Gregory Casparian

“ When Aurora and Margaret entered their rooms heaped with triumphant compliments for their consummate skill in planning this grand farewell fête they were sad, sad through an impulsive intuition.
Hardly had they crossed the threshold of their room when they fell into each other’s arms, sobbing bitterly from the bottom of their hearts. Each instinctively knew why the other wept. The final class reception had a deep significance to them, as it meant that graduation day was near at hand. In the natural course of events each would now go her way to a distant home. ”

“ While the spectators were still paralyzed with the awful situation before them, there was activity and heroism among the Diana mermaids in the shell. The instant Aurora with her alert eyes saw Margaret’s mishap, she realized at once the situation and before the shell had glided past, she leaned over and caught Margaret by the hair. By the same impulsive and almost animal agility, Margaret grasped Aurora’s arm and in another moment, with less loss of time than would seem possible, she was again in the shell. ”

“ The Diana Seminary had become particularly famous for the especial branches of a curriculum which rendered the young ladies magnificently lovely in form, chic in habilaments, brilliant and vivacious in conversation, serene and dignified in carriage, sweet and optimistic in nature, pure in sentiments, and in addition conferred upon them all the necessary qualifications of accomplished housewives, virtues all of which are inherent in American women and susceptible of highest development. ”

“ The true meaning of civilization is Universal Brotherhood, and in this sense, the leading lights in every stratum of life, whether in Government or in Commerce, in Religion or in Science, stand arraigned and indicted before the tribunal of conscience for retarding this laudable spirit of Brotherhood. ”

“ The most remarkable sensation of this year was that of a German scientist and statistician who, after a thorough investigation and mathematical calculation, announced his conclusions, that it was in the range of collective human power, that is, by the combined aid of labor, time, money and high explosives, to rend the earth in twain, or into fragments, and thus create new planets in space, producing new climatic conditions, fauna and life, adaptable to their new positions in the solar system. ”

“ A sudden sense of sadness swept over her, and her infatuation for her chum Margaret, and the recollection of their solemn vows, flashed vividly through her perplexed brain, evoking several deep sighs from the depths of her constant heart. Notwithstanding the cringing advances of many officers of position [139] and wealth, as well as scions of nobles, she had fallen desperately in love with the stranger at first sight. He seemed to her as an ideal, her affinity, but alas! she remembered her vow! Aurora was in a very disturbed frame of mind when Spencer Hamilton came forward for the encore. ”

“ And in fine, why do not the Nations, each claiming the highest forms of civilization, instead of disseminating national, sectional and race hatred, form an alliance, which will advance the cause of Universal Brotherhood, and brighten the hope of bringing enduring peace to the world at large? ”

“ Anon, I come to the most interesting stage of my adventure, that of seeing the most intelligent animals of this new planet, which it [128] seemed had full control over it, so that there remained no doubt in my mind of their being the human race of this strange world. Consequently, I watched them closely, and verily I found them to be far more advanced in civilization and bodily construction than we, mankind. They were so constructed that they had all the advantages which we are obliged to supply ourselves by artificial means and devices. ”

“ Away with those numberless imposters who have deluded mankind with their consummate lies! Some even claim to have traversed the inter-etherial space by flying machines, whose construction was revealed to them in a “sealed package” or found in boxes, buried in tombs and mummies of days gone by! The marvelous medium through which I saw this celestial panorama was nothing strange; the cavern into which I so unconsciously was led was an observatory by nature made!
“Its dome was a mammoth telescope, composed of lenses of great magnitude, various in size and shape. ”

“ The isolation of the sexes naturally created an intensity of affection and a desire for association, and when the two periodically came in contact caused that rapturous thrill of hearts and nascent unification of souls. This undoubtedly was the plausible explanation, at least one of the reasons, why the Seminary girls were always in demand and were participants of so many happy unions.
The only exception to the rule were Aurora and Margaret who, although in every way agreeable to the aspirants for their hearts and hands, refrained from making an alliance throughout their college course. ”

