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 LOCATION OF 
 GEYSERLAND 
 
DUKE UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 The Glenn Negley Collection 
 of Utopian Literature 
 

 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/geyserlandempiriOOhatf 
 
GEYSERLAND 
 
ADAM AWAKENED BY EVRONA. 
 
GEYSERLAND 
 
 EMPIRICISMS IN SOCIAL REFORM 
 
 BEING DATA AND OBSERVATIONS 
 RECORDED BY THE LATE 
 
 MARK STUBBLE, M.D., Ph.D. 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 RICHARD HATFIELD 
 
 [A TENTATIVE EDITION] 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 PRINTED FOR RICHARD HATFIELD 
 1310 Green Court, N. W. 
 1908 
 
Copyright, 1907, by 
 THE AUTHOR 
 

 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 Motive 9 
 
 Prologue ii 
 
 I. Adam Mann 33 
 
 II. Geyserland — Adhemar 45 
 
 III. Customs of Geyserland — Fasho and Fair- 
 
 MENA 60 
 
 IV. Communism — History of Communism — 
 
 Ancient Jewish Communities — Beggars 8i 
 V. Marble Wharf — Introduction of Char- 
 acters no 
 
 VI. Temperaments — Boors — Autocrats — Pro- 
 jectors — Altruists 121 
 
 VII. Progress — Homoculture 155 
 
 VIII. SiBis AND Fasho — Duty . 172 
 
 IX. Man's Morality — Lork and Evrona . . 185 
 X. Temple of Reason — Marriage — Children 
 
 — Adam and Sibis 200 
 
 XI. Truth and Honor Versus Personal Re- 
 sponsibility — Egg Episode 215 
 
 XII. New Ideas — Communism Replacing Civili- 
 zation 236 
 
 XIII. Luck — Wewo's Harangue 245 
 
 XIV. Rural Lane — Adam — Dr. Wewo . . . 256 
 XV. New Plymouth 270 
 
 XVI. Observatory — Bimo — Fairmena .... 283 
 
 XVII. Matrons' Park 293 
 
 XVIII. Woman's Shackles, or Possible Liberty 
 
 with us 299 
 
 XIX. Maple Shade Nook 314 
 
 7 
 
 
8 Contents 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XX. Fru — Heroes — ^The Common — Old-Time 
 
 Festival — The New Year . . . .321 
 XXI. The Sycamore Grove — Startling Conspi- 
 racy — EvRONA, Adam, and Lork . . 329 
 XXII. Fasho and Fairmena at the Spring . . 347 
 
 XXIII. Dissolution House — Penology . . . 358 
 
 XXIV. Evrona's Daily Life — Lork and Evrona 
 
 — Modesty 375 
 
 XXV. Lork and Saso 389 
 
 XXVI. The Forum — Fairmena's Triumph — Pub- 
 lic Buildings — Compensations — Sac- 
 rifices — Adam's Trial 393 
 
 XXVII. Turtle Dove Cote — Fairmena — Bimo . 407 
 XXVIII. Adam and Lork — Prospect Hill — Fasho 
 
 AND SiBis 410 
 
 XXIX. Cliff Shore Path — Adam and Evrona . 419 
 XXX. Conference Between Assistant Surgeon 
 
 AND Adam 424 
 
 XXXI. SiBis AND Evrona — Adam's Departure — 
 
 Eskimos 427 
 
 Epilogue 438 
 
 Index 447 
 
MOTIVE 
 
 With a view to enlarging our present field of 
 happiness, we wish to write what might be. 
 
 We are of the opinion that about ii,ooo years 
 ago there was a deluge or revolution of seas and 
 wrinkling of the shell of the earth, and that the sur- 
 vivors of that cataclysm were our ancestors and 
 the connecting link between the past and present 
 eons. We also believe that the isolated inhabitants 
 of Geyserland, like ourselves, were survivors of 
 that antediluvian period. 
 
 These Geyserlanders, not being influenced by 
 many of the conditions that have afifected us, make 
 an interesting study, and we purpose to contrast 
 their system with ours by relating the experiences 
 of an English castaway who passed several years 
 in Geyserland. 
 
 Geyserland was a community where, through 
 numberless wars, famines, pestilences, and iniqui- 
 ties, principles were evolved partially resembling 
 those preached in " The Sermon on the Mount," 
 and impractically practiced by the Pentecost and 
 Arian Communities, and many modern monastic 
 associations. We also wish to show that the failure 
 of these historic communities was the result of the 
 personnel, the environments, and the conditions, 
 rather than the falseness of the theory. 
 
 The praising and recording of successful noble 
 acts we believe to be an essential element toward 
 high culture, and we wish to show that a greater 
 happiness is attained by such as love their race, in 
 contrast to such as concentrate their affections upon 
 individuals. 
 
 9 
 
 — M 
 
PROLOGUE 
 
 "Use gentle words! for who can tell the blessings they impart? 
 How oft they fall (as Manna fell) on some nigh fainting heart. 
 In lonely wilds, by light-winged birds, rare seeds have oft been sown, 
 And hope has sprung from gentle words, where only griefs had 
 grown." 
 
 Early in my life my father told me he would 
 give me whatever I asked for, if I would remem- 
 ber to only ask for what I should have. This was 
 humorous; however, my father lived up to the 
 spirit of his contract. 
 
 When about seventeen years of age, I told him 
 that I should like to go abroad and study to be a 
 professional artist. 
 
 " If you insist, you may go," he replied; " but 
 my suggestion would be, that instead of being a 
 professional artist, you study to be an amateur 
 artist. The banker, George Grote, was a historian ; 
 and the surgeon, Oliver Wendell Holmes, was an 
 eminent writer; you also can lead a dual career. 
 Go, learn the fundamental principles of your art, 
 then return and I will make you an officer in one 
 of my manufacturing companies. In this way you 
 will have two strings to your bow, with plenty of 
 time for both." 
 
 But with an assurance founded on my youth and 
 ignorance, and a confidence based upon physical 
 strength and determination, I decided to stake all 
 — to win or lose all — in an artistic career. 
 
 My father died the following year, leaving me 
 a large fortune. Ten years later in Paris, ten years 
 of hard work, I regretted that I had not followed 
 
12 Prologue 
 
 his advice. I was discouraged by the manner in 
 which my artistic performances were received by 
 the press and by my professional colleagues, and I 
 realized that I was too old to begin a commercial 
 career. I felt as useless as a blind window in the 
 wall of a church, and was wretched with the idea 
 of eating the bread of idleness and throwing away 
 what might have been a useful life. 
 
 1 had a classmate, Jacques Roussel, from Nor- 
 mandy, who, from the beginning of my art career 
 in Paris, had been a close companion in all my 
 studies. One night at a students' ball, where 
 models, quasi-models, and others joined with us 
 for merriment, Jacques introduced his brother 
 Xavier to me. He made me know all the pretty, 
 lively girls, and, with the fellowship of frolicking 
 friends, we enjoyed ourselves. Toward morning 
 I asked him his occupation and learned that he was 
 a waiter at a quiet restaurant in the neighborhood 
 of the " Gobelins," a quarter of Paris unfrequented 
 by English or Americans. This good fellow was 
 supporting his brother Jacques during his art 
 studies. He was intellectually alert, and under- 
 stood the conditions of the society that surrounded 
 him. He realized, also, his own limitations. 
 
 I have always sought to discover treasures in odd 
 places, and a few days later I visited the restaurant 
 where Xavier was employed. I was not greeted 
 by " Tiens ! le grand Richard " ( Hello ! big Dick) ; 
 but by a most correct servant, who showed me to 
 a desirable seat and recommended to me — " Mon- 
 sieur " — those dishes he knew to be the most palat- 
 able in the cuisine. He was a Frenchman, hence 
 he was an actor; he was a waiter, hence he sought 
 
Prologue 13 
 
 to give an imitation of a perfect waiter. Shake- 
 speare says: 
 
 " All the world's a stage, 
 And all the men and women merely players." 
 
 We would elaborate on the significance of this 
 word " player." Some players are creatures of 
 impulse, others creatures of imitation. The first — 
 the man of instinct — no more sacrifices himself 
 than does the child playing tag. He is a man act- 
 ing with all sincerity as he sees the right, capable 
 of initiative when he recognizes the necessity for 
 invention. The second, the imitator's role, usually 
 demands the element of self-efifacement. He acts 
 with all the acumen of one who is capable of per- 
 forming a commendable part, and with a desire to 
 excel in it. 
 
 Xavier, like most Frenchmen, enjoyed this 
 double personality. The evening we met, Xavier 
 and I had been on terms of equality and drunk out 
 of the same glass; now he was playing another 
 part, on a dif^ferent stage. Obsequious civility was 
 expected of him, just as physical strength is ex- 
 pected of a blacksmith. Civilities, like good sauce, 
 make a restaurant's renown. I cherish the memory 
 of Xavier both as a waiter and as a friend. 
 
 Many days later he made me known to a client 
 of the establishment, an interesting gentleman 
 about forty years of age, with a pinched face 
 and care-worn look — a Mr. Peter Seaton, an 
 American. 
 
 Peter Seaton was a social misfit; he had made 
 a bad shot at happiness. His father, a wealthy res- 
 ident of Hartford, of the bondholder caste, had 
 brought him up with all the old-time unconven- 
 
14 Prologue 
 
 tional New England comforts, and, dying, left him 
 a vast fortune, with but little to do save to cut off 
 coupons. At Yale he had been popular, and nick- 
 named " the philosopher," because he bore upon 
 his forehead a defiance that challenged all super- 
 stition. When confronted with a dogma or tenet 
 he was ever ready to use that experimental ration- 
 alism which has been approved in all departments 
 of science. It was only necessary to tell him of 
 some unlucky omen — breaking looking-glasses, 
 crossing fingers, or opening umbrellas in the house 
 — to have him essay it to show its fallacy. Appre- 
 ciating the fact that his father's ability, aided by 
 his mother's economy, had left him financially 
 independent, to gratify them he early in life mar- 
 ried the handsome sister of one of his classmates. 
 
 Mrs. Seaton was a product of that species of her 
 race that has been evolved from loveless marriages. 
 When she had married for money, and her home 
 had been secured, with a dashing, unscrupulous 
 cunning she strove to better her social position. 
 Mrs. Seaton was as pure as snow. No breath of 
 scandal ever gave her husband cause for com- 
 plaint; but of intellectual sympathy he received 
 none. In this respect she was absolutely false to 
 him. Mrs. Seaton took society as it is; Mr. Sea- 
 ton desired it only as it should be. Her life was 
 governed mainly by social ambition. His was lived 
 for the real appreciation of its surroundings and 
 comforts, with a hearty sympathy and a commend- 
 able desire of securing like enjoyments to as many 
 others as possible. 
 
 There is much truth in Swift's saying, " There 
 would be fewer unhappy marriages in the world 
 if women would think less of making nets and 
 
Prologue 15 
 
 more of making nests." A wife who seeks to make 
 home happy by efforts to please the vanity of her 
 husband, with well-organized entertainments and 
 elegant appointments, sometimes loses sight of the 
 main objects of household supervision — the healthy 
 comforts of good beds, delicious food, comfortable 
 chairs, with clean, attentive servants. To a prac- 
 tical man, or to a philosopher like Peter Seaton, 
 these foundations of home were the most essential. 
 Mr. Seaton had no pretensions to be considered 
 more fashionable, or in any way better than he ac- 
 tually was; but Mrs. Seaton and their only daugh- 
 ter, Henrietta, were masterpieces of that self-satis- 
 fied but unpraised and envied class of women called 
 " snobs." As his daughter grew older the state of 
 affairs became worse. He said he had no time (he 
 meant no talent) for society's small talk or twad- 
 dle. " What is the use of talking to any one unless 
 you can make that one your confidant? " He found 
 himself always in the way and not wanted. Old! 
 He was not old. It was the number of times he 
 had kept his temper that had traced the wrinkles 
 on his face. He never tried to dominate his wife; 
 on the contrary, she tried to humiliate him, often 
 nagging and criticising him, and in this manner 
 his daughter and their exclusive fashionable friends 
 followed her example. He was isolated, although 
 he was in his own home. Solitude is not necessarily 
 living alone; it is living with others who are not 
 interested in us. 
 
 Mr. Seaton had not the Buddhist desire to " ac- 
 quire merit" by being imposed upon. His dash 
 for freedom was as generous as it was original. 
 He put into the hands of a Parisian banker a por- 
 tion of his bonds, an inconsiderable sum, but sufR- 
 
1 6 Prologue 
 
 cient to last him for his life; wrote a note to his 
 wife and daughter, enclosing a power of attorney 
 and the key to his vaults, and soon found himself 
 in Paris, where, as he said, his hat covered his fam- 
 ily and roofed his home! He became the friend of 
 the lowly, and said that if the Devil had any more 
 traps for him he could not bait them with ladies. 
 He was no longer a believer in matrimony. A pic- 
 ture has a right to choose the frame that fits it best. 
 At another time he said, " If I were a woman I 
 hardly know of a man whose wife I should like to 
 be — I do not know that I should have liked to have 
 been my own; but I should never have treated an 
 enemv with the ignominy I have received from my 
 wife." 
 
 A man wants no fetters before the age of forty. 
 Property, wives, household establishments and 
 children all seem mere flukes to his anchors — 
 hindrances to his liberties. Girls, on the contrary, 
 are when young most bewitching. The romantic 
 period of a man's life is twice as long as that of a 
 woman's. A woman is in her prime from fifteen 
 to thirty-five — a man from fifteen to fifty-five; a 
 man is no more an old bachelor at fifty-five than a 
 woman is an old maid at thirty-five. If a man can 
 so arrange as to live to see his legitimate grand- 
 children he has had enough of marriage and life's 
 joys and sorrows. 
 
 Mrs. Seaton was willing to give her soul to tri- 
 fles, although she had all the requisites of being a 
 social leader, except that most essential of all, the 
 noble motive. She was a member of the most fash- 
 ionable church, whose coarse, sagacious rector, 
 with a half-nurtured intellect, had opinions to suit 
 those whom he wished to conciliate on all religious, 
 moral, social, or political questions. By this 
 
Prologue 17 
 
 mental astuteness he managed to hold his position 
 at the head of his fashionable parish, which was 
 little else than an "exclusive social club." His 
 parishioners were recognized as being the correct 
 leaders of a generally supposed sterling upper 
 " social set," whereas his parish was really a refuge 
 for human drones — '^ a paradise of fools " or a 
 hypocritical "shoddy," "silver-plated," "brum- 
 magem " imitation of the real thing, both social 
 and religious. Winwood Reade wrote in "The 
 Martyrdom of Man," " What a state of society is 
 this in which 'free-thinker' is a term of abuse. 
 . . . Worship is a conventionality, churches are 
 bonnet shows— shabby genteel salons, where the 
 parochial at home is given, and respectable trades- 
 men exhibit their daughters in wooden stalls." 
 
 Emerson wrote, " The rulers of society must be 
 up to the work of the world." * 
 
 ***** 
 
 One morning, while at luncheon, Mr. Seaton, 
 alluding to a picture I was painting of Socrates for 
 the Salon, observed : 
 
 " Do you think Socrates will be forgotten if you 
 do not paint him for this year's Salon? " 
 
 *Mark Stubble said this about society: "It is a mistaice to assume 
 that the grand principle of refinement, at present so little in evidence 
 IS really dying. It is only in a state of lethargy. The time will surely 
 come when the few noble characters who cherish convictions of refine- 
 ment will reassert the correct principle as a true standard for an aris- 
 tocracy. No community should exist without an aristocracy. This 
 superior class should receive the respect and be imitated because of the 
 noble qualities in their characters. 
 
 _ "At the time of William the Conqueror the aristocracy of the con- 
 tinent had evolved from 'Robber Barons.' But he, believing that an 
 aristocracy should be based on family and wealth, installed the peerage 
 of England with the 'gentleman' and the 'lady' as the standard. 
 The term ' gentleman ' is derived from ' gens '—family— as is also 
 generous; and its correlative term 'lady' was synonymous with 'bread- 
 giver,' because only the ladies of the manor or feudal castle who were the 
 loaf-wardens or bread-keepers were in a position to be bountiful or 
 
1 8 Prologue 
 
 " Socrates forgotten," I replied, " might be hap- 
 pier than Socrates remembered by my perform- 
 ance. I chose that subject merely to show how 
 well I can paint the half-nude fragments. I wish 
 it to be rumored that a new master has come to 
 town." 
 
 "Master of what?" demanded Mr. Seaton, 
 "beauty or skill?" 
 
 " Skill." 
 
 " My dear young friend, don't forget the ob- 
 jective haven in becoming too much interested in 
 the methods of getting there. You remember the 
 inland commoners of England who went to war 
 with Charles I. about the ' ship tax,' but forgot the 
 cause of the dispute in the excitement of the fight- 
 ing. The inland boroughs still pay the ' ship tax.' 
 Good painting without any other object in view 
 is as useless as a treadmill. The highest func- 
 tion of art, mark you, is to collect, to select, and 
 arrange what Nature has given us. She furnishes 
 the gem, but art must attend to the polishing and 
 setting." 
 
 I wish to pay the world a tribute for my ex- 
 istence," I said, " and I believe to do this I should 
 create something that will sell; if others are will- 
 generous. To-day it is impossible to accept family and wealth as a 
 standard of refinement. Millionaire is not synonymous with refine- 
 ment. The progress of ethics has already shown the advantages of 
 the divorce of church and state, and now this same progress demands 
 the divorce of prominent political statecraft and social standards of 
 refinement. 
 
 "A fraternity will exist among aristocratic people of all countries; 
 like Masons they will recognize each other when others cannot. 
 
 " It should be an important function of the aristocrats to be on the 
 alert to welcome everyone worthy of joining this highest circle, but a 
 social leader should stand ever ready to challenge all aspirants to prove 
 their worthiness before admission, because every aristocrat should con- 
 sider himself responsible for the evil actions of his acquaintances. The 
 ladies of society should stand forth for truth. The gentlemen should 
 be ever alert to protect them from imposture." 
 
Prologue 19 
 
 ing to pay it proves that the thing is wanted and 
 that in creating it I am being of use to the world." 
 
 Mr. Seaton, uncommercial man in a commer- 
 cial age, muttered something that was not flatter- 
 ing about " shopkeepers." 
 
 "Wanted by whom?" he asked. "Abraham 
 told Isaac to acquire what others needed, then to 
 sell it at a profit. Your standards of the artistic 
 might be studied, and altered to the advantage of 
 the world. You wish to exhibit in the Salon for 
 notoriety, and to sell the object of that notoriety 
 in order to assure yourself that your career is 
 noble. Bosh! What is this Salon? Is it like the 
 Olympian games; or is it a show of technical skill, 
 where the draughtsman exhibits his skill in de- 
 picting form, and the painter in rendering texture? 
 I believe it is simply a coterie of artists organized 
 for the benefit of themselves to perpetuate their 
 own methods. Their art has degenerated to the 
 level of a sport; they annually exhibit their works 
 to show their dexterity, in the same way that men 
 attend regattas and coach parades to show their 
 ability in sailing or driving. 
 
 " To the point," he continued, " what is the re- 
 lation of this Salon to the love of the aesthetic? 
 What is the value of this much-sought-after re- 
 nown? Who are the judges of the appropriate 
 and the beautiful? Certainly not a lot of un- 
 washed painters who are notorious for preferring 
 dexterously painted fragments of the nude, resem- 
 bling amateur photographic snap-shots, to untram- 
 meled inspirations or designs combining grace and 
 beauty. A man has a right to be tried by his peers. 
 But you remember Pliny's story of the five statues 
 of the Amazons on the Temple of Diana at 
 Ephesus, each carved by a celebrated sculptor. 
 
20 Prologue 
 
 When it was left for these same sculptors to decide 
 the most meritorious statue, each voted for his own, 
 and the prize was awarded to the one selected for 
 second place. 
 
 " If there is nothing in art but technical skill," 
 continued Mr. Seaton, "then fellow-workers 
 could judge; but if it is an appeal to the very 
 highest strata of culture and refinement, then let 
 the unprofessional connoisseur be heard; for I be- 
 lieve it is impossible that an artist can be a good 
 critic, because of his utter lack of sympathy 
 and enthusiasm. He is always a doctrinaire, the 
 exponent of some fad outside the cognizance of a 
 genuine critic. The critic is an analyzer, and is 
 useful in proportion to the enthusiasm and sym- 
 pathy which the beautiful evokes in his tempera- 
 ment. A professional critic has a right to demand 
 of an artist that he be a master of correct work- 
 manship, that his taste can be trusted in regard to 
 the beautiful and appropriate, that he is capable of 
 elaborating and decorating such schemes as are 
 presented to him, and that he should ennoble his 
 work with love and mystic depth. 
 
 " Personally, I believe that artists, like doctors 
 and plumbers, will be judged by laymen. Com- 
 petition applies to them as it does to the makers 
 of pies and biscuit. The Salon was originally 
 held in the King's palace; hence the name. The 
 court was composed of the most highly cultured 
 people, and their approval meant success. Dra- 
 matic art has not been developed by the criticisms 
 of actors, but by the applause of the most critical 
 people of culture. There will always be an ele- 
 ment of cruelty about an atmosphere where all 
 are as alert to condemn as they are to praise; but, 
 
Prologue 21 
 
 mark you, from a progressive point of view the 
 best atmosphere is the one in which the highest 
 type of excellence will develop. To illustrate this. 
 A good-natured English audience will praise the 
 effort of a painstaking young singer and lightly 
 pass over her false notes. At La Scala the first 
 false note results in her being hissed from the stage, 
 regardless of tears and efforts. The consequence 
 is, that a Milanese reputation is a thing of value, 
 whereas no one cares for an artistic reputation 
 made in London." 
 
 " But I want a rational, tangible token of my 
 success," I interrupted. 
 
 " Do you mean selling? " he snapped at me. 
 " Beautiful objects have always been of value. Art 
 has not degenerated, but the public has been forced 
 to accept trivial performances in lieu of greater 
 ones. The world has always been ready to recog- 
 nize the distinction between good and bad, un- 
 happily much more quickly than a distinction be- 
 tween right and wrong. Approach the market for 
 the good — and you'll be on the turnpike to immor- 
 tal fame. 
 
 " Note the travels of a work of art. It leaves the 
 artist's studio, goes to a patron or to a dealer; it 
 is mixed with other chosen works; it is resold, and 
 if worthy eventually finds itself where it aptly be- 
 longs, in some public gallery. Mark you, eminent 
 men are recognizing that when they die the only 
 thing they are to be remembered by is what they 
 leave to others, and a memorial, such as a noble 
 work of art, is becoming more popular every day. 
 These patrons of art all buy or strive to get the 
 best. Old art, by having withstood the test of 
 constant criticism, is unquestionably entitled to a 
 respect which should be charily given to modern 
 
22 Prologue 
 
 works, hence the love of old masters — the old story 
 the survival of the fittest. Where are now the 
 works of the three hundred pupils of Titian? A 
 fleet is as fast as its slowest ship, a chain as strong 
 as its weakest link, but a school of artists will be 
 judged by it most brilliant members, and their 
 work only will survive." 
 
 " You are right in theory," I said, " but the 
 praise of an interested dealer and the mushroom 
 reputation gained through the press have become 
 tremendous sources of profit and encouragement." 
 
 " Artistic productions should be such as give 
 pleasure to those who create them as well as to 
 those for whom they are created," replied Mr. 
 Seaton. " The artist must first perceive what is 
 needed, then love to do it; but, above all, have the 
 capacity to do it; for as Lowell wrote, ' It is not 
 the singer's wish that makes the song.' I envy 
 you your dexterity in your craft. I often feel that 
 my ideas are as choice and beautiful as those of 
 Shakespeare, but I cannot express them as well. 
 The curse of our time is that penny-a-liners, who 
 can write, think that they can think. Mark you, 
 nine-tenths of humanity are imitators, but ninety- 
 nine one-hundredths of artists are imitators. 
 ' There are few voices in the world, but many 
 echoes.' When the school of Boucher had refined 
 painting to a flimsy state of washed-out color and 
 stereotyped forms, it was most fortunate that Char- 
 din appeared upon the scene with his materialistic 
 pots and pans, fruits and vegetables. But like a 
 tuning-fork, one Chardin is enough for any one 
 school. The public does not need paintings galore 
 of dead fish nor disgusting interiors of slaughter- 
 houses. It is when we create a thing which makes 
 the world happier that we have accomplished a 
 
Prologue 23 
 
 stroke of genius. The world is always ready for 
 another artist who has the sagacity of originality. 
 Brunnelleschi, the originator of the Italian Re- 
 naissance, antagonized the poltroon feelings of the 
 imitator and presented to the Florentines what 
 they needed when he designed their Cathedral, 
 and did it so well that Michael Angelo a hundred 
 years later, when asked to revise the plan for the 
 Cathedral's completion, refused to do so, saying 
 that they must get a better artist than he to improve 
 it. Let it be understood that to deviate from the 
 trodden path is the birthright of all mankind. 
 Gregarious humanity has thousands of frontiers- 
 men or pioneers in every direction, from the men- 
 tal recluse in his lonely attic to the fearless 
 scientific explorer in the canyon's depths, and from 
 the rare singer to the wizard decorator. All at- 
 tempts to force these honest, valiant spirits back 
 into the ranks of life would be the death-knell of 
 originality. William Morris, a philistine, was 
 not recognized by the professional artists' asso- 
 ciations of his time; nevertheless, he developed 
 more art than any man since the old goldsmith 
 pre-Raphaelite Florentine; he never saw an artis- 
 tic creation without thinking how he could make 
 something more beautiful. The Prince Consort, 
 with his South Kensington Museum, has done 
 more during the last thirty years to advance the 
 artistic feeling in industrial England than the 
 Royal Academicians have in a hundred and thirty 
 years — as modern English wall-paper and faiences 
 demonstrate. The appreciation of the beautiful 
 is the cornerstone of the artistic. The esthetic 
 is the link of love between the Creator and the 
 created. Do not confuse Science and Art. Science 
 is the correct knowledge of Nature, whereas Art 
 
24 Prologue 
 
 is the happy combination of nature interpreted by 
 man and manipulated by his schemes, ingenuity 
 and skill. In other words, art is the aesthetic in 
 nature as evinced by a man's mind. Do not con- 
 found the marvelous with the artistic. Our art 
 galleries are to show what art has been able to per- 
 form — the making of the beautiful. Our museums 
 are to show curiosities, works of marvelous dex- 
 terity, samples of early innovations." 
 
 " In plain words," I said, " you believe that 
 there is no straight road to success? " 
 
 "There is not," replied Mr. Seaton. "There 
 is no rule for excelling in art, such as the Golden 
 Rule which regulates moral actions. All systems 
 of classifying art are belittling. Certain profes- 
 sors and men whose chief enjoyment is in teaching 
 others, think they have what their masters, cen- 
 turies ago, knew enough not to search for — a sys- 
 tem. They have tried to reduce all the methods 
 of artistic skill into fixed rules which they desig- 
 nate as classical, and which they adopt in order 
 that the standards of tastes may be universally es- 
 tablished. Fixed standards and ideals are only 
 mythical moving creations of men who crave for 
 law and order, the outcome of which would give 
 results like unto peas in a pod or pins in a paper. 
 This is atrocious. The only standard of good 
 taste should be that which our most refined ele- 
 ment deems charming. Old classical paths, like 
 mausoleums, may be beautiful, but they lack the 
 live and progressive spirit of the age. Foolish 
 are any systems that compel poets or artists to con- 
 form to rules, tenets, canons, or standards. Those 
 who follow cannot lead. Artists are standard- 
 bearers of progress and are little children — the 
 multi-multiplied great-grandchildren of the Al- 
 
Prologue 25 
 
 mighty, the original artist. The fine arts should 
 be ever emblematic of liberty and originality. 
 Artists should be priests of Nature, and should 
 embody the beauty of those who love Nature. 
 ' One success outweighs a hundred failures.' " 
 
 " Please clear my mind," I said, " about some 
 of those modern innovations. As an art critic 
 where would you place a perfect wax representa- 
 tion of a friend? " 
 
 " Art is Nature on a minor scale," Mr. Seaton 
 quickly replied. " An artist dignifies certain quali- 
 ties by sacrificing others. The Greek sculptor 
 omitted the pupil of the eye, thereby sacrificing ex- 
 pression to accentuate the pure beauty of the form. 
 A duplicate has not the charm of an artistic ren- 
 dering. A beautiful thought is more quickening 
 when expressed in the unnatural language of verse 
 than when spoken in prose. To fool the eye is 
 no more the function of an artist than to mimic 
 is the sphere of a musician. 
 
 " There are two distinct stages in creation — 
 first, the conception and starting; second, the re- 
 fining and perfecting. He who has the concep- 
 tion deserves greater glory than he who but refines 
 and elaborates. James Watts, a breaker of paths 
 with his primitive steam engine, will always be 
 remembered as more eminent than his successors 
 who have brought the details of his invention to 
 their present high standard. As for drawing — in 
 the future, whenever scientific accuracy is more 
 desired than artistic merit, the process system 
 will prevail. The photographer will replace the 
 draughtsman in the same manner as Gerard, the 
 scribe and illuminator in Charles Reade's " The 
 Cloister and the Hearth," had his career changed 
 by the process printing-press." 
 
26 Prologue 
 
 " I don't know what to do," I said with tears in 
 my eves; " please don't discourage me any more." 
 
 "Ten thousand apologies, my boy!" he ex- 
 claimed. " I see I have been mistaken. I 
 thought possibly you wished to be a gentleman- 
 artist with a reputation for being original, made 
 by imitating well-known works. I believe in 
 you. I have seen others like you, with a yearning 
 desire to be of some service in the world. It is 
 hard for a rich young man to throw himself un- 
 restrainedly into a career of usefulness. Notice 
 how few men of worth to-day come from wealthy 
 parents. You deserve better luck, my lad. I be- 
 lieve you have it in you to do something for the 
 world. Go ahead. Don't mind if your friends 
 find you lacking in stifling conventionalities. A 
 beneficial idea instigated by a single individual 
 if fortunate enough to reach and permeate the 
 masses means one step up the ladder of humanity's 
 progress. It may be paradoxical, but it seems to 
 me as if some screw should be loose or loosened in 
 the machinery of society to permit genius to 
 achieve its end. A well-balanced man often 
 fails in being a great factor in great results. 
 * The race is not to the swift nor the battle to the 
 strong ' — ' nor yet favor to men of skill, but time 
 and chance happeneth to them all,' said Solomon. 
 But look, my boy, at the men whose skill has not 
 been rewarded by success. Time has not afforded 
 them a chance, nor has their skill 'found favor' 
 in the world's judgment. Their most earnest ef- 
 forts spell failure. Note this encouraging item in 
 your profession. Lawyers, doctors, and clergy- 
 men have to have a diploma in order to practice 
 their professions. Whereas artists — literary, mu- 
 sical, or plastic — have only to produce one success- 
 
Prologue 27 
 
 ful performance to be recognized in their profes- 
 sion. Stamp as well as you can what charms you 
 most upon a piece of canvas, and according to the 
 rules of the game of life you take your chance on 
 its being of value." 
 
 " That is all right," I said, " but if I painted those 
 things in nature which fascinate me, such as the 
 nude, which I love as Rubens loved it, I know that 
 I should not be tolerated. My family, not my 
 conscience, makes a coward of me." 
 
 " You must choose between your art and your 
 family," he suggested in his quick, nervous way. 
 " Unless it is contrary to the interests of the com- 
 monweal, what Nature has joined together should 
 not be rent asunder. Art and society must ever 
 be at odds, for art stands for freedom — society for 
 conventions. Be honest with yourself at any price. 
 An independent bastard has many advantages in 
 the line of freedom over the legitimate member of 
 a respectable social set." 
 
 " I certainly have the desire," I interrupted; 
 "and in the name of pity, help me! My father 
 told me that a man's shoulders were broad enough 
 and strong enough to carry all the troubles fate 
 sends to him, but it is not so. My own heart is 
 breaking; and men are dying every minute whose 
 burdens are greater than they can bear." 
 
 " You must not be discouraged," said Mr. 
 Seaton kindly. " Of all the horses that are en- 
 tered, trained, and ridden in the race, but one can 
 win and be famous. Those who fail are often 
 quite as useful as their illustrious and victorious 
 competitors. Note the men in history who have 
 done great things after shipwrecks and disasters. 
 Don't be in a hurry. You don't want to be like 
 that little hero, Louis II., of Hungary, who was 
 
28 Prologue 
 
 born before he was expected, was married at the 
 age of twelve, was a father at thirteen, gray at 
 sixteen, and killed on the field of battle before he 
 was twenty-one ! " 
 
 With a feeble attempt at a smile, I told him such 
 anecdotes were amusing, but not so comforting as 
 his generous heart intended. 
 
 " Mark you," said he, " intelligence, zeal and 
 power are not the only requisites necessary to raise 
 men from obscurity. Good art should demand 
 admiration even though the environments be bad 
 and the popular critics in vogue condemn it. 
 Greuze died of starvation, yet some of his pictures 
 are now worth almost their weight in diamonds. 
 Nobody can command success, but the advantages 
 of advertising must be recognized. The Bible 
 particularly recommends that a man should not 
 put his light under a bushel. I do not agree with 
 Emerson, who wrote, ' If a man should do a piece 
 of work incomparably better than his fellows, the 
 world will make a pathway to his door, though 
 he live in a forest.' People must know what you 
 have for them, in the same way as a so-called 
 ' savage ' Bushman, when he has killed and cooked 
 any large game, stands before his hut and loudly 
 calls to all who are hungry to come and help them- 
 selves. So if you have anything that will benefit 
 mankind, proclaim it, hire a herald, ring the bell, 
 blow the horn. ' If gods we are, we should make 
 ourselves known.' Your feeling of discouragement 
 is natural. Courage which has originated from 
 despair may be an embryo of success. However, 
 mark me, that while to become famous and inci- 
 dentally recognized as a ' social lion ' is cheering, 
 soothing, and reflectively delicious, yet a truly 
 great man of usefulness generally has mental acu- 
 
Prologue 29 
 
 men enough to know that it is really immaterial 
 who gets the credit of a philanthropic work. Some 
 artists arrive at distinction early, others late. A 
 savage is in his prime at seventeen; Columbus dis- 
 covered America at fifty-eight; Humboldt started 
 to write ' Cosmos ' at the age of seventy-five and 
 lived to complete it. Corot never sold a picture 
 until sixty, and lived to make a fortune before 
 dving at seventy-eight. Puvis de Chavannes had 
 his pictures rejected at the Paris Salon for seven- 
 teen consecutive years, but later he became presi- 
 dent of that society and the leading mural deco- 
 rator of his time. Every successful person can be 
 eminent for only a portion of his life, as, a hod- 
 carrier is only good in youth and strength; a phi- 
 losopher, in old age, with experience." 
 
 * * * * * .,.„ 
 
 One Sunday I called at Mr. Seaton's apartment 
 on the Rue des Petites Epingles (Little Pin 
 Street), and found him in a Scotch plaid dressing- 
 gown, slippers, and smoking-cap. Some people 
 dress for conventional propriety, others for the ad- 
 miration of their friends, and others to keep warm; 
 the last was evidently his scheme. It is a popular 
 belief that " free-thinkers " are unkempt, dingy, 
 and untidy; possibly this is from the lack of the 
 weekly " sprucing up " that " church-goers " give 
 themselves each Sunday morning. The " bearded " 
 or barbarous were despised by the Greeks and 
 Romans, who considered neat personal appear- 
 ance a requisite of healthy manhood. Yet Soc- 
 rates, who dominated the intellect of his time, was 
 content with the appearance of a slouch. On the 
 contrary, Hadrian, who owned the Roman Em- 
 pire, was most particular about his appointments 
 and appearance. 
 
30 Prologue 
 
 My friend had for a housekeeper a healthy, 
 robust woman named Gabrielle, from Brittany — a 
 woman past the age of maximum beauty, who had 
 had her history and was now glad to work for a 
 man who always used gentle words. 
 
 Dear old Peter Seaton was happy in Gabrielle's 
 society. To be a congenial companion it is not 
 necessary to have wealth, influence, or pedigree. 
 What is most needed is a kind heart and good 
 manners, with a certain amount of mental sym- 
 pathy. This good French girl possessed all these. 
 Whatever the relation in which they stand, a 
 woman should be the complement, rather than the 
 duplicate, of her mate, for a woman is not an 
 inferior man. Mr. Seaton was like the Duke of 
 Cambridge, who wanted a home, not a bazaar of 
 fashion. 
 
 " Listen to me seriously," said my friend, after 
 a preliminary chat, " there is a useful moral to be 
 noted in every man's life. Your candor, frankness, 
 and love of honesty bespeak your Puritanical an- 
 cestry, your love of getting down to bed rock. A 
 Puritan should love the nude. You have not failed 
 in painting. You've got an indigestion of art. 
 You will yet do influential work. But get a 
 hobby, get a fad. You need a digression. You 
 say that your loves and ideas are at variance with 
 your family traditions; why do you not write a 
 book describing the man you would like to be? 
 Many people do two things better than one — as a 
 woman talks more interestingly when sewing, and 
 a man makes better bargains when whittling a 
 chip. You can publish your work anonymously 
 and continue your painting. In this way you will 
 be master of your own career and independent of 
 fate. What might be is a pleasant thing to paint, 
 
Prologue 3 1 
 
 why not write it? To be practical, all imaginary 
 characters like Jean Valjean, Colonel Newcombe, 
 Pickwick, Don Quixote, Wilhelm Meister, and 
 many such have influenced more people benefi- 
 cially than millions of real men who have led 
 useful lives. Do not be discouraged in a new 
 field. Mark you, it is by cowardly proverbs 
 that the world has been perverted. Remember 
 Michael Angelo with the dome of St. Peter's 
 and Leonardo and his ' Last Supper.' Neither 
 thought for a moment of ' lifting a calf daily,' but 
 tried to carry the ox at once. Their efforts will 
 ever be remembered and classed in the first grade 
 of heroic art. Like them you may do a wonderful 
 work or tell a wonderful story, if you have the 
 story to tell and the courage to do it. This you 
 may do without preliminary education." 
 
 " I dislike a weak-kneed turncoat," said I, 
 whereupon Mr. Seaton spoke of the folly of con- 
 sidering people frail, or condemning their judg- 
 ment because they changed their opinions. 
 
 ''Nobody benefits by succumbing," he said. 
 " The idea of a captain going .down with his ship 
 is the folly of a fool. Consider your existence as 
 sacred, have a purpose worthy of it, and don't 
 waste it for a trivial whim or feeling, for where 
 success IS impossible and failure is assured, then 
 try again — but try something else!* 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 ADAM MANN 
 
 " If we could live without women, we should keep free from that 
 hindrance; but, since Nature has shown that it is as impossible to live 
 without, as it is disagreeable to live with them, let us sacrifice the 
 pleasure of life so short, to the good of the republic that it may last 
 forever." — Metellus Numidicus. 
 
 Part of this chapter is given in the original lan- 
 guage used by Adam Mann, and written by him 
 on the margin of an old English Bible which 
 Professor Mark Stubble found at Stoveren, Hol- 
 land. The notes were made while Mann was in 
 Geyserland, with the hope that, in case he did not 
 return to Christendom, they might, by chance, 
 reach someone who would understand and value 
 the information recorded. His expectations were 
 realized, for the book fell into the hands of the 
 Eskimos, from whom it passed to a Dutch whaling 
 ship.* 
 
 The margins and blank leaves of the old book 
 were closely covered with writing, done with an 
 instrument unknown to us. These quaint observa- 
 tions, including notes, memoranda, and conclu- 
 sions, were secured by Professor Stubble, who was 
 the first to appreciate their scientific importance. 
 He subsequently tried to arrange the items and 
 weave that which was obviously autobiographical 
 into some coherence and continuity. Before his 
 premature death he made considerable progress in 
 
 * Note — In the latter part of the sixteenth century the English fitted 
 out several whaling expeditions for the northern portion of Baffin's 
 Bay. The Dutch succeeded the English in these voyages early in the 
 seventeenth century. — Ed. 
 
