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AT THE BACK OF THE MOON; 
 
 OBSERVATIONS OF LUNAR PHASES. 
 
 A. LUNAR ^VRAY. 
 
 
 •> ^\^.xiJ<!o...i^kik..A 
 
 BOSTON : 
 
 LEE AND SIIEPARD, PUBLISHERS 
 NEW YORK: 
 CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM. 
 
 1879. 
 
 r 
 

 Copsrtgfit, 
 
 1379, 
 
 By lee and SHEPARD. 
 
 (All rights reserved.) 
 
 • 
 Electrotyped aud printed by Albekt J. Weight, 79 Milk St.» Boston. 
 
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 THE MOONSHINE JOURNEY. 
 
 A visit to Dreumland one summer night. 
 I sat on the beach when the moon was bright, 
 While the waves came in with their rythmic beat, 
 And lay down the ocean's spoils at my feet ; — 
 A dead crab, some sea-weed, a bit of spar, 
 A wreck's sad message, that came from far. 
 As if none e'er died, the waves shouted in glee, 
 And their white edges gleamed phosphorently. 
 The roar of the town was far away. 
 And had died to a thouofht on that happy day. 
 
6 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 The turmoil of life — the back-ground of rest 
 Gave the present escape but an added zest. 
 With a crescent curve of miles and miles 
 The beach swept round ; and the wooded isles 
 Lay off in the shadow ; and left and right 
 The bay's far points each held aloft its light. 
 
 So I sat on the rude bench by the shore, 
 Not thinking, but musing ; while roar on roar 
 The big weaves tumbled and sobbed and moaned. 
 As if they for sea-widowed lives atoned. 
 Bridging the w^hitecaps, o'er the shimmering bay. 
 The rising moonbeams stretched a sloping way ; 
 A brave, wide road of yellow light, that led 
 Where only fancy's airy feet could tread. 
 
 And now a wonder happens. On the sand 
 A boat-keel grates, and some strange people land ; 
 
THE MOONSHINE JOURNEY, 
 
 Human they look, yet have a foreign air ; 
 Strange are their faces, strange the clothes they 
 
 wear. 
 
 A moment they consult together ; then 
 Addresses me the leader of the men. 
 
 " Sir, ye are earth-born. We are lunar folk ; 
 A month has passed since we our farewell spoke 
 To our moon-people, and for earth afar 
 Slid down j^on moon-path like a falling star. 
 We came, moon envoys, to observe and tell 
 How things on earth are done, or ill or well. 
 We've looked and studied ; none have seen us pass ; 
 We travel when the dew is on the grass. 
 Night is our day ; we go from town to town 
 Sight-seeing only when the sun is down. 
 But now our task is over ; and to-night 
 Again we sail up yonder stream of light 
 
8 AT THE BACK OF THE MOOX. 
 
 Back to our country. To confirm our tale 
 That we to earth and back did truly sail 
 We'd have you join us; you our ways can learn, 
 And teach our lore to earth when you return. 
 Be not afraid : when next the moon is round, 
 Again your feet shall stand upon the ground." 
 
 Men say there's strange power in the lunar 
 beam — 
 Perhaps it touched my brain. As in a dream 
 Things that impossible and wild appear 
 When one awakes, yet in the dream are clear, 
 So was it now. I was awake I knew, 
 Yet all was natural and all was true ; 
 A lunar voyage no stranger seemed to me 
 Than a vacation trip to Italy. 
 I thought it over, — I'd a month to spend, — 
 Then to the moon-man said, ^^I'll go, my friend." 
 
THE MOONSHINE JOUKNEY. 9 
 
 We leapt aboard. Ne'er shone the moon more 
 bright 
 Than when Ave floated off hito the night. 
 
 The stream of rays that from the beach did 
 
 seem 
 As unsubstantial as a mormng dream, 
 Now flowed beneath us like a river strong, 
 
 That rippled j)ast us as we sped along. 
 
 The moon-folk homeward gaze ; and on the air 
 
 That whistles by us streams their coal-black hair. 
 
 I look below ; the sea creeps far away ; 
 
 Silent as space its thunders in the bay. 
 
 Earth grows a far-off ring against the sky, 
 
 Where darkening lands and silver oceans lie. 
 
 They speak not to me till I wave farewell 
 
 To earth, and look about me. Then the spell 
 
 Of silence broken, mingling voices speak : 
 
 " A lovely night ! " " It doesn't seem a week 
 
10 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 Since we left home. And now before the noon 
 Of night we'll be once more upon the moon." 
 
 Then turned to me the captain by my side : 
 " My name is Enak — name I bear with pride ; 
 I earned it when the open polar sea 
 I added to the moon's geography. 
 My first mate here is Yelnats ; without fear 
 He's trod the wildest regions of our sphere. 
 Tobak and Kook, and half a hundred more, 
 In old time did the moon's far lands explore ; 
 But only in these latter days appear 
 The skill that masters all, and knows no fear. 
 We harness now the powers that used to curse, 
 And reign, the conquerors of the universe." 
 
 "But Enak, one thing puzzles me/' I said ; 
 " Earth's sages say, the moon is cold and dead : 
 
THE MOONSHINE JOURNEY. 11 
 
 That there's no air nor water on its face, 
 
 So it can't be a habitable place. 
 
 A man once lived there in the days of yore ; 
 
 But he has now become our nursery lore. 
 
 Our telescopes have searched, and they've descried 
 
 Mountains and craters dead, and naught beside. 
 
 And yet you're here. This riddle solve me then, 
 
 How is it that you live unknown to men ? " 
 
 "Oh, that is easy," said he, "you'll see soon : 
 There is a country up behind the moon. 
 And as it ever keeps the self-same face 
 Turned to the earth, ours is a hidden race. 
 Once, ages gone, our fathers used to dwell 
 Upon this face ; but after, it befell 
 That great convulsions rent the earthward side. 
 Volcanoes belched ; and moon-quakes shook ; and 
 wide 
 
12 AT THE 13ACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 The cracking crust was opened ; and the sea 
 Sucked down the gulf. Our fathers then did 
 
 flee — 
 The remnant that was left — and from the sun 
 Shut out, their strange and modern life begun. 
 Most died ; but many changed. And in the strife 
 The fittest were conformed to their new life. 
 Our science has so grasped moon forces now 
 That 'neath our will all difficulties bow. 
 We could not bear it if the sun shone bright ; 
 So we prefer our home-made heat and light. 
 'Tis strange to us no more, though 'tis to you : 
 The natural's what you are accustomed to." 
 
 My thoughts now turned upon our ship, that 
 sped 
 Like northern lights when winter heavens are red. 
 This Yelnats noticed, where he sat and played 
 
THE MOONSHINE JOURNEY. 13 
 
 The handle that the wondrous craft obeyed. 
 "I see," he said, "you earth-folk fail to find 
 The secret art that navigates the wind : 
 A new invention at the moon ; but we 
 Must guard it yet with careful jealousy ; 
 For you earth-men, if once the way were given, 
 Would swarm the stars, and wreck the peace of 
 heaven." 
 
 But now the moon 2:rew on our nearinsr siirht 
 And filled the wide sky with her mild daylight. 
 For moonshine, as 'tis seen from earth's far land, 
 Is only simple daylight, close at hand. 
 Wild, ragged mountains towered beneath; and 
 
 down 
 Sunk sunless valleys 'neath their rocky frown. 
 I only caught a glimpse : we swept away 
 And on us glowed an artificial day. 
 
14 AT THE BACK OF THE MOOX. 
 
 A strange, new world flashed on me ; for 'twas 
 
 noon 
 Up there upon the land behind the moon. 
 
 From my high vantage, as I looked adown, 
 I saw spread out beneath a mighty town : — 
 High mountains, sloping hills, and wooded vales. 
 And a broad river briirht with colored sails ; 
 And flags that fluttered in the noon-tide breeze 
 O'er palace, tower and wide streets lined wit!i 
 
 trees. 
 From lofty columns here and there were seen 
 Lights that flamed out like suns ; and in between 
 The noiseless carriages went to and fro 
 On streets that rumble not, like those below. 
 
 Now came my first glimpse of the moon's 
 stran<rc wavs 
 
THE MOONttHliNE JOUKJSEY. 15 
 
 That so astonished me in after days ; 
 For, on a sudden rent the startled air 
 A hiss from thousands in the public square. 
 This was their greeting. I discovered soon 
 That things went backward up behind the moon. 
 For as we landed, thousands round us thronged 
 To give us welcome, noisy and prolonged. 
 Not wilder w^ere the demonstrations w^hen 
 Columbus from new worlds sailed home again ; 
 For hiss on hiss arose, and from the croAvd 
 "Long live Yelnats and Enak ! " rang aloud. 
 
 I pass I)y much that happened ; for I mean 
 Not to tell everything I may have seen ; 
 Though all were worthy earnest thought t' engage 
 If one had time in this, our busy age ; 
 But only so much matter to relate 
 Of manners, thoughts, and customs in the state 
 
16 AT THE BACK OF THE MOO^\ 
 
 As may, by contrast, show the wiser way 
 
 AYeVc learned to do things by the light of day. 
 
 For there be busy-bodies here below 
 
 Who prate of change and progress, thus and so ; 
 
 AVho loud proclaim that, as the planets bear 
 
 Their torches up the age's pathway, there 
 
 Will be new realms of truth discovered, and 
 
 The vision of a more contented land. 
 
 They dare to think the sons may wiser be 
 
 Than were the fathers ; and they impiously 
 
 Claim something holier may appear on earth 
 
 Than dreams of gods the primal years gave birth. 
 
 They are disturbers in these latter days, 
 
 And turn the earth from o'ut "the good old ways." 
 
 ''Wide-open eyes, and earnest hearts," they 
 
 scream, 
 "Are better leaders than the old world's dream." 
 
 And with an egotism most intense 
 
THE MOOXSIIIXE JOURNEY. 17 
 
 They talk of science — call it common sense ; 
 
 They basely say that somewhere there may be 
 
 Yv^ays better than our " best societ3^" 
 
 They doubt if our commercial ways are just 
 
 And would upset the basis of our trust. 
 
 The state they shock with their reform assaults, 
 
 And dare assert a politician false. 
 
 The old philosophers they think may err, 
 
 Prate loud of truth, and say they'll worship her ; 
 
 And even religion's sacred ark profane 
 
 By asking proof — as though it could be plain. 
 
 Perchance the follies of another land 
 May help our restless folk to understand 
 That our Republic, when all's said and done, 
 Is the only perfect country 'neath the sun ; 
 That all they need to do is — lend their nose 
 To the infallible leadership of those 
 
18 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 Who, on the "Fourth," talk of the "Declaration," 
 
 And prove by shouting that they love the nation. 
 
 If any dare to doubt these things, he 's sold 
 
 His loyal principles for British gold ; 
 
 Or he 's an infidel, and would o'erthrow 
 
 The grounds of faith in all we thinh we know. 
 
