Kenneth Folingsby

“ Then I shall take you to the observatory to view the wondrous, the illimitable firmament, that is ruled, arranged, and controlled by that great—yes, that inconceivably great—being, the Creator of all things. When anyone of us begins to get proud of what we have achieved, or when we see that any of our people begin to think they are deserving of praise and esteem from their fellows, then such are taken to the observatory, and shown what space is. We thus cause them to think what an intellect it must be that can control this universe. ”

“ I said to the Recorder:—"From what I had seen, the people of his day had as great a veneration for royalty as we had in our day." He replied:—"Most certainly that is the case, my son. No country, no nation, no people can exist without a head; and if a country, a nation, or a people must have a head, it is necessary that the head that they have elected be venerated and respected by the people, if they have any respect for themselves, and if they do not respect themselves they are not worthy of the name of a people, a nation, or even of a community." ”

“ Haste, that might destroy an intensity of sublime happiness that mortal rarely enjoys; haste, that might sever a chord of love that could not be re-united; haste, that might for ever and ever render two lives bound up in each other miserable.
So we continued to enjoy each other's company undisturbed, unopposed, and apparently unheeded. Meda's sympathies were my sympathies, Meda's joys were my joys. I was going to say that Meda's sorrows were my sorrows; but, now that I think of it, Meda had never known what sorrow was. Could we but have divined what was in store for us? ”

“ We believe in 'Love for one another, absolute justice to all, and veneration for that mighty, all-powerful and incomprehensible Great Being who created and who controls the universe with love, mercy, and truth;—a Being so wonderfully great in His omnipotence, that we are a thousand times less in comparison to Him, than the smallest microbe which floats about in the blood of the most insignificant little insect, is to this globe on which we live. ”

“ We lived in our little house for some months in the most supreme happiness, Meda devoting her time to instructing me in modern history, in modern languages, in modern art, and in music. Her love and devotion made me an apt pupil. How sweet is that instruction that is breathed to you as it were, wrapped in love. Each word, each idea, each thought, is clad with a pleasure that makes all sweet and acceptable. ”

“ It was not that they loved them for their beauty; no, their love for them consisted in a selfish desire that they might possess something that they could flaunt in the eyes of their fellows, and look at them with an eye that said, 'I possess that which you would like to have but cannot get.' Women adorned themselves with them, not because of the beauty of the gems, but because they knew and prided themselves in the consciousness that they were raising the abominable feeling of envy in the bosoms of other women, who were perhaps purer in mind and in body than themselves. ”

“ From life's first dawn it must flow onward and onward without ceasing, its course at one time or another being diverted by the twig, the stone, or the herbage of life's accidents. So it continues its way, now winding, twisting, and buffeting with rocks and crags, while in yonder pool it is calm, peaceful, and placid, yes, and too often stagnant, while anon we hear it moan and groan in agony, as it rushes into some death-like cavern of sorrow, after a time to arise again in sportive joy, and meander through the lovely valley of pleasure further down. ”

“ President, I would pray you in your great wisdom, should any such similar case as mine ever come before you, to think of the remarks that one so humble as I am in point of intellect and intelligence has ventured to make. But, Mr. President, when I think of the punishment itself I am astonished that a people of such culture could be so intellectually refined in their cruelty as to invent this most awful, this most cruel means of torturing a fellow creature. Why can you not kill outright? ”

“ I soon, however, came to rest in the centre of the floor with all thoughts of the old world, old friends, and old deceits dashed out of me. I fully realised now that I was amid new scenes, in what was to me a new world, and among a new people—a people so full of interest, so full of wisdom, so devoted to science and art, and apparently so devoid of vice, that I believed that the human race had at last arrived at something nearly approaching perfection, if not perfection itself. ”

“ Think but of the thoughts of your victim, who will float about for years and years, unable to live as he should live, yet unable to die. And while you are not asked to alter your laws for one so mean and humble as I am, I pray that in justice to yourselves, as a nation, you will obliterate this terribly cruel punishment from your so-called book of justice which is alike a disgrace to humanity, and to the intelligence with which humanity has been endowed by the Creator. ”

“ At this I started back, and cried out, "Oh! please don't," but he smiled again, remarking, "What a beautiful model" (for model it was) . "What skill is represented here. See the lungs moving, see the heart pumping, see the liver lying like a sluggish bloated monster devoted to gormandising and gluttony. There you are, Specimen, as true as life. Are you not ashamed of your internal construction so much given to greed, and so little given to intellect?" With this he replaced the chest, and took off the skull, leaving the brain exposed. ”

“ Day seemed to blend into day, week seemed to blend into week, month into month, and year into year, and still we continued to love and to be loved by all around. The Recorder and his wife gave us every encouragement. I felt that we must be united; I felt that I had gained the love, the true, devoted, yes, the sincere, and loving love, of the most perfect and pure being that had ever been created. I declared my love: I was accepted. I spoke to her father and mother, and they gave their consent. The elders of the people were told, and all approved of Meda's selection. ”

