W. S. Harris

“ Thou permittest water crystals to give the rainbow hues, whilst thou in thy own modest way, continuest to yield sustenance for man and bird and beast.
"O instructive soil! Wilt thou not, in thy own wise way, speak to the thoughtless man who feels content to grovel with the miserable diamond, who takes his lessons from the dead, dead rock, and feeds his soul upon such flinty food. Open his ears to hear thy words of life and light, and may he see in thee the brighter mirror reflecting the God of all." ”

“ In our world we have before us a most humiliating spectacle. If an effort is made to extirpate some form of sin that has taken audacious root in the soil of our moral life, one reform element or denomination fights with the other until the hoe is so broken that there is nothing left wherewith to dig out the miserable roots of the obnoxious weed. Thus do we spend our energies opposing one another instead of fighting the Devil.
O, for the Plasden power of unity, before which any species of corruption can be crushed out that is opposed by the forces of righteousness! ”

“ What wireless telegraphy is to our world, this mental conversation is to the world of Mute, and it is possible that we may reach a higher degree of proficiency in this direction after we become still better acquainted with the laws of the human mind.
When I think of the many unaccountable heart-thrills that send their emotions of joy and hatred into our passing life, I am somewhat persuaded that we speak this tongueless language more than we imagine. Some day we may learn the secrets that are now so heavily veiled and thereby put to naught the glory of our present modes of communication. ”

“ Architectural greatness here finds its unmatched examples. Seven-mile diamond arches are common-places, and towers of two thousand miles in height and one thousand miles in diameter, as the corner stone of a city, are nothing unusual, although many cities are built on a smaller plan. Nothing needs repairing, and nothing is mortgaged. The wealth of unnumbered trillions is easily represented in one orb of Heaven's empire.
I now saw a thousand-fold more clearly than ever before the absolute folly of fixing our affections on the perishing things of the mortal life in our dark and dusty world. ”

“ I was thrilled with delight when I saw their telescopes with the marvelous lenses that opened the locked doors of the Milky Way. No wonder the astronomers of Jupiter have a more comprehensive view of the universe than we have. Their lenses are so powerful that they have seen the outlines of our rugged mountains, and have discovered on our world unmistakable signs of human life. During my visit thither the experts were working on a much larger lens, and it is claimed that when this is finished human forms can be discerned on the Earth and can be seen with more accuracy on Mars. ”

“ Thus the dark shadows fell on this huge world. The captured educated classes made a heroic effort to continue their cultured manners and religious life, but the prejudice against them and their ways was so great that they were compelled to live in the lower strata or suffer the pain of death. In process of time, the wild woods flourished where once the temples of science and pure religion reared their imposing pillars.
What can we expect of such a race of people who have drifted from the light of civilization for so long a period? ”

“ Confined as we are to our little dark world, we know by sight of only one way in which the brain conveys its messages and serves its ends, namely, through a body of one hundred pounds or more of flesh and bone, formed erect, and capable of rendering service upon a moment's notice. Therefore some of us are conceited enough to believe that we are the most perfect and beautiful beings of the universe, the highest expression of creative art, and that all other creatures in a million orbs take a secondary place. ”

“ In language most intelligible to us, I would say that the intercourse between sexes is one of refined telepathy, soul-connection by thought transmission, a thousand-fold more charming than the low plane of intercourse in the flesh life, with none of its attendant weakening results. This strange felicity is as indescribable as it is glorious. Each nature seeks its real complement, and enjoys the most absolute liberty, for there is not a single barrier to prevent it, as no one desires to do wrong. ”

“ Human beings, charmingly beautiful, moved over the face of the planet or on wings through the air at pleasure and with great ease. These creatures are about three-fourths of our size, and are most gracefully formed. Their whole physical appearance is more similar to a bird than to a human being of our Earth. They are relatively much lighter than we, and are covered with nothing akin to feathers.
If you were to see them standing in their erect posture and walking with man-like dignity, you would at once feel that they are the lords of the creation on their world, and so indeed they are. ”

