fortune, he had no thoughts to bestow upon the New- 
 port heiress. 
 
 But was his mind, then, entirely absorbed in the 
 scenery amongst the Litchfield hills ? It was scarcely 
 thinkable, for this scenery is not comparable with the 
 imposing majesty of the Hartz Mountains or the 
 brinks and the castles on the Rhine. The former 
 compares to the latter respectively as mediocrity to 
 genius, and can therefore scarcely be called a Land 
 of Dreams, and is scarcely a land with a tendency 
 to inspire to the higher flights of thought directly 
 from the foundation of nature. It was therefore 
 evidently attractions of a different order which in- 
 duced him to remain our guest. 
 
 After the lapse of two weeks a message came to 
 Cyril (who, as Lillian's fiance, had been visiting a 
 few days) , conveying the intelligence from Newport, 
 that his presence was desired at once at the bedside 
 of his dying sister He lost no time in preparations 
 but asked me to take him half way in my car as his 
 own was out of order. He dispatched for another 
 car of his own which was to meet us at New Lon- 
 don. Lillian and I both accompanied Cyril and left 
 Helen a lone companion with the mysterious Count, 
 who positively refused to go. 
 
 During our absence an episode occurred which, 
 whilst it plays only a secondary part in this narrative, 
 was an incident too important and interesting to the 
 students of psychology to be hushed into silence. 
 
 Helen approached the Count in the library where 
 he was sitting, apparently brooding over some for- 
 gotten lore. 
 
 "You are acting your part strangely in the dra- 
 
226 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 matic performances of the New World," said Helen. 
 "Are you not engaged to the afflicted girl, Mr. Scho 
 enhausen ?" 
 
 The Count looked up from the book and he stared 
 at Helen with a bewildered look that betrayed he 
 was suddenly aroused from a dream. 
 
 "That engagement is void," came the terse answer. 
 
 "Have you not promised?" continued Helen. 
 
 "That promise, too, is void," insisted the Count. 
 
 "That promise is valid, I reckon. I would, in be- 
 half of the sick girl, like to have you explain to me 
 the contrary," urged Helen. 
 
 "I will explain," said the Count, rising from the 
 chair. "You know, being a German yourself, that 
 we Germans are extremely contemplative. Since I 
 came to America I have made the acquaintance with 
 the New England wizards of thought, most of whom 
 I find are but little known in their own country and 
 as yet scarcely recognized as prophets anywhere. 
 They have opened my eyes, however, and I see now 
 that all there was asked of me in the match with the 
 heiress, was nothing, and all they offered has no in- 
 trinsic value. I spurn a fortune which is offered, 
 disguised as a dowry, in exchange for a coat of arms. 
 I am looking for a wife, not for a countess; for a 
 lady, not for an heiress." 
 
 "Your statement sounds well," said Helen, "and it 
 issues, I reckon, from the depths of the soul of a 
 manly man." 
 
 "Your culture is too high and refined to stoop to 
 flattery; I believe that your frankly' outspoken opin- 
 ion of me is honest but, I fear, a trifle misleading." 
 
 "I do not generally permit myself to be led astray 
 in my opinions of men, especially when I encounter 
 men of your stamp. But, permit me to remind you 
 that it sometimes happens that a countess may be- 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 227 
 
 come a wife, and an heiress may happen to be a 
 lady." 
 
 "Be this as it may," returned the Count, looking 
 Helen in the eye imploringly, "but I have a question 
 which, with your kind permission, I would like to 
 ask." 
 
 "Speak out, sir ! I am here to listen and, if pos- 
 sible, to instruct." 
 
 "I have long waited for an opportunity to reveal a 
 little secret of mine to you," began the Count. "I 
 know not what your feelings are at present; I know 
 not what feelings I can set astir in your intelligent 
 mind which seems to be so wideawake, yet always 
 Avandering with mysterious glances on the borders 
 of a strange land of dreams. Here I stand humbly 
 before you, confessing, perhaps, the weakness of my 
 own mind, and exposing, perhaps, the least attractive 
 "side of my personality. I have ventured out on a 
 precipice and, may be, I am carelessly sauntering 
 near its brink, but I must yet take a final step and 
 say the fateful word. I stand before you like CEdi- 
 pus before the Sphinx. You have propouiided to me 
 a riddle which will no longer permit me to stand 
 silent under the merciless torture of a harassing 
 dilemma. I love you! — and my love is a love at 
 first sight. I would be willing to follow you like a 
 dog through the dark jungles of Infinite Time and 
 Space." 
 
 "Then," said Helen, in a humorous vein, although 
 smiling compassionately, "then my compassion must 
 go out to you as to a poor poodle." 
 
 "Lady ! lady ! I am far, far from jesting," said the 
 Count, sinking back upon the chair. "My mind is 
 in suspense over the dictates of fate." 
 
 "Neither am I jesting," said Helen. "But you 
 must amend your idea of fate, O noble Count, al- 
 though thou hast arrived too late with thy proposal. 
 
228 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 If you had crossed my path of fate in your present 
 mood in Germany before I took the western flight, 
 I should, perhaps, not have objected to become a 
 countess and travel the winding avenues of tirne and 
 place with you, but now it is too late. My life be- 
 longs to another. The promise I have made to him 
 cannot be broken with impunity. It would prove 
 fatal for my fiance as well as for you and I." 
 
 "Have you a fiance?" inquired the Count, appar- 
 ently disconsolate. 
 
 "I have." 
 
 "I never knew." 
 
 "You never knew because he is still on probation 
 when we are in company with others." 
 
 "Then there is hope?" 
 
 "If I succeed in teaching you a lesson." 
 
 "May I then hope?" 
 
 "Then you may hope to attain what happiness you 
 desire." 
 
 "And what is the lesson ?" asked the Count, almost 
 out of breath in suspense. 
 
 "Now it is you who is playing the part of the 
 Sphinx by asking questions. But I will answer 
 them, and, by solving your riddles, give you your 
 choice between freedom and slavery and between life 
 and death." 
 
 "Doubt not that life and freedom will be my 
 choice." 
 
 "This is the hope I entertain and I hope that my 
 opinion of your manhood is not misleading." 
 
 "I shall endeavor to prove by my conduct that my 
 manhood is compatible with your judgment." 
 
 "I must teach you a lesson then and reveal to you 
 a little secret which the sages have failed to make 
 palpable to you, but will you hold me exempt from 
 impertinence for asking you a question before I 
 proceed with expounding the lesson?" 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 229 
 
 "I will, most assuredly," replied the Count, "be- 
 cause I know that the nobility of your nature is above 
 impertinence." 
 
 "What part of me do you desire possession of by 
 your ardent and evidently sincere declaration of 
 love?" inquired Helen, whilst her penetrating, mys- 
 terious glance met that of the Count. 
 
 The Count heard the question distinctly and dared 
 not believe he had^nderstood the meaning, but stood 
 as if he was puzzled by a veritable and fatal riddle 
 of a Sphinxv 
 
 "Why," he said, after regaining control of his 
 wits after some deliberation, "I mean your whole 
 Being — your personality — not a fraction, for I do not 
 intend to give a fraction in return." 
 
 "Well spoken!" said Helen. "Nobly spoken! If 
 my question was a riddle I shall accept your answer 
 as an adequate and sufficient solution. Now if you 
 will agree with me to stand by 3'our word and keep 
 your promise to the letter you have learned the les- 
 son I propose to give you, but not until you agree 
 solemnly will I promise that I am yours and you are 
 mine before the sacred altar of the Fire of Love." 
 
 "As sure as my intellect is sound and as sure as 
 my intention is sincere, I agree solemnly." 
 
 "Will you give me your hand as a sign that you 
 make it a sacred covenant?" 
 
 "I will," said the Count, holding out his hand 
 which Helen received and held fast in hers. 
 
 "Then hold your hand in mine whilst I speak and 
 give you the lesson in detail." 
 
 The Count remained standing motionless in sus- 
 pense as if entranced under an hypnotic spell. 
 
 "You are," continued Helen, whilst they stood 
 hand in hand, "asking possession of me as a Whole 
 and a Personality. It is therefore that part of 
 me which I have promised to our host — and promised 
 
230 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 to him over the seal of a sacred covenant which, in 
 matters of conjugal love, is signed by a kiss — ^that 
 part can never become yours; for, if I gave that to 
 you, you would never receive anything but a fraction 
 of me, because, if I left that in your embrace and 
 to your private and intimate possession, I would lose 
 my personality, and you would receive Nothing. 
 But, understand me right and listen attentively — for 
 here comes the vital point of the lesson — that part 
 in question is merely that part which is mortal, but, 
 in order to insure Immortality to the Soul, that part 
 must be kept pure and sacred — for, if not, where 
 would you draw a line of demarkation between Man 
 and Brute?" 
 
 The Count swooned and sank back into the chair. 
 
 Helen sprang with the speed of a gazelle for wa- 
 ter. Returning with the fluid of life she bathed his 
 forehead tenderly with the caresses which is pos- 
 sible only for love that is pure and true. 
 
 "Have I been cruel?" asked Helen, as the Count 
 regained his senses and assumed his wonted poise. 
 
 "No ! no !" said the Count. "But you drew upon 
 me this line of demarcation between man and brute 
 and I saw that part of you, which now I see truly, 
 belongs to me, and the radiance of your soul over- 
 awed my spirit with a shock that paralyzed my physi- 
 cal constitution." 
 
 "I almost fear my own secret power over men. 
 But who would think that a woman could so influ- 
 ence a man of your gigantic proportions — a man al- 
 most a Bismarck in stature?" 
 
 "The physical and carnal is nothing," concluded 
 the Count, "unless it stands as a true representative 
 of the Spirit." 
 
 "You have learned your lesson and took the or- 
 deal like a man." 
 
 "Like a woman, men would conventionally say, if 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 231 
 
 any had seen me stagger under your mystic spell." 
 
 "Yes ; very likely ; but we need not now abide by 
 the delusory judgment of the world or the opinion of 
 the rabble. You acted like a man and a strong per- 
 sonality. If you had been a soulless brute you would 
 not have felt the effect of my power even if your 
 body had been small and weak." 
 
 "Now I understand your meaning when you stip- 
 ulated the conditions upon which alone I could be- 
 come truly yours and you could become truly mine. 
 There was no other alternative between harmony 
 and discord and between life and death." 
 
 "No, because a love that is Divine cannot be tam- 
 pered with with impunity, for whatever is sacred 
 and infinite cannot mingle intimately with that which 
 is profane and limited — any attempt must inevitably 
 result in disaster for both." 
 
 "As we now thoroughly understand each other," 
 said the Count, after a pause, "permit me ask you 
 another question." 
 
 "I delight in answering the questions of an ambi- 
 tious scholar like you," replied Helen. 
 
 "Will you promise me to keep this episode of your 
 life a secret?" 
 
 "Why should it remain a secret ?" 
 
 "Because it might cause needless alarm." 
 
 "Why should it cause alarm? Have we not both 
 acted our parts nobly?" 
 
 "Your part, at least, was noble." 
 
 "And so was yours." 
 
 "But will our friends and }'our betrothed under- 
 stand us?" 
 
 "You would be exonerated on account of your 
 ignorance of my betrothal to our host even if suspi- 
 cion was possible of any evil design on your part. 
 But I have other reasons for not keeping it secret. 
 This is the third time since I arrived in America 
 
232 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 that I have been courted by ardent suitors. The 
 first, who courted me in the air over the White 
 Mountains, I tortured into insanity, but restored 
 him by giving him my soul and promising my body. 
 The second was our mutual friend Cyril, whose 
 sister you, by your cold indiflference, have brought to 
 the door of death. To him I could only give what 
 I have given you, and I taught him the same lesson 
 which he received from me with satisfaction and 
 joy. You have seen the efifect on him. You 
 have seen his joy in company with the new star 
 which shines so brightly on his heaven of Immor- 
 tal Love. Why should I keep this affair a secret? 
 No ; our mutual friends will rejoice in the story and 
 both you and I will profit by their sympathy." 
 
 "And perhaps," said the Count, "the assurance of 
 their sympathy will console me in my solitary wan- 
 dering through the world to which I am now con- 
 signed. For why should I now seek a companion 
 of the other sex? It seems to me that it would con- 
 tradict the lesson I have learned from you; for in 
 you I have now made an intimate acquaintance with 
 the Divine Love without identifying myself tem- 
 porarily with that mysterious and symbolic represen- 
 tative of it in the finite we call Conjugal Love." 
 
 "Your resolution is worthy of Plato," said Helen, 
 "but it is not necessary for you to lead the single 
 life in order to remain true to divine love, or, if you 
 please, your first love. I am yours in the Spirit — 
 That First Love remains intact. But you, as well 
 as I, stand in the bloom of youth. You need an 
 intimate companion. But nothing but a companion 
 with a pure soul will hold your attraction and in- 
 crease your happiness. Has that Newport heiress 
 no soul? Was her soul in disguise since you failed 
 to see it ? Yes — it must be so ! In fact I know — I 
 felt the pulsation of her youthful heart. O, my 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 233 
 
 dear von Schoenhausen — how it burned with love 
 for thee ! The flame has now drawn th? blood from 
 her noble head and left the cheeks pale to tell the 
 tale of woe. I tell you, O Count, you failed to see 
 her soul ! Her ardent love made no appeal to your 
 heart because her soul was disguised under a garb 
 of gems and roses." 
 
 "You are," said the Count, who had listened at- 
 tentively, "you are a great arbiter in matters of 
 love." 
 
 "I am planning a strategem and must depart at 
 once for the skirmish line," said Helen. 
 
 "Why? Are you changing so suddenly from love 
 to war?" 
 
 "Love is war and war is love." 
 
 "Is that a new theory?" 
 
 "That theory is as old as the world, but it is my 
 mission to disclose that fact to the staring eyes of 
 men." 
 
 "Go upon your mission, then, and let me not de- 
 tain you with my insignificant presence. But tell 
 me yet before you go, what have you in store for 
 me ? You are singing to me like a siren." 
 
 "1 will leave you singing then, and return with a 
 great surprise: 
 
 "I'll remove from a woman's soul 
 (Who now is dying by the sea) 
 The mask that keeps her from her goal. 
 And restore her again to thee." 
 
CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 A RESTORATION. 
 
 "From man to brute 
 Descend we must 
 When we in youth 
 Succumb to lust. 
 To man from brute 
 Ascend we must 
 And kiss the truth 
 We find in dust. 
 For goodness sake, 
 Both far and near, 
 Am I awake? 
 Why He I here. 
 Asking for grace 
 And waste my hours 
 When man must face 
 Both storm and showers ? 
 What shall I do? 
 I ask of thee; 
 You answer true : 
 'Just follow me 1' 
 And love divine 
 Will ope thine eyes; 
 Join thee to thine 
 In paradise! 
 In heaven and earth 
 Love is the same ; 
 We from our birth 
 Are in the game.. 
 This game of ball 
 234 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 235 
 
 Has gone too far : 
 We, one and all. 
 Must seize a star. 
 For I was born 
 To glance on high. 
 But quite forlorn 
 Below the sky. 
 When I repent 
 I shall rise high 
 And Love defend 
 Before I die. 
 Up to action, 
 And be a whole ! 
 Let each fraction 
 Adorn the soul !" 
 
 These metrical phrases could have been heard by 
 Helen, for the murmur of the Count she had just 
 awakened from the lethargy of ages, was an audible 
 soliloquy. But Helen was in haste, and did not 
 stop to listen at the door. She did not hear at that 
 time that the effect of her logic was a really joyous 
 awakening full of noble resolutions, for she knew 
 there was no time to lose if she was to fulfill her 
 mission and do her duty. She called up Cyril's 
 chauffeur (who had just completed his reparations 
 on the car), and ordered him to drive her to New- 
 port at once at the highest speed the mechanism 
 would permit. 
 
 When she arrived at Mr. Young's mansion she 
 met but morose faces — faces that appeared as if the 
 day of doom with its elements of destruction had 
 come with sudden terrors upon an unprepared world. 
 One by one wherever she inquired to the condition 
 of the patient, she received the terse answers: no 
 hope — given up by physician — near death — kept 
 alive by stimulants, etc. 
 
236 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 "What is the nature of the disease?" inquired 
 Helen of the family physician. 
 
 "Strange case — difficult of diagnosis — seems to be 
 a deterioration of the nervous system, etc." 
 
 "Have you done all in your power to save her?" 
 
 "We have exhausted our skill," replied the doctor. 
 
 "Your labor is ended, then?" 
 
 "Our work is done, and we have consigned her to 
 the hands of the Savior." 
 
 "What Savior?" 
 
 "Do not ask me that question. The priest is in the 
 chamber. He is the man who dispenses freely all 
 information on that subject." 
 
 Helen entered the sick room. The sight she be- 
 held was heartrending to a woman of her learning 
 and culture. As she stood there — that strong-mind- 
 ed woman who, by the force of her Spirit, her logic, 
 and the glances of her eyes had entranced the Count 
 — as she beheld this scene of the most stupendous 
 hypocrisy of a false age, she turned aside and wept 
 bitterly. 
 
 The uncanny spirit of death had apparently al- 
 ready entered the chamber and stood as if he was 
 bending over the pallid form on the bed with only a 
 few grains of sand left in his hour-glass. But, 
 turning around and wiping the tears from her eyes, 
 Helen saw, bending over the pale face, a masculine 
 form dressed in black and white, holding the absolu- 
 tion in one hand and the crucifix in the other. 
 
 "Was this thy end in view, O Paul," Helen solilo- 
 quized, scarcely realizing that the grief-stricken 
 parents as well as the priest were standing near. 
 "Was this the object for which thou crossed the 
 Mediterranean Sea with thy message from sunny 
 lands to Athens and Rome? Was this the picture 
 of joy thou intended to hold up to the eyes of men 
 in preparing their souls for the Divine Dance of the 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 237 
 
 Empyrean ? No ! this cannot be so ; for thou brought 
 with thee the tidings of resurrection and Hf e eternal ; 
 but this sordid picture — this worship of sorrow — ■ 
 brought the mediaeval darkness and death upon the 
 world when its imperious votaries snatched the 
 crown and scepter from the sinking brow and palsied 
 arm of Caesar. This worship of sorrow bore no 
 tidings of resurrection or of hope, but sent its dis- 
 mal Oriental Wail through the quivering ruins of 
 the once so glorious Greece and Rome. But now, 
 after nearly two thousand years of worship of that 
 sacred emblem, the promised salvation of Man is 
 still far away. Pardon me ! O priest ! but step aside, 
 and take away that crucifix — her sins are quite for- 
 given !" 
 