“ Now that we have obtained a moderate amount of intellectual power, we can see and understand our littleness; we can be ambitious for more knowledge, but we cannot, we must not feel proud of the little we have. This pride of knowledge, this seeking after popular applause, this giving of applause to individuals who set themselves up as guides and philosophers, has been the ruin of hundreds of thousands of past generations, who thought they had great intellects—we see and know this, and we avoid it as we do Hades. ”

“ The colours of these little crafts seemed to be very varied, but none were glaring: all were such as harmonised with the clear and pure-looking water that reflected these many tinted water sprites on its ever rippling surface. To this add the reflected beauty of a summer sky, and you have a picture that no artist could reproduce with truth to its loveliness. ”

“ I know that all this change, all the desolation of these great cities, the total disappearance of what you considered the great works of your engineers, must to you appear sad, but if you had had the means of following up the events of this world, as I have followed them, and as all of this generation have followed them, by a long life of study, you would not be either astonished or grieved, you would rejoice as we now rejoice that things are so much better than they were in your day. ”

“ At one moment you saw a gleam of light coming from pure diamonds, while anon this bright, pure light would change into a pink, a blue, or a green, and all the colours would for the moment blend, then disentangle working out into separate rays, asserting, as it were, their own individuality. A little further on they were in fond embrace, co-mingling beauty with beauty, and effect with effect, when anon as if by one consent they fall out; they become agitated, and quarrelling, separate. ”

“ The executioner now advanced towards me, putting on the same apparatus that I had on before, but no cord was tied to my feet this time. His four assistants laid hold of me, and at a word from the leading elder, he turned the handle of the exciter, and I darted into the air, the earth whirling past me at the rate of a thousand miles per hour. At first I was quite dazed, but gradually I began to regain consciousness, I saw land, and hills, and lakes, and valleys, and oceans passing beneath me in quick succession, and gradually growing more and more indistinct. ”

“ Advanced as we now are, and with all our scientific knowledge, we know that we are just entering on the borders of a vast and inexhaustible question—a question of investigation of such unfathomable magnitude—that I believe tens of thousands of years after our day, even allowing that science and intelligence advance with greater strides than they ever have done, the finite mind of humanity can never grow to be large enough or noble enough to be able to conceive the magnitude of space. ”

“ At last the electorate saw the misery that was in store for them, and felt that, while they might differ among themselves, there was one duty expected of them above all others, to protect and maintain the honour of their great nation, and try to educate and elevate the people. They had had enough of Republicanism now. They learned by bitter experience that a movable centre like a president, that had to be elected every three years, only meant opening up a way to ambitious men to usurp the power of a king under another name. ”

“ Here was a man of wondrous intelligence, here was a man possessed of a marvellous power of conception, a man that I believed to be the most thoughtful and wise philosopher that I had ever met or read of, talking what to me appeared the most absurd nonsense that it was ever my lot to listen to. ”

“ To commit a crime surely you must allow that one must feel that he is doing something wrong. Had I been conversant with your laws, and had I knowingly wooed and won the affections of this lady with the knowledge that I was acting against your laws, then would I have been sinning, but acting as I did, without any consciousness of doing wrong, I hold that in the eyes of reason, in the eyes of common-sense, and in the eyes of unbiassed justice, I have committed no sin. I do not say this with any desire to evade the sentence that you have passed on me ”

“ When you think you have brought your mind to conceive this greatness, then ask yourself the question, 'What am I that I should try to penetrate that which He has willed I should not know?' My son, you must have faith and trust in Him, and believe that what He has said will be fulfilled. Our generation has had over three thousand years' more experience and education than yours, yet we know not what will take place, or where our spirits shall reside. ”

“ So long as we live, mind is storing up knowledge—not to be used in the identical form in which it is acquired, as parrots repeat the words they learn—No! a great mind absorbs all it hears, and reads, and sees, giving out nothing in the same words or form in which it had been absorbed. When a great mind speaks or writes, it expresses something original, influenced no doubt by the stored knowledge, but it comes out in a new and a bright garb that is most refreshing. ”

“ Although I do not cut off heads nor yet hang culprits by the neck, as I am told the ancients did, I cut off their connection with the earth, as effectually as if I severed their vertebræ or closed their wind-pipes. My life is devoted to science—that glorious science that teaches men all things. ”

“ And again, this intellect, though very great, being, after all, but finite, might err in its judgment and do a grievous injury to the nation. No, we do not desire to have our greatest intellects elected as kings or queens, such would not be desirable. What we aim at is to train the minds of our royal family from the very earliest hours of their life to justice, and to take a wise and expansive view of all parties in the state and of all national subjects. We train them up rather to act as judges with judgment, than as actors in the scenes around them. ”

“ One day, when we were journeying homeward, I asked the Recorder if society had reached such a state of perfection that guardians of the peace at home and abroad could be dispensed with? His reply was that he regretted that such, unfortunately, was not the case, and continuing, he said, "Nor do I see the possibility of perfect harmony existing for long among large communities of finite beings. From the beginning it has been found necessary to control and govern the actions of the multitude by some power greater and better organized than the multitude that is to be governed." ”

“ Had the people been stricken down by a plague? Had the country been invaded by a foreign foe, who without mercy slew man, woman, and child, leaving no one to perpetuate the race that must have existed years ago? ”