 I shall relate, then, some of those strange 
 ways 
 The moon-folk follow ; and if they amaze 
 The reader, and with gratitude he turn 
 To our own wiser customs, let him learn 
 To think with charity of those whom fate 
 Fools with delusions in this far-off state. 
 Absurd, wild notions are th' unhappy boon 
 Of those in that strange land behind the moon. 
 
A GLIMPSE OF WEN KKOY. 19 
 
 fl\nu % ^uml 
 
 A GLIMPSE OF WEN KEOY, 
 
 We dropt adown 
 
 In Notsob town 
 When first we landed from the ether sea ; 
 
 The hub is here 
 
 Of the lunar sphere, 
 And this is the centre of gravity. 
 
 But Yelnats told 
 
 Of another old 
 And famous city, where to live was joy ; 
 
 And then he said, 
 
 *^ Notsob 's a dead 
 Provincial little town beside Wen Kroy. 
 
20 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 Go home with me, 
 
 And Wen Kroy see, 
 For Enak will be busy a week or so. 
 
 He first must teil 
 
 Of what befell 
 In our late journey to the world below. 
 
 In these few days 
 
 You may see some ways 
 Of our brave town on Nattahnam's fair isle ; 
 
 And then Enak, 
 
 When you get back, 
 Will entertain j^ou in Notsob awhile." 
 
 When we were there 
 
 We crossed a square, 
 And up a narrow street, called Broad, we strolled ; 
 
 A huge white hall 
 
 Or palace tall — 
 I knew not which — I wondering did behold. 
 
A GLIMPSE OF WEN KROY. 21 
 
 Then Yclnats said, 
 
 " Here rules the head 
 Of this our noble city. O'er the seas, 
 
 An Emerald born, 
 
 He from the morn 
 Comes with his club, like earth-born Hercules. 
 
 Boss is his name. 
 
 When first he came, 
 In brogue and brogans, he was called ^b'hoy.' 
 
 He swiftly rose 
 
 By jobs and blows 
 And grog, to be the great man of Wen Kroy. 
 
 He takes from us 
 
 The care and fuss 
 Of looking after all our own affairs. 
 
 And thus you see 
 
 He leaves us free 
 To speculate, and buy and sell our wares. 
 
22 AT THE BACK OF THE .^lOOX. 
 
 We 're free to say 
 
 Whom we '11 obey ; 
 That is, with only one slight reservation; 
 
 He picks the men, 
 
 And we're free then 
 To vote for those he puts in nomination." 
 
 Then from the crowd 
 
 A shriek came loud 
 Of one down trampled 'neath the horses' heels ; 
 
 One starry-breasted 
 
 llim quick arrested 
 For needless noise and blocking up the wheels. 
 
 A " rough " passed by 
 
 And winked his eye, 
 Clasping the starred one's hand with something in it. 
 
 And thus I saw 
 
 How public law 
 Rests on the popular love for those who win it. 
 
A GLIMPSE OF WEN KKOY. 23 
 
 I could but smile 
 
 To see the style 
 Of their salutes. They lift the nose on high, 
 
 When on the street 
 
 Some one they meet 
 Who isn't a la mode, and pass her by. 
 
 Men equals clap 
 
 With boisterous slap 
 And ask them if they won't step in and smile. 
 
 This was to me 
 
 A mystery 
 I walked on pondering for half a mile. 
 
 They bend down low 
 
 To power or show, 
 Or those who have what moon-folks call "the dosh." 
 
 " For those who win it 
 
 There 's millions in it, 
 And all things else," their strange speech says, 
 "are bosh." 
 
24 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. . 
 
 We strolled on still 
 Up Yarrum Hill ; 
 
 
 
 Here, Yelnats said, reside the great Not Nob. 
 
 In houses fine 
 
 They sleep and dine, 
 And look upon all others as a mob. 
 
 We passed before 
 
 An open door ; 
 A strange fair creature tripped adown the stairs. 
 
 She stooped and bound 
 
 Her arms around 
 Some yards of trailing stuff like shopmen's wares. 
 
 Her garments light 
 
 Were pulled back tight, 
 So fastening close her limbs. " 'Tis thus, you sec," 
 
 Said Yelnats then, 
 
 " We lunar men 
 Maintain our own superiority. 
 
A GLIMPSE OF WEX KllOY. 25 
 
 Lest women wise 
 
 Become, and rise, 
 We bind them hand and foot. To keep them quiet 
 
 We let them play 
 
 With trifles gay, 
 And ^women's rights^' are wholly stifled by it." 
 
 To kill ennui 
 
 Seems here to be 
 From morn to night, a woman's occupation. 
 
 I could but smile 
 
 To think the while 
 How strange 'twould seem to our own Yankee 
 nation. 
 
 The men take rank, 
 
 Or by the bank. 
 Or by the street they live on. For the rest, 
 
 Paintins^s and books 
 
 Are kept for looks. 
 Not are, or know ; but what they have 's the test. 
 
26 AT THE BACK OF THE 3100N, 
 
 In the wild strife 
 
 Of lunar life, 
 To gain street rank, all precious things are given. 
 
 They toil, grow sad, 
 
 And, raging mad, 
 Bear loads, wear chains ; but think themselves in 
 heaven. 
 
 But if one fail, 
 
 'Tis no avail 
 How noble. Failure is the one great sin. 
 
 And if they gain. 
 
 At cost of pain 
 Or wrong, no matter. Blest are they who win ! 
 
 A wedding gay 
 
 Was held one day ; 
 To us the father invitation sends. 
 
 Yelnats, aside. 
 
 Told me the bride 
 Was sold, at private auction^ by her friends. 
 
A GLIMPSE OF WEN KROY. 27 
 
 Her hand was won 
 
 By the eldest son 
 Of another family on the street. 
 
 By a failing bank 
 
 He lost his rank, 
 And never more are they allowed to meet. 
 
 'Tis only among 
 
 The vulgar throng 
 Of the common crew, that a foolish girl 
 
 Will deiirn to sisfh, 
 
 Or turn her eye 
 On a lover who brings not diamond or pearl. 
 
 There 's a curious clique 
 
 The Not Nobs seek, 
 A circle they name " Good Society." 
 
 In this they call. 
 
 Not for love at all. 
 But because, as they say, " It 's the thing, you see." 
 
28 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 I could not make out 
 
 AYliat 'twas all about, 
 What was said, or done ; or what ''the thing" meant. 
 
 But so u'lad thev seemed 
 
 When 'twas over, I deemed 
 From some strange, stern sense of duty they went. 
 
 Ponderous books 
 
 Of learned looks 
 Lay on their tal)lcs, or adorned the wall. 
 
 One, El))ib named, 
 
 AVas chiefly famed ; 
 But I did not notice them read it at all. 
 
 On this I pondered. 
 
 And much I wondered 
 To see them lear and worship a tome ; 
 
 And which, I saw. 
 
 They called "the law;" 
 But by which they squared neither business nor 
 home. 
 
A GLIMPSE OF WEX KROY. 29 
 
 Down town tlicy l:)less 
 
 But one god, Success, 
 Vvliose temple's in Llaw Street, and on the Ex- 
 change. 
 
 Elbib and he 
 
 So disagree 
 That how they could reverence both seemed strange. 
 
 That night I blest. 
 
 As I to rest 
 Lay down, the gracious ways of Providence ; 
 
 That I was born 
 
 Where comes the morn 
 And smiles on people that have common-sense. 
 
 I could not praise 
 
 Their Wen Ivi'oy ways, 
 Xor did I wish Yelnats t' offend. So soon 
 
 I saw 'twas vain 
 
 To try to explain. — 
 Things backward went up there behind the moon. 
 
30 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON 
 
 f\\U^ % ^^tl 
 
 NOTSOB NOTIONS. 
 
 Back into Notsob toAvn again ; 
 Glad enough t' escape AVen Kroy. 
 I could not make their customs plain ; 
 So greeting Enak again with joy, 
 I hoped his people's saner ways 
 Would clear my brain of its Wen Kroy daze, 
 I found him living upon a hill — 
 " 'Tis the only place to live," said he ; 
 " No common air our lungs do fill 
 Up where we look out o'er the sea. 
 Yelnats is a wonderful man," he said ; 
 " I only marvel how he can stand 
 
NOTSOB NOTIONS. 31 
 
 The Wen Kroy folk — a man with a head — 
 And not live in our intellectual land. 
 This hill is the centre of all the moon ; 
 Toward it the moon forces all converge ; 
 'Tis no wonder then, that late or soon, 
 All knowledge in such a place should merge. 
 We call those men who live on the hill. 
 For man is a word that means to think ; 
 'Tis only a mob the low streets fill, 
 Who never at Churcul's fountain drink." 
 
 Upon this Avondrous hill there stands 
 A building famous in lunar lands. 
 Whose gilded dome shines out afar 
 O'er sea and land like a glittering star ; 
 The walls and rooms are plain enough, 
 But the dome seems made of some maofic stuff. 
 At least it's the common belief up there, 
 
o c 
 
 2 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 That in this dome arc such virtues rare, 
 That sitting: under it fools otow wise ; 
 That the demagogue no longer lies ; 
 That the most unworldly parson here 
 Might gain a glimpse of a new idea ; 
 That city dunces and country clods 
 Are here transformed into demis^ods. 
 So every year the people seek 
 Out certain ones whose minds are weak, 
 Or in whose morals is some defect, 
 Or are willhig to pay to be of " the elect ;" 
 And these they send away from home 
 To sit some months beneath the dome ; 
 They seem to think that somehow then 
 They 'II grow to be better and wiser men. 
 And so firm in this is the common faith — 
 I could not clearly make out the cause 
 Whatever this curious collection saith, 
 They think inspired, and call them laws. 
 
NOTSOB NOTIONS. 33 
 
 And, as far as I could understand, 
 'Twas because here rose the wondrous dome, 
 That made this hill, in all the land. 
 The ''proper place" to have one's home. 
 Within the ring where its shadow fell 
 Was thought to reside the Churcul spell ; 
 And one who would be just "the thing" 
 Must not live far from the magical ring. 
 Not alone in Wen Kroy, but Notsob too, 
 I found " the thing " was the thing to do. 
 And yet " the thing " was not the same 
 In the rival cities ; though the name 
 Was identical. It seemed to be 
 A sort of patron deity ; 
 Some spoke of it as " Propriety ; " 
 But though I questioned much, I doubt 
 If I altogether made it out. 
 
34 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 Next morn the Notsob people slept 
 Till very late. It seemed to be 
 A day that by the folk was kept 
 In honor of some deity. 
 Some called him Htabbas, some Yadnus — 
 They seemed to mean about the same ; 
 But those of the stricter form of use. 
 Held there was much in the very name. 
 Their forms of w^orship are very odd ; 
 But here, where all things backward go, 
 I cannot wonder if e 'en their god 
 Absurd shall seem to us below. 
 
 Six days they worship the great god "Biz," 
 And notes and gold are their ojafering ; 
 To the early riser his favor is. 
 And groans of toil the hymns they sing ; 
 But on Yadnus' day they lie abed 
 
NOTSOB KOTIOXS. 35 
 
 As long as sleep will hold their eyes ; 
 
 And a baked round loaf of dark brown bread, 
 
 Swine's flesh and beans, are their sacrifice. 
 
