EVE ancftAe EVANGELIST '■■ 'ii^SS^: HARRY E.RICE BOOK STORE ;;cRes or books •*3 MAIN ST J'O Digitized by tine Internet Archive in 2010 witii funding from Duke University Libraries littp://www.arcliive.org/details/eveevangelistromOOrice "A icliitc heard that reached almost to his i^'aist half ringed his intellectual face." Eve and the Evangelist A Romance of A.D. 2 1 08 By HARRY E. RICE S^ Illustrated by D. ORRIN STEINBERGER BOSTON THE ROXBURGH PUBLISHING COMPANY INCORPORATED. Copyrighted 1908 By HARRY E. RICE All Rights Reserved CONTENTS Chapter I Alice's "No" II The Curse of Greed III Through the Air IV The Great Metropolis V A Slight Accident VI A Great Out-pouring VII An Old Letter VIII Race Over a Continent IX Social Earthquake X A Correspondent's Enterprise XI Welcomed to Peking XII Battle of Wits XIII Under Mt. Everest XIV Light From Water XV Back Six Generations XVI Lost City Found XVII An Experiment XVIII From Another World XIX Homeward Bound XX Despair and Hope XXI News of a Day XXII Economical Measure XXIII At the Ball XXIV A Retrospect XXV When in Doubt, Don't XXVI The Supremacy of the Law XXVII The New Bridge XXVIII An Age Ago XXIX Sunday at Church XXX Back to the Capital CHAPTER I. Now from the world, sacred to sweet retirement, lovers steal, and pour their souls in transport. — Thomson's Seasons. Alice's ''No." A weapon in the hands of an enemy could not have hurt me more. Alice Meredith's answer, "No, I cannot marry you," given as gently as it was, cut into my heart like a scalpel. In imagina- tion I felt an arthrotome's cold edge for days after- wards. I, Robert Young, 2.^, ambitious and a leader of the Brotherhood of Man, had waited for months to propose. I had known Alice from babyhood. We had romped together, shared childish joys and sorrows and later walked together regularly, side by side, to the Church Universale. Once, some- times twice a week, we had sat side by side in the Theatre Electrique and enjoyed scenes and heard the voices of great cantatrices or the soul stirring music of virtuosos brought from cities sometimes half-way around the globe, while the performers' figures cast by strong voltage on a huge reflector, helped give us entertainment as perfect as if the great musicians had been before us in person. It is a cardinal principle of the Brotherhood of Eve and the Evangelist. Man that one must be optimistic. The organization teaches that health, happiness and success all de- pend on always seeing a rainbow ahead. "Laugh and the world laughs with you ; weep and you weep alone," brought down from the centuries past, is our guiding motto. Further, we aim to remove cause for weeping. When this girl I adored added, I fancied plain- tively and therefore paradoxically, "I shall never marry," I was amazed. If there ever was a time for lovers, that was one. I had waited for what appeared to be the most opportune moment to press my suit. Night trailed her lace-like gown of moonlight over the Earth. Above was a tiara of stars, be- low flickering lights in the valley. With head and feet illumined by flashing golden gems, the sable goddess moved slowly from the red gates of sun- down to the gray portals of morning. Her path lay through glistening diamonds of dew and her stately march was to a sympkony, in which the treble of the katy-did and the diapason of the frog, blended in Wagnerian harmony. The stac- cato of the night bird, the soft call of the whip- poor-will and the vibrant hoot! hoot! of an owl punctuated Nature's soothing opus. Under the shimmering robe of moonlight lay a chain of houses on the white road. They stretched away down the river until they were lost in the shadows of the hills. OflF to the south there was the gleam of the city, the hum of which reached Eve and the Evangelist. us now and then as the breeze varied, Alice and I sat on the long, low veranda of her father, Broth- er Abraham Meredith's home. The scene before us was inspiring. I had feared her answer. Again and again I had postponed the fateful interrogation. An oc- cult influence had oppressed me. With all of my adeptness in telepathy, I could not learn the secret of my rejection. Her answer had been flashed to me mentally as quickly as she had given it orally. "Why will you never marry me?" I ventured. "That's my secret," was Alice's sad and senten- tious answer. "But is there no hope?" I persisted. "You know I love you as I can love no one else. Am I doomed to celibacy? Can you not say the time will come when you can answer yes?" Alice never looked prettier than she did that night. Her graceful, clinging gown of white, Gre- cian in cut and style, clung to her athletic figure with such attention to curves, that but for the de- pression I felt it would have been difficult to re- frain from catching her in my arms and almost crushing her. Her hair was of the yellow of the gold of the mint. Rolled in simple classic coils, it gave her the dignity and the grace of the Kentucky fillies the past tells us about. Her eyes were blue and usually merry and her mouth until now, had, it seemed to me, always worn a smile. When she laughed in that low, musical voice of hers, and ex- Eve and the Evangelist. posed twin rows of perfect teeth, I fancied (it was an easy thing to do) that she was the natural evolu- tion of the houri of the misty pastr— the past with its horrors, cruelties and perfidies of so-called civilization. It, however, is like everything else, only comparative. .Mice's gown came to within about four inches of the floor, forming the top of a frame for slipper- shod feet, so small and dainty they seemed fairy- like. The black silken covering of the swelling ankles and the spotless white of her gown, met in contrast so striking to the trailing and prudishly concealing gowns of two centuries ago, as pic- tured in yellow prints now in the Anthropological museum, that I often wonder if it can be true that once women by the millions, unthinkingly carried, in long skirts, deadly germs into their homes, fre- quently to attack, sometimes fatally, weak and helpless children. Today, severest punishment would be meted out to her, who knowingly dragged disease into her family. We, the people of this year, A. D. 2108, learn from our books that it was a custom also, two cen- turies ago, to compress the torso as if in a vise. The Caucasian sought by torture to get a small waist, the Chinese small feet, the Alaska Indian a flat head and the Ethiopian a pierced nose or punctured ears. It is a satisfaction in these days of comparative perfection and unselfishness, to re- call that woman's emancipation from the barbarous mandates of fashion took place a century ago. i2 -==»- Eve and the Evangelist. Bless Dr. Henry Baldwin, of London, England, who brought about the reform. "Fashion's Fol- lies," written five years later, tells how Dr. Bald- win brought humanity to a realization of the cruel- ty of Parisian dictation. In all of the principal cities of the so-called civilized world, he had dogs bound up in corsets and paraded through the streets. The example was effective. The press took up the subject, later the women's clubs and finally the law makers. The race has grown stronger each generation. Look over the Brother- hood people and see their perfection, physically. No more sickly women, no more puny children. Alice might have answered for an artist's model, so perfect she appeared in face and figure. She was looking dreamily down the valley. There were tears in her eyes. She turned her head and gazed straight into my face. "Wait ! Some day, perhaps, the cloud will be gone," she said slowly and measuredly. My heart gave a great bound. The moon seemed to shine brighter. The houses in the val- ley were plainer and the night birds' calls seemed enthusing. Wait, yes, I would wait years, if necessary. Who would not for such a girl? I would learn the secret that barred me from bliss. The deep boom of a bell from the city startled me. Clutching Alice's hand in a burst of passion, I pressed it, whispered good bye and turned to leave. "Come again," Alice sighed. Eve and the Evangelist. "Yes, I will," I answered feverishly as I hurried away. The bell was the call to the Great Council hall. I must be there. Ten, accused of Greed, were to be tried for alleged violation of the Broth- erhood's most stringent regulation. CHAPTER 11. The Curse of Greed. The lust of greed succeeds the lust of conquest. The lust of gold, unfeeling and remorseless! The last corruption of degenerate maji. — Dr. Johnson's Irene. Chief Patriarch WilHam Gladstone was address- ing the assembled patriarchs, preceptors and stu- dents when I entered the hall. He had just begun. He was tall, white-haired and rather spare in build, and a white beard that reached almost to his waist half ringed his intellectual face. He spoke in a penetrating bass voice. His manner and his tone rightfully symbolized power. Occupying a dais at one end of the large cham- ber, the Patriarchs and the preceptors were ranged to the right, left and rear of him. In front of and below him were the students. Of the preceptors there were probably five hundred, and of the stu- dents about five thousand. These are indirectly the rulers (the term is some- what of a misnomer) of the Brotherhood of Man land, embracing all of the country, originally known as North America. It is their sworn duty to wage relentless war on greed and to supervise the education of the youth, principally to the end that selfishness may ultimately be eradicated. Eve and the Evangelist. National legislation is entrusted to a Congress, modelled after that of the United States, save that Senators are elected by direct vote of the people, and that all law making is of the initiative and ref- erendum character. The executive power is vested not in a President, but in the Council of Patriarchs, made up of men, who after years of tutelage, test and experience, are found best fitted for the most exacting duties. There are fifty of these patriarchs, over whose deliberations Father Gladstone always presides. In addition to executive powers they have certain strongly-defined judicial powers. Love is the basis of government, and the theory, originally advanced that the fewer the laws the bet- ter, was proved by time to be correct. Ofif to one side of this great hall, in something akin to a prisoners' dock, were ten culprits. They had been gathered from diflFerent parts of the land by the guardian committees. "Stand up," commanded the Chief Patriarch, ad- dressing the accused, as he himself arose. A clerk read their names, John Johnson of New York, Abner Hardy of Chicago, Wm. Smith of Louisville, etc. "You are charged," the Chief began in slow, measured tones, "with greed. You know how seri- ous the offense is considered here in Fratersurb, the capital of Brotherhood land. (This city, for- merly known as Indianapolis, was on account of its proximity to the center of population, made the capital about fifty years ago, and the name changed 8 Eve and the Evangelist. to an indicative one.) I trust all of you will be able to prove your innocence. You know the pen- alty, banishment to the country of savages. We consider greed like kleptomania, a mental affliction, due to centuries of unrestrained liberty in im- proper channels. From the earliest time the creed, 'Love thy neighbor as thyself,' has been taught but not heeded. Instinct comes from practice. Man first battled with Nature for sustenance, and later, when the earth's population had grown to a billion, fought with his fellow men for food and shelter. The strong had much, the weak little. For centuries mankind failed to guard against excesses that sapped various nations' vitality. History re- peated itself in revolutions, many bloodless, each a little more violent than its precursor. It was plain there was something wrong with the order of things. All were so busy, finally, in the pursuit of liches that they were blind to aught else. That was in the era of commercialism. ]\Ien in those days fought like tigers for wealth. The greed for gain dominated everything and everybody. A few piled up great fortunes, three or four as much as four hundred million dollars each. They obtained through perversion of natural laws money and property they could have no possible direct use for, all to the disadvantage of those about them. The most interesting volumes in our libraries are those that tell us of the shameful misuse of wealth two centuries ago, and the waves of reform, one after the other, each a little larger than its brother, that Eve and the Evangelist. swept over the country and ended finally in the es- tablishment of The Brotherhood of Man. ■'You, preceptors and students, and you, too, ac- cused, remember that your earliest schooling taught you to guard against those national pitfalls that come from allowing wealth to rule. Now that we have reached a period and have a people of com- parative perfection, it seems almost incredible that two centuries ago in the metropolises of the country there were single homes costing as much as $2,000,- 000, often for a family of but three, and scores of times for but two, while less than a dozen blocks away were as many as two dozen starving, illy clad fellow creatures crowded for the night into one little, foul smelling room. Where one man had mil- lions, thousands had but pennies. Where the few hired ingenious people for liberal compensation to originate unique entertainments for themselves and blase friends, thousands led a from hand-to-mouth existence that often ended in a despondent sui- cide's grave. Where $50,000 was spent for a single house party, with fewer than 200 people present, an army of unemployed, some with wan, thin faces, paraded the streets and begged for bread. "The thoughtless and careless rich, sated with food and drink and song and dance, reached the climax of asinine effort by giving costly dinners for beribboned dogs or fashionably dressed mon- keys. " 'No bread for the people ; let them eat cake,' uttered by Marie Antoinette, was re-echoed at this 10 Eve and the Evangelist. time in the sardonic ejaculation, 'The public be damned,' and crystallized in open defiance of law and ridicule of the courts. There was graft on ev- ery hand. Every avenue of life was choked with it. Sordid men sold their defenseless brothers for gain. Misery, no difference how severe, received scant attention. Figuratively, most men seemed to go about armed with clubs, striking down this man or that man for pelf. May be the club was wielded in the stock exchange, in the grain pit or the trust magnate's office. Everywhere hundreds of wretched men fell before the financially strong. There was no remorse. What was done one day was repeated on the morrow. All that men lacked to make them beasts were hides of hair. "The germ of reformation had been planted, however. The sprout came up slowly. Perhaps it was at first sickly, but it grew and finally budded mto the superb national structure of today. "The germ first showed itself in the erection of colleges, hospitals and universities. This fact re- stores the conviction that there was much latent good in mankind. See what two centuries have done. Dr. C. W. Russell gave utterance to the world's greatest truth, when he declared that greed was at the bottom of national failure. He used an apt illustration to point out the way to correction and ultimate perfection. I will not attempt to re- peat his exact language. Summarizing he made the pointed declaration that the people seemed to give more attention to raising blooded horses, fine II Eve and the Evangelist. cattle and heavy porkers than to raising GOOD CHILDREN. Look at the perfection of the Kentucky thoroughbred. All are so much alike in appearance, style and speed that it is hard to tell one from another. Suppose we give the same care to the raising of our boys and girls. "We taught first above everything else, 'Love thy neighbor as thyself.' The people were ripe for such a promising doctrine. Law makers had be- come so corrupt there was little hope at the time in legislation. 'Abolish greed' was the new tocsin of war that stirred the millions as nothing had done before since the ringing of the liberty bell. Prac- tically everybody took up the new national motto. It was easier to push the new dogma than might have been supposed. People are emotional, period- ically awaken from an apparent trance and turn things upside down. They are always quick to fol- low a new leader who promises better things. The Stentorian cry grew to calliope volume. Press, pulpit and labor unions took it up. The movement to abolish greed swept over the country like a sec- ond flood. Nothing could resist its mighty force. As hundreds in great revivals have stripped off their gold and gems and cast them before the evan- gelists to aid in the promotion of Christianity, so thousands now, laboring under the conviction of wrong doing, turned millions into the public treas- ury for the public good. Legislation that followed did not permit a single individual to own more than 12 Eve and the Evangelist. $50,000 in any form. Men were getting closer to- gether. Quick inter-communication leveled barriers and tended to make a billion as one family. Broth- erhood, real brotherhood, had begun. The same- ness that results from association developed. There were to be no more hopeless husbands, wretched wives or starving children. God, how was it pos- sible, thousands said in unanimity, that want and woe had so long been allowed to exist! Of course it took time for a readjustment of society to the new conditions. The changes, industrially, morally and politically, were revolutionary. They were bound to come. As the people changed from a purely agricultural nation to a manufacturing and commercial country, so they changed from a selfish mob to hosts dominated by love. "You will recall that it took fifty years to make the change and in that time many experiments, some failures, were made. "We have passed through the crudities of this new existence, and it is gratifying to know that with a population today on this continent of nearly a billion people, cases of the kind brought before us today are rare. I have set forth all of these facts to keep them fresh in your minds. We must ever keep the doctrine of unselfishness first in our thoughts. Prisoners, you are accused of doing otherwise. One is charged with having double the amount of property allowed by law. That provision limiting wealth is, I think, most wise. It is a valve as necessary to national safety as the old pop valve 13 Eve and the Evangelist. was to the life of the steam boiler. Brothers, your pleas." The venerable Gladstone sat down. One by one the accused answered the charges. The crimes ranged all the way from cheating a neighbor to try- ing to resurrect the trust. Of the ten, seven were found guilty and were ordered deported. The re- maining three were acquitted and returned to their homes. I listened with rapt attention to the Chief Patriarch's disquisition, resolving all the while ever to keep greed from my heart. It was with mingled sorrow and elation that a little later I accepted an invitation from Father Gladstone and his closest advisers to leave with them on the morrow for Asia to help in spreading the doctrine of Brother- hood. China, which despite the strides made in the last two centuries in shaking off the lethargj'- of an age, was still years behind the Brother- hood land, and clung tenaciously to primitive steam railroads, steamboats, the old-fashioned printing press and the telephone. Tired out, I soon fell asleep that night, to have mingled dreams of my sweetheart and a journey of but one day's length all told to Asia. I had never made the trip. I knew it would be worth while. In my sleep I picked out my seat in the huge projectile that would bear us on our way. A drop from Fratersurb to New York, another to London, a third to Moscow, a fourth to Hunan and a last to Peking. That was the itinerary hastily given me just before I left the Council hall. 14 Eve and the Evangelist. What a contrast there would be between the civ- ilization of today and that of yesterday ! 15 CHAPTER III. Through the Air. " 'Tis a very g'ood world that we live in, To lend or to spend or to give in. But to borrow or beg, or get a man's own, 'TIs the very worst world, sir, that ever was known." —Old Song. When Robert Stevenson, three centuries ago, invented the steam locomotive, it was justly con- sidered a wonderful achievement. People who had been accustomed to riding in the slow stage coaches of the period declared it would be unsafe to ride in- the new steam carriages on account of their .-wiftness, although it was not planned to run fas- ter than about twenty-five miles per hour. The wiseacres of England insisted that such speed would be intolerable, because they insisted it would cause nausea. When it was originally proposed to light London with gas, a person of the learning, dis- tinction and experience of Sir Walter Raleigh rid- iculed the project in a letter he sent to a friend in The Highlands, asserting that some fool was trying to light the city with smoke. The printing press, the telescope, the steamboat, the cotton gin and oth- er inventions and improvements that have char- acterized the past, all had a rocky road in riding over ignorance and superstitution. i6 Eve and the Evangelist. When Fabrielli, an eminent Italian engineer, fifty >ears ago, proposed to shoot people with meteoric speed through the air, the whole world popped out its eyes and said such a thing was preposterous. "Nothing of the kind," said Fabrielli, who for ten years had in secret conducted his experiments and made his investigations. He forthwith proceeded to show the world how it could be done. A cour- ageous newspaper man was the only person that could be persuaded to make that initial trip with him. That scribe, Charles S. Kay, gained undying fame by the account he wrote of that journey from Rome to Vienna. Think of making the trip in ten minutes! How easy a thing is after it has once been done! Fabrielli's task after all was easy, as easy as that of James Watt, who gained the idea of the steam engine from studying his mother's tea kettle. Fabrielli was one day watching a group at the old sport of archery, which at that time was undergoing a revival. A feathered shaft shot with unerring aim through the air. "That's it," he ex- claimed, and forthwith hurried to his workshop. A projectile, ample initial force, something like the shaft's feathers to buoy it up, reserve and emer- gency power, huge minite wings to break the fall, and the problem of speed through the air was solved. Minite, as is well known, is the wonder- ful new metal that has the lightness of cork and a tensile strength lOO times that of Bookwalter steel. Fabrielli utilized the discovery of Finnsen, a Swedish chemist, who, after experiments covering 17 Eve and the Evangelist. twenty-five years, evolved pulva, the Titanic ex- plosive by the side of which the force of once great gun cotton seems LilHputian in comparison. A tube of minite, a charge of pulva and a projectile, and it was easy to fly hundreds of miles in a few min- utes. Fabrielli's projectile was of minite, even to the great folding wings. Suppose we wanted to go from Fratersurb to Salt Lake City. The cylin- drical end of the projectile, gracefully swinging from supports, was allowed to slide into the tube of minite, after a charge of pulva, liquid in form had been placed in the breech. Pulva possesses several queer characteristics. It will not explode unless heated to a temperature of 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Under that temperature it is abso lutely harmless and as impotent as so much putty Charge and projectile in place, a powerful electri- cal current is turned in the breech. There is a roai and the projectile shoots through the air at a speed heretofore undreamed of. A rudder built to meet new conditions and new demands answers the slightest touch of the steersman. Rows of minite planes on each side of the projectile, which is cigai shaped, serve to steady it. Desiring to descend, the great wings are slowly extended and the car sinks as gently to earth as the master desires. The problems of friction and air supply were simple in comparison to the main idea. At the rear of the machine is the brake, a huge expanding fan, circular in shape, used only to slow down, preparatory to alighting. The reader 18 Eve and the Evangelist. asks : "How was the amount of power needed for ct certain journey gauged?" Easily enough. Your old histories, in elaborate foot notes on navies, told you how the range for big guns was quickly and accurately found, and how it was figured how much smokeless powder was needed to send a pro- jectile of say ninety pounds weight two miles. Same old principle. The carrying qualities of pulva had been figured with such accuracy that it was known just what any quantity of it would do in carrying a standard projectile. It was rarely an error of more than ten miles was made. Next morning Alice was first in my thoughts. If the journey had been for a long period, say for six months or a year, as would have been the case in the days of slow steamboats, making at the best but 22 knots per hour, I believe I should have abandoned it, notwithstanding the honor imposed in my selection. Going to our communicator, I raised the ear 'phone, asked for 27, and a moment later Alice's perfect reflection was on the board be- fore me. "I'm going to Asia," I said. "'Will be back in five or six days." "How nice!" Ahce remarked. "I was over last month. Bring me back some of those new shades of China silk." "Yes," I eagerly promised. I believe I would have stripped the country of silks at the risk of banishment forever from my native land had she required it. It was then I realized that I needed to study my anti-greed lessons harder. 