 33 
 
34 Geyserland 
 
 this work, which the lack of order or method on 
 the part of the narrator made difficult. Professor 
 Stubble also left records of many investigations, 
 both at Tenderton in England and at Plymouth in 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 " M.y parents having had eight children before 
 me, all of them girls, had already selected ^ Nina ' 
 as a name for their ninth; but circumstances over 
 which they had no control persuaded them to call 
 me 'Adam. ' — // being a suitable name for the first 
 male. It was a strange coincidence that I may have 
 been the first man born in England in the seven- 
 teenth century, as I have been informed that my ar- 
 rival took place a few moments after midnight on 
 the morning of January 1st, 1601 * 
 
 ''My father is a man of importance and prop- 
 erty, Old Stone Hall, his home, and his adjoining 
 farms, be at Tenderton, in Kent, England. My 
 mother died during my babyhood and I, having 
 survived the experimental caring- for by all of my 
 eight sisters, each having original and untried 
 theories about the up-bringing of boy-babies, 
 seemed destined to live. Strange, but certain it is, 
 I waxed great in height and strength, and where I 
 came from, there was not my equal in boxing, or 
 wrestling, no, not in ye whole of Kent nor in Sur- 
 rey. My father stinted no expense on my educa- 
 tion. I knew some Latin and Greek authors; I 
 
 ♦Richard Hatfield's Chronological Notes 
 Population of London, about 80,000. 
 Population of Paris, about 280,000. 
 Elizabeth was Queen of England. 
 Henri IV. reigned in France. 
 
 Cromwell, Blake, and Vandyke were each less than six years old. 
 Shakespeare was writing "Hamlet"; first played in 1602. 
 Cervantes was writing " Don Quixote," published in 1605. 
 Rubens, Velasquez, Bacon, Harvey, and Galileo were all at their 
 zenith of usefulness. 
 
England^ i6oi 35 
 
 could compute corn in ye crib, or ye number of 
 cords in ye wood-pile. He early left \^allowed~\ me 
 participate in ye management of ye farms, which 
 be entailed, and so will be mine in time. Both our 
 heads were none too many to make ye receipts meet 
 the expenses. Three sisters were married and had 
 families. They now were widows dependent upon 
 my father. I have been told that my mother, fore- 
 thoughtful woman, had always persuaded my 
 father to be as saving when he had money, as he 
 was forced to be when he had it not. As a result 
 of this sagacious practise, there were no incum- 
 brances on Old Stone Hall, and we were all happy 
 there together. 
 
 ^^ Across the good stream Medway, in view of 
 Old Stone Hall, lived Gilbert Natson, and his 
 handsome daughter Polly, the goodliest maiden 
 to behold, I wist, in all England. Never have I seen 
 aught of th,e limner's art, but I do not believe that 
 Peter Paul Rubens, who hath recently been 
 knighted for making beautiful pictures, could paint 
 aught so pure and handsome as Mistress Polly 
 Natson. Gentle-tempered was she as she was beau- 
 tiful. In her presence always felt I awed. I mar- 
 vel not that her approval was the inspired motive 
 for all my actions, for she was noted for her good- 
 ness. . . . She believed in the supernatural; 
 never so did I. By my troth, I believe not that any- 
 one has ever lived who knew more about a future 
 existence than do I — and that is absolutely nothing. 
 Never yet did I believe in a statement of facts, be- 
 cause they showed me ye grave of ye man who made 
 them. She was heavenly-minded ; I was earthly. 
 I studied about this world, but her friend and ad- 
 viser, ye Rev. Master Pratt, claimed to know all 
 about heaven and hell, with precise and accurate 
 
36 Geyserland 
 
 details of how to get to either place, if one could 
 but believe him as Polly believed. Finally, about 
 the year 161J his influence waxed so great, that 
 she and her father were minded to goe with him. to 
 Holland, where many Pilgrims had begun to goe 
 as early as 1608. hater, they followed ye ^May- 
 flower ' to ye Plymouth plantations , and there they 
 settled and worshipped in their own perfect 
 manner/' 
 
 ***** 
 
 The foregoing were all of Adam's marginal 
 notes that were in any way consecutive; the rest 
 was confused and apparently written without 
 method. We have tried to weave these incidents, 
 characters, and naive observations into a story with 
 such digressions as suggest themselves by the con- 
 trasts between prevailing customs with us and those 
 met with by Adam Mann. 
 
 Tn London, within sight of the old landing at 
 Billingsgate, early in the year 1638, the old Red 
 Crow Ale House was a conspicuous landmark. 
 Often during the morning hours, when the masses 
 of humanity were laboring, idle men would gather 
 together and strange acquaintances would be 
 made. 
 
 " My felicitations. Mistress Hester. A brim- 
 ming measure of your foaming October brew, 
 served by your own dainty hands, would be most 
 refreshing to a tired sailor this morning.— Much 
 am I beholden to you. Prithee, rest: tarry a bit, 
 that I may look into thy pretty eyes; and tell me, 
 pray, what is new on the river." 
 
 "Thanks for my eyes; but seldom do my eyes 
 see beyond these walls." 
 
England, i6oi 37 
 
 " True, but your pretty ear doth hear, and I 
 would be knowing to what passes. Perchance 
 some new adventurer might appear, bringing 
 wealth and distinction to me, John Shagstaff, and 
 proud would I be to think that to you I owed the 
 starting of some fertile fancy. A little string of 
 pearls from New Cadiz, or some other distant 
 land, would look well round that shapely neck. 
 So I prithee tax thy memory on last evening's 
 topics." * 
 
 " Naught to interest you, John Shagstaff. For- 
 sooth, it would be strange if so brave a gallant as 
 you were to take any interest in the brig Raven 
 that is now fitting out for the New England Com- 
 pany's plantation. But here comes her skipper, 
 Master Job Hawkins. His passengers, I am told, 
 have more of worldly gear than those who have 
 gone over before, and that is all Job Hawkins cares 
 for. Little interest takes he, I wot, in any psalm- 
 singing folk." 
 
 "Thanks, pretty Mistress Hester; another tank- 
 ard of thy brew — Good-morrow, Master Haw- 
 kins. Fine ship, the Raven." 
 
 " Aye, good Master, and you should judge fair; 
 for the color of your face was ne'er gotten mewed 
 up in a city. I will wager you have sailed the 
 Spanish Main." 
 
 " That have I, and the frozen North as well. 
 Wherever fortune lies, there I, John Shagstafif, 
 would shape my course, and hazard my destiny." 
 
 " Go to! It is not with me then that you would 
 be content, for never saw I such a barren shore as 
 New Plymouth, the harbor I am next to make." 
 
 " Tush! — ' wait a minute, please,' as my mother 
 said to the horse. Granted that you be well paid 
 
 ♦This may be an important clue to the sequel of this story. — Ed. 
 
38 Geyserland 
 
 for carrying over these modern saints to that bleak 
 shore, pray what brings back you? " 
 
 " Naught." 
 
 " By St. James and his father Zebedee! so much 
 the better; for your return will not be impatiently 
 expected. If you be well paid and well provi- 
 sioned, I would like naught better than to fill thy 
 place." 
 
 "Out upon thee! What for?" demanded 
 Hawkins. 
 
 Subduing his voice, in order that it should not 
 reach the ears of Hester, Shagstafif said: 
 
 " Simply this, brother. Your psalm-singing 
 saints are all too good for this world. Heaven is 
 awaiting for people such as these, and their harps 
 and crowns are ready and mayhap may rust — why 
 consider them? You have a ship, you have a crew. 
 If not, you can gather one of chosen men. You are 
 well equipped and well armed 'gainst the Spanish 
 Rovers, why not sail to Cathay, the land of white 
 and gold? What know your passengers where 
 they go? " 
 
 " Absolutely nothing," drawled Hawkins. 
 " Faith have they in themselves to reach their 
 heavenly home, and trust in me to steer them to 
 New Plymouth. But who knoweth the way to 
 China?" 
 
 "That do I," blurted out John Shagstafif; then 
 in a low whisper he permitted Job Hawkins to 
 know that he had been one of the victorious mu- 
 tineers who abandoned Hendrick Hudson with his 
 son and seven of the crew in a shallop in the bay 
 that now bears his name. Job Hawkins never 
 removed his eyes from the face of his new ac- 
 quaintance during his confession. Job was not 
 shocked, but interested; nor was he surprised when 
 
England, i6oi 39 
 
 Shagstaff continued, " So fill your ship with the 
 crew you need, for I ween these people take food 
 and live stock in plenty; and what care you if you 
 land them in China or elsewhere? " 
 
 Job Hawkins summoned Hester to get another 
 tankard, and the sea-hawk, John Shagstaff, un- 
 folded his villainous plan to make money and then 
 to return to London and join that moneyed class 
 who are free from care, labor, responsibility, cus- 
 tom, local usages and local attachments — the rich, 
 unfettered, shareholding class, the freest men ever 
 known in the history of independent man. 
 
 John Shagstafif, like a true son of Neptune, con- 
 sidered everything for its buoyant qualities. He 
 thought that money was just like salt water — he 
 could float through life on it. " If people know 
 what they want and have the money to procure it 
 there is no good reason why they should not have 
 it," was Shagstafif's reasoning. John Shagstaff was 
 depraved; keenly conscious of the difference be- 
 tween right and wrong, he yet permitted his actions 
 perfect license without shame or remorse. Job 
 Hawkins could have all the honor, fame, and glory 
 as a discoverer of the Northwest Passage — John 
 Shagstafif only bargained for a lion's share of the 
 profits resulting from such a discovery. With 
 more beer we will leave them to discuss the details 
 of their nefarious scheme. 
 
 We are told that Samuel Johnson said it was 
 leaving the peaceful comforts of home that made 
 death terrible. Dr. Johnson never had a home of 
 his own and, therefore, must have known what he 
 was talking about; or perhaps his remembrance 
 of the typical country homes of Litchfield made 
 him appreciate how much more attractive the 
 
r 
 
 40 Geyserland 
 
 country homestead was than the fluctuating city 
 residence with its constant changing of paint and 
 upholstery. 
 
 The love of security or the fear of receding, in- 
 spires cautious people to " fix things " — to nail 
 them down. It was in the home, the fortress of 
 the head of the family, that our ancestors first be- 
 gan to save and accumulate, not only the surplus 
 necessities which produce wealth, but souvenirs 
 and family relics. Without going to the extent of 
 the supernatural, there is something about the 
 preservation of our heirlooms and family vaults 
 that is akin to ancestral worship — " the Mayflower 
 chair"; "my grandfather's clock"; "the sword 
 of my father." When a man and woman become 
 partners, this home where they gather their mutual 
 interests becomes a subject of the greatest im- 
 portance, and the desire to perpetuate this home 
 is the dominant sentiment of their lives. All the 
 heirlooms about a homestead are altars of con- 
 servatism; an ancestral home is a greater bond of 
 kinship than a family name. There are those who 
 cleave to home and those who do not. The former 
 are narrow in their interests, and conservative, 
 useful, steady and reliable; the latter are free and 
 mobile, capable of receding, or capable of ad- 
 vancing; untethered in their affections and cos- 
 mopolitan in their tastes. Old Stone Hall, where 
 Adam Mann lived, remains to-day practically as 
 it was in the time of Charles I. 250 years ago. 
 
 jlt ilt ilt «lt j|t 
 
 On the evening of the day when John Shagstafif 
 and Skipper Hawkins were discussing, at Billings- 
 gate, their audacious plans for accomplishing the 
 northwest passage to China, the following episode 
 took place at Tenderton. Adam Mann, pipe in 
 
England, i6oi 41 
 
 mouth, with his legs stretched out before him, sat 
 alone in the large living-room of the Old Stone 
 Hall, watching the smoldering fire on the hearth. 
 The furnishing were comfortable for those days — 
 a buffet filled with shining pewter; wide com- 
 fortable settles; his mother's straight-backed chair 
 and other treasured heirlooms were placed about 
 the room, while guns and powder-horns, fishing- 
 rods and cross-bows hung on the walls. His 
 nephews and nieces had been in bed for hours, and 
 one by one his sisters had bade him good-night. 
 Alone into the small hours of the morning he sat 
 serenely smoking his precious church-warden pipe. 
 He thoroughly enjoyed each puff of smoke as it 
 floated from his contented lips, which he moist- 
 ened occasionally with a glass of good warm sack, 
 while he kept the fire alive and the kettle warm, 
 resolving to sit up and await his father's return 
 from London. 
 
 In those days the law forbade the country people 
 to visit London, because Charles L hoped thus to 
 prevent the spreading of the rebellious ideas of the 
 town's people; but brave, honest, old Hugh Mann 
 obeyed only the laws which he thought right. He 
 was a hot-headed English-upper-class farmer, and 
 he hoped to magnify his own importance socially 
 in the country by a measurement of those same 
 aristocratic feudal standards that he antagonized. 
 We have the same spirit to-day in the inflationists, 
 who would make money cheap that they may 
 appear to possess more. 
 
 * \L' 4t* , ^II lie. 
 
 ^ff ^ff ^v 7f> 
 
 This was the year 1638. 
 
 Charles had been on the throne thirteen years. 
 Parliament had not met since 1629, nine years before. 
 The Star Chamber was beginning to crowd its ignoble deeds. 
 The commons were visibly richer than the nobility. 
 
42 Geyserland 
 
 The forced loans were making people desperate. 
 
 Mutiny was in the air. The English sailors had but a short 
 time before refused to fight the Huguenots at Rochelle. 
 
 Harvard College was founded in 1638. 
 
 Milton was thirty years of age, and had not yet earned a 
 penny. 
 
 The population of England was about 5,000,000. 
 
 Hugh Mann came into the room shaking the 
 cold rain from his top coat. He sat down and, 
 while he ate with great relish the meat pasty his 
 daughters had left for him, told Adam of the re- 
 sistance that John Hampden was making to the 
 ship tax. 
 
 " Adam, my son," said he, " now cometh ye time 
 of our importance. Each class of people hath its 
 term of power, now for ye respected yeomen of 
 old England. Unfortunately, I am all too old to 
 do much toward it; but, to thee, Adam, and to thy 
 children and thy children's children, a just inher- 
 itance is coming." 
 
 A half-audible grunt from Adam showed a lack 
 of enthusiasm for his own posterity. 
 
 " Adam, my boy," continued the father, " I have 
 been thinking all the way from London of my 
 greatest sorrow." 
 
 " Pray, sir, and what is that? " ejaculated Adam. 
 
 " That thou hast no family. Increase and mul- 
 tiply, ye Sacred Book commands. I have worked 
 hard, but my heirs bear not my name. Long have 
 I prayed that our name might become ennobled 
 and respected throughout ye country. Listen to 
 the yearnings of thy father, my son! The necessity 
 of marriage depends upon the worldly importance 
 of the people marrying. In thy case thou must 
 inherit Stone Hall and all these fair acres — the 
 
England, i6oi 43 
 
 home of our ancestors for generations. Why, for- 
 sooth, should strangers with new names come here? 
 Dost thou blame me for grieving that thou hast no 
 family? Odds bodikins! As it was my duty to my 
 father, so is it thy duty to me not to let our name 
 die out; bethink thee, it is thy duty likewise to 
 thyself, to perpetuate our intellect, our brawn, 
 and our sinew." 
 
 " True, dear father, but Polly Natson is ye one 
 I want. For ye love of ye Lord do not suggest any 
 other fish in ye sea." 
 
 " Didst ever speak to her, my son? " 
 
 "Speak to her! How dare I?" 
 
 "Zounds! what prittle-prattle is this? Dare 
 sayst thou? thou, the son of an English gentle- 
 man? I hold no man your superior. Our time 
 hath come. I am a prophet. At least I wot of no 
 power that prevents my prophesying. If thou but 
 hadst a son to leave here with me when the trouble 
 comes, as come it surely will, for Hampden is not 
 alone! You have time. Go fetch your dame. 
 Then go thou into the fray and make our name 
 glorious. Hurry, go bring her home. Be not too 
 late!" 
 
 " Nay, good my father, she would not listen to 
 me." 
 
 "Mooncalf! Would not listen to thee! God 
 never made a better man. Thou hast the scrive- 
 ner's art, go thy ways. Tell her thou'rt coming 
 to bring her home; she'll be a sorry fool if she 
 grasps not the chance to leave yon fishy coast! 
 Grim and gloomy be the tales we hear of life in 
 yon plantation. Surely, she will return with thee, 
 fear not. Take the guineas in the blue bag, and 
 God prosper thee, for I will yet live to see thee 
 knighted and greeted as — Sir Adam Mann." 
 
44 Geyserland 
 
 Adam wrote the following day, and made all 
 plans to follow the letter as soon as possible. 
 
 Father and son were finally of one mind, and the 
 project of marrying Polly was accepted as the cor- 
 rect course to take. Their reasons for reaching 
 this opinion, however, were somewhat different. 
 When a man is heading toward the sunset, his 
 ambition ungratified, he must hurry to accomplish 
 his aim or flaccidly accept the inevitable and die 
 too soon. Realizing this, Hugh Mann argued, 
 " It is impossible for me to leave a pyramid or a 
 soldier's immortal record, but it is possible that I 
 should leave a race of English gentlemen to suc- 
 ceed me and keep alive my name." This was a 
 fundamental feeling for self-perpetuation. Adam, 
 in his young and lusty nature, thought only of 
 Polly with her superb physical charms. He re- 
 membered her graceful lines displayed in the days 
 of the swing on the old oak tree, and her plump, 
 rosy arms as he had seen her at the churn on a sum- 
 mer's afternoon. Her smiling face and her large, 
 soft, blue eyes so full of soul, haunted him, and he 
 longed for her now in the ripe bloom of her young 
 maidenhood.* 
 
 Adam's resolute old father, with all the zeal of 
 an aged man, struck while the iron was hot and 
 did all in his power to forward this project. En- 
 ergy often comes with despair and the shortening 
 of years. And so it happened that Adam, after 
 much preparation, sailed from London Port in the 
 early spring of 1638. 
 
 * Why should those who have large eyes be credited with more soul 
 than those with small ones? Madonnas, saints, and angels are always 
 given large eyes. The deer, calf and horse have also large eyes and 
 they are certainly stupid. The elephant and the pig, who are alert and 
 gentle, have remarkably small organs of sight. — Ed. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 GEYSERLAND — ADHEMAR 
 
 " We will not attempt to decide the question whether the races at 
 present termed savage are all in a condition of original wildness, or 
 whether, as the structure of their languages often allows us to conjecture, 
 many among them may not be tribes that have degenerated into a wild 
 state, remaining as scattered fragments from the wreck of a civilization 
 that was early lost." — Humboldt's Cosmos. 
 
 GEYSERLAND was a ring-shaped island in the 
 open Polar Sea within the Arctic Circle. The 
 lake which made the center of the ring was sup- 
 plied by an enormous geyser, that moderated the 
 temperature for several leagues in all directions. 
 The subterranean conditions which existed in this 
 region were not unlike Tanna, near Port Resolu- 
 tion, or the land of the Maoris in New Zealand. 
 There was an outlet for the surplus water from the 
 lake through a tunnel and gorge to the open Arctic 
 Sea. Thus the inhabitants of the island enjoyed 
 a climate varying from soft and balmy on the lake 
 shore to frigid and icy on the outer mountainous 
 coast. 
 
 The mountains which encircled the island near 
 the coast line had been perforated by volcanic 
 action, and vast caverns had been formed, whose 
 mild temperature, like that of the Basilica of St. 
 Peters at Rome, seldom varied. The waters of the 
 ponds and streams in these caves were alive with 
 fish of many varieties. During the starlight sea- 
 son of winter these vast grottoes, artificially illumi- 
 nated, were the scenes of amphibious sports by the 
 natives. 
 
 45 
 
46 Geyserland 
 
 We know that all Greenland was fertile in the 
 Miocene Age, and that the fossil remains of plants 
 and flowers show specimens similar to those of 
 Europe and America, as well as some of a purely 
 tropical origin. The existence of these plants can 
 only be explained by assuming that the Eastern 
 and Western Continents were connected in past 
 eons by a short passage near Geyserland, like that 
 of the Bosphorous which connects Asia and 
 Europe, and that commerce with its travelers and 
 adventurers passed that way between what are now 
 two continents. There must have been a mixed 
 local population like that of Constantinople, Alex- 
 andria, or Gibraltar, because, although the ma- 
 jority of Geyserlanders resembled the Eskimos, 
 there were also recognizable among them such 
 types as the yellow-haired man and the black- 
 haired man, the dark curly-haired swarthy man, 
 as well as types similar to the blue-eyed Thracian, 
 men with long heads, men with round heads, and 
 the mongrels resulting therefrom.* 
 
 Geyserland was not necessarily always in the 
 Arctic region, but may have been thrown there. 
 That region, with the exception of Geyserland, 
 was undoubtedly wrecked in the last Polar cata- 
 clysm or false rotary motion of the earth, 9262 
 B. C, at which time many varieties of man and 
 beast sought food and shelter near her balmy, hos- 
 pitable lake. As this theory of false rotation is 
 but little known, it is one of the purposes of this 
 book to recall it to the public mind. 
 
 The theory of false rotation was first advanced 
 by Joseph Alphonse Adhemar, a professor of the 
 Sorbonne, in " Les Revolutions de la Mer," Paris, 
 
 •The features of the face give character; the shape of the skull gives 
 race. 
 
The Theory of Cataclysms 47 
 
 1852, about which time Darwin and Wallace were 
 presenting to the world their startling revelations 
 of evolution. It is probable that because Adhe- 
 mar had neither enterprise, influence, nor money, 
 his pamphlet has never attracted the attention it 
 deserves, although his theory was approved by 
 James Croll and James Geikie. Adhemar laid 
 down the law that deluges were caused by false 
 rotary motion, and not by rain, since the latter de- 
 pends upon solar energy, and to have produced 
 the deluge spoken of in the Bible would have re- 
 quired sufficient heat to burn the earth and all the 
 neighboring planets to a crisp. His theory is, that 
 owing to the vast accumulations of ice at one of 
 the poles, and not at the other, during a period of 
 high orbital eccentricity, the earth was forced, in 
 order to keep its balance, to change the position 
 of its axis, and consequently made new arrange- 
 ments of climates; therefore, every part of the 
 earth may have been, or may be in its turn, dry 
 or wet, tropical, temperate or glacial. It is an 
 interesting fact that when those portions of the 
 earth which had been submerged became dry land, 
 by cognate attraction, the salt of the evaporating 
 sea was left in pockets. 
 
 The poles are not stationary, we know that their 
 displacements vary in proportion to the number 
 of the earthquakes; for example, in 1845, when 
 nine earthquakes occurred, the polar displacement 
 was .053'', whereas in 1897, when there were forty- 
 four earthquakes, the displacement was 1° .07''. 
 
 Adhemar's calculations fixed the recurrence of 
 high eccentricity causing the changes of cold 
 which alternate between the north and the south 
 poles at full periods of approximately 21,000 years, 
 or half-periods of 10,500 years. We know the date 
 
48 Geyserland 
 
 of the last nutation was 1238 A. D., the date of the 
 previous nutation being 9262 B. C. Since 1238 A. D. 
 the duration of the northern heat or summer has 
 been gradually diminishing, and will continue to 
 diminish until the year 11748 A. D. Adhemar 
 argues that there was not only one upheaval, but 
 there was the liability every 10,500 years of a 
 similar occurrence. Allowing that the nutation 
 of the pole is constant, it was not obligatory that 
 the cataclysms should occur at each successive nu- 
 tation, but would be regulated by the quantity of 
 ice breaking off from the polar mass, just as our 
 equinox is not always accompanied by a storm. 
 
 Professor Wright of Oberlin College states, 
 " During the glacial period 6,000,000 cubic miles 
 of ice were piled up over a limited area in the 
 Northern Hemisphere. The weight of this would 
 amount to the stupendous sum of twenty-four 
 quadrillion (24,000,000,000,000,000) tons, which 
 is equal to twice that of the whole Continent of 
 North America and to nearly that of the whole of 
 Asia. The snow to constitute this ice came from 
 water evaporated from the ocean, all of which was, 
 so to speak, locked up on the ice-bound continents." 
 We may note that from every hand there comes 
 evidence that, in connection with the close of the 
 glacial period, there was a great destruction of 
 species of land animals all over North America, 
 Europe, and Central Asia, and that there is much 
 evidence to show that in large portions of this area 
 man, himself, shared in this destruction. Appar- 
 ently paleolithic man largely, if not wholly, dis- 
 appeared from America and Europe during the 
 closing stages of the glacial period, since his re- 
 mains are closely associated with those of the 
 
The Theory of Cataclysms 49 
 
 various animal species which became extinct at 
 that time. It is, therefore, a theory which can be 
 held with a fair degree of confidence that ante- 
 diluvian man, after having spread over all the 
 Northern Hemisphere, was exterminated by the 
 glacial changes in all the outlying provinces, so 
 that the culminating catastrophe of the cataclysm 
 of 9252 B. C. found him limited to the great centers 
 of early civilization in the Euphrates. The un- 
 certain nature of ice, as demonstrated by the dis- 
 similarity in size of avalanches and of icebergs, 
 prevents the quantity breaking ofif at the period 
 of nutation from being foretold; it might be 
 trivial or it might be tremendous. There was no 
 unusual commotion at the time of the last nutation, 
 1238 A. D. But the idea that prevailed throughout 
 Europe that the world would come to an end about 
 that time is worthy of notice. This was chiefly 
 due to the church. The 1000 years assigned in 
 Revelation as the lifetime of the earth was prob- 
 ably what some scientist of that day knew enough 
 to predict as a cataclysm. It is a well-known fact, 
 and one to be deplored, that many scientists who 
 have made valuable predictions were happy in 
 the fact that they had destroyed their authorities 
 and so lost to the world many of the advantages 
 which their researches might otherwise have 
 afiforded. 
 
 The large quantity of ice at one of the poles and 
 not at the other, by chemical attraction drew the 
 water that way, affecting the center of gravity, and 
 submerging all lowlands. At the present time 
 there is more ice at the south pole than at the north 
 pole, and it is a fact worthy of note that there is 
 but little land visible on the Southern Hemisphere, 
 
50 Geyserland 
 
 but the waters in the Southern Oceans are 
 extremely shallow. 
 
 Scientists generally agree that there was an ex- 
 ceptional epoch about 9262 B. C, which was the 
 date fixed by Adhemar for the last cataclysm. 
 There always is a certain amount of crinkling on 
 the earth's surface due to the fact that its nature 
 is elastic, resembling that of a rubber ball, rather 
 than that of crystal, but it easily can be understood 
 that at the time of a cataclysm such disturbances 
 would be more expected and more important. 
 The old legend of the Chibchas was that when 
 Atlas shifted the earth from one shoulder to the 
 other severe earthquakes were produced. It has 
 been estimated by the Geological Survey that it 
 has required 11,000 years for the erosive Niagara 
 Falls to cut to their present position on the Niagara 
 River. Before that time Lake Erie and Lake On- 
 tario were one, and emptied into the Atlantic 
 where New York is now located. It will be only 
 a question of 9000 years when New York may 
 again be submerged in ice and her masterpieces of 
 architecture ground into boulders. 
 
 While it is easy to assume that the deluge we 
 read of in the Bible with its inaccurate chronology 
 was the cataclysm of 9252 B. C, it is also possible 
 to suppose that the " Garden of Eden," or " Para- 
 dise," described in Genesis was a cataclysm prior 
 to the one of 9252. '' The Flaming Sword " may 
 have been an " oriental term " for a terrific con- 
 vulsion; and in the same manner that we have 
 received from the enlightened survivors of the 
 debacle of 9252 B. C. most of our culture, so we 
 may trace in the chapter of Genesis certain pos- 
 sible occult powers of man that we have been 
 accustomed to believe impossible— such as the 
 
The Theory of Cataclysms 51 
 
 dominion over beasts, the imposing of man's mind 
 or will. The legend of Hercules cutting a path- 
 way through the Alps probably suggested to Bul- 
 wer his " vril " in " The Coming Race." To-day 
 there is our hypnotism, the wireless telegraph, or 
 the conveying of power by some similar process. 
 
 One of the clues to the prehistoric condition pos- 
 sibly exists in the " Arabian Nights' " tale of " The 
 City of Brass," where the lofty buildings were 
 conspicuous for their total lack of projections and 
 the doors had up-to-date time-locks and other in- 
 genious devices. The narrator of this strange con- 
 glomeration has fused traditions from Moslem, 
 Jewish, mythological and other ancient history 
 into the myth of this city, on a spur of the sea on 
 the Sahara, probably at Jebel Ahaggur, where by 
 a cataclysm and the drying up of the waters all 
 were left to perish of hunger, in spite of their ad- 
 vanced culture and great wealth. Before the 
 debacle this " City of Brass " was probably situ- 
 ated in a position corresponding to that of the 
 present city of Warsaw, but it is now in the French 
 " zone of influence " in Africa, and is quite as in- 
 accessible as the region in close proximity to the 
 north pole. The heat is so tremendous that even 
 fleas cannot live there. 
 
 Cervantes must have learned during his captiv- 
 ity in the Barbary States of this meritorious func- 
 tion of equatorial Africa, for Sancho Panza told 
 his master that he was certain that either they had 
 not reached the Equator, or that the theory was 
 not true. Other clues are that the mammoth had 
 been considered essentially tropical, and those who 
 deny the false rotation of the earth find themselves 
 puzzled to account for the drowning of almost the 
 
52 Geyserland 
 
 entire species in the shallow waters of the Siberian 
 Sea at the Delta of the Lena River. The line of 
 the Altai Mountains was once a coast range on a 
 portion of the globe which corresponds to the 
 present location of California, with the waters of 
 the antediluvian Pacific at its base. At the time 
 of the debacle the mammoths in their panic 
 plunged over the cliff into the sea, where they 
 found the death from which they sought to escape. 
 Another evidence is the Sequoia or Redwood, 
 which is known to live only in a climate like that 
 of California, and has been found in the fossil re- 
 mains of the extreme Arctic regions. 
 
 Accurate scientists are inclined to relegate art 
 and poetry to the effeminate, but it must not be 
 overlooked that all early legends and myths were 
 orally transmitted from bygone ages, therefore all 
 the early writings were endeavors to record those 
 items in verse. Hundreds of years after these items 
 were recorded, prose was discovered as the most 
 rational method of expression. 
 
 Almost every race has legends of a '' Golden 
 Age," a " Lost Paradise," or a tradition of a more 
 ancient home — "The March of Woden," the 
 " Migration of Abraham," the " Search for the 
 Golden Fleece," the " Mexican and Peruvian 
 Legends," the " Wanderings of Ulysses," the 
 " ^neid," and many others. 
 
 Horace wrote: 
 
 " When Proteus drove all his seaherds 
 to the lofty peaks." 
 
 We must surmise that the Romans derived their 
 knowledge of a deluge from the Carthaginians, and 
 that the latter derived it from a people who com- 
 prehended its causes. 
 
The Theory of Cataclysms 53 
 
 The Greeks had the legend of Dancilion and 
 his wife being the only mortals rescued from a 
 deluge to renew the human race. The Hebrews 
 recognized no country as older than Cush or Ethi- 
 opia, but this theory of Adhemar permits not only 
 of the possibility of the " prehistoric nations " men- 
 tioned by Baldwin, but also of the antediluvian 
 hypothesis of "Atlantis" by Plato, Herodotus, 
 Pliny, Brasseur de Bourbourg, Ignatius Donnelly 
 and possibly of " Lemuria " by Sclater, particu- 
 larly as the dates conform with the general up- 
 heaval. Lubbock notes the similarity of bronze 
 weapons found in very distant parts of Europe, 
 which he thinks implies a more extended inter- 
 course between the different countries than existed 
 in post-Roman times. Those students who have 
 rnade the deepest researches into the dawn of an- 
 cient history admit they always have found evi- 
 dences of an equally remote culture. No one who 
 reads the Odyssey can fail to perceive a culture 
 equalling if not excelling the culture of that of 
 Henry VIH. By culture we mean those qualities 
 man has acquired that are not innate, but are the 
 result of the study of his surroundings. We are, 
 therefore, led to believe that the savage state of 
 man is continuous, while the cultivated state is cy- 
 clonic or circumvolic. It develops, almost dies 
 out, and develops again; some portion of the en- 
 lightenment of the preceding eon being left each 
 time with which the new eon may be leavened. 
 We are of the opinion that the Geyserlanders were 
 a remnant of a cultured people who existed prior 
 to the cataclysm 9252 B. C. 
 
 Chaldean traditions teach us that, from a moist 
 chaos or fruitful mud-bank, vivified by an enor- 
 mous wind, emerged creatures, and finally man. 
 
54 Geyserland 
 
 There are many roots of words of which we 
 cannot trace the meaning or origin; for example, 
 "Scute," "Fin," and " Jut "—Scotland, Finland, 
 Jutland. 
 
 The practice of the laying on of hands, bless- 
 ings and cursing, the making of adjurations, vows 
 and oaths, drinking toasts, supplications at feet 
 or knees, marriage, divorce, triumphal arches with 
 garlands of flowers, bonfires and illuminations, 
 banners, circumcision, bards and minstrels, 
 democracies, free cities, and noble families all 
 seem to have come down to us as relics of an ante- 
 diluvian cultured state. The blessing of Jacob in 
 lieu of Esau had it not been a sacred rite peculiar 
 to that time, would have been promptly revoked 
 by Isaac and he would straightway have blessed 
 Esau, but like our rite of matrimony to-day, it was 
 a Herculean task to undo. 
 
 The tame fowls and animals we have were all 
 domesticated in prehistoric times, with the excep- 
 tion of the American turkey and the African ele- 
 phant. All we have done is to improve the race 
 of some of them by careful breeding. 
 
 History is extremely vague before the first 
 dynasty of Egypt. Scholars like Baron Bunsen 
 tell us that " culture did not go up the Nile." 
 The Nile was probably not a river, but a sea, 
 studded by an archipelago which extended to the 
 Mediterranean on the north, the Malay Penin- 
 sula on the east, Madagascar on the south, and the 
 Atlas Mountains on the west. Therefore, until we 
 can produce a map of the lands of the antediluvian 
 conditions, all progress must be made by studying 
 cross-lights on evidence that is circumstantial. 
 
 Before the cataclysm of 9252 B. C. the north 
 
The Theory of Cataclysms 55 
 
 pole was in the Pacific off the coast of Mexico, and 
 the south pole was near Madagascar in the Indian 
 Ocean. Geyserland was in a latitude correspond- 
 ing to that of Cuba. The tropical countries the 
 least affected were New Guinea and Brazil, while 
 near the Equator those most affected were Mexico 
 and Madagascar. Central Africa, Sumatra, 
 North and South America were changed from 
 temperate to torrid. England and Japan were at 
 that time on the circle of the Equator. There was 
 no great change in Egypt nor in the Valley of 
 Mesopotamia. The Biblical and Babylonian 
 " deluge " may only have been records of terrible 
 local storms and tidal waves, for neither the lati- 
 tude nor climatic conditions were much changed 
 — only the points of the compass. Some astrono- 
 mers think that the Pyramids were originally 
 planned for the perpetuating of the present points 
 of the compass, by recording the position of certain 
 planets to instruct such as survive the next great 
 cataclysm. This was accomplished by vistas 
 through the masonry to an inner chamber, where 
 the variations of the earth with some of the planets 
 were systematically recorded in ancient days. Un- 
 fortunately the French scientists who discovered 
 them mistook them for artistic designs instead of 
 trustworthy tracings of the nutations of the 
 planets. 
 
 What would be the conditions to-day if a cata- 
 clysm similar to the last great one were to occur? 
 As everything would have to move simultaneously, 
 the new locality of all other places on the earth 
 would necessarily depend upon the time of day at 
 which the debacle occurred. Assuming that at a 
 certain hour the north pole would be thrown at 
 once in a southeasterly direction, with a westerly 
 
56 Geyserland 
 
 bias, Alaska would be found in the neighborhood 
 of where the Black Sea now is, Greenland would 
 replace Arabia, Brazil would be oflf the coast of 
 Spain, Mexico in the position now occupied by 
 Greenland, Australia in the place of China, with 
 China in the region of the Hudson Bay; the low- 
 lands about the Arctic Circle would be submerged, 
 and much of the land now submerged by the shal- 
 low waters of the Antarctic Ocean would become 
 visible. Such a debacle would establish the new 
 north pole about Abyssinia, and the new south pole 
 near the Society Islands. 
 
 The mountain ranges of Asia and Africa ex- 
 tend east and west in contrast with those in the 
 Americas, which lie north and south. This may 
 be a coincidence, or it may be a clue to past del- 
 uges. It is easy to presume that extraordinary 
 crinklings of the earth could be expected at that 
 time which might submerge present continents and 
 develop new ones. 
 
 This hypothesis of Adhemar is the complement 
 and corollary of the Darwinian system, for this 
 theory suggests a solution of the unsolved problem 
 of the " Missing Link " between the ape and the 
 primitive man, and fits in perfectly with the 
 theory of Darwin; because the simian ape was 
 surrounded by conditions that made the procuring 
 of food and a place of safety so simple that no 
 mental effort was required, and his life was en- 
 joyed in stagnant satisfaction, with one-third the 
 amount of brains required by the human race. 
 According to Huxley, 
 
 A superior man's brain weighs 66 ounces. 
 An inferior man's brain weighs 32 ounces, 
 A superior ape's brain weighs 20 ounces, 
 which shows the difference in weight between the 
 
The Theory of Cataclysms 57 
 
 brain of a superior man and that of an inferior 
 is almost three times as great as the difference in 
 weight between the brain of the lowest type of man 
 and that of the ape. 
 
 A writer in The Hospital, discussing dreams, 
 takes first the " falling-through-space-dream," and 
 points out that after suffering the mental agony of 
 " falling " the sleeper escapes the shock of actual 
 " stopping." His explanation is that the *' fall- 
 ing " sensations have been transmitted from our 
 remote ancestors who were fortunate enough to 
 save themselves after falling from great heights 
 (tree-tops) by clutching the branches. The 
 molecular changes in the cerebral cells due to the 
 shock of " stopping " could not be transmitted, be- 
 cause victims falling to the bottom would either 
 be killed outright or die from secondary causes 
 before being able to reproduce their kind. In a 
 similar manner, by reverting to the habits of ani- 
 mals existing centuries ago, Beadnell finds an ex- 
 planation for the mental states experienced by in- 
 dividuals in various dreams — the pursuing mon- 
 ster dream, the reptile and vermin dream, color 
 dreams, suffocation dreams, dream passions, flying 
 dreams. It is indeed highly probable that there 
 exists a connection between instincts, so-called, and 
 some of those complex conditions of the mind 
 experienced in dreams and similar mental condi- 
 tions. 
 