“ Every new movement, be it religious, political or economic, has its birth like a volcano, and unionism was no exception to this rule. The labor unions at first had their violent agitators who, possessing greater physical than mental calibre, laid the crude foundation of a [42] force in an arbitrary manner that consequently had its gradual evolution of development. ”

“ One of the most scandalous evils which had crept gradually in the United States, and eventually became a source of grave anxiety to the government, was a system of Landlordism amongst the very rich. While the general public were slumbering in blissful ignorance, this coterie of avaricious syndicates and multi-millionaires had mysteriously become possessors of vast tracts of lands, in every state of the Union. ”

“ And as our mortal organism cannot conceive a thought which is beyond its own limitations, the very idea of our thought of a first cause falls within the range of human conceptions.
“When we gaze at an automobile, which is the creation of a creature, we see a wonderful parallelism; its requirements to make it an active energy, bears a strong analogy of its inventor, yet, an automobile with all its requirements for power supplied, is a worthless mass, unless operated and guided by its creator. ”

“ It is true that in an era of commercial materialism great masses of people embraced agnosticism and ethical culture, rejecting that supernatural conception of a first cause of which they claimed their limited intellect had a vague idea and was deeper than the hazy human comprehension, yet, the shallow Ingersolian philosophy of attacking a force—which filled millions with hope and goaded them to self-sacrifice, mercy and charity—without substituting something better, was repudiated by the intelligent, and appealed only to the abnormal and the foolish. ”

“ Why do not Captains of Industry and Commerce, instead of throttling each other, by a unanimous effort, promulgate laws on a reciprocal basis among themselves?
Why do not Scientists, instead of confining their efforts to individual endeavors, combine their forces so as to enhance the chance of accomplishing greater results in research and exploration? ”

“ By an educational propaganda it taught the masses how to eradicate existing evils by the mere exercise of their unalienable right, the ballot box. Indeed in a government “of the people, for the people and by the people,” resort to force or revolution was absolutely unnecessary, while these two [54] most effectual weapons the world had ever seen, the voting power and the free press, were at their command. ”

“ Hyder Ben Raaba, who was conversant with all the above mentioned exploits of experimenters, had conceived one of the boldest and extraordinarily audacious of surgical feats, the successful demonstration of which would startle the world and make men stand aghast with wonder. ”

“ When these sacred and solemn rites were performed the applicants were taken through numerous evolutions of a march to the centre of the room, in front of a table, whereon rested in the folds of American and British colors the Constitution and By-laws of the Order. There the oath of Allegiance was administered and [27] at a thunderous outburst of music, the bandages were cut asunder and the applicants found themselves in the glow of a diffused light. ”

“ The abolishment of capital punishment in many States of the Union, through the impulsive sentimentality of a minority, had given birth to an old time evil, that of feudalism. It was well for people preaching mercy for murderers, when somebody else was the victim, but when the crime was perpetrated against one of their homes, their feelings were entirely changed. ”

“ At present there appears to be a general bombastic clamor among certain nations who, decrying others as barbarous, claim to have reached the highest pinnacle of civilization. Yet a glance at the existing conditions in those self-lauded governments will reveal rampant corruption among their leaders who, for their own selfish ends, retard legislations which are absolutely imperative for the general welfare. It is not necessary to mention other ways in which the people are being daily betrayed, for this is sufficient to render any thinking person despondent and pessimistic. ”

“ Indeed, under the felicitous protection of British and American sovereignty, these colonies had made such rapid advancement toward civilization, that they had produced an abundance of men and women of extraordinary talent and capacity in art and music, so as to eclipse their confreres of Hungarian and Polish origin, in days gone by. ”

“ While on the one hand he had an apparently irresistible and monomaniacal cunning in robbing his fellow men by monopolizing all the necessities of life, crushing with hellish unscrupulousness all competition in every channel of industry, and strewing his wake with industrial wrecks,—on the other hand he busied himself with the erection of hospitals and churches, and in endowing colleges with a princely liberality, commensurate to his other nature. ”