 Her soliloquy had grown louder and louder until 
 the last sentence was actually directed to the priest, 
 who immediately stepped aside and left the room, 
 astonished to the verge of consternation over such 
 lawless insolence — such an impious outrage against 
 the holy church and its symbols of divinity. 
 
 "Do you know me?" inquired Helen, grasping 
 the girl's hands between both her own. 
 
 "I know you quite well. You are the adventuress 
 who robbed me of my dream and laid me low," said 
 Virginia, attempting to rise from her pillow. 
 
 "It is her ; but she is here to prove that the motive 
 you have given me credit for entertaining on your 
 behalf was a misleading of your vivid imagination 
 and is not founded upon truth. On the contrary, I 
 am here with a message of hope for you: I have 
 wrestled with him, overmastered him, and, if I suc- 
 ceed in restoring you for him, I will open his em- 
 brace to receive you." 
 
 "You are here too late with such a divine message. 
 My hour of death is near at hand. My disease is 
 fatal." 
 
238 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 "What disease? You have no disease except in 
 your imagination. Your body is only impaired by 
 a treatment which was administered under a fatal 
 blunder. Your physician was puzzled and has blun- 
 dered seriously. Your spiritual adviser has assisted 
 him in the work of dissolution by holding up to your 
 eyes an ideal, so-called, which, is both false and 
 fatal." 
 
 Virginia's parents stood at the end of the bed, 
 unable to speak a word in their amazement. The 
 priest stood by the door, still holding his crucifix 
 and absolution. 
 
 "Away! away! with that fatal crucifix!" said 
 Helen, looking up at the confounded priest. "This 
 case is now in my hands and I will suffer no false 
 ideals to be impressed upon her. This case is a 
 sickness of the soul and the psychological moment 
 for my treatment is at hand. Bring in real works 
 of art. Bring in your statues of Venus and Apollo, 
 Zeus, Pallas and Minerva, so that she may drink 
 herself to sleep in a clear fountain of beauty and 
 dream of a destiny for the soul that is both immortal 
 and divine." 
 
 The priest became so perplexed that he left the 
 mansion by the back door and lost his way so that 
 a servant had to guide him back to the street on his 
 way home. 
 
 The physician, too, withdrew to parts unknown. 
 
 Helen had full control of the case and prescribed 
 a vigorous rubbing of the body of Virginia in order 
 to produce a normal circulation of the blood which 
 had been arrested by mental agony and quack treat- 
 ment. Her diagnosis was accepted and approved 
 and all her orders were obeyed. And, lo ! the color 
 returned to the pale cheeks, the drowsy eyes became 
 clear and brilliant, and a smile returned to Cupid's 
 bow. The metamorphosis occurred in less than an 
 
'Pardon me, oh Priest, step aside and take away that 
 crucifix — her sins are quite forgiven." 
 
 (Courtship in Air.) 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 239 
 
 hour. All agreed that a miracle had been wrought 
 in the body by that mysterious lady physician of the 
 soul. Helen continuously whispered consoling 
 words into her ear. It was apparently little secrets 
 of their own and required a tete-a-tete. But if one 
 had listened attentively the following could have 
 been heard by those who barkened : 
 
 "He is thine ! he is thine ! A prince so grand 
 Was never seen ouside of Fairyland. 
 His manly brow, his love, his searching eye, 
 Shall meet you there, and you shall never die; 
 But taste sweet Love, and live in joy, and reign 
 In realms where you forever shall remain 
 As spirits free from anguish and from care, 
 With power to fly through space, and everywhere 
 Where Love attract you, and your souls command 
 To play the games they play in Fairyland." 
 
 As Virginia lay there smiling, holding the hand of 
 Helen, the general aspect of the luxurious chamber 
 represented a picture where a crucifix would be 
 curiously out of place. Nay — that medieval nega- 
 tion of Beauty and of Power would become abomi- 
 nable and detestable. But a new Savior had ar- 
 rived! But her message would nevertheless not 
 have produced wonders in itself; for the dead will 
 not arise, the blind will not see, the lame will not 
 walk, and the lepers will not be cleansed, when the 
 deaf fail to hear. But Virginia was not deaf — she 
 had heard the voice of her Savior which this time 
 happened to reverberate from the lips of a woman 
 who, herself, had lived and loved and had remained 
 in a realm where life and love abound and play with 
 absolute safety their games, though they continuous- 
 ly hover over dark abysses. 
 
CHAPTER XL. 
 
 A NEW DRESS. 
 
 The next morning Virginia was convalescent, and 
 all looked up to Helen as if she was a veritable har- 
 binger of the second advent. Helen and Virginia 
 had been constant companions during the night, and 
 all the nurses had been sent away. In the morning 
 her parents called and found, to their surprise, that 
 Virginia was up and at her toilet, already talking 
 "dress" with her amiable restorer. They heard the 
 following conversation whilst they stood in awe and 
 suspense outside the door: 
 
 "How many dresses have you got?" 
 
 "Fifty at least. How many have you got?" 
 
 "One." 
 
 "One?" 
 
 "That is the exact number." 
 
 "How do you manage to keep yourself so wonder- 
 fully attractive?" 
 
 "I wear the soul without." 
 
 "But this must be an art then unattainable by 
 common mortals." 
 
 "It is an art, but an art made by nature." 
 
 "I suppose a lady must become an actress to at- 
 tain the power and poise required?" 
 
 "Call it actress, if you please; but the art consists 
 of abstaining from disguising your own self in an 
 array foreign to your innate inclinations and foreign 
 to the original attributes of the soul." 
 240 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 241 
 
 "O, what a boon that must be! What a freedom 
 you must enjoy to have gained that boon." 
 
 "You, too, shall gain that boon." 
 
 "I ? And how would you initiate me into your . 
 school of art?" 
 
 "By giving you a new dress." 
 
 "A new dress?" 
 
 "Yes — a new dress — dress number fifty-one." 
 
 "Why, you continue to surprise me with your 
 store of surprises. Can you not select one from my 
 wardrobe which is packed with the very latest from 
 Paris, London and Vienna?" 
 
 "No ! no ! I have reached the bottom of Pandora's 
 box. But let me see your wardrobe." 
 
 Every dress was pulled out and strewn about the 
 room. Helen examined them all and shook her head 
 with the wise attitude of a true dissector of an anti- 
 quary. 
 
 "There," she said finally, holding one up to the 
 light. "Try that one on." 
 
 "It is the oldest in the lot." 
 
 "It appears to me to be the newest. But modern 
 fashions are retrospective, Virginia, and imitate the 
 historians." 
 
 She donned the dress and turned around before 
 the mirror. . 
 
 "It will not do ; although it is the only one in the 
 lot with western ideas bestowed upon its making. 
 The rest are antique orientals. Such primitive at- 
 tire will not assist you to win a noble man, or a man 
 that is really noble. A real noble man belongs to the 
 fishes you cannot catch with worms because they do 
 not lodge in shallow waters. Those oriental fads 
 have gone around the world, but, like worms, which 
 the anglers must seek in the early morning hour, be- 
 cause they descend below the ground before the 
 rising sun, so will these fads which are so extensive- 
 
242 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 ly used in the experimental games of Thalia, like- 
 wise disappear out of shame of their nakedness as 
 soon as modesty in the morning of the awakening 
 world beholds the first glimpse of Aurora." 
 
 "Is the modern world, then, as yet enveloped in 
 the dusk of night?" 
 
 "The world is still a dream, Virginia, but the 
 dream may be beautiful when the Virgin Soul is 
 pure; for, though the womb of the world is preg- 
 nant, the world is still awaiting the birth of man." 
 
 "Are you then really condsmning man in his pres- 
 ent state of development?" 
 
 "I do not condemn a vast promise. But there are 
 as yet no self-consciousness in the blind activity of 
 nations and no thoroughly transcendental man." 
 
 "Are there no men worth catching, then? What 
 is the use then of abandoning the gay attire you 
 compare with bait of worms?" 
 
 "I speak of man in the plural. Men as individ- 
 uals can become omniscient by their virtue, even 
 without knowledge of Latin and of Greek, for the 
 classics are all mirrored in their minds. Such men 
 alone are worth catching. But they will only allow 
 themselves to be caught by spirits of their kin." 
 
 "I understand you now. Your rhetoric is a true 
 art, and throws all the philosophical technicalities of 
 Bergson, James, and all the rest of agitators into the 
 shade." 
 
 "The whole rhetoric in my art and the only art in 
 my rhetoric consists of representing myself in mat- 
 ters of faith, but with me faith is knowledge; for I 
 have seen that First Propulsion which all things 
 must obey." 
 
 "Would science listen to you and accept your re- 
 ports of the history of the stars?" 
 
 "Science will accept only what they by their own 
 experiments can establish as facts. But I am only 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 243 
 
 taking the result of the tireless industry of science 
 out of the limited sphere in which it has been ham- 
 pered and confined so long. By extending the result 
 of science to Infinity we only burst the shell from 
 which a fully developed bird will issue, ready for the 
 flight — we only sever the chain of Prometheus and 
 permit him to retain his stolen fire and animate his 
 forms of clay. A vast activity will ensue, though 
 our flight will lead us to a land of dreams; but no 
 more nightmares shall disturb our joy, for Infinity, 
 although it proves to be a dark abyss, will lose its 
 terrors." 
 
 "Tell me in a concise statement, what causes night- 
 mares ?" 
 
 "Extravagance in dress." 
 
 "Extravagance in dress? The physicians claim it 
 is indigestion." 
 
 "It is extravagance in dress; no matter whether 
 you dress your internal organism or your more sym- 
 metrical external form, the result is the same— ' 
 nightmares." 
 
 "You propose, then, also to take the tireless in- 
 dustry of dressmaking out of the limited sphere?" 
 
 "This is my purpose." 
 
 "Will you take hints to Paris, then — will you take 
 hints to the emporium from whence all hints are 
 wonted to issue?" 
 
 "I will keep my promise to the Count." 
 
 "What did you promise then ?" 
 
 "To restore you to him as a well dressed fiancee !" 
 
 "O, what dreams of joy — ^what feelings you con- 
 tinue to stir in my mind ! Tell me truly" (Virginia 
 grasped both arms of Helen and looked imploringly 
 into her face) "will you not deceive me?" 
 
 "If I deceive you banish me from your presence 
 as a sorceress." 
 
244 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 "Oh," said Virginia, kissing Helen's hand, "you 
 are an angel sent from heaven !" 
 
 "But quite at home on earth and quite familiar 
 with the ways of mortals and need no wings upon 
 my back to fly from pole to pole." 
 
 "No, you have a power over the elements superior 
 to the birds of prey." 
 
 "Cease your compliments, Virginia. Cease your 
 compliments. That power is a stolen fire; but I 
 have not even gone to the trouble of stealing it, but 
 simply received it as a gift from heaven, and it is 
 only by bursting my shackles I have regained my 
 liberty and outdone the work of mighty Jove, so, 
 that, thunder as he may, his lightning shall not strike 
 me. But we must cease these didactics, Virginia, 
 and resume our present business. Have you a sew- 
 ing machine?" 
 
 "We have not." 
 
 "Send for one to the nearest distributing point at 
 once." 
 
 "What is your purpose?" 
 
 "I'll make you a dress." 
 
 "Well, well, surprise upon surprise, can you, a 
 lady so well versed in the classics, also make a 
 dress?" 
 
 "I have made several that have pleased the eyes 
 of men." 
 
 "Is the dress you wear your own make?" 
 
 "It is." 
 
 "I'll send for a machine at once." 
 
 Virginia hurried out of the room and flew, in her 
 haste, against her parents, who had been listening at 
 the door. Helen took a seat, opened a book laying 
 on the table and started to read. But her success in 
 subjecting to her will the imagination of a young 
 girl she loved, filled her mind with thoughts more 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 245 
 
 lofty and poetic then those contained in the book. 
 "O, what a joy," she improvised: 
 
 "O, what a joy to know ourselves obeyed 
 In giving counsel from a source divine; 
 
 And, by our actions to induce the great 
 
 To hold our banner, whilst we draw the line 
 
 Between the flowers that will fade away 
 And those whose life is a perpetual day." 
 
 In the adjacent room the following conversation 
 took place: 
 
 "Where are you going in such a hurry?" asked 
 Virginia's mother. 
 
 "To procure a sewing machine," said Virginia. 
 
 "For whom, and for what purpose ?" 
 
 "For my new physician, who contemplates making 
 a dress for me." 
 
 "Can she make dresses?" 
 
 "I took her word for proficiency in the art." 
 
 "That sounds strange." 
 
 "Yes; indeed it does. Complain no more of the 
 dullness of the age." 
 
 "But you have more dresses coming from New 
 York to-day for the ball next week." 
 
 "I am done with balls, and dresses from New 
 York." 
 
 "And you are debutante?" 
 
 "I am extremely perplexed," said her father, "but 
 you must attend the ball next week. You know a 
 new suitor is coming from 'Frisco." 
 
 "I have no thoughts to bestow upon these matters 
 now," said Virginia, "I am in haste." 
 
 Virginia ran through the hall. Her parents re- 
 mained motionless for a while and stared alternating- 
 
246 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 ly at each other and the vanishing girl who seemed 
 to be animated with a new form of life. 
 
 "This transmutation," said Mr. Young, "this 
 metamorphosis would puzzle my owl," 
 
CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 A METAMORPHOSIS. 
 
 We meet again Helen and Virginia busily engaged 
 in making a new dress. 
 
 "Will it be necessary to destroy so many dresses 
 to make one that is truly becoming?" inquired Vir- 
 ginia, whilst she looked hesitatingly at her shears. 
 
 "It is," replied Helen ; "but it makes no difference, 
 for they will be spoiled anyhow by . disuse because 
 they are not fit to be spoiled by use." 
 
 "Well, I leave it all to you." 
 
 "Not all — you must furnish the model." 
 
 "Will you make it like your own?" 
 
 "No ! It would not become you. I am a graduate 
 of schools in many lands and understand the world. 
 You are a little chip of innocence just budding into 
 womanhood. We must insert the stars and stripes 
 in that drapery which is fit to cover your marvelous 
 symmetry of form." 
 
 "Will it be necessary, then, to admit the gorgeous 
 colors into the new?" 
 
 "No, Virginia ! No gorgeous colors and no trink- 
 ets. Your cheeks, your crimson lips and your eyes 
 of azure will furnish the colors, but round your 
 waist we must insert stars that will shine with singu- 
 lar luster, and the symmetery below must be adorned 
 with stripes and folds to suggest a Divine Infinity. 
 Your beauty is complete in itself. By trinkets, by 
 jewelry out of place, by gorgeous embroidery and 
 colors you apologize for personal infirmities which, 
 247 
 
248 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 happily in your case, is non-existent, but, if present, 
 could never be improved upon by a fallacious method. 
 The procedure of the modern modiste and of fashion 
 are still one in kind with the instincts and methods 
 employed by savages and primitive races, whose 
 decorations and plumage only appealed to the sen- 
 suality of the opposite sex. Even if you had no 
 beauty, embellishment with trinkets and roses would 
 likewise be fatal. A rose is beautiful in itself, but 
 it will fade upon your breast. You will fade in the 
 same manner when you subordinate yourself to 
 roses. You will fail to appeal to the real nobleman, 
 who is always searching for souls and knows by in- 
 stinct when his Ideal is real. You must always keep 
 yourself more attractive than your adornment and 
 attire. Otherwise you are employing a bait of 
 worms and will catch small fishes in shallow water. 
 If you disguise your soul, your personal attainments 
 and your virtues under a garb of roses you will only 
 appeal to the passions of sensual and worthless men 
 — ^to men scarcely above the brute on the scale of 
 evolution. But we must draw the line of demarka- 
 tion from the brute to Man ! We must cut ourselves 
 away, Virginia ! You must 
 
 Dress yourself in black and white 
 And walk in darkness and in light 
 ■ With brightest hopes, tho' long you wait 
 For a companion in the shade: 
 For then your own charms will appeal 
 To men who noble are and real. 
 Plod on alone across the sand! 
 Your Love will wait in Fairyland !" 
 
 "I hope it is not your intention to send me to a 
 nunnery?" said Virginia with a smile. 
 
 "No. That institution is only 'hinting' the truth. 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 249 
 
 We must not follow the example of nuns. For 
 they, poor souls, are considering their lot in Hfe a 
 burden and a yoke. Such institutions, whether they 
 are called Catholic or Cosmopolitan, are hampering 
 the development of the Spirit, and, instead of indi- 
 vidualising the World-Soul, they are crystallizimj its 
 essence." 
 
 "O, Helen, you have all the facts and need not ask 
 for any aid from science." 
 
 "No compliments, Virginia. Science is the lord 
 before whom I must bow as a chaste mistress of 
 Liberty. I am merely a true daughter of my father 
 because I bowed in obedience to his will." 
 
 "Your father is a chemist?" 
 
 "Yes ; an extraordinary chemist ; he has discovered 
 the divine basis of chemistry: by taking hints from 
 physical science, he found the truth beyond it." 
 
 "It is just in the same manner that you, by taking 
 hints from Paris, have discovered the true art of 
 dressmaking." 
 
 "Exactly! For Paris, too, is hinting the truth; 
 but every one of her million experiments, every fran- 
 tic eflfort to insure stability in fashion fails. Na- 
 ture will not be cheated or deceived. She blows her 
 divine air over the surface of the earth, and the few 
 kernels which take root in the ground are eventually 
 destroyed by weeds, because mankind, in its blind- 
 ness, neglect to cultivate, but stand grasping for the 
 chaff that blows into the sea." 
 
 "But is the gorgeous world of fashion not evolv- 
 ing into simplicity in the twentieth century, when we 
 compare it to the extravagance of the eighteenth in 
 France?" 
 
 "Yes; there is some truth in your apprehension, 
 Virginia. But this is due to a tendency in the di- 
 vine movement through the ages which is subordi- 
 nated to the highest Law. A simplicity in the pas- 
 
250 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 sions of men has as yet failed to appear. What was 
 more simple and divine in the garments of men than 
 the toga in Ancient Rome? Yet the glory of Rome 
 was wiped mercilessly from the earth, solely because 
 a world of men, swayed by enticing women, must 
 fall and perish in the mire, and their togas, even that 
 of mighty Caesar, will be stained with blood." 
 
 Helen turned her back to Virginia and wiped a 
 tear from her eye, which was evidently produced by 
 her thought of the fate of the mightiest man in all 
 the Ancient World. 
 
 "I believe you," said Virginia. "History warns 
 us that it is fatal to entice men." 
 
 "Yes ; the destruction of womanhood hangs in the 
 balance, for man eventually will kill the strumpet. 
 Let us therefore make a dress, Virginia, that will ap- 
 peal to the virtues of men and not to their passions. 
 Let us, by covering our bodies, expose our souls to 
 the clear light of day." 
 