 We believe that the Missing Link problem was 
 solved at the time of an early cataclysm when these 
 parents of primitive man, by a false rotary motion 
 of the earth, found themselves in the Arctic or 
 Antarctic regions, with unknown conditions about 
 them. Tens of thousands perished where one sur- 
 
58 Geyserland 
 
 vived. Only those of abnormal intelligence could 
 substitute fish, shell-fish, and the wearing of 
 clothes for fruits, tropical products, and nakedness. 
 What a glorious scope for an artist — to portray the 
 man-apes thrown into the Arctic or Antarctic re- 
 gions, their green palm trees covered with snow, 
 frozen fruits and everything perishing around 
 them, or the annihilation of an advanced race sud- 
 denly subjected to the merciless heat of a torrid 
 zone, their fertile fields and pastures and their ac- 
 customed temperate vegetation scorching around 
 them. 
 
 There is no reason for supposing that the two 
 primal races were evolved at the same cataclysm. 
 It is possible that they both came from the same 
 pole or that one came from the north pole and the 
 other from the south pole at an entirely different 
 cataclysm. We believe that the Brachycephalic — 
 round heads, fair skin, blue eyes and round-fibered 
 straight hair — antedated the Dolichocephalic — 
 long heads, dark eyes, dark skin and flat-fibered 
 curly hair, as the first race being " twice-born " 
 men are capable of a higher culture. The reason 
 for the difference between these two primal races, 
 which have now become hopelessly blended, is 
 that as causes are never exactly similar, so effects 
 are never exactly alike. In the prehistoric days 
 there was a mania for migration, possibly inspired 
 by the desire to find the " lost home " or to discover 
 better surroundings. This ancient progress ex- 
 tended all over the world. We are not all alike in 
 our capacity for climatic adaptation. It is said 
 that the Fiji Islanders cannot survive measles; nor 
 the English, tropical fevers; while the negro can 
 say with pride, " I am the negro, I alone survive in 
 
The Theory of Cataclysms 59 
 
 Central Africa, 1 can work and labor where the 
 white man cannot." The survival of those whose 
 constitutions are best fitted for the climatic condi- 
 tions of the locality by which they are surrounded 
 is the usual explanation. We believe, however, 
 that any race of man can become acclimated in any 
 climate, but at an enormous sacrifice of life. 
 
 These facts justify us in assuming that the Eski- 
 mos were the original inhabitants of the Arctic 
 region at a time when it was not Arctic, but had 
 been thrown there by the cataclysm of 9252 B. C. 
 They were like a desolate people wandering 
 around their dear, dead world, on its winding 
 sheet of snow. 
 
 Hence we are persuaded that the Geyserlanders 
 were a fragment from a wreck of antediluvian cul- 
 tured people. They had forgotten the hideous 
 life from which altruistic communism had rescued 
 them. It is one of the purposes of this book to 
 show that during the last eleven thousand years 
 certain customs have been evolved with us that are 
 not necessary, and that we have been hampered by 
 unwise dogmas and restraints in contrast to altru- 
 istic Geyserland. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 CUSTOMS OF GEYSERLAND — FASHO AND FAIRMENA 
 
 " The governments which have started with the hypothesis that man 
 is wholly made up of sordid instincts, have been deceived. To him 
 who belongs to a great race, self-sacrifice is as natural as egotism." — 
 Renan, Hibbert Lectures. 
 
 In our time it is impossible for any colony to be 
 completely independent of the remainder of the 
 world, but the Geyserlanders for ten thousand 
 years had evolved and invented their own laws 
 from their experiences and for their necessities, 
 and were as free from outside influence as was Rob- 
 inson Crusoe on the Island of Juan Fernandez, or 
 as the inhabitants of Tristan d'Acunha are to the 
 rest of the world.* 
 
 Two methods of progress are possible for a race, 
 that of force, and that of intelligence — force, 
 where the struggle of race has the object in view 
 of the survival of the fitter race; intelligence, 
 where the constant discussions and direction of the 
 folk-mote make for race improvement. 
 
 * England tried recently to remove the inhabitants of Tristan d'Acunha 
 to South Africa, because everybody pitied the people for their lone- 
 liness. Nobody dreamed that they would be anything but delighted 
 at the chance; but, to the amazement of the English, they refused to 
 leave their lonely islet, and the warship that had been sent to get 
 them and their possessions was forced to return without them. Tristan 
 d'Acunha is little more than a rock. It has barely enough vegetation 
 to support a few herds of cattle and to support the needs of the 
 seventy-five men, women and children that live on it. It rises sheer 
 out of immense depths in mid-ocean, half way between Cape Horn 
 and the Cape of Good Hope, and the only persons whom the inhabitants 
 see from the outer world are the sailors of the British warship which 
 calls at the island once a year. The English offered the people excellent 
 land without charge in South Africa, and other aid necessary to 
 establish them comfortably in their new home. But they replied that 
 
 60 
 
Habits and Customs 6i 
 
 As the ideal should precede the possible, " Gey- 
 serland " has been written with the desire to illus- 
 trate what might be, and to suggest such funda- 
 mental revolutions in our social economics as we 
 believe must take place before fraternal ideals can 
 replace the egotistical ideals of civilization. 
 
 We are all slaves to principles; the higher our 
 principles the more restraint upon our liberties 
 Geyserland was a self-disciplined, race-loving 
 community of truth-seeking mortals. The salient 
 doctrine of the Geyserlanders was that of expedi- 
 ency which made for the surviving and improve- 
 ment of the race. This sentiment had been so 
 long in vogue that it had become instinctive with 
 them, like the love of fatherland with us. In no 
 case was the good of the race to be sacrificed for 
 the good of an individual. 
 
 An individual plans for to-morrow, a commu- 
 nity for ages to come. The creditable purpose of 
 the Geyserland community was to do this success- 
 fully and yet preserve the self-respecting pride of 
 the individual with the most comprehensive life 
 possible for each. Every individual has a minor 
 and a major career. The smaller is played from 
 one s youth to one's old age— the larger, starting 
 ages back with one's composite ancestry, vibrates 
 
 they were happy where they were, and that they feared that they 
 would not fit into the world. They have so little to do on their deep- 
 sea rock that they are not very active, and they do not care to enter 
 the competition of the civilized world. They are very peaceable and 
 kind, perfectly sober and highly moral. There has never been a crime 
 of any sort on_ Tristan d'Acunha. There is no jail. There is no 
 yi^^\- A '' u° r^^^P^Pe'-- The island has no post office, no shop 
 of any kind, no school, and no laws. There is no office either. One man 
 IS as good as another, and no man has authority over another. Each 
 one lives as he deems best, and he need pay neither taxes nor other 
 assessments The people are very intelligent and handsome. They 
 of tL wnfu *'"f<='^, °^i™e 3"d dates, and do not care about the events 
 ot the world at all.— Rochester Democrat. 
 
62 Geyserland 
 
 during one's life and, continuing as a part of one's 
 influence or of one's offspring for ages to come, 
 realizes the dogma of life everlasting. In Geyser- 
 land the government took cognizance of this major 
 career. 
 
 Geyserland and Christendom had the same be- 
 ginnings, but developed in different fashions. 
 
 A knowledge of the following peculiarities of 
 the customs of Geyserland will enable the reader 
 to understand and appreciate the economic con- 
 ditions of that country. 
 
 Property. — Surplus accumulations of neces- 
 sities belonged to the people, for all property was 
 held in common. 
 
 Money. — Money, the object of which is to fa- 
 cilitate barter or exchange, was not used in Gey- 
 serland because the government, like the head of 
 a family, supplied everything that was necessary 
 for the inhabitants. 
 
 Classes — The population was divided into three 
 classes — First, the young; second, the workers; 
 third, the infirm. 
 
 Marriage AND Family. — In Geyserland neither 
 marriage nor family existed. To keep the popu- 
 lation in unison with the restricted resources of 
 the land around the geyser, stirpiculture or homo- 
 culture was practiced, and the state had entire con- 
 trol of the breeding. Prudential restraint on the 
 multiplication of mankind is absolutely necessary 
 before any system of government can guarantee to 
 all a correct condition of living. To balance the 
 
Habits and Customs 
 
 63 
 
 resources of a country, one must not consider the 
 harvest times and seasons of abundance, but must 
 consider how many can survive the sterile season. 
 For example, those animals like the beaver and 
 squirrel, who hoard in the hour of plenty, have 
 been able to survive in much greater numbers than 
 the lazy grasshopper type, who do not provide for 
 the morrow. The resources of Geyserland as- 
 sured the support of 30,000 people with every 
 comfort, and the population was kept at that fig- 
 ure. The inhabitants were divided into about two 
 hundred social groups, each containing one gross. 
 The duodecimal system was in vogue. 
 
 The duodecimal system of numbers in Geyser- 
 land was written in the following manner; that is, 
 iDD (12 dozen), or one hundred and forty-four, 
 written 144 in our method of figures. Ten (T), 
 and eleven (E), were also units. 
 
 GEYSERLAND MULTIPLICATION TABLE 
 
 One . . 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 T 
 
 E 
 
 ID 
 
 Two.. 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 T 
 
 ID 
 
 12 
 
 14 
 
 16 
 
 18 
 
 IT 
 
 2D 
 
 Three 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 9 
 
 ID 
 
 13 
 
 16 
 
 19 
 
 2D 
 
 23 
 
 26 
 
 29 
 
 3D 
 
 Four. . 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 ID 
 
 14 
 
 18 
 
 2D 
 
 24 
 
 28 
 
 3D 
 
 34 
 
 38 
 
 4D 
 
 Five. . 
 
 5 
 
 T 
 
 13 
 
 18 
 
 21 
 
 26 
 
 29 
 
 34 
 
 39 
 
 42 
 
 47 
 
 5D 
 
 Six . . . 
 
 6 
 
 ID 
 
 16 
 
 2D 
 
 26 
 
 3D 
 
 36 
 
 4D 
 
 46 
 
 5D 
 
 56 
 
 6D 
 
 Seven . 
 
 7 
 
 12 
 
 19 
 
 24 
 
 29 
 
 36 
 
 41 
 
 48 
 
 5D 
 
 6T 
 
 65 
 
 7D 
 
 Eight. 
 
 8 
 
 14 
 
 2D 
 
 28 
 
 34 
 
 4D 
 
 48 
 
 54 
 
 6D 
 
 68 
 
 74 
 
 8D 
 
 Nine.. 
 
 9 
 
 16 
 
 23 
 
 3D 
 
 39 
 
 46 
 
 53 
 
 6D 
 
 69 
 
 76 
 
 83 
 
 9D 
 
 Ten.. 
 
 T 
 
 18 
 
 26 
 
 34 
 
 42 
 
 5D 
 
 6T 
 
 68 
 
 76 
 
 84 
 
 92 
 
 TD 
 
 Eleven 
 
 E 
 
 IT 
 
 29 
 
 38 
 
 47 
 
 56 
 
 65 
 
 74 
 
 83 
 
 92 
 
 Tl 
 
 ED 
 
 Dozen 
 
 ID 
 
 2D 
 
 3D 
 
 4D 
 
 5D 
 
 6D 
 
 7D 
 
 8D 
 
 9D 
 
 TD 
 
 ED 
 
 IDD 
 
 Gross. 
 
 IDD 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The decimal system has come down to us like 
 the " little pigs went to market," from infantile 
 poverty or woeful lack of enterprising imagina- 
 tion. Our ten fingers were evolved for other 
 reasons than to form a foundation for a numeri- 
 
64 Geyserland 
 
 cal system. Ten is not a suitable number for 
 calculating, as it can only be divided by 2 and 5. 
 The " one man " of the Mexican, like our score, 
 meant a total of 20 fingers and toes, which was a 
 much better number than 10; the French unit, the 
 franc of to-day, perpetuates that number. The 
 Babylonian 60 was better and still survives in our 
 measurement of circles. Twelve, one-fifth of 60, 
 has also been a favorite number with mathemati- 
 cians, and its advantages had been appreciated and 
 adopted by the authorities of Geyserland. Twelve 
 has survived to our day in the foot measure, the 
 clock, and the shilling. 
 
 In Christendom the masses of the vast majority 
 are fed from day to day by what they earn, there- 
 fore it is impossible for a poor man to guarantee 
 support for a child unless some contract is made 
 like marriage; but in Geyserland, where no in- 
 dividual was dependent upon another individual, 
 the government assumed the support of the chil- 
 dren of such people as were licensed to have them 
 — none others. The recruits of a community 
 must be drawn from its best stock. No nation can 
 stand for the propagation of degenerates. 
 
 Ungrateful children are not unnatural. Grati- 
 tude is purely an expression of emotion which, 
 as is justice, is called forth by certain conditions 
 and is not instinctive as is thirst, hunger, or sleep. 
 Some are born as incapable of it as others are of 
 music. Therefore, what recompense can parents 
 expect from their offspring? Very little beyond 
 the gratification of their pride in presenting good 
 citizens to the republic. 
 
 It was observed generations ago in Geyserland 
 that parents and children were better when they 
 
Habits and Customs 65 
 
 did not know their relationship. Our hereditary- 
 aristocracy is an insolent scheme for transferring 
 the cause of honor from the dead to the living; or, 
 as Benjamin Franklin put it when opposing " The 
 Cincinnati " (the society of the descendants of the 
 Revolutionary officers), that "instead of honor 
 descending to the children it should ascend to the 
 parents." 
 
 Our Abraham Lincoln was brought up by a 
 stranger. Leonardi da Vinci had no mother to 
 mention, and four step-mothers. Charles Mar- 
 tel was the illegitimate son of Pepin. Pizarro 
 was the bastard son of a Spanish officer in Italy. 
 The parents of Erasmus were betrothed, but never 
 wedded; so that from childhood he fought life 
 alone. Alexander Dumas, Jr., passed his infancy 
 with his mother, a plebeian washwoman, and was 
 only rescued from poverty and educated because 
 his father wished an heir for his name and fortune. 
 
 Education, with justice to all and partiality to 
 none, is true democracy. Preference on account 
 of family ties or kinship is unjust. The Chinese 
 understood this 1000 years ago. In China the 
 poorest man may see his son advanced to the 
 highest position. One of the recent ministers to 
 the United States was the son of a drain digger 
 at Canton, China. 
 
 One of the wisest laws of modern times — we 
 mean by that, laws which prevent anguish and bad 
 feeling — is the French law that prohibits all from 
 seeking the identity of the father. This was one 
 of the many good laws conceived by the frenzied 
 Convention before and during the reign of terror. 
 Later, many of these suggestions were put into 
 efifect by Napoleon in his Code, and he has gen- 
 erally received the credit for them. 
 
66 Geyserland 
 
 No state has a right to put a handicap, like the 
 expense of bringing up children upon its best citi- 
 zens, the parents of its future people. The mar- 
 ried parent should live as well as his bachelor 
 brother, but with our civilized system he does not. 
 The healthy, intelligent young married couple, 
 with sufficient means to be independent, at once 
 recognize that their personal comforts will be in- 
 creased in proportion to the smallness of their fam- 
 ily. That they can leave one or two children inde- 
 pendently wealthy, whereas if they leave more, all 
 their children will have to descend in the social 
 and financial rating of the community. 
 
 Matrons. — The theory that woman was made 
 for man did not prevail in Geyserland, nor was 
 woman an object of commiseration. On a day in 
 the early spring of each year all young girls twenty 
 years of age were judged by the Council of Doc- 
 tors and scientific people, and out of the competi- 
 tors a few were selected to join the coterie of moth- 
 ers, with a particular regard for their physical 
 condition, and also for such other qualities as were 
 considered desirable for the common weal. 
 
 It is not believed in Geyserland that the prac- 
 tice of " eugenics" prevented the chances of excep- 
 tional and elevated characters. Exceptional and 
 elevated characters develop in every degree of liv- 
 ing. Nature's tendency for variety can never be 
 overcome, and noble characters are more likely to 
 develop with eugenics than from any haphazard 
 system. 
 
 Great emotions can dominate nations in the same 
 manner as they can dominate individuals. Look at 
 the patriotism of the French, the loyalty of the 
 Jesuits, the commercialism of the Jews, the fanati- 
 
Habits and Customs 67 
 
 cisjns of the masses at the time of Philip Augustus. 
 So the Geyserlanders loved their race, and when 
 the rights of the individual conflicted with the 
 rights of the race, the race was always paramount. 
 Gcyserland differed from Christendom, in that 
 it did not have a fixed, rigid ideal, either ethical 
 or physical. There was no straight and narrow 
 way. To expand and develop the race was their 
 motive. All persons in Geyserland showed great 
 respect to the members of the esteemed child-bear- 
 ing group of women, in marked contrast to the pre- 
 vailing customs of Christendom.* People who 
 were not normal were studied at the Experimental 
 Grange, in order that attractive characteristics 
 might be made inherent to the race. The number 
 of young women chosen annually was decided by 
 the probable vacancies in the limited population. 
 As soon as infants were six years of age the gov- 
 ernment took entire charge of them. 
 
 Council of Doctors. — The Elders or Council 
 of Doctors (male and female) were the trustees 
 of the constitutional communal rights, and directed 
 the affairs of the island, under the gentle super- 
 vision of the representatives of the people, who 
 were chosen by individual suffrage, each member 
 of each social group being represented by a vote, 
 regardless of sex, age, or mental ability. All the 
 younger children were apprenticed to adults, who 
 suggested their decisions. 
 
 Taskmasters. — ^What are we here for? is a 
 question which marks the dawn of every awaken- 
 
 * Olive Schriener speaks of an English police judge who when asked 
 by a vagrant prisoner to show mercy to her because she had twenty-one 
 children, sentenced her to full term and told her it was time she learned 
 how to behave herself. 
 
68 Geyserland 
 
 ing intelligence. What are we here to receive? 
 What are we here to give? A desire to occupy the 
 position for which we are best fitted marks the 
 arousing of every one's noble feeling. Equality is 
 absurd, inequality is the law of Nature. Like grav- 
 itation, inequality is a basis of movement; water 
 seeks its level — capacity should seek its field of 
 usefulness, and with normal conditions probably 
 would. Military law is the foundation of all law. 
 The chief selects the sergeant according to his ca- 
 pacity, and the sergeant picks the man. Good regi- 
 ments are known by good sergeants. But the state 
 should be just, and allow every individual such op- 
 portunities as will enable him to show his capacity. 
 In civilization, Galton says, " A man must outlive 
 the age of fifty to be sure of being widely appreci- 
 ated — it takes time for an able man born in the 
 humbler ranks of life to emerge from them and 
 take his natural position." What can be more just 
 than, first, to demand that every living thing should 
 be its noblest self, and, granting this, to place every 
 living thing in its proper position. It would be 
 foolish to ask sheep to select their shepherd, but 
 there certainly should come a period of enlighten- 
 ment when the mass, the " folkmote," the town 
 council, should select representatives, senators 
 (wise men), who will recognize that they are best 
 capable of directing the state. The slave owner 
 sifted and sorted his charges, with the desire to get 
 out of them the work that each could do that was 
 most useful ; but that which he did was for his own 
 benefit, whereas the state in Geyserland did it for 
 the benefit of all. 
 
 The most striking difference between the eco- 
 nomic principles of Geyserland and those of civil- 
 ization is in their labor system of taskmasters. 
 
Habits and Customs 69 
 
 Freedom to choose a career is an innate principle 
 with all sons of civilization. Not so in Geyser- 
 land — there the individual was primarily an atom 
 of the state. Thousands of intellectual and capa- 
 ble men in America are employed by the year on 
 a salary. They are independent (in that they can 
 resign), but they do not strike, and as a mass are 
 our best citizens. In Geyserland practically every 
 one was salaried. They could commit suicide or 
 accept an occupation of a lower grade. People 
 who have experienced the greatest variety of em- 
 ployments are unanimous in believing that those 
 who work for a salary are the really independent 
 ones. 
 
 In Geyserland it was the taskmaster's duty to 
 judge and adjust the labor of every adult, to name 
 his or her duties, and to prescribe the costumes 
 that he or she should wear; in this duty they were 
 helped by a popular sentiment. The really impor- 
 tant feature of all civil service standards is to have 
 the proper question asked. Taskmasters were the 
 executive committee of the government, and were 
 selected from the older members, because that class 
 was found to be less biased by selfish motives. 
 The object of the highest principle of economics is 
 justice, and all authorities on jurisprudence agree 
 that when questions of occupation, doubt, or dis- 
 pute arise, men should not be judges in their own 
 cause. Justice must be unprejudiced and impar- 
 tial. The electic taskmasters were a jury of phi- 
 losophers; their decisions were arrived at after pro- 
 found consideration of conditions. As there is not 
 a single organ of the body the structure of which 
 does not vary in different individuals, laws for reg- 
 ulating others should not be formed from any one 
 person's measurements. The taskmasters were per- 
 
70 Geyserland 
 
 mitted to know the antecedents of each individual, 
 and thus knew the compound of a man's tempera- 
 ment, therefore they were better able to judge his 
 fitness for his career than he himself. — " The great 
 question seems to me, not how to train our sons to 
 rise above their station, but to secure, if possible, 
 that those whom nature meant, and associations 
 have fitted, to be grooms or music-hall lions should 
 be insured the career for which they were born." — 
 Huxley. 
 
 The popular aversion to the taskmasters system 
 has been brought about by unworthy taskmasters, 
 and Europe to-day has not outlived the memory of 
 the rapacious Roman taskmasters who held sway 
 in the early part of the third century when " Every 
 one had his chain — the farmer bound to the soil, 
 the public official to his office, the citizen to his 
 town, the merchant to his shop, the workingman 
 to his trade." — Levasseur. This was a system of 
 oppression, untempered by freedom of opportu- 
 nity to show one's capacity, which made it repul- 
 sive to every one. Small wonder that the inde- 
 pendent Teutonic barbaric forerunners of civili- 
 zation, with the thought of "each man for him- 
 self," were heartily welcomed by dawning Chris- 
 tendom. 
 
 Man is not the best judge of his own limitations, 
 as it is impossible to justly compare himself to 
 others. 
 
 " Oh, wad some power the giftie gie us, 
 To see oursel's as ithers see us ! 
 It wad frae monie a blunder free us, 
 And foolish notion," 
 
 as Burns wrote after seeing a louse on a lady's bon- 
 net at church. 
 
 Could not the introspective question of Kant, 
 
Habits and Customs 71 
 
 " Who am I? " " What can I know? " ^' What can 
 I do?" be answered better by any one not one's 
 self? 
 
 When a theatrical manager casts the parts of a 
 play among actors, their professional or fraternal 
 feeling does not permit them to refuse to play un- 
 congenial parts, — the villain, the fool, the vulgar 
 adventuress, — for they recognize that the merit 
 lies in their performing the role well, wherein lies 
 the key to honorable labor. 
 
 Just as a policeman is necessary to preserve order 
 amongst decorous drivers at a crowded street cor- 
 ner, so the taskmaster prevented useless confusions 
 of energies in the industrial economics in Geyser- 
 land. All people with sound sense recognize that 
 the policeman at a crowded street corner is work- 
 ing for their good. When a host invites twenty 
 guests to dine, discontent and confusion are avoided 
 by each being allotted his place. Again, from 
 most ancient days, when meats and breads were 
 possibly precious, to avoid quarreling a man of 
 importance and sound judgment was given the task 
 of dividing and distributing. Ulysses was said 
 " not to have his equal for carving." In the same 
 way that Ulysses distributed the proper portions 
 to proper people, so the taskmaster in Geyserland 
 saw that capable men who were unambitious and 
 lacked initiative had their tasks fittingly assigned. 
 In other words, go backward or forward in the 
 synagogue. The licensing of experts such as phy- 
 sicians, builders, and plumbers, by municipal or- 
 dinances in civilization is in line with the Geyser- 
 lander's system of taskmasters. How many men 
 to-day are confronted with the constant turn down? 
 people who do not want their work; manuscripts 
 
72 Geyserland 
 
 returned; masterpieces unsalable; lawyers without 
 clients; physicians without patients. 
 
 The consolation that comes in Christendom 
 from the priest, the lawyer, and the doctor, or the 
 consolation that comes to the Mohammedan with 
 his comforting belief in predestination, was in a 
 measure given to the Geyserlanders through the 
 taskmaster's guidance. People whose nervous en- 
 ergy desires an outlet for doing good are soothed 
 by the directions of a superior. This was a security 
 and peace of mind that was the birthright of every 
 Geyserlander. Our practice of insurance is an em- 
 bryo of that consolation which had developed in 
 Geyserland by the system of taskmasters. There 
 all understood the principle that organization, 
 submission, and discipline are the offspring of a 
 desire to act for the best interests of self and others. 
 
 Rotation of Occupation. — All birds were sup- 
 posed by the ancients to select their mates on the 
 14th of February (St. Valentine's Day). In Gey- 
 serland there was a like annual readjustment of 
 workers and their work, which amounted to a ra- 
 tional rotation in office for the best interests of all. 
 
 Inspectors. — As all work was public v/ork, a 
 complete system of inspection and controlling was 
 in vogue. Before the state began to control the 
 medieval free cities there was little or no friction 
 between the craftsmen and inspectors, as they both 
 worked for the interest of the city. The drapers 
 of Brussels as a body were in constant rivalry with 
 the drapers of Antwerp as a body. Those who gov- 
 erned wanted " light " about the workers, and those 
 who worked were glad to have their efforts justly 
 appreciated. Secret haunts have always been the 
 
Habits and Customs 73 
 
 resorts chosen by rogues. Personal and household 
 inspection is the starting point of public hygiene. 
 The principle that a man's house, however humble, 
 was his castle worked well until water, gas, and 
 telephone required frequent inspection, and to-day 
 the most useful occupation of the Board of Health 
 is limiting the minimum of air space in the homes 
 of the lowly and thrifty. What is wanted is pub- 
 licity. All historians agree that the first step down- 
 ward in monastic life in England was then King 
 Offa in 757 obtained from Rome, as a special favor, 
 the exemption of St. Alban's Abbey from Episco- 
 pal inspectors. 
 
 Costumes. — The variety of costumes seemed 
 unlimited, and it required long experience to un- 
 derstand the significance of each detail. One of 
 the strong points of the law was the respect for the 
 proper duties symbolized by the costumes. Each 
 grade had two uniforms — one to wear officially 
 and the other for hours of leisure. With us the 
 proper appreciation of costumes is only fully real- 
 ized by those who are brought into contact with do- 
 mestic duties. Millions of men would gladly 
 assist their wives to wash dishes and arrange the 
 household if the dictates of fashion had not com- 
 pelled them to wear clothes in every way unsuit- 
 able. The detail of the costumes was carried out 
 to a remarkable degree of perfection; for example, 
 a scarf could mean many things, but when yellow 
 was woven into it, it was significant of the matron's 
 class, or of such as for personal reasons wished to 
 be impervious to all amative solicitations. 
 
 The workers all had suitable clothing for their 
 occupations, and their costumes of leisure were 
 most artistic. Old clothes, which are a token of 
 
74 Geyserland 
 
 fallen greatness, were not worn in Geyserland. A 
 feeling of true dignity is fostered by a cultured 
 pride of personal appearance. " The conscious- 
 ness of being well dressed imparts a blissfulness to 
 the human heart that religion is powerless to con- 
 vey." The community abhorred anything like se- 
 crecy, and each individual's occupation was easily 
 discerned by the costume he or she wore.* 
 
 There is no mention of jewels in Geyserland. 
 What are jewels? Nature has furnished gems of 
 marvelous yet unequal values for what object? 
 Where should jewels be displayed On Oriental 
 princes? On women of fashion? Is it Nature's 
 motive that these gems should be polished to be 
 tokens of an inequality? Should the powerful 
 wear jewels and the subservient be without? 
 There must be some nobler use for them than to 
 furnish a vulgar and arrogant display. 
 
 Guards. — The bridling of the strong is the foun- 
 dation of popular liberty. The guards were the 
 picked healthy men of the republic, from whom, 
 with the consent of the Council of Doctors, the 
 matrons chose their mates, the progenitors. In 
 this respect the mothers of the race were free. The 
 guards' duties were first to support the executive; 
 second, preserve the peace; and third to see that 
 there was no waste. 
 
 The young maiden Fairmena, after a day of un- 
 usual anxiety and exertion, had climbed up the 
 
 ♦An interesting historical item is that after 1600 B.C. the Egj'ptians 
 varied their dress in order to distinguish the grades in society. This 
 has continued to our time, much clothing indicating the intellectual and 
 leisure class; a cloth tied around the loins denoting the laborer or one 
 ready for exercise. The civil, military, and ecclesiastical officials were 
 recognized by certain peculiarities of dress. 
 
Habits and Customs 75 
 
 mountainside to a pretty glen, and was sitting on 
 the bank of a rivulet under the shade of a giant fir 
 tree. Happiness radiated from every feature of 
 her beautiful face. There was a proud flush of 
 joy upon her cheek. The day had been an event- 
 ful one to her. She carried a book of poems, but 
 why read poetry when surrounded by it? She was 
 idly looking out in the distance where the after- 
 noon sunshine of the early Arctic spring was play- 
 ing with the heated vapors from the geyser in the 
 center of the lake, and sending rays of prismatic 
 colors in every direction. 
 
 Her eyes fell on the pantheon of Geyserland. 
 She saw a cluster of several magnificent bronze 
 and marble temples dedicated to the seven quali- 
 ties of man. These wonderful cyclopean temples 
 were similar in massiveness to the ruins of Thebes. 
 With all their beauty of broad flights of steps and 
 facades enriched by stately and massive colon- 
 nades, the seven Hedonic Temples were symbolic 
 of the glorification of man's capacities. As an ar- 
 tist can reproduce any color from the three pri- 
 mary ones, so a man can correctly classify all his 
 physical and intellectual sensations from the 
 " seven qualities of man," as follows : 
 
 Emotion with all the joys of Poetry; 
 
 Reason with all the joys of Understanding; 
 
 Health with all the joys of Touch and Physical Feeling; 
 
 Sight with all the joys that delight the Eye; 
 
 Hearing with all the joys of Sound and Music; 
 
 Taste with all the joys of Eating and Drinking; 
 
 Smell with all the joys of Fresh Air and Fragrant Perfumes. 
 
 Fairmena saw also beautiful flower gardens, and 
 parks studded with fountains and carved figures. 
 Scattered in every direction were innumerable 
 bowers or dwelling places for individual adults. 
 The fact that they had isolated dwellings was an 
 
76 Geyserland 
 
 evidence of good government that guaranteed an 
 advanced stage of security. 
 
 Fasho, a young hunter, red and rugged like 
 Nimrod, carrying over his shoulder a wildcat as 
 a visible sign of success, was winding his way down 
 through the thicket over the rocks from the deso- 
 late mountainside, the habitat of the eagles. His 
 robust appearance and strongly developed phys- 
 ique gave every evidence of perfect health. The 
 glowing satisfaction of youth radiated from his 
 person, a perfect specimen of manly courage and 
 vigor. Nature had favored this youth with a fine 
 covering. As he descended his voice rang out in 
 a call like the yodel of a Swiss shepherd. The 
 full soprano of Fairmena echoed back his call and 
 he hastened in the direction of the fir tree. 
 
 "Well, my beautiful one," he cried, "I knew 
 you would come, and it was sweet of you to let me 
 be the first one to congratulate you. I can tell by 
 the glory in your face that you have been suc- 
 cessful." 
 
 " Yes, but see," and she proudly called his atten- 
 tion to a light yellow and white scarf that hung 
 about her shoulders, symbolic of having acquired 
 the highest rank in the matron's class for that year. 
 " I have more than my share of happiness. I can- 
 not realize that only yesterday I was a laughing, 
 frolicking girl. Really I feel as if I had stolen my 
 good luck." 
 
 "No," interrupted Fasho, " you are as much en- 
 titled to this ranking honor as the most beautiful 
 rose is entitled to dominate the bouquet. To-day 
 you have accepted the opportunity of being one of 
 the chosen creators of the race. With your capa- 
 bilities it was only a question of seeing the better 
 way, and taking it." 
 
Habits and Customs 77 
 
 " It's so good of you to say that, but it embar- 
 rasses me to realize it." 
 
 " The Council to-day has done a noble act for 
 our country by adding you to the hallowed band of 
 matrons. May happiness dwell with them. Of 
 course it is right. People are entitled to the place 
 where they are most needed." 
 
 The love of Fasho for Fairmena was devoid of 
 selfishness. A true lover no longer occupies the 
 first position with himself. Fasho's love for Fair- 
 mena was like the love of a mother for her child — 
 he adored her with all the fullness of his mind and 
 body. 
 
 " I feel so happy, so grateful," half sobbed 
 Fairmena, " that I cannot but weep for nervous 
 joy." 
 
 Fasho and Fairmena had been sympathetic since 
 their infancy; each grew to be the nearest to per- 
 fection of their class, for, instead of the individual 
 ambitions of the men being for power, and of the 
 women for support, the personal glory of the inde- 
 pendent Geyserlander was in health and merit. 
 Fasho was already the chief guardsman of the year. 
 He, with a chosen few, had been added to the num- 
 ber of progenitors; and now his playmate had also 
 successfully passed her examinations. At the com- 
 ing early summer moon she would be given the 
 bridal costume of the state, and later, with great 
 ceremony, would be crowned and admitted to the 
 band of matrons, who, as we have said, were the 
 most exalted class of the land. 
 
 " Fairmena, I feel like weeping, yet my tears 
 would be those of joy. I wish our customs would 
 permit me to take your head upon my shoulder, 
 and then with my arms around you we would re- 
 joice together." 
 
78 Geyserland 
 
 " Don't touch me. Have patience, Fasho. 
 Wait; you shall be my love in time. We should 
 not complain of laws that have been so generous 
 to us." 
 
 " Sweet girl, I am afraid that my arm is stronger 
 than my good intentions. You must ever show me 
 the path where duty lies, and teach me patience, 
 for a burning brand has no control of itself, and I 
 have but little." 
 
 "You must not think, dear Fasho," said Fair- 
 mena, her eyes liquid with emotion, " that I am 
 cold, or ungrateful for your devotion and sympa- 
 thy; but if I must have patience for both of us, per- 
 haps prudence is wiser. Let us return and listen 
 to the evening music — it may soothe these danger- 
 ous and extraordinary emotions." 
 
 As thev wandered down the hillside through the 
 pastures and corn fields, both were conscious of a 
 grateful feeling. Rochefoucauld said, " The grat- 
 itude of most men is but a secret desire of receiv- 
 ing greater benefits." This may be true, but let us 
 state that it is the noblest form of hallowed emo- 
 tions, for gratitude is the most buoyant of our 
 thoughts and rises with its ethereal impulse to the 
 skies. As material matters, in proportion to their 
 weight, gravitate toward the earth's center, and as 
 flowers, according to their beauty, turn toward the 
 sun, so pure ideas and noble emotions, to the extent 
 that they are infused with gratitude, ascend to the 
 zenith of boundless space. We doubt if any peo- 
 ple have existed who have not recognized the un- 
 fathomable skies as the throne of the Spiritual All 
 Powerful, from the zenith to the nadir, and in a 
 moment of gratitude what is more natural than to 
 look upward and say, " Thank God? " No matter 
 in what position the earth, or what the time of day, 
 
Habits and Customs 79 
 
 the sky above us is always the home of the power 
 and the receptacle of all gratitude. 
 
 " My words fly up, my thoughts remain below ; 
 Words without thoughts, never to heaven go." 
 
 — Hamlet. 
 
 There were no rituals in Geyserland by which 
 holy emotions were made easy, no established rites, 
 no altars, no priests, no ecclesiastical machinery. 
 Briefly, their religion consisted of three elements 
 — a Spiritual Holy Soul, with the universe as its 
 ternple; Material, which included every atom of 
 weight in the universe; Substance, which was the 
 source of all the life and action of the Material. 
 
 If this acknowledgment to the First Cause (the 
 Creator), accompanied by an appreciative enjoy- 
 ment of its blessings, is religion, then let us never 
 wish to dispense with it. Love is the mother of 
 gratitude. Egotism is the father of ingratitude. 
 If the First Cause of this world has no greater aim 
 in view than a system of globes traveling around 
 globes governed by local influences, the earth in- 
 habited by man, only the great Originator know- 
 ing what the others are inhabited by, it would be a 
 very simple theory of the universe. But as the 
 crude diamond from the mine does not resemble 
 the cut, polished, scintillating gem, we believe 
 that the Creator of our universe with its glorious 
 sunsets, its beautiful flowers, its oceans and moun- 
 tains, the nobility of man and beast must be the 
 Original Artist of the Cosmos, who seeks to please 
 those who can appreciate. 
 
 ***** 
 
 Fasho and Fairmena did not use the trite ex- 
 pression "Thank God," but both unconsciously 
 looked up with smiling faces, as if they wanted 
 
8o Geyserland 
 
 that Creator, the only soul, that amalgamation 
 of noble emotions, which, like oxygen, permeates 
 wherever It is welcome to know that they were in 
 sympathy with It. The good that was within them 
 they recognized as the echo of the good without. 
 That was acknowledgment of gratitude, the no- 
 blest feeling of mankind; convincing to us that the 
 mind has been permitted to evolve by the Creator 
 for sympathy. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 COMMUNISM — HISTORY OF COMMUNISM — AN- 
 CIENT JEWISH COMMUNITIES— BEGGARS 
 
 " The future happiness of our race, which poets hardly ventured to 
 hope for, science boldly predicts. Utopia, which we have long looked 
 upon as synonymous with an evident impossibility, which we have 
 ungratefully regarded as ' too good to be true,' turns out, on the con- 
 trary, to be the necessary consequence of natural laws." — Sir John Lub- 
 bock in "Prehistoric Times." 
 
 " Zeal for the good of one's country, a party of men have represented 
 as chimerical and romantic." — Addison. 
 
 "The dream of a Kingdom of God which would be governed by 
 the law of love and mutual self-sacrifice, has always possessed a great 
 charm for me." — Renan. 
 
 It is not our intention to write a dictionary, but 
 ever since our chattering simian ancestors hooted, 
 howled, and honked at each other there has been 
 confusion in sounds and terms; therefore, we be- 
 lieve it requisite that each writer should define 
 his intent when employing ambiguous words. We 
 shall explain these terms as we understand them. 
 
 ist. Savage. — The savage, or pastoral stage: 
 " The tribeless, hopeless wretch " whom Homer 
 describes (Iliad IX, 62) was soon succeeded by 
 savages who herded together like gregarious beasts 
 for protection. They were inexperienced, igno- 
 rant of economics, and generally bewildered. It 
 is probable that hunger, lust, and jealousy led to 
 many so-called savage cruelties, but it has not been 
 proven that the ordinary untutored savage was any 
 more heartless than the ordinary peasants of to- 
 day. They had a mad desire for self-preservation, 
 but instinctively they early recognized the advan- 
 
 81 
 
82 Geyserland 
 
 tage of mutual aid and cooperation as the best 
 means of carrying out the important functions of 
 perpetuating the race. 
 
 2nd, Barbaric. — The barbaric or agricul- 
 tural stage: The barbaric with home and family 
 located in hamlets or grouped in clans had reached 
 the stage of culture where the making of pottery 
 was understood. They cultivated the soil. They 
 did not barter among themselves, but as commu- 
 nities traded with other communities. 
 
 3rd, Civilized. — The commercial-civilized 
 stage: Where the individual triumphed, and cul- 
 ture had arrived at the point of writing and keep- 
 ing records; where having secured the necessities 
 of life, man has only man to fear. This stage was 
 noted for its selfish enterprises, religious associa- 
 tions, pride, manufacturing industries, riches, and 
 social ambitions. Each against all. 
 
 4th, Altruistic. — The altruistic stage: Which 
 combined a noble love and sympathy for all living 
 things. 
 
 Let us not confound the words anarchism, ter- 
 rorism, nihilism, socialism, civilization, and com- 
 munism. 
 