“ Although each one of the vast companies carries the distinctive impress and the spiritual peculiarities of his own planet, yet they are all now fashioned after the symmetry of the Heaven life, and no one bears a single repellant feature, but rather each spiritual body is beautiful to the eyes of all the others, and each one breathes the same atmosphere of purity and converses in the self-same language of love. ”

“ They are whiter than snow and shine with a luster not dazzling, but restful to the eye capable of seeing them.
How this glimpse put to naught all my former crude conceptions of Heaven, and if I found myself unable to describe the wonders of many a dark world which I have visited, how much less could I portray the vastly superior beauties of Heaven which are so far beyond the glory of dark, rugged worlds that I felt an inexpressible desire to take up my abode there at once and to remain forever. ”

“ We cannot possibly grasp an idea of such infinite distances, neither can we form any adequate conception of the long, long stretches between star and star, which is the same as saying, between solar system and solar system. In our Milky Way the stars seem to be crushed together into a whitish jelly, but the awful truth looms up before us with all sublimity that, although these stars seem to lie one upon another, they are millions and trillions of miles apart. ”

“ Some of the Moonites declare that it is a huge lantern, hung solely for their benefit, and scoff at the idea that it might be a world inhabited by civilized beings. More intelligent Moonites venture the theory that human life could exist on the great wagon-wheel, but declare that this is quite improbable, as the whole planet is enveloped by some thick, smoky substance in which they believe it would be impossible for human life to exist. Some look upon the Earth as the mother of the Moon, and regard the Sun as the father. ”

“ In regard to our own solar system much speculation is rife as to the existence of human creatures on the several larger planets. Theories of all kinds have been advanced; some speculative or absurd, others so plausible as to give rise to interesting questions, such as communicating with Mars, and perhaps of taking a journey to the Moon. These suggestions, while fanciful, awaken our interest and excite our curiosity. Can any one predict the excitement that would prevail in our world if a human creature from some other planet were suddenly to set foot upon our soil? ”

“ The most picturesque sight of all the Solar System is seen as you stand on Saturn, and watch the rings and the eight moons chasing one another in the heavens above you.
The inhabitants of this beautiful world believe that the soul of each God-adorer at death passes out into the spirit life on the rings where it will continue in a blissful existence until the final judgment.
The religious life of Saturn is officially controlled by men. There are many creeds, each with its own devoted followers. ”

“ Of all this ponderous solar system there is one world that excels all the others in its medical attainments, and of this one first I will give a flying notice.
I have named this world Dore-lyn. It is fifty times as large as our Earth and of greater specific gravity.
Its human creatures are delightfully formed and are in ruddy health and refined happiness. In shape these Dore-lynites differ somewhat from us, but long before I had reached this planet I learned something of the universal standards of symmetry and ascertained that creatures could be beautiful without resembling us whatever. ”

“ As I continued ranging among the planets of the constellation of Orion, I felt an indescribable desire to pause at a very small orb which revolves around Saiph, a star of the third magnitude.
Here I found, to my surprise, a gem of a world which I will call Holen. It is five hundred miles in diameter, and inhabited by a refined race of human beings, radically different from us in physical contour, but remarkably similar to us in their mental aspirations. ”

“ As I was thus darting through immensity I glanced toward our own Solar System and could see nothing but a flickering star which was our Sun. Not the faintest sign could I see of our world or of Jupiter.
A strange feeling passed over me when I began to realize how far I was from home. I sped onward until I reached the North Star. It is a burning sun, but not inhabited.
Polaris is the center of a magnificent system. If a certain few of its worlds could be seen through a telescope, they would be picturesque in the extreme, somewhat resembling our beautiful Saturn. ”

“ These ethereal creatures have the loveliest eyes of any human beings I ever beheld in any world. They sparkle with the brilliancy of a diamond and move with the quickness of electricity. The head is small but symmetrical and all physical proportions are most harmoniously adapted even to a nicety that would be pleasing to the most refined tastes of our world.
At first I could not understand how these people of Swift could travel so conveniently in the air, for their wings are very small and the exertion when flying is very limited. ”