 Then later the temples they seek, or ride ; 
 
 They work — though in another way — 
 
 They lounge, read, feast, till eventide. 
 
 I could not unravel this curious day ; 
 
 For Elbib here is their holy book ; 
 
 And as o'er its precepts I did look, 
 
 I saw that swine's flesh everywhere 
 
 AVas held accurst. I saw too there 
 
 That just one thing Yadnus desires — 
 
 Resting from work. That on this day 
 
 The people must not kindle fires, 
 
 Cook, travel, nor labor any way. 
 
 No other laws it gave, and yet 
 
 These strange moon-people backward read ^ 
 
 The one command they all forget. 
 
 And do what Elbib never decreed. 
 
36 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 In this strange way the moon-folk keep 
 One day to Yaclnus. Then, I judge, 
 For the next six days he lies asleep, 
 While the people worship Krow or Drudge, 
 That seemed to l)e other names for Biz. 
 At any rate, I did not see, 
 What Yadnus says the right w^ay is, 
 The people w^alk to any degree 
 On other days. And Biz appeared 
 To be the god they really trust. 
 Yadnus, I thought, they no longer feared ; 
 His worship was crumbling into dust ; 
 A relic of the past, no doubt, 
 From which the life is dying out. 
 
 But unlike all the wide earth shows 
 Was a famous club that next day met. 
 At its name moon-folk turned up their nose, 
 
NOTSOB NOTIONS. 37 
 
 But into it still they strive to get. 
 Outsiders sneer until they win 
 The proud distinction of being in ; 
 And then, with most superior air, 
 The ignorant pity who are not there. 
 They call the members those ivho hnow^ 
 Or rich, or poor, they measure his brain. 
 The lunar name for those w^ho go 
 Is BigJied^ if I heard it plain. 
 
 They meet in a quiet street, apart 
 From the drudging people who worship Biz ; 
 For they seem to cultivate the art 
 Of keeping away from the real — what is ; 
 And a scoffer said, who was not there, 
 That all their doings were " in the air." 
 Of course this meeting has its home 
 Within the shadow of the dome ; 
 
38 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 And the club is known both near and far 
 By its curious name of Lakidar. 
 Like other things in this strange land, 
 Its meaning I failed to understand ; 
 The word means something about a root- 
 At least so all moon-people say — 
 But instead of digging, they dispute. 
 And seem to soar the other way. 
 I thought at first that it must be 
 A new religion. Tlie air was full— 
 And spoken always reverently — 
 Of talk of " the spirit of Churcul." 
 But they liad no altar, and no cult 
 Such as on earth we worship call ; 
 They only gathered to consult 
 About "T/^' Unfathomable All:' 
 
 One read a paper showing how 
 Nothing at all may something be ; 
 
NOTSOB NOTIONS. 39 
 
 Proceeding much at length to show 
 
 That only blind men really see. 
 
 I caught a few words, uttered low, 
 
 As "Hegel," and "Antinomy." 
 
 I whispered Enak, where I sat, 
 
 And asked if all the Lakidars 
 
 Knew what the reader was getting at. 
 
 He said, " O no ! the distant stars 
 
 Shine out from space's unfathomed deep ; 
 
 Their lonely way they ever keep. 
 
 We count him but a shallow brain 
 
 Who makes his meaning clear and plain. 
 
 What man of soaring genius would 
 
 By every fool be understood ? 
 
 Upon the Lakidars' last day 
 
 I read before them an essay ; 
 
 And ere the paper I begun, 
 
 I said, 'Not two, perhaps not one 
 
40 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON, 
 
 In all the club can follow me ; ' 
 And they applauded rapturously. 
 So much they love profundity. 
 
 They hold one very strange idea. 
 Peculiar to the lunar sphere. 
 On earth, I think men would incline 
 To say that it was "all moonshine." 
 'Tis this. Each separate Lakidar 
 Holds that whate'er he feels is true. 
 E. g., he thinks he sees a star ; 
 He will not stoop to prove it to you. 
 With telescope go sweep the sky, 
 And if no bright orb meet your eye 
 He 's sorry for you ; but he thinks 
 The stars may go out when he winks. 
 At any rate he thought : he saiv : 
 
 And that for him 's the highest law. 
 
NOTSOB NOTIONS. 41 
 
 He claims a vision that transcends 
 The need of proof ; and there he ends. 
 
 I said to Enak, "Even if trne, 
 It may be very good for you, 
 But how '11 the knowledge come to me 
 Until 'tis proved ? " And he replied, 
 " Churcul enables us to see ; 
 If you are blind, then blind abide." 
 "But," said I, " was there not a man, 
 Once famous in your lunar lore, 
 Named Nocab, Avho wrought out a plan 
 Of how this universe to scan 
 From little knowledge on to more ; 
 Who started out from what he knew. 
 And then from this conclusions drew?" 
 " Yes," he replied, " but he 's a clod 
 Who is content to dig and plod ; 
 
42 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 Down to hard facts his wmgs to tie, 
 When he aloft may soar and fly 
 In fathomless immensity." 
 
 When we were out, I said, "My friend, 
 
 To what does all this talking tend ? 
 And, tell me, wherein will it end?" 
 " 'Twill end— in talking still," he said ; 
 " Transcendent reason still refuses 
 To tie itself to vulgar uses. 
 We do not want to settle things. 
 If we should condescend to prgof, 
 'Twould clip the nimble fancy's wings 
 That loves to weave the warp and woof 
 Of spirit-robes for thoughts that dwell 
 In absolute Being's primal cell. 
 
 Out from the famous club we went. 
 And passed into another street ; 
 
NOTSOB NOTIONS. .43 
 
 And yet the day was far from spent, 
 And Avonders still my eyes did greet. 
 
 It seems that in ages far remote, 
 Some people — none knew w^ho, or when, 
 Or where — some mystic volumes wrote, 
 And left them for succeeding men. 
 When many cycles had passed by, 
 The faith among the people rose 
 That these books dropped down from the sky ; — 
 'Tis ever the thing that no one knows 
 That awes us by it« mystery — 
 And so the moon-folk came to hold 
 That some dread god the books had sent, 
 And awful tortures, all untold. 
 Would fall in wrathful punishment 
 On him who dared to think or speak 
 Aught that the books did not contain ; 
 
44 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 In the deep moon-craters such should shriek 
 
 And writhe in never-ending pain. 
 
 This book was Elbib : and as year 
 
 By year passed by, the hmar sphere 
 
 Was covered o'er with temples built 
 
 By priests who Elbib read ; and taught 
 
 Moon-people how t' escape the guilt 
 
 Of sin inherited, and free thought. 
 
 But as the years grew old, some found 
 
 Facts that were very obstinate, 
 
 And had not been in Elbib bound. 
 
 Then they began to circulate 
 
 The harrowing doubt that possibly 
 
 The universe was something more 
 
 Than any single book could be. 
 
 The raging priests their hair then tore. 
 
 And piously, but loudly, swore 
 
 That 'the moon itself on Elbib rested ; 
 
NOTSOB NOTIONS. 45 
 
 And if their god's revenge were tested, 
 Down the lunar sphere should tall, 
 And ruin overwhelm them all. 
 
 But although Elbib spoke ol* love, 
 And said a Father reigned above, 
 The priests his wishes sought to gain, 
 By fire and torture, axe and chain. 
 But torture, axe, and chaui, and fire 
 Failed t' extinguisli the desire 
 The moon-folk had by this time shown 
 To do some thinking: of their own. 
 The Iieresies prevailed and spread. 
 Till over all the moon 'twas found — 
 Some saw with gladness, some with dread — 
 The priests were ever losing ground. 
 
 But more than all thin£2:s else, I thou^-ht. 
 
46 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 They feared a something in the air ; 
 
 A sort of spirit-force that wrought 
 
 Freedom of thinking everywhere. 
 
 And this same spirit the moon-folk 
 
 Stirred up to always asking, Why ? 
 
 And the magic '' why " would snap the yoke 
 
 The priests had held the people by ; 
 
 For when you asked them why, it fell 
 
 That they w^ere dumb, and could not tell. 
 
 As far as I could find it out. 
 
 This spirit they Ecneics called : 
 
 I could not certain be about 
 
 The name ; for they were so appalled 
 
 Whene'er 'twas spoken, that to me 
 
 It seemed outright discourtesy 
 
 To question further ; so I turned 
 
 To other topics ; but I learned 
 
 That somehow they this mighty power 
 
NOTSOB NOTIONS. 47 
 
 Regarded as a demon strong, 
 
 Whose advent knelled their own death hour, 
 
 And boded every kind of wrong. 
 
 It fell then, that about this time 
 There rose a champion whose might 
 Was mooted through the whole moon-clime, 
 Restorer of the priestly right. 
 
 Straight then from out the Lakidars 
 I went to see the mighty lunar. 
 Where, marshalled for their magic wars, 
 He led the priests, their famed dragooner. 
 For 'twas a magic war he fought, 
 And strange, as far as I could judge ; 
 His weapons were not made of thought. 
 But something Enak said was fudge. 
 A magic war I say ; for we 
 On earth do call that " sleio^ht of hand " 
 
48 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 For which no adequate cause we see, 
 
 And lookers-on can't understand. 
 
 It was not reasoning : for that starts 
 
 From something known; and then goes on 
 
 To what must follow ; and imparts 
 
 Truths that will stand. But when he 's done, 
 
 YoUffind he started with a sfuess. 
 
 Or an assertion none could prove ; 
 
 And left off in a cloudy mess 
 
 Of windy words that round you drove. 
 
 I asked Enak what 'twas he meant 
 
 By " fudge." With lunar smile, he said : 
 
 '' When gullible people are content 
 
 To hear a man who 's lost his head ; 
 
 Who don't know what he talks about. 
 
 And they who hear him do not know. 
 
 We call it fudge. You, I found out, 
 
 Cairt 'metaphysics' down below." 
 
NOTSOB NOTIONS. 49 
 
 I tried to find this juggler's art, 
 And how he proved Ecneics wrong ; 
 He stamps his foot, and gives a start, 
 And bellows at the awe-struck throng. 
 Then furiously he swings his arms. 
 And, with a wild look in his eye. 
 The feeble moon-folk he alarms 
 With words of awful mystery. ,. 
 To make my meaning very clear : 
 The jugglers of our earthly sphere 
 Eat flax, and spit out smoke and fire. 
 "With his enchantments he did so.''* 
 As Indian "medicine-men" perspire, 
 Yell, roll their eyes, sway to and fro, 
 So he. 
 
 And Enak told me how 
 He in his room prepared himself 
 
 ♦Ex. 7: 11. 
 5 
 
50 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 For these occasions. Eow on row. 
 
 Piled up on many a groaning shelf, 
 
 Were books of fathomless mystery. 
 
 And in these books were words brouo-ht home 
 
 From Namreg moon-lands o'er the sea, 
 
 So big that when they'd tilled one tome, 
 
 Exhausted one whole volume's text. 
 