 Anarchism, a creed of despair. It is the theory 
 of those who reject all the positive beliefs upon 
 which society is founded, and demand fresh start 
 from *' bed rock." They scoff at the state, court, 
 and pulpit alike, and do not recognize the necessity 
 for the employment of police or force to support 
 rules, laws, or customs. For economics they be- 
 
Communism 83 
 
 lieve that all accumulations should be placed in a 
 heap and each individual take according to his 
 or her need. Anarchists are divided into two 
 schools: I St, Those who wish to attain progress 
 by educational and legislative methods, but deny 
 the necessity of auxiliary police to enforce such con- 
 clusions; 2d, Those who do not believe in the pas- 
 sive resistance of the former class, but rely upon 
 what is called the propagation by deed, for radical 
 progress. Bakunin, Reclus, and Kropotkin defend 
 the latter school. 
 
 Terrorism is not a creed, but a political move- 
 ment resorted to on desperate occasions of tyranny, 
 to frighten and to attract the attention of the gen- 
 eral public to the injustice of present conditions. 
 One branch of anarchists have adopted this theory. 
 
 Nihilism, a creed of individualism. Those 
 who despise the conventional lies of society, pre- 
 judices, and moral cowardice. The " bohemian " 
 of France is like the nihilist of Russia, with this 
 difference — that the " nihilist" takes himself seri- 
 ously, whereas the " bohemian " takes nothing 
 seriously. 
 
 Socialism^ a practical creed. An international 
 movement of to-day for justice, to be brought about 
 by education and the ballot — " The transformation 
 of private and competing capital into a united col- 
 lective capital." When each individual being left 
 free to develop his or her abilities and activities, 
 will be recognized and allowed to receive accord- 
 ing to his or her need. 
 
 Civilization is a creed of enlightenment which 
 
84 Geyserland 
 
 encourages each individual to be superior to all 
 rivals, and believes that the standard of the race 
 will be advanced by the natural relegating or an- 
 nihilation of inferiors. Civilization forces people 
 into careers for which they have no affinity. Civ- 
 ilization is an egotistical degree of human culture 
 where people recognize the advantages of intel- 
 lectual and material acquirements, but in no man- 
 ner pledge themselves to the uplifting of the race. 
 In the words of Speaker Cannon, " Our civiliza- 
 tion rests on the hustling of the human unit, and 
 when you take away the material benefits which 
 come from individual effort, you destroy civiliza- 
 tion." All egotists recognize that they need the 
 state. As Max Nordau wrote, " Fortunes are ac- 
 cumulated in the name of individualism, but they 
 are defended in the name of human solidarity." 
 
 Communism, a nation's or folkmote's (town 
 council's) method of acquiring an ideal life, 
 evolved from the recorded contemplations of an- 
 cient and modern philosophers. Opposed to the 
 theories of equality and individualism, private 
 fortunes, families, or inheritances. Adhering to 
 the principles of justice. Possessing individuality, 
 freedom of thought, personal responsibility for 
 actions, common ownership of all resources and 
 accumulations. Complete organization of people 
 by the people for the people's best interests, with 
 individual liberty for such enterprises as are for 
 the public good. " From each according to his 
 ability, to each according to his need." Safe- 
 guarding posterity by prudential restraints upon 
 procreation. 
 
 The difference between the religious monastical 
 life and communal life is that the fundamental 
 
Communism 85 
 
 motive for the former is an expectation of an ulti- 
 mate reward in a future world; whereas, the latter 
 seeks nothing beyond the satisfaction-of-duty-done 
 in this life. 
 
 Is humanity, as a mass, intelligent enough to care 
 for itself? Does it not want inspired religions, 
 ordained priests, selected educators, chosen care- 
 takers? What has become of the old folkmote 
 principles? Where to-day can we find a success- 
 fully managed fraternal community? At the start 
 we must acknowledge that with the exception of 
 small communities still governed by the " Zeit- 
 geist," the public voice of folkmote, nothing like 
 communism exists. Nevertheless, the fraternal 
 life must for us remain the ideal life. 
 
 The best authority on American communities 
 was A. J. McDonald, who died of cholera in the 
 year 1855, and left an immense amount of manu- 
 script, in which he stated that his hopes of com- 
 munism had been modified, because after seeing 
 stern reality he realized that his character of man- 
 kind was not as good as he had hoped. Poor hu- 
 manity! Reason controls one-tenth, emotion nine- 
 tenths. The majority would be good, but the vast 
 majority do not understand matters as they are. 
 Many efforts have been made to get away from the 
 egotistical graspings for accumulations where 
 wealth and poverty are at the throats of each other, 
 into a cooperative life where existence could be en- 
 joyed equitably; but they have never succeeded, 
 except, in a limited manner, in small groups of 
 people who were peculiarly adapted for unselfish 
 lives. 
 
 Naturalists have long since recognized that Na- 
 ture is coy and not impatient to reveal her charms. 
 
86 Geyserland 
 
 It has been the cultured investigators who have 
 brought to light Nature's myriad unobtrusive 
 beauties. Political economists have noted th^t that 
 which Nature has demonstrated in a minor scale 
 they might well imitate in a major scale. It was 
 the unconscious instinct of the wasp that demon- 
 strated the making of paper. A common-intelli- 
 gence of the hive that governs the community of 
 bees has furnished us with the keynote of a com- 
 munal scheme of government. But let it not be 
 forgotten that humanity's proud boast is its capacity 
 for progress — the bee in the time of the earliest 
 Pharaoh was just as advanced as the bee of 
 to-day.* 
 
 It is sad to realize that " laboring for the happi- 
 ness of humanity is seldom recompensed; but there 
 are always those who attempt it, and their efiforts 
 are invariably more noble than successful." Hu- 
 man beings are instinctively social, but to their 
 shame, let us observe, they are also covetous, self- 
 ish, malicious, domineering, envious, and jealous. 
 Ants, bees, beavers, wasps, and monkeys are less 
 quarrelsome in their communal life than mortals. 
 Communism can only be based upon the hypothesis 
 of changing human character by controlling hered- 
 ity, education, and environment. Communism 
 cannot develop from a lower culture, and culture 
 cannot grow and ripen until refined and purified 
 by selective breeding. We purpose in Chapter 
 VII to elaborate the possibility of the cultivation 
 
 ♦Here is an instance of humanity's progress. In February, 1807, 
 there arose in the British Parliament Samuel Whitbread, a wealthy 
 brewer and member of the House of Commons, who, in an address, 
 originated the system which has resulted in there being on deposit to- 
 day in institutions for savings in the United States alone more than 
 $3,000,000,000 — a sum equal to more than three times the indebtedness 
 of the United States, or to one-half the total assessed valuation of New 
 York State.— Ed. 
 
Communism 87 
 
 of mankind by rational methods of breeding. As 
 Copernicus had to await the telescope before 
 mastering the heavens, as the velocipede had to 
 await the rubber tire before the bicycle was practi- 
 cable, and the explosive engine the electric spark, 
 so communism must await such characters as are 
 suitable for communal life. The noblest portion 
 of the inhabitants of a community must always be 
 in the minority. The church and civilization have 
 always wanted more lives, preferring quantity of 
 atoms to particularizing about that quality.— The 
 church wants more souls for heaven. " Let the 
 mother perish, save the infant; it will be another 
 soul for heaven." The state wants more men, more 
 food for bullets, more dupes for ballot-boxes. — The 
 monopolists want poor men, to glut the labor 
 market and work for their existence only. 
 
 Communistic moral responsibility is exclusive, 
 and strives for the highest principles and conditions 
 possible, irrespective of numbers. Therefore, al- 
 truistic communities cannot open their doors to the 
 general public as the Catholic Church has done, 
 nor as does an enterprising monopolist's settlement 
 where cheap labor is needed. It is too well known 
 that people with lazy, selfish temperaments are 
 loath to exert themselves for others. The lash, the 
 cross, the human sacrifice were the menace of the 
 slave. No work, no food, must be the rule of 
 primitive fraternities, and this rule must hold true 
 until a better scheme is formulated. One who be- 
 longs to a society must sacrifice a part of his indi- 
 viduality. One who sacrifices a part of his 
 individuality is degraded in his self-respect, unless 
 he has philosophized enough to recognize that it 
 is noble to pay that tribute to others which is the 
 price of happy social life. 
 
88 Geyserland 
 
 Our duties are the rights others have upon us. 
 " Are we not formed as notes of music, one for 
 another, though dissimilar? Such difference, with- 
 out discord, as shall make the sweetest sounds?" 
 The golden rule of mutual aid is, " To try to make 
 others around one happy." 
 
 " Why do our political leaders keep on saying 
 ' Communism is impossible or unnatural?' . . . 
 Why should the gentleman of to-day, who wears 
 his Prince Albert coat and silk hat, assume that it 
 was unnatural to live in the farthingale costume of 
 the time of Louis XIII., or in the scanty clothes of 
 the Greeks?" 
 
 " What is a communist? One who hath yearnings 
 For equal division of unequal earnings. 
 Idler or bungler, or both, he is willing 
 To fork out his penny and pocket your shilling." 
 
 Samuel Johnson said, " Nothing has more re- 
 tarded the advancement of learning than the act 
 of the vulgar who ridicule and vilify what they 
 cannot comprehend"; and the same estimable 
 philosopher, in " Rasselas," after ably showing the 
 monotony of life in " Happy Valley," finishes his 
 study by making everyone desirous of returning 
 to it. 
 
 The early settlers of Jamestown, Virginia, had 
 not been accustomed to labor, " they could not 
 weave and would not dig," and were, therefore, 
 not the proper people for a communistic society. 
 America to-day is educating a degenerate element 
 of her population to be like the original worthless 
 emigrant of Virginia. Education should be graded 
 to the disposition of the children. No country is 
 better for educating its rogues. A rogue is twice a 
 
Communism 89 
 
 rogue when educated. Noble children should be 
 educated, but the degenerates should be drilled. 
 
 As alchemy preceded chemistry, so selfish mo- 
 nopolies and vast private trusts will precede gener- 
 ous, cooperative communism. The popular idea 
 that a commune is a refuge for vagabonds has not 
 been proved. We need more light. It is a matter 
 of record that American communities have been 
 conspicuous for their honesty, respected by their 
 neighbors, reliable in their products, and sanitary 
 in their domesticities. Is not a man greater who 
 loves race than a man who loves himself or his 
 family? Hur! Glory! All Hail! We notice with 
 joy that the cloister is being replaced by the public 
 library, the pulpit by the lecture hall, the clerical 
 instruction by enlightened educational methods, 
 the private grounds by the public parks, the study 
 of the lives of saints by the realistic, ennobling 
 drama. Every victory should count for humanity's 
 progress — not for an individual's especial liberty 
 or aggrandizement. 
 
 Let us suppress depraved barter and the hateful 
 dollar, undesirable progeny and forced family re- 
 lationships. Have the community so organized 
 that all are cared for, then the acme of one's ex- 
 istence will be " love and sympathy," and the good 
 will say, " Sympathy I give you. It has no price." 
 
 In civilization the " upper ten," or those " in- 
 dependents " who live upon their accumulated 
 wealth, have always been less than ten per cent, of 
 the population. The balance have been dependent 
 upon their own labor, that of their friends, or upon 
 charity. The taking away of any useful, accus- 
 tomed employment of mind or body is always at- 
 tended with risk; for usefulness gives moral tone 
 and self-respect, while uselessness degrades char- 
 
90 Geyserland 
 
 acter. To ameliorate the conditions of the masses, 
 the Romans opened public granaries and furnished 
 amusements at the national expense ; but they soon 
 found that they had made a mistake, as there was 
 no incentive left for personal exertion. When, 
 however, they would have corrected this error it 
 was found to be impossible. A privilege once con- 
 ceded becomes a right. From that time forward 
 the noble stalwart Roman farmer dwindled to the 
 level of the lazy good-for-nothing. So soon as an 
 adult prefers idleness to work, he is a tired, un- 
 healthy, and tainted atom in a community, and 
 should be denied food. In the middle ages the 
 monasteries of the medicant brothers were like 
 ulcers all over Europe, encouraging idleness and 
 promoting degeneracy. 
 
 We have every reason for believing that com- 
 munities governed by themselves were on all sides 
 of the Mediterranean coasts seven and eight thou- 
 sand years B. C. When Sir Henry Maine in " An- 
 cient Law " talks about " Early Ages," he is really 
 talking about modern times; whereas, Baldwin in 
 " Prehistoric Nations " gives a most trustworthy 
 record of the long-headed ancient Cushites whose 
 loose independent confederacies were on all sides 
 of the Mediterranean from Spain to Syria. Kro- 
 potkin, also, sketches the early communities that 
 migrated from Asia, and describes the round- 
 headed inhabitants of the steppes in his " Mutual 
 Aid." Populations, once free, were forced west- 
 ward by the drying up of their undrained lakes and 
 fertile fields. As communities, simply desiring 
 existence and natural propagation, they cleared 
 forests, reclaimed marshes, and most of them were 
 happy and contented; while perhaps some of their 
 more adventurous spirits or those hardest to please 
 
Communism 91 
 
 were finally obliged to locate in mountains and 
 unfertile surroundings. It therefore was necessary 
 for these latter to form themselves into warlike 
 brotherhoods whose predatory habits after several 
 centuries resulted in their being bought ofif by their 
 peaceful kin. As centuries rolled on, the indebted- 
 ness of the peaceful kin to the individuals of the 
 warlike brotherhoods resulted in master and serf. 
 This was the birth of feudalism, which has not yet 
 become extinct. 
 
 The Cushites of South Arabia, 500 B. C, were 
 probably the last of the prehistoric cultivated peo- 
 ple.* The Kabyles of the oases of the Sahara, 
 whose condition has not changed in 6000 years, are 
 possibly the last of the agricultural portion of these 
 communal people. The Kabyles are remarkable 
 for their feelings of virtue, duty, and altruism. 
 
 The Jews, with their supernatural fancies, con- 
 sidered themselves a chosen people. A proper feel- 
 ing of pride or love of one's race is a requisite for 
 communal life. Little Jewish commercial com- 
 munities from the earliest historic days were scat- 
 tered along the shores of the Mediterranean. 
 Authentically these were the earliest eflforts at 
 " fraternities," and these communal attempts were 
 made to secure social happiness and goodness, 
 and each had its treasury for succor or mutual 
 benefit.t 
 
 The love of race is cosmopolitan, but patriotism 
 is only a question of local intimate associations. 
 The moment the individuals form organizations, 
 it is the organization that they love and support. 
 To what extent we must be governed by others will 
 be an unsettled question to the end of time; but 
 
 * Baldwin, " Prehistoric Races." 
 
 t Kenan's " History of the People of Israel," IV 197. 
 
92 Geyserland 
 
 those who preach personal liberty and plead for 
 individual autonomy in a community are idle, con- 
 ceited theorists who sit on the fence and egotistic- 
 ally dictate impossible, irrational, impracticable 
 dogmas. Their scheme as compared to the Geyser- 
 lander system of taskmasters is as a box of junk to 
 a well-regulated timepiece. Discipline is the 
 curbing of individualism. When a man joins a 
 regiment, or when a woman takes the veil of matri- 
 mony, his or her whole routine of life changes. 
 They must recognize obligations, and it is quib- 
 bling to claim that they are free. There are whole- 
 sale as well as retail principles of individual 
 liberty. The right arm of patriotism is discipline. 
 The voluntary acceptance of rigid military disci- 
 pline by the young and strong of a community in 
 the hour of danger marks the patriot. Insuffi- 
 ciently rigid regulations permit an army of pa- 
 triots to become an undisciplined horde. 
 
 Patriotism was developed in ancient Egypt by 
 giving each young man twelve acres of land and 
 a wife, but expecting absolute obedience to military 
 discipline in exchange. For example, the young 
 soldiers had to run twenty miles before breakfast. 
 In Gaul when there was a call to arms the last to 
 arrive was killed. Military Rome only recognized 
 two unpardonable crimes — cowardice and deser- 
 tion to the enemy. One of the best examples of this 
 loyalty to the organization is the patriot Labienus, 
 the friend of Caesar, and the commander of his 
 famous tenth legion, who refused to obey when he 
 was ordered to cross the Rubicon because it was 
 contrary to the law of the Roman Senate. 
 
 Justice is what the individual has a right to de- 
 mand of the state — economics is what the state has 
 a right to demand of the individual. Freedom is 
 
Communism 93 
 
 an inherent right; independence, a privilege; 
 liberty, a reward; license, a permit for what other- 
 wise would be tabooed. 
 
 If paradoxical, it is nevertheless true that the 
 price of liberty is responsibility. The individual 
 freedom that our ancestors enjoyed in the forests 
 is absolutely impossible with the modern condi- 
 tions, because, although ultimately the individual 
 is responsible — primarily the mass must be. Mod- 
 ern conditions demand centralization. This is 
 illustrated by the experience of a gentleman before 
 the days of the Postal Union sending a small pack- 
 age from Rome to London. It never reached 
 London, and there the owner was informed that 
 they knew nothing about it and could do nothing. 
 At Rome it was proven that the package had started 
 properly. Thus it was shown that a consolidated 
 system should be introduced that would be re- 
 sponsible. 
 
 *' Individualism," which means " egotistical 
 self," must not be confounded with " individu- 
 ality," which means " personality," or the aggre- 
 gation of those qualities which distinguish one 
 person from another. To be independent of cen- 
 tralization seems the goal of certain daring 
 adventurers who chafe under restraint. Their fer- 
 menting energies demand the recognition of their 
 personal freedom; they are proud of this sentiment 
 and have contempt for such as do not possess it. 
 Their ethical enlightenment has not progressed 
 beyond the coincidence of appreciating that the 
 world is their field for enterprise, to beat out or 
 make out of it what they can. These believers in 
 the right of individualism think that humanity is 
 like the freshly-hatched shad spawn, where each 
 
94 Geyserland 
 
 individual fish is free and has a right to seek his 
 own happiness, with the result that about four sur- 
 vive to grow to maturity out of about two million 
 hatched. The piscatory scheme of life is not unlike 
 that of civilization in that the big ones devour 
 the little ones. No noble person sympathizes with 
 the sneaking tiger who hunts out his prey alone. 
 Unquestionably there is the other extreme when 
 the people are too much ruled by the state. The 
 Norseman, Saxon, and Frank, be they all of the 
 same race or not, were each loyal to the freedom 
 of the individual, as contrasted with the centraliza- 
 tion of the Roman state; but when we recollect 
 the absolute lack of liberty that prevailed in France 
 during the last period of the Roman sovereignty, 
 we cannot be surprised that the Gauls welcomed 
 the Northern barbarians. Life had become im- 
 possible under the greedy army of tax-gatherers. 
 " A few of the inhabitants were becoming enor- 
 mously rich, but all the rest were fast becoming 
 miserably poor." 
 
 What rights has man — this detail, this fragment, 
 this individual atom? From whence did he come? 
 Who shall succeed him? Is he a soul that has per- 
 sonal rights from the time of conception for all 
 eternity? Or is he a dependent atom weaned from 
 its mother and contributed as a fragment to the 
 community? A man has a right to receive from 
 the state according to his wants, and the state has 
 the right to receive from the man according to his 
 capacity. Or if the man does his dutv to the state 
 the state should see that he has, as William Morris 
 put it, 
 
 1st, A healthy body; 
 
 2d, An active mind in sympathy with the past, 
 present and future; 
 
Communism 95 
 
 jd, Occupation fit for a healthy body and an 
 active mind; 
 
 4th, A beautiful world to live in. 
 
 The contra-extreme of self-asserting individual- 
 ism is meekness, which in excess means emascula- 
 tion. However, meekness is an essential of com- 
 munistic life — " the meek shall inherit the earth." 
 The great leaders of monastic life have per- 
 formed most servile functions to exemplify the 
 necessity for meekness; as, for example, that long- 
 prevailing custom of nobles performing in imita- 
 tion of Christ, the extremely obnoxious task of 
 washing beggars' feet; or, for a more specific 
 instance, when the proud Saint Hugo of Avalon, 
 Prior of Wilham, insisted daily upon washing the 
 dirty dishes of the brethren. " He that will be 
 first among you, let him serve the others." Abra- 
 ham Lincoln observed, " No man is good enough 
 to govern another man without the other man's 
 consent." 
 
 Representative government in a time of adversity 
 has always been found the best scheme of public 
 welfare; but in times of prosperity, when men be- 
 come partisans rather than citizens, then the his- 
 tory of communal governments has invariably 
 shown the need of a master hand, a dictator. The 
 intelligent Jews, as a mass, realized during the 
 time of Samuel that their enemies were better ruled 
 than they themselves, and therefore demanded a 
 soldier-king — Saul. At that time they were a 
 wretched, quarrelsome people, paying tribute to 
 the Philistines; but mark! one hundred years later 
 they were a nation supreme from the Red Sea to 
 Assyria. 
 
 Nevertheless, the town meeting is, has, and ever 
 will be the principal cause of common liberty and 
 
96 Geyserland 
 
 public weal. " It is better," as Mathew Arnold 
 observed, " that the body of the people, with all 
 its faults, should act for itself and control its own 
 affairs, than that it should be set aside as ignorant 
 and incapable and have its own affairs managed for 
 it by a so-called superior class." 
 
 Individual freedom contrasted with the free- 
 dom of the commonweal is well demonstrated by 
 the struggling burghers of the medieval cities, who, 
 dodging between the desperate deeds of dying 
 feudalism and the juvenile encroachments of the 
 octopus printing-press, heroically contested against 
 the nobles, church, and kings for their own com- 
 munal rights. In England they essayed some nine 
 hundred different town charters — almost every 
 scheme was tried, none were satisfactory; and some 
 of our clumsiest municipal regulations are the sur- 
 vival of customs that are in no manner of use to- 
 day. " Never, in fact, did any people endeavor to 
 solve the difficulty by creating an efficient govern- 
 ment with such resource and ingenuity as the 
 medieval burghers who, as need arose, flung them- 
 selves into the art of constitution-making with all 
 the persistence, temperance, energy, and economy 
 in patching up ancient models, and finding new 
 use for old materials." * 
 
 In the history of our country we see that surviv- 
 ing love of commonweal, which was flirted w^ith on 
 the Mayflower, seriously considered by John Win- 
 throp, and beautifully formulated in 1638 by 
 Thomas Hooker, of Hartford, who irrevocably 
 laid the salient principles of the town council that 
 dominates the United States to-day. " The founda- 
 tion of authority," said he, " is laid in the free con- 
 sent of the people — the choice of public magistrates 
 
 * " Town Life in the Fifteenth Century," Mrs. J. R. Green» 
 
Communism 97 
 
 belongs unto the people — they who have power to 
 appoint officers and magistrates have the right also 
 to set the bounds and limitations of the power and 
 place unto which they call them." 
 
 There was less reverence for " the house of 
 God " in the free boroughs of old England than 
 is generally believed; for example, the parish 
 church was built by the people for themselves, and 
 we read of the priest paying the corporation for 
 not holding its meetings in the chancel while high 
 mass was being performed. The church was a 
 public convenience like the later meeting house of 
 the Quakers. The church bell rang the curfew 
 and was the signal for all public affairs. Stray 
 cattle were proclaimed at church, it was the 
 armory and often the prison. Public meetings 
 were held in the church, hence the Anglo-Saxon 
 custom of opening congress with prayer. Picnics 
 in churches were a common form for raising public 
 funds. It was Archbishop Laud who reverted to 
 the exclusive sanctity of the edifice. 
 
 The importance of a folk-meeting depends 
 largely upon those who attend it. Nowhere is 
 eternal vigilance more essential, because schemers 
 will plot to stampede it and politicians and trick- 
 sters to outwit it. All loose methods of balloting 
 should be avoided. What should be especially 
 guarded against is the accepting such procedures 
 as " If no objection is made, the motion is consid- 
 ered passed." Ye gods! How many times has the 
 right man been kept out of office by some flash of 
 eloquence for an unworthy nominee, followed by a 
 request that " In his case the conventional forms be 
 suspended in his honor." The Presidential Nomi- 
 
98 Geyserland 
 
 nating Conventions of the United States, or the 
 Conclave of the Cardinals for a new Pope have 
 been excellent models for folk-meetings. " The 
 Venetian method for electing the doge in the 
 twelfth century was unique. Four members were 
 selected from the Great Council, these four elected 
 fort\^, not more than one to come from any one 
 family, and each of them to receive the votes of 
 three out of the four electors. The forty then se- 
 lected the doge." (Hodgson, 331.) 
 
 The need of a folkmote seems an innate sentiment 
 with the white race. It is to be noted that when the 
 last of the English guilds was abolished in 1628, 
 some six years later we see records of '' friendly 
 societies." Turgot, about 1771;, found the folk- 
 motes of France " too noisy," and therefore abol- 
 ished them. As a consequence, France was soon ripe 
 for a revolution. Our modern organizations for 
 insurance have succeeded these friendly societies. 
 Yet popular government has its limitations; a ma- 
 jority may be as tyrannical as a despot, or as illogi- 
 cal as a woman, and the only safeguards against any 
 government are an organized minority and a clear 
 knowledge of what the majority is doing. Mys- 
 tery and secrecy are always for the benefit of the 
 people on the inside. Liberal governments have 
 encouraged these insurance societies, but, most 
 w^isely, only when their assets and liabilities are 
 open to public inspection; and true progress will 
 not have become marked until the government is 
 the insuree, as in New Zealand. 
 
 John Stuart Mill wrote: 
 
 " Competition may not be the best conceivable stimulus, but 
 it is at present a necessary- one, and no one can foresee the time 
 when it will not be indispensable to progress." 
 
Communism 99 
 
 Let us always remember that the laws of Nature 
 are more complicated than mortal's business 
 principles; and although competitive methods 
 will prevent stagnation, they are based upon indi- 
 vidual gain, and lack the noble motives that press 
 one to seek the happiness of all one's fellow-beings. 
 Public necessity calls for invention, yet usually in- 
 vention is stimulated more for private gain than 
 for public necessity. Competition under commun- 
 ism must always be competition for mutual aid, 
 never competition for gain or profit. The princi- 
 ple of working to magnify one's importance by 
 strangling competition must not prevail. 
 
 The successful advent of communism cannot be 
 accomplished while there exists the bitter antag- 
 onism between capital and labor. The wage- 
 earner is always in need of an employer, but the 
 employer does not always need the wage-earner. 
 Those willing to work among the unemployed 
 commonalty are the enemies of all those who have 
 established labor unions with suitable wages and 
 wholesome lives. These desperate destitutes are 
 not in a position to discuss right and wrong. It is 
 life or death with them, and unw^ittingly they make 
 the poorer class poorer and are the consolation of 
 the contractors. In the evolution of industry nu- 
 merous crafts have become extinct and others have 
 diminished in importance; many of the intelligent 
 master craftsmen have been replaced by unthinking 
 slaves of machinery. By these means women and 
 children can produce what in former times was 
 done by the trained journeyman who had acquired 
 their skill or knowledge by years of apprenticeship. 
 Successful private business goes into the market 
 and buys labor, skilled or unskilled, where it can 
 
lOO Geyserland 
 
 be had the cheapest. It finds that women are pref- 
 erable employees, for there is a surplus of them. 
 Hence we find thousands of women w^ho perform 
 as much work and do it as well as men, working at 
 half the price paid to men. Does anybody want 
 our government to follow that rule? We are sure 
 the best sentiment of the country is aiming strongly 
 in the new direction. Cruel child labor is so out- 
 rageous that we shall not even consider it. 
 
 Individual irresponsible laborers in any craft are 
 a class that is dangerous, and should be replaced 
 by guilds that are responsible for the individual. 
 By this method the Medical Association also 
 should be financially responsible for all of its prac- 
 titioners. 
 
 Trustworthiness should be made known, and 
 those who have not that quality should be ex- 
 pelled from the guilds by their associates for the 
 safety of the public and good name of the guild. 
 The above general rule should be qualified in favor 
 of those pioneering individuals with enterprising 
 initiative who, departing from the beaten track, 
 open new fields and herald progress. If the guilds 
 are to be responsible for these eccentric members, 
 they should be tagged, numbered, and properly de- 
 scribed on their permits, like the gauge pressure of 
 a steam boiler, so that the public may be safe- 
 guarded. 
 
 We once knew, in a village not far from the 
 wilderness about Moosehead Lake, a versatile 
 character, Abraham Sea, commonly called ABC, 
 who had been born and educated in New York, 
 but had been driven away from home because he 
 refused to have his life interests ebb and flow in 
 
Communism ioi 
 
 one channel, and would not confine his energies 
 to one craft. He well knew that diversity of em- 
 ployment broadens a man's field for happiness, and 
 in Maine he had found his sphere of usefulness, to 
 his own and everybody's satisfaction; for he taught 
 school on week days, and read stale sermons on 
 Sundays. He sold and prescribed drugs for man 
 and beast, and cut hair in a thoroughly practical if 
 very inartistic manner. One could tell his handi- 
 work wherever seen. He could fill and pull teeth 
 remarkably well; he could mend anything — from 
 harnesses and tin pans to fishing rods and jokes — 
 and besides all these accomplishments, by right of 
 nature, he took parental interest in more than half 
 of the community. 
 
 In a free country artificial methods for buttress- 
 ing castes are certainly short-sighted. If a negro 
 mechanic is as capable as a white mechanic he 
 should be given the same pay, or else he will be- 
 come a " scab " and take away the white man's 
 work at cheaper rates. If he does receive the same 
 pay it is reasonable to assume that his family, hav- 
 ing equal means with the white man's, should have 
 similar tastes, and race jealousy begins. Therefore 
 a system of taskmasters should be introduced, as in 
 Geyserland, to direct the occupation of each man 
 according to his abilities and the best interests of 
 the community. If not, white mechanics must 
 excel their colored rivals or be driven out of their 
 trade. 
 
 Divided responsibility must be suppressed. The 
 individual, and not the head of the family, should 
 be established as the unit for social organization. 
 The theory of human equality is from any and 
 every evidence impossible, but justice to the indi- 
 
I02 Geyserland 
 
 vidual is possible. Women must be economically 
 independent; the expenses of child-bearing and the 
 proper drilling and education of children should 
 be provided for by the community to which they 
 belong. 
 
 Secrets were the bonds that kept the old guilds 
 together, and it was necessary for the apprentices 
 to bind themselves for years to their taskmasters 
 and to take oaths to keep the secrets ; and contribute 
 funds for the sick, to be ready to fight for the 
 blood-fine due their guild, or help pay the blood- 
 fine that the guild owed.* 
 
 The laws of skilled labor have come down to us 
 in three general classes — ist, caste, or the craft, 
 with its secrets, handed down from father to son, 
 dates from the autocratic Brahmin in India; 2d, 
 the projectors, with their paupers and slave labor; 
 
 * The old English education was the apprentice system. In every 
 parish in England, the large householders, the squire and the parson, 
 the farmers, smith, joiners, and shoemakers, were obliged by law to 
 divide amongst themselves according to their means. The children of 
 the poor would otherwise grow up unprovided for, and to clothe, feed, 
 lodge, and teach their children in return for their services, until they 
 were old enough to care for themselves, was the rule which was 
 acted upon for centuries. It broke down at last. The burden was 
 found disagreeable, the inroad too heavy upon natural liberty. The 
 gentlemen were the first to decline or evade their obligations. Their 
 business was to take boys and girls for household services. They pre- 
 ferred to have their servants ready-made, they did not care to encumber 
 their establishments with awkward urchins or untidy slatterns who broke 
 their china and whom they were unable to dismiss. The farmers and 
 the artisans objected to bearing the entire charge — they, who had had 
 sufficient trouble to keep their own heads above water. They had 
 learned from the gentlemen that their first duty was to themselves, and 
 their ill-humor vented itself on the poor little wretches who were flung 
 upon their unwilling hands. The children were ill-used, starved, and 
 beaten. In some instances they were killed. The benevolent iristincts 
 of the country took up their cause. Thus the system of apprenticeship 
 under its compulsory form passed away amidst universal execrations. 
 The masters were relieved from the obligation to educate, the lads 
 themselves from the obligation to be educated. They were left to their 
 parents, to their own helplessness, to the chances and casualties of life, 
 to grow up as they could, and drift untaught with whatever education 
 they could find. Then first arose the cry for the schoolmaster." — Froude. 
 
Communism 103 
 
 3d, the autocratic swordsmen, with their mysterious 
 guilds and unions. 
 
 For the proper division of labor. Emperor Au- 
 relian was the first to take steps to restrict the 
 energies of skilled slaves, with the purpose of pre- 
 venting them from competing with the Roman 
 freedom. 
 
 Zeal at one's labor in altruistic communities 
 was a question of demonstrating one's capacity; 
 whereas, in civilization it was for individual 
 profit. Clerks are vigilant because they know that 
 their foremen are watching to see whom to 
 promote, just as every captain is on the lookout 
 to select the most capable private to wear the 
 chevron.* 
 
 Contrast the union's ideal bricklayer with the 
 pioneer William Caxton, who learned the craft of 
 printing at the age of fifty-nine, 148 1, and later 
 successfully became author, ink-maker, composi- 
 tor, pressman, binder, publisher, and bookseller. 
 
 A union of mechanics should be recognized so 
 soon as they became as a body responsible for the 
 actions of their members, their records subject to 
 inspection by the authorities. The only advantage 
 the union man has is in the sale of his labor. 
 Laborers employed in a body can get better pay 
 than when employed separately. Labor unions are 
 only a system of organizing those who are forced 
 to work for a living against the transcendent selfish- 
 ness of the rich, a clearing-house for idle energies. 
 Those who join them often do it with a bad spirit 
 
 * " In the fifteenth century a bricklayer or mason, carpenter or smith- 
 worker was equivalent to forty-eight pounds of bread or one-eighth of 
 a small ox, a day's work. Six days were equal to three sheep and one 
 pair of shoes. According to the Riparian law a sword, spear, and iron 
 of a warrior were worth twenty-five cows or two years of a freedman's 
 labor." — Kropotkin. 
 
104 Geyserland 
 
 — living on the principle that " existence in civ- 
 ilization is vs^ar." 
 
 We know how cruel and unjust man has been to 
 men, but we believe that the " common voice " has 
 not been cruel. When mobs have been stampeded 
 to wild excesses of violence and cruelty, it has al- 
 ways been after, never before, some despotic auto- 
 crat had " run amuck." A cruel and bloodthirsty 
 rabble terrorized Rome because their fathers had 
 been proscribed and massacred by Sulla. The ter- 
 ror in France followed the tyranny of her selfish 
 kings. In England the barons, the master crafts- 
 man's guilds and the priests were the originators 
 of those unjust " Statutes of Labourers" that have 
 made the poor man hate the rich man and the rich 
 man curse the poor. There were few of these laws 
 in England before " the Black Death." The Saxon 
 hatred of being coerced and the love of common 
 rights had survived throughout the nation, but 
 when more than half the laborers died at the time 
 of the Black Death, the rich and powerful tried to 
 legislate to keep wages down, to prevent the ambi- 
 tious poor from leaving their native localities. 
 Then pillories multiplied and even branding be- 
 came a common practice for preventing the lowly 
 from trying to improve their conditions. This war 
 between capital and labor still prevails. 
 
 Charity is not mercy, but justice; those who give 
 for charity do so because they feel the nobler for 
 having done it. There were no beggars in Geyser- 
 land. Almsgiving and begging are a development 
 of Jewish civilization, and date back to Josiah. 
 Owing to the Jews' habits of individual commer- 
 
Communism 105 
 
 cial enterprise, their independent and their de- 
 pendent classes had always been separated. Their 
 system of almsgiving had ever been their greatest 
 error. The poor were supposed to prevail every- 
 where. This may be so, but their number was only 
 in proportion to the ratio of the intelligence of the 
 government. The great advantage that a cooperat- 
 ive industrial community has over all other forms 
 of government is the absence of the mobile mul- 
 titude or base class which form " the reserved 
 army of unemployed wage-breakers," and who 
 are ever ready to take another's work for less 
 pay. To increase and multiply beyond their 
 resources has always been the fundamental de- 
 sire of the Jews. The labor markets of the 
 world have been flooded by gleaning wage-break- 
 ing Jews, and in spite of their sanitary laws, the 
 Jews compare ill with the well-fed Gentiles. 
 Since the time of Josiah, 650 B. C, it has been 
 considered meritorious conduct for the Jews to 
 give alms to the poor; before that time the 
 priests throughout Palestine officiated also as 
 butchers, and by the toll collected for killing they 
 obtained a livelihood. Josiah abolished this priest- 
 hood except in Jerusalem, and laymen from that 
 day to this have become butchers for the Jews. 
 The ex-priests were told to come to Jerusalem, 
 where those who had sufficient intellectual capacity 
 were permitted to exercise their official functions 
 and were regularly installed in the Temple. The 
 inferior ones became beggars and parasites and 
 were added to the helpless mendicants about the 
 Temple, a new charge for the community to carry. 
 Since then generosity to beggars in the outer court 
 has been regarded as an indication of righteous- 
 ness. The pious Jew made frequent pilgrimages 
 
io6 Geyserland 
 
 to the Temple with his family, and always on these 
 occasions took with him hampers with sufficient 
 provisions to enable him to share bountifully his 
 repast with these poor about the Temple. 
 
 Unbridled individualism is a modern growth, 
 and is not characteristic of primitive mankind. 
 We know that without organization public rights 
 are seldom protected by an individual's energy. 
 The land held by the Commons of England fur- 
 nished only one-tenth of what individual enterprise 
 later made them produce. 
 
 The communities on the shores of the Mediter- 
 ranean in the earliest days had superior families 
 from whom chieftains were selected. The repub- 
 lican oligarchical forms of government have been 
 the most successful for building up nations. The 
 eminent men — senators — whose right of office is 
 hereditary in some nations, in others depending 
 upon the men's capacity, have in misfortune ever 
 been the best pilots; but when the wheel turned 
 and national misfortune was replaced by pros- 
 perity, these senators have always descended to 
 petty jealousies and unpatriotic practices. 
 
 The confederation of these independent com- 
 munities was similar to the Greek nations in the 
 Trojan wars, or the States of America. The posi- 
 tion of the free individuals in these nations was on 
 the cooperative principle. Slaves were debtors, 
 captives, or outcasts. 
 
 Besides the Jewish communities, — bound to- 
 gether by their peculiar habits and secret customs, 
 — there were also " the ancient Greek Mysteries." 
 
Communism 107 
 
 These were possible imitators of Jewish communi- 
 ties. The old guilds and our modern secret so- 
 cieties, such as Masons, Elks, etc., may be traced 
 to the same source. Unfortunately, the histories 
 of these mysteries have come down to us prin- 
 cipally through the early church writers, who op- 
 posed them as creations of unbelievers and feared 
 them as wealthy rivals. We know that they had 
 attractions similar to our modern arts, such as paint- 
 ing, sculpture, architecture, music, and dancing. 
 The masters of these Greek Mysteries invited thus: 
 " Come to us, ye who are of clean hands and pure 
 speech, ye who are unstained by crime, ye who have 
 a good conscience toward the Almighty, ye who 
 have done justly and lived uprightly." The upper 
 class Mysteries were never so popular in Rome as 
 in Greece. The Romans, whose characteristic 
 feature was their devotion to the state and the 
 family, were opposed to all secret societies, par- 
 ticularly those that had a treasury of any impor- 
 tance. The collegia opificum, or workmen's guild, 
 formed in Rome 67 B. C, became so powerful that 
 the Senate became jealous and it was abolished. 
 The mysterious Druids caused Augustus much dis- 
 quietude. However, the poor f reedman and slave 
 were permitted to have many of these clubs {col- 
 legia). They were generally organized on a basis 
 for assuring a desired form of burial; but en- 
 joyment must also have been the object, for at their 
 meetings they observed stringent rules. One such 
 rule formulated for the purpose of preventing dis- 
 cord was " that none of the business of the society 
 should be discussed at their social meetings"; 
 another, that " every violent act or rude remark 
 should be punished by fine." It was by such so- 
 
io8 Geyserland 
 
 cieties that Peter and Paul were introduced into 
 Rome. 
 