19 Eve and the Evangelist. "You want to watch for the first gHmpse of England," she said solicitously. "A blotch of sap- phire, a gray mist, a patch of green and a mosaic mat and you are over London. We dropped gent- ly alongside Henley on the Thames, took a pneu- matic tube car for the city and two minutes later emerged on the Strand. Exciting? Yes, if it is your first trip. Now let me hear from you by aero- graph." '"Yes," I promised, as I said good bye and plunged into preparations for departure. One does not need much for such a trip. What progress mankind has made in transportation ! What would our ancestors who crossed the plains in slow prairie schooners or came down the rivers m slow flat boats say to the modern means of travel ? At the projectile station, ten miles from the Council Hall, I found my traveling companions awaiting nie. The date was June 12, A. D. 2108 The day was clear and bright, and the sky of that faint, pale blue that induces dreams. I was dreaming, dreaming of Alice. I could not drive her from my mind. Why had she rejected me? I must know. The suspense was maddening. Would the mystics of the Himalayas tell me? Perhaps. I resolved to find out. Much to my surprise and pleasure Alice was at the station to see me oflF. Certainly she did not dis- like me. "Down to see you start," she explained. "It is 20 Eve and the Evangelist, always interesting to watch the projectiles. Papa says I am scientific, and will some of these days be improving on the present means of travel." "Nice day," I stammered, the color mounting to my cheeks. "I am all expectation. You know I have never been to Asia." "Beware of the wiles of the Chinese belles," she warned me. "They will all be old and ugly to me," I insisted with emphasis. Then courageously I added, "My belle is here," whereupon she blushed. Father Gladstone, bidding the hundreds present good bye, stepped into the waiting car, and after him the third in command. Patriarch John M. Good. David F. Snyder, Alexander C. McCabe, Alonzo Troupe, James V. Wright and James M. Todd, one by one, filed in and took seats. "Ready," said Master Hiram Sykes, and, taking Alice gently by the hand, I bade her good bye. I followed the master into the car. There was a grinding of min- ite doors, the clutch of locks and we were fast within. Outside there was a renewed inspection of the projectile. Quickly, because I wanted to keep my eyes on the ground, I glanced about the interior. "Yes, that is the air feeder," Master Sykes was explaining. "See that tiny hole in the bow? The air all comes in there, going through the check valves. These valves work automati- cally, closing the minute dangerous pressure is reached. Steady now!" he commanded. 21 Eve and the Evangelist. Looking out through the thick windows of mal- leable glass, I saw the crowd that had gathered for our departure some distance to the right. Alice was waving her handkerchief. Sykes had pulled the switch, controlling the electric current. The temperature under that pulva had already reached probably 300 degrees. It seemed but a minute later that there was a loud report, muffled by an inge- nious device filled with water. There was a jar, a hiss of air and we were speeding toward New York. I had my watch in my hand. Patches of green, light and dark, and dots of brown and gold darted under us as if we were riding over a huge belt, moving all the machinery of the solar sys- tem. Six minutes and Pittsburg, looking like a dirty toy town, slipped past. Philadelphia, a square of green and black and red, with a silver hair running down to the sea, ran to us, stopped a second and was gone. In just 18 minutes and 34 seconds we were in sight of New York, with its uneven sky line, that at first looked as if some child had been scissoring a piece of paste board, and left the serrated edges as va- ried as possible. Sykes and his assistant were hur- rying here and there along the whole length of the great rushing, animate bolt, pulling levers and turning wheels, operating great screws, which ex- tended the wings and planes as desired. The brake, at first little larger than an umbrella, was now wid- ened to its greatest circle The car was hot and somewhat stuffv. The friction had been terrible, 22 Eve and the Evangelist. but thanks to the system of ventilation and safety devices, our discomfort was scarcely worth men- tioning. I did not notice how much our speed had been checked until I again looked out. We were going not more than 30 miles per hour. Slowly we settled to the ground and came to rest in Central Park, with such exactness and nicety that I felt like hugging Master Sykes in sheer ad- miration. Crowds gathered about us. Father Gladstone was instantly recognized, and hundreds rushed forward to grasp his hand. Hurrying to the aerograph station I sent this message to Alice: "Why not have me? Don't conceal your reason for rejection. May be the mystics of Asia can help us." Soon the answer came back. "Look for reply at Peking. I love you." Why did we not hurry? Why this delay in New York? So absorbed was I in ruminations about the girl left behind that the operator spoke to me three times before I awoke. 23 CHAPTER IV. The Great Metropolis. Weep not that the world changes — did it keep A stable, changeless course, 'twere cause to weep. — Bryant. New York today and New York two hundred years ago ! What a difference. The city socially, morally, commercially, industrially and even topo- graphically was as different as if it had been visited b}' a giant cataclysm. The frigidity that charac- terized the residents at the beginning of the Twen- tieth century had disappeared. Snobbishness was an unknown misdemeanor. The last man who would not give up his seat in a crowded "L" train to a feeble old woman had long years ago been buried. The insensate rush of years ago, prompted by the "free for all" for gain, being a thing of the past, men no longer lived side by side for years without knowing something of one another. No man could have the grief of bereavement and not receive the condolences of his neighbor. The trust baron and the multi-millionaire land owner, the latter receiving rentals of thousands of dollars per day, because his great grandfather invested in real estate, and then saw his neighbors, by their build- mgs and subsidiary improvements, enhance its original value, finally a million times, without an 2d Eve and the Evangelist. effort on the part of the series of holders, no longer existed to ride rough shod over the less fortunate or to snap their fingers in the face of a court for infraction of laws made by their mean mferiors, the common people. Did not God make the land, the sea and the air for all of his children to share in equal partnership, the first fathers of the Brotherhood of Man had argued, not with the specious logic and befuddling cant of the corpora- tion attorney, but with the simple directness that characterized the sermon on the Mount? Had the divine plan been followed when it was possible for Henry Morgan, the head of the giant trust within trusts, to have useless millions in the banks, while the little children of his brother, so poor he had not even a home of his own, must at tender years go into the dark and dingy workshops or the perpetual night of the coal mines to toil incessantly that they might have the merest necessaries of life? Were men to be no better than the beasts ? Were the big, strong bulldogs of mankind to be permitted to tear away from the weak gentle spaniels the meat and bones found on the common wayside? Yet that is what happened, century after century, until the Brotherhood began the inculcation of the old doctrine of equality, heretofore but a beautiful theory no one but the weak wanted to practice. Re- sistance at first? Yes, but from the few— from those surfeited with power, .pelf, position and prominence. Who would go back to the old order of things, ^5 Eve and the Evangelist. back to the days of poverty, prison, poison and presumption ? New York ! What a city today, a city of colos- sal structures, containing the best of everything in art, science and literature, and in practice the quin- tessence of Brotherhood tenets ! No longer any necessity for man to work twelve or fourteen hours a day to support his family. Little by little the hours of labor were reduced until an ex- pert commission, named by the Great Council, found that with the extent and magnitude of mod- ern inventions, ramifying in every direction, five hours labor per day was ample for every possible need of mankind. There was no more pushing and jostling in the thoroughfares. No one tried to gain an advantage at the expense of his neighbor. Where once brusque- ness prevailed and even dominated, now polite- ness and courtesy ruled. No longer could the vis- itor say that he felt a lower temperature the min- ute he sighted New York. The Arctic frostiness that once formed a chilly ring around this metrop- olis had been melted away by a sun of warmth, geniality and comraderie. Some men were still greater than others in chosen fields, but all were in touch with a line of general average. Both the high and the low of the past had been buried with dead centuries. History tells that in the so called Brooklyn bridge rush each evening, centuries ago, women with babes in arms, were knocked down by selfish 26 Eve and the Evangelist. men, seized with the morbid spirit of rush, charac- teristic of the times. A helpless child, caught in this crush, was one night knocked down and bru- tally stepped on by a man who hurried on with not a thought for anyone but self. Commoner still were occurrences in which parties of gay automo- bilists ran over people in the highway, leaving some maimed for life, and answering their cries of agony and distress with shouts of ridicule. Busi- ness men of the period, with undisguised pleasure, exchanged badinage about "skinning" this fellow or that poor devil, indifferent to the sorrow or the woe caused the victim's family. Genuine honesty, except sporadically, existed in name only. This is a fearful indictment of the past, but who that has studied the exact facts can gainsay it? The veneer of beauty hid shocking ugliness. New York, with its busy marts, perfection of architecture and ad- vancement and superiority in every direction had always appealed to me. I liked to study this great aggregation of human beings, working like a col- ony of bees in a huge hive. Its churches, its the- atres, its newspapers, its transportation facilities, museums, hospitals, libraries and monuments al- ways had fresh attractions for me. Having for a short time taken up newspaper work in my native city, and having never outgrown its fascinations in varying experience, ranging from one day sharing the confidence of the Chief Pa- triarch to making an inspection trip the next day of a new pneumatic tube service, capable of carrying 27 Eve and the Evangelist. thousands of people every minute scores of miles, what was more natural, while we were waiting for Patriarch Gladstoiie to confer with some of the municipal patriarchs than for me to gravitate to the municipal newspaper office, issuing The Herald, published as often as one hundred times per day. It was not queer that the city had but one news- paper office. Leading from the publication plant to the office or the home or both of every citizen were wires, capable of carrying a heavy electrical cur- rent. At the newspaper office was the form for printing, at the other end of the wire the press. The principle was an adaptation and a perfection of the teleautograph system of sending pictures. In a minute or even less after an item of news had been received, it was locked in the form, which was quickly applied to a metallic plate, given animation by great batteries. A push on a lever and subscrib- ers in their homes and offices had a printed paper. The tracings made on that plate by muriatic acid were first communicated in perforations to thick paper. This paper, pressing on a board of delicate needles operated a board of corresponding needles at the other end of the line. The characters in the form were thus reproduced with exactness. There was no longer waiting hours for the news. The activity last week of Mt. Vesuvius, which has been quiescent, comparatively, since 1906, was for in- stance known by New Yorkers as quickly as by the Neapolitans. An electric spark from aerograph station to aerograph station, another and another, 28 Eve and the Evangelist. hurried composition in the Herald office, the lock- ing of the form, the moving of a lever and simul- taneously every citizen had a freshly printed pa- per, giving him the news. The whole operation, performed with the greatest skill and expedition, took but a few minutes. The improvements made in the art preservative of all arts had been duplicated in all fields of hu- man endeavor. The secret of life had been discov- ered, communication with other worlds established, most of human diseases conquered, the interior of the earth reached in thousands of places through thin crust for perpetual surface heat in solution of the fuel problem, the transmutation of metals brought about by their reduction to basic elements, thus putting the world on a paper money status, based on National wealth, electricity completely mastered, mysteries of the past probed, the civiliza- tion of ancient Egypt studied as never before,, the secrets of Cheops and Gizeh laid bare, the Temple of Isis made to give up its treasures of history, and the glory and splendor of ancient Thebes definitely and incontrovertibly revealed; and yet, notwithstanding these advances, there were great problems ahead, one the prospective over population of the earth, taking first place, to say nothing of the delicately measured discovery that the earth was cooling faster than had been computed a couple of centuries before. Great New York! While I busied myself in a sociological and scientific study of this mammoth 29 Eve and the Evangelist. community. I longed for the moment when we could proceed and reach Peking, where a message would be awaiting me. Hunan had not yet reached the civilization of an aerograph station. It is so seldom people these days walk a great distance that I found keen pleasure in the stroll I leisurely took from 22nd Street up to Central Park. We were to leave at 5 p. m. for London. So eager was I to be away that I was on the ground fully an hour before the time fixed for departure. Master Sykes was carefully examining the projectile as I approached. I watched him as he went slowly over the huge machine. It was in fine condition, he said, and we were sure of a quick trip to London. Too bad Alice was not with us. Why had I not per- suaded Father Gladstone to let her go along? How slowly the minutes dragged ! At five o'clock every passenger was locked in the projectile, and every- thing in readiness for our 3,cxx) mile dart over the Atlantic. "Our itinerary will be slightly changed." Father Gladstone announced. ''We will make a short stop en route home at a settlement of mystics, living un- der the protecting care of Mt. Everest. I have just learned here in New York of a wonderful new light and fuel, discovered by them. If my information is correct, one of the world's greatest problems has been solved." Sweet music to my ears. It was just where I wanted to go. There was the usual loud pop and slight tremble and we shot out over the Atlantic. 30 CHAPTER V. A Slight Accident. Invention is activity of mind, as ffre is air in motion; A sharp«ning of the spiritual sight, to discern hidden apti- tudes. — Typpers' Proverbial Philosophy. Barney Diehl, Master Hiram Sykes' taciturn as- sistant, was three seconds slow as we approached London in working the system of levers that open the fan brake on the projectile. Before we real- ized it we were half way across the tempestuous British channel with Calais in sight. I never before had seen a man so watchful as Hiram Sykes. It took, it seemed, but a second, for him to reach the side of his helper and take hold of the levers, which he handled with marvelous dexterity. We settled slowly to the ground near the main quay of the French port. Inasmuch as Father Gladstone was due for a conference with London leaders of the Brotherhood movement, comparatively new to Eng- land, we at once resolved to leave our projectile at Calais and hurry back to England by submarine tube. It had taken us 6i minutes and ^6 seconds to reach Calais. The journey was exciting, but not nearly so stirring as was our flight from Frater- surb to New York. The difference was due to the 31 Eve and the Evangelist. sameness of color that lay under us our whole way. Once I caught a glimpse of a bright speck, flashing like a diamond, its white on the blue of the water. I knew instantly it was an iceberg. How small it appeared ! At the time we were at an altitude of 7,897 feet. The aerometer was about three feet in front of me where I could easily watch the hand on its dial. The hand vibrated incessantly as did that on a steam guage at a test of an exhumed steam boiler, made in the Fratersurb School of Technology last week. Sykes said it would be much more convenient to go to London by tube and electric flash than to make the journey by projectile. The Calais-Dover tube was completed 158 years ago. The project had been agitated for fifty years before. As early as 1899, the plan had been pronounced feasible by eminent engineers and the organization of a company started. Unfortunately, the project was of such magnitude that doubting Thomases arose and asserted with a great show of scientific knowledge that such a tube could never be made safe. It was the same old story over again. Every great reformer and every great inventor has, at some period or other in his life, been called a crank. In the past any man with a great idea had to ped- dle it around for years before capital would come to his support. Christopher Columbus before suc- cessful, ran around all over Europe for years, try- ing to find someone with enough enterprise, fore- 32 Eve and the Evangelist. sight and capital to help him discover America. He was offering the world for a song a continent worth now billions of dollars. Unhappy has been the fate too often of those who have tried to do something for the good of mankind. Taking the gravity lift at the entrance to the tube, we dropped down 2,293 feet, climbed with 1,200 other passengers into the long, cylindrical car, heard the guards' final injunction, "All aboard," given in musical French, felt a jar as compressed air, to the pressure of 3,000 pounds to the square inch, struck us and a moment later were gliding or rather sliding through that long black pipe to Dover. The air was as fresh as if we had been in a hay field in Lancashire on a bright June morning. The problem of air supply under such conditions had been solved a couple of centuries before. Elec- tric lights made our car as bright as day. The passengers represented all nationalities. On board was a Chinese mandarin, clad in a Parisian suit, and minus pig tail. Four hours before he had been at his home in Peking. A patriarch from New Zealand, where the Brotherhood germ was born, sat next to me, and in the few minutes we had together, descanted instructively on the first days of The New Life in that far off land. His name was Lawrence M. Harris. He was of generous proportions, having a rolly-polly figure, a round fat face and a merry twinkle in his eyes. In ap- pearance he was the embodiment of the Brother- hood idea. I would have staked my all on that 33 Eve and the Evangelist. man's goodness and unselfishness. When he spoke all of those around him paused and listened. "You will recall," he said, "that the idea of gov- ernment ownership had its first really successful test in New Zealand. In extending the idea, it was our plan to eliminate, as far as possible, human suffering. We endeavored to place men as nearly as possible on an equality. It had been said with much fidelity to truth all man needed was opportunity. Our laws had, through selfish- ness, been so administered that opportunity was for the few. While not trying to limit human ambition, we did try and sucessfuUy, too, to lift up the poor and the unfortunate; in other words to bring men in a material sense closer to- gether. It was natural for the purse proud of our own and other lands to sneer at us. Whenever some new plan was proposed, having for its sole object the ameloriation of mankind, the selfish, augmented by a plutocratic press, found it easy to sneer at us and refer to us as visionaries. Who does so now? Why when the American colonies wanted to break away from aristocrat-ruled Eng- land and establish a Republic, when Thomas Jeffer- son drafted that immortal document, beginning 'When in the course of human events,' and when that cracked old bell, bearing the inscrip- tion 'Proclaim liberty unto all the inhabi- tants thereof,' sent in hoarse, sonorous tones its message that eventually went clear around the globe, there were the same old sneers. The Rev- 34 Eve and the Evangelist. olutionary army was referred to as a band of rag- muffins and the prediction made that that mob of rebels would soon be driven into the sea by the King's own red coats. King, indeed! To think that our forefathers were ruled by a king, a man often of the meanest qualities, profligate, licentious and arrogant and usually the personification of self- ishness—a king who made war, brought sorrow and woe to thousands of homes, often at some childish whim and now and then at the caprice of some pampered favorite. The divine right of kings. That pernicious doctrine that could prevail only through general ignorance was finally shattered by the bomb of general enlightrnent. Then came the rule of class or aristocracy in diflferent forms, with all of its specious claim? to prerogatives. All of the time, the doctrine of equality, that really found its first expression in the pronunciamento of the golden rule, was hidden or badly obscured by the dust kicked up legislatively by the hunters for special privileges. "I was never and am not now an advocate of so- cialism but instead am for the practice of those commandments laid down in the Old Testament and reiterated in the simple rules, given out by that greatest of teachers, Jesus Christ. We have aimed to make all men happy and we have done so. We call it individualism limited. "We opened our larder not alone to the big, strong fellow, clothed with presumption and hav- ing a heart, every throb of which was to the dis- 35 Eve and the Evangelist. cordant music of selfishness, but to all alike. We saw that the little, weak fellow got as much as the big fellow^ Isn't the world a great deal better as a result? Who would again have the rule of the classes? The success of our experiment is appar- ent on all sides. Even the slow, sleepy Chinese are preparing to adopt Brotherhood ideas. The day of one big fellow and thousands of little ones, meas- ured in money and opportunity for happiness, is past. I believe the future — " Just then the philosopher caught a glimpse of Father Gladstone and hurried to his side. While they were engaged in animated conversation, there was a perceptible slowing down. A few moments later, the doors were opened and the guards shouted "All out for Dover." The subterranean trip had taken just 12 minutes. Prof. Nichelson, whom I joined on the lift, explained that the journey could be made in five minutes, but for the time necessi- tated in slowing down. "A commission of engin- eers,"' he continued, "is now working on a project to reduce the crossing time by at least two minutes. It has already been computed this can be done by a general overhauling and the installation of cars of a new and improved type. The cost will be close to 7,000,000 pounds sterling." Father Gladstone and the stranger from the An- tipodes went out together and walked away, arm in arm. All of the time they were engaged in earnest conversation. I followed closely at their heels, with Master Sykes at my side, and the others 36 Eve and the Evangelist. of our party trailing in the rear. It was but a few steps to the moving sidewalk that led to the escal- ator. The outer sidewalk was turning at the rate of three miles an hour, the inner, the fifth from the outside, at thirty miles an hour. Crossing to the inner one, it took us but five minutes to reach the escalator, which quickly landed us at the Elec- tric Flash Ry. Co. station. A train for London was waiting. Five minutes from Dover to London would have been pro- nounced silly two centuries ago. Now the whole road's engineering force is trying to reduce the time to four and one half minutes. In London a pneumatic tube car carried us from the railroad station to Trafalgar Square. All London, now a city of five millions of souls, was as busy as usu- al. It has not grown much in the last couple of centuries, owing to the desire of so many of its in- habitants to live in the country. Quick transpor- tation has given the suburban population practic- ally as many advantages as the city itself enjoys. Result, many small farmers, each an intensive ag- riculturist. On an acre, one easily makes a hand- some living. Electrical propogation of plants and cereals has solved one of the problems that for a while, owing to the rapid increase in population, staggered mankind. Large