 They were " continued in our next." 
 
 These books he fed on, till his head 
 
 Swelled huge ; his solemn tread 
 
 Grew elephantine. And for fear 
 
 That he might burst some awful day. 
 
 And hurl to wreck the lunar sphere. 
 
 He wore a secret hoop, they say. 
 
 As in th' "Arabian Nights," 'tis said, 
 
 The huge, sky-filling, cloudy sprite. 
 
 Crammed in the bottle, heels and head. 
 
 At last was corked in out of sight ; 
 
NOTSOB NOTIONS. 51 
 
 So he, these mighty words of wind 
 Swallowed, till as in -Coins' cave 
 They raged in what he called his mind. 
 Then on the platform he would rave 
 And storm and thunder, till the crowd 
 Threw up their hats and screamed aloud ; 
 " Down with Ecneics ! who is he 
 That in our great Mogul can't see 
 Unfathomable profundity ! " 
 
 As cases of moon logic, note 
 These specimens that now I quote. 
 " There 's a behind, and a before : 
 And therefore it is plain to me 
 That an ark was built by one named Xoah 
 Who sailed the primal lunar sea. 
 There is an up, and there 's a down : 
 And so, if logic doesn't fail. 
 
52 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON, 
 
 The reason Jonah did n't drown 
 Was the compassion of a whale. 
 There is an out, and there 's an in : 
 Who the conclusion then can 'scape. 
 That all men fell in Adam's sin, 
 And were n't developed from an ape ? 
 All things must have a cause ; and so " — 
 But this last point I could n't see ! 
 If he were caused, the act would throw 
 On some one, whom I didn't know, 
 A sad responsibility. 
 
 But just as out of doors I flung, 
 A gust of words hissed by with speed : 
 With " bioplasm " the high hall rung ; 
 " Lady Macbeth's red-handed deed," 
 And ^'innermost highest" slipped his tongue. 
 With '' You dare doubt and you '11 be d — d." 
 
NOTSOB NOTIONS. 53 
 
 When we were out Enak confessed 
 
 That he was weary : and he cried, 
 
 In strange moon-phrase, " Give us a r£5st ! " 
 
 If this were prayer, or expletive 
 
 I knew not, and could not decide : 
 
 Kor did he explanation give. 
 
 I followed where he led the way, 
 And entered we a little stall ; 
 Said he, " 'Twas dry. Let us allay 
 Our thirst by drinking some Regal." 
 'Twas brought in foaming. "This," said he, 
 "Is what the mighty gods of eld 
 Drank in their regal revelry. 
 That they on lunar heights once held. 
 A famous cup-bearer, called Snah, 
 The secret stole and gave to men ; 
 But ygt some folks so foolish are 
 
54 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 That they would send it back again. 
 Their Notsob leader really thinks 
 That lying, theft, and vicious ways 
 Are not so bad as he who drinks 
 The hop, though he's a saint and prays." 
 
 While we sat there, a man came in. 
 "Just back from Eporue ! " he said. 
 Among the gods I thought he 'd been. 
 So proud and stately was his tread. 
 I found this Eporue to be 
 A land beyond Citnalta sea ; 
 And, in this part of luna-land, 
 Their talk gave me to understand. 
 That those born out of Notsob town 
 Were Xoboddees, of no renown. 
 And even a man in Notsob born, 
 Who in its sacred air first drew 
 
NOTSOB NOTIONS. 55 
 
 s 
 
 His breath, must yet toward the mom, 
 Sail o'er the waves to Eporue, 
 Before that he could hope to be 
 A full-developed Sumboddee. 
 
 I hid these sayings in my heart. 
 Intending, ere I did depart, 
 To see this famous land, and know 
 Wherein its wondrous power lay. 
 That so its lore I might convey 
 To my earth-people down below. 
 
 Of Yadnus' day one curious feature 
 That struck me, was the Notsob preacher, 
 Or preachers rather ; for the babble 
 Of all conflicting tongues that shouted 
 Round Shinar's tower, a barbarous rabble v 
 Made not a more confusing din ; 
 
56 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 For some believed, and others doubted 
 Of heaven, of virtue, hell and sin. 
 And only one thing each one knew — 
 He held the doctrine that was true. 
 
 One, "Evil Eeknay," found it hard 
 To live with others, so alone 
 He thought 'twould prove a paying card 
 To have a chapel of his own. 
 The great ambition fired his heart 
 To be the preacher of the masses ; 
 So circus bills, and chromo art, 
 He used t' attract the common cl — asses. 
 His sermons were a ten-cent * hash 
 Of blood-and-thunder novelette. 
 Of Elbib stories, and the "flash" 
 
 Suofsrestions of Police Gazette, 
 
 * Admission ten cents. 
 
NOTSOB NOTIONS. 57 
 
 I asked Enak if such wild prate 
 Up on the moon could win renown ; 
 He laughed and said, " Why, he 's the great 
 Foolometer of Notsob town. 
 When our statistics we make out, 
 We find how many dimes he 's got ; 
 From all our folk, subtract his rout. 
 We know what part is idiot." 
 
 There was another Notsob preacher^ 
 . A Centaur man, who did incline 
 Not much to love the human creature, 
 But doted on the fast equine. 
 Not often did his rich mind travel 
 Freighted with theologic load ; 
 He rather loved to spurn the gravel 
 With highflyer on the Llim-mad road. 
 In Elbib's name he taught the people 
 
58 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 What style of shot-gun to endorse ; 
 
 And how to win the chase called " steeple," 
 
 And how to rear "the perfect horse." 
 
 He held that thus to him 'twas given 
 
 To teach the people to be fast ; 
 
 For those who here could win, at last 
 
 Might reach life's greater goal — in heaven. 
 
 Another one, of some position, 
 Taught people not to ride or shoot ; 
 But seemed to think he had a mission 
 To show them how to evolute. 
 Some said he had no god at all. 
 Nor any gospel they could see : 
 He scorned all talk of lunar "fall,'^ 
 Rejected moon depravity, 
 And only worshipped "Unity." 
 And Enak said, " The one defect 
 
NOTSOB NOTIONS. 59 
 
 That runs through all his constitution, 
 Is his conceit that can expect 
 To save the moon by 'Evolution.' 
 He has the fatal gift of talk ; 
 Assumes the lofty critic's part ; 
 A.nd thinks a tyro's words can balk 
 The ancient faitli-defenders' art." 
 
 And still another talked as though 
 He held in ward the one true church ; 
 And on its cart 'twould never go 
 Unless he held * it in its lurch ; 
 And yet, as Eoman augurs laughed, 
 On looking each in others' face, 
 He sneered in secret at his craft. 
 And ridiculed his sacred (?) place. 
 He said, " When I began, I thought 
 
 * Vide 2 Sam. 6 : 6. 
 
60 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 Myself in saving souls engaged ; 
 But that is chaff with which are caucrht 
 Clerics, to be 4n orders' caged." 
 And yet the fellow still would prate, 
 And talk of " infidels " forsooth ; 
 He 'd rattle on of church and state 
 As if he really thought 'twas truth. 
 
 A fifth one thinks the quickest way 
 To lead the moon-folk on to glory — 
 A sort of flavoring for dry hay — 
 Is, cram the gospel in a "story." 
 So he has told them "ten times one" ; 
 And with his sugar-coated pills, 
 Hopes his prescription, when it's done, 
 "Will cure them of all lunar ills. 
 
 And still another straddles wide 
 
NOTSOB NOTIONS. 61 
 
 All chasms of division over ; 
 
 111 both directions seeks to ride, 
 
 And all the doxies tries to cover. 
 
 He will no contradictions see 
 
 But in appearance^ not in sense. 
 
 He thinks the man of breadth should be 
 
 At once on both sides of the fence. 
 
 But though the roots of all be one^ 
 
 And all life started on one plan, 
 
 Yet follow on till it is done. 
 
 This turns out monkey, that one man ; 
 
 So, though all doxies have one root, 
 
 They issue in all kinds of fruit. 
 
 Some of these preachers think no man 
 Can enter heaven except by diving ; 
 By water is the only plan. 
 However holy be the living ; 
 
62 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON, 
 
 And if he has not been all under 
 In tank or river, heels and head, 
 From such an one they keej) asunder ; 
 
 Will not drink with him, nor eat bread = 
 
 Some talk of an " experience," 
 A sort of spasm they go through ; 
 A groan or shout is evidence 
 The promised land is full in view. 
 
 I wondered not the people drifted 
 This way and that, in flurried fashion, 
 So many guide-posts were uplifted. 
 So many shouted, hoarse with passion, 
 That they, and they alone, were sent, 
 To heaven to tell the folk the way. 
 And that God's wrathful punishment 
 Would fall on him who failed t' obey. 
 
NOTSOB NOTIONS. 63 
 
 And when, all wearied out with this, 
 Some said that they should try to be 
 Good as they knew, and hope for bliss, 
 'Twas scouted as "morality." 
 "Morality was good," they said ; 
 " 'Twas well enough below to try it ; 
 But 'twas not current coin o'erhead. 
 And none could e'er win heaven by it." 
 
 Their heaven, I thought, must be a place 
 Wherefrom, by favor, the depraved 
 Would see below, in hell, the race 
 Of those who always had behaved. 
 
 'Twas strange to one so proud to be 
 A member of our Yankee nation. 
 To learn what was revealed to me 
 Of moon ideas of education. 
 
64 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 They have what, in their own moon phrase, 
 
 They call a race — curriculum ; 
 
 Where round through all their youthful days 
 
 The children run. Each seeks to come 
 
 First to the goal. What he brings there, 
 
 Or what he is when he is through — 
 
 Of these they do not seem to care : 
 
 To get there first 's the thing to do. 
 
 I watched them. Nerves were on the strain ; 
 
 Faces grew pale as on they ran ; 
 
 Not rarely cracked an o'erwrought brain ; 
 
 Here fell a wreck where ought t' have stood a man. 
 
 I looked on wondering ; then to Enak said : 
 
 " What wise shipmaster out to sea 
 
 Would send a ship, with storms overhead, 
 
 And breakers growling angrily — 
 
 However finely he the engine built, 
 
 However gayly he the cabin gilt — 
 
NOTSOB NOTIONS. 65 
 
 * 
 
 With hulk unsound, unfit the shock 
 
 Of waves to meet, or hidden rock? 
 
 What worth is high- wrought brain, when down 
 
 The storm falls, and the seamen drown ?^' 
 
 And Enak said, "But then, you see. 
 
 Unless the children run, they '11 be 
 
 Outstript by others ; and the pride 
 
 That loves to see one's children win. 
 
 The dire disgrace could ne'er abide 
 
 Of seeing them lag." It seemed a sin 
 
 To me, who knew our perfect ways. 
 
 But to remonstrate was in vain ; 
 
 I looked on in a sad amaze. 
 
 'Twas useless for me to explain 
 
 Our wiser methods. For I soon 
 
 Learned that 'twas quite in vain t' expect 
 
 By all things not to be perplext 
 
 Here on the land behind the moon. 
 