 The Christians were considered by the Romans 
 as following a communistic cult for two centuries 
 after Jesus, and it is to be particularly noted that 
 for three years after the Pentecost all the disciples 
 in Jerusalem lived an altruistic, cooperative, com- 
 munistic life. But the same troubles that have 
 broken up modern experiments slowly appeared 
 with them. The Hellenite converts complained 
 that their widows received less at the distribution 
 than those of the Hebrews, and it finally came to 
 pass that the common democratic Church of Christ 
 was succeeded by the Catholic Church of the auto- 
 crat. The " Great Arian Heresy " was only an 
 attempt to return to the Pentecostal communistic 
 life. 
 
 Possibly the noblest communities of ancient times 
 were the Essenes, who exemplified the highest 
 conditions of human society in early times,* 
 in the same manner that the *' Brook Farm " 
 or the " Oneida Community " have in ours. 
 The Essenes had been organized for one hundred 
 and fifty years before the time of Jesus. Many 
 believe Jesus had dwelt among them, as we have 
 little record of his life between the ages of twelve 
 and twenty-eight. The Essenes had adopted the 
 theory of the immortality of the soul. They were 
 the first in the world to condemn slavery. Al- 
 though a secret organization, they kept nothing 
 hidden from their brethren. Josephus states that 
 the Essenes so loved their race and its perpetuation 
 that spouses lived together for three years and only 
 
 * Seneca. 
 
Communism 109 
 
 married if the union proved fruitful — trial mar- 
 riages. Essenism was the most perfect expression 
 of the example of Jesus, and it is difficult not to 
 think that the almost total absence of any mention 
 of the Essenes in the Bible was caused by a mutual 
 understanding on the part of the fathers of the 
 church. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 MARBLE WHARF — INTRODUCTION OF CHAR.ACTERS 
 
 " In a happy world there must be pain and sorrow." — Fiske. 
 
 In order quickly to introduce several of the 
 characters that appear in our story, we will now 
 describe a scene that occurred on a summer day, 
 1639 A. D., in Geyserland, on the greensward by the 
 entrance to the spacious marble pier, which was 
 artistically decorated with carvings of various flora 
 of the sea. 
 
 The beautiful Evrona was seated watching a 
 busy crowd of sweepers who were singing as they 
 cleaned this attractive approach to the lake. The 
 taskmasters tried to so arrange that each adult loved 
 his work, because labor suited to the worker can 
 generally be made play. Teachers and those best 
 acquainted with children have found that it is un- 
 congenial labor that wearies. As Johnson says, 
 " Mankind are gay or serious by infection." These 
 sweepers were really as gay as a corps of ballet 
 girls appear. A droll veteran had been mimicking 
 in a high tenor voice Inspector Donis — " What 
 cannot be kept cleaned, must be cleaned up." This 
 ponderous thought was one of the recent remarks 
 of " Dumb Donis," who, like Voltaire or Talley- 
 rand, formulated all his thoughts into axioms. Un- 
 fortunately, his axioms were platitudes, and if he 
 had been dumb the world would not have suffered 
 for lack of these outbursts of conversation. He 
 was, however, a good, conscientious inspector. 
 
 no 
 
Marble Wharf hi 
 
 Hardly had the mimicking ceased when they 
 were startled by the shrill voice of the original as 
 he approached with his escort on the final tour of 
 inspection for the afternoon watch — Dumb Donis 
 himself! The taskmasters allotted the duties, and 
 the inspectors saw that the work was accomplished. 
 As each individual was working for the good of all, 
 each one took pride in having his work inspected. 
 A system of supervision is the beginning of correct 
 governments. Donis had barely time to remark, 
 " 'Tis good! What is well done is satisfactory," 
 when the bells from the beacon towers that girdle 
 the lake like a zodiac, chimed the record of the 
 hour, the signal for the change of watch, and for 
 those who were busy to stop their work. With 
 song and dance and merriment the sweepers went 
 to their individual bowers to don their costumes 
 of recreation, followed by Inspector Donis and 
 his disbanded guardsmen. 
 
 Vice-Marshal Roul, the commander of the 
 escort, with swarthy skin and black hair, was a 
 superb-looking man of the epicurean type. He 
 was exquisitely groomed. Nothwithstanding his 
 ease of manner and his well-known tendency to 
 take the course that met with the least resistance, 
 he was a courageous man with whom no one tri- 
 fled — unless, as the Irishman said, " he was pre- 
 pared to give or take a whacking." 
 
 As he passed, Roul saluted Evrona. In the 
 greeting she read the sympathy in his eye. The 
 heart leaps at a soul-responding glance. She saw 
 that he recognized her sorrow, for not as fortunate 
 as Fairmena, of the same age, she had failed to be 
 appointed a matron, not for lack of physical or in- 
 tellectual qualities, but for waywardness of tern- 
 
112 Geyserland 
 
 perament. Unlike the system of Plato's homo- 
 culture, that of the Geyserlanders insisted on a 
 temperamental as well as a physical standard. 
 
 This queen of feminine beauty, Evrona, pos- 
 sessed a superbly-proportioned physique, grace- 
 ful carriage, and fair coloring, lustrous with the 
 bloom of youth. The tints of her round cheeks 
 were like soft ivory with rose-buds crushed upon 
 them; her nostrils dilated with the joys of living, 
 she was the embodiment of buoyant, healthy 
 womanhood. Her most striking characteristic was 
 the proud manner with which she carried her 
 breast bone, as if she were always conscious of it. 
 This gave her, as it will give anyone, an unmistak- 
 able air of distinction. Unquestionably women are 
 handsomer in a high state of culture, men in low. 
 A long race of clever people means a race of 
 beautiful women. In spite of all these attractions, 
 she had not been admitted to the matron class, and 
 therefore, like a working bee, must perform such 
 duties as were allotted to her by the taskmasters. 
 
 As Evrona recognized her successful rival, Fair- 
 mena, approaching, she stood up and greeted her 
 with exaggerated formality. 
 
 *' I humble myself before the champion maiden 
 of this year." 
 
 Fairmena laughed, and said with a gentle voice: 
 
 " Stop, not yet, dear Evrona." 
 
 " Why not begin now? Since I shall always have 
 to humble myself before you? " 
 
 "Tut! We are all workers; my future task is 
 no easy one. Why do you begrudge me the good 
 name that goes with it?" 
 
 " It is not your success, dear Fairmena," re- 
 plied Evrona, " but my failure that I feel so bit- 
 
Marble Wharf 113 
 
 terly It is told that in the old days ' all women 
 could be mothers.' " 
 
 "Yes, but in those days of marriage a woman 
 had to live her whole life with the same man." 
 
 I certamly should not like that scheme," ejac- 
 ulated Evrona. 
 
 "No, it would be very difficult to know any man 
 well enough to pledge him that. You are free 
 now. 
 
 " True, that is a consolation, and if I do not en- 
 joy my freedom it will be because I am not effi- 
 cient." 
 
 The elderly Minerva-like Sibis, arriving on the 
 scene in time to hear this last remark, laughindv 
 said: My, my! Don't worry about that, you fasci- 
 nating beauty; from what I know of your past in- 
 iquities your efficacy for stirring up man's peace 
 of body will break all past records, my auburn rose. 
 1 hat is what you are for— my best wishes go with 
 you and my congratulations to all the successful 
 wild blades of pleasure. What a world this would 
 be if all women had to be mothers, like Fairmena 
 or serious and pedantic like myself! Who would 
 there be to cause all our laughter and quarrels?" 
 Oh, oh! exclaimed Evrona, " this from you 
 strict preceptress of my untarnished past? It 
 would appear that but yesterday you censured me 
 tor what to-day you approve." 
 o." ^^^P, "^^' o^ course, I'm just the same," said 
 bibis with a mischievous look; "but, mind you 
 your conditions have changed; you are of age, and 
 must understand that it would have been a mistake 
 to inculcate your young innocent mind with ideas 
 ot adult life. It must always remain a principle 
 with us not to mention before lassies like you any- 
 thing suggestive of love, lest your natural inclina- 
 
114 Geyserland 
 
 tion to pleasure, which at your age is so strong and 
 violent, should hurry you into follies and unwise 
 excesses. Never burden a child's imagination 
 with knowledge of sexual relations. You have 
 wisely been kept ignorant, but the chief of your 
 gross will see that the fascinating box of amative 
 information is now opened wide for your complete 
 edification; and you must know, dear Evrona, that 
 our gayety in the line of our natural duties makes 
 us nearer to a perfect state. Life should be joyous, 
 and the shortest road to merriment is making others 
 around us happy; but it is not necessary for me to 
 bid an acorn to become an oak tree." 
 
 Then the picturesque Roul and the silent Donis 
 reappeared in costumes of leisure. The cumbrous 
 folds of their luxurious apparel bespoke an ele- 
 ment of rest, ease, and idleness. 
 
 " My salutations, all," said Roul, " and my most 
 respectful regards, with my congratulations to you, 
 precious Fairmena. I am honored in putting my- 
 self at your feet." 
 
 " Not so soon, my gallant Roul," said Fair- 
 mena. "Your salutations, dear Marshal, are too 
 profund; pray, wait until the moon of the New 
 Year before you do homage to one so young as I." 
 
 " Permit me, sweet maiden," Donis remarked, 
 " to say that superior people are those who are most 
 beneficial to the state." 
 
 " Bravo, young friends, for your gallantry. We 
 older ones must look to our laurels," observed 
 Sibis. 
 
 " Thank you. Your approbation, good Sibis, is 
 my standard." 
 
 Sibis, putting her thin, warm hand on Fair- 
 mena's shoulder, said; 
 
Marble Wharf 115 
 
 " And you, Fairmena, have exhausted my super- 
 lative expressions of commendation." 
 
 " And here is our lovely Evrona," said Roul, 
 with a most courtly gesture, " the most vivacious, 
 vibrating maiden in our land; and what mischief 
 she will cause! " 
 
 " Our dear Sibis thinks so, and I shall spare no 
 efforts," said Evrona, with a bravely-attempted 
 smile. 
 
 " I know it," said Sibis. "You'll do your best 
 to do your worst! " 
 
 " Young women who are attractive and beauti- 
 ful enjoy life more than those who are not," re- 
 marked Donis. 
 
 This conversation was interrupted by the watch- 
 man rushing in with: 
 
 " Ho, Sire Roul, have you seen the Captain of 
 the Wharf? There is trouble on the lake. Look! 
 
 Here! There!" 
 
 ***** 
 
 Under a cluster of pomegranate trees, playing a 
 game like our solitaire, was found a red-faced, fat, 
 pompous, middle-aged man. Such a happy-go- 
 lucky temperament had he that he was able, like 
 one of our firemen, to do nothing for twenty-three 
 hours and a half, and then work fifteen minutes, or 
 forty hours without a moment's rest. He was the 
 Captain of the Wharf, and arriving upon the scene 
 with his official spy-glass, first mumbled, then 
 shrieked: 
 
 "What is the matter? Distress? Yes, the signal 
 of accident, and for a surgeon. Run, Watchman, 
 and summon a surgeon and a taskmaster. Quick, 
 man, before they arrive." 
 
 " It is the brave Fasho's boat," said Evrona; and 
 half audibly added, " Can the accident be to him? 
 
it6 Geyserland 
 
 I hope so, if it is not too serious; for I don't want 
 to be the last one suppressed for imperfections." 
 
 " I cannot see what it is in the boat. It looks like 
 a wild man," said the Wharf Captain. 
 
 Then the venerable Taskmaster Jab, accompa- 
 nied by Wewo, one of the supreme doctors, was 
 escorted to the wharf by the attendants. 
 
 The boat came to the landing, and Fasho, the 
 Marshal of the Junior Guards, pale and limping, 
 stepped ashore with his crew. He saluted the 
 elders, Fairmena, and the others. The crew mut- 
 tered a wild, weird chant, which betokened mis- 
 fortune, as Catholics cross themselves when death 
 is mentioned, or gentlemen remove their hats for 
 sorrow. 
 
 " Brave Fasho, are you in pain?" said Jab. 
 
 " I have yet to learn what pain is," boldly ex- 
 claimed Fasho; for, like many wise men, he be- 
 lieved that one misfortune must follow another, 
 therefore he courageously denied misfortune and 
 laughed at pain. 
 
 " Brave boy! a lad like you knows how to suf- 
 fer." 
 
 " Let us hope that the hazard of chance will 
 make it no worse than pain," replied Fasho. 
 
 "Where have you been?" said Jab. " Speak." 
 
 Fasho, leaning for support on a carved bench, 
 said: 
 
 " Three days ago, on the outside sea, we wounded 
 a whale and pursued it many hours. It escaped 
 in the broken ice. We were resting and floating 
 while eating, when our attention was attracted to 
 a peculiar spot. There is the peculiar spot," con- 
 tinued Fasho, as he pointed to the stranger, Adam 
 Mann, who at that moment was being brought 
 ashore in Cromwellian costume, with pistols and 
 
Marble Wharf 117 
 
 blunderbusses, and who, after getting his footing 
 took ofif his hat, bowed to the company, and smiled 
 in the style of the English rustic. 
 
 /'We rescued this man from the frozen shore 
 with great difficulty, and unfortunately poor Zeffo' 
 one of our bravest old sailors, was drowned. When 
 we took this man aboard with all his odd machin- 
 ery we thought him dying. We gave him tonics 
 and liquors and with all haste returned here The 
 sea was high and rough and the tide was low the 
 entrance over the bar to the water tunnel was' im- 
 possible with our load, but delay was dangerous. 
 1 herefore we disembarked our weight on the outer 
 rocks and ice, and, wading, pushed our boat over 
 the reef. Near the mouth of the tunnel was float- 
 ing ice, jammed together. All went well until the 
 last moment, when there remained nothing but 
 that unlucky muddle-brained creature, overcome 
 and stupefied by the drugs we had given him. I 
 took him in my arms and started to carry him 
 across the reef, when the ice jam broke and caught 
 me I staggered to the boat and these brave com- 
 rades pulled us in. I did my best, sire." 
 
 "Dr. Wewo," said Jab, " care for Fasho and let 
 us know how serious his wounds are; and now. 
 Assistant Surgeon, you who are learned in bad and 
 instructed in good, what do you think of this pres- 
 ence? * 
 
 Adam stood there, thin and emaciated, and in his 
 awkward manner made a salute, but it was a half- 
 hearted salute, for he did not wish to appear obse- 
 quious, and all salutations are in the nature of 
 humbling one's self to another. Englishmen re- 
 
 *The medical corps in Geyserland was like our fire department 
 
 pTobTbiy pSizrd" "'"''' '^ "" ^"™"°"^'' ^"'^ ^^'^^ ^'--^ --« 
 
ii8 Geyserland 
 
 semble American women, in that under embar- 
 rassing circumstances they have a peculiar gift of 
 landing on their feet and not showing surprise. 
 The American Indian also had this dignified qual- 
 ity, and with becoming respect to others never rec- 
 ognized any one as his superior. 
 
 The Assistant Surgeon replied to Jab: 
 
 " It is a man, a dirty man — a man now dazed by 
 the stimulants Fasho has given him; overgrown, 
 very bilious, and to me appearing to have no qual- 
 ities superior to those now possessed by our race. 
 And as one's right to live depends largely upon 
 what one brings into the world, I should suggest 
 that he be sent to the Dissolution House." 
 
 " Do not condemn this unfortunate man for bil- 
 iousness," said Sibis, "for that can be cured; and 
 after all, blood is life, but bile is immortality." 
 
 '' Give him to me to care for," exclaimed Wewo. 
 " He has done nothing wrong. He is not a proper 
 subject for vivisection." 
 
 Still the Assistant Surgeon contended that he 
 was a worthless waif, who had already brought dis- 
 aster to the noble Fasho, and death to a good sailor, 
 and one who could bring nothing worth knowing 
 to the island. 
 
 " Another one just like him would not be a valu- 
 able addition to our numbers," observed Donis. 
 
 " Nay," said Wewo, " this weather-beaten waif 
 has come from far away. Give him time. He 
 may at least bring good records of the undiscov- 
 ered places of the mental globe."* 
 
 " Then take him," said Taskmaster Jab, " take 
 
 * As the terrestrial globe confines all that is possible for the material 
 earth to hold, so, on to the intellectual globe, there is a limit to that 
 which the human mind can reach. Most radii are still in their infancy, 
 but Agassiz said : " The human understanding has fixed limits." We 
 must, for example, stop at death, at counting the stars, at squaring the 
 
Marble Wharf 119 
 
 him, good Wewo, and care for him, and when 
 strong enough have him properly costumed and 
 delivered to the masters of the hillside cultivators, 
 that he may perform his work. The faculty of the 
 Experimental Grange can report to us later as to 
 his possible usefulness in their department." 
 
 " I have heard, sire, and will obey." 
 
 " How about Fasho?" said Jab. 
 
 "He is badly crippled; his spine is injured," 
 Dr. Wewo replied. 
 
 "Great Spirit, help me!" cried Fasho, with a 
 startling, piercing, pitiable howl, peculiar to man.* 
 "Am I to be second to Roul? I, Fasho, who am 
 the model and champion of the race, and Fair- 
 mena, my darling, the joy of my future, lost to 
 Roul! To Roul, a spiritless second; handsome, 
 elegant; but man, no! And he to be the hero of 
 the class of the year 392, he to be the progenitor, 
 and I, Fasho, to remain a plain guardsman! From 
 the most promising fruit on the tree, to become 
 but a leaf — I" 
 
 "Stop, good Fasho," said Sibis; "remember, 
 you have your good spirit. You have done what 
 is right; every one respects these wounds. Noble 
 wounds are but badges of glory. Who but the 
 brave Fasho, at the risk of his life, would have 
 saved such a thing as that? Yes, Roul, our polite 
 Roul, will take your place as progenitor. But our 
 minstrels will sing the song of our Fasho's merit 
 long after Roul is dead and gone." 
 
 "That is true," said Evrona with fervor; "we 
 girls make heroes famous; we will sing your 
 
 circle, at perpetual motion, at the origin of space. The human ear is 
 sensitive to vibrations not exceeding 38,000 in a second; but beyond that 
 we do not grasp sound. Who knows but the peals of thunder are only 
 stray vibrations from what is constantly outside of our hearing. 
 * Gibbon has said that every species has its cry of pain. 
 
120 Geyserland 
 
 praises, we will not forget our brave Fasho, or 
 cease to admire him." 
 
 " People praise that which they admire," re* 
 marked Donis. 
 
 " I would rather be dead!" exclaimed Fasho. 
 
 " That would not prevent our admiring you," 
 said Sibis. " For death to a hero means but the 
 beginning of his influence." 
 
 " Bah!" exclaimed Fasho, as Evrona attempted 
 to approach and soothe him. " I am a tough- 
 skinned, hard-nerved man, and seek other charms 
 than wine-cups, women, and song. No, Evrona, 
 give me risks and dangers, and my Fairmena, my 
 Fairmena! Fairmena! My very Life! Have I 
 not the right to love her better than my life? " 
 
 " Fear no lack of delicacy from me, Fasho," 
 said Roul slowly. " I have long been second in 
 our class. If fate has now made me the most prom- 
 inent, let me be among the first of your friends to 
 express my sincere and full sympathy for your 
 misfortune." 
 
 "Zounds!" exclaimed Fasho. "Numbers give 
 order, but they don't tally distance. One may be 
 here, but two, six, or a dozen may be many leagues 
 away amid vulgar mediocrity." 
 
 " Hasten not to anger," said Roul. " Disap- 
 pointments surprise and disgust the weak; but no 
 one has ever accused you, Fasho, of being weaker 
 in spirit than in body. The body is broken, 
 brother, but the standard of the man can still be 
 first in all else." 
 
 " Gutter-bug! Stop ! " cried Fasho. " Til have 
 no more. Take my place, let your dull fire burn 
 with Fairmena's love, but give me peace! Mad 
 I am!" 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 TEMPERAMENTS — BOORS — AUTOCRATS — PRO- 
 J ECTORS — ALTRUISTS 
 
 Temperament: From temper, to modify by mixing; mens, the mind, 
 is the quality of the mind, resulting from the blending of various 
 bloods. 
 
 The Creator seems to have preferred the number 
 two as a basis of origination of the universe — 
 light and darkness; ethereal and material; male 
 and female. Whereas, man in his organizations, 
 inventions and philosophies seems to have followed 
 a three-cornered system — the king, the people, and 
 the church; the representative, the executive, the 
 judicial; water, force, and boat. 
 
 Human nature is never the same. Nature's law 
 is perfect order, combined with infinite variety. 
 Only such individuals as possess certain temper- 
 aments are capable of enjoying fraternal commu- 
 nal life. A moment's reflection must convince all 
 intelligent persons that an individual is only enti- 
 tled to the position he or she is qualified to occupy. 
 A free man is not responsible for his ancestry; he 
 may not be responsible for his environment; but a 
 free man is responsible for actions of his own voli- 
 tion. Why should we not inquire, from whence 
 our bad temperaments come, in the same manner 
 that we seek to ascertain the causes of our physical 
 degeneracy? 
 
 We purpose in this chapter to point out that one 
 of the greatest differences between Geyserland and 
 
122 GEYSERLAND 
 
 civilization was the interest taken in Geyserland 
 in the temperaments of the progeny. 
 
 Few intelligent people go through life without 
 studying, comparing, and classifying their fellow- 
 men. This is equally true of the innocent maiden 
 of fifty and the professor of psychology in his 
 prime. To do this justly, men should be able to 
 distinguish the complex compounds of their tem- 
 peraments. The just old principle of " weights 
 and measures " that has brought order to com- 
 merce was employed in Geyserland for selecting 
 suitable persons for each occupation. Their sys- 
 tem was, however, tenfold more practical than our 
 service examinations. 
 
 John Locke wrote, " We have no innate idea of 
 principle." Robert Owen claimed, " Character 
 is made only by education and surroundings." 
 Sir Francis Galton believed that " heredity and 
 training," " nature and nurture," are all that 
 were required to produce eminent men. We will 
 endeavor to show that none of these is wholly 
 satisfactory, and that it is by the combination of 
 the following causes that our complex characters 
 are formed: 
 
 I St. Pre-natal influences; the sources of our en- 
 ergies. 
 
 2nd. The condition of our environments; the 
 source of our social life. 
 
 3rd. Education; the source of our ideals. 
 
 The careful selection and cultivation of these 
 causes will result in a temperament or a type of 
 humanity capable of appreciating altruism. 
 
 In speaking of people as belonging to consump- 
 
Boors, Autocrats, Projectors, Altruists 123 
 
 tive families, we really mean that their organs of 
 respiration are well adapted to receive and nour- 
 ish the germs of consumption; or, in other words, 
 the lungs of those individuals have hereditary pro- 
 clivities toward that disease. This illustrates the 
 Geyserland theory of pre-natal influences or tem- 
 peraments, and the successful breeding for such 
 temperaments will be explained in Chapter VII. 
 
 With the desire to establish order in the present 
 confused condition of ideas about tendencies of 
 heredity, and to better understand our fellow- 
 beings, the following classification of humanity is 
 suggested: the Boor, the Autocrat, the Projector, 
 and the Altruist or ideal type, which is the result 
 obtained by the blending of the first three. When 
 any of these types are discovered to-day, in an ap- 
 proaching pure state, it can more easily be attrib- 
 uted to the constant mating of those of similar tastes 
 than to race or locality. 
 
 An ideal type of humanity cannot be portrayed; 
 like the Millennium, it will never be realized. 
 However, the science of blending the fundamental 
 types will ever be our most important study, and 
 it must always be by keeping our characters above 
 our pleasures and ambitions that progressive life 
 can thrive. Where this order is reversed, stagna- 
 tion and deterioration quickly follow. 
 
 Was it just for the majority of voters of Aus- 
 tralia to proclaim the doctrine, " The conservation 
 of Australia for the best element of the white 
 race "? Nothing justifies one in assuming that the 
 white race is superior because it is white. We 
 know that in ancient days there were eminent 
 
1 24 Geyserland 
 
 men who were not white; for example, the early 
 Pharaohs, Buddha, Confucius, and Mahomet. In 
 the picture-writing of ancient Egypt the red man 
 invariably has the place of honor. The beautiful 
 damsel on the throne in the antediluvian City of 
 Brass is described as having red cheeks and black 
 hair, while her attendants are one white and the 
 other black. Merit must be judged by standards 
 less trivial than language, skin, or presumption. 
 Of the 1,400,000,000 people on the earth, no two 
 are alike. The fair Scandinavian is best for Nor- 
 way and Sweden, the dark-skinned man for equa- 
 torial Africa. The characteristics of each race are 
 evolved to suit the conditions of its life. Every- 
 thing is right in the right place. Physical beauty 
 is the outward manifestation of physical perfec- 
 tion, and each climate or locality necessitates a sep- 
 arate type of physical endowment that should be 
 constantly varying and improving. 
 
 We do not claim that these fundamental types 
 originated in any particular race, nor can we state 
 positively whence they came. But the intermin- 
 gling of these three primitive varieties of blood 
 could have produced the fourth or an ideal type; 
 as a matter of fact, our present mongrel conditions 
 have been brought about by the hazards of migra- 
 tions, and to-day we can detect unequal traces of 
 the three fundamental types everywhere. 
 
 Descriptions of the four types will be elaborated 
 later in this chapter. We name and sketch them 
 now. 
 
 I. Boors, or Husbandmen. Willing to work, 
 obedient, domestic, industrious, and patriotic. 
 
 II. Autocrats, or Swordsmen. — Determined 
 to drill others. They were combative, dominating, 
 
Boors, Autocrats, Projectors, Altruists 125 
 
 punctilious concerning their own social recogni- 
 tion, arnbitious and given to excesses. They be- 
 lieved in their own divine superiority and their 
 inspired privilege to dominate religion. 
 
 III. Projectors.— Schemers who wished to 
 make profit by, and, if possible, enslave those with 
 whom they came in contact. They were fond of 
 travel; initiative, artistic, enterprising, and indi- 
 vidually greedy. With an ultimate desire for com- 
 mercial profit, the Projectors have ever pondered 
 over the secrets of Nature, and to them we owe 
 our sciences and arts. 
 
 IV. Ideal Secondary Type, Altruists.— The 
 Altruists, the happiest possible blending of these 
 three primitive types. They were appreciative, 
 loved moderation, and were just, with noble acts 
 and inclinations. 
 
 The study, appreciation, and blending of these 
 three original temperaments was better understood 
 in the time of Homer. Men were then bred to be 
 capable of performing the functions that the com- 
 munity expected of them. 
 
 Rumors, and the flash-lights of history that have 
 recently been thrown by science into prehistoric 
 times, show that in early days the three types of 
 primitive minds were but little tempered. We 
 can imagine the pure pastoral Boor wearing his 
 girdle of goatskin, with a club and shepherd's 
 crook caring for the flocks of Abraham and Lot; 
 the Autocrat Nimrod ordering cities to be built 
 and killing lions; or the Projector Ishmaelites 
 from Galeed buying Joseph from his brethren to 
 sell in Egypt. But to-day the types are mixed; 
 
126 
 
 Geyserland 
 
 many sons of RoUa are following plows, and the 
 offspring of handmaidens are sitting on royal 
 thrones. 
 
 Possibly our theory is a very ancient one. One 
 clue which leads us to believe this is the suits of 
 playing cards. We are informed that these cards 
 came from the Arabs. Whatever came from the 
 Arabs is of untold antiquity, as they had a habit of 
 "hibernating" for centuries, and the modern 
 Arabs do not know their own history, which re- 
 calls their own proverb, — and proverbs existed 
 long before books, — ^" In the desert one forgets 
 everything, one remembers nothing any more." 
 
 The following table gives the different suits in 
 various times and countries, showing how our play- 
 ing cards throw an instructive side-light on an- 
 cient classifications of humanity, which corrobo- 
 rates our theory: 
 
 BOORS 
 
 AUTOCRATS 
 
 PROJECTORS ALTRUISTS 
 
 Clubs Spades (Espada ) 
 
 Diamonds 
 
 Hearts* 
 
 Labor Coltrole 
 
 Merchant 
 
 Love 
 
 Batons Swords 
 
 Money 
 
 Cups 
 
 Trefle (Clover Leaf) Pique 
 
 Carreau 
 
 Coeur 
 
 Acorn Leaves 
 
 Bells 
 
 Hearts 
 
 Knuttel Pique 
 
 Diamanten 
 
 Herz 
 
 Eichel Green 
 
 Schellen 
 
 Roth 
 
 * In the middle ages hearts were supposed to be ecclesiastical. We 
 prefer to believe that they were originally altrustic. 
 
 I. BOORS — WORKERS 
 Who lived under the formula, " Do the nearest duty." 
 
 One of the first queries of every student of his- 
 tory is, what is the difference between the patrician 
 and the plebeian? Can they change places? If 
 
Boors, Autocrats, Projectors, Altruists 127 
 
 not, why not? Assuming that they can, why have 
 some been able to do so, others not? 
 
 The Boor was a plodding, stay-at-home, unad- 
 venturing mortal; living in the present, loving his 
 surroundings, and cultivating the soil. In his pure 
 state he might have been drilled or trained, but it 
 is doubtful if he could have been educated. Hav- 
 ing a shallow mind, he was always willing to fol- 
 low any industrious or warlike occupation, but 
 slow to enter into uncertain, intellectual fields. 
 
 Existence was his chief object. The agricultural 
 Boors were always conspicuous for their fidelity 
 to their wives, and their large families, in contrast 
 to the nomad Projector or the adventure-loving 
 Autocrat. The binding ties of family and house- 
 hold gods of the Boors, with their conservation and 
 respect for ancient oaths and promises, have ever 
 made them conspicuously patriotic. The pure 
 Boors have in history ever been the willing follow- 
 ers of their autocratic chiefs. 
 
 In appearance the Boors were noted for their 
 large hands and feet and for their insignificant 
 noses. It is said that those with large nostrils 
 brought the highest prices in the slave or labor 
 market. 
 
 The Boors always constituted the masses of fight- 
 ing men. Their number was largely augmented 
 by degenerates of the Autocrats or Projectors, — 
 offspring, or captives, or ill-treated slaves, — whose 
 weak bodies too often were the cause of unambi- 
 tious spirits. The Boor did not mind being found 
 fault with if the complaint was just. 
 
 It is a sad reflection, that to the Boor personally 
 victory or defeat made but little difference — simply 
 a change of tax-gatherers. The victor was allowed 
 a little license, a short debauch, and what loot he 
 
128 Geyserland 
 
 could carry away. The last was soon lost by 
 gambling and the Boor was the same as before. 
 
 Gambling has and probably will always exist. 
 The special methods employed by the dififerent 
 temperaments is worthy of note. With the Boor, 
 having little to lose they are ever ready to take 
 chances for increasing their meager portion or los- 
 ing it all. Their peculiar systems have been by 
 lots or lottery. We believe that the lottery is right 
 in the right place. Hope, which is an inherent 
 right with the Autocrat and Projector, is practic- 
 ally denied the Boor; therefore, if law is justice, 
 as conceived by human minds, it will be successful 
 only as it adapts itself to the ever-changing char- 
 acter of the people. Hence we believe that the 
 little pittance paid to the state lottery by the Boors 
 in those southern countries where there are no mid- 
 dle classes or Projectors, does but little harm com- 
 pared to the cheerfulness it brings in the form of 
 fertile dreams of possible future opulence. Brav- 
 ery and a love for hazardous adventures have ever 
 been features of the Autocrat, where the element 
 of chance is more the objective point than skill; 
 and if fortune is against the Autocrat he takes a 
 peculiar pride in stoically accepting his bad luck 
 Dice, roulette, cock fights, sports, and racing have 
 been his favorite methods. The Projectors, with 
 their sagacity, have never been eminent as gam- 
 blers. At the race-course they are the book- 
 makers, at the card table their games are those of 
 skill. Their bold and tremendous mercantile ad- 
 ventures are based upon calculation and knowl- 
 edge, while, with the Altruist, gambling has been 
 for the amusement of the sport, and for trivial 
 stakes only, because he recognizes that one-half 
 
Boors, Autocrats, Projectors, Altruists 129 
 
 of the misery of this world has been brought about 
 by gambling. The Britons, Normans, Teutons, 
 Scotch, and Jews have never been conspicuous for 
 gambling. It is interesting to note as an item of 
 history that when Charles II. reestablished a Court 
 at St. James it became a fad with the autocratic 
 cavaliers to imitate the desperate conditions of the 
 Court at Versailles when gambling was in vogue 
 (probably more from necessity than choice among 
 the courtiers, who were coerced to live beyond 
 their means), and since then it has been the role 
 of such snobs who wish to appear of the smart set 
 to bet and gamble for heavy stakes. 
 
 From the earliest times Boors have been plen- 
 tiful, always necessary, but never much respected. 
 The romance of their lives seems to have been in 
 its rural simplicity and lack of ambition. Their 
 contentment consists in possessing only such tastes 
 and desires as can be satisfied by their surroundings. 
 
 " From toil he wins his spirits light, 
 From busy day the peaceful night; 
 Rich, from the very want of wealth, 
 In Heaven's best treasures, peace and health." 
 
 — Gray. 
 
 In rude times the Boor, unarmored, fighting with 
 clubs and stones, was obviously different from the 
 armored autocratic sword-bearer. But to-day, the 
 poor laborer or proletarian, with his blood mingled 
 with that of the Swordsman and the Projector, is 
 less credulous than the true Boor. He has happily 
 begun to reckon cost, chances, benefits, and profits 
 before enlisting to fight for his own, his country's, 
 or anybody else's rights. 
 
 People, in speaking about the " stalwart Roman," 
 meant not only the patrician Swordsman, but also 
 
130 Geyserland 
 
 the poor husbandman who had been drilled by the 
 Swordsman to be the ideal fighting man. The 
 Roman Boor in the early days of the Republic was 
 the bulwark of the state, and his decadence was 
 Rome's ruin. 
 
 In all degrees of culture there are a great num- 
 ber of absolutely necessary occupations, which, if 
 not degrading, certainly are not ennobling. In 
 the savage, barbaric, and civilized stages these 
 tasks were performed by the Boors, captives, slaves, 
 or criminals. 
 
 In Geyserland it was recognized, and it is be- 
 ginning to be appreciated by us, that this low order 
 of work, if equally divided amongst all classes, 
 will not onlv be restful but unquestionably bene- 
 ficial. Florence Nightingale said, " The three R's 
 without industry lead to the fourth R — rascality." 
 The husbandman must not be despised. To-day 
 the enlightenment of the world has so far advanced 
 that we must consider absurd those antediluvian 
 prejudices against the cultivation of the soil, as 
 attested by the refusal of Cain's sacrifice, and the 
 cursing of Adam. 
 
 The Boor is absolutely necessary. All profes- 
 sional breeders know that interbred stock " runs 
 out" and becomes "weedy" unless occasionally 
 strengthened from something nearer the soil. The 
 Swordsman and the Projector must recognize the 
 importance of both the gentle, companionable 
 woman and the industrious man among the boors. 
 Let them take as mates those toilers who work 
 without ambition, and without scheming, for it is 
 possible from the ranks of these may be recruited 
 the elements for the fairest flowers of altruism. 
 
Boors, Autocrats, Projectors, Altruists 131 
 II. autocrats or swordsmen 
 
 Motto: " Divine Right." 
 
 The Autocrats might be typified by the old 
 Saxons or Asars. 
 
 " The Asar dwelt in Ida Wollum, 
 They drank wine and were merry; 
 They made iron tools, they played at dice, 
 No cruel thirst for gold impeded them; 
 Till the three Virgins came from Thrymsa, 
 Two very powerful." 
 
 — Saga of Voluspa. 
 
 The best explanation of these three is that they 
 personify three classes into which the primitive 
 savages were divided. 
 
 I St. The cave dweller, or fruit eater. He was 
 noted for his bravery. The serpent was his em- 
 blem. He made music with drums or by pound- 
 ing. 
 
 2d. The grain eater. He was strong. First he 
 ate wild rice, later he discovered the secrets of 
 germination — the primitive agriculturist. The 
 tree was his emblem, and he made music with pipes 
 or reeds. 
 
 3d. The fish eater. He was intelligent. The 
 eagle was his emblem. He chipped the flints, and 
 invented the bow. His music was made with 
 stringed instruments like harps or lyres. 
 
 Where Thrymsa was, no one knows. 
 * * * * * 
 
 Autocrats were natural leaders of mankind. 
 
 " Conscious of thought, of more capacious breast, 
 For Empire formed, and fit to rule the rest." 
 
 — Dryden. 
 
132 Geyserland 
 
 The Autocrats and the Projectors personified 
 different theories of life, but these theories did not 
 conflict with each other. The language of each 
 was that of the country he occupied, like the lan- 
 guage of the Jews to-day. 
 
 It is to be remarked that those nations where the 
 blood of both Autocrats and Projectors circulated 
 have always been the most successful. The char- 
 acteristics of each being essential, the best results 
 could not prevail with either alone. Madagascar, 
 where sagacious Projectors went unaccompanied 
 by Autocrats, has never assumed a position of im- 
 portance in the front rank of nations. Sicily, 
 where the Norman Autocrat or Swordsman drove 
 out the Projector and where the climatic condi- 
 tions permitted indolence, has ever since been con- 
 spicuous for its quarrels, jealousies, and assassina- 
 tions, as can be seen in the " Vendetta " and 
 " Mafia " that prevail to-day. 
 
 Purity of blood and pride of race are far more 
 characteristic of the vain Autocrat than of the Pro- 
 jector. The kings of Egypt in the dynasties of 
 the Rameses and Ptolemies bred in their own fami- 
 lies. The Persians and Peruvians did the same. 
 The Dukes of Normandy, with the exception of 
 " Robert the Devil," were bastards, but they had 
 been bred from Norseman stock. The Autocrat 
 depreciated his own inheritance because he desired 
 to win a greater one.* Wherever he went he rose 
 to the surface as cream in milk. 
 
 Besides being spoken of as Autocrats this type 
 was often spoken of as Saxons (Swordsmen), for 
 
 * In the middle ages about the only method that an English gentle- 
 man had of acquiring wealth was a war with France, by which he 
 received heavy ransoms paid for prisoners. This practice lasted until 
 the peace of Munster, 1648. 
 
Boors, Autocrats, Projectors, Altruists 133 
 
 they were ever ready to aid their cause by the 
 sword. An Autocrat hangs on to his egotism 
 with a peculiar pride, and at any breach of civili- 
 ties is ready at once to adopt bad-tempered methods 
 of vengeance. With Swordsmen, combat must 
 ever be the supreme court of arbitration, justice, 
 and retaliation. Brave to a fault, with them it 
 was a " word and a blow." Instant punishment 
 for an insult from an inferior is the scheme of the 
 Autocrat — no trial, no preparation, no taking off 
 of coats, but the blow or thrust of the sword at 
 once. 
 