 "Shall I cut those white strips three inches taper 
 to one foot in length ?" 
 
 "Wait — ^let me see^I'll take your measure from 
 another point." 
 
 Helen proceeded to measure from the waist down- 
 ward and the maximum width around her body. 
 
 "Now — this will do — cut them three inches and a 
 half per foot — we must beware of the hobble skirt." 
 
 Helen smiled — Virginia laughed. 
 
 The work proceeded rapidly. Helen did the 
 stitching whilst Virginia did the cutting and folding 
 to her direction. 
 
 "Bring your jewelry," said Helen, as she was put- 
 ting the finishing touches to the waist. 
 
 Virginia brought her necklace which included bril- 
 liants of great size and of the finest water, and rep- 
 resenting a fortune in gold. She brought also her 
 rings, bracelets, buckles and various other charms. 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 251 
 
 "It will be necessary to destroy your necklace and 
 rob one of your rings of one of its most sparkling 
 gems. I need one for the back of your hair, and 
 three will be required for your waistline in the back. 
 I will make a sketch for a setting in gold, and want 
 you to send it all to a jeweler at once to have the 
 four gems properly set. I will then insert them in 
 the respective places, properly, and to the best ad- 
 vantage for the attire of a debutante. What there is 
 left you can turn into cash or dispose of them in 
 favor of the poor, for you shall have no more use 
 for them on your own person. Don't hesitate, Vir- 
 ginia! Never mind the necklace — the symmetry of 
 your neck is too previous to be defiled by such a 
 burden — do as I tell you — four gems is all we re- 
 quire — ^the rest is trash — away with it!" 
 
 "Is there not a gem in the lot suitable for my front 
 and fit to be seen when people meet me face to 
 face ?" asked Virginia, a little perplexed and evident- 
 ly on the verge of bursting into tears for the fate of 
 her precious necklace which she twisted around her 
 fingers. 
 
 "Your physiognomy is a good setting, your eyes 
 are brilliant and fully sufficient for adornment, and 
 you need not apologize when you face the world 
 with the mirror of your soul. You cannot apologize 
 with impunity, for your eyes, in concurrence with 
 the zigzag lines I am putting on your dress, will do 
 ■ the lightning, your voice will do the thundering if 
 clouds should happen to obscure your vision of the 
 true blue, and the dead stones are left behind to pro- 
 duce an afterglow when you pass or turn your back 
 to the gaze of men." 
 
 Virginia obeyed gladly all orders, and the result 
 was, that she the following day stood adorned as she 
 never had been adorned before. And a garb made 
 out of shreds and patches of discarded dresses and 
 
252 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 jewelry was the only material means by which the 
 metamorphosis was accomplished: It was merely a 
 case of natural selection invading the tailor's art. 
 
 "Now," said Helen, as Virginia turned around 
 before the mirror endeavoring to obtain a glimpse of 
 the brilliants on her back, "now we are ready for the 
 ball! You are a unique debutante! I would not 
 fret about your safety in a pandemonium. If fair 
 Lucrece had been arrayed in such a garb and trained 
 vas I will train you, the outrage committed by a fiend 
 in royal attire would not have stood as a blot on his- 
 tory, and the fair Lucrece would have furnished no 
 material for the sweet singing of Shakespeare, for a 
 man of the stamp of Tarquin would, without at- 
 tempting rape, have fled from her house in terror." 
 
CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 A NEW SUITOR. 
 
 During the time Helen and Virginia were work- 
 ing behind closed doors we, Cyril, his parents, my 
 sister and myself, were held in suspense as to what 
 was coming next in the line of sensational news. 
 We knew of the sudden and miraculous recover}^ of 
 Virginia, but we could not obtain any information 
 whatsoever regarding the object of their long tete-k- 
 tete. We knew, or rather, we conjectured, what the 
 cause of her disease was, but the cause of her sud- 
 den recovery we were at a loss to understand. We 
 had seen the frantic flight of the priest from the 
 rear of the mansion and expected at that time the 
 arrival of the undertaker. But a short time after- 
 wards the family physician flashed the startling news 
 of a new revival of Christian Science and a veritable 
 "faith cure" under the direction of a German lady 
 considerably younger than Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy. 
 But, aside from this gossip and conjecture, the 
 strange doings around us were hidden under a veil 
 of mystery. 
 
 Virginia's sudden recovery had renewed the ac- 
 tivity required for the fashionable ball the following 
 week at the Young mansion. The ball was original- 
 ly intended to be a formal reception in honor of the 
 Count and his engagement to Virginia which was to 
 be announced at the occasion. But since Virginia, 
 despite the fact that she was an heiress to many mil- 
 lions, had evidently been jilted by the illustrious 
 253 
 
254 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 Count, a cloud of sadness and disappointment had 
 settled over the Young family and added to the con- 
 sternation which the strange and unconventional be- 
 havior of Cyril had produced in the minds of his 
 parents, who had been absent at the time Helen de- 
 livered her memorable speech on the Utility of 
 Wealth at Newport. As the financier had given up 
 all hope of a veritable engagement of his daughter 
 to the Count, he had arranged for a new match 
 which he expected to have in order before the day 
 set for the great ball. He had sent a dispatch to 
 San Francisco for the son of a business partner, 
 also a millionaire, named Smith — a common 
 name, which indicated that he was a scion of that 
 common stock who, to their own disaster, so often 
 get rich too quick in the New World. He had 
 courted Virginia desperately before his marriage in 
 the West, but was now divorced and "free under the 
 law" to renew his suit. 
 
 But, due to Virginia's sudden "physical" break- 
 down and her apparently impending demise, the pro- 
 posed fete was called off. But before this happened 
 the invited Western suitor was on the road and near 
 his destination. Hence the preparations for the fete 
 were resumed on account of Virginia's sudden recov- 
 ery, and new invitations were again sent out to the 
 ultra- fashionables. 
 
 Mr. Smith arrived the day Helen and Virginia 
 finished the new dress — several days before the time 
 set for the great ball. I shall endeavor to describe 
 my impressions of this man of fashion. 
 
 He was a true representative of that class which 
 Emerson described as "Virtue gone to seed." Yes — 
 it was indeed virtue gone to seed — and it was seed 
 ready for the ground. 
 
 There was no fault to find with his body. It was 
 well proportioned and symmetrical; neither dwarfish 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 255 
 
 nor herculean, but rather semi-athletic owing to out- 
 door sports from college days. He was a man of 
 thirty. But was his face the face of a man of 
 thirty? Or, to put the question more definite, was 
 it the face of a man ? Was it the face of that which 
 should be the consummation of nature? Was it the 
 face of that which should be the triumph of the ef- 
 fort of myriads of ages and aeons of time? No! it 
 is impossible : for here was an occasion where a con- 
 templative beholder of such a face would have reason 
 to exclaim with Homer 
 
 "... the race of mortal man, 
 
 Of all that breathe and move upon this earth 
 
 Is the most wretched . . . " 
 
 It did not give the impression of an extinct volcano. 
 No, far from that. The dissipations of youth had 
 not gone to those extremes which occasionally is the 
 cause with errant men of genius. It was still alive 
 with fire — not the fire that ignites by influences from 
 above, but a subterranean fire that burns continuous- 
 ly in the Dark, without sending its rays of light 
 through Ethereal Space. It gave the impression of 
 being a complete slave to nearly all the passions 
 named by Spinoza, but had not as yet arrived at the 
 Inferno described by Dante. 
 
 The forehead was normal, the cranium and form 
 of head symmetrical — sufficiently symmetrical to in- 
 duce a phrenologist to ascribe absolute balance to his 
 mind. But when we see the expression of the eyes 
 and the physiognomy of his face which, by the way, 
 would permit us to impute vividity to superstition 
 by veritable representation of the visage of the 
 "devil," we are forced to discredit the theories of 
 phrenologists. Yet, there is some truth in phre- 
 nology, for there was indeed a certain mental balance 
 
256 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 exhibited here; but it was on a scale so low that 
 neither weight nor avoirdupois could be determined : 
 for both sides, although they contained both the 
 moral and the mental units, touched the ground and 
 thus prevented all further gravitation. 
 
 Were the eyes dull and drowsy then? No, in- 
 deed not; on the contrary, they sparkled with fire. 
 But not the fire described by Shakespeare as 
 
 " the break of day, 
 
 Lights that do mislead the morn." 
 
 They exhibited a mixture of all hues except blue, 
 for they had nothing in common with the Infinite. 
 They were not searching eyes, for they had always 
 within focus the object from which pleasure was to 
 be gained. They revealed a passion that was not 
 prompted by emotion, for mere animal instinct was 
 the predominating impulse of every action whatso- 
 ever. In kind those eyes were the eyes of the tamed 
 and domesticated brute, and the difference in reflec- 
 tive and intellectual force between such a mind and 
 the mind of a brute, is only in degree, not in kind. 
 The physiognomy of the face was a mixture of rough 
 features with a mouth and chin which had been 
 feminine but was now effeminate. The mouth rep- 
 resented a distorted and wrecked bow of Cupid. 
 The large nostrils revealed a foolish pride and 
 haughty air. His manners revealed a culture which 
 had been broken off or checked at the brink of that 
 stream of muddy water which every youth must leap 
 successfully in order to become sojourners on the 
 shores on the land of true manhood whose opposite 
 boundary alone touches the Promised Land. But 
 this reckless adventurer had evidently fallen in be- 
 tween the brinks and, finding himself a brilliant 
 swimmer, had remained with the crowd who, though 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 257 
 
 boasting with their heads above the muddy water, 
 are continuously seen going down the stream to ob- 
 livion. 
 
 What is the cause of such disasters to man? Sim- 
 ply his inundation under a deluge of art. His natural 
 development has been arrested. He sinks below the 
 brute because he fails to see the stars, but only the 
 inanimate stones which merely reflect a borrowed 
 light below. The Infinite beckons continuously by 
 means of symbols, but Man, mistaking the means 
 for the end, is destroyed by revenge. 
 
 What a match for a fair girl ! What a companion 
 for a woman with a soul! What a crime against 
 feminine innocence for a father to introduce a man, 
 whose soul is already destroyed by revenge of the 
 Infinite, as a prospective life partner for his innocent 
 daughter ! It was a crime of that nature which holy 
 writ describes as sin against the Holy Spirit for 
 which there is no forgiveness, neither in heaven nor 
 on earth. O, vanity, what sacrifices are made for 
 the sake of gold! The only consolation is that such 
 a being is nothing, and represents merely a falla- 
 cious attempt of the Finite to reach the Infinite: it 
 is a body from which the soul has flown and left it 
 animated solely by the limited ambition of foul and 
 low desires. 
 
 When we were introduced to this careless cynic — 
 this haughty, cold and indifferent, though apparently 
 brilliant man of the world — who, with a haughty, 
 cynic smile, stretched out his diamond studded hand 
 to us, endeavoring to assure us that he was pleased 
 to meet us, we, of course, returned his courtesy, but 
 not without committing the sin with which, accord- 
 ing to the legend, the fiend corrupted our first 
 parents, whose career terminated so disastrously in 
 the Garden of Eden. Cyril had informed us before- 
 hand of his character, and our meeting with him 
 
2S8 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 confirmed his deliniation of it. It made our heart 
 sick to see the painful effort of Cyril to act, for the 
 sake of courtesy and society, as a friend to this coun- 
 terfeit man. He could not be sincere. But he was 
 forced to act the part of a hypocrite by the power 
 of gold. Whilst we were still conversing about non- 
 sense and making much ado about nothing, Lillian 
 withdrew, disgusted with that beau, who so dexter- 
 ously played the popular music of the world that he 
 could easily confound the uninitiated so that he would 
 pass, like counterfeit money in currency, for a gen- 
 tleman in society. But to a more scrutinous ob- 
 server he could not disguise himself but only go for 
 what he really was, namely, a man who had lost his 
 birthright, and, by turning his back to the stars, had 
 looked too far below the horizon and was now merely 
 creeping upon his belly like a serpent eating the dust 
 of the earth which he, owing to the unfailing recom- 
 pense which pervades all nature, found delicious, 
 because he was merely awaiting his doom. 
 
 Lillian, in her poetic instinct, consigned him to the 
 final judgment with the following: lines: 
 
 "I saw a body that was not yet dead 
 
 But raving still amidst its blind desires 
 As life from which the living soul had fled 
 
 And left the rest to the terrestrial fires 
 To be consumed, and pass away like froth 
 
 Dashed by oceans against the sand of Time, 
 And, with all finite things, to come to naught 
 
 Like snails and fishes in the ancient slime. 
 'Twas a serpent, with venom on his tongue — 
 
 Let him pass! let him passl-^-he can't live long. 
 It was a body which had seeing eyes. 
 
 But open only to the little lights 
 Which men, by cunning, to our great surprise, 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 259 
 
 Have forced to shine upon the shady sides 
 Of dark'ningf worlds below, which, once set free, 
 Would penetrate this web of mystfery." 
 
 This was a harsh judgment; but it was the judg- 
 ment of a woman, and it is therefore that I have 
 ventured its insertion here: for — remember, O 
 America ! — I command respect for the Eternal Femi- 
 nine. 
 
CHAPTER XLIII 
 
 SOULMATES. 
 
 We have just drawn a morbid picture of a being 
 who was neither a monster nor a man, but rather a 
 being to be pitied, because he had deserted the soul, 
 and was therefore condemned by nature as a tragic 
 actor in this world-comedy of Error. To the ques- 
 tion, which some readers may desire to ask, as to 
 whether there is any hope for such a man to become 
 acquainted with the higher ideals, we can only give 
 the same answer as to the question whether phthisis 
 can be cured when the respiratory organs are riddled 
 with tuberculosis bacilli, or cancer when it is inocu- 
 lated in the blood ; we can only answer that there is, 
 as yet, no remedy in sight. For such a person has 
 only been born in the water, and remained in the 
 water, and will eventually sink in the water without 
 enjoying that transcendent bliss of being born of the 
 Spirit. 
 
 Yet, such a man was considered by Mr. Young as 
 a paragon to the Count and a suitable candidate for 
 his fair daughter's hand. What a companion for a 
 fair girl whose mind was centered on high ideals and 
 whose aspirations were pure in spirit! Seeing that 
 a title could not be bought for millions, he proposed 
 to augment his daughter's fortune by doing all in 
 his power, though unconsciously, to murder her soul. 
 
 But what does such an affair represent? It rep- 
 resents merely a common picture drawn by nature. 
 Will it instruct men? If so, let us take our lesson 
 260 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 261 
 
 and say : Can we afford to gaze long at pictures ? If 
 not, why are we tarrying here? Nay — we must 
 away! — .we must away! — lest we lose momentum in 
 our flight. 
 
 Let us therefore endeavor to draw a picture of our 
 own, and, though it might be merely a primitive 
 sketch, it might give us a shove forward in our point 
 of view and in the field of art. But we will only 
 avail ourselves of the sketching material which indi- 
 vidual Reason has placed in our hands, and if fur- 
 ther embellishment by way of colors is desired, we 
 will leave to passive nature the privilege to furnish 
 the pigments and the brushes, for, lest we lose our 
 way, we must keep a steady eye upon our goal which 
 is still far away. 
 
 It is the brilliant ball I am hinting at. Whilst it 
 in itself was only a farce, however, incidents oc- 
 curred which were of yast importance and should be 
 considered to have an interest for us all. 
 
 But before we start for the fete we must produce 
 the Count from his obscure retreat. 
 
 Helen had secretly sent a message to the Count 
 and summoned him to come at once to a certain hotel 
 in Providence where he should engage a room and 
 await her arrival with the surprise she had prepared 
 for him. 
 
 The Count responded immediately and set out for 
 Providence. 
 
 Here we find him now sitting in deep meditation 
 in his room — in a meditation befitting a German 
 Chancellor, yet dreaming, like Goethe, about the 
 Eternal Feminine. 
 
 Helen and Virginia had in the meantime slid out 
 of the Newport mansion like two thieves, in the dusk 
 of night, and leaped, like two bright-eyed gazelles, 
 on a trolley car, bound for the Metropolis of Rhode 
 Island. 
 
262 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 The next scene of importance is a rapping at the 
 door of the Count's room in the Providence hotel. 
 He was aroused from his reverie, sprang to his feet, 
 opened wide the door, and, stepping hastily back- 
 wards and staring with fixed glance upon the scene 
 before him, said, in a clear, resonant voice, befitting 
 a man of culture and of power : "Come in ! Do not 
 tarry in the hall!" 
 
 He could say no more. He was amazed. He was 
 dumbfounded by the surprise. He could only stand 
 silent and behold the picture before him. 
 
 Helen and Virginia walked with rapid and steady 
 steps into the room, attired in^arbs never seen be- 
 fore in the Western World. They were covered 
 from head to feet with crosses, zigzag and parallel 
 lines, curves and circles of any imaginable descrip- 
 tion, all of plain black and white cloth. The picture 
 was dazzling to the beholder, yet, the brilliants and 
 precious stones were on their backs and had not as 
 yet been exposed to the wondering eyes of the daz- 
 zled Count. 
 
 "How do you do. Count?" said both simultan- 
 eously, and walked towards the windows of the 
 room, followed by the eyes of the Count, who now 
 perceived the sparkling gems on the back of Vir- 
 ginia's waist and hair. This added to his wonder, 
 but Helen broke the silence. 
 
 "Well, Count," said Helen, turning towards him, 
 I have kept my promise. The spirit of Germany has 
 invaded America with frightful hostility to the con- 
 tinuation of old customs in the New World. I have 
 determined to take the lead in a new fashion, and, 
 whether right or wrong, have tried an experiment. I 
 think at least that my experiment has no paral- 
 lel in history for matchmaking, and I am convinced 
 that it will please Cupid even if Thalia should desire 
 to turn her back to us. But what do we care for 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 263 
 
 Thalia when we have Cupid in our skirmish line! 
 We will prove, like Napoleon, that the battle is not 
 to the strong, but to those who prove the most skill- 
 ful in stratagems. Although your great relative. 
 Prince Bismarck, was strong and proved victorious 
 in many battles, he was a modest man of truth and 
 ascribed all his victories to the virtue of his wife. 
 If Napoleon had had such a wife he would not have 
 met his Waterloo or sunk at St. Helena into the sea. 
 I have inoculated your lady there with the soul you 
 loved — with my own soul. Now I insist that you, at 
 your peril, take her as she is. She is pure, she is 
 lovely, she is lovable, she is cultured and refined, she 
 is noble and enamor.d in a noble Count. What more 
 do you want. Count. She is rich, too, I think — ^very 
 rich — unless her father should decide to disinherit 
 hef. Whatever is contingent. Count, is not guaran- 
 teed. But the presence here before you is a fact — 
 a fact supreme. Look at her! Let your eyes meet 
 her glance, and thank heaven that you have been car- 
 ried safely across the Stream of Fate and landed in 
 the heart of Providence!" 
 