66 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 Not only this : I also saw 
 That schools, as well as other things, 
 Were governed by an old-time law — 
 Mighty as wills of despot kings — 
 That made the thoiio-lits of men lon^r dead 
 Stronger than all their living wit ; 
 They seemed to have an awful dread, 
 If aught were old, of changing it. 
 I judged that somehow they believed 
 The spirits of the dead were grieved. 
 If their descendants aught discerned 
 That they, in old timei, had not learned : 
 So, if they walked a new-found path, 
 They seemed to dread their fathers' wrath. 
 I thought they must have failed to see 
 That each succeeding century 
 Was older than the last ; and so, 
 If wisdom does with th' ages grow, 
 
NOTSOB NOTIONS. 67 
 
 What they the modern called, in truth 
 
 Was hoary age, and not rash youth. 
 
 But by the strange thought they were bound, 
 
 That somehow the moon's childhood knew 
 
 All truth that ever need be found ; 
 
 And they no otherwise should do, 
 
 But only ever o'er and o'er 
 
 Repeat the fathers' ancient lore. 
 
 It followed that they thought it wise. 
 In all the universities. 
 To study old philosophies 
 And languages of ancient men ; 
 Their manners and their ways of thought. 
 '^If we can keep to this, why then, 
 They said, " we '11 gain the end we 've sought." 
 About this time some men arose 
 Who uttered a new heresy — 
 
68 AT THE BACK OF THE MOOX. 
 
 That what one learns, as up he grows, 
 
 Should fit him for his destiny ; 
 
 For in old time the only thought 
 
 Was discipline. None tried to win 
 
 Fitness for work that must be wrou^rht : 
 
 He only cared for discipline. 
 
 No useful thing need one be taught : 
 
 Not what was now, but what had been ; 
 
 Not problems with which life was fraught ; 
 
 He only needed discipline. 
 
 When questioned, "Discipline for what?'' 
 
 The question seemed to them a sin : 
 
 They stared, and gave no answer, but 
 
 " The thing we want is discipline." 
 
 But then the heretics suggested, 
 
 That if the thing were fairly tested, 
 
 The pupil's mind perhaps might be 
 
 Developed, trained as thoroughly 
 
NOTSOB XOTIOXS. 69 
 
 In modern lore, as learning what, 
 
 Soon as the college course was through, 
 
 AVould straiglitway have to be forgot 
 
 While he was learninof something: new. 
 
 But still it followed, when these men, 
 
 Who thou2:ht a thorou^^h education 
 
 Should discipline, and more — should then 
 
 Fit for some wholesome occupation. 
 
 Began their theories to expound. 
 
 There rose a hubbub of dissent. 
 
 That in the noise their voices drowned. 
 
 And sentenced them to banishment. 
 
 A scheme possessed my mind just then 
 
 For the relief of lunar men — 
 
 To strip our earthly alma-maters 
 
 Of some of their wise educators, 
 
 And send them as a precious boon 
 
 Up to the land behind the moon. 
 
70 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 Another thing perplexed me too, 
 So different from the way we do ; 
 They did not learn some one thing well, 
 Thus mastering a whole idea, 
 But picked up fragments as they fell 
 Scattered all o'er the lunar sphere. 
 Our earthly children are amused 
 By a kaleidoscope. We show 
 Them glittering fragments all confused, 
 Forever shifting to and fro. 
 Thus, on the moon, the children see 
 All knowledge of all objects tumbled 
 In orderless perplexity 
 And sad confusion ever jumbled : 
 A smattering of this and that. 
 Not anything completely shown ; 
 Glimpses of thoughts, that, like a bat. 
 When daylight comes, away have flown. 
 
NOTSOB NOTIONS. 71 
 
 They have what they " accomplishments " 
 
 Agree to call. They seemed to be 
 
 Used most of all, as pmiishments 
 
 For callers who drop in to tea. 
 
 At any rate, I used to find 
 
 That though they smiled, and said 'twas kind 
 
 Of friends to entertain them so ; 
 
 They sighed, and looked relieved to go. 
 
 But there was one thing that to me 
 Seemed little short of lunacy. 
 A traveller in a foreign land 
 Finds much that 's hard to understand ; 
 But rarely to him does it fall 
 To find what has no sense at all. 
 But one thing in the Notsob schools 
 Appeared to me the work of — fools. 
 
72 AT THE BACK OF THE MOOX. 
 
 It seems that when the town was new 
 The people all had thought alike 
 Of state lore, and religion too. 
 But soon came from the land of Mike — 
 A fair green isle of Eporue — 
 A race of men who worshipped saints, 
 Besides the god Notsob adored ; 
 'Twas then that rose up loud complaints ; 
 The school became a two-edged sword 
 That threatened bitter war. For when 
 The children gathered at the school, 
 Before they learned their lessons, then 
 They had obeyed an ancient rule 
 To read from Elbib. This had grown 
 To be a law. But this new race 
 Said that the law should be o'erthrown. 
 And their own custom take its place. 
 At least, they said, it was unjust 
 
NOTSOB NOTIONS. 73 
 
 That they should pay for education, 
 
 While on their children there was thrust 
 
 That which would end in their damnation ; 
 
 For both sides held the strange idea 
 
 That if the children learned to think 
 
 As did the others, they would sink 
 
 In craters of the lunar sphere, 
 
 Where the great god of heaven would send 
 
 Upon them torments without end. 
 
 And yet — this was the strangest part — 
 
 They both believed that Elbib tJiught 
 
 The only way to cleanse the heart, 
 
 And tell to men the high god's thought. 
 
 But Elbib was so strange a book. 
 
 It brought salvation or damnation, 
 
 One or the other, if you took. 
 
 Or this or that interpretation ; 
 
 So all depended on who read. 
 
74 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 And told to children what it said. 
 
 If this was how the gods revealed 
 
 Their will in Notsob, I begun 
 
 To wonder how it would be done 
 
 If their wills were to be concealed. 
 
 But still the war raged on ; each side 
 
 Held that the other had no right 
 
 By his opinions to abide, 
 
 And that 'twas all done out of spite. 
 
 Then said the new race : " We'll divide ; 
 
 We'll take our children, and we'll train 
 
 Them as we please." But all in vain. 
 
 The others said, "Thumb-screws and racks 
 
 You used, v/hen once you had the strength ; 
 
 If we divide with you the tax. 
 
 You '11 trv the same thino^ here, at lenoth." 
 
 Then there rose up some wiser men — 
 
 Or wiser they did seem to me 7— 
 
NOTSOB NOTIONS. 7o 
 
 Who tried to make things right again 
 
 On principles of equity. 
 
 They said : " The schools are made to teach 
 
 The practical affairs of life ; 
 
 How each can win in this hard strife, 
 
 And some fair goal of honor reach. 
 
 Take Elbib from the schools, and so 
 
 The cause of all debate shall go. 
 
 Let all the children then be taught, 
 
 Wisdom of action and of thought. 
 
 That they may learn the duties then 
 
 Of business, home, and citizen. 
 
 Your firesides and Yadnus' day 
 
 Shall give you ample time for these : 
 
 There teach your children to obey 
 
 What temple or what god you please. 
 
 It is not just, men to compel 
 
 To fit their little ones for hell, 
 
76 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 Or what they think is hell ; and too, 
 You 'd be the first ones to rebel 
 Were the same thing but tried on you. 
 Elbib has said that men are brothers ; 
 What you don't like, don't do to others." 
 But both sides swore, in pious wrath, 
 To sweep the others from their path ; 
 And that they 'd never brothers be 
 With heretics who could not see 
 Their horrible infidelity. 
 
 And so the war went on, until 
 Each found he could not have his will ; 
 "We '11 have no schools at all," said they ; 
 " The other side shan't have his way." 
 So preachers, teachers, dons and deans 
 Hurled books and logic at each other, 
 And got up such a mighty pother — 
 
NOTSOB NOTIONS. 77 
 
 I know not what the language means ; 
 But Enak said, — that "all the schools, 
 In this wild war of wordy fools, 
 Were just smashed into smithereens." 
 
 Whatever " smithereens " may be, 
 I knew by his disgusted face, 
 O'er which his tears the wrath did chase, 
 That 'twas some sad calamity. 
 I said, " O Enak, down on earth 
 No such wild folly e'er had birth. 
 If in this lunar air there be 
 The germs of such absurdity. 
 Lest my wits go, let me go soon 
 Down from this land behind the moon." 
 
78 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON< 
 
 ^Ijw % tmti% 
 
 MOON POLITICS, 
 
 But now was drawing nigh election day ; 
 
 Not only in Wen Kroy and Notsob town, 
 But throughout all the nation called Eeknay, — 
 
 A nation young, but mighty. Its renown 
 Lay in the fact that it had come to see 
 That Tweedledum was worse than Tweedledee. 
 
 The effete monarchies of Eporue 
 
 The Eeknays scoffed at, and pronounced a 
 ^^hum;" 
 Plans of milleniums they on paper drew. 
 
 And took out patents for a " kingdom come ; '' 
 
MOON POLITICS. 79 
 
 Answers to all moon problems they evolved 
 By th' universal solvent — they " resolved ! " 
 
 The difficulties of all politics 
 
 That had perplexed the lunar race of yore, 
 The wrongs of tyrants, the mob-leaders' tricks, 
 
 Were caused by kings, and kings should reign 
 no more ; ' 
 
 But one thing they forgot wiien they arranged it, — 
 The lunar nature ; and they had not changed it. 
 
 They seemed to think, if weeds got in their 
 garden, 
 
 They only needed a new style of fence ; 
 That a soft head a brand new hat might harden ; 
 
 Or some new institution give men sense ; 
 And that to make men virtuous and wise. 
 You needed only some new law devise. 
 
80 AT THE BACK OF THE MOOX. 
 
 So when they had cast off the king's dominion 
 Who used to rule them from beyond the sea, 
 
 They took for symbol a spread eagle's pinion, 
 
 And soared and grew, and spread out famously ; 
 
 They took an Elbib emblem — great I am ; 
 
 But worshipped only one Ytirojam. 
 
 Whatever this Ytirojam should say, 
 
 By it they all agreed that they 'd abide : 
 
 To learn his will they then devised a w^ay ; 
 A little ark or box they did provide ; 
 
 And — holding that all men would be insjDired 
 
 To utter what Ytirojam desired — 
 
 They fixed a day on, which, 'twixt morn and dark, 
 The men should choose some one to be their 
 head. 
 
 Each dropped a little paper in the ark. 
 
 And these decided what the god had said. 
 
MOON POLITICS. 81 
 
 They trusted not the idiots, nor women : 
 But whom the men elected , they put him in. 
 
 It seemed to be a curious superstition 
 
 That they should think this process could 
 jDroduce 
 A man half fit for any high position, 
 
 Or capable of any noble use : 
 For every paper in the moon had raved 
 Against all — but subscribers — as depraved. 
 