 The dubbing or accolade of a knight was 
 emblematic of the last affront which was lawful 
 for him to endure. Chivalry would not permit 
 the word of a nobleman nor the virtue of a lady 
 to be questioned. (Merit and virtue should chal- 
 lenge investigation — not forbid it.) Chivalry 
 bred a pernicious thirst for military renown which 
 caused men to solicit quarrels, not for the public 
 good, but for personal vanity. The trial of com- 
 bat was the first principle of chivalry, which is as 
 absurd as the ordeal by water and fire. 
 
 Apparently it is a law of Nature that the auto- 
 cratic element should not be too plentiful. It is a 
 well-established fact that all autocratic leaders are 
 instinctively at the post of danger — and there the 
 infuriated heroes, like bulls and stags, fight to a 
 finish; for example, at the time of the Conquest, 
 the best fighting element of the old Saxons, fero- 
 cious invaders of England, had been frightfully 
 diminished by their feuds and quarrels, which per- 
 mitted their Norman kinsfolk easily to conquer. 
 The English and Normans were kinsmen, the only 
 difference being that one left the shores of the 
 
134 Geyserland 
 
 Baltic about five hundred years earlier than the 
 other. 
 
 The Autocrats, naturally a quarrelsome people, 
 avoided quarreling among themselves to preserve 
 the common peace. Like a Scotch clan or a tribe 
 of North American Indians, they chose a chief- 
 tain, whom they obeyed only from a motive of 
 organization, not as a recognition of his superi- 
 ority. A chief was entitled to a larger share of 
 the loot because of his position, but more than his 
 share he must not have. 
 
 The pride of the Autocrat early established the 
 principle that happiness was caused by freedom 
 from care and trouble. They craved an un- 
 checked indulgence in every species of sexual 
 pleasure. The Autocrat's conviction of his own 
 superiority has permitted him to become a privi- 
 leged character. Danton recognized the lack of 
 this quality in the French revolutionary democ- 
 racy, when he besought them to have " audacity, 
 again audacity, always audacity." Pride and dig- 
 nity were characteristic qualities of Autocrats, who 
 writhed under criticism, and wanted a strain of 
 unbroken eulogy. The ambition of the Autocrats 
 was to govern, the ambition of the Projectors and 
 Boors was to be well governed. 
 
 The contempt that the Autocrats had for com- 
 mercialism and their respect for athletics is well 
 illustrated in the Odyssey, VIII. 
 
 Laodamas thus addressed Odysseus (Ulysses) : 
 
 " Come, good old stranger, do you also try the games, if 
 you have skill in any. Games you should know. There is no 
 greater glory for a man in all his life than what he wins with 
 his own feet and hands. Come then, and try! Drive trouble 
 from your heart! ..." 
 
 Then wise Odysseus answered him and said: " Laodamas, 
 
Boors, Autocrats, Projectors, Altruists 135 
 
 why mock me with this challenge? Sorrow is on my heart 
 far more than games ; for in times past much have I borne and 
 much have toiled, and now I sit in your assembly longing for 
 my home and supplicate your king and all this people." 
 
 Then answered back Euryalus, and mocked him to his face: 
 " No indeed, stranger, you do not look like one expert in games, 
 much as count with men; rather like one busied with ships 
 of many oars, captain of seamen who are traders, one whose 
 mind is on his cargo, watching freights and greedy gains. You 
 are not like an athlete." 
 
 But looking sternly on him wise Odysseus said : " Stranger, 
 your words are rude. You seem a reckless person. . . . 
 You stirred the very soul within my breast by talking so un- 
 mannerly. No ! I am not unskilled in games, as you declare ; 
 I was among the best, I think, while I could trust my vigorous 
 age and these my arms. Now I am overwhelmed with pain 
 and trouble; for much have I endured, cleaving my way through 
 wars of men and through the boisterous seas. Still even so, all 
 woe-worn as I am, I will attempt the games, because your 
 words were galling; you provoked me, talking thus." 
 
 He spoke, and with his cloak still on he sprang and seized 
 a discus larger than the rest, and thick, heavier by not a little 
 than those which the Phaeacians were using for themselves. This 
 with a twist he sent from his stout hand. The stone hummed as 
 it went; down to the ground crouched the Phaeacian oarsmen, 
 notable men at sea, at the stone's cast. Past all the marks it 
 flew, swift speeding from his hand." [Palmer translation.] 
 
 The first evidence of the infiltration of the blood 
 of the Autocrat in the Boor or Projector is a rebel- 
 lious feeling at taking a secondary position. No 
 compensation can make amends for inequality with 
 those possessed of autocratic blood. This is shown 
 by the mulatto in the United States, or the success- 
 ful tradesman in the Parisian Opera House. A 
 hundred years ago at the opera one only saw the 
 so-called thoroughbred sitting in the boxes. To- 
 day the piratical, adventure-loving, " high-bred " 
 looking Autocrat has been replaced by the smug 
 '' stay-at-home," successful atom of industrial life. 
 The non-combative shopkeeper now occupies a 
 
136 Geyserland 
 
 place where he would not have dared to intrude 
 in the days when the sword which always hung by 
 a gentleman's side was ever ready to defend the 
 divine birth-right of the presumptuous, quarrel- 
 some Autocrat. 
 
 The Autocrats possessed but little originality, 
 but having good memories were given to imita- 
 tions of all kinds. They were eloquent, and nat- 
 ural politicians ; illiterate, but loving poetry. They 
 left to their clerks or clergy the " ignoble " task of 
 learning. An Autocrat of the Middle Ages out- 
 side of the church who would strive to educate 
 himself was almost as much despised as one of to- 
 day who would stack a deck of cards; it was an 
 unfair advantage, neither chivalric nor sportsman- 
 like. The following song aimed at Sir John Old- 
 castle, leader of the Lollards, and supposed to be 
 the original of Falstaf¥, shows the spirit of the 
 times. 
 
 " I trow there be no knight alive 
 That would have done so open shame 
 For that craft to study or strive; 
 It is no gentleman's game." 
 
 Autocrats made themselves familiar with the 
 manners and customs of those around them, with 
 the sole idea of dominating and commanding them. 
 Shrewd and eager after both dominion and rights, 
 the Swordsmen chose to reap where they had not 
 planted. They were always ready for transactions 
 in which they undertook to give only what did not 
 belong to them. 
 
 Politeness was not an inherent characteristic of 
 the Autocrats, but was cultivated solely for the 
 sake of self-interest. Nevertheless, the Autocrats 
 were always conspicuous for their courteous man- 
 
Boors, Autocrats, Projectors, Altruists 137 
 
 ners. We believe true politeness comes from the 
 heart, while courtesy, which is mere obsequious 
 suavity, comes from the fear of a quarrel. From 
 their standpoint, giving away to another was the 
 act of a craven, and courtesy of manner among 
 them was accompanied by severe dignity. From 
 them, however, we derive our first conception of 
 decorous manners as well as the rules for war and 
 the laws of honor and truth, and also the theory of 
 peace, " that all gentlemen should be armed and 
 ever be ready to respond to a summons to keep the 
 Lord King's peace." On the principle that the 
 brave man is generous, it is perhaps to the Auto- 
 crat that we owe the idea that it is right and noble 
 to sympathize with the misfortunes of the weak. 
 
 Plurality of wives seems to have been another 
 of their assumed " rights." The fidelity of a royal 
 person has never been nor is to-day expected. 
 Henry IV., the brave, iron-handed ruler of France, 
 took his pleasures like a common sailor with the 
 Boorish fish-women from the market. 
 
 The same combination of blood that makes the 
 modern autocratic social leader, made the ancient 
 conqueror, freebooter, or pirate. It has always 
 been good form for an autocrat to rob — but never 
 to steal. Brennus was a true Autocrat when he 
 said in reference to a dispute about weight, as he 
 threw his sword into the scales containing Rome's 
 ransom, "Woe to the conquered!" 
 
 We know that Nebuchadnezzar 600 years before 
 Christ (and there were others probably before 
 him) made war on the pirates of the Mediterra- 
 nean. The escaped slaves and fugitive outlaws — 
 Etruscan, Semitic, Caucasian and Negro — gath- 
 ered before the dawn of history about the Ionian 
 
138 Geyserland 
 
 Islands with desperate determination and ferocious 
 heartlessness, and bravely took their chances to bet- 
 ter their conditions or perish. History informs us 
 that these pirates were frequently " rounded up " 
 or driven out of the Mediterranean. Assur-bani- 
 pal, the Sardanapalus of the Greeks, 667 B. C.^ 
 made efforts to check the Etruscan and Sicilian 
 pirates. Pompey and Barbarrossa, and in more 
 modern times our Decatur, made fame for them- 
 selves battling with these husky, dusky desper- 
 adoes. Where did they go who escaped through 
 the " Pillars of Hercules "? They probably went 
 every way, possibly some due west, but we be- 
 lieve of those who went north they survived best 
 who reached the balmy air that accompanies the 
 Gulf Stream; that is, the west coast of Ireland, 
 Wales, England, Scotland, and the Baltic Ocean. 
 Anthropologists have been puzzled by the discov- 
 ery of so many traces of the Mediterranean types 
 around Denmark, Zealand, and Jutland. The 
 modern Autocrat is a remnant of that piratical, 
 determined, desperate, cruel stage of culture; he 
 has not risen to a sufficiently high stage of en- 
 lightenment that he may be relied upon not to de- 
 scend to the fighting stage, when he concludes that 
 his rights, or the rights that he considers himself 
 responsible for, are assailed. The old pirate blood 
 accounts for much of our modern ferocity and 
 dates back to the days when the Northern plun- 
 derers tore the Roman Empire to pieces. Free- 
 man wrote, " The indomitable vigor of the Scan- 
 dinavian, joined to the buoyant vivacity of the 
 Gaul, produced the conquering and ruling race of 
 Europe." The Autocrats have always been keen 
 to discover unprotected wealth, such as the wealth 
 of Constantinople, Peru, and Mexico, the treasure- 
 
Boors, Autocrats, Projectors, Altruists 139 
 
 ship of the Spaniard, hoarded gold and jewels of 
 India, the fertile fields of America, and the mines 
 of South Africa. 
 
 When Caesar conquered Gaul the Gauls were 
 nothing but autocratic fighting men with Boor 
 slaves who did all the menial work. With the 
 North American red man we find autocratic char- 
 acteristics in the ascendant; for instance, the Iro- 
 quois were Autocrats, and they would rather die 
 than do menial work; whereas, the Hurons were 
 Boors and cultivated the soil for the Iroquois. In 
 Egypt we discover the boastful records of the Auto- 
 crats, and the following is found on each tomb in 
 the Valley of the Kings outside of Thebes: "I 
 the God Ptah have given to thee [here follows the 
 name] who art of the race of Asar, length of days 
 that thou mightest fulfill the functions of Horus 
 [Justice]." 
 
 The ancient song of the Mamertimes is in the 
 same key. 
 
 " With my lance and my sword 
 I plow and I reap; 
 I am the ruler of the house! 
 
 Disarmed, my enemy falls at my feet, 
 Calling me Lord and Great King." 
 
 The old Scotch predatory Barons of Cranston, 
 with their motto, " Thou shalt want ere I want," 
 were good examples of the rapacious autocratic 
 type. 
 
 The Macedonians were largely of the autocratic 
 race; the early Roman republican leaders strongly 
 so. The type was noticeable in Greece, Carthage, 
 and Gaul, also in Mexico and Peru. The Peru- 
 
140 Geyserland 
 
 vians were not a warlike race; it was their masters, 
 the autocratic Incas. 
 
 In appearance the typical Autocrat has been tall, 
 blonde, and athletic, with a large Roman nose, re- 
 treating forehead, clear eye, and firm mouth and 
 jaw. The Brahmins were a good type of the 
 Autocrat, with their low, ample forehead, thin 
 lips, sharp eyes, long fingers, noble carriage and 
 sublime air of intense self-consciousness and pride. 
 These twice-born men conquered the aborgines of 
 India and established a caste of their own superi- 
 ority. Buddha was never able to overcome this 
 spirit of inequality of the Brahmins. 
 
 The warrior Autocrat, with " might as right," 
 stood up as the first officer of the Almighty and 
 proclaimed himself nearest to the Unknown. Woe 
 to such as questioned this privilege. The chief 
 gathered around him a number of the learned and 
 intrusted to them the details of religion, thus orig- 
 inating the autocratic priesthood. The fact that 
 both church and state have always exerted their 
 influence to augment the population, naturally 
 benefited each. Autocratic chieftains and pre- 
 lates have commanded and preached the theory of 
 equality (the corner-stone of Christianity) , but they 
 themselves have never accepted it. The saint, 
 Thomas a Becket, a pure type of a church Auto- 
 crat, was a Norman; his father, Gilbert, was from 
 Rouen, his mother from Caen. 
 
Boors, Autocrats, Projectors, Altruists 141 
 
 III. projectors 
 
 Motto : " Credit and respectability." 
 
 Projectors: We have selected this name be- 
 cause it conveys more of our meaning than any 
 other English word. 
 
 Fitzdottrel. But what is a Projector? 
 I would conceive. 
 
 Engine. Why, one, sir, that projects 
 
 Ways to enrich men, or to make them great 
 By suits, by marriages, by understandings. 
 
 —Ben Jonson, " The Devil is an Ass." 
 
 The distinct elementary type of humanity which 
 we wish to designate as " Projector" was not the 
 plodding industrious Boor, nor the warlike, domi- 
 neering Autocrat, but a scheming, bartering, in- 
 ventive, intelligent type who has ever been in sym- 
 pathy with nature and rational science. The Pro- 
 jector has ever preferred paying tribute to going 
 to war. To these Projectors we owe most of the 
 comforts of our daily life. 
 
 Like the Boors and Autocrats, they were the 
 descendants of the survivors of an antediluvian 
 people; but it was these Projectors who retained 
 the culture and knowledge of the past. They 
 were an enlightened yeast with which a new eon 
 was leavened. 
 
 The Projectors of the tropics, like the Auto- 
 crats of the temperate zone, adapted themselves 
 to the customs of the country in which they stayed 
 and made the best of its native charms. The hot 
 climate of the Persian Gulf, Egypt, the Sahara 
 Desert, India, and Yucatan has never badly af- 
 fected the intellectual powers of these people. 
 
142 Geyserland 
 
 It is not in the temperament of the Projector or 
 Autocrat to care for what does not appeal to his 
 interests. Patriotism and religion were for policy 
 only. The Venetians had the image of Christ 
 upon their coins, and the rapacious Florentine 
 woolen makers paid for most of the Cathedral. 
 L. Owen Pope wrote, " English merchants were 
 in the habit of supplying nations at war against 
 England with provisions bought at English fairs, 
 and weapons wrought by English hands. When 
 England was at war with France, La Rochelle was 
 supplied with food by English traitors; when Eng- 
 land was at war with Scotland, the Scottish camp 
 was fed from English markets, and English sol- 
 diers fell by English arrows, shot from English 
 bows by Scottish arms. The knight was little be- 
 hind the trader in treachery, and a ' chivaler' who 
 held the office of the King's arrayer of archers 
 levied a sum in excess of that which was required 
 for the due execution of his office, and appropri- 
 ated the whole to his own use." 
 
 Unlike the Autocrat, the Projector had a keen 
 appreciation of weights and measures, values and 
 proportions. He was a commercial expert in 
 every commodity — jewels, drugs, spices, stuffs, and 
 slaves. He infused new ideas into the masses and 
 avv^akened interests in science, commerce, poetry, 
 architecture, and decorations. 
 
 From Grecian writings we would suppose ra- 
 tional sciences were of Grecian origin, while, as 
 a matter of fact, they came from the Cushite- 
 Ethiopians. The Greeks only refined them and 
 passed them down to us as their own. Grecian 
 historians found great pleasure in showing that all 
 those before them knew nothing. 
 
 The history of the diffusion of enlightenment is 
 
Boors, Autocrats, Projectors, Altruists 143 
 
 the history of commerce. Where commerce went, 
 ideas were bartered with the advantage in favor of 
 the wandering merchant. It is easier to believe 
 that culture has more often been adopted than 
 evolved. The strange mixture of races, language, 
 knowledge, habits, and custom forces us to con- 
 clude that in prehistoric times there were, besides 
 the innumerable coasting ships engaged in com- 
 merce in the Mediterranean and coast of Asia, 
 overland trails extending from Japan to Ireland, 
 from the Arctic to the Tropics. Tin was brought 
 by land to the East from Cornwall before the ships 
 ventured across the Bay of Biscay. These trails 
 and sea routes were traveled by nomad adven- 
 turers, or projecting merchants, who circulated 
 with profit to themselves those discoveries and in- 
 ventions that had painfully and patiently been de- 
 veloped in ancient times and retained by the culti- 
 vated Projectors. These commercial enterprises 
 also resulted in more mixing of the races than 
 conquests ever accomplished. These merchants 
 opened the door to an abnormal love of lucre, 
 which explains why, in primitive societies, mer- 
 chants were but little esteemed. 
 
 It is possible that the early Projectors may 
 have been of Chinese origin and first developed in 
 Shen-si (hence the name), the most ancient prov- 
 ince of China, and have traveled across Thibet to 
 Siam and then followed the coast to the mouth 
 of the Euphrates. The hypothesis would be in 
 harmony with the fact that the Chinese are the 
 only cultured race who have not found it neces- 
 sary to travel abroad for enlightenment.* 
 
 * The orthodox Chinese have always had contempt for the floating 
 population outside of their border, and use a phrase meaning for them 
 " hither and thither, not fixed." 
 
144 Geyserland 
 
 Others, who believe in the lost Atlantis, may 
 think the Projectors were the descendants of the 
 Atlantean race. Ignatius Donnelly claims that 
 the wide-eyed natives of that lost continent were 
 the originators of all the comforts of ancient civil- 
 ization. Perhaps a more plausible hypothesis is 
 that the Projectors are descendants of those early 
 wandering merchants, the Cushites, whom Bald- 
 win in his " Prehistoric Races " describes as hav- 
 ing settlements extending from India to the Pillars 
 of Hercules, centuries before Chaldea or Egypt 
 became prominent. 
 
 We should have chosen the word " Arab " to 
 designate this Projector type were it not for the 
 possibility of some readers thinking that this ele- 
 mentary type of mankind was confined to one race; 
 for we frankly admit that the qualities that char- 
 acterize this type have always been conspicuous in 
 the Cushite-Ethiopian-Arab, combined with a won- 
 derful ability to survive successive Dark Ages, 
 
 The Cushites of the vast empire of Cusha-dwipa 
 may not have been the oldest people of culture, but 
 they are the oldest of whom we have any trace. 
 The ancient glory of the empire departed previous 
 to the rise of the Assyrian empire, 1300 B. C. 
 
 Phoenicia was to the Cushite of Arabia what 
 San Francisco is to the Anglo-Saxon of to-day, 
 a frontier port for commerce with a vast West; 
 with this difference, that the Chinese and Japanese 
 of to-day know what is back of San Francisco, 
 whereas, the Greeks and Romans believed Phoe- 
 nicia to be the source of all the delicacies of the 
 East. The misapprehension was artfully nour- 
 ished by the wily merchants, and all speculations 
 were discouraged, and the southern Arabians were 
 the only navigators on the Indian Ocean until 
 
Boors, Autocrats, Projectors, Altruists 145 
 Vasco da Gama went to India around the Cape, 
 
 1497 A. D. 
 
 Herodotus, like others of his time, supposed that 
 the good things from Arabia were produced there. 
 " There breathes from Arabia a divine odor, 
 myrrh, frankincense, cinnamon and ledanum." 
 The elder Pliny, speaking about Arabians, summed 
 up as follows: "Taking them all in all, they 
 are the richest nation in the world." Alexander, 
 in the third century before Christ, was the first 
 European to enlighten the West about that coun- 
 try east of Arabia. Prior to his time Ceylon was 
 supposed to be the beginning of another world. 
 
 We know that in Chaldea, in early days, the 
 practice of working in metals was under the direc- 
 tion of foreigners. Berosus, the Babylonian histo- 
 rian, describes a being (Galon or Cannes) half 
 man, half fish, who emerged at intervals from the 
 sea and taught the Babylonians arts and handi- 
 crafts. This was a graphic manner of portraying 
 the Projector in his ship, for the true Projector, 
 unlike the Jew, was a wanderer by sea as well as 
 by land. 
 
 There were two elements in ancient Arabia — a 
 Semitic Bedouin nomad element, unartistic, living 
 then as now in tents and huts, as they lived four 
 thousand years before Christ, inventing nothing 
 and persistently perpetuating inane customs; the 
 other, the true Cusha-dwipa, — artistic, progres- 
 sive, initiative, commercial, — the true Projector to 
 whom we owe all the salient beginnings of our 
 luxurious comforts of to-day. 
 
 Mr. Palgrove, one of the best Arabian authori- 
 ties, speaking of the mechanical initiative of the 
 modern dwellers in Southern Arabia, remarked 
 that to him " they would be more at home at Shef- 
 
146 Geyserland 
 
 field and Birmingham than in their present isolated 
 surroundings." Renan says (speaking of the same 
 people), "They have for a thousand years less 
 lived than lasted. Like an exhausted race they have 
 sought a retreat and found it in the bosom of the 
 narrow walls of the Moslem faith, and there they 
 have allowed their intellect, energy, and imagina- 
 tion to rot." Let us hope that it is only sleeping 
 and resting, and will spring up and come to light 
 again with renewed vigor and higher ideals. 
 
 The original Arabian who spoke the Himyaric 
 language was a Projector, but has been crowded 
 out of Arabia by the Semite nomad who spoke 
 Arabic and who now claims to be a descendant of 
 Ishmael; whereas, the pure Arabs were in their 
 decadence long before Abraham or Melchizidek. 
 The descendants of these original Arabs are to- 
 day scattered all over the world. A few of the 
 pure race, however, are to be found in the interior 
 of Southern Arabia. They have become Moham- 
 medans, and refer to their noble ancestors as " Jins " 
 or " Devils," and they now speak Arabic instead 
 of the original Himyaric. 
 
 The Projectors were few in feudal times in 
 Northern Europe, where Autocrats and Boors 
 abounded. It was a surprise to the noble Cru- 
 saders to find merchants living in palaces in Pisa, 
 Florence, Genoa, and Venice. There the cunning 
 of the promoters had replaced the violence of the 
 Autocrats. 
 
 The Free Masons, who claim to date from the 
 time of Solomon and of Hiram of Tyre, were 
 practically introduced into Europe during the 
 eleventh century, from Spain. The skilled work- 
 men going to Strasburg, Antwerp, and other cathe- 
 dral towns of Europe during the summer months 
 
Boors, Autocrats, Projectors, Altruists 147 
 
 returned south in the winter. The following sea- 
 son they found it necessary to identify themselves 
 by secret signs and ceremonies, the degree of their 
 ability and craft. These people were welcomed 
 by the prelates, because the monks and those who 
 had done the designing, carving, and decorating 
 before that time had degenerated into the use of 
 obscene designs; for example, one can see to-day in 
 Salisbury Cathedral the specimens of phallic wor- 
 ship which in those days were common all over 
 Christendom. Hence the authorities of the church 
 gladly recognized the pure geometrical innova- 
 tions of the Arab craftsman. 
 
 The Projectors, in contrast to the Boors, had 
 small families. Not wishing to be burdened with 
 female children, they often sold them. Selfish- 
 ness and the desire for individual profit have al- 
 ways been associated with the reputation of the 
 Projector merchants, hence they have always been 
 a type both envied and despised, like the battle- 
 shy Carthaginians who hired men to fight for them, 
 or the non-combative shopkeepers of the French 
 Revolution. 
 
 The interests of the Projector are ever centered 
 in himself. He believes that his individuality is 
 constantly under the eye of El, who is always in 
 the vicinity. The dignified Projector is ever ap- 
 preciative of Nature, with a gracious word to every 
 bird and a salutation to every beast. The Auto- 
 crat controls animals bv force, whereas the Pro- 
 jector by his sympathy charms them. 
 
 Before the practice of making accurate records 
 of history, people remembered incidents of ex- 
 traordinary character and repeated them, while 
 they easily forgot their proper history.* 
 
 * To facilitate memory, not only tribes but generations of tribes were 
 pictured as an individual. 
 
148 Geyserland 
 
 In the same manner that Lincoln, Grant, Lee, 
 and Emerson may in coming ages be spoken of as 
 the children of Columbia, so Lameck, Israel, and 
 Tubal Cain are names representing species of our 
 race. It is impossible to believe that the mythical 
 Roman Numa was a human being, for his name 
 means " soul," and obviously is a personification of 
 the influences which developed the Roman char- 
 acter. 
 
 As Britannia is the " Gem of the ocean," or Ada 
 is " The mother of such as dwell in tents," so 
 Tubal Cain in the Bible is the earliest mention of 
 the type of the Projector. The Cushite-Ethiopian 
 was alwavs the popular ideal of the Jew, and he 
 sought alliance with them. Moses married a 
 daughter of their race. 
 
 It is easy to detect the influence of the Projec- 
 tor in ancient Peru, and particularly in Yucatan 
 and Central Ameri.ca, by monuments and feats of 
 engineering which could not "have been accom- 
 plished either by Autocrats or Boors. 
 
 Unprotected wealth has always been the weak- 
 ness of the Projector, because of his economic 
 rather than martial instinct. Venice and Genoa, 
 however, profited by the history of Carthage and 
 valiantly held their own until the new route to 
 India by way of the Cape left them commercially 
 stranded. The burghers of the free cities in the 
 Middle Ages in Europe recognized that their 
 hoarded wealth was weak without protection, and 
 as Venus sought the strong arm of Vulcan, so they 
 developed our civic laws and police — the safe- 
 guards of our personal rights. The Projector has 
 always wanted order, the Autocrat freedom. 
 
 Seven hundred years before there was a pub- 
 lic lamp in London, and when Paris was still a 
 
Boors, Autocrats, Projectors, Altruists 149 
 
 swampy town of windowless dwellings, Cordova 
 had miles of well-lighted, well-paved streets.* 
 
 In those days the constant use of baths by the 
 Projector-Arab contrasted well with the saintly 
 disregard of cleanliness of the Christian. The 
 Grecian consort of the Doge Domenico Selvo, 
 1043 A. D., was most unpopular in Venice because 
 of her delicate ways. She would not touch her 
 food with her fingers, but made use of a two- 
 pronged instrument of gold to carry it to her 
 mouth, and when later she died of smallpox it was 
 considered a proper judgment upon her. Those 
 were " in the good old days " when people ate 
 their meat from their fingers, wiped their fingers 
 on bread, and then ate the bread. 
 
 In the Middle Ages the influence of the Pro- 
 jector became apparent in the Low Countries. In 
 the year 1000, when Saint Stephen was crowned 
 King of Hungary, he Christianized his country 
 and reopened the Danube route to the East that 
 had been closed since the time of Attila, 450. The 
 Projector may have come up the Danube and down 
 the Rhine, or he may have been a refugee from 
 Carthage. In any case his commercial and crea- 
 tive energy reached England in the time of 
 Henry VII. and has since been scattered broadcast 
 throughout the English-speaking world. 
 
 Caesar, happy conglomeration of Autocrat and 
 Projector, was valiant and, when necessary, ready 
 to lead in any desperate assault; but on the other 
 hand he designed and constructed the bridge over 
 
 * The common error of using the term " Moorish architecture " can 
 only be accounted for by the fact that the Moors were many and the 
 Arabs few. The same architectural skill that prevailed in Cordova and 
 Granada also prevailed in Cairo, as the Mosques evince. The reader 
 will remember that many of our architectural terms are Arabic — " arc- 
 ogive," " minaret," etc. 
 
150 Geyserland 
 
 the Rhine in ten days, and he fought the su- 
 perior British Belgii ships by a false deck and 
 long scythes attached to poles to cut their ropes. 
 
 Let us realize that we are indebted to the 
 Arab Projector for bringing light to the West 
 and dispelling the monkish gloom of the Dark 
 Ages. " Roger Bacon, who was probably the 
 greatest natural philosopher of the Middle Ages, 
 was profoundly versed in Arabian learning." 
 (Sharon Turner's History of England). Aris- 
 totle was first made known to modern Europe by 
 Jewish translation from Arabic versions. It was 
 also the Arabs who enlightened the frenzied Cru- 
 saders in the Middle Ages, and to-day it is the Jew 
 with the strain of the blood of the Cushite-Ethi- 
 opian of Southern Arabia who has brought com- 
 mercial civilization to its present state of scientific 
 scheming. He, the Jew, although not the purest 
 of his type, has been for centuries the most con- 
 spicuous exponent of it. The Jew has done more 
 than any other type of man to develop the middle 
 class, which is the salient element of every pros- 
 perous nation. Justice may have its origin in the 
 fair exchange of a Projector trader for expediency 
 as an asset, which is exemplified in the large com- 
 mercial houses of to-day. 
 
 IV. ALTRUISTS 
 
 Motto: " Do good for the love of good." 
 
 " Something assures me that he who, hardly knowing why, has, out 
 of simple nobleness of nature, chosen for himself in the world the 
 essentially unprofitable, unproductive function of doing good, is the 
 truly wise man, and has discerned, with more sagacity than the egotist, 
 the legitimate employment of life." — Re>4AN, Hibbert Lectures. 
 
 We have selected the word " Altruist " to define 
 that type of man who, by his natural feelings, best 
 
Boors, Autocrats, Projectors, Altruists 151 
 
 represents the temperament brought about by the 
 happiest mixing of the blood of the Autocrat, Pro- 
 jector, and Boor. 
 
 The espousing powerful Autocrat warrior and 
 the wealthy Projecting merchant both recognized 
 the charm of the unselfish daughters of the hus- 
 bandmen, and history is sparkling with noble char- 
 acters, offspring of these suitable blendings. 
 
 The Altruist has been evolved from love. Haec- 
 kel speaks of Altruists as " enlightened egotists." 
 It may be so, but the characteristic virtues of Altru- 
 ism will ever be unselfishness, toleration, and sym- 
 pathy, and in the eyes of the Altruist mean acts will 
 always be the only evil ones. 
 
 Altruists have always been few, but from myth- 
 ical days we find them known and loved. The 
 motive for the development of this altruistic spirit 
 seems to have been a desire to parallel the all-en- 
 during mother-love. For there is but the smallest 
 step between the love of the mother for her infant 
 and the largeness of heart which can love all crea- 
 tures. 
 
 ''Noblesse oblige" is the motto of an actor, 
 " compensation " the reward of a sordid soul. Pro- 
 bity, honor, and pride of race are characteristics 
 of the Altruist; but the Altruist possesses these 
 qualities for his own satisfaction, and does not be- 
 come quarrelsome if others do not recognize and 
 give him credit for them. 
 
 The Altruist looks upon every creation of Nature 
 as having the same origin or cause of being as him- 
 self; and being endowed with "the serene impar- 
 tiality of a mongrel," as Huxley put it, has always 
 displayed a friendship with everybody and every- 
 thing, which has permitted him to view life from 
 a higher level than is possible with an egotist. Our 
 
152 Geyserland 
 
 temperaments are the windows through which we 
 must see the world. 
 
 Companionships, partnerships, or what boys at 
 football designate as " team work," have ever been 
 popular with Altruists. Gatherings, like congre- 
 gations, monastic fraternities, and social clubs, have 
 originated from similarity of temperaments, and a 
 desire to aid others. Thomas a Kempis said, " If 
 anybody needs a thing more than I do, let him 
 have it"; or as an uncommercial man said, "A 
 man who is rich enough to lend is rich enough to 
 give." Goethe admitted that his works had been 
 an expense to him. 
 
 The vanity of a man has always led him to per- 
 petuate his own type, whereas a woman has always 
 instinctively tried to improve her race. We be- 
 lieve that our present conditions should become so 
 modified as to permit a mother to select the father 
 of her offspring. Nature will assert itself and the 
 result will approach the noble Altruist rather than 
 the snobbish courageous Autocrat, or the success- 
 ful, money-grabbing Projector. The world is rec- 
 ognizing that it has had enough of war and finan- 
 cial scheming, and now wishes to enjoy the crea- 
 tions around it. The ideal Altruist will always 
 occupy a relative position, because the one that 
 suits conditions of to-day will not be suitable for 
 those of to-morrow. Poets, historians, biographers, 
 and philosophers have all tried to proclaim the 
 ideal Altruist. We leave the students of Oriental 
 history to decide upon the origin of the story of 
 Job, but the portrait could not have been worded 
 as it is by any one who did not appreciate the full 
 meaning of Altruism. 
 
Boors, Autocrats, Projectors, Altruists 153 
 
 The author saw that a man's misfortunes re- 
 sulted from other causes than a judgment for his 
 sins. " The father of the oppressed, and of those 
 who had none to help them." " He did not de- 
 spise the cause of the man-servant, nor his maid- 
 servant when they contended with him," knowing 
 that Nature, " who had made him, had made 
 them." 
 
 James Freeman Clarke, writing about those 
 noble Altruists, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, 
 states that what was needed in their time was " not 
 a new philosophy, but a new ideal." They could 
 not stop the already downward tendency of mo- 
 rality. A man wishes to be respected by those 
 whom he respects, therefore he is influenced by a 
 desire to be like those who are considered superior 
 people whom he respects. A good ideal tempera- 
 ment must give way to a better ideal temperament. 
 The most successful ideal has been that of Jesus — 
 it is so elastic and so many-sided that almost every 
 reform or new religion has gained strength by 
 subordinating its principles to this ideal. 
 
 Something akin to this fourth or altruistic stage 
 of culture is suggested by Daniel in his fourth and 
 final Kingdom inhabited by Saints. He designated 
 it as the " Kingdom of Heaven," a term often used 
 by Jesus, who, as Renan says, was more impressed 
 by Daniel than by any other prophet. (See Dan- 
 iel n and vn.) 
 
 " It was reserved for Christianity," Lecky wrote, 
 " to present to the world an ideal character, which 
 through all the changes of eighteen centuries has 
 inspired the hearts of men with an impassioned 
 love, has shown itself capable of acting on all ages, 
 nations, temperaments, and conditions, has been 
 not only the highest pattern of virtue, but the 
 
154 Geyserland 
 
 strongest incentive to its practice, and has exercised 
 so deep an influence that it may be truly said that 
 the simple record of three short years of active 
 life has done more to regenerate and to soften man- 
 kind than all the disquisitions and all the exhorta- 
 tions of moralists. This has indeed been the well- 
 spring of whatever is best and purest in the Chris- 
 tian life. Amid all the sins and failings, amid all 
 the priestcraft and persecution and fanaticism that 
 have defaced the church, it has preserved in the 
 character and example of its founder an enduring 
 principle of regeneration. Perfect love knows no 
 rights." 
 
 The eminent men of the last hundred years have 
 recognized that an ideal Altruist concentrated upon 
 earthly work is more practical, and that the true 
 Altruist is he who helps others by deeds rather 
 than consolation — such men as Alfred the Great, 
 Franklin, Lincoln, and Tolstoi. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 PROGRESS — HOMOCULTURE 
 
 " Produce great people, the rest follows." — Walt Whitman. 
 
 "Every action admits of being outdone; every end is a beginning." 
 Emerson. 
 
 " We are the ancients of the earth and in the morning of the times." 
 — Tennyson. 
 
 " The most merciful form of what I call ' eugenics ' homoculture 
 (from Eugene — signifying well-born) would consist in watching for 
 the indications of superior strains of races, and in so favoring them 
 that their progeny shall outnumber and gradually replace that of the 
 old one." — Francis Galton. 
 
 Two or three months after Adam's rescue, Sibis, 
 the disabled Fasho on his crutches, and the Assist- 
 ant Surgeon were passing through a birch grove 
 by the lake shore path, on their return from the 
 gymnasium of the Temple of Reason. An aged 
 sage had been explaining the cultivated evolution 
 of talking animals and luminous plants. In Gey- 
 serland there were many strange species of animal 
 and plant life, such as talking, half-witted cats, and 
 plants not unlike our sunflower, which were light- 
 giving like the glow-worms or luminous mush- 
 rooms, though upon a much larger scale, and which 
 were most useful during the long nights of the Arc- 
 tic winter. Unfortunately, Adam Mann's mind 
 had not been educated in the sciences, and although 
 his old Bible had on the margin of its pages many 
 inexplicably odd matters. Professor Mark Stubble 
 found among his notes no explanatory details on 
 those subjects. 
 
 Adam was astonished to find so vast a variety of 
 
 155 
 
156 Geyserland 
 
 his fellow-beings. If all characters were melted 
 and poured into one mold, certainly the world 
 would be much easier to govern; but the Geyser- 
 landers had recognized that it was not to the advan- 
 tage of the community that all people should be 
 alike. We all remember that Plato appreciated 
 and was careful to record the variety of colors of 
 the inhabitants of " the lost Atlantis " — red, white, 
 yellow, and black. The Geyserlanders studied to 
 preserve them all.* 
 
 If the eminent leaders of our masses, our philoso- 
 phers, could lift themselves from their present 
 round on the ladder of culture to the one above, and 
 thus permit themselves to contemplate the whole 
 field in its entirety, they would realize the advan- 
 tages and disadvantages of what is below them, in 
 the same superior manner that a neolithic savage 
 looks disdainfully upon a preolithic one. The cul- 
 tivation of mankind — the science of stirpiculture — 
 is in its infancy with us compared to other sciences, 
 such as agriculture and floriculture. Any attempt 
 to improve our humanity on the same lines that 
 Burbank improves plant life would be promptly 
 stopped by any civilized government of to-day. 
 
 The Geyserlanders did not wish to intrude on 
 the proper functions of destiny, but believed that 
 they should take such steps as would prevent des- 
 tiny from dealing blank and worthless cards. 
 
 • The red man portrayed on the walls of old Egypt is not the red 
 raan of America; but he was truly red, that is, crimson. The first 
 principle of coloring is to recognize that white and black are colorless, 
 simply representing light or dark. And that all colors are composed of 
 the three primary colors, blue, yellow, and red. Blue alone exists in a 
 pure state. The purest yellow is that which has the least of blue or red 
 in it. The purest red, that which has the least of blue or yellow. 
 Hence, we object to a brick being called red, because it is distinctly 
 orange. The red that is the least adulterated with blue or yellow is 
 found in the color of our market-garden radish. It was with this color 
 that the artists of early days painted the nobility of Egypt. 
 
HOMOCULTURE 1 57 
 
 Race-culture was the main issue, and any negli- 
 gence of the authorities in that department of the 
 government would at once have given rise to a pop- 
 ular demonstration of disapproval. " The worth 
 of a State in the long run is the worth of the indi- 
 viduals composing it." * 
 
 To explain with clearness the communistic sys- 
 tem of restricted population, we must assume that 
 the reader admits the Malthusian theory that 
 " there is not a seat at Nature's table for every 
 one " ; or, in other words, that " an unfettered com- 
 munity will breed to the starvation limit." An ad- 
 vanced people will adopt methods of adjusting the 
 number of lives to the resources of the land by some 
 system of regulating births and deaths. t 
 
 Hybrids do not exist in a wild state. The 
 first stage of science is the objective, or the de- 
 termining of the aim in view; the second stage, 
 or exact science, is foretelling results. Homocul- 
 ture in Geyserland was nearly approaching the lat- 
 ter stage of mathematical exactness. All countries 
 according to their climate have had populations 
 that had a certain fitness for the peculiar conditions 
 under which they existed. It would be foolish to 
 assert, however, that these populations were inca- 
 pable of improvement. Perhaps to-day, with our 
 present enlightenment, we might add to our advan- 
 tages by breeding from such as are gifted with 
 " mind reading," for there are undoubtedly many 
 
 *John Stuart Mill. 
 
 t The Jews doubled their number every fifteen years while living in 
 the fertile lands of Egypt. To prevent overcrowding, Malthus strongly 
 favored emigration ; for example, the Greeks had discovered its 
 advantages over infanticide for the purpose of keeping numbers in 
 harmony with the harvests. Those provinces of Spain that sent away 
 the most emigrants continued to be the most populated in Spain. Ireland, 
 which has sent a son, or sons and daughters, to every land, is still as 
 thickly populated as ever. The southern orators who preach emigration 
 to Liberia as a cure for the race question should contemplate these facts. 
 