farms are seldom found these days. It seems that no problem arises that is not finally mastered by man. Motor cars, built on the principle of the duck, carried us to the International Hotel. These cars Z7 Eve and the Evangelist. run over the land, float on the water or fly through the air. It was Dr. Salathiel OHnger, who in 1962, solved the problem that had vexed mankind from the days of the Montgoflier Bros.' first balloon. He had watched the wild duck and, from his continued observations and studies, gave the world the first practical flying machine, that is a machine of com- mercial value. There had been numerous flying machines in the market years before, including those designed by Santos Dumont, a Frenchman, the Wright Bros., Americans, and scores of others. All of these had points of excellence, but still lacked the one requisite, practicality. At the International, covering two acres of ground and extending 500 feet in the air. there were accommodations for 10,000 guests. It was owned by a great co-operative company and for five years had been paying annual dividends of 7 per cent. The new caravansary, the Astor, now building in New York, will outrival it two to one, as the contract calls for rooms for 20,000 people. Still, today, as yesterday, Johnny Bull tries in vain to get ahead of Uncle Sam, Uncle Sam as he lives in the new idea, a greater, stouter, warmer hearted Uncle Sam than his prototype of two centuries ago. I had never before been in the International, al- though most of our party had. Hiram Sykes had been stopping at the place once a week for five years. I was assigned to a room in the 21st story. I breathed filtered and purified air, wholly free from dust and disease germs. The floor was of 38 Eve and the Evangelist. tile, with rugs spread about. Each room contained not only a communicator of an improved type, but an aerograph, the latter an evolution of wireless telegraphy. By moving a hand on a dial and fast- ening it with a set screw, any desired temperature could be automatically maintained in the room for an indefinite time. There was not a single conven- ience lacking. If one desired it, a motor car would come to his window. A pressure on the indicator, at the point marked motor car, did it. A journey over London at one's leisure, a trip under the sur- face of the Thames or an ascension of two miles to the frigid inter-planetary station, were all within easy reach. All about there were happy people. No more White Chapels, and no more conditions, productive of such quarters. The Brotherhood idea had al- though, in its infancy, truly made great progress in England. A sudden whim seized me. Why not call up Alice by communicator? The aerograph was not necessary and besides was comparatively cold and unsatisfactory. The old telephone that first would carry but 300 feet, had, year by year, been improved until finally, in 1904, it was called a great triumph when it was possible to talk be- tween Boston and Omaha. A few years later the metal sounding board (the idea was gained from studying an old Stradivarius violin) was introduced with the result that one could with ease talk from San Francisco to New York City. Little by little more improvements were made until talking under 39 Eve and the Evangelist. the ocean's surface became an actuality. Another dream of the past had been reahzed. The business over the fifty communicator hnes that stretch from. London to 'New York is of such vohime that one has to take his turn waiting. I grew impatient after a delay of an hour and was ready to excoriate the directors of the International Communicator Co. for not providing better facilities, when there was a melodious ringing at my right and I pulled down the ear phone, made perfect years before. I had gotten Alice's home in Fratcrsurb. Instead of Alice there was the reflection of her portly mother before me. "You want Alice?" she asked. "Alice is down at the library. She is much interested in the occult and is studying an old work by a Brahmin priest — something about reincarnation." "Tell her," I said, trying hard to conceal my dis- appointment, "not to forget to let me hear from her at Peking." "Yes," was the answer and the figure in the re- flector vanished. A moment later Father Gladstone notified me he wanted to see me about the great mass meeting to be held that night in Victoria hall, an auditorium capable of accommodating 200,000 people. 40 CHAPTER VI. A Great Outpouring. Nature in, her productions, slow aspires. By just degrees to reach perfection's height. — Somerville's Chase. Naturally Father Gladstone was the cynosure of all eyes at the Victoria Hall meeting. The audi- torium was filled to the outer rim. Interest was keen, and as was expected the auditors hung on every word uttered by the eminent men present. Wm. B. Rodgers, head of the London city council, presided. That duty would have fallen to the Lord Mayor but for the fact that his office, which for centuries had allowed some one to parade annually in great state, had years before been abolished. The last Lord Mayor was deposed, co-incident with the fall of royalty and the disavowal of preroga- tives for so called nobles. The republic, modeled exactly after that which had given the United States a foremost place in the world, had thrived like the proverbial green bay tree. It gave way to Brotherhood sway, which after all, is a republic perfected. Rule by royalty was at this time a thing of the past in all Europe. Russia was the first to declare for individual freedom, the declaration com- 41 Eve axd the Evangelist. ing twelve years after the conclusion of the Russo- Japanese war. The aristocracy, which was synony- mous with bureauacracy, had vainly tried by the old methods of iron rule to keep the people in subjec- tion. Little by little the Grand Dukes and their army of sycophants were shorn of power. Final political emasculation came when Czar Nicholas made a third unsuccessful attempt to reassert his so-called "divine rights." Orders issued to the army and navy fell on deaf ears. The soldiery and sailors were honey combed with sedition, fanned by great stacks of literature, circulated despite the activity of the Grand Duke's agents, edicts issued from St. Petersburg and loud claims made by blus- tering, bewhiskered martinets in the uniforms of generals. The crisis came on that memorable night m May, 1916, May 16, to be exact, when the Grand Dukes issued orders through the weak Czar for the prohibition of Revolutionary meetings, called for that night in every city of note in the Empire, Reg- iment after regiment of soldiers, many from Cron- stadt, was sent into the streets of St. Petersburg, with orders to prevent the meeting arranged for that city, no difference what the cost might be. The troops were ordered to charge the crowds and clear the thoroughfares. Not an order was obeyed. Even the long relied upon Cossacks were seized with the spirit of mutiny. Company after com- pany of soldiers joined the Revolutionists. Fear- ing their lives were in danger, the few officers that 42 Eve and the Evangelist. remained loyal to Nicholas hurried back to the pal- ace to find Nicholas, long weak minded, a mum- bling paretic. That night the republic was pro- claimed. Thousands swore to uphold the new form of government. M. Witte, elected the first presi- dent, proved worthy of the confidence reposed in him, and like George Washington, wisely refused a third term. The lamp of liberty thus lighted, to use a choice expression from the speech of an early American orator, Patrick Henry, he of House of Burgesses fame, kindled the conflagration that spread all over Europe, and resulted in the incin- eration of monarchical rule. Germany was one of the last to fall in line, the conservatism of her worthy people being a bar to hasty, ill advised or abortive action. Kaiser Wilhelm, being a ruler of keen perceptive faculties, gracefully abdicated. While inwardly raging he appeared so indifferent that it was somewhat paradoxical that the people chose him for their first president. He ruled wise- ly and justly in this capacity, making a record somewhat akin to that left by President Roosevelt of the United States. Thus was the question of lese majeste, together with other? of equal import- ance, peremptorily settled. The change in Eng- land from monarchical rule to republican sway came while King Edward was still on the throne. He had been near death several times. When the crisis came he had "no fight left in him," selecting a term from the parlance of the old prize ring. Ire- land was at last free. 43 Eve and the Evangelist. A large chorus choir occupied the rear of the immense stage, decorated with the banners of Brotherhood, showing clasped hands on a field of blue. The song, "One for All and All for One," was sung with a fervor that enthused clear back to the rear tier of seats in the great gallery. "Equal Op- portunity for All," and other songs of as much strength received salvos of applause. Father Glad- stone was greeted with cheers that made the welkin ring. There was fugue after fugue of applause. The greeting was of such tremendous proportions as to be disconcerting. When order had been re- stored Father Gladstone began his discourse in plain, terse language. The acoustic properties of the building were so perfect that those farthest away from the stage had no difficulty in following him. It is impossible in the limited confines of this work to give a verbatim report of his address. He was listened to with rapt attention from the calm exordium to the ringing peroration. Among other things he said (I aim herein to give his most sali- ent sentences) : *T could never reconcile myself to the belief that God intended that a few should be very rich and the many very poor. In the past some have been born strong and many very weak. The strong have taken from the weak. .'Leg- islation in many cases, legislation that was veiled, was used as an instrument for the perpetuity of the plan that for years saw the rich growing richer and the poor poorer. It was all contrary to the 44 Eve and the Evangelist. teachings of the Master. Now and then some sleek, well fed parson, having a congregation of aristo- crats, defended the system. He was always patted on the back for doing so, and now and then had a liberal salary increased. All of this time many good men were preaching and practicing right, and to those men we owe much. What is our object? To bring all possible happiness to the human race — that and nothing more. We argued that men are and of right ought to be brothers. We contended that men should not be ruled by selfishness. Why, two centuries ago, Brothers, that ignoble quality dominated the world. It was everywhere in evi- dence. Various expedients had been resorted to to curb the power and influence of organized plu- tocracy. The income tax was one of these. Those of you who are fond students of history will re- call how the Supreme Court of the United States within 30 years reversed its opinion on the consti- tutionality of that measure. That income tax was, by the way, one of the first steps toward the es- tablishment of Brotherhood. It was recognition by the people, through the constituted authorities, of a menace to the national safety. One safeguard after another was proposed, but often, for many years, the power of corporate wealth was too strong for material advancement. The proposition to limit individual wealth was first prominently proposed about the year 1900. The world was not at that time ready for the new doctrine, although 45 Eve and the Evangelist. it had the example of a man of 65 years accumu- lating a fortune of $400,000,000, or almost $7,000,- 000 per year, counting childhood. It takes a gen- eration often to educate a people to what is best for them. The education was slow but certain. Mul- tum in parvo. The income tax was a small begin- ning. It was followed by the advocacy without suc- cess, by Theodore Roosevelt, one of the American presidents, of the so-called progressive tax. "The foundations had been laid, however, and finally the change, welcome change that it was, came, and along with it the idea of trying to make mankind more alike, to bring all people nearer to a general average. We still have much more to do along this line through the medium of our educa- tional institutions. We have made such advances in that direction that ultimate success is assured. You Brothers of England have made a promising beginning. Watch your children. Keep to the fore the doctrine of unselfishness. Where greed once dominated mankind, now let love take its place. We are all more alike than was originally claimed. All that was needed was a new national standard, made prominent for years, to bring about volun- tary submission to it, and finally veneration. A nation usually has some dominant characteristic, due to long pursuance of an ideal. For instance an- cient Athens ran to art. It was the national ideal and desideratum. Ours is unselfishness. Inculca- tion of any doctrine by the great mass of the people is bound in time to aflfect the minority. Man is 46 -Eve and the Evangelist. such a creature of environment that he is quick to adjust himself to new conditions. "The minute we made selfishness a crime, that minute hundreds were brought into disrepute. There are few men that can stand up unaffected before the finger of public scorn. Years ago when a swell went from the so-called effete East to a frontier town, he quickly found that his silk tile and his 'boiled' shirt were not 'healthy.' The swell quickly changed to a whole souled frontiersman, affected the vernacular of the border, and within two years was as ready with jibe and jest to hu- miliate one fresh from the East as his companions had been to ridicule him. Such are the possibili- ties of change and environment. Public censure and public ridicule helped us vastly in the first stages of the establishment of Brotherhood rule. By making unselfishness our ideal, and by cease- lessly promulgating that ideal, we in time displaced the old regime. Result, a better and happier people. No more paupers and a suicide almost unheard of. We expect in the next century to make still fur- ther advancement. We want you to be firm in your adherence to the new doctrine. Our example and our success should ever inspire you to tireless work for the general good. Brothers, in conclu- sion, let me admonish you to abjure selfishness. Consider it the greatest evil you can harbor, for from it spring all other evils. Practice the golden rule and grow great as real Brothers." V. Other addresses followed. Wing Tan Fing, 47 Eve and the Evangelist. from Peking, China ; Senor Manuel Rosa, from Seville, Spain ; Herr Johann Schmidt, from Berlin, Germany; Victor Tolstoi, from Moscow, Russia, and Monsieur Alphonse Martens, from Paris, all devoted adherents to Brotherhood ideas, spoke in turn, each bringing out some new point of value to the Brotherhood. It was almost midnight when the meeting adjourned after appointing committees to take up some new features of Brotherhood work. It did not take long that night for me to fall asleep. 1 was tired out. We were to hurry the next morning back to Calais to continue our flight, with Moscow our next stop. 48 CHAPTER VII. An Old Letter. How empty learning, and how vain is art. But as it mends the life and gijides the heart. — Young's Last Day. It must have been about i o'clock that I awoke with a start. A curtain of moonlight, blue and un- canny, hung between my bed and the wall opposite. It stretched from the window where it came in at one side of the drawn shade, which hung aslant, across the room, ending on a bronze statue of Ho- mer. I was in the grip of a strange feeling that almost prompted me to pull the covers over my head and shut out the scene. It seemed as if a spectral figure were standing over me, issuing a command. The message, if there was one, was vague and unintelligible. I was half asleep. The conviction that some one was in the room, stand- ing over my bed, grew in the next few seconds. My fear finally vanished. I energetically opened my eyes and sat up. Looking around in a bewildered way I half expected to see some one I knew. My eyes gradually became accustomed to the mingled light and dark. I had been mistaken. There was no one in sight. Boldly I leaped from the bed and 49 Eve and the Evangelist. raised the shade. The tiny stream of moonlight instantly became a flood. At the same minute something seeemed to say, "Read the letter in your pocket." Suddenly I remembered. My father, three days before, had given me a letter, written two centuries ago by my great great grandfather, who in his day, had been a conspicuous figure in national life. I knew that he had been a Governor of Ohio, and had served six years in the national Senate. A biographical sketch explained that at one time he was prominently mentioned for the Democratic nomination for the presidency. He had been a man of large means, and had spent many years in travel, studying the diflferent races of men and the growth of civilization. In an inside pocket of my coat I found the heavy Manila envelope that contained the letter, now a message from the dead to the living. The letter was written in the old style, many years before the introduction of phonetic spelling. Inasmuch as old English literature had been a favorite study in my last university days, I deciphered it with greater ease than might have been expected, considering the incongruities of the spelling. The ten sheets of paper were yellow with age, but the ink was still dark, so dark that the characters stood out with surprising boldness. The letter was addressed to "John Young, my son," and was dated Madras, India, June ii, 1901. That much I made out in the moonlight. My curiosity was aroused. In my strenuous experi- 50 Eve and the Evangelist. ences of the last few daj-s I had completely for- gotten my father's injunction to read the letter and tell him what I thought of it. Turning on the light and pulling down the shade, I settled myself in a leather upholstered chair, with great, enfolding arms, lighted my briar wood pipe and leaned back comfortably to see what mystery, if any, the letter contained. It began: My Dear Son: Within the last month I have begun to realize that I may never again see you alive. I have failed most perceptibly within the last two weeks. I fear I shall never again see my native land. A fall I sustained three weeks ago. following a dinner at the Army Club, has been most disastrous. It came from an attack of verti- go. Since then I have been nervous, and for the first time in my life apprehensive of death. My physician, Dr. C. M. Eistand, says that I am the victim of a complication of diseases, which have come into prominence as a direct result of the shock. I am up far enough in materia medica and ther- apeutics to know that there is no hope for my re- covery. My liver is semi-torpid all of the time, and I cannot sleep. If I were strong enough to get about and get exercise I feel there would be some hope, but I am not. This is one of the worst nights I have experienced. I cannot sleep a wink. Ameluke, my Hindoo attendant, has propped me up in bed, and at my command brought me paper and ink to write sometliing that I think should not die with me. In the last 25 years in particular I 51 Eve and the Evangelist. have realized more than ever what a creature of custom man is. Too many of us are born and live in a little world of our own, without knowing much about the great outside world. One man is born a Christian, another a Mohammedan, another a Brahmin and a fourth a materialist. Each has an environment of walls he never sees over. Inside these walls he lives, toils and dies, to be succeeded by another and another, each doing exactly as his father did. Now and then, measured by centuries, a transition that works some wondrous change in man's sociological condition comes. These will continue to come until in the end, if there ever is to be an end, human perfection will be attained. In time inventions will bring the world so close to- gether that all of the people will be as one race and one nation. I believe that the next century will see Asia and America as close as Ohio and Indiana now are. To elucidate: By means of cable and telegraph Europe and America are now closer to- gether than were New York and Pittsburg lOO years ago. With the further development of man's ingenuity, general intelligence will grow and there will be radical changes in social, commercial and political life. The best prophesy is simply based on the greatest knowledge. Some men can see into the future and read aright the signs with the same ease that those on the inside, or in other words those having the knowledge, successfully play the stock market, while the poor lambs on the outside, not seeing the 52 Eve and the Evangelist. concealed wires that are pulled, wonder how it IS done, and katow in admiration to the money kings of the country. If many can see into the future and make predictions with certainty, I can see into the past. It is about my strange gift or sixth sense that I wish to write. Men in these days vary greatly in mental power. As a Senator I had some remarkable experiences in that line. Senator B. from Maryland, for instance, was the most remarkable man I ever knew. He never for- got a face or a name. His reading had been omni- verous, and there was not a subject he could not discuss, even with a specialist, without amazing his hearers by his keen insight into practically every- thing. If a party of railroad men mentioned a lo- comotive he could always see and tell of features about that piece of mechanism that had escaped the others. So it was about everything else. Where other men saw loo feet he saw 150 feet. His perceptive powers were marvelously devel- oped. He had been born on a farm in humble cir- cumstances, and had made his own way. Where others sought in vain for wealth he found it and piled it up until at the time I write he is worth between four and five million dollars. He appar- ently mastered everything at sight. Even in learn- ing foreign languages he was a prodigy'. If he heard a sentence once in French he was always able thereafter to repeat it with the exact accent in which it had been given and with a perfect un- derstanding of its meaning. Such a man was bound 53 Eve and the Evangelist. to outdistance his fellows. He was a giant in size and intellect, and never seemed to tire. One of his remarkable feats was to speak for i8 consecutive hours to delay a vote on the old Wilson tariff bill. He could go for a week at a time without sleep. In contrast to him was Senator M. of Michigan. He was a little, peevish, fretful man that any problem bothered. He tired easily, and but for inherited money, with which a seat had been bought for him, would never have been in the Senate. His mem- ory was scarcely a minute long, and he got be- fuddled over simple problems. The mind is a mystery. Additional force is given CO this statement by the discovery of my strange gift. I made it one night while sitting in my room in the Arlington Hotel in Washington. I had been out for a stroll. Lighting my second cigar, I climbed to my room, sat down in the twilight, closed my eyes and silently puffed aw^ay. I don't know how long I had been sitting in that wise, when slowly and dimly there appeared in my mind a fig- ure that I at once realized must have been myself at some other time. I fixed my mind intently on that figure and began to think with all the power at my command. The figure grew in distinctness until it was as plain as if it had been a photograph before my eyes. The figure was that of a tall, heavy Hindoo, with swarthy face and big black beard. His turban, brick colored robe and baggy trousers were distinct. Jewels on his fingers, his dignity and appearance of authority made it certain 54 Eve and the Evangelist. that he had been a person of some note. After that night I again and again tried the experiment, each time with improved results. I had always longed to go to India. Now nothing could hold me back. Never shall I forget that day I reached Calcutta. It seemed as if I were getting back home. While I had never before seen the city or been in the country everything about seemed familiar. What was it after all, reincarnation? I suspect so. For years I followed my experiments. A few years later I was able to see back of the Hindoo a poor Russian mujik, lacking the commonest necessaries of life, and living from day to day on a menu of boiled cabbage and black bread. That figure ap- peared and reappeared in my mind with such grow- ing distinctness that I became convinced I had at one time lived as that poor Slav. Recently in glancing over a copy of the London Times I read that a French woman, who fell into a cataleptic state, claimed, on emerging from her trance-like condition, that she had been able to see backwards for seven generations. Now people may scoff and say that these claims are the products of a diseased brain. I care not. We are now year- ly discovering so many new things in science that the wonder of today is A. B. C. in the primer of tomorrow. Recent developments in psychology', af- fecting telepathy and thought transference, make it plain, I believe, that there are yet many wonder- ful things about the mind to be learned. Certain it is that both, under certain vague conditions, can 55 Eve and the Evangelist. be practiced successfully. Physicians for fifty years or more have known of the value of mental stimulation in the treatment of common ailments. Hence the use of the placebo, a tasteless pill of nothing but common dough, given to the patient to make him believe he is getting something to effect a cure, while the doctor makes him optimistic, and suddenly finds his patient much better or cured. Now I want my descendants to read this letter and see if any of them have the strange power I pos- sess. Then followed several pages, relative to the dis- position of his property in the event of death. The letter left me dazed. I sat in that chair thinking until a streak of gray light in the East made me realize it was daybreak. CHAPTER VIII. Race Over a Continent. Thoughts that frown upon our mirth Will smile upon our sorrow, And many dark fears of today. May be bright hopes tomorrow. — Pinckney. The world owes much to the enterprise of news- papers and newspaper men. To borrow part of a well worn expression they have been ''First in war, first in peace." Naturally no journey of the character of ours, taking precedence at the time in the world's events over everything else, could be complete without the presence of the ubiquitous newspaper men. While strolling through Threadneedle street early the next morning, taking my constitutional, I little expected to meet one of my old college chums. I was walking along abstractedly, thinking about a thousand and one things. My eyes were on the ground. The business world had not yet turned out, and there were comparatively few peo- ple in the thoroughfares. I bolted around a corner, perhaps wnth unseemly haste, and bumped into an- other pedestrian up early like myself. 