 If they said true, the mass of lunar men 
 
 Were knaves or fools, who could not under- 
 stand 
 
 The vital principles which there and then 
 
 Ought to prevail throughout the lunar land ; 
 
 And yet they seemed to think that wisdom's stuff 
 
 Could be produced by adding fools enough. 
 
82 AT THE BACK OF THE MOOX. 
 
 That muddy water could be made quite clear 
 By adding other muddy water to it ; 
 
 And that to cleanse the public atmosphere, 
 
 The quickest way was slinging mud-balls 
 through it : 
 
 That, when united they'd the gods surpass, 
 
 Although each individual was an ass. 
 
 Our earthly mathematics teaches us 
 
 That out of nothing, nothing comes ; but here 
 The lunar populations fume and fuss. 
 
 Churn folly, and think wisdom will appear ; 
 As if a lake from sweet to bitter varies, 
 Except a change come o'er its tributaries. 
 
 Some notions that they held were so unlike 
 
 Any that sane earth-men could ever hold, 
 I cannot greatly wonder if they strike 
 
MOON POLITICS. 83 
 
 My readers as pure fiction wlieii they 're told. 
 But I must tell the truth, though it be douI:>ted, 
 And for its sake my whole moon-tale be scouted. 
 
 They hold that all men are created free ; 
 
 As though one could be free till he had 
 learned 
 The laws of his own nature ; and could see 
 
 Tliat good was politic ; and office earned 
 By loss of trutli was aught but chains to bind 
 The soul, in its own meanness close confined. 
 
 They hold that all are equal ; yet they know 
 
 Tliat cloth, and corn, and lumber, all may be 
 
 Well made, ill made, good, bad, or high or low, 
 Through all the endless range of quality. 
 
 As if the coward 's equal to the brave ; 
 
 Or honest men no better than the knave ! 
 
84 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 They do not think a man can make a shoe 
 
 Unless he's learned the trade. They want a 
 coat, 
 
 And then they seek a tailor. But to do 
 
 The mighty work of ruling, they will vote 
 
 For any third-rate knave or blatherskite, 
 
 And wonder that the work is not done right. 
 
 They hold that every man to vote is fit, 
 
 E 'en though too ignorant to understand 
 
 The good or evil of his wielding it ; 
 
 Or if he seek to make or mar the land. 
 
 The reins thus fall from those who should be first ; 
 
 The worst men rule — aristocrat reversed. 
 
 One day to me said Enak, " There 's to be 
 
 Gathered from far a great convention soon ; 
 I am a delegate. You go with me. 
 
MOON POLITICS. 85 
 
 And you shall see the wise men of the moon. 
 I '11 show you how we do it : when you go 
 You can report our wisdom down below." 
 
 I went. A vast hall held a mighty^ crowd. 
 
 Grave men sat on the platform. Then one 
 read 
 A string of resolutions ; and aloud 
 
 The great throng thundered; and then he 
 who led 
 Stood up to speak. Said he, "We do demand 
 Our principles shall rule this mighty land. 
 
 The people all are wise and good : but both 
 The parties that have governed us so long 
 
 Are grown corrupt ; and I record my oath 
 
 They shall be broken ; and the days of wrong 
 
 Shall be forgotten in that glorious hour 
 
 When your votes lift me to the seat of power." 
 
 8 
 
86 AT THE BACK OF THE MOOX. 
 
 Then he went on to promise what he 'd do. 
 
 When he was governor, the man who sold 
 Should get big prices for his wares ; he who 
 
 Would buy, should find things cheap. As 
 good as gold 
 He would make scraps of paper ; and the poor 
 Should all be rich. And every wooer 
 
 Should gain the hand he sought. The lazy man 
 
 Should prosper; and the vicious 
 Should still be happy ; those who never plan 
 
 Should hit success as well as the judicious. 
 Poor work should be well paid ; and none should 
 
 do 
 
 More than he felt inclined, or wanted to. 
 
 The fools should all be wise without the trouble 
 Of patient study ; each quart pot should be 
 
MOON POLITICS. 87 
 
 Made by a vote unanimous to hold double ; 
 
 The homely should grow handsome ; each 
 fruit tree 
 Should bear more than the owner cared to pick, 
 And all should eat and drink, and not be sick. 
 
 I watched the lunar speaker : he was such 
 As only in the moon you 'd ever see — ■ 
 
 A short, puflfed body ; and a bald head, much 
 
 Like the round moon at full ; and frequently 
 
 He turned toward the initiate sitting by, 
 
 And winked obliquely with strabismic eye. 
 
 I thought the crowd would laugh at his pretence, 
 Or scorn him who bad taken them for fools. 
 
 But no : they seemed to think he 'd spoken sense ; 
 And under a suspension of the rules, 
 
88 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 They said he was the man to save the nation, 
 And nominated him by acclamation. 
 
 With wild enthusiasm then they rose, 
 
 And on their shoulders bore him through the 
 street ; 
 Whoever bowed not, them they marked as foes ; 
 Hats flung and cries, the long jDrocession 
 greet. 
 With revels loud they close the crazy day. 
 And dream their trouble all has passed away. 
 
 I said to Enak, as we talked that nio-ht, 
 " Is this the first time that a candidate 
 
 Has promised all the people's wrongs to right ? " 
 " They always do it," said he. "Then the pate 
 
 Of the great public must be thick," said I, 
 
 "Or else they'd see that politicians lie." 
 
MOON POLITICS. 89 
 
 *^0h, but," he answered, "some designing knaves, 
 Bankers, aristocrats, stand in the way. 
 
 'Tis capital that keeps the people slaves, 
 
 And thus puts off the great millenial day. 
 
 So all the thrifty ones who make and keep 
 
 We 're going to punish with damnation deep. 
 
 Then there '11 be no one to oppress the poor ; 
 
 We've thought we had the man to do it 
 before, 
 But now at last we feel we 've got him sure." 
 
 " But is he poor ? " said I. " No ; he owns 
 more 
 Than all the others," said he. " Our belief, 
 However, is, a thief to catch a thief. 
 
 And so a big gold-grabber we have taken ; 
 
 For he knows how to grab the grabbers too." 
 
90 AT THE BACK OF THE MOOX. 
 
 "Ah, yes," said I, "but how if you awaken 
 
 To find that in his grabbing, he 's grabbed 
 
 you?" 
 
 "Oh, we moon-folk," he answered, "have found 
 
 out 
 He 's the best man who has the brassiest shout." 
 
 I sat and mused ; and as I mused I thought, 
 " If oiir republic ever sees the day 
 
 When moon ideas their natural end have wrought, 
 Our old-time glory will have passed away. 
 
 Then let us pray that all such leaders soon 
 
 Be sent up to the land behind the moon." 
 
MOON RELIGION. 91 
 
 fkm m ti% 
 
 MOON RELIGION. 
 
 And now, I'd heard so much of Eporue, 
 
 That I determined, ere my moon- voyage end, 
 To cross Citnalta Sea, and some days spend 
 
 In looking round to find whate'er was new. 
 
 Much saw I that 'twould take me long to tell ; 
 
 The cities, buildings, and the people's ways. 
 
 But my strange story would run on for days 
 If I should all relate that there befell. 
 
 ♦ 
 So one thing only may I speak of. There, 
 
 In Nodnol town arrived, I found me when 
 
92 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 The day of Yadnus came ; and throngs of men 
 .Filled all the streets. I saw a house of prayer. 
 
 The crowds passed by. I turned and entered m. 
 
 No throng was there ; but only, scattered 
 round, 
 
 Some kneeling people here and there I found, 
 Who, in an absent way, bewailed their sin. 
 
 As each one entered he knelt down, and then 
 Some words he muttered in a hurried way. 
 One standing by I asked, "Is't thus they 
 pray?" 
 " Some of them pray," he said, " and some count 
 ten. 
 
 '' It is a formula that they go through ; 
 
 For everything must be in order here. 
 
MOON RELIGION. 93 
 
 Of course they 'd like to have one be sincere ; 
 But to keep up the form's the thing to do." 
 
 I looked about me ; though the light shone bright 
 Out in the streets and over all the town, 
 In here upon the people kneeling down 
 
 There seemed to settle a perpetual night. 
 
 To let in light the temples were not made ; 
 
 But painted figures looked down through the 
 gloom : 
 
 I wondered if the doctrine matched the room ; 
 If the religion was designed for shade. 
 
 Up in the far-off loft, the droning choir 
 
 Chanted a music fitting ; and the priest 
 Stood in the chancel, facing to the east ; 
 
 Because, I learned, thence came the sacred fii-c. 
 
94 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 Upon his gorgeous robes tall candles shone : 
 
 He knelt, he bowed, he stood, he walked about, 
 And then at intervals his voice broke out 
 
 In some strange utterance that they call "intone." 
 
 A censer then he lifted up, and rose 
 
 A curling smoke of incense on the air ; 
 The god they worship likes this smell, and 
 where 
 
 He 's not attracted by it, off he goes. 
 
 It seemed so strange to me that gods should care 
 For pictures, candles, and the fragrant smoke. 
 Or how the priest stood, or his colored cloak. 
 
 That when the worship ended, on the stair 
 
 That led into the vestry, I addressed 
 
 The priest who led the service, and confided 
 
MOON RELIGION. 95 
 
 To him the points that I would have decided, 
 And all my curious doubts to him confessed. 
 
 I found that all he cared to tell about it 
 
 Was, that 'twas so because they all believed. 
 So many people could not be deceived ; 
 
 And that it was a damning sin to doubt it.* 
 
 I then a chapel visited, and heard 
 
 A man who stood up in a plain, black frock, 
 Address the people that he called his flock. 
 
 I found that this was "preaching of the word." 
 
 The word they preached was Elbib ; but I found 
 That half a hundred sects who built on this, 
 And held it only showed the way to bliss, — 
 
 All of them said the others were not " sound." 
 
 * See ** Damnatory Clause " in Creed. 
 
96 AT THE BACK OF THE MOOX. 
 
 They claim to hate all evil ; but, instead. 
 
 It seemed to me, their hatred most intense 
 Was kept for those who in another sense 
 
 The sayings of their great book, Elbib, read. 
 
 For in their records of the past I learned 
 
 That always, when one sect had come to be 
 The power that held the state's supremacy, 
 
 They had the others tortured, chained, and burned. 
 
 But now there were so many in the state 
 
 Who cared not much what either s^ct mi:2:ht 
 
 say. 
 The children of the " Prince of Peace " at bay 
 
 They kept ; and persecutions did abate. 
 
 I asked a priest, " Do you believe all true 
 
 You teach the people?" "O dear, no," said 
 he ; ' 
 
MOOK RELIGION. 97 
 
 "But then 'twould never do to speak, you sec 
 For though we don't believe, the people do." 
 
 I asked a working-man upon the street, 
 
 "Do you believe what priests say, to the 
 
 letter?" 
 " O no, we are not fools ; and we know better : 
 The priests do," said he, and he muttered, 
 "cheat."* 
 
 When any mighty trouble shook the nation, 
 'Twas curious oftentimes to note the way 
 By which they sought the evil to allay. 
 
 And set at rest the grievous agitation. 
 