 The brilliant rhetoric of Helen had the desired 
 effect. She proved omnipotent as a matchmaker. 
 The Count was won and overmastered. After a 
 long confinement in the Harz Mountains, his cold 
 steel had been precipitated by Helen into the furnace 
 of Love, and commencec to sparkle with fire. 
 
 Virginia and the Count exchanged glances. 
 
 The Count opened his arms and took a step for- 
 ward with one of those mighty steps befitting a mili- 
 tary man of the superior rank. 
 
 Virginia, as an anchor, drawn by an immense! 
 magnet, flew into his arms ; not as a female to dissi- 
 pate his strength, but as an anchor for a magnet, to 
 preserve and augment his power — as a lady, fulfilling 
 the mission of her destiny in the world, by furnishing 
 
264 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 an anchor for the rescue of Immortal Love, which 
 has been tossed about so long by the tragic storms of 
 Time and Fate. 
 
 "O Providence," said the Count, "O Providence, 
 how great thou art to-night !" 
 
•Now, 1 insist, that you at your peril take her as 
 she is." 
 
 (Courtship in Air.) 
 
CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 OFF FOR THE FETE. 
 
 The reunion which took place in the Providence 
 hotel between the Count and Virginia was one of 
 those meetings between two souls which can only 
 happen once in a human life — which is the last be- 
 cause it is the first and because it has nothing to do 
 with place and time, but really happens in Eternity^ 
 and must therefore necessarily last forever. 
 
 There was, in the meantime, an extreme hurly- 
 burly and agitation in the necessary preparations 
 for the great ball in the Newport mansion, which 
 was, strange to say, the home of Virginia — the home 
 of a girl who now seemed to be destined for an- 
 other world than that of fashionable society, which 
 merely represents a sea of agitated waves, where 
 shipwreck awaits every unpiloted vessel from a for- 
 eign shore. Owing to the turmoil which all, who 
 rendered no assistance, watched with keen interest, 
 the absence of Helen and Virginia was not noticed 
 before the following morning when they failed to 
 respond to the call for breakfast. If the late happen- 
 ings in the mansion had proved a severe strain for 
 all concerned, a serious crisis now seemed to have 
 presented itself. 
 
 This was the day of the ball, and the debutante 
 
 had gone to parts unknown — flown in the dusk of 
 
 night with a strange, uncanny blackbird, who had 
 
 apparently bewitched the whole household, from the 
 
 265 
 
266 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 priest and physician to the meanest servant, not ex- 
 cluding the Connecticut party, who had introduced 
 the "sorceress" on American soil. 
 
 But we, that is, Cyril, my sister and myself, though 
 we were not implicated in the plot Helen and Vir- 
 ginia had so dexterously arranged, conjectured and 
 hoped, and hoped and conjectured, and simultaneous- 
 ly calmed the agitated parents, and advised them to 
 await with serenity the evening and arrival of the 
 invited guests, and trust that the fugitive blackbirds 
 Avould return and form an additional surprise party 
 for the rest of the merrymakers. 
 
 The western beau was the most indifferent — snarl- 
 ing, scofifing, grinning, perhaps drank more wine and 
 smoked more cigarettes than usual, but though half 
 drunk was careful of decorum in his behavior when- 
 ever his prospective parents-in-law were in his im- 
 mediate vicinity. To us he boasted that he had come 
 east for pleasure and would have it at any price. The 
 return of the blackbirds seemed to be of small conse- 
 quence to him — there would be bluebirds enough, 
 and, perhaps, of still more attractive plumage, to 
 dance and sing at the evening's festival. 
 
 But despite our efiforts, Mr. and Mrs. Young could 
 not shake off their anxiety. It was too late to post- 
 pone the fete a second time. They felt like fleeing 
 to their New York residence, and stood perplexed 
 in the extreme as to what course to take. 
 
 Helen and Virginia, in the meantime, after spend- 
 ing the night together in a room they had engaged 
 in the same hotel where they, with Cupid in the skir- 
 mish Hne, had captured and disarmed the Count, 
 were taking in the sights of Providence, and had 
 taken an excursion to Boston, where Virginia was as 
 well at home as in Newport, but where Helen and the 
 Count were total strangers and visitors for the first 
 lime since they arrived in the New World. What a 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 267 
 
 satisfaction it was that memorable day for these 
 three happy and contented spirits to breathe the free 
 New England air after their miraculous escape from 
 the fatal grip of hypocrisy and cant! Though not 
 satisfied with the sights they saw in the turmoil of a 
 great city, they were satisfied with their own lives- 
 and motives in the world, even if they could not 
 modify the environment to suit their loftier aspira- 
 tions. 
 
 "I feel disinclined now to join the society at New- 
 port with its cumbersome etiquette, after spending 
 the most romantic day of my life in freedom," said 
 Virginia, when they towards night were speeding 
 on the Shore Line express towards the American 
 Mecca of pleasure. 
 
 "Are you afraid to join the dancers in your new 
 dress?" asked the Count, smilingly. 
 
 "No," returned Virginia, "for I have danced for 
 the last time; but I expect to become a target for 
 curiosity." 
 
 "This is as it should be," assured Helen, "for I 
 will introduced you as a debutante." 
 
 "But I will be condemned as a fatal innovation,"" 
 continued Virginia. 
 
 "Then I will defend you," intervened the Count, 
 "and have no more scruples regarding your safety." 
 
 "I trust that you are able,", said Virginia, meeting 
 his eye with an ironical smile. 
 
 "My arm is mighty when needed in a bout where 
 physical strength is required, Virginia, but, I call 
 Helen to my witness— my heart is mightier than my 
 arm." 
 
 "I can prove it, and verify that statement of 
 yours," said Helen, jokingly, "for I have sent you 
 to dreamland with a word and revived you witb 
 water." 
 
 The Count blushed slightly. 
 
268 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 "But, Helen," intervened Virginia, "the Count is 
 blushing like a maiden. Is that an ill omen? 
 What does it portend? Should a strong man really 
 be considered subject to that feminine weakness?" 
 
 "You mean, Virginia," commenced Helen, with a 
 sagacious attitude, "you mean to inquire whether a 
 man is really strong who is subject to blushing, and 
 whether that crimson flush of the face gives the ver- 
 dict of guilt. Let me tell you, Virginia, that a strong 
 man is really strong only when he has something in 
 common with the feminine. My fiance would not 
 have been my fiance if I had not discovered that he 
 could blush. I happily discovered that when we were 
 high above the earth, high above the crystal hills. Be- 
 lieve me, Virginia, that blush — that so-called femi- 
 nine weakness — is the only reliable indication, and, 
 indeed, the only reliable basis of the true strength 
 of man. A man who has nothing in common with 
 the feminine is either a cynic, a pedant, a coward or 
 a tyrant, or everything else within the adjectives of 
 infamy. The true hero will blush when he comes 
 a-courting. Beware of the pallid faces, for when 
 the feminine is forced to assume the ignoble quali- 
 ties of the masculine she becomes a strumpet and — 
 a terror." 
 
 "I know all by this time, Herr Count," said Vir- 
 ginia, humorously, "we were both quite sick, and did 
 not know the skill of our physician." 
 
 "Thank heaven, we have passed the crisis," re- 
 turned the Count, pressing Virginia's hand so that 
 she had to suppress a scream. 
 
 "Beware, Count ! beware !" said Helen, humorous- 
 ly, whilst she watched them from the opposite seat 
 she occupied alone, "this is not compatible with the 
 decorum of the 'four hundred' in America." 
 
 "Henceforth, two — I beg your pardon — three, is 
 company for us," said Virginia. 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 269 
 
 "You mean, two, and your physician," returned 
 Helen. 
 
 "This is exactly what she means," intervened the 
 . Count, "for without the physician the company 
 would have been undesirable." 
 
 "Except to the physician," concluded Helen, and 
 all laughed heartily. 
 
 "How will you meet your western fiance when we 
 arrive at Newport? have you thought of that, Vir- 
 ginia?" interrogated Helen, after a pause. 
 
 The Count had just opened a window to take a 
 look on the sky, and a gust of wind blew violently 
 through the car. 
 
 "The eastern gale is sufficiently strong to blow a 
 forlorn fob like him back to San Francisco," an- 
 swered Virginia, indifferently. 
 
 "He will probably consider himself a formidable 
 rival," intervened the Count. 
 
 "A rival, no doubt," said Helen, "but not formid- 
 able. I know his class." 
 
 "Have you seen him since he arrived?" inquired 
 Virginia. 
 
 "I watched him through the keyhole in our door." 
 
 "What was your impression of him?" 
 
 "It seemed to me that the mere puffing on a cigar- 
 ette taxed his vigor." 
 
 "But he never blushes since he was born, although 
 he quite often went a-courting." 
 
 The Count laughed heartily. 
 
 "Newport ! all off !" shouted the conductor. 
 
CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 THE BALL. 
 
 As Helen and Virginia failed to return at twilight, 
 Mr. and Mrs. Young departed in secret for parts un- 
 known, perplexed and disgusted with the contradic- 
 tory affairs of the world. 
 
 But this irony of Fate was not of sufficient im- 
 portance, however, to interfere with the ball. At 
 eight o'clock the leaders of fashion in the highest 
 society of America commenced to arrive. 
 
 Let us draw a picture of this most transcendent 
 scene of splendor. The grand salon, which was the 
 scene of the gathering, consisted of a new wing of 
 the mansion. It rivaled a Parthenon in its display 
 of art in sculpture, and the Tuilleries in luxurious 
 decorations. It was lit up to an extraordinary bright- 
 ness by luxurious chandeliers and innumerable lights. 
 The polished floor was like a mirror which in con- 
 currence with the mirrors on the walls turned the 
 saloon into a veritable panorama panopticon. 
 
 The music commenced to resound from the or- 
 chestra and the choicest selections from its repertoire 
 had been specially rehearsed for the occasion. The 
 ladies assembled were covered with precious stones 
 which sparkled with peculiar lustre in the brilliant 
 light which radiated from all directions. The per- 
 fect forms of those ladies were draped in an almost 
 transparent filament, and the delicacy of their move- 
 270 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE ATR 271 
 
 ments in such an environment of splendor was 
 worthy of the highest possible conception of Divin- 
 ity j for it could scarcely be conceived, at least not 
 by mortals here below, to be surpassed in heaven. 
 The whole represented a picture which, if it was 
 produced by man, would render Man supreme. But, 
 alas! it was not produced by man, but it was pro- 
 duced by art — ^by art which in turn is produced by 
 nature. It signified therefore nothing as yet to the 
 supreme individuality of Man, for man still stands 
 behind it all as the checkered slave of old. 
 
 We venture a glance in the direction of the ladies. 
 There they stand in symmetry divine. We are forced 
 to look. To be indifferent would be impertinent. 
 The picture commands our vision. Most of them 
 are in the bloom of youth, smiling still in their inno- 
 cence divine. O, Immortal Love! how supremely 
 thou art individualized in the Finite ! Canst thou not 
 leave the bars of Space and Time with something 
 that shall escape corruption? 
 
 I remain standing with my contemplation near the 
 door. For alas! I surmise that this is too fine — 
 far too fine and too delicate for a terrestrial environ- 
 ment and for a world like ours. 
 
 Soon the gentlemen arrived in full dress and in 
 faultless attire. The ladies were still standing in 
 groups here and there. The theme of their conver- 
 sation was chiefly the mysterious disappearance of 
 the debutante and the mysterious lady — ^the aviator's 
 daughter. But the orchestra now tuned up, the gen- 
 tlemen approached the ladies, and the saloon was at 
 once transformed into an aristrocratic Russia by 
 waltzes and the popular Oriental dances which, in 
 the Occident are so peculiarly misinterpreted by the 
 gaze of men who stand as mere spectators and con- 
 template the meaning of the peculiar movements. 
 But let us abstain from impertinence! Let us be- 
 
272 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 ware of imagining anything that may be termed pro- 
 fane ! Let us not soil our tongue with the language 
 of the vulgar! 
 
 But as I stood there by the door with such a pano- 
 rama within focus of my vision, I was forced to con- 
 template the meaning of the picture in this emporium 
 of art. The brilliant assembly of courteous persons 
 were soon seen in pairs, staring at each other with 
 eyes sparkling to rival the glitter of the diamonds, 
 and apparently lost both to time and place in an al- 
 most supernatural and unearthly whirl : thus suggest- 
 ing something beyond the ordinary course of nature 
 not as yet understood by man. 
 
 Every cheek in that whirl soon became flushed 
 with superfluous internal heat. As the fury of the 
 elements raged without so that the dry branches and 
 leaves of autumn were quivering under the havoc 
 to which they were consigned by the destiny of all 
 mortal things in time and place, so was that gay 
 whirl within responding instinctively to the inevit- 
 able influence of environment. But they played a 
 part analogous to the flowers of spring, which, hav- 
 ing exposed their charms a little while to the gaze 
 of man, proceed to shake off their pollen and assign 
 them to the mercy of the wind. When we ask, then, 
 how could individuals persevere in their being in 
 such a whirl? we are induced to interrogate further 
 into this nightly mystery, and ask: was there any 
 in that whirl who had in their individual possession 
 a power over nature which placed them in absolute 
 control over their environment? 
 
 Being no enthusiastic dancer and rather depressed 
 in spirit that night, being considerably alarmed on 
 account of the failure of Helen and Virginia to re- 
 turn, I remained standing near the entrance of that 
 hall of splendor in meditation upon the phenomenon. 
 What I saw, I mused, was merely an instinctive 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 273 
 
 dream of the Divine Dance of the Empyrean. It 
 was an instinctive, or, rather, an unconscious pre- 
 monition of the eternal destiny of the Soul. The 
 vision flashed before the intellect of Plato, and mod- 
 ern science is destined to disclose it before the tri- 
 bunal of Reason. The performances I saw before 
 me might be permissible in a realm where the en- 
 vironment was constant and eternal, and where there 
 was perfect correspondence between the individual 
 and the Infinite, but were they permissible with im- 
 punity to man in a world like ours ? This cannot be 
 so, for 
 
 Just as flowers who open to the sun 
 
 Must hide their charms before the stars of night, 
 
 so must man, in order to perserve in his being, guard 
 with utmost care the stability of his correspondences 
 in a transitory world where all temporary organized 
 objects easily dissolve, and eventually consign their 
 disintegrating atoms to the mercy of the wind. 
 
 As I mused upon the contingent destiny of that 
 Divine Femininity, which was here represented by 
 those charming creatures who so recklessly exposed 
 themselves to the furious elements of a treacherous 
 environment, the door opened, and five persons en- 
 tered. The ladies in front were Helen, Virginia and 
 Lillian; the gentlemen were Cyril and the Count. 
 They slid in unobserved, and I had congratulated 
 Virginia and her fiance before the whirling dancers 
 were aware of their presence. No one knew the 
 Count, and the stalwart German stood as a total 
 'stranger to the brilliant companv. On account of 
 the radical innovation in attire, the ladies were not 
 immediately recognized. They were evidently taken 
 for a pair of actresses procured for the performance 
 
274 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 of a burlesque which had been adroitly arranged by 
 Cyril. 
 
 What a contrast ; What a revolution in the attire 
 of ladies in a Newport saloon! Special effort had 
 been exercised to cover the charms of those invaders 
 whilst the living statues present had taxed the skill 
 of the modiste to expose them without overstepping 
 the limit of propriety. Yet those magic folds, despite 
 the opaque fabric, suggested the existence of charms 
 that were more divine — of charms that would stand 
 the test of time without dissolving into thin air as 
 in the case of the others, where modesty, if present, 
 was forced to blush for shame of mere nakedness in 
 the airy and well nigh transparent filament. 
 
 All eyes soon gazed in the direction where we 
 stood. The floor was soon cleared of dancing feet 
 and the musicians dissipated their strains upon 
 empty air. Our identification was now a matter of 
 course, and the Count was introduced as Virgania's 
 fiance. The jilted suitor nevertheless offered him- 
 self as a dancing partner to Virginia for the next 
 dance. But Virginia, grasping the mighty arm of 
 the Count, declined for the good reason that she was 
 engaged for the next dance, and she informed him 
 furthermore that there was no chance for him, inas- 
 much as the next dance was to be her last effort in 
 her worship of Terpsichore. 
 
 What "last dance" meant the western beau failed 
 to comprehend, and he interrogated for an explana- 
 tion. But, although the same statement was plainly 
 and more explicitly repeated to him, he walked away, 
 shaking his head, apparently no wiser than he came. 
 
 The musicians continued to play their waltzes. 
 But the innovation displayed by the two uncanny 
 ladies, who, although one of them was American, 
 seemed to have introduced a foreign air which kept 
 the dancers off the floor. The Count and Virginia 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 275 
 
 suddenly commenced to dance, and the Count ex- 
 hibited a skill in dancing almost incredible for so 
 large a man. They were followed by Cyril and Lil- 
 lian, and Helen and P went in Hne behind them as 
 worshipers of Terpsichore. 
 
 We saw no other dancers on the floor whilst we 
 danced our finale. But, before we finished, the jilted 
 suitor from the West followed us with a partner. 
 After the dance had lasted five minutes the music 
 suddenly stopped in obedience to a sign by our illus- 
 trious host. Cyril announced that Helen, the avia- 
 tor's daughter, who had spoken before in the same 
 hall on the "Utility of Wealth," would entertain the 
 guests with an illustrated address, if they desired to 
 hear her. They voted unanimously to hear her and 
 would be pleased to listen attentively. Cyril then led 
 Helen to the stage and ordered servants to procure 
 chairs for the audience. He thence placed a box on 
 the table before Helen, and announced that she would 
 deliver a lecture with some very instructive illustra- 
 tions in order to disclose the analogy between the 
 phenomena in the social fabric of man and the recent 
 discoveries in physical science. 
 
 Helen said: 
 
 "Ladies and gentlemen: When I delivered my 
 maiden speech in the New World some of you were 
 present here, but have evidently forgotten what I 
 said regarding the utility of wealth. I shall there- 
 fore to-night endeavor to interest you in something 
 that goes nearer to the heart of man, and illustrate 
 the various phenomena of Love, both intellectual and 
 passive. 
 