158 Geyserland 
 
 of both sexes who have shown this uncommon ac- 
 complishment. Homer speaks of a whole family 
 of mortals who had " second-sight." * Are human 
 faculties shrinking. Why has not heredity pre- 
 served this desirable trait? Because our religions, 
 laws, and customs are not sufficiently advanced to 
 accept rational methods. 
 
 As the harvests or resources of Geyserland were 
 only sufficient for thirty thousand inhabitants, early 
 in the days of their enlightenment the Geyserland- 
 ers recognized the importance of heredity for pro- 
 curing the best possible offspring to fall heir to 
 their resources. Heredity is the fundamental cause 
 of our temperaments, and a new era will dawn 
 when our social laws will permit propagation, not 
 for social position, nor for amorous, petty, senti- 
 mental reasons, nor to bring together landed prop- 
 erties, but solely for the sake of the race — the off- 
 spring. Then the miser's daughter will be less 
 esteemed than the generous-minded maid, and 
 with this triumph of Altruism our young and 
 healthy will be our millionaires. 
 
 A new science is always confused between the 
 law and the exception. There is much to learn, and 
 there will always remain the conservative's praise- 
 worthy doubt about each unproven theory. We 
 believe the Geyserlanders had by constant experi- 
 ments pursued the study of heredity far beyond the 
 knowledge at present reached by the savants of 
 civilization. 
 
 If two persons contend for one position, one 
 must yield; but it must not be stated as a positive 
 
 * Odyssey. 
 
HOMOCULTURE 1 59 
 
 fact that the world is always benefited if the 
 stronger wins. Many of the qualities in the make- 
 up of mankind, like relics, are not the survival of 
 the best fitted to survive, but the result of pure 
 hazard. The fossilized bones of prehistoric man 
 do not necessarily represent eminent men, but only 
 such as were caught in upheavals of petrifying 
 mud. " The survival of the fittest " is the creed of 
 the monopolist. This theory and its twin theory of 
 " whatever is, is right," may satisfy scientists, but 
 not philosophers. Scientists understand natural 
 laws, philosophers would understand and also util- 
 ize them. Science awaits the philosopher before 
 the world is benefited. Darwin accumulated the 
 knowledge of the facts about evolution; Herbert 
 Spencer, John Fiske, and Kropotkin, who wrote 
 their opinions about the application of the facts of 
 evolution, were philosophers. 
 
 There are other matters to be considered be- 
 sides intellect, health, and strength. It is as imper- 
 ative for those who govern us, to protect the emo- 
 tional poet as the dull-nerved athlete. Let the 
 worthless degenerate perish, but let the worthy 
 Dhvsical weakling be recognized and developed. 
 When a junior Oriental diplomat was asked by a 
 Kentucky gentleman horse-breeder, " Don't you 
 think it would be advantageous to the Japanese if 
 their Emperor imported some full-grown gentle- 
 men from Kentucky to improve their race?" the 
 little Asiatic replied, " Possibly, but I think it 
 would be a good scheme for the Governor of Ken- 
 tucky to import some of the inhabitants of Japan 
 to demonstrate the charms of tact and polite tem- 
 peraments." — The number of degenerates in fami- 
 lies appears to be the result of heredity, environ- 
 
i6o Geyserland 
 
 ment, or lack of education. A good education can 
 fortify one of weak character to rise above the 
 moral tone of his companions. Environment may 
 be selected to minimize the temptations of a weak 
 character. However, the proportion of degener- 
 ates can only be reduced to an insignificant number 
 when due consideration is given to parental selec- 
 tion. 
 
 Galton ably argues that the policy of the 
 church during the long period of the Dark 
 Ages " brutalized the breed of our forefath- 
 ers.* She (the church) acted precisely as if she 
 had aimed at selecting the rudest portions of 
 the community to be, alone, the parents of future 
 generations. She practiced the arts which breed- 
 ers would use, who aimed at creating ferocious, 
 churlish, and stupid natures. No wonder that 
 club-law prevailed for centuries over Europe; the 
 wonder rather is that enough good remained in the 
 veins of Europeans to enable their races to rise to 
 the present verv moderate level of natural moral- 
 ity. A relic of this monastic spirit clings to our 
 universities, which say to every man who shows in- 
 tellectual powers of the kind they delight to honor: 
 Here is an income of from one to two hundred 
 pounds a year, with free lodging and various ad- 
 vantages in the way of board and society; we give 
 it to you on account of your ability; take it and 
 enjoy it all your life if you like ; we exact no condi- 
 tion to your continuing to hold it but one, namely, 
 that you shall not marry." Selecting the best 
 young men for the army has prevented their early 
 marriage, and has furnished greater opportunities 
 for the weak stay-at-home to breed. In contrast 
 to this the Geyserland method selected the progeni- 
 
 •" Hereditary Genius," 357. 
 
HOMOCULTURE l6l 
 
 tors from the best element that the community 
 afforded. 
 
 Charles Darwin, on the subject of human breed- 
 ing, said, "We build asylums for the imbecile, the 
 maimed, and the sick; we institute poor laws; and 
 our medical men exert their utmost skill to save 
 the life of every one to the last moment. There is 
 reason to believe that vaccination has preserved 
 thousands who from a weak constitution would 
 formerly have succumbed to smallpox. Thus the 
 weak members of civilized societies propagate 
 their kind. No one who has attended to the breed- 
 ing of domestic animals will doubt that this must 
 be highly injurious to the race of man. It is sur- 
 prising how soon a want of care, or care wrongly 
 directed, leads to the degeneration of a domesti- 
 cated race; but, excepting in the case of man him- 
 self, hardly anyone is so ignorant as to allow his 
 worst animals to breed." 
 
 Ripley says, " To expect that man can in a single 
 generation compass the ends which Nature takes 
 an age to perform, is the height of folly." But 
 there comes in the history of every people a time, 
 as if prearranged by Destiny, when the results of 
 chaotic causes become apparent and beyond the 
 speculative period. Before the time of Charle- 
 magne, France was peopled by swarms of complex 
 tribes and clans, Italians, Celts, Gauls, Germans, 
 Franks and Saxons. Before Henry II the line be- 
 tween the Normans and Saxons was as distinctly 
 drawn in England as the white and colored line is 
 drawn to-day in the United States. It was for mu- 
 tual aid in foreign wars that they " got together." 
 Caesar's legions were composed of soldiers whose 
 grandfathers were Rome's enemies. His famous 
 
1 62 Geyserland 
 
 " loth " was recruited north of the Alps. The 
 folly of trying to keep races separate is well illus- 
 trated in India; since the time of Manu, 3000 B.C., 
 the white Brahmin and the dark native Hindoo 
 had been kept apart by most drastic laws. Yet 
 when Alexander visited India, 325 B. C, he de- 
 scribes the whole population as being dark. The 
 white element had already completely disap- 
 peared. Let the best blendings of our tempera- 
 ments develop in our cradles. 
 
 We are sufficiently optimistic to believe that, as 
 human nature is not all alike, bv persistent selec- 
 tion and breeding a race could be established 
 adapted for altruistic communism. Almost any 
 hereditary defect can be obliterated by breeding. 
 In the words of Strahan, " Evolution modifies the 
 individual and suits him to his surroundings, his 
 mode of life, and heredity perpetuates the modifi- 
 cation in his descendants." 
 
 What is wanted can be begotten. What is not 
 needed will in time be eliminated. Permanent 
 changes are best made when new blood is infused. 
 It is exceedingly difficult for a race to improve 
 itself by interbreeding. We might illustrate it by 
 an attempt to make a pvramid of sand higher with- 
 out enlarging its base; therefore, when seeking 
 to correct the shortcomings of our race, let it be 
 done by importing foreign strains to counteract the 
 wrong and strengthen the weak, or, as they did in 
 Geyserland, by preserving all the foundations for 
 every kind of original character. The salvation of 
 the race is not in its refining itself by constantly 
 eliminating vicious qualities; for when this refin- 
 ing is overdone the result is the same as the 
 " weedy " colts of small bone, without stamina, so 
 
HOMOCULTURE 1 63 
 
 often reared from first-class racers. The duty of a 
 man is to recognize his heredity — to develop the 
 good and to safeguard the bad. A violent tempera- 
 ment under control is more praiseworthy than a 
 temperament lacking such natural factors as hate, 
 ambition, pride, envy, and revenge. Improve the 
 race by adding, not by subtracting. Augment the 
 good and the evil will become manageable. 
 
 Ribot states that " every animal necessarily in- 
 herits the characteristics of its species." It cannot 
 inherit what was not germane to its parents, but in- 
 dividual wants and efforts will call spontaneously 
 for new qualities; and the perpetuating of these 
 qualities is brought about by fixing them by inheri- 
 tance. 
 
 Francis Galton, in " Hereditary Genius," com- 
 pared the standard of ability of the Athenian 
 with that of our race and time, and concluded 
 that " the average ability of the Athenian race 
 was, on the lowest possible estimate, very nearly 
 two grades higher than our own; that is, about as 
 much as our race is above that of the African 
 negro." He attributed this to the greater care the 
 Athenians took with their breeding; and the fact 
 that Athens offered more attractions than any other 
 city to foreign men of the highest abilitv and cul- 
 ture. — It has been remarked that in European 
 countries to-day a large proportion of eminent men 
 have foreign names. It is fair to assume that other 
 races could arrive at like results. 
 
 The development of characteristics is the con- 
 flict between the two heredities, one tending to pre- 
 serve the primitive instincts, the other to fix and 
 hold the acquired advantages of modifications. 
 Heredity generally tends to revert to the primitive 
 
164 Geyserland 
 
 type, for what is acquired easily usually possesses 
 little stability. A species can only claim normal 
 possession of a new characteristic after having con- 
 secutively inherited it through many generations. 
 
 We must assume that the vast variety of types in 
 personal appearance is the result of climatic con- 
 ditions and the blending by sexual selection of the 
 two original races of mankind — the short, long- 
 headed race with brown eyes and flat curling hair, 
 and the tall, fair, round-headed race with light 
 eyes and straight hair. A man selects his mate for 
 various reasons — the Hottentot for her posterior 
 development; the Oriental for her weight; the an- 
 cient Teuton for her industrv; but the autocrats 
 have always (with the exception of the Japanese) 
 sought blondness and height. Marshall savs in his 
 biological lectures that " the white man and the ne- 
 gro have been dififerentiated through the long-con- 
 tinued action of selection and environment." Hence 
 it is believed that the tall, long-headed, blonde 
 Scandinavian has evolved from the primitive, long- 
 headed brunette race that once occupied all Eu- 
 rope. 
 
 Their adaptability to the northern latitude and 
 the popularity of their appearance has perpet- 
 uated the strain. Ripley states that the upper 
 classes in Europe are distinctly taller, lighter in 
 skin, hair, and eyes than the Boors. Homer is con- 
 tinually informing us of tjie fairness of the gods 
 and heroes. Since the second century Jesus has 
 been depicted as blonde. The blue-eyed Thra- 
 cians were celebrated for their beauty. Thousands 
 of blending generations have quite topsy-turvied 
 the original two types. Therefore, curling hair 
 being considered more beautiful than the straight, 
 
HOMOCULTURE l6r 
 
 It is not an uncommon sight to meet those with 
 round heads and tight-curling blonde hair. Red 
 hair IS an mdication of race-mixing, and is seldom 
 tound m remote, secluded nations; but where popu- 
 lations are most mixed,— as among the Phceni- 
 cians, Grecians, Venetians, French, Irish, and 
 Aniericans,— there can be found the auburn locks. 
 Ked hair is not uncommon among mulattoes and 
 Eurasians 
 
 A showman may by starving and cruelty tame 
 and drill a wolf, but it will take many, many gen- 
 erations of breeding from the most docile of wolves 
 belore a domesticated wolf can be acquired * 
 
 In Geyserland the Council of Surgeons who had 
 direction of the breeding frequently recognized the 
 necessity of augmenting the Boor element. As 
 these children grew to manhood they were assigned 
 to simple tasks or unintellectual labor, for which 
 ^ey were designed, and for which they were suited 
 Ihey were brought up to recognize their commu- 
 nal position. It was not the policy of the Geyser- 
 landers to breed for the autocratic ambition. Thev 
 had been early impressed with the fact that the 
 keystone is not the only useful stone in the arch 
 iney believed in rotation of temperaments (See 
 
 h^.lf h""'k ^T"""" "'"" "" "»' ' veslige left of he form of Sa 
 o", r brfid (Anlrr^',""''- ''!"''""i"'^^' pefseverance re'm ?„Td.° tS 
 Z'y r^iL^T ,S oTC;1j :h^*S 'pTeJeS t ^ 
 
1 66 Geyserland 
 
 Chapter VI.) Thus the inequality of tempera- 
 ments revolved like a wheel as generations suc- 
 ceeded each other. The intelligent Boors worked 
 upwards and the overtaxed nervous thinkers sought 
 repose by assimilating with their less intelligent 
 kin, the Boors. Their experience proved that this 
 method prevented weak nerves amongst the ad- 
 vanced thinkers and developed a unity and frater- 
 nal feeling between those who were educated and 
 those who were drilled. No great thing can be 
 accomplished by weak men. A state must not 
 dwarf its people, or it will soon lack that vital 
 power which is slumbering in all of us which 
 makes for race advancement. Nor must the state 
 allow its people to become dwarfed through 
 their own misguidance. Moreover, there should 
 be prevention of useless waste in industrial eco- 
 nomics. 
 
 The reader by consulting the following authors 
 can find conflicting theories and much interesting 
 information on this subject: Darwin, Galton, Stra- 
 han, Lamarck, Lucas, Ribot, and Gironde de 
 Buzareingues. 
 
 The phenomena of descent have been classed 
 into the following laws: 
 
 I St. Direct Heredity, where children resemble 
 their parents. There is a popular belief in cross 
 heredity; that is, the son resembling mother, and 
 daughter, father. Michelet wrote that Louis XVI, 
 whose mother was Marie Josephe of Saxony, " was 
 a real Saxon King and more German than the Ger- 
 mans themselves." Yet it is a fact established by 
 long observation that the external and moral re- 
 semblance of the son to the mother is less frequent 
 
HOMOCULTURE 1 67 
 
 than the daughter to the father, and the children 
 are more apt to resemble their father than their 
 mother in the proportion of two to one. 
 
 2nd. Reversional Heredity or Atavism, 
 where a child, instead of resembling its immediate 
 parents, resembles one of its grandparents or still 
 further remote ancestor. 
 
 Instincts that are dormant for one or two gener- 
 ations may be passed along by heredity, as the 
 fighting son of a particularly peace-loving mother 
 may be the father of a particularly peace-loving 
 daughter. 
 
 3d. Initial Heredity. — When the temporary 
 mood or condition of parents at time of conception 
 permanently affects the offspring;* for example, 
 children resulting from a debauch, or those noble 
 children resulting from noble, loving parents. 
 
 In the struggle between the races the desire of 
 the parents will afifect the progeny, or, in other 
 words, conscious selection will favor the race which 
 possesses the superior elements; for example, in 
 America when two mulattoes marry, their child is 
 whiter than themselves. This would occur only in 
 those countries where the white is more esteemed 
 than the negro. It is probable that in Africa the 
 child would tend to return to the local type. 
 
 People without desire for nobility and truth de-^ 
 generate. Clergymen's sons are proverbially bad. 
 We would rather believe this results from a glut 
 of unnatural piety and ultra reaction toward nor- 
 mal ways, than to lack of inheritance of goodness 
 in the parent. Nature is bound to recoil and react 
 when overstrained. " Turner, dreamer of en- 
 chanted landscapes, took the pleasures of a sailor, 
 
 * See Genesis xxx:3i-43. 
 
i6B Geyserland 
 
 on a spree." Some of the most exquisite poetry has 
 come from men coarse in their conversation. The 
 son of a punctiliously honest, unsuccessful man is 
 apt to be an unscrupulous rogue. 
 
 4th. Heredity of Influences. — ^When a child 
 resembles a former husband. Michelet tells us that 
 " Madame de Montespan had had a son by Mon- 
 sieur de Montespan, and the first child she had by 
 the King — the Due de Maine — resembled only her 
 former husband; he had his Gascon disposition, 
 his bufifooning, etc." 
 
 A woman may be barren with one man and not 
 with another, or a man may propagate with one 
 woman and not be able to with another. For ex- 
 ample. Napoleon suffered epileptic-hysteria when 
 alone with Josephine. 
 
 Unions between those of different temperaments 
 should be encouraged, because the children would 
 be stronger mentally and physically than the off- 
 spring of those who resemble one another. Chil- 
 dren of parents of different races are never found 
 to be superior, but by breeding a half-bred, etc., a 
 strain is slowly acquired and a superior breed 
 produced. 
 
 The mutilation of the parents is not inherited 
 by the offspring; for example, note the customs of 
 circumcision, the misshaping of Chinese feet. The 
 fattening of the heads of the Indians has never 
 had any effect on the progeny. 
 
 Habits can be inherited ; for example, the white 
 man's habit of turning out his toes; animals that 
 have been drilled to clean ways will in time beget 
 clean-habited offspring. 
 
 There are those who believe that the heredity of 
 sex alternates; there are others that think that the 
 
HOMOCULTURE 1 69 
 
 Stronger parent controls the sex; but science has 
 not yet recognized any law in that direction. Con- 
 sanguinity generally results in more male offspring 
 than female. Half-breeds are more often female 
 than male. 
 
 Albinos lack strength in their senses ; pigmenta- 
 tion conduces to acuteness of senses. White ani- 
 mals are more apt to eat poisoned herbs than are 
 colored animals. 
 
 Breeding-in intensifies and magnifies parental 
 peculiarities. Hence, only perfect animals should 
 be permitted to breed-in. The female reverts to 
 the primitive type. 
 
 Sterility was early recognized as a characteris- 
 tic of unrestricted woman. Promiscuous inter- 
 course on the part of the female was found to re- 
 sult in sterility. For this reason in early days, when 
 all clans needed " more fighting men," promiscu- 
 ous intercourse was forbidden. 
 
 Fanciers do not consider the first litter valuable 
 and they are often destroyed. 
 
 Children of young parents are weak and lack 
 courage and vitality. Children of old parents are 
 vicious, nervous, easily wrinkled, and short-lived. 
 The correct age of fathers is from twenty-five to 
 forty, for mothers twenty to thirty-five. 
 
 Ripley says, " To tolerate a climate is one thing, 
 to become independent of it is quite a different mat- 
 ter." In race development robust constitutions are 
 not the only aim. It was first noted that the chil- 
 dren of the rugged, cold mountains were more 
 hardy than those born in the mild lands. This was 
 easily explained, because only the hardy children 
 lived in the former country, and that breed was 
 constantly becoming more hardy; meanwhile, the 
 sickly could live not only in the mild lands, but 
 
170 Geyserland 
 
 they profusely bred weaklings, for by some " cos- 
 mic process " the weak-bodied seemed to revel in 
 sexual excesses; however, later it was found that if 
 precautions were taken to prevent the procreation 
 of the feeble in the milder localities, that race 
 would excel those from the rugged ones.* 
 
 Cold and privations cannot be a direct cause of 
 physical superiority; besides, it has been observed 
 that tastes and inclinations have developed in tem- 
 perate climates that have been ignored in the more 
 severe ones; for example, the mountaineer knew 
 little about the joy and charm of color, compared 
 to the less industrious, luxurious, comfortable in- 
 habitants of the balmy zones. It is safe to assert 
 that the average Anglo-Saxon only enjoys four 
 senses instead of five. 
 
 While observing the methods in Geyserland for 
 improving the race it will not be amiss to cast a 
 glance at our own methods of degeneration, par- 
 ticularly as this degeneration is taking place at an 
 epoch when conditions demand better types of 
 humanity. 
 
 Why should not the pre-natal fine qualities of 
 the red man in America, with his sylvan nerves, 
 his keen sensibility, and his intuitive knowledge of 
 woodcraft, have been perpetuated? Because we 
 were dull, shortsighted, and vicious, and posterity 
 will class us with Sulla, who annihilated the intel- 
 
 * Life in the average tropics is too easy ; the weaklings live, grow up 
 and breed, and miserable degenerates are the result. Unless controlled, 
 feeble people will propagate more freely than the healthy ones; for that 
 reason we find the more rigid climate producing the hardier types of 
 our races. But let it also be noted that unhealthful tropics have produced 
 some splendid types. Senator Stewart, describing the Isthmus of Pan- 
 ama in 1849, said: "The aborigines of that unhealthful climate were the 
 finest men I ever saw." Alas, this race perished when they became 
 acquainted with the white man's fire-water. This is explained on the 
 same theory that only the healthy, best-fitted children survive unhealth- 
 ful conditions. 
 
HOMOCULTURE 171 
 
 ligent Etruscans to make room for his bloody 
 veterans. 
 
 Specialists inform us that the crowded life in 
 cities, alcohol, narcotics, improper diet, and sen- 
 suous excesses have so undermined our stamina 
 that we are unable to face our daily strain of work, 
 and that the continuation of these detriments is de- 
 veloping a quantity of humanity with hysteria, neu- 
 rasthenia and epileptic tendencies. Unfortunately, 
 these miserable people are permitted to perpetuate 
 their kind. Added to this cause we have the con- 
 tagious troubles not sufficiently guarded against. 
 So it happens that whereas man's work is demand- 
 ing more strenuous efforts, his body is more easily 
 fatigued than in former times. Men are expected 
 to produce ten times as much work as fifty years 
 ago, and but a trifling fraction of these are able to 
 meet the conditions without recourse to stimulants, 
 because of exhaustion of their nervous systems. If 
 people persist in drawing out from their race or 
 from their bank more than they put in, there can 
 be but one result — bankruptcy. It happened in 
 Babylon, Egypt, Persia, and Rome. It will be our 
 turn next. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 SIBIS AND FASHO — DUTY 
 
 " There is no greater service than that of the man who sows the seed 
 of right ideas in the right places." 
 
 " By Eternal laws 
 Of Iron ruled 
 Must all fullfil 
 The cycle of 
 Their destiny." 
 — Goethe. 
 
 Sweet Sibis was a real Geyserlander. That isle 
 was like a vast convent, in that there was peace, 
 and all that made the convents of old attractive to 
 women. But lives were not spent there in useless 
 penances, nor were the energies of the mind wasted 
 on worthless superstitions; the women were kind 
 and sought to be beneficially employed. The life 
 of Sibis was as unique as her philosophy required. 
 If she had joys they apparently were not sensual 
 ones. She had never been robust nor beautiful, but 
 she had the repose and poise of a sphinx, and would 
 have received the most favorable commendation 
 for her distinction at the most exclusive courts of 
 civilized aristocracy. Her charming manners 
 made her a favorite with all. Like the flowers, she 
 had no enemies, and all trusted her with confidence 
 as a loyal friend. The test of true friendship is 
 that happy relaxation of tenseness which permits 
 one to think aloud. Her knowledge was not con- 
 fined within the limit of our woman's education of 
 to-day. Like Cicero, she wished to hear every- 
 thing about everything. She knew the world as 
 men knew it, — the whole keyboard, from the rank- 
 
 172 
 
SiBis AND Fasho. Duty 173 
 
 est indecency to the purest wisdom,— and could 
 assist at men's councils. There was no forbidden 
 knowledge for Sibis. She had always lived in 
 others, and their successes and pleasures seemed to 
 echo in her with true love— the untainted, unself- 
 ish mother-love. She was a part of everyone. She 
 had the gift of sympathy, the most precious and 
 unbuyable of all qualities; for sympathy is like 
 solder — it makes two parts one. 
 
 The Assistant Surgeon, who, like our alphabet, 
 apparently had no name, was artful, cunning, and 
 clever enough to know that he had more than the 
 average amount of wit and mental capacity. His 
 early hopes of becoming a progenitor had been 
 frustrated, hence his disposition to do good had 
 become curdled, if not soured. His reason inspired 
 his emotions. This un-altruistic communist knew 
 the value of diplomacy; but in Geyserland one had 
 to be noble to be on the winning side, and the As- 
 sistant Surgeon was not noble. He could crawl or 
 fly, as his interests dictated; he was like Paul, who 
 was '' a Jew with the Jews, a Gentile with the Gen- 
 tiles," and those who knew him as Sibis did, and 
 knew that he recognized no gratitude toward Na- 
 ture, held him in too deep contempt to do him 
 justice. " If I had my way," he suggested, " we 
 would stop this ever-to-be-thought-of development 
 of the race." 
 
 I' And then do what? " asked Sibis. 
 
 '' Expand," continued the Assistant Surgeon, 
 who was a relic of primeval days, with the desires 
 of a nomad; "travel; conditions have changed — 
 we have supposed ourselves to be surrounded by 
 impassable ice-bound mountains and wastes. But 
 if this freak Adam could come to us, it proves that 
 
174 Geyserland 
 
 we could go elsewhere. Our imaginative, inventive 
 people should be told that they will acquire favor- 
 able commendation if they invent a machine for 
 flying, as that seems our best means of communica- 
 tion with our fellow-beings. We should not neg- 
 lect this opportunity because our ancestors did. 
 Adam claims to be a person as good as any from 
 whence he came. This may be his natural imperti- 
 nence, but he is certainly a poor thing here." 
 
 Sibis recognized the arrival of Adam in the com- 
 munity as an occurrence resembling the appearance 
 of a mangy cat in a household of well-groomed 
 tabbies; but, rising above all this, with her 
 womanly instincts for the love of her race she 
 recognized the possibility of this proud vagrant, 
 Adam, being a desirable acquisition to the com- 
 munity. Sibis's character had not been withered 
 by narrow family ties; her life was too large to be 
 limited to the love that gathers around one's fire- 
 side. 
 
 " Not so fast," she said. " Everybody has an 
 innate consciousness of pride without which he 
 would be contemptible. People are like books — 
 at first we must pay the same homage to all; it is 
 only when well read and understood that we can 
 rightly judge them. Adam is not innately de- 
 praved; he is a product of Nature's methods, now 
 in the wild and free stage. A man can walk on 
 land, a fish can swim on sea — but a wild goose can 
 walk the land, swim the water, and fly the air. This 
 man, like all uncultured people, is like a little child 
 — abnormally selfish, naturally thoughtless, will- 
 ful, and combative." 
 
 " I think," replied the Assistant Surgeon, " a 
 useless person is good for nothing, as brother Donis 
 would say. The people of aptitude should live, 
 
SiBis AND Fasho. Duty 175 
 
 the others had better not be born. The duo-theory 
 of Nature is well illustrated by the two types of 
 mankind, the noble man and the degenerate. The 
 noble man is grateful for what he has and makes 
 for improvement; the degenerate realizes no 
 shame, nor pangs of feeling at his own or another's 
 acts of degeneration, nor is grateful for the con- 
 sideration that another has had for him. The 
 whole race is our kin. All nature is allied and is 
 man's companion. Every butterfly is my brother. 
 The boundaries of the earth are the only proper 
 limits to our influence and sympathies. My idea 
 of duty is to travel, colonize, and teach the rest of 
 the world. I object to the curtailing of our race. 
 There are but four ways of preventing over-popu- 
 lation," and holding up four bony fingers he pro- 
 ceeded to further enlighten them: " ist. Coloni- 
 zation; 2d, prenatal precaution; 3d, infanticide; 
 4th, the civilized method of the perishing of those 
 not fitted to survive. 
 
 " If this man Adam is a sample of the population 
 of the balance of the earth, it is certainly our duty 
 to colonize. It is evident that the time has come 
 when a superior race would be a blessing to other 
 races. It is vicious to go blindly on in the same old 
 rut. Competition should alternate with repose. 
 We have had too much repose. We need compe- 
 tition to sharpen our wits and to spur on our ambi- 
 tions. The reward of the victor of a stag fight is 
 the peaceful society of the doe. We are already 
 on the danger line. We are now in a state of con- 
 tentment, but we will certainly become degenerates 
 if we do not at once find an outlet for our super- 
 fluous energy, which it is natural that we should 
 possess in exuberant enterprises. Have not our 
 neighbors in foreign lands a claim on our experi- 
 
176 Geyserland 
 
 ence? Are not they a part of ourselves? Are we 
 not capable of showing the race of this lank, loose- 
 jointed Adam a better way? You, good Sibis, who 
 are always thinking of others, tell me, are we too 
 egotistical or altruistic? " 
 
 " Adam and his people are at a stage of culture 
 where we were once," Sibis quietly rejoined. 
 " His race has the spirit of progress. The culture 
 of any people can be estimated by the degree of 
 importance they attach to the study of the past and 
 the future. They have not had our favorable cli- 
 matic conditions with its advantages of isolation. 
 I do not think this man has been sufficiently 
 studied. He is fresh from a civilized country 
 where selfishness is the motive for most actions. 
 Have patience, he may yet show us in some things 
 a better way. Wait; it is of scientific interest to 
 see how soon he will grasp our ideas of social love, 
 which, mark me, he certainly will do." 
 
 " I think you prize our culture too highly," the 
 Assistant Surgeon persisted. " What are we but 
 an isolated fragment in Nature's great game? 
 Look at the strata on that cliff, read there the 
 history of the great past, and don't let those who 
 have kept the records of our trivial past give too 
 much importance to our race. Our patriotism is a 
 proof of our weakness and cramped ideas. We are 
 mortals akin to this long-legged lout Adam. A 
 century of retrogression and we should be barba- 
 rians again; another cataclysm and we will prob- 
 ably be wiped out of existence, leaving no record 
 behind us, because we have not taken those steps 
 that duty dictates to benefit our race. I believe that 
 tremendous undertakings have been successfully 
 accomplished and forgotten before our little island 
 
SiBis AND Fasho. Duty 177 
 
 was even started. I still believe that the Council 
 should let us go and teach his people." 
 
 " Nay," said Sibis, " have not other races a right 
 to their preliminary meanderings and wander- 
 ings? Different people have come out of barbar- 
 ism by different paths and with different ideals. 
 Owing to our peculiar natural surroundings, once 
 united, we had no belligerent neighbors, and 
 our whole energies were directed against cold, 
 hunger, social jealousies and mythical supersti- 
 tions. His people have also gone through their 
 savage and barbaric stages, after their full share 
 of troubles, quarrelsome neighbors, wrongs, and 
 errors." 
 
 ^^ "But why study an oyster," interrupted Fasho, 
 
 when a lion can be investigated? " 
 
 " The mountain pebble may have a history as 
 interesting as the avalanche," replied Sibis. "At 
 present, this oddity is in evidence for us to study. 
 We know very little of this waif, Adam, or of his 
 antecedents. We should study him and note his 
 thoughts, acts, and traditions, and find what has 
 made him as he is; for thinking and talking of 
 themselves do not benefit the future— it is the act 
 of recording thoughts that does the good. We can- 
 not expect a pot to boil unless the fire is lighted." 
 
 " I do not want to taste, smell, touch, or see this 
 odd man Adam," replied Fasho. 
 
 The Assistant Surgeon, still conservatively 
 thinking of the community, mumbled something 
 about adulterations, and wine not being improved 
 by water added to it. 
 
 " Our Creator may have a purpose greater than 
 man s happiness, which man may not grasp," Sibis 
 musingly observed. " Our lives are to help Na- 
 ture, and through man Nature may wish to attain 
 
178 Geyserland 
 
 greater issues, for mortals are probably but a sec- 
 tion of an unfinished complex problem." 
 
 "We had better stop discussing fancies," the 
 Assistant Surgeon said, " for this world unques- 
 tionably belongs to us — the cleverest beings in it." 
 
 " Are you not hasty in your conclusions? " ques- 
 tioned Sibis. " A man of high culture must bear 
 and forbear, he must consider the claims of to-mor- 
 row as well as those of to-day; of the future as well 
 as the present. When a nation is working toward 
 one ideal it becomes cramped, biased, and must 
 decay. Human theories should all be drawn 
 loosely. Nature is greater than any system of 
 thought. You can shout axioms and platitudes, 
 but all other ideas should be mentioned in a low 
 voice; for if too loud you will certainly be contra- 
 dicted by someone like our friend Hist, who has 
 plausible and logical opinions on both sides of 
 every subject." 
 
 " I stop here," interrupted the somewhat irri- 
 tated Assistant Surgeon. " Good-by, you wise, 
 good, and distinguished Sibis. Your ideas are too 
 far ofif for my mental horizon. I must go and 
 meditate in yonder shady nook, why people 
 should not be deprived of their ignorance. I 
 salute you both." 
 
 '' By-by," answered Sibis. " May sound con- 
 clusions be the result of your meditations." 
 
 jjf. SLl 2I& ^ ^ 
 
 In proportion as the soul of Nature enters into 
 a person, so he gains in that grand affinity. Con- 
 versation with a person of limited soul is like 
 touching a harp without a sounding-board. 
 
 The egotist cannot understand altruism. It is 
 the result of purer ideas from finer organs; or, as 
 Bagehot says, " nicer music from finer chords." 
 
SiBis AND Fasho. Duty 179 
 
 "I feel wronged," said Fasho, as he extended his 
 hand toward Sibis and stopped to rest a moment 
 on his crutches. " I have lost my true love. I feel 
 that the laws of this place were made by some 
 people for other people." 
 
 '' Don't talk like a cat," said Sibis. '' The laws 
 are our friends, and if they were not for our com- 
 mon happiness we would not have them You 
 must work, work hard, because the applause you 
 have received for your heroic action will never 
 give comfort to you unless the praise from without 
 is seconded by approval from within. A true man's 
 reward lies in the thought of the happiness that he 
 nas caused. In a community where the culture is 
 mgh,—and a man like you is important therein — 
 then the more strenuous should be his desire to per- 
 form such new duties as devolve upon him, and 
 also more than his duties. Good seldom comes 
 until private interests are laid aside. I know that 
 a high nature like yours can never be brought to 
 say of evil that it is good. A child knows that it is 
 harder to be good and succeed, than to be bad and 
 succeed. 
 
 /' Stop Sibis," Fasho excitedly interrupted, '' and 
 tell me, before we go any further, how high can a 
 man go or how low can his aims and ambitions 
 smk? Is there much difference? Why try to be 
 good and noble? It is in the power of every man 
 to be a depraved scoundrel, but the lowest of them 
 cannot rival the cruelty of destiny." 
 ^^ " If that is a conundrum for me," laughed Sibis 
 
 the answer is, the lowest thing anyone can do is 
 a mean act; the highest, a generous act. My dear 
 Jj^asho, very few men have been the worse for losing 
 the woman they loved. As we grow older sex 
 stimulus affects us less and our social spirit de- 
 
i8o Geyserland 
 
 velops. Your disappointment has only smothered 
 your true feelings, but they will break through in 
 time. The happiness we derive from doing our 
 duty should be the aim and end of our being. 
 Pleasures are not the goal of a noble mind, but 
 duty is. Love is not our loftiest sentiment; it is 
 only a feeling we have for another with the ulti- 
 mate desire of benefiting ourselves. There never 
 was a noble man or woman disappointed in love 
 who did not think that his or her life had been 
 thrown away. The noblest spirit is that which a 
 mother has, in wishing her offspring to be superior 
 to herself; but not the cowardly, precautionary, 
 selfish one which makes a man continually afraid 
 of nurturing an ungrateful viper. Nature is gov- 
 erned by laws, not emotions. One of the first duties 
 of a noble man is to know what the state has, then 
 to know what the state needs, and get it — like an 
 alert steward, who not only sees the absolute needs 
 of his larder, but has the initiative to introduce new 
 things that would be welcomed. When this has 
 been accomplished, then do that part which nobody 
 else seems equally able or willing to do. They live 
 happiest who exercise the greatest number of their 
 organs with moderation; but it is in the thoughtful 
 moments of leisure that a noble person realizes of 
 what he is capable; whereas unintellectual idleness 
 only produces vicious people and criminals. 
 Fasho, if you want the respect of those whom you 
 respect, you must give up this vain moping and be 
 less sensitive to what people say. It takes great- 
 ness to bear little things. How many men do you 
 know who are great and ring true? You have the 
 ethical power, let your light shine, noble Fasho. 
 Get the spirit of our laws, not the letter. A man 
 who would consider himself before his duty is not 
 
SiBis AND Fasho. Duty i8i 
 
 a man of noble feelings and cannot hope for the 
 praise of those whom he respects. In the same way 
 as ambitious children desire to belong to the work- 
 ing class, we should forestall our taskmasters, and 
 besides our stated duties, seek further to benefit our 
 fellow-countrymen. Don't try to do other men's 
 work, but try to do your own in a better way." 
 
 " I know I have been educated in the science of 
 duty," answered Fasho, " but all my duty is prear- 
 ranged by the government, so why, in the wildcat's 
 name, should I bother? I want my Fairmena. 
 Will no one comfort me? " 
 
 " My dear man, don't sink below, but rise above 
 your affliction. Your nature should not be domi- 
 nated by a single passion nor a single sorrow. Love 
 leaves no scars. Philosophy, which is the religion 
 of the brave, should comfort you. Remember that 
 the price of vice is pain. Lofty purposes make life 
 sublime. There is nothing noble in striving for 
 what you personally need. Let your mind seek to 
 give a new contribution to the commonwealth. 
 You know that there are laws of nobility that base 
 people are not expected to observe. The spirit of 
 our government is affinity. You should personify 
 that spirit which develops mankind. Whoever 
 improves his race improves himself. What is im- 
 mortality? Only in our race can we live forever; 
 and let it be observed that the sterile members of a 
 community can equally aid in making their race 
 better in the future. Foolish is the idea that 
 mothers and fathers are the only parents of a race. 
 Many of our noble ancestors were childless. Those 
 who have left us new ideas, better methods, and 
 good influences have been as much our parents as 
 those who have passed to us their brawn and sinew. 
 Provide for society a higher standard and be con- 
 
1 82 Geyserland 
 
 scious of the weight attached to your example; 
 choose a noble auxiliary beyond your duties, and 
 by your example intensify the pureness of your 
 cause. Submit to your unlucky fortune; take the 
 virus like millions of men before you, and accept 
 the sad verdict, * she is not for me,' then do some- 
 thing to win for humanity a richer existence. Men 
 grow interesting when people see and appreciate 
 their good works, and happy in their self-respect 
 are those who suffer for the right." 
 
 "Oh, Sibis, help me! I do not want to be a 
 blank, nor mere food for parasites." 
 
 "We must accept our past bad luck; that, we 
 cannot fight." 
 
 " But I am a fighter," exclaimed Fasho. " I 
 want her, everything I have is starving for her. If 
 I love nothing, then I am nothing, I am absolutely 
 benumbed and empty. It is living deeds, not talk- 
 ing about them that makes men. It is the works, 
 not the music, that stir men's souls." 
 
 " Stop! " ejaculated Sibis. " What people want 
 and what people should have are sometimes very 
 different. It is not difficult to make people take 
 what they want, but they must be shown, educated, 
 or forced to take what they need. It is proper 
 ambition and proper energy combined that marks 
 the public benefactor. Let your maxims rest, and 
 consider that the only useful occupations of per- 
 sons are: ist, acquiring or producing; 2d, protect- 
 ing; 3d, amusing or beautifying; 4th, transporting; 
 5th, teaching. 
 