“ Sin is firmly rooted in the whole planet and its curse is just as blighting and withering as it is in our world, although it is fought more successfully and overcome more effectually in the home and in the nation.
I observed that the ecclesiastical system is similar to ours, and there is a great profusion of creeds. To my surprise I noted, in my long journey, that such a variety did not interfere with true progress, but was compatible with the purest kind of life and the highest order of civilization. The people are deeply devoted to their unseen God, and their sacrifices are astonishing. ”

“ You cannot imagine my surprise when I reached Alpha Centaurus and found that it was inhabited by a class of human creatures who were created to live and flourish in fire. Their customs and habits are so strange that I am not capable of giving an intelligent description of them. I know that it is inconceivable to us how life can be developed and sustained in the midst of a burning sun, and I found that these beings in turn could not conceive how life can exist in a cold world like ours. ”

“ I had often imagined what the condition of our world would be when it smiles under the light of the Millennium, but I minimized the glory that is yet to come to us, judging by what I saw on this delightfully charming planet. I have no assurance, however, that the coming Millennium of our world will be altogether similar to the one I saw. ”

“ But I learned that the inhabitants of Saturn do not appreciate all this wealth of beauty, in its atmosphere or on its earth, a whit more than the people of our world appreciate the sin cursed scenery which greets their eyes. ”

“ Could it be possible that they are nothing more than vast pieces of dead machinery, barren of all vegetable growth and intelligent life, whereon desolation and solitude forever prevail?
Our own Earth is inhabited by a large variety of living forms ranging from the microscopic bacteria and animalcula to the glorious form of man with all his superior endowments. The air, earth and water are teeming with their billions of sensitive creatures; even a breath of air, a drop of water, or a leaf on a tree often contains a miniature world of living forms. ”

“ And now, when the capitalists saw that the people did not rebel, they again counseled among themselves on this wise:
"Why should there be so much labor lost in continually quarrying new sepulchers in our diamond ridges, and why should there be so much dust lying idle in the old graves? Come, let us have a law that the dust in all graves over one hundred years old shall be sold at auction, unless the graves are redeemed by a certain amount of soil. ”

“ If you were permitted to look upon the public and private life of this incredible world, your first sensation would be dizziness, not to mention the weirdness of all sights that would confront you at every turn. People would seem to be in a mad rush, and it would appear that all business is done with insane rapidity. ”

“ As I surveyed this world, everything evidenced the fact that these people are born engineers. Our Eiffel Tower and Ferris Wheel would be mere playthings compared with the sky-scraping structures that adorn the various parts of this little world. It appears that the international mind runs in this one direction more than in any other, and while they surpass us in this respect, they are inferior to us in the limitless field of science and philosophy as well as in the variety of manufacturing plants. ”

“ Some unthinkable types of human existence are occupying the worlds that can be inhabited. I marveled aloud as I viewed a few more links of the endless chain of intelligent creation. On one of these worlds, which I have christened Tor-tu, I found human beings that resemble us more than any others in the entire solar bounds of Polaris.
Tor-tu dashes along in its unceasing course at a distance of eight hundred millions of miles from Polaris. It is much larger than our world, and is accompanied by three moons and a set of rings which faintly suggested our picturesque Saturn. ”

“ Saturn, supreme in love, with its mysterious rings and its eight moons, now held my attention and won my admiration.
This world is almost as large as Jupiter, and its soil is more fertile. The inhabitants resemble us in physical appearance, except that they are twice our size.
Like Jupiter, it is enveloped in thick semi-liquid clouds which are never at rest. This changing atmosphere causes continual friction of particles, and this serves to produce sufficient heat to counteract the frigid blasts that would otherwise freeze out the whole planet. ”

“ Heaven is fashioned on a transcendently large scale. It is not a single sphere, but a universal chain of vast and luminous star-groups, scattered harmoniously throughout the infinite regions of space, so that a part of it lies suspended preciously near to our own Solar System. Heaven is more real and substantial than the suns and planets of the universe, although not one of its numberless parts can be detected by the human eye, or discerned through a telescope. ”