“ The day for the great handicap regatta—a four-oared affair—between the Senior class of the Seminary and the Sophomore class of the West Point Military Academy followed directly after graduation,—the class grade being the handicap allowed to the Seminary girls.
Aurora and Margaret, after their avowal and covenant, were again in normal condition, cheerful as of yore, and as they were the most available pair for the aquatic contest, from the beginning they had been chosen unanimously [89] as the exponents of the class of 1960, and they went into the execution of the sport with vim and enthusiasm. ”

“ Their solution of the habitation problem was, I think, that which wise men on this earth have been trying to solve from the beginning of creation. This Utopian planet contained no dwellings built by mankind, consequently there were no taxes, no new land theories, no internal revenue or protection embargoes. The planet itself produced everything without the aid of its people and they enjoyed the fruit of the soil equally. ”

“ Left alone on the shore, Margaret did her utmost to control her emotions of parting from her beloved friend. With suppressed feelings she mounted her automobile reluctantly, and bade the chauffeur proceed to New York City, from whence, after a short repose, she intended to take the train for her home in Wyoming. ”

“ By the gradual awakening of both capital and labor to their true limitations, the questions involved began to assume a more intelligent basis under the codes of arbitration. At the same time the violent agitators of labor were succeeded in the trend of this onward [43] development by more intelligent organizers. These latter were merged into accomplished, rational leaders and, through the efficient medium of the ballot box, into national representatives. Consequently, the more dignified, orderly and responsible labor became, the more the workers became entitled to the benefits of their labor. ”

“ The possible existence of beings far superior in intellect to ourselves, came within the limit of legitimate theorizations, and the more men began to grasp with the co-operation of science, the infinite vastness of the universe, with its numberless millions of habitable worlds, the probability of an intelligent force of vast creative power came within the scope of human understanding. ”

“ The mosquito, that had hitherto enjoyed unbridled freedom since the creation of his race, was now looked upon as the arch enemy of mankind. A noted philanthropist, interested in oil wells and having on hand a great bulk of unmarketable crude petroleum, donated a large sum for research in order to discover ways and means of curbing the ravages of these nefarious pests which threatened the annihilation of the human race. ”

“ Don Seville, frightened and abashed, beat an inglorious retreat and disappeared.
Professor Cielo Allenson, better known at the Military Academy as the “Old Guard,” was a venerable man past seventy. He had a highly intellectual countenance and his silvery white hair and patriarchal beard gave him [66] a noble dignity which commanded respect. His strenuous virility and inexhaustible energy was ever a lesson and a rebuke to the many indolent youths who came in contact with him. He was a philosopher of the first rank and an intense lover of nature. ”

“ Some of these noble but over-zealous women of that period, in their exuberant enthusiasm for woman’s rights, forgetting [51] the limitations of their sex,—considered by the greatest thinkers of the past ages to be the sphere of Home,—agitated a propaganda of political equality or suffrage and, from time to time, created a stir among their organizations until at last, in 1918, the National Federation of Women’s Clubs decided to hold a conclave in order to decide the following momentous question: “Should Women Enter Politics?” ”

“ The Women’s Clubs which, during their first inception, were the subject of much ridicule, and the proceedings of their meetings a theme for ribald jokes in the secular press, gradually developed into such gigantic proportions that their influence became a powerful factor in every public question of the day, and in fact so continues unabated unto this day. ”

“ Thus the Press for many decades, subsidized by the traitorous capitalist and under the guise of a pious mask, catered to the evil designs of the plutocracy until the gradual awakening of the people through the independent press at last understood their hypocrisy. ”

“ The stubborn attitude of the Central American Republic, Columbia, towards the United States, by her menacing antagonism to the construction of the interoceanic canal, gradually created a breach of the peace that led ultimately to a forcible demonstration by the United States, and precipitated the invasion by the latter of the Republic of Panama. ”