57 Eve and the Evangelist. Without looking up I started to apologize, when a blow on the shoulder, followed by a loud "Good gracious. Bob, why don't you look where you are going?" caused me to straighten up and face John Raper, John whom I had not seen for nearly ten years. He had changed but little since I bade him good bye at Yale on that memorable 17th of June, when we were graduated, he to hunt a job, I to go back to Fratersurb to consult pater familias, before definitely deciding what I should do for a living My father's great wish had been for me to take up Brotherhood work actively. In a measure I had from childhood been trained for it. It was in no wise distasteful, and I readily acquiesced in my father's plans. I had heard indirectly once or twice from "Jack." I knew that at one time he was with the Chicago World. "What are you doing over here?" I asked, partly recovered from my astonishment. "It seems an age since I saw^ you last." "What am I doing? I am on your trail," he an- swered, as he, w^ith evident enjoyment, puffed away at a cheroot. "I am still with The World, and have been assigned to follow you and Father Glad- stone to the land of Confucius. I saw you at the meeting last night and tried to reach you, but lost you in the jam, following the adjournment. Why, don't you know the whole world is on the qui vive over the result of your mission? Old 'Daddy' 58 Eve and the Evangelist. Hurst, our managing editor, gave me strict injunc- tion to follow every movement of your party, miss nothing and get exclusive features. He insisted on 7,000 words on the meeting last night. But for the fact that we are to start at the same time you do this morning I would still be in bed. Work? I worked like a Cape Colony slave last night. I had my electro typewriter in a little room oflF the stage, and was grinding away for three hours after the meeting. To accommodate me the International Aerograph Co. erected a special mast on top of the hall, so there would be as little delay as possible in getting my 'copy' off. Of course the other fellows shared in the benefits of this privilege. It was a great satisfaction when I had finished to receive this message from the Chicago oftice: 'Fine work on tonight's meeting. We beat our best competitor on the street by 15 seconds. The old man (that's the proprietor) gave orders to add at once 10 per week to your stipend.' " "I always knew you would lead," I asserted. "You were always first in college in everything ex- cept studies. Do you remember how you won over Jim Stimel in that sprinting match?" " 'Deed I do." "Tell me one thing, how do you make such speed in sending your dispatches?" "Easiest thing in the world. The electro type- writer, as you know, is almost as old as the hills. It is the invention of Prof. Rowland, formerly of Johns-Hopkins University. He tried to sell it in 59 Eve and the Evangelist. the United States, but failing, disposed of it to the Belgian government. "That was away back in 1902 or 1903, I have read. The invention consisted of two special type- writers, connected by wire. By a device, fitting over the fingerboard of each, what was written on one was instantly reproduced on the other. It would have saved the Associated Press thousands of dollars per annum. For some unknown reason it was not at the time adopted. Fifty years later it came into use. It is the same today as it was orig- inally, except that by the utilization of wireless telegraphy, wires are no longer necessary. What I wrote last night was instantly reproduced on a twin typewriter in the World ofifice in Chicago. The initial electrical energy at this end of the line leaped to the top of the mast and instantly jumped the gap between London and Chicago. Blue flash after blue flash followed and the work was done." "Marvelous!" I involuntarily exclaimed. "Twenty seconds after the last word had reached Chicago, a lever was pulled and papers were print- ed, giving the report complete. A few of course still go on the street. The Sun, our only competi- tor, will feel badly over the 'beat,' and Arthur Clarke, their representative, will not be happy un- til he has gotten even. May be he will not get the chance, as the rumor is pretty well authenticated that the World and the Sun are to be consolidated and taken over by the municipality, as has been 60 Eve and the Evangelist. t^^T/iT^Tr- ^"^ ^ "^"'^ ^^^^h Clarke." Jack •added thoughtfully. "^ It was wise that he did. ''We are to leave at 8 a. m.," I explained. 'Xet's get some breakfast." T ",^'' "'^ )° ^o^^y about your matutinal meal," Jack offered. "Always carry a package of Mun- son s breakfast tabloids with me. We fellows <=o often have to jump and run to cover an assignment tnat rations are as necessary as typewriters " 'They will save a lot of time," I added, referring to the tabloids. "Come then," Jack commanded, down to the projectile station." ''No use for me; our ship is over at Calais We made a slight miscalculation and landed in the wrong place." "Come along anyhow. Join me. We will ar- rive at practically the same time." "Good idea. Why not?" "We shall be glad to have you." "Come with me back to the International then m.^"'^ ^^" ^^^^^' Gladstone and get my belong- "Good." Hailing a motor car, which speeded to our side we climbed in. First there was a dash down the narrow street, a turn and the International, five squares away, was in sight. "Room 19, twenty- first floor," I shouted to the driver. "Yes, sir," he answered. "There was a whirring motion at the rear, the machine arose and we be- 61 Eve and the Evangelist. gan to fly through the air. It took but a minute for us to reach the right floor and dismount at the landing. "Good day, sir. Wish you a pleasant journey," exclaimed the driver, as he smiled and vanished. 'Years ago," said Raper, "a. driver would have worn a scowl for a month if you had not tipped him." "Tipped him?" I repeated. "Why that was one of the worst practices of the past because it accen- tuated the difference between master and man. None of it these days of Brotherhood." Inasmuch as our projectile was somewhat crowded, Father Gladstone gladly consented to my accompanying Raper. The venerable patriarch, old in years, but young in heart, and as vigorous in body and mind as many a man of half his years, said good bye, as he and his party left for the Electric Flash station to recross to Calais. They had planned to get away from the French port at 8.30 a. m. In order to keep as near them as possible we decided to leave at 8:29:30. There were four projectiles in the newspaper party, one representing the Associated Press, one the New York Herald, one the Chicago World and one the Chicago Sun. The Fratersurb Journal relied upon the Associated Press for its report. The newspaper men watched one another like hawks. When Reid, Wallace and Clarke, repre- senting the Press Association and the dailies 62 Eve and the Evangelist. named above, saw me climb into Raper's car, there was consternation among them. I did not realize until later what a favor I was doing "Jack." There were four reports in quick succession, and we sped away on our journey to Moscow. While Raper's crew was making ready for the start, and even after we were under way, "Jsick" kept me busy answering his volley of questions. Among other things I told him of our change in program, involving a visit to the base of Mt. Everest to ex- amine the wonderful new light Father Gladstone had heard of, and in doing so I unconsciously gave him one of the greatest "scoops" ever printed. Calais, Paris, Vienna, smaller cities, rivers and mountain ranges passed under us like a flash. In just fourteen minutes Moscow, with the gilded dome of the Kremlin shining like a brass headed tack in a carpet, was before us. The slowing up and dropping were accomplished without a hitch. We came down at 8 143 130, Reid four seconds later, and then Wallace and Clarke in turn. Father Gladstone and company had not yet ar- rived. Three minutes later there was a hiss, fol- lowed by a whir in the air, and Hiram Sykes' ship w^as on terra firma once more. Reid, Wallace and Clarke instantly formed a bar to Father Gladstone's advance. "What is the program when Peking is reached ?" they inquired in unison. "Boys," the patriarch answered in his kindest tone, "I cannot definitely state. We are to meet 63 Eve and the Evangelist. the foremost men of the empire and explain to them some features of Brotherhood work that are not clear to them. The probabilities are it will be some months before any decisive action is taken on the recommendations we shall make. You know the Chinese move slowly and cautiously. There is no doubt that in the end they will become a part of the great union." Raper had edged over to the semi-circle, and had caught every wor3. The interview was, how- ever, of secondary importance, he felt, to the abso- lutely new information he had gained from me. There was a rush to the aerograph station, and for some time the correspondents were busy. Reid, Wallace and Clarke wondered why Raper lingered so long. They found out when ten minutes after he had finished his despatch, each received a mes- sage wanting to know how he had gotten "scooped." "Wake up and send something not a week old," was the aerogram Clarke sullenly read. He gnashed his teeth in rage, and would not speak to Raper for two days. Our stop in Moscow was to be short. There was time though for me to communicate with Alice. I would do so. The aerograph was at my right and to the station I hurried. 64 CHAPTER IX. A Social Earthquake. Man was marked A friend in his creation to himself, And may with fit ambition conceive The grreatest blessings, and the brightest honors Appointed for him, if he can achieve them The right and noble way. — ^Massinger's Guardian. Moscow, rich in scenes of historical and socio- logical interest, was a gold mine of information to me in particular in the short time that we were in the ancient Russian capital. The Tsar-Kolokol, or the Czar of Bells, hung just as it had for years past. The aerograph station is located on the northwest corner of Senate Square, the four cor- ners of which are occupied by monuments to Ku- tuzoflf, Barclay de Tolly, Alexander I and Nicho- las I. There was a disposition when the republic was founded to tear down these statues, as that of George III in New York was razed at the out- break of the American war of the Revolution, but as they were not of lead, and in consequence would not yield bullets, they were forgotten in the fever of overturning the monarchy. Usually fluent in expressing myself I could not 65 Eve and the Evangelist. that morning find words of the right shade of meaning for my message to Alice. I must have written and torn up at least a dozen different aero- grams, all of them unsatisfactory, and was still cudgeling my brain for appropriate words, when someone touched me gently on the arm and said in good English: "May I speak with you, please?" The man who was bowing deferentially was a Russian, evidently a college professor or an ad- vanced student. He offered me his card. It read : "Prof. Andrew Morosky, University of Moscow." He was just the man I wanted to meet. He had for several years been active in the promulgation of the Brotherhood doctrine in Russia. "I should like," he said, "to have a talk with you and Father Gladstone." "Easily arranged," I answered. "Come with- me." Going to the new library building in the Kitay- Gorod, we found a room where we could talk with- out interruption. Our host was a man of unusual intelligence. He was of stalwart proportions, in reality a giant, physically and mentally. He spoke with the ease and softness of those who have great reserve power. Father Gladstone, who had the highest opinion of his ability, greeted him with the utmost cordiality. Prof. Morosky began: "You know that the Brotherhood movement, being compara- tively new in Russia, is not yet firmly established here. More than ordinary difficulties were, I 66 Eve and the Evangelist. think, to be anticipated. We for centuries had the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor. The gap between the widely separated classes could not be spanned in a day, a month or even a year. The Russian autocrat remained obstinate to the last. Arrogant, supercilious and unyielding, he could never admit that other men over whom he and his ancestors had ruled with an iron hand could be his equals. I believe that here in the old Russian em- pire the rule of greed was worse than anywhere else in the world. Awful general poverty on one side, and pitiless wealth on the other, illustrated to the whole world the dire possibilities of a sys- tem that was and is, theoretically and practically, inhuman. The Russian peasant, the small middle class, and even the best of the most successful business men were continuously squeezed for the benefit of the selfish few, cormorants, if you please, who, I now believe, were born without hearts or souls. I realize that such a declaration on my part a couple of centuries ago would have started me on the dismal road to Siberia. What I want to get at is this: The feeling of superior- ity had so long been innate on the part of our so- called Russian nobles that there are today still strong traces of it that operate to our disadvantage in firmly and irrevocably establishing Brotherhood rule. Descendants of these knout users now and then sneer at us and predict the new regime will prove but ephemeral." Father Gladstone had followed his ardent con- ^7 Eve and the Evangelist. vert closely. He was so calm and judicial in what he said as a rule that I was somewhat surprised at the feeling he showed when he began: "Of all the tyrants of the world the Russian noble has been a striking object lesson in pointing out to the world the graduations that have resulted in the es- tablishment of Brotherhood rule, and in emphasiz- ing the necessity of changing old conditions, con- ditions that were unnatural and brutal. Draw the veil that hides the Russian past, contrast those dark days and the present, and then thank God for the reformers, men, who, despite sneers, ridicule and opprobrium, dared to do right and lead the people higher up the hill of progress." In his fervor Father Gladstone had arisen and begun pacing the floor. "First brute strength ruled," he went on. "Why even the strongest carried away the women. In the past how many crude homes were despoiled of the wives and mothers by some one who was stronger than the husband and father? Men like wild animals fought for every possession over which there could be any contest. In time the stronger gathered unto themselves retainers and followers, hired Hessians, if you please, and estab- lished laws for the protection of their property. These laws were, of course, effective only as the strong were able to fight with the strong for their observance. The idea of rule by force grew, and the system gave us kings, whose authority, little by little, was curtailed. Limited monarchy bred 68 Eve and the Evangelist. republic and republic Brotherhood. The latter was just as sure to be the evolution of the republic as the republic was to be the evolution of the king- dom, and the kingdom of tribal reign. When Brotherhood rule was in incubation, and the period was more than a century, the reformers that the period produced were all agents, that little by little led the people to the unchangeable destiny of man. Brotherhood domination was sneered at just as the Royalists and their sycophantic followers first turned up their noses at the republic. "Now when something better than Brotherhood rule is proposed, and proposed it will be sometime, perhaps not for two centuries from now, the same old arguments against change will be made. Some of them^ will be specious, and some people will be misled, just as they have been in the past. This is a world of progress, progress in every direction. The man that tries to stop this vehicle is getting under a Juggernaut car." "What are we to do with our malcontents?" Prof. Morosky inquired. "Do with them?" Father Gladstone repeated. "Why let them alone unless they break our laws. In the event that they do, then give them the se- verest punishment. Give up your time to pushing Brotherhood teachings. Nothing can long stand in their way. After all it is nothing new, simply practical theology. It is real, not false living. Un- der Brotherhood conditions there is just as much of a stimulus to work, to create new instruments 69 Eve and the Evangelist. of progress, and to beautify the world as under the old system, when man's sole aim was to make money. Now we have a new criterion. We have advanced. We no longer place a million dollars on a pedestal, bow to it and make everything else subordinate to its purchasing power. Shame it is that we did it once." "I feel much* benefitted and stimulated by our conference," exlaimed Prof. Morosky, when Father Gladstone indicated that we must hurry on to Peking to keep our engagement there. There were warm adieux, and Father Gladstone and f hurried back to the Senate Square, where our trav- eling companions would be waiting for us. "Your name Robert Young?" inquired a uni- formed attache of the aerograph station, as I was about to climb into Raper's ship with Hunan as our destination. "Yes," I answered, as I took the message he held from his extended hand. The message was from Alice. It read : "Do you remember the les- son on India we studied together ten years ago?" What did she mean? I searched my mind for the answer. Sykes' ship was already out of sight. "Climb in," Raper demanded, as he gave me a gentle shove, followed me and closed the door. Strange as were all the sights of that trip they failed to interest me. 70 CHAPTER X. A Correspondent's Enterprise. The fawning citizen, whose love's bought dearest, Deceives his brother when the sun shines clearest, Gets, borrows, breaks, lets in and stops out light, And lives a knave, to leave his son a knight. — Brown's Pastorals. Ever since he had been scooped, Clarke of the Sun, had thirsted for revenge. Raper was so alert that every attempt so far to score a '"beat" on him had failed. The World man, whose traveling com- panion I had become, knew his rival's tactics so well that he was constantly on the watch. The nerve strain must have been racking. Raper watched Clarke constantly, and the latter slept with one eye open, so to speak. Some miscalcula- tion had been made as to the size of the charge of pulva and all of our projectiles, finding the propelling force almost spent, dropped down in Samarcand, Central Asia, instead of at Hunan as planned. Clarke was about five minutes ahead of us. When we landed in the park in front of the tomb of Tamerlane, crowds of turbaned citizens, surrounded us, eager to learn of the strange ship that had brought us to this city, rich in the simple 71 Eve and the Evangelist. and beautiful architecture of the Orient. Some distance away was another crowd, around, as I afterwards learned, Clarke and his car. He had alighted at the Mosque near the Reghistan. It was the first time the people of this city, many of whom were Russians, had seen one of the projec- tiles, of which they had vaguely heard, as if they were creations of a fairyland. Father Gladstone and companions were the last to reach the ground. They hit the earth gently near the Tilla-Kari mosque. The crowds grew in size until it seemed as if all of the inhabitants except the veiled wives were in the thoroughfares, and I am confident, from the many movements in windows on the street we occupied as a lodestone, many of them were peering out from behind blinds and shades with curiosity as great as that of their lords. We looked about us in amazement. The scene was one of exceptional beauty. Few cities in the world can compare with Samarcand for attractiveness. Sylvan scenes stretch out in every direction. The city presents the appearance of having been liter- ally carved out of a forest of poplars and acacias, many square miles in extent. The tall trees, whose branches almost interlace overhead, form green arcades that in summer's heat are bowers so cool and inviting that there is always a temptation to linger. Here was a city that had undergone but few changes in centuries. Rich in historical inter- est, it is ever a treasure trove for the student. There are about great ruins, reminders of an active past. 72 Eve and the Evangelist, I learned afterwards that this city was used as a base of operations for that prince of brigands, Alexander the Great, whose murderous career in pursuit of added power, leaving behind a blood- red trail, illustrates the vast difference between the past and the present, for the Brotherhood ab- hors and opposes wars, wars that in the past were waged in the same spirit that prompted the high- wayman to rob and plunder. A gesticulating band that formed a circle many feet thick around our ship and tried by means of signs to talk with us, courteously opened a way when we indicated that we wanted to move about. Presently a great strapping Russian came up and greeted us with characteristic Eastern warmth. He spoke English with ease, and said he had been delegated by the Russian resident Governor to welcome us to the city. He said that dignitary in- sisted that we become his guests at the palace. "We shall be delighted to do so," Raper an- swered for both of us. Climbing into one of the large two-wheeled carts, peculiar to the country, we moved away in a lumbering manner to the city's show place. Clarke was not in sight, and Father Gladstone, we were told, was already at the palace, where he had been received with hon- ors befitting a king. There certainly was no news in this out of the way place, Raper reasoned, out- side of that of the unexpected stop. Reaching the telegraph office he sent a brief message by way of St. Petersburg to his paper, telling of the exhaus- 7Z Eve and the Evangelist. tion of our power and our presence at Samarcand. He added that we would hurry on to Peking. On arrival at the palace we were effusively greeted by Prince Ritsky, the Governor, who still, by common consent, retained an inherited title, notwithstanding Russia's denial of nobles. Prince Ritsky was a man of intelligence and learning, and showed familiarity with the Brotherhood move- ment. We were offered tea and vodka. For the novelty of it, Raper and I both took a sip of the latter, strong enough to move a load of stone. A dizzy feeling seized me immediately. Thank good- ness it did not last long. Prince Ritsky asked us one question after an- other, the interrogations coming with the rapidity of an army enfilading an enemy with a rapid fire gun. We finally accepted his invitation to attend a banquet he hastily planned in our honor. He invited the foremost business men of the town. Native dishes exclusively were served. One of these was kiabab, made of minced meat, previous- ly cooked and wrapped in thin sheets of dough. Another choice dish was cayourna, a kind of a. meat stew, made of mutton and half a dozen veg- etables. The chief dish was pilaf, made by mixing tidbits of fried mutton with boiled rice, to which was added something like curry. There were Ori- ental music and dances, together with entertain- ment by acrobats and jugglers. It was with regret that we departed, hoping that some time in the fu- 74 Eve and the Evangelist. ture we might have time to make an extended vis- it to this city. Clarke had been strangely missing part of the time, but to this fact Raper attached no import- ance. It was only after we reached Peking that we learned of his coup. Clarke learned from a Russian shortly after his arrival in Samarcand, that Viceroy Wang Ting Fu of the city of Canton, was in this Central Asian city on a political mis- sion. The Viceroy had been educated at the Uni- versity of Chicago, and knew English so well that Clarke said afterwards he was ashamed of the fact that he knew no Chinese. Now the Viceroy was one of the Emperor's closest advisers, and had but two weeks before talked with His Majesty — how awful that title sounds to us Brotherhood people i — about pushing the Brotherhood movement in China. They had spent three hours together, dis- cussing the subject. In consequence the Viceroy was full to the chin of "spot" news, and Raper didn't even know of his presence in the place. Clarke had a long talk with the Chinese official, and then, to "kill" time, and keep him away from Raper and the other newspaper correspondents, piloted him down to his projectile, explained its mechanism and finally took him inside, where, with Burgundy and Havanas, the time passed swiftly for the Viceroy. And that is the way Qarke got his memorable scoop, and revenge. His interview, sent by old fashioned telegraph to Mos- •cow, was in that city, put on the aerograph and 75 Eve and the Evangelist. hurried to Chicago. The Sun had its day of a big exclusive, and Clarke for a week afterwards walked past us with the air of an emperor. It was necessary to use emergency tubes to get away from Samarcand. Over the Thian Shan Mountains and the brown and gray desert of Gobi we flashed without incident. Reaching Peking we came to a stop within the sacred walls of the old Forbidden City. In these latter years, every time I think of Peking, it is with an ache that goes to the very bottom of my heart, for it was in that city I had an unfortunate experience that caused me m.any days and nights of anguish. 