 "I shall begin with the statement, which may, to 
 the uninitiated, appear to be a wild empiricism and 
 ultra unscientific, namely, that, in the ultimate an- 
 alysis, all Love is Life, and all Life that is destined 
 to survive the crumbling battlements on the arena 
 
276 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 of the universe, is Love. (Applause.) This is the 
 final philosophy which flashed before the mmds of 
 Plato and Aristotle nearly twenty-three hundred 
 years ago, but necessarily remained incomprehensible 
 until metaphysics could become a science. Meta- 
 physics to-day is a science, though pragmatism, and 
 Bergson, and Balfour, and James, have failed, as 
 yet, to comprehend it. But modern chemists and 
 physicists have proved it by their retorts and by 
 whatever assistance mathematics have rendered their 
 experiments. 
 
 "When my father left Germany after he had 
 forced all the chemical elements through his retort 
 as well as through his alembic of thought, Germany 
 lay at his feet. But he knew that he had an Empire 
 in which there was no setting sun, he desired to re- 
 ject the crown which was held out to him. Like the 
 historic Charles, who abdicated, and went to Spain 
 to muse in solitude and experiment with the primi- 
 tive mechanism of clocks, my father also left his 
 native land, but took along a better clock, for he had 
 combined a log and a chronometer in one mechanism 
 without the aid of wheels, but with more efficiency 
 to measure Space and Time. As you have heard, 
 his first effort came to grief here, but his alembic is 
 still intact, and he will soon return again with an- 
 other more improved and amended with new safety 
 devices. 
 
 "But what has the history of my father's adven- 
 tures and inventions to do with the science of meta- 
 physics? you may answer. My answer is, that it in- 
 volves a double proof that metaphysics is a science, 
 now and forever, to the family of man on this planet. 
 He has solved the fantastic problem of mobile per- 
 petum in the material as well as in the moral world. 
 You have seen how easily perpetual motion comes to 
 grief in the material world when its application is 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 277 
 
 attempted without the aid of Reason, and when it 
 falls into the hands of those brute forces which Hor- 
 ace censured with the words, 'I hate the vulgar pro- 
 fane!' You know that four sailors, with blasphem- 
 ous oaths upon their vulgar tongues, destroyed with 
 an axe my father's propulsion device for the first 
 aeroplane, and were themselves simultaneously waft- 
 ed into non-entity. But, on the other hand, you see 
 how omnipotent and irresistible perpetual motion is 
 in the moral world when applied according to the 
 dictates of Reason. As an example, I can offer you 
 my own past history. My mission to the New World 
 was primarily to speak to men, with no particular 
 thoughts of individual romances. Yet you all can 
 ■see how successful I have been in Love. (A roar- 
 ing applause echoed through the hall.) Some of 
 you also know how successful I have been in bring- 
 ing to being happy romances for others. In that re- 
 spect I am in possession of unlimited power. If that 
 should appear to some of you to be a rather boasting 
 statement, there are at least five transcendently happy 
 persons in this hall to-night who will corroborate 
 the truth of my assertion and testify by their own 
 experiences. (Applause, whilst all eyes turned to a 
 corner near the orchestra where our host, Lillian, 
 Virginia, the Count and I were sitting.) 
 
 "It is not my object to impress upon your minds 
 that those who fail to come in immediate contact 
 with me or directly swayed under my influence, 
 are irreclaimably lost, though I have a desire to say 
 to you with Him who was nailed to the cross, 'Learn 
 of me, and find peace of soul, for I am modest in 
 spirit.' But the only way you can learn of me is 
 to take up the yoke I have shouldered gladly— the 
 yoke I took up when it was heavy, but which I subse- 
 quently found lighter than air, so that it had to be 
 
278 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 spiked to the ground whenever a flight was not 
 desired. 
 
 "Why are you staggering so under your burden? 
 You are a privileged class — the highest in the world 
 — yet your burden is heavy, and its weight is increas- 
 ing day by day. Your etiquette alone is cumber- 
 some enough to destroy the delicate brains of mor- 
 tals. Can you not simplify your baggage and take a 
 real joyous excursion to Fairyland? If you cannot 
 see your way out to simplify your baggage, permit 
 me to give you some pointers. You have long en- 
 joyed the prerogative of being leaders in fashion and 
 manners, but you are now in addition also called 
 upon to become leaders in action. The command 
 does not issue from my voice but out fi"om the heart 
 of nature comes the universal cry: 
 
 Up to Action ! be a Whole ! 
 
 Let each Fraction adorn the Soul! 
 
 I will not second any motion which has for its aim to 
 take away the privileges you enjoy, and place upon 
 your exalted throne a coterie of lesser gods. No; 
 this is far from my purpose. But, as leaders of 
 action it is now imperative that you join the leaders 
 of thought. Otherwise you must soon go down to 
 oblivion and death. 
 
 "I shall defend the position I take in these weighty 
 matters and prove the awful truth that you are un- 
 consciously hovering over an abyss, and yet, unfamil- 
 iar with the art of flight. To impart the truth which 
 has been revealed to my by my father, I shall involve 
 the aid of the latest discoveries in physical science. 
 I avail myself of hints which have come from the 
 same source as those that have assisted in creating 
 the ladies and gentlemen of fashion, namely, the 
 great alembic of Paris — the Sorbonne. (Applause.) 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 279 
 
 "I have here a block of lead with a cylindrical hole 
 in which I have deposited some radium. I venture to 
 appeal to your democratic spirit, that is to say, your 
 refined democracy; for real aristocratic bearing re- 
 quires a democracy at the heart: and I believe that 
 most of you are democratic at the heart, and that you 
 recognize that such a democracy is not incompatible 
 with the highest culture. Now, the radium I have 
 deposited here represents the human race. So you 
 see that we are all born equal, and we are all in the 
 hole. (Roaring- applause.) 
 
 _ "Some of you at least have heard about the ultra- 
 violet or so-called invisible rays that continuously 
 radiate from radium salts. I propose now to explain 
 the perfect analogy between these phenomena and the 
 activity in the affairs of man. Now, the discovery 
 that all men are born equal does not indicate that it 
 was the design of nature that we should remain 
 equal, for in that case we would never have evolved 
 into men. This fact I shall in a few moments illus- 
 trate with a few waving strokes of my hand, and 
 thus put an end to the old school of Socialism which 
 is only aspiring upon an unsubstantial basis of em- 
 piricism and not on a scientific foundation. (Roar- 
 ing applause.) We all aspire to heaven, but only 
 those who succeed in making their escape from the 
 hole will get there. (Roaring applause.) You see 
 this hatpin here ; it holds a large diamond — I believe 
 the largest in the hall to-night. It will, however, only 
 shine with a faint phosphorescence in a room nearly 
 devoid of light, but I will in a few moments make it 
 shine with a sparkling lustre in the dark. Our amia- 
 ble host has installed wires supplying varying vol- 
 tage of electric current here, which I, however, will 
 not need as yet, but need only this magnet here for 
 the present illustration of the perfect analogy be- 
 tween the material and the moral world. Will our 
 
28o COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 host be pleased to have the lights put out? (The 
 light is turned off.) Now I pass my hatpin over the 
 hole — there ! — now you see the sparkling diamond. 
 I remove it from the perpendicular line with the 
 hole, and — you see it no more. (The light is turned 
 on.) These parallel lines of invisible rays are pul- 
 sations in the Ether and represent the beginning of 
 creation in the material world — that is to say, the im- 
 mediate effect of the First Cause, which, by the 
 way, consisted of a spontaneous resistance of the 
 Cause itself which was an Act of the Spirit identical 
 with expansion of the Eternal Essence of His Being. 
 The terminology is crude, for it requires a more 
 skillful verbarium than mind to word it properly. 
 But the fact remains intact. Those parallel rays 
 which issue from the deposited radium are represen- 
 tative of the childhood of mankind — the period of 
 true heavenly aspiration, which we may justly term 
 the age of gold — the age in which a little prince could 
 exchange clothes with a little pauper — as your Mark 
 Twain has proved — and simultaneously enjoy a per- 
 formance which would confound a king. 
 
 "But the age of puberty terminates the age of gold. 
 A cloud comes which obscures the stars and the 
 milky way for all the children of men. Even the 
 moon, which seemed so near, and to which we 
 stretched out our juvenile hands with joy, proves 
 to be far away. But if we fail to disperse that cloud 
 successfully, most of us will stay in the hole. This I 
 will prove by this little aluminum leaf with which I 
 now cover the hole (the light is turned off). Now I 
 pass the diamond over as before, but you see it not, 
 or, at least very faintly, because all the rays are 
 nearly absorbed. The few that penetrates the leaf 
 are representative of genius, of which there is so 
 little in the world (the light is turned on). I have 
 here a magnet, the application of which to the block 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 281 
 
 represents the disturbing chill which comes to the 
 human child at the age of puberty. It breaks up the 
 apparently homogeneous rays into their various in- 
 gredients by producing: three main groups. I will 
 now apply the positive and the negative poles of the 
 magnet on each side of the 'block and pass my dia- 
 mond over the magnetic field (the light is turned 
 off). Now I will show that our tenacious cleaving 
 to the earth is as fatal as it is foolish. The leaden 
 block now has ceased to absorb the rays. Here is 
 the first band drawn by the magnet to the left ; here 
 is the second, which is unaffected by the magnetic 
 field, but moves in a straight line ; and here is the 
 third band, which is drawn in a far steeper curve by 
 the magnet to the opposite side (the light is turned 
 on). The former are known to science under the 
 term alpha rays. They are known to be positive 
 electrones and have no penetrating power because 
 they readily dissolve into helium or other gases of 
 the argon series. They constitute the bulk of all 
 radio activity and are representative of the masses 
 of mankind, who, by a tenacious cleaving to the 
 earth cease to aspire as spiritual beings at the age of 
 puberty. Instead of co-operating with the First 
 Cause which aspires to individuality by denial of the 
 temporal and the iinite, they aspire to individuality 
 by ambition and gratification. But, owing to the fact 
 that the aspiration of the First Cause is the stronger 
 in the universal order, though it may not appear so 
 to the finite minds, the blind aspirations to individu- 
 ality in the finite eventually comes to grief in the 
 same manner as the alpha rays. The process is iden- 
 tical and one in kind. Men ! — by cleaving to the dust^ 
 by striving blindly to attain individuality by obstruct- 
 ing the true way to the goal, you go down to non- 
 entity and to death like the positive electrons via the 
 same three stages, namely, dissolution, absorption 
 
282 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 and crystallization. Cease, therefore, your ambitious 
 strife ! For, instead of arriving at ends to which you 
 aspire, you precipitate yourselves into the means! 
 But why shall I raise my voice ? Why shall I admon- 
 ish you? Nay, we must beware of fanaticism. Cold' 
 reason shows the way (the light goes out). 
 
 "Now I will show you some more facts regard- 
 ing the beta rays which you see are here way down 
 below the level of the radium in the hole before they 
 are absorbed (the light is turned on). How shall we 
 classify them in our analogy? What do they rep- 
 resent? Such questions you may iustly ask, bul we 
 shall presently clear away all difficulties whatsoever. 
 Now, these rays have a penetrating power com- 
 pared to which the penetrating power of the alpha 
 rays is a mere negligible quantity, which I shall 
 prove with my diamond and this aluminum leaf (the 
 light goes out) . Now you see the radiation is very 
 little impaired by going through the aluminum (the 
 light is turned on). As those rays are deflected more 
 in the magnetic field than the alpha rays which have 
 no penetrating power, how shall we explain this 
 pherjomenon? Are we inconsistent in tracing our 
 analogies? No, on the contrary, we have here an 
 additional testimony to consistency. The fact is, 
 that these rays are different in kind and not in de- 
 gree. They are what science terms the negative 
 electrons. They represent that freedom of Will 
 which is identical with Reason, that is, that Reason 
 which becomes active and creative by obedience to 
 the fiat of the First Cause. I dare say that you have 
 been favored by Providence, and are incorporated 
 in that category, but you must overcome that immense 
 deflection which you are subject to in the magnetic 
 field. That is to say, you, as leaders of action, must, 
 as aforesaid, identify yourselves with the leaders of 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 283 
 
 thought, and cease, like the gamma rays, to be sub- 
 jected to deflection, but steer steadily for the goal. 
 
 "I have here three roses: one is just taken from 
 the conservatory, one was plucked in June, and one 
 was permitted to wither under the heat of a scorch- 
 ing summer sun. This one here, which was permitted 
 to live its natural life in the free environment of 
 nature, represents democracy gone to seed. When it 
 was ripped from the bush it had a stigma on that part 
 of the pistil which has no epidermis, but it was gluti- 
 nous and fitted to receive pollen. As in the evolution 
 of man when democracy has gone to seed, its indi- 
 viduality is lost, but absorbed in the means for other 
 ends. We have here a hint from the instinct of na- 
 ture which is a veritable warning from Pan: 
 
 "No divine ends for man is attainable in nature 
 without art." 
 
 "This is clearly demonstrated here by the bloom- 
 ing rose I have procured from the conservatory. Per- 
 petual bloom is here attained by a perfect correspon- 
 dence between the environment and the organism. 
 Perpetual bloom required an environment which is 
 eternal, and not subjected to the caprices of seasons 
 and of time. It is likewise with the Soul of Man. 
 An eternal environment is required to preserve its 
 beauty and its life. In order to preserve it, there- 
 fore, we must take heed that our temporal conserva- 
 tory correspond to the Eternal Environment. The 
 poor flowers here have nothing but their colored pig- 
 ments in this organic filament wherewith to make a 
 brief display of beauty in the treacherous environ- 
 njent of a transitory world. But pigments will riot 
 do for the soul. Our democracy goes to seed, alas, 
 because we rely on pigments and expose ourselves to 
 the caprices of seasons and the wind. Hence, when 
 
.284 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 our judgment days arrive we have nothing but the 
 white light of cold Reason to reveal the black dark- 
 ness of our night into whose dismal abyss of non- 
 entity we are presently wafted by the gravitating 
 forces. 
 
 "But as you stand here with your eyes turned to a 
 clouded West at the approaching twilight, a rainbow 
 appears in the Eastern sky and displays the brilliant 
 hues of Love in your broken Light of Day. But 
 the white light of Reason will be individualized by 
 Love alone : Love alone gives it personality and lan- 
 guage. Individualization was the object of this 
 travail of time. Turn your backs to the sun as 
 you stand here in this clouded West. Do you see the 
 effect of your broken light as it is reflected through 
 the gulf stream of the great Atlantic? Look! look 
 upon Europe! I am an arbiter in her behalf. She 
 displays the colors of the spectrum from ultra violet 
 to red — the Silent language which is destined to be- 
 come the Eternal language of the Soul of Man. 
 
 "But, despite of the grand display of Europe, she 
 is shrieking in agony. For, in the center, and behind 
 the splendor of her rays, we see the yellow light — 
 the yellow Eastern Light. But, in order to see it, 
 you must go beyond the fogs of the Ocean. Inunda- 
 tion is threatened by a yellow Oriental sea, but this 
 fact is only revealed by the clouds in the West. Let 
 therefore the rainbow be the sign of Providence! 
 Let the spectrum of light remain for us the language 
 of Reason and stand as the kindled Fire of Love be- 
 tween us and further inundations of the World. 
 
 "But, when I plead in behalf of the Fatherland. I 
 plead simultaneously in your behalf. I have shown 
 you that you cannot stand alone and cope with the 
 fatal Eastern Scourge. You will be met by the irre- 
 sistible swords of fire at the gates of paradise. Yet, 
 you must mount your fiery steeds and lasso the wild 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 285 
 
 horses of the Orient, lest, eventually, they join your 
 grizzly bears and run amuck on your domestic shores. 
 
 "But how will you proceed in harnessing the 
 Orient and stifle the effect of its influence in the 
 West? I shout to you: thou shalt not kill! You 
 protest that the species are so degraded that exter- 
 mination by war, bloody war, is the only remedy in 
 sight. But, even if I stand in the region of shadow, 
 I shout to you again: thou shalt not kill! But take 
 care of the environment for the children of men! 
 See that mundane environment is compatible with the 
 Eternal environment for the soul. Then, and then 
 only, will nature go hand in hand with Providence 
 and improve the species by means of science and of 
 song. 
 
 "But what hope can we entertain for Freedom and 
 for Peace when most of the most promising in your 
 midst are represented by this flower here which was 
 (plucked in June ? This poor, dead and shriveled rose 
 represents your false and pretentious aristocracy, 
 which has sprung from that part of your democracy 
 which has not gone to seed. (Tliere was no applause, 
 but the stillness of death prevailed in the hall.) It 
 was untimely ripped from the thorny bush, and has 
 never yielded nor will ever receive pollen for future 
 growth and evolution. True aristocracy is the end 
 toward which all this weltering social mass is tend- 
 ing. But the original Divine Decree exacts that the 
 end, besides beautiful, shall be individual, free, noble, 
 and true: for nothing else is destined to survive as 
 Eternal Verities in the realm of Life and Love. 
 
 "There is no turning here upon a wheel of fortune. 
 We play this game for points. Standing upon the 
 vantage ground of truth, I beseech you, therefore, 
 with my eyes wide open, and from the bottom of my 
 heart, take heed that you are not represented by the 
 
286 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 flowers which are exposed to the caprices of seasons 
 and of time ! Take heed that you are not represented 
 by the Rose that was plucked in June!" 
 
CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 OUR FLIGHT FROM NEWPORT. 
 
 Helen greeted me the following morning by 
 knocking violently at my chamber door in the man- 
 sion of our amiable friend and host. 
 
 She informed me that Newport was in an up- 
 roar over the uncanny speech she had delivered the 
 previous night. I felt ashamed when I heard Helen, 
 the strenuous oratress, was around before I had 
 arisen from the soft bed, upon which I reposed so 
 leisurely. 
 
 "Wait for me in the drawing-room!" I shouted, 
 whilst I hastily leaped out of bed, "I will be there in 
 a few minutes." 
 
 When we met in the drawing-room, Cyril, the 
 Count, Virginia, Lillian and Helen, were in lively 
 conversation. The subject was the effect of Helen's 
 speech and exhibition at last night's ball. It turned 
 out that the applause had not been unanimous, and 
 her speech had not been understood and accepted 
 favorably except by Cyril and his most intimate 
 friends. 
 
 We had evidently offended the fashionable New- 
 port society, and Helen's popularity had come to an 
 end. She had made a serious blunder in their eti- 
 quette by holding the fashionable and charming la- 
 dies up to a caricature. In history and physics they 
 were not at home. To them the world's problems 
 were solved. Metaphysics was to thern a science long 
 ago. Paris had solved all their problems in the past, 
 
 287 
 
288 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 and would continue to support them in the future. 
 If they were the beta rays of Radium they would 
 take care of the magnetic field by the means of gold. 
 To them, Paris was the First Cause — and they would 
 obey the First Cause and maintain the harmony of 
 the world. And, as to Conjugal Love — well! that 
 was for the "poor in spirit" — they only contracted 
 marriages. 
 