 One day there came a riot*, for the people 
 
 Were starving in the streets for lack of bread. 
 
 * A lunar echo of an " o*cr trae tale/* 
 9 
 
98 AT THE BACK OF THE MOOIS^. 
 
 One rich church called a meeting ; and they 
 said, 
 " The Lord is wroth ; let 's build a costly steeple." 
 
 Crime grew apace ; and frequently the halter 
 
 Sent some poor soul to caverns down below. 
 A conclave clerical was held to know — 
 
 What colored cloth would please god on his altar. 
 
 The drifting crowds upon the street had said, 
 *^ There is no god, nor any future life." 
 The priests then wrangled in a furious strife 
 
 Concerning godhead in a piece of bread. 
 
 The great mob howled, "AVc are but beasts ; let be ; 
 There's nothins; bfetterthanto eat and drink." 
 The lords and bishops gathered then to think 
 
 What they could do to prove the trinity. 
 
MOON RELIGION. 99 
 
 From all this strange confusion much I sought 
 To gather out their real religion, what 
 They held of God and man and future ; but 
 
 Such wild absurdity was all their thought, 
 
 I could make little clear. They seemed to toftch 
 That at the first, God made a perfect moon, 
 But tainted with some flaw o'erlooked ; for soon 
 
 The scheme of things had slipped beyond his 
 reach. 
 
 And ever since, for many thousand years. 
 He had a hundred new devices tried 
 To win it back again ; but still men cried 
 
 In anguish, and fell down their hopeless tears. 
 
 I asked them if their god was weak, that he 
 Could not prevent the evil ; or if they 
 
100 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 Thought he lacked wisdom? But they an- 
 swered, "Nay." 
 They nothing knew, but — "'twas a mystery." 
 
 And yet they thought that he would punish those 
 Who read not Elbib ; though of those who erred 
 The most part never had of Elbib heard, 
 
 And knew not even that they were its foes. 
 
 That they could worship such a deity, — 
 
 Or weak, or ignorant, or bad — I wondered; 
 But on their superstition as I pondered. 
 
 They only said — " it was a mystery." 
 
 They said he loved the lunar men, and sought 
 In every way to save them ; yet the most 
 Were doomed to be irrevocably lost, — 
 
 So much of his endeavors came to naught. 
 
MOON RELIGIOX. 101 
 
 And though the jDricsts had labored faithfully 
 For ages, yet the moon grew only worse ;* 
 Forever smking 'neath the primal curse ; 
 
 They still believed ; but — " 'twas a mystery." 
 
 And even God himself, they said, once came, 
 And died the awful curse to neutralize. 
 'Twas ages since ; but still the old moon lies 
 
 Beneath the load, and staggers on the same. 
 
 'Twas strange Almighty Power so weak could be, 
 Or that All Wisdom could not find a way 
 By which to make those he had made obey ; 
 
 But then, they said, — " it was a mystery." 
 
 The story had sprung up that once again, 
 
 When things had gi'own as bad as they could 
 be, . 
 
 * Vide "Tropbctic Conference Doings," in "Tribune" Extra. 
 
102 AT THE BACK OF THE MOOX. 
 
 Their god returning in the clouds they'd sec, 
 Blowhig a trumpet o'er the lunar plain. 
 
 Then in one ruin all vrould shattered be. 
 
 The priests and some few others would 
 
 escape,"^' 
 While darkness the whole universe should 
 drape, 
 And all things end m awful "mystery." 
 
 Where else except upon the moon could thrive 
 
 Such rank and tropic weeds of thought? 
 
 They seemed 
 liike some disturbed night fancies I had 
 dreamed, 
 That darkness brought, and morn away would 
 drive. 
 
 * Vide Tyng concerning Second Coming. 
 
Moox ri:ligiox. 103 
 
 This great religion the moon-folk profess 
 First started as a gospel for the poor ; 
 And as such, many years it did endure ; 
 
 But now was ruled by fashion, pride, and dress. 
 
 Each sect was governed by a great aml)ition 
 To help mankind and its high god obey, 
 By vanquishing the church across the way, 
 
 In numbers, music, wealth, or high position. 
 
 They did indeed build chapels for the lowly — 
 
 In some side street where they could pious 
 
 be 
 AVithout offence to aristocracy ; 
 
 And then they wondered that they were not holy. 
 
 " O yes," they said, " they are our brothers ; but — ■ 
 The gospel round the corner we can send 
 
104 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 Where plebeian smells our nostrils won't 
 offend, 
 Nor we be shocked by clothes of last j^ear's cut." 
 
 And when the poor folk did not grateful prove, 
 They were surprised at their ingratitude ; 
 And said th' micultured never Avould be 
 good — 
 
 Did not deserve their patronage and love. 
 
 Still, so consuming was the holy fire 
 
 To outstrip all their neighbors in the race, 
 To make their church the fashionable place. 
 
 And on the street to have the tallest spire, 
 
 That they would load themselves with heavy debt, 
 And cripple all their powers. That they were 
 built 
 
MOON RELIGION. 105 
 
 To teach the moon-race, and lift off it^ 
 guilt, — 
 Over this homely truth they did not fret. 
 
 I went into one church ; and very strange 
 
 The things I saw. I asked its holiest place. 
 The sexton showed me then, with solemn face, 
 
 An ice-cream freezer and a cookino'-rans^e. 
 
 The ark of their deliverance and their might 
 
 I found these were. The candid sexton said, 
 "Eemove the kitchen and the social 'spread,' 
 
 And all church growth would suffer sudden 
 blight." 
 
 They held that all the lunar race must ^o 
 
 Down deep moon caverns, there in endless 
 pain 
 
106 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 To cry forever, and to cry in vain, 
 Unless they Elbib and its god did know ; 
 
 And yet in fashionable gayety 
 
 They passed their days ; and all their brilliant 
 nights 
 
 Were not too many for their fond delights. 
 I marvelled at their infidelity. 
 
 A fair yonng lady was in deep distress ; 
 
 I sought the cause. She said — and tears did 
 roll — 
 
 "I cannot 2:0 to church — shall lose my soul. 
 Because my prayer-book does n't match my dress." 
 
 I noticed that the men who highest stood, 
 
 Zealous in speech, and foremost in their 
 prayers. 
 
MOON RELIGION. 107 
 
 Sometimes mistook their neighbors' goods 
 for theirs. 
 Not always does moon-piety mean good. 
 
 Some of the greater lights, no common tapers, 
 Did swindle orphans and impoverish banks : 
 But still were pious; and could give God 
 thanks 
 
 They had not sinned by reading Yadnus papers. 
 
 For, strange as it may seem to us, they taught 
 
 That what the gods most cared for was the 
 
 creed. 
 If that was right they 'd overlook the deed : 
 
 Forgive the act, but damn the honest thought. 
 
 I wondered, till I read their books and saw 
 
 That they believed their god himself had done 
 
108 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 Deeds that, down here, beneath our earthly 
 sun. 
 Would make him criminal at the common law. 
 
 But when I questioned them, they said that he 
 Had given laws, but was not bound by them. 
 He had a right to do what we condemn : 
 
 There are no morals for the deity.* 
 
 I ceased to wonder things were out of tune. 
 For when folk w^orship one who is below 
 Themselves ; then well may all things back- 
 w^ard go, 
 
 On earth, or on the land behind the moon. 
 
 * *♦ Samson Agonistcs " of Milton, verses 307-321. 
 
THE LUNAR VIEW OF SCIENCE. 109 
 
 %ut i\t $atfe* 
 
 THE LUNAR VIEW OF SCIENCE. 
 
 When I to Notsob back returned, 
 
 A man named KcoUam went with me ; 
 
 A reputation he had earned, 
 
 On both sides of Citnalta sea, 
 
 As one who with contemptuous scorn 
 Upon Ecneics looked adown ; 
 
 He seemed to think that he was born 
 To blight it with his deadly frown. 
 
 As in our air-ship on we drove. 
 
 We passed one night up o'er the sea ; 
 
110 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 The night stars glittered bright above, 
 The night winds fanned us fitfully. 
 
 And as the evening onward wore 
 
 We sat on deck and talked. Upcurled 
 
 The smoke of our cigars, as o'er 
 
 We turned the questions of the world. 
 
 " Th' Association for the advance- 
 Ment of Ecneics soon convenes 
 
 In Notsob" said I, "and perchance 
 
 You 11 tell me what Ecneics means. 
 
 " I've often heard the thing assailed 
 
 Since I have been upon the moon ; 
 
 But in the discord I have failed 
 
 To catch the meanins: of the tune." 
 
THE LUXAR VIEW OF SCIENCE. Ill 
 
 Said he, "From the Ecneics craze 
 
 I would advise you, — hold aloof! 
 
 These are the men who always raise 
 The ujireasonable yell for proof. 
 
 "We build some structure in the air 
 So fair we cannot help but love it ; 
 
 One of these fellows 's always there, 
 To say, ^If it is real, prove it.' 
 
 "As if we could ! such senseless stuff! 
 
 Of course their claim cannot be sound ! 
 Of proof there is n't half enough 
 
 For what we hold to go all round. 
 
 "Ecneics is good enough," said he, 
 "If it would only keep its place ; 
 
 It 's been of some utility 
 
 In helping on the lunar race. 
 
112 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 "Oar houses, streets, machines and fires, 
 And most of all our civilization 
 
 To it we owe. But it aspires 
 
 To question all things in the nation. 
 
 "It has no reverence for the wise ; 
 
 And nothing will it take for granted. 
 It into every corner pries, 
 
 And -says 'the proof is what is wanted.' " 
 
 "But, sir," said I, "you have, of course, 
 The proof of what you know is true ; 
 When they ask questions then, and force 
 • Some action, this is what I 'd do : — 
 
 " I 'd meet them on their chosen ground, 
 And at their own game overdo 'em ; 
 
 All this wild clamor I'd confound : 
 
 When they want proof I 'd give it to 'em." 
 
THE LUNAR VIEW OF SCIENCE. 113 
 
 *'But, my dear fellow," he replied, 
 
 " You don't begin to see the bottom 
 
 Of Imiar questions. Proofs ! " he cried, 
 
 " We can t give proofs ; we have n't got 
 'em! 
 
 " And here 's just where the mischief lies ; 
 
 It 's what the fuss is all about ! 
 We can't give proof ; and if their cries 
 
 Don't stop, the folk will find it out. 
 
 " And so we 're bound to put them down ; 
 
 Some way to do it we must get ; 
 On asking questions we must frown, 
 
 Or everything will be upset. 
 
 " Oh, that the good old days were back ! 
 When ancient Emor ruled the land ; 
 
114 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 We had the thumb-screw and the rack, 
 
 And then such things we wouldn't stand."* 
 
 ^^But, here upon the moon," said I, ♦ 
 " Do you know that a thing is true 
 
 That has no proof? " " Why certahily ! 
 We know it, sir, because — we do ! 
 
 "Why, nothing that we value here 
 
 Eests upon any solid base. 
 Faith only, on the lunar sphere 
 
 Has any right to hold a place. "f 
 
 "What are the precious things," said I, 
 
 " That these bad men would take away ?" 
 