76 CHAPTER XL Welcomed to Peking. Trifles, light as air, Are, to the jealous, confirmations as strong As proof of Holy Writ. — Shakespeare's Othello. Our arrival in the Purple Forbidden City natur- ally caused a commotion. Guards, topped with hats that looked like upturned bowls, came running from every direction. Had the Emperor not taken the precaution to notify them of our coming, we might have been shot on the spot for invading sa- cred territory. As it was an army official, garbed in yards of silk, approached and did a katowing act that would have been impossible for old age. With the utmost civility we were escorted to the Imperial Palace, where, after a short delay, we were received by the Son of Heaven in person. In manner he was democratic. The Emperor was robed in a combination of red and yellow silks, and had an air of ineffable dignity. Instead of taking his chair in the throne room, he advanced to meet us, and took each of our party by the hand. The Emperor spoke English with ease, so that there was nothing stilted about our initial 17 Eve and the Evangelist. reception. Father Gladstone, of course, did all of the talking for the Brotherhood party. The first meeting was devoted to those little amenities, typ- ical of the broad minded. "Where did I learn my English?" Emperor King Swa replied to Father Gladstone. "As the heir apparent, I was not allowed to leave my coun- try. After the usual Chinese course in ethics, geo- graphy, astronomy and some other sciences, it was my good fortune to have as tutor a former Yale graduate, Sam Lung by nam.e Mr. Lung took second honors in his class. Being an observant man he saw the wonderful hold the Brotherhood idea had on America. He studied it and became a convert. He taught me English, and collected for me a library of standard English works. In addition he showed me that it was only a question of time until the Brotherhood idea would domi- nate in China. It several years ago gained a foothold, and its converts now number millions. I have become convinced that it is the right gov- ernmental system, and will welcome its establish- ment here. Several of the Viceroys, and thous- ands of the office holders, many of whom I know are confirmed grafters, have been vigorous in urg- mg me to cling to traditional government. I have at heart the best interests of my people, and so thoroughly believe in Brotherhood ideals that the loss of my throne is nothing. Threats have re- cently been made against my life by members of the Gen Wing faction, several adherents of which 78 Eve and the Evangelist. have inborn the old, almost forgotten, 'foreign devil' cry, but I am not afraid of them," concluded this real Emperor, as he straightened up and seemed great enough to vanquish his enemies with his logic. I instantly became a warm admirer of this ruler, who was shrewd enough to see the trend of events and take time by the forelock. "I shall want to see you all tomorrow evening at 8," he added, "for a thorough discussion of Brotherhood laws, and for some light on features now obscure to me." "We shall be glad to come," said Father Glad- stone. "We want to give all the impetus possible to the movement on this side of the globe." Inasmuch as Raper and I had come into the city together, we were paired for a lodging place. He and I became the guests of the Titu, or Governor of the city, who lives in an imposing brick man- sion directly northwards from King Shan, or Prospect Hill. En route from the Imperial Palace to that residence, our wish to view the city from the great wall, fifty feet high and forty feet wide at the top, the base being sixty, was readily granted. "Magnificent!" exclaimed Raper, "I had no idea the city was so beautiful." The square miles of city before us looked like 2. huge park, dotted here and there with buildings, the upturned roofs of which, bright in tiles of blue, green and yellow, glittered in the sunlight. The Titu's home was a dream of Oriental lux- 79 Eve and the Evangelist. ury. Chinese artists of fame had been given carte blanche to decorate the house, which, with its great screens, costly bric-a-brac and truly magnificent furniture, was, to us, a source of unending delight. The Titu was a man of great personal wealth, who, w-e learned later, did not take kindly to the demand of the millions of his fellow men, to abandon the old regime, and take up something new from across the broad Pacific. Not by word or sign, however, did he give any indication of his hostility. He had been asked to entertain us, and he did so with a grace that was charming. That night, when we were ushered out to the dining room, great was my surprise to find the Titu's daughter next to me at the table, and greater still was my amazement when I learned that she was a graduate of Vassar, and as well acquainted in New York as she was in Peking. Many a man has gone into the Orient, expecting to encounter Ignorance, bigotry, stupidity and superstition, only to find the structure of imagination he has built up false from foundation to roof. The daughter's name was Onwa Ling Lu. She was, in truth, a Chinese belle, who would have graced a drawing room in any center of civiliza- tion, and just the kind, I suppose, Alice had in mind at the Fratersurb Station, when she gave me her warning. Miss Onwa was dressed in a style that Gibson girls, Stanislaw stunners and Fisher fairies of the ultra-fashionable days of years ago could have found no fault with. She was dark, 80 Eve and the Evangelist. petite and vivacious. With an olive complexion, eyes of starry brightness, and teeth so white the surfeit of ivory in the house, by comparison, looked brown, she made a picture for a painter. The menu was typically Chinese, and included the inevitable bird's nest soup, bamboo shoots, shark's fins, aged eggs, which are considered a treat, and other delicacies. From a Chinese gas- tronomic point of view it was a great feast. The Titu had received an English education, and the degree of A. B. from Oxford. He had always leaned toward the sciences, and things abstruse never failed to interest him. He plied ns «^ ilh question after question about new inventions in Brotherhood land, and was interested in partic- ular in the new steamships, now run wholly for health purposes. These ships are a mile in length and accommodate on board a whole city of moder- ate proportions. Every up to date convenience is supplied. Among them is a trolley line that runs clear around the ship, taking passengers from one joint to another without delay. At the conclusion of our dinner the host took me to his "den," as he chose to call it, a long, well lighted room, fitted with all manner of scientific instruments. Great was my surprise to find he had a communicator. I did not think it would carry a message to America, but he assured me it would, there being sounding boards of strong vi- bratory qualities at Guam and Honolulu. Raper was at the Aerograph station. 8i Eve and the Evangelist. Later the Titu showed me over his extensive grounds, where landscape gardening had been em- ployed on a large scale. It was some time later that, alone, I strolled back to the house, esconced myself in the library and settled down for perusal of the Peking Daily Gazette, half of which was at this time printed in English. I had not read long, when the door softly opened and Miss Onwa burst into the room. *'I did not expect to find you here, Mr. Young," she exclaimed. "Are you going to the dance at the British Embassy tonight?" "Knew nothing about it," I answered promptly. ^'I understand that you Chinese belles, now that you have given up foot bandaging, are among the most graceful dancers in the world." "Flatterer ! I'll wager a pair of Paris gloves you have paid compliments to many an American ijelle." "To tell the truth is not flattery." I insisted. The little almond eyed beauty burst into a merry laugh and declared that Raper and I must go to the ball. As she flitted from the room a picture of Alice. as I last saw her. came into my mind. Why not ■call her up? There was a communicator almost within reach. Pressing an electric button I sum- moned Sam Loy, the library boy (it seems there Is a different servant for each room in the house •of Chinese dignitaries.) "Miss Onwa, Miss Onwa," I said in the best 82 The 7,'irc -c^'us so heavily charged that its touch at the exposed point meant death." Eve and the Evangelist. Chinese I was able to muster. Sam slunk away^ to be followed a few moments later by a swish of skirts that told, unmistakably, of the approach of the daughter of the house. "Your communicator, I would like to use it," I started. "This way," she commanded, I a willing private to her role of captain. "The switch works hard," she explained. "Now as soon as you have finished I want to talk with you about the ball. I will wait right here." After some delay I got Alice's home by the way of San Francisco and Chicago. The minute the Fratersurb Exchange cut in on the Meredith home, Alice, in reflection, appeared on the large disc in front of me. Onwa clapped her hands in joy. "American girl !" she exclaimed, as she came running toward me, not realizing that I had anything of a confi- dential nature to say. Onwa came closer until she was almost against the switch. At the same time there was a sputtering as part of the wire sudden- ly exposed, through faulty insulation, came in con- tact with the iron bracket of the switch. The wire was so heavily charged that its touch at the ex- posed point meant death. Onwa did not realize her peril. Scarcely an inch intervened between her bare wrist and the dangerous wire. There was but one thing to do. The time was too short for a vocal warning. Throwing out my free arm, I caught her about the waist and pulled her 83 Eve and the Evangelist. against me. She had not been in the range of the reflector. Ahce gave a look of amazement and vanished. I did not know whether the sudden dis- connection was due to the electric leak, or to pos- sible misinterpretation by Alice, of the presence in my arms of the Chinese maiden. Here was a pretty plight for a man who was virtually engaged. "Miss Onwa," I stammered, "excuse me, but didn't you see how close you were to death?'' I hurriedly explained. She grew pale, fainted and fell back limp in my arms. At the same mo- ment the door opened and the Titu strode into the room. 84 CHAPTER XII. Battle of Wits. Extol not riches, then, the toll of fools, The wise man's cumbrance, if not snare, more apt. To slacken virtue and abate her edge, Than prompt her to do aught may merit praise. — Milton's Paradise Regained. When the Titu learned that I had saved his daughter's Hfe he was gratitude personified. He was my escort that night to the palace for a dis- cussion of the Brotherhood system. That day I had made five trips to the aerograph station for the expected message from Alice. There was none, which was a mystery. Alice always kept her word. There was something wrong somewhere. The foremost men of the Chinese Empire were in the Assembly Hall at the Palace for the mem- orable meeting, which, the next day, was given first place in the world's events by the newspapers. The Emperor and Father Gladstone occupied chairs side by side on the dais. To each side were members of our party. Viceroys, Mandarins, other oflficials, teachers, authors, scientists and sociolo- gists. The yellow peacock feather and loose silk coats and baggy trousers of hues as varied as those 85 Eve and the Evangelist. of the rainbow were in evidence. In the audi- torium, which was filled to the back walls, there was the same variety of bright colors. From where I sat on the dais, surveying the audience was like looking through a huge kaleidoscope. It was at exactly eight o'clock that the Emperor arose and tersely stated the object of the meeting. "My friends," he began, "we are honored with the presence tonight of Father Gladstone, the fore- most exponent of Brotherhood Government. I as- sume much of the responsibility for his presence in China. As many of you know, I have, for sev- eral years, given much study to the science of gov- ernment. The conviction has grown on me that in Brotherhod laws, most of the knotty problems of government have been solved. I am so much of an idealist that my throne is, relatively, unimport- ant. I want to see our people as happy as it is pos- sible for them to be. If it is the concensus of opin- ion among you that Twenty-second century gov- ernment, as exemplified in the Brotherhood idea, is the thing for China, then I am for the change."^ There was vigorous handclapping from all over the room. The Emperor, as Raper put it, made a ten strike. "Father Gladstone will now address us," the Emperor concluded. He stepped back, took the Brotherhood leader by the hand, led him forward and introduced him. "Brothers," Father Gladstone said, as he coolly- measured the size and the character of his audi- 86 Eve and the Evangelist. cnce, "I would be recreant to duty if I failed to publicly acknowledge my indebtedness to your Emperor for his gracious welcome and hospitality. Rulers in the past have abdicated their thrones for -cne reason or another. The record of kingdoms and empires is dotted with such incidents. Some- times the throne was abdicated through fear, sometimes for sex love, and sometimes on account of old age. Never before in all history, however, is there any record of a sovereign, for purely un- selfish reasons, voluntarily offering to relinquish his crown to give impetus to a great social move- ment. Brothers, you have among you, in your ruler, one of the greatest men of all times." There was another outburst of applause. It was noticeable that one section of the auditorium was singularly silent. "See Gen Wing over there?" Raper whispered. He pointed to a corner where a Chinaman of about 60 years of age, having a fierce mustache that was trying to run back of his ears, was the centre of a sullen group. "If I am not mistaken there is going to be some trouble here tonight," Raper added. "Now, my brothers," Father Gladstone con- tinued, "this is your meeting. I am here to answer questions and to give you information. Ideal gov- ernments, so-called, have tried to make all men equal. For years they succeeded only theoretical- ly. It appears to be settled, beyond controversy, ■that the great aim of reform governments, dating 87 Eve and the Evangelist. from the time European kings were deposed, was to bring about as far as possible, equality among men. Constitutions were adopted and laws were framed with that object in view. In one way or another well meant plans always failed until the Brotherhood idea of government was launched. The few had always secured special privileges at the expense, of necessity, of the many. Laws for years for the regulation of the greedy proved in- effective, because they were not enforced. This is all a matter of comparatively recent history. It is remarkable that the municipal ownership idea had its birth in England, where two centuries ago it had spread to such proportions that hundreds of towns were affected, all to decided advantage of the people. It was in Europe that government ownership of railroads and telegraphs originated. It made its appearance in the United States in the postal system. After several years' incubation, it suddenly seemed like wildfire to sweep with irre- sistible force from one end of the country to the other. Its wisdom is no longer questioned. The idea grew with the aggressions of the plutocrats. All was not easy sailing. There were hidden rocks and rough seas. As there is no pleasure without pain, so there is no success without effort. When Brotherhood government was first proposed the idea was ridiculed by those whose ancestors had been Tories when the republic was in embryo- There were many causes that contributed to the success of the Brotherhood movement. One was 88 Eve and the Evangelist. the accumulation of great fortunes by a few men, another defiance of laws by the plutocrats, and a third ridicule by them of the courts, some of which in a Western state were bought and sold as wanted for use. The people were patient for a long time in the face of these abuses, but even- tually the protests that were made resulted in a complete change in the personnel of Congress and the State Legislatures. Sweeping reforms were inaugurated, and, finally, successful Brotherhood government superseded the old system. The ac- cumulation by one man of $400,000,000 in a busi- ness lifetime, say 40 years, was one of the potent illustrations used by those fighting special privi- leges, as manifested in monopoly, railroad rebates and widespread corruption. Some writers have .^ince placed this one man's v/ealth at $1,000,000,- 000. Using the first figures mentioned as a basis for computation, it is seen that this man made an average of a million dollars every month. His wealth producing power was equal to that of 17.- 000 men working at $2 per day. The Brotherhood plan of limiting fortunes is old. It was given some impetus back in 1906, when President Theodore Roosevelt proposed a progressive tax on incomes. The evil had been recognized long years before that. In those days there lived a great editor by the name of Henri Watterson. His paper was the Louisville Courier Journal. On April 18, 1906. he said editorially of the Roosevelt proposition: 'The utterance of the President is just as radical, just 89 Eve and the Evangelist. as far reaching and just as pertinent as that of President Lincoln, when he said: *I beheve the government cannot endure half free and half slave. As slavery was the menace of the union in 1858, is money its menace now? As slavery built up an oligarchy in the South, is money building up a plutocracy in the East? Just as it was true that the government could not endure half free and half slave is it true that if the government does not destroy the plutocracy, the plutocracy will de- stroy the government.' "The newspapers of the day contained state- ments from the money kings, in which the pro- posed tax w^as excoriated. One U. S. Senator, rated at $70,000,000, forthwith declared that he would at once deliver a speech in the Senate in opposition to the proposed measure. "Eventually individual wealth was limited. The present limit for any one person is $50,000. The idea has worked so well, without causing the pre- dicted stagnation in the aflFairs of men, that I now firmly believe the time will come when the limit will be reduced to $25,000. We still have our rich and our poor, but we have no great extremes as in the past. Ambition has not been stifled, enter- prise is not at a standstill and colossal undertak- ings have not been abandoned. The world today is moving forward at a faster pace than ever be- fore in its history." Gen Wing had grown red in the face. Sputter- 90 Eve and the Evangelist. ing he arose and requested permission to ask a question. "Is it right," he inquired, "to reward the indus- trious and idle alike?" "We do not do so," was Father Gladstone's prompt answer. "Industry with us still has its re- M^ard. He that will not work cannot have the good raiment or palatable food that his industrious brother enjoys. In our schools the curriculum has been vastly changed, so that children, from primer to geometry, are taught unselfishness, industry and governmental evils of the past. Inasmuch as ed- ucation is compulsory, the finished young man has pretty well defined ideas about the Brotherhood movement, and is invariably its warm champion." "Don't you interfere with property rights?" Gen. Wing again interrogated. "Yes," was the unexpected answer of Father Gladstone. "We keep the selfish from taking that which never did belong to them." Gen Wing, as red as a lobster, sat down and tried to get back farther into the corner. Mandarin Ah Tung, a member of the Wing fac- tion, arose and asked permission to speak. His request was graciously granted by both Father Gladstone and the Emperor. Ah Tung was the typical scholar in appearance. He had a large head, a clean shaven face and a judicial air. Large rimmed glasses partially concealed his e3'es. His arguments were the same that bad been made dec- ades before against the Brotherhood. 91 Eve and the Evangelist. Beginning, he said : "When I was in college we were taught the laissez faire system of gov- ernment, the right of individual control. We looked on the postal service under government control with suspicion. Times have changed, but I still think the system a sound one. Many of the advocates of this policy are those whose struggle for a living has been severe and unsuccessful. When, however, you find among college graduates men who are swayed by their emotions, you find a class of persons with whom it is hard to be pa- tient. I hope that China will not make the pro- posed change." Father Gladstone was on his feet in a moment. "You must know," he said, answering the man- darin, '"that the Brotherhood system of govern- ment is an absolute success. We do not now^ and never have opposed individual control of private property, but in the interests of the many we are as unalterably opposed to unlimited wealth in the hands of one individual as we are opposed to the system which resulted in the extremely rich and the extremely poor. If I tonight were by physical su- perority, to rob my neighbor, all would say I was guilty of a crime. Under the old system I could rob him, not by physical supremacy, but by leg- islative enactment, and not suffer for it. For in- stance, a dozen of us, engaged in the same busi- ness, could combine and secure the imposition of a heavy tariff on the article we manufactured. By shutting out foreign competition and controlling 92 Eve and the Evangelist. the home market we could make our profits as great as we desired. "Is there, after all, much difference between that kind of robbery and holding a man up in the high- way? The securing of special privileges in the past made many men millionaires. Their fortunes were built on a system of polite brigandage." "The man who takes risks in investing large sums of capital and giving employment to hun- dreds of men is entitled to special privileges," Ah Tung speciously argued. "Why?" Father Gladstone interrogated. "Because he should receive more than an or- dinary reward for taking a step far in advance of his fellow men." "That is the same old argument," Father Glad- stone retorted. "Pursuit of the plan resulted years ago in the virtual ownership of the United States by approximately 50 men. They either owned or controlled all of the railroads, and by controlling the trusts fixed the prices of food stuffs, clothing, building material and even the caskets in which men were laid away to rest^ They had 70,000,000 people absolutely at their mercy. "How does this harmonize with the idea of 'a government of the people, by the people and for the people?' If God made the air so that all could breathe it alike, why isn't it true that he made the land, with its varied wealth, for the equal enjoy- ment of all? Primarily did the earth belong to all alike or to a few individuals, who by said owner- 93 Eve and the Evangelist. ship virtually controlled the destinies of their fel- low creatures? After all the real object of gov- ernment should be the people's happiness. Who is there that dars say that was the result under the old system, when the spirit of trying to elbow your neighbor out of the way dominated?" Ah Tung was, in the parlance of the old fron- tier, still loaded for bear. He continued: "The right of property has played quite as important a part in human progress as in human liberty. The laborer must have the right to enjoy what his in- dustry has produced. What one had the right to enjoy he had the right to give to another to enjoy, and so the transmission of property became fixed, and property passed from one generation to an- other. The institution of private property has led to the capital of the world. Without it the world would still be groping in darkness." "Is that latter sentence correct?" Father Glad- stone asked. "It is the argument of the plutocrats. If you deny that the purpose of government is to bring the greatest good to the greatest number, then possibly there is some basis for this conten- tion. If the old fallacy that the world was made for the enjoyment of a favored few is to be fol- lowed blindly, then the Brotherhood system is wrong. But it was not. The plutocrat has taken and still takes special privileges as he can. He con- siders himself a superior being, to whom the poorer and meaner should pay adoration. Thank the Lord the plutocrat, years ago, as far as our 94 Eve and the Evangelist. land is concerned, had the scales knocked from his eyes, and was shown that he was not entitled to favors. The tribute that the whole world once paid to money, making it superior to everything else, honesty, virtue, talent and genius, undoubted- ly had much to do with the assumption by the plu- tocrat of unusual rights. Mr. Ah Tung, your ar- gument sounds suspiciously like a political speech of one of the great politicians of 200 years ago." Ah Tung was on his feet again, this time with this argument: "The only way a man can enjoy the fruit of his labor is to give to all others the right to enjoy theirs. Yet we are told that we must divide up wealth. I am confident that while there are some morbid thinkers among university graduates, we can safely believe that most of them are sane and will set their faces against the pro- posed distribution of private property." "Mr. Ah Tung," Father Gladstone replied. "We w^ant men to enjoy the fruit of their labor. In ad- dition we don't want one man to enjoy the fruit of other men's work; in other words we do not want him to have that to which he is not entitled by any moral, social or, if you please, legal right, for as a rule large fortunes have been built on the wreck of some wisely framed law or just prin- ciple. Men have worked co-operatively from the first. Even the trusts of the past were co-opera- tive. Why has it not been a good thing to extend the idea to include all of the people? "If a man is found with that which does not be- 95 Eve and the Evangelist. long to him, why should he not be compelled to turn it over to the rightful owners? Some of the worst anarchists of the past have been those mag- nates who brazenly defied the laws, bought up judges, and, like the kings of old, laughed at the claims of the people that their rights had been vio- lated. Life at its longest is short, and in the time that man is on earth he should truly know, by his experiences, that all men are created free and equal." The report of the meeting was read with wide- spread interest all over the world. A committee was appointed, which two hours later brought in a report that China adopt Brotherhood government. Our mission had been successful, and a day later we began preparations for our trip to the base of the Himalayas. These preparations included the addition of emergency tubes to the ships of our fleet. Would our expectations be realized? Would the new light, about which little was known, prove as wonderful as anticipated? 