 They had evidently never read Emerson's essay 
 on "Circles," or never taken any of the sayings of 
 that New England Titan — that supreme leader of 
 fashion — seriously to heart : for they lived apparent- 
 ly in a circle around which everything else danced at 
 their command from the center within. To them, 
 there was no finitude to pleasure, for they had full 
 command of the motive power and the myriad senti- 
 nels who would hold at bay all approaching danger. 
 But, alas ! they failed to realize that their conception 
 of the Universe was the same illusion which the 
 twinkling stars presented to the ancients in Assyria, 
 Egypt, Greece and Rome. Their theory of society 
 was still geocentric. Their astronomy was still that 
 of Ptolemy, and had not, as yet, been replaced by 
 the true discovery of Copernicus. The Prium Mo- 
 bile, the sun and all the planets, revolved around 
 their world, and they alone stood on the "flat" sur- 
 face of the earth as the favored children of the gods. 
 
 But, alas! there is an effete empire in the Orient 
 and a vacant throne from which Sons of Heaven 
 have maintained their power by the same claim which 
 now is entertained by the fashionable society of the 
 West. And what is the ultimate result? The result 
 is this: Their ethereal filament becomes as heavy 
 as lead in which all radio-activity is absorbed. In 
 some pathetic cases the result is analogous to the fate 
 of thorium and uranium, where a frantic effort of 
 radiation is maintained, but the ambition to return 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 289 
 
 to the ethereal realm of youth is futile. Their atomic 
 weight is too heavy ; and, even if they succeed by ar- 
 tificial means, as a Mme. Recamier or a divine Sarah 
 to stretch the natural life of their passive charms, 
 by a process analogous to the extraction of radium 
 from pitchblende, the result is a mockery — a mere 
 pathetic and futile struggle with death, because, such 
 ambition has nothing in common with the gamma rays 
 — the rays which reveal the only energy that cannot 
 be absorbed by the metals in a transitory world. But 
 fashionable society considers itself stably fixed in a 
 manner analogous to group number one in Mendle- 
 leeffs' table of elements where hydrogen is on top 
 and gold at the bottom, for it will hear nothing of the 
 new science which reveals to the eyes of reason that 
 all elements are subject to transmutation, and that a 
 common destiny is assigned to all that cleaves so 
 tenaciously to that which is transitory. 
 
 In the consultation we held that memorable morn- 
 ing after the ball, we decided to bid farewell and 
 go. Cyril, as well as his sister Virginia and the 
 Count, were to go with us, and await on my estate 
 the return of Herr Nietzche with a new aeroplane. 
 We ordered our automobiles to be held in readi- 
 ness in front of the mansion by noontime to convey 
 us to Connecticut. 
 
 But in the meantime the western suitor for the 
 hand of Virginia had spread the rumor that Cyrus 
 had been conjured by a German adventurer, whose 
 daughter was rather fanatical, and threatened the 
 peace of the world by her uncanny speeches. And, 
 as to the Count, it was till an open question whether 
 he was himself a conjurer or one of the bewitched. 
 
 Such was the result of an attempt to save the 
 world after twenty centuries of Christianity ! • Such 
 was the result of an attempt to ameliorate the 
 conditions of an effete social order. Such was the 
 
290 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 result of an outspoken proposition, illustrated by the 
 never failing facts of science, to guide republics as 
 well as empires to a diviner destiny than that which 
 is indicated by prevailing tendencies. How ungrate- 
 ful is the world when it fails to understand the 
 truth ! It tempts a man of thought to resort to the 
 sarcasm of Voltaire. But, thanks to Providence, we 
 understand the world and its pang better now than 
 before the French Revolution. We will, therefore, 
 not imitate Voltaire, but withdraw to solitude in 
 peace. Thus taking the advice of Plato, we will stand 
 aloof and watch the frantic world with bright hopes. 
 We cannot afford to throw away our lives as saviors. 
 For those who now refuse to listen to the tidings 
 of Truth are, like vampires, hanging with their heads 
 downwards when the Aurora appears in the eastern 
 sky, for, in the dusk of night, they have feasted on 
 the blood of those who were asleep. 
 
 Helen had anticipated that the seed she had deter- 
 mined to sow at the evening of the ball would mostly 
 fall on rocks or be devoured by ravens, but the oppor- 
 tunity given her by our amiable host was so bril- 
 liant that she availed herself of it to reproach the 
 extravagance and frailty which testified as indisputa- 
 ble evidence to the drifting away of mankind from 
 the public squares and avenues of truth into that 
 wilderness where suffering, despair and death are 
 the only squabbling imps that are greeting all in- 
 truders into their primeval domain. 
 
 The effect of the various rumors regarding the 
 strange doings at the Young mansion culminated in 
 an assembling of a squad of prominent society people 
 at the main entrance to the grounds. The rather too 
 keen interest shown here in other peoples' private 
 affairs was a little out of the ordinary in high society, 
 but it was evidently in behalf of Virginia, who had 
 just been introduced as a debutante, and was very 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 291 
 
 popular on account of her singular beauty as well as 
 on account of her cultured reticence. For, we must 
 admit, beauty and reticence are qualities valued high 
 by the exacting criticism in high society throughout 
 the world. There is no pardon for the talkative, not 
 even if they happen to be exponents of truth. As 
 Helen was now considered too loquacious, her popu- 
 larity was gone, and gone forever — ^gone, despite her 
 beauty — ^gone, despite her knowledge — gone, despite 
 her motives — gone forever. 
 
 As our automobiles, my own and two of Cyril's, 
 stood in line with a chauffeur at each steering wheel, 
 a squad, led by the jilted Mr. Smith, entered through 
 the gate. We paid little attention to the intruders, 
 being busily occupied with our own affairs. Helen 
 and I were already seated in the first auto, and Cyril 
 and Lillian in the second; but we hesitated to start, 
 as the curious squad, led by the western beau, had 
 now passed my car, and Mr. Smith beckoned to 
 Cyril. 
 
 "I demand, upon your honor, an explanation of 
 what all this means," said Smith, addressing Cyril 
 in a bold tone. 
 
 "I demand," returned Cyril, "an explanation of 
 your boldness, and of what reason you have for slan- 
 dering me, and for your object in spreading unfound- 
 ed rumors regarding my most intimate friends, and, 
 last, but not least, an explanation of your awkward- 
 ness in meddling with things you fail to understand 
 because it is incomprehensible for that lump of gray 
 matter you carry under your cranium." 
 
 "You ask rather much," replied Mr. Smith, appar- 
 ently unmoved, "but as I must declare mynoncom- 
 mital to your charges, I can give you no satisfaction. 
 But the soundness of your reason is doubted since 
 you have permitted our society to be humiliated as 
 guests in your house by assisting personally in morti- 
 
292 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 fying our etiquette by ridiculous innovations. But 
 my time is too valuable for myself to be spent on 
 arguments of no importance. The significance of my 
 errand is to talk to your sister." 
 
 He walked up to Virginia who was standing near 
 the Count who had just opened the door of the ton- 
 neau and was waiting for Virginia to step in. 
 
 "Miss Young," said the jilted suitor, who was still 
 partially under the influence of wine, "I beseech you 
 to consent to my wishes. I have gazed at the stars, 
 but their uncanny twinkling referred me back to 
 earth; and I have now discovered that (in a low 
 tone) if I am not permitted to love you I can love 
 no more." 
 
 "Your tongue is sweet," said Virginia, suppressing 
 with difficulty her laughing attitude, provoked by the 
 extraordinary entreaty; "but you are one of those 
 drones who steal their honey. And, as to star gazing, 
 I am forced to give you my honest opinion, for I do 
 not think your proficiency in astronomy will improve 
 our almanacs, and I scarcely believe you have seen 
 the last comet which just visited our corner of the 
 universe. And, as to loving more, I rather think 
 you are speaking the truth ; for your love has always 
 been adulterated with inferior ingredients, and the 
 meager supply you were endowed with must have 
 been exhausted long ago. Fare thee well!" 
 
 Virginia proceeded to step into the car, but the 
 bold suitor stepped in between, and, grasping hold 
 of her arm, said: "I will hold you here for attempt- 
 ing to elope with an adventurer of questionable char- 
 acter." 
 
 Virginia looked up, surprised to the verge of con- 
 sternation, over his boldness, which now had taken 
 the form of grossness and insult. But she did not 
 get a chance to speak in her defence ; for her hercu- 
 lean escort, without uttering a syllable, put an end to 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 293 
 
 the ridiculous audacity. He grabbed the dissipated 
 dude in the center of the chest, and, holding him out 
 at the full length of his mighty arm, bid Virginia to 
 step in the tonneau. He followed with a rapid step 
 upon the running board, still holding the helpless 
 victim on his arm, who attempted in vain, with pugi- 
 listic skill, to reach his face; but his reach was too 
 short. The next instant, in obedience to a signal 
 from the Count, the three cars started simultane- 
 ously to move slowly toward the gate. No one of- 
 fered assistance. The whole affair was of so be- 
 witching a nature that the spectators scarcely knew 
 whether they were dreaming or whether they were 
 actually beholding a real occurrence. 
 
 The Count still held his helpless opponent on his 
 arm. What a sight this was for Helen! — to her, 
 who, by the force of her mind and her logic, had sent 
 this mighty man swooning into a chair. Here he 
 stood with a sprawling braggard and pretender, who 
 acted like an imbecile, upon his mighty arm. The 
 eyes of his victim threatened to roll out of their 
 sockets, foam appeared at his mouth, but he could 
 not utter a syllable. 
 
 "Now," said the Count, "now resume your Court- 
 ship in the Air." 
 
 The Count carried his vanquished foe just outside 
 the gate, where he set him gently down, whilst the 
 cars moved slowly along on the turnpike towards 
 Providence. 
 
 "Fare thee well!" said the Count; "and obey the 
 rules of etiquette in the future." 
 
 It was now Helen's turn to show her naughtiness, 
 and she proved now for the first time in all her life 
 to be guilty of impertinence. She started to sing ex- 
 temporaneously, somewhat as follows, whilst she, 
 sitting at my side in the tonneau of the car, looked 
 backwards upon the baffled spectators : 
 
294 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 "Here we go with bag and baggage ! 
 Leave behind us all our luggage ; 
 For your opinions what care we — 
 We are travelers — we are free! 
 Ho! Westward, ho! Westward we go! 
 O come right soon. Men in the Moon ! 
 Now off we go — why stare you so? 
 
 We still can sing a jolly song, 
 Though we have tarried here too long. 
 Now we sail to another shore. 
 But here we will return no more. 
 We all have peace, with minds at ease. 
 Now, Westward, ho! Westward we go! 
 But you, we fret, will dance to death. 
 
 With baggage simplified once more, 
 
 And, like the Patriarchs of yore. 
 
 We hear the Music in the Air, 
 
 And we can settle everywhere. 
 
 But you will find we leave behind 
 
 The oldest trunks — for they are junks; 
 
 But guard ye well your Citadel !" 
 
 Even Cyril, though born and raised in the purple, 
 and well at home in the environment of his youth, 
 had no encouraging words to offer those we left be- 
 hind. 
 
 "Fare ye well!" whispered Cyril, though in a ra- 
 ther melancholy strain. "Fare ye well, ye Purgatories 
 and ye Hanging Rocks! Fare ye well, ye Adams 
 Forts and ye Castle Hills ! Fare ye well, ye Rugged 
 Points and ye Pirates' Caves ! Fare ye well, ye Price- 
 less Necks ! Fare ye well, ye Spouting Rocks ! But 
 beware of the Rough Points whilst ye walk on the 
 Cliff to Lands End ; for you cannot forever hide like 
 sheep behind Gull Rocks! 
 
"Now," said the Count, "Resume your courtship in 
 the air." 
 
 (Courtship in Air.) 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 295 
 
 Fare ye well on the shady side — 
 We follow the trail of the Light!" 
 
 Thus we left Newport, to return no more to that 
 too earthly Fairyland. 
 
CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 TIDINGS FROM GERMANY. 
 
 Months have passed since we left the earthly Para- 
 dise on the shore of Rhode Island. The senior 
 Youngs went back to Newport, but pleaded in vain 
 for the return of Cyril and Virginia. They, too, are 
 members of that little coterie of friends we have 
 formed on my estate in Connecticut, where we await 
 the return of Herr Nietzche with a new foolproof 
 aeroplane. 
 
 What are we doing here? the reader may ask. 
 Well, — I will employ no circumlocution, but make a 
 concise statement of the facts as they are, — we are, 
 to the eyes of the world a little eccentric — just a 
 little "off." We have thus discovered that the same 
 public opinion prevails in this poverty stricken rural 
 district as in the center of the emporium of wealth. 
 We must, of course, abide by the judgment of the 
 world, and admit that we are all a little "off." Helen, 
 with her matchless ability, is like Napoleon on St. 
 Helena, beating the air, and awaiting the return of 
 her father with the new aeroplane, in order to escape 
 from this sidetracked cage of the world. It would 
 be futile for her to lecture on radio-activity, for ab- 
 solutely nothing is known here on that subject. On 
 political economy and the utility of wealth, the rural 
 population entertain likewise no adequate opinions 
 despite their perpetual grumbling and growling over 
 the effete social and political conditions of the 
 296 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 297 
 
 world. But the Count has come to the assistance 
 of Helen here as a teacher of mankind. Goethe said 
 somewhere — I do not know whether it was through 
 the mouth of his Mefistopheles or his William Meis- 
 ter, but I believe it was in Faust — ^that, in order to 
 live long and be contented here below, a gentleman 
 should not consider it an indignity to spread the 
 dung upon the field. The Count has evidently taken 
 that advice, for, to the utter consternation of a baf- 
 fled world of humanity and all who happen to pass 
 by our rural lane, he has donned a farmer's garb and 
 can be seen occasionally wielding the pitchfork. But 
 a gentleman cannot be disguised. He remains the 
 Count, although he is not an actor in the field of art. 
 He is a new Thoreau, and, a little lake on my farm 
 is a Walden Pond. 
 
 But a bright morning the mail carrier dropped a 
 letter into our rural free delivery box which was 
 stamped with the insignia of the German Empire. It 
 was from Herr Nietzche. Helen summoned us all 
 (including the Count in farmer's garb) into the li- 
 brary, and read the following report from her father : 
 
 "Weimar, Saxony, March 15, 191 1. 
 "My Dear Daughter Helen: 
 
 "Since I received your esteemed letter, which con- 
 veyed to me the intelligence of your failure as a 
 lecturer at Newport, I have discovered more light on 
 abstruse subjects through chemical analysis. In the 
 chemical operations required for the production of 
 a new coherer for the aeroplane, I found, whilst 
 watching the behavior of radio-active elements, that 
 we can trace the analogies to the most minute de- 
 tails between the physical evolution of the material 
 world and the evolution of civilization in the moral 
 world. Be not discouraged ! Fate has been as favor- 
 
298 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 able to us as Providence! There is still hope for 
 the family of Man ! 
 
 "The emanations from thorium and uranium, and 
 the way they are obtained from the basic elements, 
 confounded and depressed me at first, but now, 
 thanks to the rude and destructive sailors at New- 
 port, all is clear. You have, in expounding the new 
 truth, used polonium, but henceforth you should use 
 thorium and uranium under the process of emanation, 
 in which the analogy between the moral and the ma- 
 terial world is striking and infallible. The increase 
 of emanation in proportion to the increase in tem- 
 perature of the elements corresponds to the develop- 
 ment of art and letters for the sake of culture in a 
 growing World-Empire. But the total and sudden 
 cessation of emanation, when a certain high degree 
 of heat is reached, corresponds to a crisis like the 
 burning of Rome under Nero, for at that incident 
 you might say, with approximate accuracy, that the 
 dark age fell like a shroud upon the world. It was 
 the destruction of a world by fire, and fulfilled the 
 covenant of tradition by which the Jewish Jehovah 
 promised not to destroy the world again by water. 
 The rainbow was the sign to our ancient ancestors, 
 and we have verified the accuracy of their instinc- 
 tive apprehension by our discovery of the relation be- 
 tween the transmutation of the elements and the spec- 
 trum of light. The whole basic principle of both 
 chemistry and physics is revealed in the spectrum 
 or the colors of the rainbow. The colors as well as 
 the various elements revealed by chemistry are all 
 derived by the primeval struggle in the ether, which, 
 as a spontaneous effect of the First Cause, tends to 
 expand ad infinitum without and contract ad infini- 
 tum within. But, as both these tendencies are limited 
 in the sphere of being, we have had this stupendous 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 299 
 
 process of evolution which is culminated in the 
 being of Man. 
 
 "There, Helen, is the whole story of the beginning 
 of things in a nutshell. There is the religion of 
 science — a religion which does not ridicule or censure 
 any one who is still disposed to worship at the feet 
 of Jesus ; for science reveals that Jesus was scientific, 
 but his illiterate followers perverted the truth he 
 discerned. But we have now nothing to do with 
 dogmatic disputes, for we see the reason of our being 
 here, and our excuse for being what we are." 
 
 (The letter here breaks off, and the following was 
 written ten days later.) 
 
 "March 25, 191 1. 
 
 "I am to-day extremely delighted! I am out for 
 the first time in my new aeroplane. It is a tremen- 
 dous success. I met, however, with an accident by 
 making too sharp a curve by swerving over the city 
 of Rome. I meant no offense. I have no special 
 prejudice against the present institutions of our in- 
 genious world. But, forsooth! I struck the spire on 
 the dome of St. Peter's, and, instead of pointing to- 
 wards the stars, it is now leaning on an angle of 
 approximately forty-five degrees towards Mother 
 Earth. It is a calamity; and I should be willing to 
 apologize to Michael Angelo if he was still alive. 
 
 "The aeroplane, however, is a tremendous success. 
 I made this time a conic windshield and a speed of 
 four hundred miles per hour is now possible. Its 
 construction as well as its propulsion is now a com- 
 plete innovation in the art of flight. I have made a 
 coupe for six passengers (you know the object) 
 besides the operator. I felt no effect of the change 
 in the atmosphere by sailing over the Alps at a ter- 
 rific speed, but felt as comfortable as if I was travel- 
 
300 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 ing in a Pullman car on the primitive tracks below. 
 In short, the aeroplane is perfect and, I believe, fool- 
 proof. 
 