 " Why everything in moon and sky. 
 
 That will not stand the light of day. 
 
 * See *' The Logic of Toleration," by W. H. Mallock, in " Nineteenth 
 Century " for January, 1879. 
 
 t Vide Article by W. H. Mallock on " Faith and Verification," in 
 " Nineteenth Century," October, 1878. 
 
THE LUNAR VIEW OF SCIENCE. 115 
 
 "We have," he said, "an ancient book 
 That we have held it sin to doubt ; 
 
 Between its covers we could look. 
 
 And thus could everything find out. 
 
 " We know it came down from the sky : 
 
 But these men challenge us to prove it. 
 
 They have no right to question why ; 
 
 For as to proof, the book 's above it. 
 
 " This precious book reveals the fact 
 
 That we were perfect made at first ; 
 
 But that we fell for some slight act, 
 
 And now each new age is the worst. 
 
 " The moon's as bad as it can be ; 
 
 And we so happy were to know it. 
 Our hope of total depravity — 
 
 These wicked men would overthrow it." 
 
116 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 " But," said I, " what do these strange teachers 
 Propose that you should take mstead?" 
 
 " Oh, they would rum all the preachers 
 By talkhig common-sense," he said. 
 
 " They say, the facts all go to prove, 
 And from the facts we can't escape, 
 
 We started low down, not above, 
 
 And our forefather was — an ape ! 
 
 " Thus is our dignity attacked ! 
 
 If that is what the fact does say, 
 So much the worse then for the fact ! 
 
 We won't believe it any way ! • 
 
 "And then they say, the lunar race. 
 
 Sprung out of all this beastly mess, 
 
 Is climbing up, at some slow pace. 
 And destined ever to progress." 
 
THE LUNAR VIEW OF SCIENCE. 117 
 
 " But, sir," said I, " it seems to me, 
 'Tis better to start low and climb, 
 
 Than having once been up, to be 
 
 Now travelling downward all the time." 
 
 *' I see you do not understand 
 
 Our precious moon beliefs," said he. 
 
 " The notions of the lunar land 
 All rest upon antiquity. 
 
 "And what antiquity has said. 
 
 That and that only must be true." 
 
 "But what else," said I, "do you dread. 
 
 That these men threaten they will do?" 
 
 He answered, " There was once a devil, 
 Who, with his angels, ruled the air. 
 
 He taught the moon-folk to do evil. 
 And tempted people everywhere. 
 
118 AT THE BACK OF THE MOOJS^. 
 
 "These men who teach Ecneics, say 
 That he is but a hideous dream, 
 
 That camiot stand the light of day, 
 
 But vanishes with morning's beam. 
 
 " Such stujff as this we will not bear ; 
 
 Our whole religion is o'erthrown 
 If such talk gets into the air ; 
 
 It all rests on the devil alone. * 
 
 " Without him there would be no need 
 
 That our religion should be taught. 
 To upset then this ancient creed 
 
 Is with most terrible danger fraught, 
 
 " If we allow them to go on 
 Investigating everything, 
 
 * "There would be few Christians if there were no devil.'*— Saying 
 of a Church Member of some importance. 
 
THE LUNAR VIEW OF SCIENCE. 119 
 
 Our dearest hopes will soon be gone, 
 
 And all our precious faiths take wing." 
 
 " But," still I questioned, " I may nurse 
 
 A thought nonsensical to you : 
 But can their doctrine well be worse 
 
 Than that which you believe is true ? 
 
 " Had I been born of lunar birth, 
 
 I should not like your views to keep. 
 
 I think that thoughtful men on earth 
 
 Would rather end in dreamless sleep." 
 
 He sprang up then, and looked at me. 
 
 And cried, "I should not dare to speak 
 
 Such awful infidelity, 
 
 Lest on me God his wrath should wreak." 
 
120 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 And while he stood there on the deck, 
 "Not only this," he said, "but they 
 
 All morals too will hurl to wreck 
 
 If they can only have their way. 
 
 "For here they come in specious wise, 
 And question why this thing is right 
 
 And that is wrong. Thus they devise 
 A way our moral growth to blight. 
 
 " There is no reason we can show : 
 
 And if you could, men would n't do it ; 
 
 The strongest reason they can know, 
 Is that there is no reason to it."* 
 
 I sat and mused when he had gone ; 
 
 'Twas such a mad world I had found ! 
 
 * Mallock, ibid. 
 
THE LUNAR VIEW OF SCIENCE. 121 
 
 Above the silent stars looked on, 
 
 And kept their everlasting round, 
 
 And seemed to say, "'Twas aeons long 
 
 Ere out from chaos old we came 
 And learned to chant our perfect song, 
 
 And each in order trim her flame, 
 
 " Eternity is not in haste ; 
 
 The perfect day dawns late or soon ; 
 Things grow as the long ages waste. 
 
 And will, even there upon the moon." 
 
 Next day the lights of Notsob flared 
 
 Upon me, back o'er sea once more. 
 I went to see the men who dared 
 
 To question Kcollam's sacred lore, 
 
 u 
 
122 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 And though he said they were the foes 
 
 Of morals and religion too, 
 I heard no sound of deadly blows, 
 
 And there were no police in view. 
 
 The President, with simple air, 
 
 Rose up to speak, and on his brow 
 
 His hair was white. Then read he there 
 A j)aper in soft voice and low. 
 
 And in the paper he set forth 
 
 The plans of the Ecneics folk ; 
 They seemed to me of noble worth. 
 
 Or else his words were but a cloak. 
 
 He said they held that God had given 
 
 Folk brains that truth might thus be known ; 
 
 That truth from earth, or truth from heaven. 
 By proof was 'stablished, not o'erthrown ; 
 
THE LUNAR VIEW OF SCIENCE. 123 
 
 That gold, when tested, only showed 
 
 That it was truly gold ; and bj'ass — 
 
 By ignorance with false worth endowed — 
 True men, for gold, ought not to pass. 
 
 He did not think the mind of man 
 
 Was "for delusion given" ; but hoped 
 
 The outlines of a mighty plan 
 
 Might be discerned ; though still they groped 
 
 But dimly for the truth of things. 
 
 Each more and more of truth might see. 
 If to the test his thought he brings, 
 
 And studies with humility. 
 
 He thought the light divine outshone 
 
 From moon and star, from face and soul ; 
 
 Not dreams nor guesses, but alone 
 
 Most patient search would reach the goal. 
 
124 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 Ho did not think the destiny 
 
 Of men could hang on creeds unproved ; 
 The test of sanctity must be 
 
 In loving others and being loved. 
 
 The great Creator never meant 
 
 To play a game of hide and seek ; 
 
 Nor is his bow of wrath e'er bent 
 
 'Gainst those who their true thought outspeak, 
 
 He is the false man who dares say 
 
 For truth that which he does n't know, 
 
 And he the high God does obey 
 
 Who follows truth where'er it go. 
 
 He held as safe one only path, — 
 
 That which begins with what is known. 
 
 Let each be true to what he hath. 
 
 And study till to more it 's grown. 
 
THE LUNAR VIEW OF SCIENCE. 125 
 
 I listened wondering : could tliis be 
 
 The thing of which moon-folk complain ? 
 
 But, as I thought more, I could see 
 
 'Twould throw down many a " Castle in Spain." 
 
 And while moon people still will rear 
 
 Cloud-structures and declare them rock, 
 
 Ecneics will their foe appear. 
 
 And give their fancies many a shock. 
 
 And so I ceased to wonder why 
 
 The moon-folk hate the men who say, 
 
 " Truth on the earth, truth in the sky. 
 Must answer wliy^ or pass away." 
 
126 AT THE BACK OF THE M00:N\ 
 
 jiut Hit mnwWh 
 
 ALL MOONSHINE. 
 
 Just then a distant roar I heard, that grew 
 Each moment louder still, and nearer drew ; 
 A gathering mob came rushing up the street 
 With threat, and brandished club, and shuffling 
 
 feet ; 
 And as they thundered toward the little hall, 
 Their unloosed rage with terror did appal. 
 " Down with this curst Ecneics ! " then they cried, 
 " These foes of moon and heaven we '11 not abide ! " 
 Kcollam was leader ; and the crowd stood still 
 As he strode forward to declare their will. 
 Upon a bench he leapt, and then he said : 
 
ALL MOONSHINE. 127 
 
 " Traitors to truth, thank me you are not dead. 
 
 See here a throng of followers who love 
 
 Their fellow moon-folk and the God above. 
 
 They will no longer suffer it that you 
 
 Should question if their ancient faith is true. 
 
 Have ye forgotten the long line of those 
 
 The good old moon has tortured as its foes ? 
 
 How one vile wretch once said, beyond the sea, 
 
 The sun was only fire, and had to flee ? 
 
 Or how our fathers hemlock fed to him 
 
 Who dared the glory of the gods to dim ? 
 
 Or how another on his knees confessed 
 
 The grand truth that the moon stands still at rest ? 
 
 Or how another was convinced by flame. 
 
 That three and one may sometimes be the same ? 
 
 Or that the men of faith have always shown 
 
 By fire and sword, they hold the truth alone ? 
 
 And do not dare to think, at this late day, 
 
128 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 That you our truth are going to take away. 
 Emor is mighty still. The civil power 
 Protects you now ; but there will come an hour, 
 When for our votes, some politician may 
 Restore the glory of our ancient day. 
 Then you shall feel the fiery foretaste here. 
 Of what awaits you in another sphere."* 
 
 Then all was wild confusion ; and aloud 
 Up rose the voices of the angry crowd. 
 But soon a mist passed over all the place ; 
 Nor clearly could I make out form or face. 
 
 Then suddenl}^ the scene was changed : I 
 thought 
 I sat once more in the strange craft that brought 
 Me first to Notsob. In their old-time places 
 
 * Videnotet p. 114. 
 
ALL MOONSHINE. 129 
 
 Yeluats and Enak sat. Their kindly faces 
 
 Looked at me dimly, as a face that seems 
 
 Still hovering o'er you when you wake from dreams. 
 
 Then down, down, down, and ever down 
 
 I seemed to sink ; till o'er my tace was blown 
 
 The fresh night wind that came from off the sea. 
 
 I heard a voice, and started suddenly, 
 
 Just as a little hand grasped at my coat, 
 
 And a voice shouted, " Papa ! see that boat ! 
 
 It's sailing straight out on the moonshine there, 
 
 And looks as if it floated in the air ! 
 
 I called to you three times. What made you keep 
 
 So still? Papa, I guess you 've been asleep." 
 
 I caught her in my arms ; and on my knee 
 
 Held her close clasped, and looked out o'er the sea. 
 
 The stars were shining ; and the trooping bands 
 
 Of ripples came and played upon the sands. 
 
130 
 
 AT THE BACK OF THE MOON. 
 
 And ever as I mused, the low waves' croon 
 Played duet with my thoughts, and hummed the 
 
 tune — 
 '^ He 's been upon the land behind the moon." 
 
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