96 V. «?«. 'Over (jrccti /^laiiis and broi^'it and (/ray iiioiiiitaiiis we sped." CHAPTER XIII. Under Mt. Everest. The whispering air Sends inspiration from the mountain heights. — Wadsworth. The last thing I did before we left Peking was to visit the aerograph station, hoping there would be a message there from Fratersurb. Disappoint- ment was my lot. The understrapper in charge said with an asperity, characteristic of many of his kind, that there was nothing for me. It is scarcely necessary for me to say that I was deeply grieved. With a heavy heart I went to the projectile sta- tion. We were due to leave at 9 a. m. A great party of distinguished Chinese, headed by the Em- peror, was down to see us oflf. Master Sykes, af- ter carefully getting his bearings, turned the prow of our ship a little more to the southwest. There were fervent farewells and the signal for the start was given. Over green plains and brown and gray mountains we sped, all with rapidly beating hearts in anticipation of unusual experiences. Our desti- nation was Kunchinjinga, the nearest large town to Mt. Everest. But for the fact that the white peak of that greatest mountain was so conspicuous, 97 Eve and the Evangelist. Vv-e probably would have experienced difficulty in coming down at the right spot. Our ships came to rest on the green sward just outside the city. Na- tives, with wonderment written on their faces, floclced to the scene. At first they were diffident and kept at some distance. Friendly signs made encouraged them and they came closer. Our de- light was great when Roger Brown, representing a London mining company, greeted us with a cheery "Good morning." These were about the most wel- come words I had heard in days. Ke was a large, well built man with blue eyes and a red face that told of good living. 'Where are you going and where are you from?'' he asked. "From Fratersurb and now bound for home," Master Sykes and Clarke said in unison. "Just from Peking," Reid added. "I shall be glad to be your host here," the Brit- isher remarked cordially. "The accommodations are poor, but, I" think, I can make it worth your while to stay a day or so." For the party Father Gladstone accepted the in- vitation. The natives were now fairly swarming around the different airships and were examining every part of the machines with keen interest. I turned and looked around me with varying emo- tions. Off to the northwest was Mt. Everest, meas- uring 29,002 feet in height. The huge pile of earth and rock, the summit almost lost in the clouds that morning, hung over us with ominous portent; at 98 Eve and the Evangelist. least I felt so, being gloomy and dejected. Turn- ing around I surveyed the town, largely a collec- tion of huts, except for some yellow buildings on a square, and some rather pretentious residences at the southern edge. Except for the massiveness and grandeur of the mountains, there was nothing attractive about us. A party of Brahmin priests stood on the edge of the crowd, which had grown with the passing of each minute. Some of the na- tives fancied we were messengers from Heaven, and were as ready to worship us as the American Indians were eager to adore Christopher Colum- bus and his followers. The moment Father Glad- stone saw the priests he made his way to them and presented a letter he carried. One of the number read it and beckoned to the Englishman. With the latter as interpreter we were told that the great Brahmin of the locality, Marayan Krishna, was at home. The letter was an open sesame to him. Fa- ther Gladstone indicated that we wanted to see him. Guides were provided. One of them, a young man of 20, spoke English, which he had learned in a school in Madras. Our Mecca was two miles away. The path was a rough and stony one, and walking was a necessity. After two hours of tire- some trudging we came in sight of the great man's abode. It was a simple hut, set against a rocky wall. About three hundred feet away a small waterfall sparkled in the sun. The hut was carpetless, and bore evidence that the occupant led the simplest life. He was nowhere in sight. We sat down 99 Eve and the Evangelist. on the uneven ground to wait. Presently the priest, bearing on his back a bundle of faggots, emerged from some underbrush to the rear. He was apparently 70 years of age. When he had thrown his load to the ground and straightened up I mar- velled at his bearing. It was military if not regal. He stood erect and looked at us with piercing black eyes, as if reading our inmost thoughts. He wore a brown robe or surtout, with a hood hang- ing down his back. His face, which had been a study in stolidness, lighted up when he read the letter Father Gladstone presented. The two shook hands with great warmth and cordiality. Later there was an introduction all around. Through the interpreter the two leaders talked at length. "How is our devout brother, Arine Brishna, who is now in your land?" the Brahmin inquired. It was from him that Father Gladstone had ob- tained the letter which unlocked the doors to the priest's heart. "He is well and sent his love by me," Father Gladstone replied. "You come for what?" the priest asked, "To see the great light," was the answer. "I am glad of it," the priest said. "You are not missionaries. We have more religion of our own than we know what to do with ; in fact, a surplus that we would like to export. If you want to Christianize us send us some men that are quali- fied to teach. Until then the Vedas, our four books of philosophy, are good enough for us." I(X) Eve and the Evangelist. "We teach the Golden Rule, the simplest and the greatest doctrine," Father Gladstone answered. "It was in your country," the priest continued, "that great extremes in wealth and poverty ex- isted"; and then he quoted not from his but our Bible. That incident at once elevated him in my mind to the skies. Here is what he quoted according to the inter- preter: "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth eaten." "Your gold and silver is cankered ; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. You have heaped treasure together for the last days." "Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth and been wanton ; ye have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just and he doth not resist you." James 5 : 1-3, 5-7. "We have reformed our part of the world," Father Gladstone answered. "We have gotten back to basic principles. We have not had anything in particular against the rich man, realizing that he was the creature of a false system. Brotherhood has corrected this system." "You do not call your system Socialism," the priest said. "You threw aside the objectionable features of that creed and adopted the good. Do you know that I have in my library a remarkable prediction, made two hundred years ago, following lOI Eve and the Evangelist. the great religious congress in Chicago, by an em- inent rehgious teacher of your country ? His name, let me see, Archbishop J. J. Glennon, of St. Louis. He said as nearly as I can remember, (what a remarkable memory this man had), some- thing like this : 'The social fabric appears today to be in imminent danger, because old principles are ignored and old foundations attacked. What was held as law is now regarded as injustice; what was held as government is now deemed tyranny. Men no longer hold the duty of obedience to power, nor admit that power should claim a divine sanc- tion. Government as it is must change. Laws as now written must be modified, and the principles of old, deemed sacred, must give way to the new order, the new principles based on what they would claim must lead to the absolute social, civic, psychic and physical equality of men. In other words we must socialize the entire people. We must tear down the mighty from their seats and elevate those of low degree. Property rights, vested interests, private ownership all must go. It is humanity that alone may remain, and all of the principle and tradition of written law must yield to the new gos- pel, the socialization of the people. It was folly to deny that the shadow of socialism is hanging over the land, and while learned men are busy pointing out its unreasonableness, its injustice, its lack of feasibility, the shadow deepens, the preach- ers capitulate and the leaders grow more auda- cious.' " 102 Eve and the Evangelist. "How prophetic it all sounds," Father Gladstone exclaimed, "in the light of the developments of the last two hundred years. It is the more remarkable, in view of the fact that the Archbishop was the rep- resentative of a great religious organization that had years before strongly declared against social- ism." "You want to see the light? Come then," the priest said. We followed him up and down a rocky path un- til we came to a large stone building, occupying a site, commanding a view of a beautiful valley. It was the home of the priests of the locality and the home of our priest, except when he chose to go off to his hut and live in the simplicity of the earliest days. A long wooden trough conveyed a small stream of mountain water into a shed-like building that stood to the right of the main structure. Straight to the door the priest led us. 103 CHAPTER XIV. Light From Water. True religion is always mild, propitious, humble, Plays not the tyrant, plants no faith in blood; Nor bears destruction on her chariot wheels; But stoops to polish, succor, and redress. And builds her grrvndeur on the public good. — Miller's Mahomet. A problem once solved is easy. The arts of mak- ing malleable glass and of hardening copper, to say nothing of embalming, known to the ancients, and lost three thousand years ago, were found a few years back to be exceedingly simple. In the gulf be- tween the remote past and the present, thousands had tried in vain to discover the secrets. Man in- vents something new. It commands an enormous sale. Everybody looks at it and says the same thing — 'Tt's a wonder some one did not think of that long ago." Once inside the building, housing the mysteri- ous light and fuel, we looked around with keen in- terest. The structure was about forty feet square. Near the centre was an iron cylinder, looking not unlike one of the old so-called cannon stoves, ex- cept at the top there was a funnel-like hopper and 104 Eve and the Evangelist. around the periphery, several curled pipes of dif- ferent diameters with valves, cut-offs and gauges. "The interior of the stove, retort or generator," our priest cicerone explained through the inter- preter, "is entirely free from chemicals." At his request, the interpreter removed a cat head large enough for us to peer in. We could not see much except a small hollow place, topped and bottomed with iron plates, slightly incrusted with lime. This was Clarke's opportunity to get busy. While we were all peeking around, trying to find the hidden mystery, the ubiquitous newspaper man began: *T have it. It is an old idea, but one that was never made of commercial value. The plan is to make gas from water by a proper use of its two gases, oxygen and hydrogen." Clarke, by this time, had taken the lecturing air of a college professor, and continued with some pedantry: "Hydrogen gas, you know, readily burns in oxygen or air with formation of vaoor of water. I am speaking of the so-called oxyhydro- gen flame. The quantity of heat evolved, according to Thomsen, amounts to 34,116 units for every unit of weight of hydrogen burned, which means that, supposing the two gases were originally at the tem- perature of, say o degrees C, to bring the hot steam produced into the condition of liquid water of o degrees C we must withdraw from it a quantity of heat equal to that necessary to raise 34,116 units of weight of liquid water from o de- grees to I degree C. The heat disturbance is 105 Eve and the Evangelist. (,uite independent of the particular mode in which the process is conducted. It is the same for in. stance, whether pure oxygen or air be used as a re- agent, being neither more or less than the balance of energy between one part of hydrogen plus eight parts of oxygen on the one hand, and nine parts of liquid water on the other." "Rah for Clarke," shouted Raper and Wallace. "It's Dr. Clarke after this," Wallace added. "Go on!" Clarke did, and as follows : "The temperature of the flame, on the other hand, does depend on the circumstances under which the process takes place. It obviously obtains its maximum in the case of the firing of pure 'oxyhydrogen' gas, that is a mixture of hydrogen with exactly half its volume of oxygen, the quantity it combines within becom- mg Avater. It becomes less when the 'oxyhydrogen' is mixed with the excess of one or the other of the two co-reagents or an inert gas, such as nitrogen, because in any such case the small amount of heat spreads over a large quantity of matter." "Done?" asked Raper. "Yes," snapped Clarke, showing considerable perturbation. The Brahmin had listened with attention, the in- terpreter explaining as Clarke proceeded. "That's right," the aged priest remarked. "We make light and heat from water. The idea is an old one. Two centuries ago an American claimed to have made cheap gas from water. It was evident^ 1 06 Eve and the Evangelist. a failure, as, after that, nothing more was heard of the alleged discovery. Our process is comparative- ly inexpensive. Look!" He turned a gate in the trough, carrying the tiny stream of water, diverting the liquid from the over- flow to the funnel. He quickly turned half a dozen valves, and asked for a match. Lighting one, a clear white light of great brilliancy sprang from a tip, standing upright from an inch metal pipe that came from the middle of the cylinder. "Watch it!" the priest admonished. Slowly turning a wheel valve, he caused the flame to change from perfect incandescence to a blue light of great heat, the latter for fuel. We stood and looked in open mouthed wonder. Here was a Brahmin, living in a mountain fastness, who had made a marvelous discovery, and who was evidently, from what he had already said, closely acquainted with what was happening in the great world outside. From rush light and pine knot to this ! What se- crets the world had yielded up, and yet it was still full of them. At this time, owing to the large in- crease in the world's population, the exhaustion of most of the coal mines, and the scarcity of timber, the fuel supply question had taken a commanding position in the international forum. "Father Krishna," I ventured, "you have certain- ly made a wonderful discovery, and the world owes you a great debt." "Our light," he answered, "belongs to the whole world. If it is of great value, as it seems to be, 107 Eve axd the Evangelist, it will prove a great blessing. I hope so." The newspaper correspondents were worried. There was no aerograph station within 300 miles, and yet here was news that ought to be on the way across the ocean. Raper suddenly disappeared. Later, we learned that he had discovered there was a telegraph office in the town. He hurried back, with the other correspondents a half mile in the rear. Raper got into the office out of breath, and began to grind out copy with an improved Faber, as if future happiness depended on his speed. Fin- ishing his despatch, he clipped an article a column long from a Bombay paper six months old, and had the operator continue this as a part of his message, doing it to hold the wire. That is the way Raper scored the greatest scoop in his entire career. j\Iy opportunity to talk to Father Krishna at length came when we sat down under a grape ar- bor, while the others of the party either rested or strolled about, they having been given the freedom of the place. '"Father," I began, through the interpreter whom I had called, "out in our world you priests have, for centuries, had the reputation of possessing se- crets in reference to the occult that are not known to ordinary mortals. I can readily believe this, knowing full well that specialization in any direc- tion leads to surprising results. What can you tell me?" "Son," he answered, "there are some things I can tell you, and some I cannot, unless you become one 108 Eve and the Evangelist. of us, which would mean a probationary period of nine years, during which time, you would be sub- jected to numerous ordeals as tests for your fit- ness for our work. It is true that we have learned many secrets, psychological and otherwise, that are not known to the outside world. They have been handed down from one generation of priests to another. The world is one of mysteries. Year af- ter year these mysteries grow fewer. The world is already discovering some of the things known to us for lo! these many centuries. The misty past is a graveyard of valuable secrets. If the great Alexandrian Library had not been burned down, most of them would have been carried down to a curious posterity. The world is now investigating our theory of reincarnation, based on the simple truth that matter is indestructible, and that recur- rence is the unalterable rule." "Reincarnation?" I gasped, "that is what I want to know about. One of my ancestors, who for- merly lived in this country, was a believer in it, and left me a legacy in the shape of a written ac- count of his experiences." "You want to know about? Well, then, come around tomorrow, say at 9 o'clock." The hour suited me exactly and I was feverish with expec- tancy. 109 CHAPTER XV. Back Six Generations. They that on glorious ancestors enlarge. Produce their debt instead of their discharge. — Young. When I appeared at the monastery the ne.xt morning at the appointed hour, it was with a well defined idea as to how the interior of the somewhat imposing stone structure would appear. It seems that, as a rule, tiger skins and Himalayan build- ings are unavoidably associated together. When I was ushered into the office or reception room, there was no tiger skin ; neither were there any costly vases, fine bric-a-brac, expensive pieces of ivory, or rare works of art. Instead, extreme simplicity ruled. The chairs were plain, but comfortable. There was a rug on the floor, and in one corner a desk that shared the austerity of the other furnish- ings of the room. On a shelf was a statuette of Brahma. The walls were rough plastered and bare, save for three prints. Rows of low shelves were filled with books, mostly, I judged, of a religious character. A bikshu (a priest) came in and bowed low, making gestures, indicating that I was welcome, no Eve akd tke Evangelist. and pointing to a chair to be seated. He had a lean, sallow face, and looked as if he never smiled. His figure was enveloped from neck to feet in a gray cassock, held at the middle with a girdle. The striking thing about the priest was his high fore- head and intellectual face. He sat down, evident- ly waiting for Father Krishna. After eyeing me critically, as if analyzing the powers of my facul- ties, he fell into a fit of abstraction, and did not again notice me. His thoughts were evidently far away. A few minutes later. Father Krishna, accom- panied by the interpreter of the day before, came in, smiled and shook hands with me. The infor- mation, given him by Father Gladstone, that I was one of the youngest of the leaders of the Brother- hood movement, had undoubtedly impressed him, (I say this without intending to appear egotistical). He inquired after my health, and then asked if I were ready to learn of the transmigration of souls. Assuring him that I was, he pointed to a door lead- ing to the rear. In the adjoining room was a flight of stone steps that led to a long hall, lined on either side by a row of monks' cells. Some of them were occupied. Curiously, it appeared to me, not one of the monks looked up, or gave us the slightest notice. Father Krishna led me to a cell in the far end of the hall. Bidding me enter, he and the mterpreter followed. Talking in a low, musical voice, he began : "Looking backward is for us easier than looking III Eve and the Evangelist. forward. Your people, especially those that keep in close touch with current events, can easily read at least a part of the future. Things that are mys- teries to the untutored are as plain as day to the learned. I have read that centuries ago Indians of your Mississippi region looked on a certain man as possessing supernatural powers because his dec- laration that on a certain day the Heavens would grow dark at noon and the sun would be hidden from view, came true to the minute. That man knew by superior knowledge of a coming eclipse. He was held in such awe that if he had desired it he could have become the absolute ruler of those red men. The human mind as well as the hu- man body is capable of extraordinary development in any direction. This is illustrated by specializa- tion in the world's schools. We bikshus are spe- cialists. We have for centuries past trained our minds in certain directions. It is no longer difficult for us to look backward, and through the memory of former lives, read the history of the past. You are likely to fail in your first attempts. Com- plete loss to the world is necessary. You must se- clude yourself in this cell, close your eyes and sit and think of a former existence — that only, and nothing more. If you have success, your former life will appear to you very faintly. After repeated trials it will, with each attempt, grow clearer." I thanked him and he left me alone. Just for a moment I would look around and take note of my companions, not one of whom had deigned to no- iia Eve and the Evangelist. ticeme. What an odd lot! What a life to lead shut up here away from civilization, sitting for hours apparently half asleep, turning prayer wheels and hving an existence almost primitive. I cer- tamly was not in a religious mood. Why could I not concentrate my mind on my past existence? Who had I been before I was ushered into this world as Robert Young? I closed my eyes tightly gritted my teeth and resolved to find out. The hall was warm and close, and great beads of sweat stood out on my forehead. I would not confess failure. If these monks, living up here in the moun- tams away from the activities and progress of the world, could see into the past, so could I, too. I closed my eyes more tightly and pressed on the lids with my finger tips. Pictures ? Yes, rolls of changing colors with yellow and streaks of black domin^'antt Then came fantastic figures and miles of what looked like wall paper. The past? When woald it come? What one man could do another ought to be able to do. I yawned. Good gracious ! I was growing drowsy. Was that one of the symptoms ? I changed my fingers from my eyes to my ears and shut out all sound. I would be dead to my envi- ronment. Ha! What was that? I opened