 "You may be anxious to learn some details regard- 
 ing my financial affairs. It only required twenty 
 thousand dollars to produce the Summum Bonum in 
 the material world. What have I done with the 
 fortune placed at my disposal by our generous 
 American friend? Well, I do not know whether he 
 will approve my prudence or condemn my act, but 
 I spent half of the money in purchasing a castle on 
 the Rhine — the family castle of the Count who has 
 honored you with his pleasant company and desirable 
 friendship. His late progenitors were not gentle and 
 wise as our mutual and amiable friend, but his his- 
 toric estate was in the hands of the Jews, from 
 which I happily have snatched it by the aid of 
 American capital. I shall retain it as monurrient to 
 the age of chivalry. They are crumbling fast, but 
 this one shall be preserved as a silent witness to an 
 age of true romance, which has played so important 
 a rdle on the stage of history. This is my excuse for 
 acting as I did. But its doors shall be opened wide 
 for all Americans who are true patriots and citizens 
 of the World. Such, whenever they visit Germany, 
 shall always be welcome, and always find themselves 
 at home, in my Castle on the Rhine. 
 
 "I will start for America in my flight around the 
 
 world in a fortnight, and, as the task of crossing the 
 
 Atlantic is now only a matter of a few hours, you 
 
 can expect me shortly after the arrival of this letter. 
 
 "Your affectionate Father, 
 
 "NiETZCHE," 
 
 The effect of this startling , message on all who 
 listened can easily be imagined, but the Count virtu- 
 ally danced with joy. 
 
CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 TORDENSKJOLD. 
 
 The title to this chapter is foreign to most readers, 
 but it was the term with which Herr Nietzche bap- 
 tized his new aeroplane. It indicates that here was a 
 formidable match for the destructibility of lightning, 
 far superior, indeed, to the invention of the author 
 of "Poor Richard," for, instead of attracting, it re- 
 pelled the thunderbolt. 
 
 Immediately after receiving the startling message 
 from Herr Nietzche we started our preparations for 
 the great flight around the world. It was of great 
 moment for all of us, for at San Fransico it was to 
 put an end to our single life by a triple wedding. We 
 were all happy, except the Count. After the first 
 rapture of joy the message from his native land car- 
 ried to all of us, he had sunk into a rather morbid 
 state of melancholy. What could the cause be? No 
 one knew, but we conjectured that he was depressed 
 b> financial difficulties. His fiancee was an heiress, 
 and had, like her brother, already millions in her 
 own hands, which were, of course, not, as yet, at his 
 disposal. We thought, therefore, that his troubles 
 were pecuniary, but he strictly refused any offer of 
 financial aid. Was he brooding over the passing of his 
 romantic German home into other hands ? This con- 
 jecture was likewise unfounded, for he, more than 
 any of us, had expressed his joy over the tidings from 
 the Fatherland. In the hope to wring an explanation 
 out of the morose Count, Cyril slipped a check for 
 
 301 
 
302 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 ten thousand dollars into his coat pocket. He re- 
 turned it with the following note written on the back 
 of it: 
 
 "If I was a pauper I would not hesitate to draw 
 upon the generosity of my more favorably situated 
 fellow men. But, not being a pauper, I am a para- 
 site, which is more dishonorable. Before I accept 
 a cent from any of my friends, I must have the mo- 
 mentous subject of parasitism thoroughly explained 
 to me." 
 
 The note was taken to Helen who immediately 
 wrote the following definition of parasitism, which 
 was sent, with a new check, back to the Count: 
 
 "'Parasitism has no existence, except in the lower 
 regions of sloth. There is no such a thing as parasit- 
 ism as long as you keep your mind heavenward 
 bound. We are all sparks originally precipiated 
 from above, to earth, but, once again mounted on 
 high, we must not descend below, except when we 
 endeavor to draw other worthies, but less favorably 
 situated, out of the pit into the upper regions, where 
 Freedom reigns supreme." 
 
 The Count accepted the check, and the definition 
 of parasitism terminated his melancholy. But the 
 check was not the medium by which the metamor- 
 phosis was produced in the countenance of the Count, 
 but the assurance of being esteemed so high for his 
 own sake by those who had become so dear to him 
 since his arrival in the New World. 
 
 Three days elapsed since the glad tidings were re- 
 ceived from Herr Nietzche. Three pair of lovers 
 were sitting on my front piazza whilst the twilight 
 was gradually disappearing- in the western sky. But, 
 despite the twinkling of the evening star, all eyes, 
 ptompted by fond expectation, were scanning the 
 East. All were as happy with their existence as if 
 life itself was an eternal spring, myself, as one of the 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 303 
 
 party, not excluded, although the furthest removed 
 from that period of life we conventionally call the 
 bloom of youth. I, too, was happy, and extremely 
 happy, for I had broken away from the delusions 
 common to youth — the delusions which so often 
 prove fatal and break the evolving personality into 
 fragments which subsequently are irreclaimably lost. 
 In short, I found myself as gallant as any unthinking 
 youngster to whom the whole world is a dream until 
 his arrival at limitations plunges him headlong into 
 that fathomless abyss where Non-Entity alone is 
 king. Owing to my own experience with the many 
 pitfalls in life, I must say, that a man who is able 
 to hope and love at the age of thirty-four is both 
 lucky and blessed ; for henceforth his life will not be 
 measured by years in time and space ; he will not go 
 the way of the world, for he has taken his stand with 
 Eternity and Inextinguishable Being. Henceforth 
 his earthly career will only augment his soul, for his 
 view of the world is no more under the aspect of the 
 Finite, he has bursted the strong chains of the af- 
 fects and he is no more a slave to routine and the 
 questions of Time. 
 
 As we sat there in lively conversation on the topics 
 of the day, Helen analyzed all the excited doings of 
 men, and her conclusions were calm and decisive. 
 She explained how radio-active phenomena demon- 
 strated that the dissolution of the trusts would re- 
 sult in a tighter grip upon the balance of power by 
 capital. She demonstrated simultaneously that the 
 indictment and conviction of fiendish dynamiters 
 would increase the degeneration of the proletariat. 
 And last, but not least, she demonstrated that the 
 convulsion in the Orient was the first movement of 
 another Scourge of God, and analogous to that del- 
 uge which inundated the grandeur of Rome. 
 
 But just then an object appeared in the eastern 
 
304 COURTSHIPS IN JHE AIR 
 
 sky. It was moving rapidly westward some thousand 
 feet in the air. As it came nearer we could see dis- 
 tinctly, by the aid of a field-glass, the name "Torden- 
 skjold" depicted by minute lights similar to the wire 
 signs now so commonly displayed over factory build- 
 ings. We all conjectured what was coming, but the 
 name appeared at first to be a cipher to all of us. 
 
 We looked at the weird and mysterious object in 
 the sky and stared in profound silence ; for no words 
 could describe our felings, which was a strange mix- 
 ture of amazement, eager expectation and joy. Our 
 curiosity finally gave way to side glances at Helen, 
 and we barkened as if we expected to hear an oracle. 
 But Helen's eyes remained fixed in silent wonder on 
 the steadily approaching object in the sky. 
 
 "This means," shouted Helen, finally breaking the 
 silence, "this means that my father's last effort has 
 finally culminated in the complete victory of Man 
 over the brute forces of nature. This is the con- 
 summation of the craft of ages. Cunning, ambition 
 and artifice have entered the race, but the self-sacri- 
 ficing savant alone has carried off the prize which is 
 henceforth to be meeded out for the benefit of all 
 mankind." 
 
 The next instant the aeronautic phenomenon sailed 
 over us at a speed rate of six miles per minute. 
 
 "This is not an aeroplane," exclaimed the Count, 
 "though an heavier than air machine, and the re- 
 verse of Count Zeppelin's, it should be called an air- 
 ship." 
 
 "Yes," said Helen, "and whilst Zeppelin's ship is 
 a mere appendage to its motive power above it, this 
 ship carries its motive power below it, and is ade- 
 quately mounted on its keel." 
 
 The ship responded to our signal despite its tre- 
 mendous speed, and made a graceful circle. In a 
 few moments it rolled in on our front lawn. I dare 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 305 
 
 say that a foreigner, without a passport, has never 
 before experienced such a cordial reception in the 
 New World. Herr Nietzche, who the first time 
 landed in the dusk of night, suddenly, mysteriously, 
 and unknown on our shore, was this time expected, 
 and received wth open arms as a citizen of the world. 
 
 After the rapture of the reception had passed away 
 began the curious inspection of the silent ship, which 
 so mysteriously annihilated both time and space. It 
 corresponded in every detail to Herr Nietzche's de- 
 scription of it in his letter. It stood firmly on the 
 ground on two rolls, which also answered to the pur- 
 pose of wheels, as in ordinary aeroplanes. To the 
 question whence the name was derived, Herr Nietz- 
 che proceeded to give a complete description of the 
 unique peculiarities of its motive power. 
 
 "The name," said Herr Nietzche, "you ought to 
 know from the explanation your poet, Longfellow, 
 gave in his excellent translation of the Danish na- 
 tional song. Literally it means 'thundershield.' And 
 the name is not inappropriate, for I found through 
 actual experience that the ship repels the lightning 
 on earth as well as in the upper sky. The motive 
 power is not its own. It moves because its electro- 
 magnetism is absolutely negative in relation to that 
 in the strain in the ethereal environment of the Fir- 
 mament. It is, on account of its chemical composi- 
 tion, an independent center of gravity. Its magne- 
 tism is not like that of steel and its adhesiveness is 
 not like that of metals or other compounds in the 
 mineral and organic world, but it is an artificial aug- 
 mentation of the electron which chemical and physi- 
 cal science recently discovered in radio-activity. But, 
 contrary to the electron in nature, whose force is 
 spent by motion because it is dissipated by reaction 
 from without this artificial electron retains its mo- 
 tive power because, though exposed to the universal 
 
3o6 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 reaction in the power without, provisions are here 
 made for adequate resistance of the universal dis- 
 integrating tendency. The contents of that trans- 
 parent shell is therefore alive, but it is not a Being, 
 it is alive with that aboriginal unconscious instinct 
 whose relation to the Infinite is the basic principle of 
 all Motion. It has therefore no Individual Reason ; 
 neither the passive, which first appears in the animal 
 kingdom, nor the active, which first appears in the 
 Spiritual Man — that higher being, who, of all that 
 breathes and moves, alone can re-establish harmony 
 with the Infinite, and attain to that freedom of mo- 
 tion which was lost in the inevitable effect of the first 
 cause. 
 
 "As to the condition of its motion, I only have to 
 sate that it moves in obedience to the same influence 
 which moves the earth, which is not innate, nor di- 
 rectly by the power of the sun, but directly by light, 
 or that vibration in the ether which constitutes a 
 spontaneous resistance to the universal tendency to 
 distention ad infinitum. But I could continue to ex- 
 plain away ad infinitum and always arrive at the 
 same result, but if we neglect to deduce all our in- 
 ferences from the Divine First Cause, our reasoning 
 becomes passive and brings us forthwith face to face 
 with a paradox. But I suppose that my daughter 
 Helen has made all difficult points clear to you. Let 
 us therefore cease these didactics, and be content 
 with the truth we have discerned. But we must not 
 permit any one to tamper with this propulsion device, 
 for, if once exposed to light without being under 
 control it is lost to us forever : it will leave the earth 
 and continue its motion in a straight line until com- 
 pelled by external forces to deviate." 
 
 Heeding the warning, we detached the phenome- 
 nal propeller and carried it to a place of safety where 
 no uninitiated curiosity seeker could approach it. 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 307 
 
 The following day we set out on that trip around 
 the world which, in addition to its singularity, was 
 to have a unique significance for us on account of the 
 proposed triple wedding at San Francisco. We left 
 at the break of day, and avoided the crowd which, at 
 a later hour, would have caused annoyance and delay. 
 
 Remembering there was a boat race between the 
 Yale and Harvard teams that day, Cyril expressed 
 a wish to bid farewell to his college mates before 
 we left the shore of New England. We sailed along 
 the Atlantic coast a few hours before we swept in 
 over New London and the river Thames. We ar- 
 rived just as the racers were preparing for the strug- 
 gle. I did not know any of the combatants, but Cyril 
 recognized several of his old enemies amongst them. 
 We did not alight on the river bank, but kept moving 
 in concentric circles above their heads whilst they 
 greeted us from below. 
 
 The colloquy which took place between Cyril and 
 his old college mates took spontaneously the form 
 of a song. It ran approximately as follows : 
 
 Kick away this ball of earth ! 
 Shoot into the clearer sky 1 
 What 's the world with all its mirth 
 When with speed we starward fly? 
 Speed away, starward, starward; 
 Watch the games of Yale and Harvard 
 Whilst they struggle till they die. 
 
 Up we went into the air; 
 
 Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. 
 
 We see but pigmies everywhere, 
 
 "Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha," 
 
 What 's the games of Yale and Harvard 
 
 When with speed we're flying starward? 
 
 Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. 
 
3o8 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 O'er New England high we flew 
 To see the boat race on the Thames; 
 We saw the rowers, but we knew 
 The futility of their games. 
 "Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha," 
 (Came the echo from below) 
 "The futility of their games." 
 
 No more perils from explosions. 
 Though the mighty ship we fly 
 Is superb in all its motions. 
 We will find no time to die. 
 But will live, and live forever. 
 See you drown upon the river 
 If our craft you dare defy. 
 
 Move your oars ! O, what a welter ; 
 What a thunderstorm and rain! 
 Seek, for heaven's sake, the shelter! 
 You will sink if you remain ! 
 Futile, futile are your games 
 Whilst you are rowing up the Thames ! 
 We can see you, see you swelter. 
 
 "Futile, futile, are your games !" 
 (Came the echo from below. 
 Whilst you are rowing up the Thames 
 Wipe the sweat from off your brow ; 
 For o'er the sporting world, you see 
 We hold a strong monopoly. 
 Though your prowess well we know. 
 
 But, O lads from Yale and Harvard, 
 Leave your oars upon the shore ! 
 We are flying — flying starward, 
 And will see you here no more. 
 "Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha," 
 (Came the echo from below) 
 "We will see you here no more." 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 309 
 
 We then left the scenery of New England, and, 
 ere long, sailed with a speed almost incomparable 
 with the motion of conveyances used by mortals on 
 the surface of our ancient world. We were pro- 
 tected from the wind by our conic shield; and, sit- 
 ting in our coupe in the calm of a sunny afternoon, 
 the wind only impressed us like the sonorous sound 
 of a hurricane. 
 
CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 OVER THE CONTINENT, 
 
 In less than an hour we sailed over the world's 
 wonder of waters. Although we slackened our speed 
 and descended sufficiently low to hear the roar of 
 the tremendous cataract, this world wonder, which, 
 those of us who were Americans had so often ad- 
 mired below, appeared this time to be very insignifi- 
 cant. It appeared to us to be a mere commonplace 
 accident in nature, unless conceived by man as a sign 
 to induce us reflecting bipeds to seek an interpreta- 
 tion of the general scene of things in the higher 
 realms. In short, we comprehended here for the first 
 time in the highest sense that Man is the only thing 
 in the universe that is really a wonder. The Spirit 
 of Man, thoroughly and adequately concentrated by 
 nature, is the center which eventually will move the 
 world. We see the world below us as an immense 
 corpse from which the Spirit has flown by turning 
 upon itself in obedience to an omnipresent and un- 
 compromising Law. The grand illusions of the An- 
 cients become real to us once more. The world is 
 destined to inertia, and all that eventually will move 
 as stars in a Divine Urania, will move as sentient 
 beings, whilst brute forces must cease to be. 
 
 We tarried nevertheless awhile over the cataract. 
 
 If Byron, who esteemed liberty so high, had been 
 
 with_ us, he would have filled his cup high with real 
 
 Samian wine. Cyril proposed to give a toast in honor 
 
 310 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 311 
 
 of our pilot, and produced a bottle of excellent old 
 madeira, of which we had taken a few aboard. 
 
 "Let us drink, then, to the health of our pilot," 
 commenced Lillian, glass in hand. 
 
 "Hail to him who upward flies. 
 Above the earth to clearer skies ! 
 Hail to him who leaves the strife, 
 For a more lofty strain of life !" 
 
 To this Herr Nietzche responded extempore: 
 
 " 'T is not the prizes of the winner 
 (I'm only a beginner 
 In the reckless art of flight) ; 
 'T is a far more serious quest 
 Which leads me on in my behest 
 From the shadows to the Light." 
 
 Helen, glass in hand, concluded the sentiment: 
 
 "For men have e'er since days of old 
 Seen the yellow hue of gold 
 In the earthly caves below. 
 I'm in search for other fountains, 
 Far above the Rocky Mountains ; 
 Higher than the Alpen snow." 
 
 We threw the empty bottle into the torrent below 
 and shot out over the Great Lakes. Before we real- 
 ized that we had crossed the greatest volume of fresh 
 water in the world we were greeted by an evening 
 star and simultaneously by the flickering lights of 
 the Windy City. There lay Chicago with all its hu- 
 man filth and misery — with all its cries of distress — 
 with all its agonies of fallen souls — with all its fran- 
 tic strife for gold — with all its pomp and splendor and 
 
312 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 gayety which all eventualy comes to naught. There 
 it lay amidst its myriad flickering lights, partly shiv- 
 ering as in a nightmare, and partly grasping for ob- 
 jects in illusive ecstasy and supreme delight, but all, 
 as yet, only semi-conscious as a fluctuating dream on 
 the agitated shore of Time. Yet we have a pano- 
 rama below us which delights the beholder. It is a 
 temporal representation of an Eternal Verity. But, 
 when this Dream — this processu theophania — has 
 passed away, Living Lights will move; living lights, 
 though invisible to mortal eyes, will move by innate 
 impulses in a realm of everlasting Freedom. 
 
 We did not tarry long over the Windy City, but, 
 lending it a sympathizing glance, we shot out over 
 Illinois and soon crossed the plains of Iowa and Ne- 
 braska where the father of streams creeps along, and, 
 like an immense serpent, carries all accumulated 
 venom to the gulf and the torrid zone, thus acting an 
 important part in the task of saving the world of 
 men from the destructive iniquity of things below. 
 
 Lacking a little in keeping up with the speed of 
 Phoebus, it was nearly ten o'clock before we sailed 
 over the city which has transmuted so much lead and 
 silver into gold. We did not tarry at Denver, but 
 aimed straight for the Rockies. We did not mind 
 the chill of the lofty altitude over the extinct volca- 
 noes, but we pierced through clouds, heavily laden 
 with thunderstorms, as we sailed over the state of 
 the Mormons — the state of the followers of that 
 other erratic "Smith" who so deplorably confounded 
 the beatitudes of Conjugal Love with Heaven. But 
 our ship answered to its name, for although we heard 
 a terriiic roar of thunder, all lightning stroke below. 
 We saw, by looking down, numerous conflagrations 
 at Salt Lake City and Ogden, and, can the reader 
 believe it, the lake itself appeared from our lofty 
 view like a veritable tarn of fire and brimstone. 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 313 
 
 We crossed the American desert and sailed over 
 Lake Tahoe, southwest of Carson City and north of 
 Sierra Nevada, at eleven o'clock. We continued our 
 flight without interruption over the Eldorado, passed 
 Sacramento, and alighted near Oakland on the east- 
 ern shore of San Francisco bay, at midnight, west- 
 ern time. 
 
 All, except our pilot, repaired to an inn for lunch- 
 eon and repose. We are thus near our destination, 
 where we at dawn to-morrow will tie the three nup- 
 tial knots before we venture out over the great Pa- 
 cific for Honolulu and the Far East. 
 
CHAPTER L. 
 
 AN INTERRUPTED WEDDING. 
 
 Helen aroused me early in the morning by violent 
 knocking at my door. When we met in the hotel 
 lobby we learned that the repose of our three ladies 
 had been disturbed by nocturnal terrors. Helen, at 
 least, is not superstitous, but she had a foreboding 
 that a calamity was destined to disturb her wedding- 
 day. 
 
 We nevertheless proceeded with the final arrange- 
 ments agreed upon before we left Herr Nietzche. 
 We were to secure the licenses, a justice of the peace 
 and a Lutheran clergyman, and thence proceed to 
 ihe promontory north of the Golden Gate cemetery, 
 vhere Herr Nietzche would await our coming to 
 serform the ceremonies. 
 
 The reader may be at a loss to understand why we 
 engaged a minister to perform the ceremonies when 
 the service of the justice of the peace would have 
 been sufficient to comply with the law. Some readers 
 may ask why we did not engage a positivist, as we, 
 in our revealed religion, appear to be nearer akin to 
 the followers of Comte than any other sect. We 
 would answer with the reply the Master gave John 
 the Baptist at the river Jordan, which is too well 
 known to require repetition. Comte failed to substi- 
 tute with fire the water with which Luther baptized 
 the Northern World. 
 
 Whilst we with a justice of the peace and a Ger- 
 314 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 315 
 
 man Lutheran minister were about to enter a limou- 
 sine we had procured to take us to our destination, 
 we had a rather unpleasant as well as an unexpected 
 meeting with Virginia's western suitor, the notorious 
 Mr. Smith. He was now a sorry specter in human 
 form. His face now resembled more an Oriental 
 opium fiend than a cultured Anglo-Saxon. He was 
 an object to be pitied ; for he was a standing proof 
 of the universal failure in the mundane attempt of 
 creating artificial men. The multiplication of insati- 
 able desires had distorted and shriveled his face into 
 an unhuman shape. 
 
 He greeted Cyril with a pretended, and almost pa- 
 thetic cordiality, frowned at the Count and glanced 
 reluctantly at Virginia. But we were not inclined to 
 entertain undesirable acquaintances, and we there- 
 fore signalized our chauffeur to proceed to our desti- 
 nation. We were so busily occupied with our own 
 affairs that we failed to notice Mr. Smith followed us 
 in his own car. 
 
 Arriving at our destination we prepared at once 
 for the performance of the ceremony. Herr Nietzche 
 left the ship and walked to the spot we had selected 
 several hundred feet away. . We all failed to notice 
 several Chinamen who were loitering about the place 
 in their silent Oriental manner. 
 
 The first nuptial knot was tied, and the Count and 
 Virginia stood as man and wife. Cyril's and Lil- 
 lian's turn came next. We proceeded to the third. 
 This time the supreme moment had arrived for 
 Helen and I. But lo — what happened? The airship 
 suddenly arose from the ground and sailed out over 
 the ocean ! The last ceremony was interrupted, and 
 we all ran frantically to the spot were the airship 
 had stood, near the extreme edge of the promontory. 
 We stood silent and recomposed in a moment and 
 comprehended the calamity at once. An automobile 
 
3i6 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 stood near by, and the chaufifeur shouted that his 
 master was in the aeroplane with two Chinamen. 
 The ship continued to climb and moved in a straight 
 line at a terrific speed. Mr. Smith was at the wheel 
 and the two Chinamen were standing behind him. 
 They had evidently no control, and we realized that 
 all was lost. The phenomenal ship, not being de- 
 pendent on air for propulsion, would soon leave the 
 orbit of the earth. They had probably unintentionally 
 raised the starting lever to the first notch where it 
 was locked automatically with a self-locking device 
 which could only be released by a foot lever. With 
 the prospect before them that they had to pay for 
 their curosity with their lives they had evidently lost 
 their heads completely. Suddenly, whilst we kept 
 staring at the steadily ascending and vanishing ship, 
 all three sprang overboard and fell from a dizzy 
 height into the ocean. The force of the fall en- 
 gulfed them instantly in the waves of old Pacific, and 
 they never appeared again on the surface of the 
 water. The ship continued on its course in a straight 
 line and vanished from our sight in the unfathomable 
 and infinite sea of Space. 
 
 We stood as mute as if we were turned to stone. 
 No one seemed to have courage to speak. No one 
 seemed capable of giving voice to an overpowering 
 emotion. There was the ship, vanishing in the west- 
 ern sky and lost to us forever. There was the crown- 
 ing glory of the effort of ages — ^there was the sum- 
 mum bonum which science had wrestled from the 
 brute forces for the benefit of mankind — ^lost forever 
 in the unfathomable sea of immensity, whilst those 
 who tampered with it were mercilessly engulfed in 
 the great Pacific. Who could speak as a witness to 
 such a deplorable catastrophe? Who would venture 
 a befitting comment? 
 
The airship suddenly arose from the ground and 
 sailed out over the ocean. 
 
 (Courtship in Air.) 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 317 
 
 At last the silence broke. It was the lawyer who 
 took the lead. 
 
 "I can," said the lawyer, "in this calamity only 
 console you with the lore of Socrates ; for this is evi- 
 dently giving all of us a sign that, in order to come 
 approximately near to the Divine, we must ask for 
 nothing in this world, and render our services without 
 reward." 
 
 -"Divinely spoken of a lawyer," returned Herr 
 Nietzche, "and I dare say that you are the first bar- 
 rister in the New World who has uttered such a 
 statement since Abraham Lincoln taught that lesson 
 to mankind with the singularity of his career. Yes, 
 to ask for nothing in this world is divine. And it is 
 only when we have arrived at that ideal state that 
 we can handle perpetual motion successfully. Other- 
 wise it will play us treason. To tamper with per- 
 petual motion unguided by reason, like those two 
 Oriental spies and that unfortunate American, who 
 now are gone to oblivion, is extremely perilous, and 
 will always, as in this case, prove fatal. The law is 
 uncompromising because it is divine, but if it was 
 not uncompromising it would not be divine." 
 
 "Has Jesus then nothing to do with the salvation 
 of the world?' inquired the minister, a little per- 
 plexed. "It appears to me that you are referring me 
 back to Moses and deem it sufficient to keep the 
 Law." 
 
 "If I perplex you on that subject," returned 
 Herr Nietzche, "I am sorry to say that I am dealing 
 with you in the same manner as Jesus dealt with the 
 Scribes who had perverted the law. The office of 
 Jesus was to ameliorate the conditions for man in 
 the struggle for life. If his light has failed it is 
 not because it was inadequate, but because you have 
 replaced his Archlight with the flickering candles of 
 
3i8 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 the Apostles; that is to say: the Scribes have per- 
 verted the law." 
 
 "But, by the way," intervened the lawyer, "in your 
 dream of an ideal state in an age and in a world 
 -where ninety per cent, of mankind are struggling 
 frantically to save a drop of pleasure, which is so 
 dear, when an ocean of virtue is always available 
 free of charge, tell me, my good friends, how can I 
 render my best services to save that part of life 
 which . is identical with eternal verities. Tell me 
 truly — I am willing to listen to reasonable advice — 
 but I confess that I am perplexed in the extreme." 
 
 "I will advise you," returned Herr Nietzche. "You, 
 as a lawyer, must go into politics and imitate Daniel 
 Webster by aiming at the top. When you get there 
 let all the subtle art of your rhetoric be devoted to 
 that command of the Nazarene: 'Let the children 
 come to me ; envy them not, for of such is the king- 
 dom of Heaven.' Be as eloquent as Webster, as self- 
 sacrificing as Wendell Phillips, as determined as Lin- 
 coln, as pacific as McKinley, as strenuous as Roose- 
 velt in defending your position ; for then, even if you 
 fail to become a Titan of history, you will obey the 
 ultimate cry of science, direct the aim of art, and 
 comply with the Law of laws." 
 
 "But this," replied the lawyer, "sounds like com- 
 pulsory religion and would be odious to public opin- 
 ion as well as contrary to the constitution." 
 
 "If you," retorted Herr Nietzche, "amend the 
 constitution you will change public opinion so that 
 the true tenets of religion will be received as glad 
 tidings from a Fairyland." 
 
 "Pardon me, gentlemen," intervened the minister, 
 "I respect your argument and hope you will go far, 
 but I am forced by circumstances to remain in the 
 old routine as defender of the faith, and the pulpit 
 claims my services. I can stay but a few minutes 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 319 
 
 and we must proceed with the ceremony of the last 
 wedding." 
 
 "No," said Helen and I simultaneously. 
 
 "Why? Have you postponed it?" inquired the 
 startled minister; "or has the argument provoked 
 your prejudice?" 
 
 "No," replied Helen. "There is no prejudice in 
 my mind. But we must go to the Orient by the air 
 route before we can wed. Until then we are destined 
 to lead the single life. The loss of the ship has de- 
 termined our fate." 
 
 "I am at a loss to understand the motive of your 
 decision," continued the minister. 
 
 "The world needs lessons in self-control, and the 
 dramatic loss of the ship signified that my fiance and 
 I are destined to teach by example. Let this suffice 
 as excuse for our determination." 
 
 The minister and the lawyer bid farewell and went 
 to their respective places of business. 
 
 "What are you going to do now, father ?" inquired 
 Helen. 
 
 "Return at once to Germany for a new ship," re- 
 plied the wizard, cheerfully. "We must fly to the 
 Orient and around the world on the wings of Light 
 and demonstrate that perpetual motion is a verity 
 whose progress cannot be thwarted by the ignorance 
 of mankind and the brute forces of nature. I have 
 lost the greatest boon, but my retort is still intact, 
 and I am holding still my castle on the Rhine." 
 
 "Will you leave us then at once ?" 
 
 "I will leave none of you if you desire to follow 
 me. How many of you are with me?" 
 
 "We will leave this to your decision," replied the 
 Count. 
 
 "I suggest, then, that those of you who are mar- 
 ried go with me on their honeymoon to Europe — 
 no — wait ! — ^pardon me ! I am building castles in the 
 
320 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 air, although dispossessed of the means of flight. I 
 forgot that I am too near bankruptcy for the enter- 
 prise." 
 
 "Now it is my turn to speak," interrupted Cyril. 
 "I feel that I am but a negligible quantity in this 
 brilliant company of wit, but, with what little I have 
 I will contribute my share, however insignificant it 
 may be, to promote the happiness of my fellow mor- 
 tals. My coffers are open. A million is at your dis- 
 posal. Name the sum required." 
 
 "One fiftieth part of a million will suffice," replied 
 Herr Nietzche, rather startled. "If you are ambi- 
 tious to dispose of a million for promoting the happi- 
 ness of your fellow men, give the remaining forty- 
 nine parts to the poor." 
 
 "To what class of poor do you mean?" inquired 
 the millionaire; "to the poor in body or the poor in 
 Spirit?" 
 
 "To the poor in Spirit — for if none were poor in 
 Spirit there would be no pecuniary poverty. Politi- 
 cal economy is not as yet a science. All books writ- 
 ten on that subject have served their purpose, but, 
 as yet, with no apparent effect. If it was not for the 
 poverty in Spirit no one would suffer bodily want 
 in this world of abundance, where nine-tenths of the 
 resources are wasted in a futile pursuit of happiness. 
 I say wasted — ^wasted by all classes in the social or- 
 der, both high and low — the difference is only in 
 proportion to income. Bodily want sets in only when 
 the residue which pleasure leaves behind becomes 
 curtailed so that it cannot supply the necessities." 
 
 "Well, I know you are right; and I know that 
 your daughter Helen there has gone further than 
 Hegel and our William James in solving the prob- 
 lems introduced by Kant. I therefore place the re- 
 maining nine hundred and eighty thousand dollars 
 in her hands to be used at her own discretion. But, 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE ATR 321 
 
 as a stipulation for the twenty thousand I present to 
 you for the necessary requirements in producing a 
 new ship, you must agree to make the next one abso- 
 lutely foolproof." 
 
 "I agree," returned the German wizard; "and we 
 will all go to an attorney's office at once to have the 
 business properly transacted." 
 
 "Pardon me!" remonstrated Helen. "I thank my 
 future brother-in-law cordially, but thus coming so 
 suddenly in possession of immense wealth fills my 
 mind with a network of plans, and in order to prove 
 a peer of Hegel and James and a true successor of 
 Immanuel Kant, I must remain here on this pro- 
 montory with Harry and organize my plans in soli- 
 tude before I accept your kind proposition, and be- 
 fore the sun once more sets into the Pacific. Permit 
 us to remain. We will meet again at the lawyer's 
 office at seven-thirty sharp to-night." 
 
 "Well," replied Herr Nietzche, after some hesita- 
 tion, "we will consent to your proposition; but, be 
 sure to keep vour appointment, and, above all, re- 
 member you both are to lead the single life until we 
 return again." 
 
 "Have no fear about that," returned Helen, smil- 
 ingly. "Harry has now learned to go slow, and 
 Hurry Harry was only an unstable base which is 
 now transmuted into a purer and more substantial 
 element. Adieu, until to-night." 
 
 "Yes," concluded Cyril, "and your influence was 
 the electric spark which extracted the radium from 
 the pitch. Adieu! until we meet at the lawyer's 
 office." „ , ^ ,, 
 
 "All, except Helen and I, drove off, down to Mar- 
 ket street, whilst we turned around and walked to 
 the uttermost ledge of the promontory. 
 
 The place now filled up rapidly with Chinamen who 
 had heard the report of the strange fate of two of 
 
322 COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 
 
 their countrymen. Amongst the curious croAvd were 
 also relatives of Virginia's unsuccessful and ill-fated 
 suitor, who,- with the two silent Orientals, had found 
 a silent grave in the great Pacific. 
 
 Unmindful of the agitated crowd we took a seat 
 upon the ledge. Here the life of Hurry Harry has 
 finally come to an end. Henceforth his wandering 
 over the world shall neither be remote, melancholy, 
 or unfriended,' but it will be slow — slow, at least, un- 
 til the new ship appears in the eastern horizon from 
 the other shore. But Helen assures me that the stern 
 decrees of Fate are secondary to the more remote de- 
 crees of Providence. In this hope we will now take 
 leave of the readers who have followed us in our 
 strange adventures over lakes and mountains. Hand 
 to hand and heart to heart, he, the transmuted Hurry 
 Harry, and the woman he adores and loves, are en- 
 joying a honeymoon of that kind which answers to 
 the as yet scarcely comprehended adjective of being 
 eternal. 
 
 Our ecstasy is thus intact ; although, instead of go- 
 ing to the Far East, we are, in utter disregard of 
 the agitated crowd, sitting with our minds full of 
 fond imaginations, and plans for the future, whilst 
 vye are watching a brilliant sunset in the Pacific from 
 a promontory beyond the Golden Gate. 
 
 "How beautiful is the horizon in the West !" said 
 I. 
 
 "Yes," said Helen, in response to my remark. 
 "Sir Walter Raleigh was a true prophet when he 
 shouted this oracle through the tempest: 'We are as 
 near to heaven on sea as on land!' Imbued with 
 that faith we are impervious to fire, and cannot be 
 touched by the storms of time; for there is no gulf 
 between heaven and earth ; attraction alone draws the 
 line of demarcation: that which is attracted by co- 
 hesion below remains on earth .and dies, but th^t 
 
Unmindful of the crowd we took a seat upon the 
 ledge. 
 
 (Courtship in Air.) 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 323 
 
 which is attracted by Power on High goes to the 
 Life of Heaven." 
 
 Here we are sitting hand to hand. 
 And we adore the Fatherland. 
 We rest awhile, but our behest 
 Will take us onward to the West. 
 
 All those who tamper with the waves 
 And without pilots venture out, 
 Will disappear in wave and cloud 
 And nothing find but silent graves. 
 
 For pilots we must wait awhile ; 
 But whilst we wait we still can smile ; 
 For there exist no earthly bars 
 Which now can keep us from the stars. 
 
 [The End.] 
 
EPILOGUE. 
 
 The Editor has now concluded the first part of the 
 Strange Adventures of Hurry Harry. The wood- 
 cutter, who was convicted of murder on state's evi- 
 dence, is still in prison. Owing to the fact that Harry, 
 although resting at present on his oars, is still at 
 large, and, being as stubborn as ever, will not throw 
 himself into the hands of the Law until his liberty 
 is guaranteed from the highest tribunal of justice, 
 it remains with the public whether the ill-fated wood- 
 cutter shall remain in prison to the end, or not. For, 
 unless Harry's freedom is avowedly declared and 
 clamored for by the public, the second part of his 
 adventures will never appear in print, and, in the 
 latter event, the woodcutter, though not guilty, must 
 remain a Prometheus. 
 
 Harry and his amiable fiancee are dwelling apart, 
 although corresponding with each other through the 
 mail and occasionally by wire. 
 
 Helen is in the South watching the progress of the 
 great canal, although she is not seriously interested 
 in that rather foolish undertaking, for her faith, in 
 the airship which is bound to come from Germany 
 is still unshaken. It will prove a revolution in the 
 shipping of the world. But Helen's personal pres- 
 ence in the South is due to mere love of daring — love 
 of dangerous adventures — for she is as buoyant be- 
 low as she is in the upper air. She had a close call 
 of being struck by stray bullets, however, in the 
 324 
 
COURTSHIPS IN THE AIR 325 
 
 Mexican revolution as she passed through that ill- 
 fated country. 
 
 Harry, in the meantime, is in the Great Northwest. 
 He is there on account of some mysterious hobby of 
 his own, which no one, except Helen, knows. But 
 he is not afraid, for he will appear at the first trum- 
 pet call from the East — even if it should prove to 
 be a call to arms. 
 
 The rest of the party — Herr Nietzche, and the two 
 beatified couples — are at present dwelling in the 
 Castle on the Rhine. But when they return in the 
 phenomenal and mysterious ship Helen will join 
 them on a spot in the West not as yet appointed. 
 She will join them to celebrate her wedding which 
 has twice been thwarted by serious misfortunes and 
 delayed so long, for the fugitive Harry will forth- 
 with reappear from his retreat amongst the Canadian 
 Rockies. 
 
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