my eyes and looked. Nothing more than one of the monks leaving his cell, where he had been for hours. What had Alice meant when she said that she would give me her answer in Peking? What bearing on our afl^airs had these mystics? Here I was ruminating over an outside matter. Why 113 Eve and the Evangelist. didn't I stick to my task? It was easy for the monks. How hard my chair had become! Was ever a more uncomfortable one made? Why not lie down ? There was a bunk at my side. I did so, again closed my eyes tightly and resolved to allow no stray thought to interfere with my experiment. Then came a succession of prismatic colors, danc- ing in fantastic shapes before me. Small at first, and varied in character, they gradually grew larger until they merged into the figure of a man. Faint lines gave way to sharp ones; the pale face took on life and color, and I fancied I could see the blood coursing through the veins and arteries. Yes, there was pulsation on the forehead. Eureka! I had succeeded. It was I in the preceding genera- tion. The figure was tall, clean shaven and cleri- cal in appearance. The voice was that of an ora- tor. The figure had a commanding air, and had evidently been a leader. Then it all became plain. I had been a missionary and had done yeoman work in bringing a part of the effete East to the Brother- hood way of thinking. In Newport, the scenes of aristocratic triumphs, the dogs had been sicked on me. In Fifth Avenue I had been pointed out as a crazy man. On the East Side of New York I had been given an ovation. Later, what a triumph for me, when Brotherhood swept that section of the country, carrying everything before it. So, suc- cessful. I went back farther and farther. Here is the result : Second generation. — Leading crowd through 114 Eve and the Evangelist. streets, crying for actual instead of theoretical equality. Hissed, stoned, called Socialist and dubbed Anarchist. Arrested and sent to prison, later to insane asylum, from where I was released itnd pronounced as sane as any human being. De- nounced child labor, graft, sweat-shop system, mo- nopoly and the purchase of the people's govern- ment by the trust magnates. Arrested in the Na- tional Capital in an effort to see the President, and dragged off to prison. Freed, grew ill and died, still hoping for reform of existing evils. Third Generation. — Fat, sleek, prosperous look- ing individual, wearing an air of evident superior- ity. Pompous, arrogant and dictatorial. Indif- ferent to rights of others. Had big bank account, and was constantly adding to it. Stole a poor devil's patent, made a fortune, and finally, one day when he came to my office, begging for bread, gave him $10 and ordered him not to bother me any more; became a speculator, cornered the egg market, and jumped eggs one winter from lo cents to 30 cents per dozen, all at the expense of my fellow citizens. People called me great, and the newspapers printed my picture. Grew ambitious as a speculator, and cornered wheat, running the price in three months from 60 cents to $1 per bushel. Profits $9,000,000. Price of bread was advanced, and there were bread riots in the larger cities. Became known all over the Avorld as Barton, the wheat king. Knocked ofif Vv^ork and v/ent abroad on private yacht. After spending three years seeing the world, and marry- 115 Eve and the Evangelist. ing my daughters to dukes and earls, returned to my native land and bought a seat in the United States Senate. Died from apoplexy, following burst of passion in endeavor to get an appropria- tion for line of ships I had become interested in. Fourth Generation. — Born poor, got common school education, started country store, prospered, took interest in new railroad, obtained control of it, reorganized company, watered stock, boosted it on stories of extensions and consolidation with trunk line, and sold out at a profit of $2,000,000, Stock, three months later, fell from 115 to 53. The suckers held the bag. Did the same thing over and over again, and became one of the kings of Wall Street, with an unsurpassed knowledge of frenzied finance. Built a hospital, founded a college and died a "good old man." Fifth Generation. — Bunko steerer in New York, having come from the slums. Kept on good terms with the police. Made many acquaintances, and eventually became a political power. Dropped working the "guys" from the country, became one of the "Boss" lieutenants and took to collecting graft from the saloonists, and others who profited by violating the law. It was dead easy. When anyone kicked he got "pinched." Moved into a bet- ter neighborhood and built a fine house. "Boss" died, and I succeeded to his shoes, worked the graft game and made all wanting offices come to me. Soon had a million dollars in my pockets, which I got mostly from the sale of franchises. Became a 116 Eve and the Evangelist. bank president, and the head of a railroad. The newspapers tacked "Hon." on to my name, and I became "it." Had a large funeral and got a big tombstone. Sixth Generation. — Was a good fellow. Became an office holder, starting with the place of con- stable. Finally landed in the Mayor's chair. Soon found out the place was rich in "velvet." Corpor- ations, wanting franchises, had a courteous way of making loans that were never to be repaid. The vulgar would have called it bribe-taking, but in my day it was statesmanship. Became the local *'boss," kept the corporations in line for annual or semi-annual contributions ; had all kinds of rail- road passes, and died one of "our best and most respected citizens." Number seven was beginning to appear vaguely, when I felt my arm were in a vise, and awoke with a start. Raper had hold of me and was shaking me. '"Dreaming again?" he asked. Getting back into the world so suddenly was a queer experience. Had I been dreaming, or had I penetrated into the realms of the occult? 117 CHAPTER XVI. Lost City Found. As though an earthquake smacked its mumbling lips, O'er some thick-peopled city. — Bailey's Festus. Our route homeward took us over Northern In- dia, Afghanistan, Persia and Arabia. Practically the entire population of Kunchinjinga turned out for our departure. Our visit had been a memorable one in the annals of the town. Father Krishna gave his personal attention to the collection of food and pure water for us. There was a careful in- spection of each airship, a reckoning of our exact latitude and longitude, and a comparison of our lo- cation with that of Cairo. From the calculations made, each projectile pointed in the direction of the Egyptian capital. Inasmuch as Kunchinjinga had no projectile station, we were obliged to use emerg- ency tubes again for the start. Each projectile was equipped with one of these, which had to be anchored firmly in the ground and left behind. Father Krishna, in bidding us good bye, pre- sented Father Gladstone a diagram of the light- making machine, with a full explanation in English of how the chemical changes, necessary to convert ii8 Eve and the Evangelist. water, otherwise oxygen and hydrogen, into light and heat, were brought about. Father Gladstone exacted a promise from the Brahmin leader to vis- it him at Fratersurb. Our trip to Cairo was un- eventful, except for the glimpses we had of stran-e Oriental cities, including Lahore, Cabool, Teheran Bagdad, Damascus and Jerusalem. Pitv it was we ciid not have time to drop down on each one of them, especially on Jerusalem and Bagdad, rich re- spectively in material relating to the lowly Nazar- ene, the real founder of the Brotherhod of Man, and to Caliph Haroun el Raschid, the Just, in a mild way an exponent of the Brotherhood idea. The first view of Cairo was one of exceeding beauty. Dominating the landscape were the many mosques and minarets, most of them of grea't height, and built largely of alternate layers of red and white stone We descended near the celebra- ted mosque, the Sultan Tayloon, and made our way to the gay International Hotel, where at the time representatives of nearly every race on the globe were to be found. To our surprise, we learned that there had been great seismic disturbances in the Northern Atlantic Ocean. There had been earth- quakes on both the Eastern and Western shores of that great sheet of water. The centre of disturb- ance, which seemed to radiate in elliptical lines, appeared, it was explained, to be somewhere out in the middle of the ocean, no one knew exactly where. Anxious to learn all of the particulars, we hurried our departure, deciding on Lisbon, Portu- 119 Eve and tpie Evangelist. gal, where there was a projectile station, as our next stop. The Portuguese capital, which we reached in about nine minutes after we had left Cairo, was in a great commotion. The city had been severely shaken for five seconds, and many of the lighter and weaker buildings were in ruins. There had been a great upheaval of land some- where east of the Canaries. Our newspaper con- tingent was wild with excitement. They hurried here and there, eager for definite information. After a rest of two hours in Lisbon that was no rest at all, we put to sea ; that is, out over the sea, steering for Teneriffe, the largest of the Canaries. Dashing over Teneriflfe, and a strait, probably twenty-five miles wide, we came to a stretch of land, reaching away farther than the eye could see, that had taken the place of the former unbroken expanse of blue. Onward we sailed for probably six hundred miles, when the ocean again came in view. The appearance on the shore of a city, covered with heavy marine vegetation, prompted Father Gladstone to speak hurriedly to Master Sykes, who without a moment's delay, turned his rudder, opened up the brake and threw out the minite wings. We were now describing a huge cir- cle. Five minutes of this, during which time our speed was slowly reduced, and we began to drop to the ground. In that time we had an opportunity to study the nature-exhumed metropolis, for metropo- lis it evidently had been. Towering above every- ti:ing else were two huge pyramids, which, I later 120 Eve and the Evangelist. ascertained, were 1500 feet square at the base and 623 feet high. We discovered that the four sides were set in exact Hnes with the four cardinal points. The apex of one had tumbled over, and the side of the other was convex for a space 50 feet square. The buildings were in ruins, but still well enough preserved to give an index to their pristine splen- dor. When we reached the ground, there was a rush, even among the elders of our party, to get out. Naturally Father Gladstone was given pre- cedence. Our landing place was an ancient plaza, bounded by huge buildings, one with a peristyle of broken columns. The buildings were built of huge blocks of granite and were apparently Egyptian in design and character. "Look," exclaimed Sykes, as he retreated from an object lying on the ground near a broken col- umn. We all approached timorously, I must ad- mit, for his evident fear and horror had proved contagious. The object, once a human being, was lying with face upturned, and with body clothed in garments of thousands of years ago. The head dress, the sack or coat, and the trousers, were all ancient Egyptian in pattern. "Here, Raper," I exclaimed, "come quick." The newspaper men, who had noticed our change in direction in time to follow, had come down a short time after we had. Raper was an Egyptologist. He hurried to my side, looked a moment, went closer to the re- cumbent figure and exclaimed, "Great Cleopatra, it 121 Eve and the Evangelist. is petrified!" We looked again and his claim was evident to all. The body was as hard as if it had been chiseled out of solid rock. We started out to- gether as a searching party. We had not gone far until we discovered that the dead city was filled with thousands of bodies of petrified human beings. Our investigations finally led us into the interior of the most stable looking building on the plaza. The huge arch, marking the entrance, was still in- tact, and but slightly out of shape. Wide stairs of discolored marble led to a vestibule from which there opened an immense hall, about 400 feet long The roof on one side had caved in. The columns, holding the other side, while out of plumb, had not given away. That part of the building stood about as it had an age ago. Sitting and recumbent fig- ures, looking as if they had been chiseled out of stone, were all about. Some occupied chairs of ancient style. All had blocks of what appeared to be baked clay in their hands. These blocks were thin and glazed and were covered with small char- acters, resembling hieroglyphics, but certainly not hieroglyphics. Raper picked up one, studied it in- tently a minute, and then broke out: "This was their library. The evidence is unmistakable. The writing — what is it?" He remained in a brown study for several min- utes, examining intently, one after another of the tablets, and then resumed, at first doubtfully: "It is Chaldaic, no Egyptian. By George! That is not right, although there is a similarity. Perhaps it 122 Eve and the Evangelist. is Coptic. No. I have it. It is Phoenician. Yes, that's what it is, or something very much Hke it." We spent two days in going over these remarka- ble ruins, making new discoveries at every turn. The city must have claimed close to a million in- habitants. What was it, and what was its history ? Who could tell about this Pompeii of prehistoric times? It was a time of unanswered interroga- tions ? Spending all the time we dared in investigating, Clarke suddenly proposed that we start at once for New York. No one had thought of our dilemma until now. We had no more emergency cylinders, could not start our projectiles, were 2800 miles from our own continent, and were marooned on a new continent, or island, in a city of the dead. The party of newspaper men was chafing at the unavoidable delay, as each had a story worth the entire first page of any newspaper and yet was un- able to get it off. What a plight ! Raper, who had found the library a source of great interest, went back to that structure. At his request I accompanied him. He had resolved to take some of the tablets home with him and de- cipher them at his leisure. He looked around for nearly an hour before he found what he wanted. At last he selected a "volume," consisting of tab- lets strung on slender chains, which he decided were of silver. The "volume" closed, was a foot thick, but light for the bulk. A book might be written about the experiences we 123 Eve and the Evangelist. had in that city, which, it was evident had been a place of culture and advancement in many of the arts. There were here and there groups of statu- ary that Praxiteles himself would have been proud of. How were we to get away? That was the perplexing question. "I have it," said Sykes, and we all closed in to listen. 12- CHAPTER XVII. An Experiment. In the vast, and the minute, we see The unambitious footsteps of the God Who gives its lustre to 'an insect's wing And wheels his throne upon the rolling worlds. — Cowper's Task. Master Sykes' plan was to improvise an aero- graph station. It would be easy, he contended, to fly a kite to the height of 400 or 500 feet and use it in lieu of a mast. "How can we make a recording instrument?" was Wallace's timely question, "We can make it," Sykes answered, "but it will take time — two weeks I should say, with good luck." "What !" Raper ejaculated, "remain here for two weeks without communication with the world? There ought to be a quicker way." "There is," Clarke declared, "provided Prof. Harry Rabbitts, of Columbia, has not torn his study to pieces. You remember, Raper, when we were at Columbia commencement last year, you tripped on a wire running over the floor of the Professor's study, and he apologized, explaining that he had 125 Eve and the Evangelist. not removed it, because it had been put in by his predecessor. You recall, he said, that it was a part of the deep sea apparatus for communicating under water. It is a relic of the past, the success of the aeograph having made it superfluous. Now, if I remember correctly, the receiving and sending board of that discarded system is located in Long Island Sound, about 25 miles from the University. That board and Prof. Rabbitts' study are connect- ed by wire. The old Morse code was used. Now, if that apparatus is still intact, and I have every reason to believe that it is, we can make a crude telegraph instrument of sufficient size, sink it 500 feet or so, animate it with electricity, and at least try to communicate with the professor, who knows the Morse code, he having dwelt upon its part in civilization in a lecture he delivered to one of his classes while I was at the University." "But who is there here that understands the Morse code?" I asked. Silas Engle, who I assume was the oldest mem- ber of the party, spoke up and said : 'T believe with a little reflection and study I could send and re- ceive. I knew the code when a boy." "All right," Clarke said, "let's get to work." The Morse instruments were made and remade, finally to the satisfaction of Brother Engle. He spent his time penciling dots and dashes on scraps of paper. The result of the experiment was in- volved in great doubt, and, to add to the gravity of the situation, the chances were Prof. Rabbitts 126 Eve and the Evangelist. might not be in his study. After 24 hours' unceas- ing work, it was announced that everything was in readiness for the trial. We figured that the pro- fessor would probably be in his study at 8 P. M. To get him at that hour it would be necessary for us to begin our trial at i A. M., our time. There was a cliff at the southern edge of the old city which we chose as the scene of our momentous test. By using a plummet we found there was at this point a sheer drop from surface to the bottom of the ocean of 524 feet. Our boards, made as sen- sitive as the material on hand permitted, were sunk to the sea's rocky floor, the instruments fastened to a rough table on top of the cliff and i o'clock awaited for the experiment. Silas Engle sat down and thumped away minute after minute, framing, in dots and dashes, such sentences as "Hear us," "Listen, Professor Rab- bitts," and "Friends in trouble." After each short message he stopped and waited for a reply. None came, much to our disappointment. We finally de- cided to give up the attempt until the next morning and were on the point of returning to our camp to get much needed sleep, when Raper suggested that we try again, just once for luck. Brother Engle consented reluctantly. "Help! help!" he tele- graphed, repeating the one word about 30 times. He paused and waited for an answer which, he was frank to say, he did not expect. He thought the apparatus was not powerful enough and then might be defective. What was that? There was 127 Eve and the Evangelist. an answering click. Faint as it was, it was the sweetest music our party had heard in years. The operator slowly and with difficulty wrote out the answer, which was "Who are you, where are you and what do you want?"' The following was sent back: "Father Glad- stone's party is marooned on a new continent, thrown up by earthquake, just east of the Canaries. Latitude 29:30 North; longitude 31 West. Send help." There was an answer, but it was undecipherable. The click of the instrument was decidedly faint, notwithstanding the fact the voltage had been in- creased. It was shortly after daybreak that morning that swarms of projectiles began arriving from all over the civilized world. The advance guard contained newspaper men and scientists, many from Europe, the visit of the Europeans being entirely inde- pendent of that of the Americans. Those coming later were sightseers. There were plenty of emer- gency tubes and we could now as soon as we pleased resume our journey homeward. The city was a treasure trove for the scientists, some of whom were specialists in archaeology, others in the dead languages and others in geology and seismography. All told, the scientific party numbered 105. This is according to Raper's count. Let it be explained here that the newspaper men had not been idle. With the aid of Master Sykes, the telegraph station was improved so that 128 Eve and the Evangelist. each was able to get a message to the other side of the Atlantic. In that way the American news- papers obtained the news of the creation of a new continent ahead of the journals of Europe. At a meeting of the scientists, held at noon, Prof. Chas. G. Heckert, of the University of Berlin, was elected chairman, and Prof. Carey Boggess, of the University of Chicago, secretary. It was decided that the party should divide into groups of three, four and five, spend the afternoon in examining the ruins and meet that night on the plaza for a comparison of notes. We resolved to remain over until after the meeting. It was easy to spend the remainder of the afternoon profitably among the ruins. The meeting that night was admittedly, from a scientific and historical standpoint, one of the greatest in the history of the world. The old- est scientist present was Prof. A. F. Linn, of Le- land Stanford. He was the world's acknowledged authority on seismography. Because of his seniority he was called upon first. "Gentlemen," he said, "this thing is plain to me. The upheaved city is Atlantis, described so graphi- cally by Plato and Critias. The character of the buildings, the pyramids and the dress of the people prove beyond doubt, it seems to me, this claim. The history of the Pacific Ocean in particular is full of lost and upheaved islands. Examinations of an outcropping of rock at the west end of the city lead to the conviction that it rests on a great mass of solid limestone. When something underneath 129 Eve and the Evangelist. gave way and the continent disappeared, this lime- stone base remained unbroken. It also withstood the shock of this week's upheaval. Because of this the city is well preserved.'' This opinion was concurred in by all of those present. The ancient library was the scene of the greatest interest and it was resolved at once to put to work every available man in deciphering the tablets. In the party was Prof. B. Frank Prince, who had made a specialty of Phoenician. He was especially interested in the volume picked up by Raper. After giving it more than cursory attention, he turned to my newspaper friend and remarked, "Do you know what you have here?" "No," answered Raper, "what is it?" "It is a book written by one who signs himself Arna Broana. It is entitled 'The Secret of Life.' From a glance at it, I take it that the writer as- sumes to give an amplified account of the creation. He claims that Atlantis was the cradle of the human race and that it had, at the time the book was written, attained a high degree of civilization. As nearly as I can compute, from the examination made, the book was written an age ago. Here are some odd sentences I have been able to trans- late : " 'Life is a chemical product.' '" 'Life had its origin ages ago in Nature's giant laboratory.' 130 Eve and the Evangelist. " 'The first living things' wants grew just as man's wants today are growing, and thus came evolution.' " 'Man, like the earth, is a product of millions of years.' " 'Forms of life have varied or changed according to the condition of the Earth chemically, hence the vast difference among the forms of life represent- ing the different geological ages.' " 'Demand and desire, initially weak forces, gave new shapes and added activity to various forms of animal life.' " 'Environments, from the standpoint of temper- ature and topography, were responsible for the character of development made.' " 'Finally out of the chaos of long periods of varying proportions of oxygen, nitrogen and car- boniferous acid gas, affecting the size, character and activity of animal life, came primitive man, an evolution of other animal life, at first a shaggy, giant-limbed creature of great appetite, strong pas- sions and small intellect.' " 'New sights, new sensations, new discoveries, in the avenues of love, fear, hate, ambition, joy and sorrows slowly, century by century, broadened him.' " 'First a cave dweller, with stones and clubs for weapons, he slaughtered by stealth and strength. These weapons gave way to bow and arrow, javelin, cross bow and spear.' " 'Little by little discoveries were made in dif- terent channels, each having a broadening effect, 131 Eve and the Evangelist. until our present high civiHzation was reached, as superior to that of two thousand years ago as the civiHzation of that time was to a similar period be- fore it.' " 'Man has constantly grown in intellect, under- standing, power and utility. This progress natural- ly suggests the query: How low did he start?' " While Prof. Prince was reading this the entire party stood around to hear these scientific declara- tions that must be nearly nine thousand years old. After a moment's silence, Dr. Philip Schneider, a theological professor from Princeton, suggested that even if these assertions were true, he did not believe they in any way conflicted with the ac- count given in Genesis of Creation. He added: "It has been many years since practically the whole world accepted the doctrine that the world was not made in six days but instead in six ages, the word day in the original text being synoymous with age. So with the creation of man. It would be easy to contend, and prove, for that matter, that man's creation occurred not in a day but in an age. Granting this to be true, it is easy to go farther and assume that man was an evolution of the first ani- mal life, in reality a chemical product. The more thought I give to this matter the more I think that there is no real conflict between the Bible and the theory of evolution, much of which we know to be true." This started a discussion that lasted until after midnight, revolving about the claim made two cen- 132 Eve and the Evangelist. turies ago by Prof. Wm. Oswald of the University of Leipsic and Prof. Joseph Loeb, of the University of California, that it was possible for science by slow development to create a type of life as high as that of the domestic animals. Prof. Prince set Raper wild when he promised him as soon as his time would permit to give him a complete trans- lation of the wonderful volume. I S3 CHAPTER XVIII. From Another World. Pass but a moment, and this busy globe, Its thrones, its empires and Its bustling millions Will seem a speck in the great void of space. — Murphy's Grecian Daughter. As we neared New York City, on our return home, the heavens were ablaze with changing coruscations, sometimes taking the form of dots and at other times dashes. These dots were ac- tually half a mile in diameter, while the dashes, rectangular patches of light, were a mile long. "What is the cause of activity at the Inter-Plane- tary station tonight?'' I involuntarily asked myself. Having secured the badly needed emergency tube, we had gotten away in early dawn from resurrected Atlantis, leaving behind a large number of scientists, bent on making an exhaustive study of the ancient city from every point of view. We reached New York at a little after one the same morning, the seeming anachronism being due to the difference in time and our fast trip. Half of New York was out doors, the flashes in the sky vying with hundreds of restaurants, cafes and rathskellers for first place in public interest. Our radium headlight, aglow like some great 134 Eve and the Evangelist. fire fly in the air, heralded our arrival. Sykes resolved to come down at the Battery where one of the numerous projectile stations was located. Great crowds surrounded us, eager for new in- formation about our journey. Scores of newspaper men and artists, representing the Herald and vari- ous other publications in and out of New York, formed the first ring around us. Briefly and tersely Father Gladstone described the most interesting features of our journey, concluding with an ac- count of our experience near mid Atlantic. We had already had our night's rest, but nevertheless went to the Astor where we were assigned rooms. The Herald next morning had a big "story" on our trip and return, together with latest matter that had come by aerograph from Atlantis, a mast for the purpose having, with characteristic enterprise, been erected on the new continent within a few days. There were several advertisements of pro- jectiles about to leave, carrying parties of sight- seers to the world's metropolis of an age before. The article in the Herald that interested me most was an account of the inter-communication between the Earth and Mars, which had been the first thing to attract my attention on nearing the city. It was still too early to call up Alice's home at Fratersurb and so resignedly I settled down in an easy chair in the smoking room to read the article about the flashes. This inter-communication has been in progress for twenty-six years. The code, which has been slowly enlarged, now consists of 135 Eve and the Evangelist. 1,297 words. Great difficulty was experienced at first, after adequate signals had been devised, in the interpretation of these signals. The word talk was finally selected as a basis for a code. Initially, night after night, for six weeks, the Earth flashed talk thus in the heavens: — . — Just as the promoters of this stupendous enter- prise were on the eve of abandoning the project, which had been proposed many times in the past, there came answering flashes, duplicating the sig- nal from the Earth. This was conclusive evidence that the Martians understood. Then "Yes" was framed and flashed back and forth. From this small beginning the present inter-planetary vocab- ulary has grown. The Herald article was as follows : "Last night's inter-planetary communication ranks with the most satisfactory in the last decade. Mars is now in perihelion and consequently but 33,800,000 miles distant from the Earth, whereas in the aphelion he is 61,800,000 miles. It is now easy, by aid of the latest powerful telescopes, to study with satisfaction various phases of life on Mars. Where the telescope of the great astron- omer. Lord Herschel. magnified but 932 times, that of Prof. Chas. J. Bowlus, of the National Univer- sity of Fratersurb, magnifies 3402 times. "Last night's communication gave the Earth some absolutely new information about our brother planet. The operator at the other end said, (I do 136 Eve and the Evangelist. not believe there is any misunderstanding) that the Martians live to the age of i,ooo years or more. "Summed up we have, since communication was successfully established, learned the following facts about Mars and his people : "The population of the planet is 3,000,000,000. "Every municipality contains, among other things, a municipal oxygen plant from where oxygen is, as desired, added to the air. This is done to stimulate the old who, through long years of life, become sated with Mars' pleasures and gayeties. The oxygen stimulates them and makes them as lively as you please. "Marlum, a new glandular compound, enriches the blood, and when taken periodically, rebuilds the body. It makes an existence of a thousand years easy. "An unusual feature of life is the method of feeding. It seems that the Martians' gullet and windpipe are combined to such an extent that they eat by breathing the air. This air is charged at numerous government stations with nutrition in the form of steam. So delicately is the mixture made that there is no precipitation until all food value has been lost. "Mars, as has been known for years, is a land of canals. It is criss-crossed by them. Centuries ago, no one seems to know how long, primitive Mar- tians, prompted by desire, essayed to cross these canals by flying. Cultivation of this desire through several generations resulted in an instinctive eflfort 137 Eve and the Evangelist. to fly. Arms gradually flattened out and event- ually became wings. Now the Martians fly every- where. Walking has recently been introduced as a new fad. "One of the planet's mineral products is a stone, called mingo. It possesses the quality of absorbing light and heat. There are millions of tons of these stones on the planet. Families pile them up in their backyards in summer, let them absorb light and heat, and then use them through the dreary winter. This discovery, made a couple of years ago, put the Gas Trust out of business and settled forever that municipal bugbear, meter rental. ■'Buildings are erected in a novel manner. Con- tractors keep in stock molds of various size and character. When a Martian wants a house built he selects the mold desired. It is placed in position on his lot and is pumped full of liquid stone. 'lOne of the queer industries is the manufacture of diamonds. Mars, like Earth, has many vol- canoes. A few years ago enterprising Martians conceived the idea of tapping these volcanoes, cork- ing up the piercing pipes and having diamonds made to order. Some difficulty was at first ex- perienced with the corking. Blow outs were fre- (;uent. Finally a huge man head, secured by ample bolts and studs, was tried with success. "The pressure on these heads sometimes reaches 10,000 pounds per square inch but inasmuch as this pressure converts the carbon within into diamonds, nobody kicks. Now every well regulated volcano 138 Eve and the Evangelist. has several diamond pipes. These gems have be- come so common that the larger ones are now in common use as door knobs. "Another enterprise on Mars that might with profit be tried on earth is the collection of elec- tricity from the aurora borealis and the aurora aus- tralis. Huge cables convey the fluid to whatsoever point desired. "The Martians claim that inasmuch as they are a people without jealousy or envy they have no crime, no police, no courts and no prisons. "As everything is owned in common there is no money or other medium of exchange. "Just now Mars and Earth are involved in a queer dispute. Mars claims that death ends all and thai heaven and hell are creations of the imagina- tion. "The Earth has with zeal retorted that all Nature is an argument for a future existence and his brought forth the most eminent theologians of the time in support of the contention. "So far eflforts to reach the other planets of the solar system have been failures. It is believed that by a proper enlargement of the lights used success will eventually be attained." These lights come from marton, a fine powder, having remarkable incandescent powers. This marton is carried aloft 10,200 feet by charges of pulva, infinitesimal in size, and exploded as fire- works are. It was time for breakfast. I was not in a mood 139 Eve and the Evangelist. for tabloid fare, had an appetite like a corn cutter and settled down to grape fruit, oat meal, a big porter house steak, poached eggs and coffee. « There was a difference of more than an hour be- ^een the time of New York and Fratersurb. Eighr o'clock, nine o'clock, how slowly the hours dragged along. I could not wait any longer. I would see if I could get Alice. It took about five minutes to get the Meredith home, during which time I was impatience personified. Alice's figure appeared for a moment in the reflector. In that moment she grew haughty and vanished. Truly I was in for it< What was my offense and what was my punish- ment to be? Did you ever study a young lion caged up, and watch him pace backwards and forwards hour after hour? I felt like that lion even if I had all out- doors for my cage. T40 CHAPTER XIX. Homeward Bound. And say, without our hopes, without our fears, Without the home that plighted love endears, Without the smile from partial beauty won O! What were man? — a world without a son. — Byron. I did not expect to see Raper again soon. Hence, I was surprised when he popped into the hotel lobby where I sat off in a corner, looking, I im- agine, the picture of despair. "What's the matter, old chap?" he inquired, as he dropped into the Davenport by my side. "Look as if you had been playing that almost forgotten game, draw poker, and had had but two fives to go against a big jack pot. If we were living in the past, I would insist on your taking a Scotch high- ball or a Martini cocktail." "O, well, I suppose the best of us grow blue noA' and then. It is encouraging to take the view that depression in spirits comes from a disordered liver." "Look here, young man," Raper said, as he looked me squarely in the e3^es, "I don't believe your bile is going wrong or that you have dyspep- sia, or any other purely physical ailment. I have been studying you for four or five days. My diag- nosis of your case is correct. There has been a 141 Eve and the Ev^angelist. queer look in your eyes, and you have shown an anxiety that unmistakably indicates one thing alone. You are in love." "What! Do I show it?" I exclaimed, with a suddenness that betrayed the truth. "Well, your guess is correct. My plight is annoying. The girl I love has grown indifferent, and I am distracted. There is some misunderstanding some place." Then I proceeded to tell him all that had happened, omit- ting, I thought at the time, nothing that might have any bearing on the case. "Cheer up, old chap," Raper said, shaking me and making me feel like fighting. "The mystery in this case is the best indication in the world of suc- cess. Why, have you forgotten that 'the course of true love never did run smooth?' You are morbid this morning. Why don't you get out in the fresh air and sunshine and see things as they are, not as you imagine they are? Here, brace up, and let Richard be himself again." Again he shook me. The advice was good, I conceded. W^e started out together for a stroll. The morning was bright and the ozone exhilirating. We had not gone more than two squares, when I exclaimed, acknowl- edging the remarkable change I had undergone mentally — "Raper, you are a good doctor. You may be my physician after this." "You would better learn the size of my fee be- fore you permanently engage me." "The best is always the cheapest," I answered. Finally reaching 42nd street, the location of the 142 Eve and the Evangelist. Government Railways station, we looked about a few moments and started back to the hotel. "Look here, Young," Raper said, seized with a new thought, "I am tired of projectile riding for a while. Let us board a Pennsylvania road train and take our time about returning to Fratersurb. I am ordered down there to cover Father Gladstone's re- port of the trip to China. Come, go along with me. The Gladstone party will beat us but a few hours anyhow." Raper's company had been so enlivening that I consented on the spot. "We can get a train every fifteen minutes," Raper explained. "Let's go back to the hotel where you can notify your party of your plans and then return to the depot." "I am willing," I answered. I was ready to go almost anywhere with my companion, so comfort- ing was his presence. Twenty minutes later found us at the station. There was a Fratersurb train 'Standing in the huge shed. Having secured our tickets, we climbed aboard, entered the smoking compartment of our car, lighted cigars, and settled back in our seats to enjoy the journey. "Three minutes, and we are due to leave," re- marked Raper, glancing at his watch. I leaned back among the cushions, blew a chain of smoke rings from my lips and closed my eyes, lost in my own thoughts. "Hello, Raper," said a great, strong, commanding voice. "Glad to see you. Your chance has come. Hi Williams is at the throttle and is a good man to 143 Eve and the Evangelist. ride with. You remember I promised you a ride last May?" I opened my eyes and looked up at the big fellow before me. "Mr. Carney (J. C), my old time college mate, Mr. Young. If the cab will accommodate both of us, I will go, but I can't leave my friend." "The cab is roomy enough," answered the big railroader, as he gripped my hand with rugged force. "Come, quick," he added as he fairly pulled us out of our seats. A word from the General Superintendent, for such former Yardmaster Carney now was, and we piled into the fireman's seat. There was a hasty introduction to the grimy driver, who was waiting the signal to start. "All aboard," the conductor shouted for the last time. A second later, the driver pulled the throttle out three notches on the quadrant and the drive wheels, twelve feet in height, were slipping around. At every revolution, we took a plunge forward, and saw the ground slip away from us faster than it appeared to when we were in the pro- jectile. There were no grade crossings, and ahead a perfectly straight single rail track, the long, slen- der train being held erect by huge revolving gyro- scopes. I looked at the engineman. The throttle, now half way out, was held in his iron grip. The needle on the steam gauge was flying back and forth from 250 pounds to 800 pounds. It has al- ready been explained that the old time steam boilers 144 Eve and the Evangelist. had been discarded. In their places were much smaller boilers in which steam was generated by the flash system. There were several advantages ; one, the small amount of space, relatively, occupied and another the room given for larger drive wheels and stronger machinery. The locomotive was driven by four coupled rotary engines, developing at the maximum steam pressure 10,000 horse power. We had passed Philadelphia and were on a beau- tiful stretch of track when the fireman managed to tell me, above the roar of the train, that we were m.aking 300 miles an hour. The landscape was whirling about outside as if it were a part of a green and brown snowstorm. The Pennsylvania railroad, long noted for its conservatism, had not adopted the electric flash system, which, however, had been taken up by Government oflScials in charge of other railroads. Several roads were using electric locomotives, and others a new type of machine in which pulva was exploded in cylinders, the same as in the old reciprocating gas engines. An interesting feature, but of course, not a new one, was to watch freight trains pass each other Sidetracks, for anything else but placing cars, long ago went into disuse. Now, freight trains and the slower passenger trains ride over one another. All trains of that class that are east bound, are at each end fitted with special tracks that run over the tops of the strongly built cars. At each end of these trains is a track running up at an angle of about twenty-five degrees. A west bound train meets an 145 Eve and the Evangelist. east bound train, runs up over the top of it and then down on the main track without either train for a moment slackening speed. Chief Engineer Garstang contends that he is now perfecting this device so that it will be possible to use it on fast passenger trains, making the trip from New York to Chicago in four hours, and the distance across the continent in lo hours. These fast passenger trains are veritable palaces on wheels. The idea of economy in operation, however, dominates, and there is no waste of energy anywhere. For in- stance, the enormous air pressure, due to the speed of the train, is utilized to operate a dynamo that not only supplies the train with light, but with heat as well, even for the kitchen of the dining car. I could not help but compare the boiler of our locomotive with some of those in the National Transportation Museum in Fratersurb. It was at least fifteen feet longer than the longest and very narrow in com- parison. The guide wheels were double the size of the old ones, as were the wheels under the cars. The new locomotives, notwithstanding their size and the speed made, are much easier on the tracks than the old locomotives, the difference being that on the new locomotives there are no great counter- balances on the drive wheels to overcome dead centers as was the case in the reciprocating engines. This new type did away with the incessant pound- ing on the rails that years ago was a constant night- mare to the roadmaster. All these things raced through my mind as we 146 Eve and the Evangelist. tore through the country, passing cities, towns and villages that were mere patches on the right of way. All the time I was holding onto my seat for dear life. I really did not occupy that seat a second in the entire trip, but instead stood stooped, clinging to a rail at my side. I envied the engineer who sat in his seat like a born Kentuckian in the saddle. We plunged through numerous tunnels without slackening speed for a second. When the first one came, I drew back in horror, for it looked as if we were about to plunge against the mountain side and be battered to pieces. There was a moment of darkness and then a burst of sunshine again. There was a new thrill every minute. No galvanic battery could have stirred me more. I think my hair must have stood on end the entire trip. As for Raper, he was calm, and smiled in amusement at me every time he got my eye. Thank Heaven, Fratersurb was in sight and we were slowing down. No more loco- motive rides for me. If I am to be scared to death, I prefer to select the method. The train came to a standstill, and Raper and I climbed down after thanking Williams for the ride. "You're welcome to try it any time," he re- marked, as he winked at his fireman. 'T feel as if I had been in a dust storm." I told Raper as we jumped into a motor car for the ride to my home. 147 CHAPTER XX. Despair and Hope. Hope is a lover's staff; walk hence with that And manage it against despairing thoughts. — Shalcespeare. Father and mother had gone down to West Baden to spend a couple of weeks. It was up to Raper and me to keep bachelors' hall. How invit- ing the bath after that dash, tearing, as it seemed, strips out of the country's topography. My den, dear old den, it never looked more alluring than when we piled into it that forenoon for something like genuine rest after the past few days' stren- uousness. I had ordered lunch, so there was noth- ing in the way of domestic duties to bother about. I was anxiety personified to see Alice. There had been no message at Peking, as promised, and in- dignation was plainly evident when I last saw her for but a moment in the reflector of the communi- cator I had used in New York. I resolved to see her just as soon as I could after lunch. What comfort there was that forenoon in the divan for Raper and in that Morris chair for me. It seemed I had never before appreciated the chair at its true worth. We both dropped into a semi-somnolent state and the 148 Eve and the Evangelist. time passed quickly. I was aroused from my rev- erie by the sharp ringing of the dining room bell. "Come," said I, shaking Raper, "lunch is ready." I had Raper sit down at my right while I busied myself in taking the dust-tight lid from the tray, a modern device now in general use. There was a burst of steam, accompanied by savory odors. With the lid off, this tray was like a box eight inches deep with the top off. I unfastened the four walls, which were on hinges, and let them fall down over the outer rim of our table. In their proper places were napery, silver, condiments and the meal itself, puree of peas, roast lamb, with mint sauce, browned potatoes, lettuce salad, sliced to- matoes and strawberry shortcake; truly, a feast fit for a king. We were both ravenously hungry and ate that meal with a never surpassed zest. Lunch over, I raised and locked the walls, put the cover on, pulled a lever and sent the dishes and debris down the slide to the fence station, where soon, on his regular rounds, the tray would be picked up by one of the House Food Supply Co.'s men. The reader will readily divine that one of the phases of the servant girl problem of long ago has been solved. By agreement with this company, meals are furnished at stated hours each day, delivery and collection being made by motor wagons. Delivery is automatically announced when the tray slides into the dining room on a miniature track by a trip switch ringing the annunciator. House cleaning has been reduced to a science. 149 Eve and the Evangelist. Every room now has its dust tube, by which all dirt is quickly and satisfactorily rempved by the vacuum method, the air sucking pumps being lo- cated at a central municipal station. With lunch over, chum and I retreated to the inviting den, lighted a pipe apiece, and studied the pattern of the ceiling. '"Xow look here. Young," said Raper, with an emphasis that indicated he was successfully read- mg my thoughts, ''I know that you want to see somebody and that you want to see her awfully bad. Go ahead and leave me alone here for a good long rest in preparation for the work I have ahead tonight." "If you really want to be left alone, of course I shall be obliged to accommodate you," I answered. "Oh, go along, you know you are almost dying to get away," and I went. There was a storage battery car line that ran to W'ithin two squares of Alice's home. I boarded an awfully slow car, at least it seemed so, and yet I knew that it was making part of the trip at 60 miles an hour. When I alighted — I could not be mistaken — Alice was standing at the gate, gazing down the street in my direction. How would she welcome me? I framed a dozen different saluta- tions as I drew near, uncertain finally of what I should say. The figure ahead of me suddenly van- ished indoors. Alice was modest and did not want tc show undue interest in my arrival. She would, of course, pretend that she had not seen me. I 150 Eve and the Evangelist. pressed the bell button, expecting that Alice would hurry to the door to meet me. I was disappointed when her mother, a sweet-faced, white-haired old lady, wearing a lace cap, answered the bell. Omit- ting the usual amenities, anent the weather and other topics always timely on such occasions, I ex- citedly asked for Alice. "Alice! Alice!" her mother called repeatedly, but there was no response. Dismay seized me, and I clutched a table for support. "Sit down," her mother urged me, "and I will see if I can find her. She was here but a moment ago." "Alice could not be found. She had slipped away to a neighbor's, and given me painful and unmis- takable evidence that she did not want to see me. What had happened? What had I done? What was the cause of her mysterious behavior? I could not answer. I reeled away like a drunken man, jumped a car and hurried back home. I was so noisy in entering the house that I awakened Raper who had just enjoyed the first installment of a needed snooze. He rubbed his eyes, sat up and exclaimed: "Heavens, Young, what is the matter with you ; you look like a wild man ? Bad luck, of course. That's plain. You went to the young lady's house and she could not be found. She does not want to see you. She is angry with you, and in consequence, she being unwilling, telepathy is of no avail. What have you been doing? The young lady is jealous. But of whom? Ah, perhaps some- 151 Eve and the Evangelist. one has been telling her about the Titu's daughter. Perhaps you have been misrepresented !" The mystery was clear that minute. Like a ilash, I remembered pulling Miss Onwa to me that day I stood before the reflector, talking to Alice. She had not understood, naturally decided I was a flirt and had thrown me over. What a pickle I was in ! How lucl