 " Teaching I mention last for your sake. Fair- 
 mena will be the mother of the bodies and you can 
 be the father of the minds. The teacher has two 
 distinct functions — one is to show the way, the 
 other is to criticise all efforts. You, who have the 
 
SiBis AND Fasho. Duty 183 
 
 love of lofty thoughts, teach men to have great 
 minds, so that when you are gone others will live 
 like you and perhaps better. That should be your 
 aim. A disciple who can understand and can com- 
 bine the works of his teachers with his own efforts 
 seems more akin than a son who only continues 
 one's blood. Many things are more useful when 
 dead. The acorn, by a chance, makes the oak tree 
 that gives shade for beasts and shelter for birds; 
 but nine-tenths of the oak tree's usefulness comes 
 after its death. So with a noble man's work; nine- 
 tenths of his career is that which he has left for 
 the public good. You, Fasho, can teach true man- 
 liness. I say it not to cheer you, but you are an 
 ordained leader of men. An idea well revealed by 
 a great man may be the origin of perfectly new 
 institutions in a community. I repeat, that you are 
 able to find among your guardsmen those to whom 
 you could impart your noble views of manhood. 
 They might learn what they need, learn to desire 
 it, and then strive for it. Thus, you will acquire 
 respect, and really add a useful portion to our 
 grand march of progress, as she will." 
 
 " Don't mention Fairmena — don't talk of her 
 contribution to the public! " exclaimed Fasho. " I 
 am sick with jealousy." 
 
 The progenitors were inclined to be jealous of 
 and quarrelsome with each other. It would be 
 most unnatural if it were not so. But unquestion- 
 ing obedience was the religion in Geyserland, as 
 among well-drilled veterans. As there were sev- 
 eral hundred guardsmen anxious to take their 
 places, it was also policy for the progenitors to 
 avoid quarreling. Postmen are honest, army offi- 
 cers are brave, and Jesuits are loyal. It is expected 
 of them, and that is sufficient. 
 
184 Geyserland 
 
 " Sibis, dear," continued Fasho, " you have never 
 loved, you have no desires." 
 
 " My sorrows are my own, and are undiluted," 
 said Sibis with exceptional emotion for her, as she 
 placed her thin hands on his red, rugged one. 
 " Men do not know what a blade of grass suffers 
 when cut. But, Fasho, what I now say is true and 
 sad — there may come a time in the lives of the 
 greatest of men, when by chance, simple chance, 
 they are pushed aside by those whom people recog- 
 nize as their inferiors." 
 
 " But Roul is so happy! " 
 
 "Fie!" exclaimed she. "The lives of happy 
 men make dull records; no one succeeds in coming 
 up to his own estimate of his importance. Roul has 
 no fascinating faults, let him have his own ex- 
 istence." 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 man's morality — LORK AND EVRONA 
 
 " I am a man, nothing that is human 
 Do I think unbecoming of me." 
 
 — Terence. 
 
 " Nature smiles on those who enjoy their gifts and frowns on such 
 as waste their blessings." 
 
 " Fasting and celibacy, the common means of purchasing Divine 
 favor, he condemns with abhorrence, as a criminal rejection of the best 
 gifts of Providence." — Gibbon, speaking of Zoroaster. 
 
 " I am not ashamed to print anything that God Almighty has per- 
 mitted to happen." — Charles A. Dana. 
 
 " That which distinguishes man from the beast, is drinking without 
 being thirsty, and making love at all seasons." 
 
 By the common law of nature every fascinat- 
 ingly beautiful woman is a natural mate of every 
 healthy, vigorous man. An unattractive woman 
 is no man's natural wife. But, when thinking peo- 
 ple get together and desire to live in a peaceful, 
 social manner, it is necessary for them to form 
 rules for the regulation of these natural appetites, 
 and the observance of these rules is moral duty. 
 Richard Wagner stated that " Man will never be 
 that which he can and should be until, by a con- 
 scious following of that inner natural necessity, 
 which is the only true necessity, he makes his life a 
 mirror of Nature, and frees himself from the thral- 
 dom to outer artificial counterfeits. Then will he 
 first become a living man, who now is a mere wheel 
 in the mechanism of this or that religion, nation- 
 ality, or state." 
 
 In Geyserland the matrons, and the boys and 
 
 185 
 
1 86 Geyserland 
 
 girls during the age of adolescence, were as strictly 
 controlled by the state as were the vestal virgins of 
 Rome; while the progenitors, like the racing crew 
 of a modern college, took particular care of their 
 physical condition, because they recognized that 
 it was easier to keep their health than to recover 
 their former standing as progenitors if disqualified 
 by physical inability. 
 
 Those women who were not needed as mothers 
 immediately sought other interests. They were 
 free to choose their companions where they listed. 
 The methods in practice for preventing procrea- 
 tion were sanitary and effective, and need no fur- 
 ther mentioning in this book. 
 
 Virtue, to the Romans, meant valor; to the lovers 
 of the beautiful, an object of art; to philosophers, 
 truth; to the church, chastity, and in Geyserland it 
 meant sympathy and the desire for service rather 
 than gain. Sympathy is developed by social life, 
 and it is in social life that women excel. 
 
 The fair and luxuriant beauty, Evrona, had, 
 since she recently became of age, reveled in more 
 attention from her male admirers than generally 
 falls to the lot of a pretty woman. Apparently 
 her disappointment in being denied the joys of 
 motherhood was shallow. 
 
 Our English Adam was at first horrified by the 
 familiarity between the men and women of Gey- 
 serland. False sentiments of the proprieties had 
 been so grafted upon his conscience, not only by log- 
 ical reasoning, but by generations of church talk, as 
 to be instinctively inherent in his nature. Being 
 shocked is a mental rebuke, and is a high-minded, 
 proper feeling to show at the proper time, because 
 the ideas of noble individuals, or rather their opin- 
 
Man's Morality 187 
 
 ions expressed by censure or approval, influence 
 other individuals, hence the action of the masses. 
 Was Adam sufficiently learned in the science of 
 moral philosophy to be able to know when to be 
 shocked? We wish to be above all the useless prej- 
 udices of our ancestors, and study the right and 
 wrong, the good and bad which should be permit- 
 ted our appetites. It is our province to discuss 
 every subject that will give light toward the im- 
 provement of humanity. 
 
 We care nothing for impropriety when it is a 
 question of the uplifting of the race. Classical 
 scholars persist that the culminating point of in- 
 terest in all social hygienic arguments should be 
 written in Latin. We do not purpose considering 
 these important questions in a dead language, a 
 mere conspiracy of the educated to prevent the ig- 
 norant from knowing; nor do we agree with George 
 Meredith that " everything of importance on this 
 subject should only be said in half." ''If the thing 
 is, why not say the word? " (Victor Hugo.) We 
 do not agree with Bias, one of the Seven Sages of 
 Greece, that " most men are bad." Censure is ab- 
 surd where acts are unavoidable. Our senses are 
 not narrow. Personal magnetism is not for propa- 
 gation only. Nature does not expect a rose from 
 every bud. We believe Nature intended enjoy- 
 ment to accompany every organ's well-being. 
 
 People should be judged by what charms them, 
 nations by what they tolerate. When doing an un- 
 pleasant thing, or when refraining from doing that 
 which is pleasant, it is not a bad idea to question 
 one's self, " Am I doing this in view of an ultimate 
 benefit to humanity, am I doing it to make the task 
 easier for those who govern me, or am I doing it 
 
1 88 Geyserland 
 
 with no more thought and understanding than if I 
 were a sawdust doll? Clovis proclaimed that all 
 his subjects must be Christians. Those who have 
 studied his character know his motive was not for 
 the love of the church, but to make his subjects 
 easier to rule. For we all know that as soon as 
 characters can be grouped that are alike, those who 
 govern are enabled to think about them collectively 
 in a single thought. Charles the Fifth with his 
 Inquisition and Napoleon with his rehabilitation 
 of the church in France, worked along the same 
 line. 
 
 The importance of chastity during the first five 
 or six Christian centuries was far more considered 
 than charity. A great problem for the early fa- 
 thers when establishing the church was to stop all 
 devotion to other religions; and the most popular 
 ones, like the worship of Baal, Isis, and the mys- 
 teries of Serapis, were all more or less carnal. 
 Bodily cleanliness was insisted upon before ap- 
 proaching the altars, and the gorgeous bathing es- 
 tablishments of the ancients were closely allied to 
 this worship. These were ruthlessly destroyed by 
 the jealous early churchmen. The Turkish baths 
 of to-day are but miserable survivors. 
 
 The bishops and presbyters made chastity the 
 greatest virtue, and the lack of it the greatest sin. 
 Thus a virgin woman who, judged by Nature's 
 standard, is like " a barren fig tree," was exalted 
 and placed in a position above " the mother." The 
 unsophisticated St. Augustine admitted " that 
 mother and daughter went to heaven, but one (the 
 daughter) was a bright star, the other a dim one." 
 Lecky writes, " The business of a saint was to erad- 
 icate a natural appetite. The virtue most required 
 in early saints was not love, charity, or philan- 
 
Man's Morality 189 
 
 thropy, but chastity." Hermits became hermits for 
 fear of sin. 
 
 In a general way evil doings are divided into 
 three classes: 
 
 Vice is an act against the laws of Nature, such as 
 causing pain to one's neighbor or to one's self; for 
 example, cruelty, drunkenness, gluttony, immoral- 
 ity, excesses, or unnatural passions. 
 
 Crime is an act against the laws of the govern- 
 ment; as wronging one's neighbor, stealing, per- 
 jury, or breach of contract. 
 
 Sin is an act against the laws of the church; as 
 Sabbath breaking, sacrilege, blasphemy, or unbe- 
 lief. 
 
 Nature punishes vice, but does not punish the 
 other evils. 
 
 If evil is that which causes pain, and if good is 
 the reverse of evil, then goodness in Geyserland 
 was very different from the goodness in Christen- 
 dom. They permitted many customs that would 
 not be tolerated, and they tabooed many which pre- 
 vail with us every day. For example, waste, which 
 with us is seldom more severely censured than 
 being classed as a mischievous accident, was con- 
 sidered by them as both vicious and criminal. 
 
 All lines drawn around appetites by convention 
 rather than by necessity appear absurd to those 
 thinkers whose thoughts are free. Where there is 
 no pain nor degradation nor breach of contract 
 there can be no evil. The excess of refinement, like 
 water from condensed steam, is tasteless and in- 
 sipid. The person who eats and drinks only what 
 is exactly sufficient to sustain health can hardly be 
 designated as leading a large or luxuriant life. 
 
I90 Geyserland 
 
 Sensuality after the period of adolescence is the 
 excess of virility. Destined by Nature for propa- 
 gative purposes, it should, when needed for the 
 perpetuating of the race, be so used; but when not 
 needed by the state it should be expediently can- 
 celled in the most healthful manner possible. Un- 
 necessary breeding was the thing most guarded 
 against in Geyserland; not the gratification of a 
 naturally healthy appetite. Is the sense of touch — 
 the realization of a healthy circulation of blood — 
 more sacred than that of the other senses? Why is 
 it more a crime ior a man to gratify his normal 
 amorous inclinations than it is to eat or drink more 
 than Nature requires for the proper sustenance of 
 the body? Malthus wrote, "After the desire for 
 food, the most powerful and general of our desires 
 is the passion between the sexes." As hatred leads 
 through many harmless paths before murder, and 
 discouragement has a thousand phases before sui- 
 cide, so can our loving feelings lead through many 
 natural inclinations before procreation. A grate- 
 ful, nature-loving man should enjoy all blessings 
 possible. When we see people refusing the gifts 
 of Nature, we feel as we do at a banquet when the 
 entertainer has devoted time, experience, and 
 money to furnish all attractions, and an unappre- 
 ciative portion of the guests refuse them. Such 
 people do not harmonize with their surroundings. 
 What to-day we regard as Platonic love would 
 have been considered ridiculous by Plato and his 
 contemporaries, and even so austere and eminent 
 a moral philosopher as Cicero declared that " one 
 would have to be severe indeed to ask young men 
 to refrain from illicit relations"; or again, "If 
 there be anyone who thinks that young men should 
 be altogether restrained from the love of courte- 
 
Man's Morality 191 
 
 sans, he is indeed very severe." (Pro Gaelic Cap, 
 XX.) 
 
 To meet the question of chastity squarely is cer- 
 tainly more healthy than ignoring it. We do not 
 believe in total abstinence schemes, and agree with 
 Senator Vest, who, when speaking about saloon 
 high license, said, " If the Mississippi River ran 
 pure whisky, with each blade of grass a sprig of 
 mint and each pebble on its shore a lump of sugar, 
 and was fenced in, the armies of the world could 
 not prevent people getting into it; whereas, if it 
 were left open, few would abuse the use of it." 
 
 Too much virtue is vicious, and our young men 
 must choose between being vicious or criminal. 
 Doing without things that are healthy and harm- 
 less, and that one can enjoy, is as foolish as the sav- 
 age and barbaric custom of fasting and indulging 
 in self-torture for the glory of their gods, or to 
 propitiate evil spirits. Volunteer martyrs are lack- 
 ing in the essence of common sense. The habit of 
 sacrificing is the oldest and most serious of errors, 
 as it is one of the most difficult to correct. It pre- 
 vails from Japan to Peru, and is produced either 
 by gratitude or fear originating in the primitive 
 idea that the Almighty, like an Oriental autocrat, 
 despised a beggar who was proud, and for a sup- 
 plication to be efficacious the suppliant should as- 
 sume the woe-begone garb of one in distress. 
 Those who prayed did so with their naked bodies 
 clad in rough sackcloth, and ashes upon their 
 heads. 
 
 What would the scientific world say if the safety 
 valves of engines were condemned as immoral? 
 Everything is right in its right place. Darwin 
 states that out of one thousand unmarried men be- 
 
192 Geyserland 
 
 tween the ages of twenty and thirty, eleven and 
 three-tenths per cent, annually die, while of the 
 married six and five-tenths per cent. die. It is a 
 wonderful characteristic of the sensual factors of 
 our life, in that they never hesitate, waver, nor 
 doubt — they never stop to question. Lust, hunger, 
 and thirst fear no laws. As the sweet, mellow 
 peach is the tangible climax of the healthy tree, so 
 is amorous love the ripened fruit of manhood. The 
 medieval church fathers endeavored for centuries 
 to enforce the doctrine that men should be as un- 
 sensual as women, with what poor success every 
 one knows. Early training, education, religions, 
 laws, and customs have never succeeded in altering 
 Nature's conditions. Erasmus, speaking of the 
 regular and secular priests of the sixteenth century, 
 said, " The celibates were many, the chaste few." 
 Celibacy is no proof of chastity. In the annals of 
 St. Albans, during the twelfth century, we learn 
 that twice a year, to keep down unruly inclinations, 
 the monks were bled.* We do not wish to discuss 
 the esoteric morals of the priesthood, as opposed 
 to the exoteric morals of laymen. " Ignorance, 
 when voluntary, is criminal; and he may properly 
 be charged with evil who refused to learn how he 
 might prevent it." (Samuel Johnson.) Erotic 
 furor is a distinctly healthy male characteristic, 
 and relief from it is necessary, because all that 
 comforts the body, strengthens the mind. In a 
 medical treatise, Alexander Haig, M.A., M.D., 
 clearly states that flesh is heir to and should have 
 relief from high blood pressure. We dwell upon 
 this question of blood pressure (erotic furor) be- 
 cause it has been the most difficult problem in all 
 degrees of culture, and its correct solution will 
 
 * Froude. 
 
Man's Morality 193 
 
 be one of the greatest steps toward social peace. 
 All other great physical requirements have be- 
 come settled, varying only with local or climatic 
 conditions; whereas, this problem has been an 
 unending source of contention and condemnation, 
 and marriage has not been a satisfactory solution. 
 
 There can be no necessity in associating all am- 
 orous predilections with lifelong impoundage. 
 Half the anguish in Christendom is caused by the 
 inconstancy of fettered lovers. Professor McCook, 
 an authority on criminals and their punishments, 
 says that nine-tenths of the tramps are married. 
 
 Good health was the gospel of glad tidings for 
 the Geyserlanders. The first law of Nature is, 
 that the healthy shall be happy. Any acts or cus- 
 toms that are against the dictates of Nature are 
 wrong. There are three dangers for a healthy, 
 lusty young man — excess, privation, or unnatural 
 gratification. Epicurus wrote, " No pleasure is to 
 be rejected, except for its painful consequences; 
 and no pain to be chosen except as a means to a 
 great pleasure." 
 
 The conditions we believe to be normal were 
 obtainable in Geyserland. Some part of our 
 body is always demanding something. Tempta- 
 tions are only dangerous to the weak. Perverted 
 tastes have a charm for many, which justifies dras- 
 tic punishments. We know that cows who have 
 once drunk water from a stagnant pond prefer to 
 drink this sweet polluted water to that from the 
 fresh, clear spring. 
 
 We believe that the state and the church are 
 at odds with the natural conditions and the best 
 welfare of the race. We believe that health is 
 best preserved when Nature takes its proper course. 
 
194 Geyserland 
 
 Excess is the unpardonable vice. When the French 
 chemist and color expert, Monsieur Chevrieur, 
 who lived to the age of one hundred and ten, was 
 asked the secret of his old age, he replied, " I have 
 done everything I wanted to do, in moderation — 
 everything." 
 
 To resume our narrative. In all communities 
 there are certain men who admire what is popular, 
 and, like sheep when they see a leader running in 
 a certain direction, would seek to follow without 
 considering the goal. Such a man was the Gey- 
 serlander Lork, and Lork's love for Evrona will 
 form an important feature of this book. Lork was 
 a guardsman of average prominence, neither stu- 
 pid nor brilliant. He had about sixty per cent, of 
 the appreciation of the charms of reason, health, 
 taste, sight, smell, hearing, and poetry. Nothing 
 interested him deeply. Froth or cream was his 
 idea of pleasure. He was content to merely sip the 
 pleasure of life, and never dived into any one 
 deeply enough to become a character of interest to 
 anybody. Strange to say, he realized his own lack 
 of sterling qualities and devoted the greatest en- 
 ergy of his life in trying fraudulently to gain the 
 respect of those whom he respected. Unfortu- 
 nately, he did not appreciate that this respect should 
 be his only in proportion to his solicitude for the 
 benefit of the public good. This guardsman of 
 flaccid individuality, with the boldness of a trim- 
 mer and the cunning of a weak man, desired to be 
 classed among the conspicuous gallants or favor- 
 ites of the beautiful debutante Evrona. 
 
 The ideal type of woman is being continually 
 modified by changing fancy. The vogue may be 
 form, modesty, wit, humility, or amiability. How- 
 
Man's Morality 195 
 
 ever, our vivacious Evrona, with her golden beauty, 
 was then without a rival. 
 
 On the same summer's day when the Assistant 
 Surgeon, Sibis, and Fasho were strolling on the 
 shore path, the viripolent Lork asked Evrona to 
 walk with him. He led her away from the popu- 
 lar malls and frequented avenues, as he did not 
 care to be seen by those who might enjoy giving an 
 amusing description of the rebufif he feared. As- 
 sumption is always humorous. This diffident 
 lover bethought himself of the cozy secluded dell 
 on the shore path, where he could plead his story 
 of superficial adoration. 
 
 It is hard for most of us in civilization to appre- 
 ciate a community where property does not enter 
 into the acquiring of a woman's love, for with us 
 it is just as natural for the parties to think of prop- 
 erty as it is for the hunter to think of his powder 
 and shot when he starts on a gunning trip. 
 Bravery, courage, and war won the prizes in olden 
 times; now to the rich belong the fair. It is nat- 
 ural for a woman to be taken by force; but it is 
 more natural that she should give herself to the 
 man in whom she recognizes a natural affinity. 
 
 In Geyserland there was no barter, and a 
 woman's wishes were as much respected as those 
 of a man. Other people's emotions could be neither 
 bought nor controlled by force. 
 
 Let us credit those who are sensitive with having 
 loving hearts, because experience has taught us that 
 only those whom we love give us sorrow by their 
 unkind acts or words. 
 
 A man wishes for a thing — that is natural, and 
 the cause of an enterprise. His means of acquiring 
 it are varied. He may beg for it — that is humil- 
 ity; he may barter for it — that is trade. Some 
 
196 Geyserland 
 
 men have the power to demand it — that is inde- 
 pendence. Some acquire it by deception, and to 
 some it is given. 
 
 " Evrona," said Lork, " do you appreciate that 
 Fairmena, with all her glorifications, must go with- 
 out the possession of the man who loves her? Des- 
 tiny has a better course for you. Although Fasho 
 was an ardent lover, he loved Fairmena no more 
 than I love you." 
 
 " The love of any guardsman," replied Evrona, 
 " is a compliment to a girl, and yours I appreciate 
 fully." 
 
 "The favored ones are so radiantly happy that 
 I would be among them," said Lork, placing his 
 hand upon her shoulder. 
 
 Removing his hand, she spoke of the wild swans 
 upon the lake. At the same time her quick eye 
 detected some one in the shaded dell, and with a 
 spirit of mischief she stopped and said in a low 
 voice: 
 
 " Lork, do you really think you love me? because 
 I don't. Listen. Love to a man is a fleeting sensa- 
 tion, and the greater number he loves the more he 
 can love. Not so with us; the fewer we love the 
 more intensely we love." 
 
 " But, Evrona, I need you. T want you. Do let 
 me put my hand upon your shoulder, and let me 
 steady myself while I look into those liquid eyes. 
 Speak — let me see those perfect teeth between 
 those coral lips." 
 
 " This is folly, you trifling boy. Put your hand 
 on that birch-bark tree and steady your brain, then 
 try to count my golden hairs, or go deeper and read 
 the working of a girl's brain. I am young, Lork, 
 but I understand you. I know your mind, and it 
 
Man's Morality 197 
 
 can never understand mine. Stop; love me at a 
 distance — do not be foolish or violent. Take my 
 answer — straight! I will return alone! I insist!" 
 
 Poor Lork only begged, and offered love for 
 love, sympathy for sympathy, devotion for recog- 
 nition, but all in vain. Half indignant and half 
 mortified, Evrona left him, and he wandered to 
 the same shady nook where the Assistant Surgeon 
 sat in apparently deep meditation. Let it be noted, 
 the Assistant Surgeon had not sat long in his quiet 
 nook before he heard earnest voices, and being 
 something of a fox, did not disdain eavesdropping. 
 A man's curiosity to know what he should not know 
 is one of the ridiculous facts worth observing. To 
 intrude upon the sacred privacy of others appears 
 to be a feather in the cap of the average man; one 
 who would be bored at the " Black Crook," or a 
 Gaiety Show, will stand on tiptoe by the window 
 for twenty minutes, with opera glasses, to see his 
 neighbor's wife brush her hair. 
 
 " Lork," said the Assistant Surgeon, '' I heard 
 your pleading, and am sorry I cannot congratulate 
 you on better success; be patient." 
 
 " I must be more than patient, I must be re- 
 signed; it is hopeless," sighed Lork. "She is so 
 cruel." 
 
 " Not necessarily," replied the Assistant Sur- 
 geon. " When a wise woman wishes to suppress 
 another's aspirations she does it squarely and un- 
 mercifully, or she would get the reputation of 
 being a flirt. Remember, the more beautiful a 
 woman is, the more her opportunities of meeting 
 eminent men. This beauty sharpens a woman's 
 wits. Respect Evrona for not being easily won, 
 and strive to gain through strategy that which you 
 could not win by abasement. I assure you that you 
 
198 Geyserland 
 
 will get what you want; you are that type of man. 
 Courage! " 
 
 " Courage I have. My bravery has never been 
 questioned." 
 
 '' Quite right," replied the Assistant Surgeon. 
 " You fear not others, but you doubt yourself. 
 Everybody is brave in some particular." 
 
 " But," said Lork, " there are moments when I 
 feel desperate. I feel the only relief I can get for 
 this sore, trembling heart of mine is action. I am 
 full of seething furies. Truly, since that girl does 
 not love me, I am ripe for any crime. I can un- 
 derstand murder and cruelty for love of it. I want 
 revenge on the world. There are moments when 
 I am wild." 
 
 " Note that women love conquests, and remem- 
 ber that Evrona is proud," continued the Assistant 
 Surgeon. " She has recently been humiliated. 
 She is not looking for what she can easily have, 
 but wants something or somebody that others can- 
 not have. She would measure her suitors by a stand- 
 ard higher than that she held for herself. You 
 approached bended and bowed down; she should 
 be approached with the assurance of a superior." 
 
 " How can I, an insignificant guardsman of the 
 ranks, dominate anyone? My ambition is great, 
 but my ability is small. I have more desire for 
 power than capacity to obtain it." 
 
 " By your manners, by your ways, by your tastes, 
 by your assumption. Put yourself on a pinnacle 
 above your fellows. A strong woman loves to be 
 weak in the hands of power. Evrona knows that 
 you are easy, and recognizes that you are not saga- 
 cious in your methods. Make her respect you. 
 Try to be charming, respected ; ask no man a favor. 
 I have seen a woman scorn a man for years, and in 
 
Man's Morality 199 
 
 her trouble go to him to lean upon, and love him 
 twelvefold. What would old age do if it were not 
 that the young women love what they can respect? " 
 
 " I thank you for your friendship. I thank you 
 for your advice. But tell me one thing more. How 
 can I be charming? " 
 
 " To be charming," said the wily Assistant Sur- 
 geon, " study what others want. To consider others 
 is to flatter their vanity. There is no more stren- 
 uous, more exciting, or more desperate game than 
 trying to be charming or have winning ways. Let 
 me tell you a good scheme. A simple rule is, when 
 you meet people, first, speak to them of where you 
 saw them last; second, speak to them of that in 
 which they were then interested; third, question 
 them about that in which they are now interested." 
 
 " I am too honest for that," said Lork. " To say 
 those things and not to care seems impertinent and 
 bad faith. Flattery can never be anything but 
 cheap abasement." 
 
 " Super-exaggerated flattery, if not sarcastic, is 
 flattery still. Make no mistake. People will al- 
 ways feel pleased that you have remembered inci- 
 dents about them and their interests. Bad man- 
 ners make artful scheming almost impossible. 
 Have no one your superior for charming manners 
 in this community. Do your duty and await your 
 opportunity, my good Lork, and you will be distin- 
 guished. The time will certainly come when Ev- 
 rona will be your friend." 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 TEMPLE OF REASON — MARRIAGE — CHILDREN — 
 ADAM AND SIBIS 
 
 Proud can any Government be when it has managed to have one 
 happy, heahhy person where two underfed, unhealthy ones once were. 
 
 Speaking of conditions in Christendom, Elbert Hubbard said, " The 
 success of an individual is usually damnation for his children." 
 
 " A man falls in love with a dimple or curl. 
 Then foolishly marries the entire girl." 
 
 — Boston Transcript. 
 
 There is not much advantage in being born unless one feels that 
 one's parents have been selected with knowledge. 
 
 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 
 Nothing in the life or words of Jesus suggests 
 that he had a high esteem for family ties. " Call 
 no one your father upon the earth, for one is your 
 Father who is in Heaven." 
 
 Adam and Sibis were sitting in a balcony high 
 up on the Temple of Reason, the mental clearing- 
 house of Geyserland, overlooking the parks, fields, 
 and distant snow-capped mountains. 
 
 The good Sibis had been laughing. Humor is 
 an appreciation of unfitness; only the well-bal- 
 anced have it. We do not like what we do not 
 understand. English literature of two hundred 
 years ago refers to Frenchmen as frog-eating bar- 
 barians, but to-day an Englishman feels at home in 
 every hamlet in France. 
 
 Adam had been talking about his sisters and 
 their families. If marriage is the correct solution 
 of the social problem, we should imagine it was at 
 its perfection in an old English farm-house like 
 
Temple of Reason 201 
 
 Adam's home; yet his description of the conditions 
 there had provoked convulsions of laughter from 
 Sibis. 
 
 *' But you are wrong, my strange friend," said 
 Sibis. " Marriage need not be the most important 
 event in life. Your mind has not chosen the correct 
 position from which to view this subject. Notice 
 how the dexterous laborer catches his burden on 
 the even poise. That is the way you should let your 
 judgment get the truth on every subject, and not 
 be handicapped by uneven balance. From your 
 conversation I should think balance or equilibrium 
 must be a greatly neglected study in Christendom. 
 
 " The only way your marriage can be considered 
 the correct course is where each gives all and gets 
 all. That is possible, perhaps, only once in 10,000 
 times. It may be the custom with turtle doves or 
 linnets, but humanity presents far more compli- 
 cated conditions, and if we should do as you sug- 
 gest and your people practice, we should certainly 
 wrong the community in some way. Those who 
 govern should love the tree rather than the fruit. 
 
 " Your progenitor is ridiculous, unjust to the 
 individual. Take your characters, stand them up 
 like so many dolls for inspection — your progenitor, 
 head of his family, with a whole woman conse- 
 crated to him. All the family dependent upon this 
 haphazard man! Look at him — this accident of 
 sex — how has he proven his capacity to rule? Is 
 it just that he should be saluted and respected any 
 more than other useful characters — these masses 
 of unmarried women and men? Study your race 
 in the past; enjoy your race at the present. So live 
 that your race in the future will benefit by your 
 having lived. Do not let any one individual domi- 
 nate your life. I cannot help laughing at the com- 
 
202 Geyserland 
 
 ical disappointments that must occur as the result 
 of your marriage system. Allowing that a woman 
 can love but one man at a time, are we to believe 
 that she must love but once? Is not every passion 
 subject to the control of a greater one? Certainly 
 your women must be poor, spiritless creatures to 
 permit their careers to be so hampered. How do 
 your women become acquainted with the men 
 whom they are to love forever? Is love a craze, or 
 is it more like a truth, a matter to be contemplated 
 and experimented with before correctly under- 
 stood? You speak meritoriously of ignorant, inno- 
 cent young girls; on the contrary, should not a girl 
 investigate and know everything there is to know 
 about men before such a monstrous step as your 
 marriage is taken? Why should you leave to 
 your Providence or I to my Destiny that which 
 knowledge can largely direct? Do your juvenile 
 vows last? If so, is the woman to be esteemed who 
 in the fulfilment of her vows continues to cohabit 
 with a man long after she has ceased to love him? 
 Is constancy so common with you that the majority 
 of women can be trusted? Or is constancy a trans- 
 cendent ideal that only a few are able to attain — 
 and, as is well known, as one adores that which 
 one can't attain, its importance is magnified by the 
 masses, like any other freak of Nature. 
 
 " Men and women need each other, but fortu- 
 nately constancy is not one of Nature's laws. 
 
 " To appreciate a good thing one must have a 
 contrast. Why should not the same principle of 
 contrasts apply to our loves and friendships? The 
 combination of competition and comparison is the 
 accepted route towards excellence in all other mat- 
 ters, why not allow it in our love affairs? Would 
 not many torpid loves be awakened if their mates 
 
Temple of Reason 203 
 
 realized that they might be replaced? In your 
 country does the love that comes to a man from the 
 'sense of duty' please him? You ask a girl to 
 marry you and love you forever? What do you 
 mean? There are different types of love. There 
 is companionship or sympathetic love, where we 
 love the one that is like us, the one who sympathizes 
 with our tastes and interests; there is romantic, 
 adoring love, conscientious exaggerated estima- 
 tion of the superiority of another's personality; 
 there is unselfish, affectionate love, a love inspired 
 by strength and confidence in one's self to protect 
 and provide — as a fond mother's love for her in- 
 fant. 
 
 " Do you expect all these loves? Or are you 
 going to restrict your feelings to one, which to-day 
 you prefer without knowing that to-morrow it may 
 be one of the others that has an irresistible attrac- 
 tion that kindles the uncontrollable flames of your 
 passion? Or are you going to have a composite of 
 the three that may please you when thirty years of 
 age, and probably bore you at fifty? Can you force 
 yourself to love those who have ceased to attract 
 you? Will-power may permit you to act the hypo- 
 crite, but the true sentiments of the lover are be- 
 yond the control of human volition. Can your 
 women act love? Can you reason yourself into 
 affection? Don't you class affection for another as 
 an emotional passion that comes an uninvited guest 
 into your system like the appreciation of a glorious 
 sunrise? Does it not bore you to be doomed always 
 to play the role of sweetest friend? Be honest 
 and love the woman who best embodies those quali- 
 ties that your time of life and capacities most 
 desire." 
 
 " But marriage is natural," interrupted Adam. 
 
204 Geyserland 
 
 " You know the animals mate. The tigers mate 
 for life, the lions for a season." 
 
 "True," said Sibis; "but is it the law in your 
 home to copy the animals? Do any of you try to 
 sleep standing on one leg, like the cranes; or chew 
 your food twice, like the cows? " 
 
 " More than half the good things we know we 
 learned from animals," said Adam. 
 
 " Correct," said Sibis; " but one can learn every 
 method of moral or immoral habit from animals. 
 The task of our brains is to find out the best thing 
 to do. Mating for the purpose of breeding should 
 be a matter for the community to decide, rather 
 than the individual. Bodily affinity or petty senti- 
 mentality is a very poor cause for parental mating. 
 Nature has perpetuated all living things by mating 
 the male and female. Before and since animal life 
 appeared on the earth all vegetable life mated. In 
 order that there should be no failure about it, 
 Nature has associated health and pleasure with pro- 
 creation. It is our business to ascertain all the laws 
 about breeding, and also to study their effect upon 
 our health and pleasure, giving fair importance to 
 both the procreative and the amative. We must 
 not think that Nature is a trivial sport because the 
 hazards of heredity seem beyond the scope of our 
 knowledge. As a community advances in culture, 
 breeding with all its hazardous uncertainties should 
 be made a science like chemistry, where combina- 
 tions can be foretold with exactness. Your customs 
 about the relations of the sexes and the parents to 
 their children were formed for uncultured times. 
 Investigation of our civilized days proved to us 
 that no one was willing to make a complete change 
 of his own individuality for that of anyone else; 
 but a vast majority would have preferred having 
 
Temple of Reason 205 
 
 other parents, and it was, in a measure, to do away 
 with these regrets that our system of homoculture 
 was adopted. Nature's laws regulating heredity 
 must be carefully considered, and the training of 
 a child's inclinations must begin before it is born. 
 Those who select our matrons and progenitors do 
 so with a view of eliminating noxious proclivities 
 from our race — in the same manner that vermin is 
 eradicated from our bowers, or wolves from our 
 sheepfolds. The changing of instinct into fore- 
 sight marks the progress of mankind. Mating can- 
 not be satisfactorily settled by any such primitive 
 method as your independent families and marriage. 
 The people who made your laws have neglected 
 to condemn sufficiently the improvidence of bring- 
 ing into the world infants for whom no provision 
 is made.* 
 
 " Consider the cause and effect of procreative 
 love. The cause is the desire to perpetuate the 
 race, and a natural amative feeling common to all 
 healthy living beings. The effect means the future 
 physical and mental condition of the race. This 
 is so important that it must be controlled by our 
 councils and its importance recognized by our peo- 
 ple; any other method would subject us to just 
 condemnation of cruelty by those who follow us. 
 What right have weaklings or inferior men and 
 women to breed? What is the basis of those rights? 
 Should a proper government permit them? It is 
 too late after a ship is amongst the rocks to recog- 
 nize the necessity of a pilot, and too late after a 
 child is born to cure bad, inherited traits." 
 
 " The system with us," interrupted Adam, " may 
 
 * It is estimated by a commission of prominent educators headed by 
 Professor Burlington, that there are 12,000,000 school children in the 
 United States with physical defects, who do not receive treatment. 
 
2o6 Geyserland 
 
 mean cruelty to those who are unfitted for life's 
 burdens; but it is the grand, natural way, it is 
 normal evolution, and it seems wiser to leave the 
 fate of the race to the Creator, who is competent. 
 The continuation of a supposedly ideal yet really 
 unnatural method like yours must in time make all 
 people alike." 
 
 " Stop a bit," exclaimed Sibis. " The Creator 
 gives us unhewn conditions, but counts on us for 
 the hewing. You do not know the extent of the 
 hybrid complications, the infinite results of the re- 
 lation of the sexes that the Council of Doctors are 
 alway considering. Everyone knows that we can- 
 not manage society by rigid methods. In our Ex- 
 perimental Grange the offspring of our irregular 
 matrons are given the same chance of opportunity 
 as the other children. This Experimental Grange 
 is a very important feature of our community, for 
 here our wise men are constantly on the alert to 
 add a finer quality to our race. You or anyone else 
 is liable to be summoned there. Fru, the little 
 dwarfed poet, and Uglo, the giant guardsman, 
 were both born there. You should observe and 
 compare, and you will see that we are larger and 
 freer than your people, when measured by the 
 standard of gratitude to the Creator, by the ca- 
 pacity for enjoying the seven qualities of mortals, 
 and by the love for humanity." 
 
 " Letting alone the physical part of the ques- 
 tion," said Adam, " let us discuss the intellectual 
 part. It is natural that we should belong to some- 
 thing closer to us than a state. I want my wife's 
 sympathy and my children's sympathy. I want to 
 go to church on Sunday and have the pastor give 
 me ideas to think about during the week; I do not 
 want to go through this life alone. I don't believe 
 
Temple of Reason 207 
 
 in individualism or communism. I believe that 
 the family, not the individual or the state, should 
 be the scheme of society. A man by himself, at any 
 time of life, is very lonely. I love my family." 
 
 " Have patience," continued Sibis; "be a little 
 uncertain about the things you are so certain about. 
 You will find comrades here w^ho will know you 
 better and will understand you better than any 
 kinsfolk you have left at home ; these are matters 
 of sympathy, not of blood. Apparently your 
 method of deciding whether family or individual 
 is the unit in society must lack order; and let me 
 inquire if it is necessary for your friendships and 
 sympathies to be connected with breeding? " 
 
 " Yes, because it seems so natural to love, with 
 a view of propagation, the woman who sympa- 
 thizes with one," replied Adam. " Personal liberty 
 as a constitutional right is so strongly imbued in 
 all of my race that it would not brook interference 
 by the government in love matters." 
 
 "But why breed?" queried Sibis. "Breeding 
 is the crime against the community and not the 
 satisfaction of a healthy appetite. As breeding is 
 the climax of love, so is murder the climax of hate. 
 Does your government also permit indiscriminate 
 assassinations? Moreover, healthy animal magnet- 
 ism may have more to do with the amative feeling 
 than intellectual sympathy. Admitting that Na- 
 ture has associated love with breeding, what of it? 
 There is a pleasure that accompanies every natural 
 act. Our scientists have never insisted that it was 
 necessary for the father and mother to feel roman- 
 tic love toward each other, provided they have a 
 certain affinity leading to the noble desire for the 
 best interests of the offspring. Is it not possible to 
 presume that an enlightened woman who desires 
 
2o8 Geyserland 
 
 to fulfil her natural functions as a mother should 
 prefer to share with other women the progenitive 
 embrace of a superior man, rather than to sadden 
 the race by perpetuating the questionable qualities 
 of the only man that social conditions have elected 
 for her? So ! But did you ever try the experiment 
 of making a list of the principles that govern you, 
 and then eliminating such as are antiquated? 
 Breeding is the crime — all unnecessary restrictions 
 must mean waste of opportunities." 
 
 " It seems so heartless, so stupid, so insipid, just 
 worrying along for the good of humanity in gen- 
 eral," interposed Adam. 
 
 " You will find plenty of excitement," said Sibis. 
 " Life can be made interesting and happy without 
 descending to egotism. Our Geyserland cannot 
 compete with your civilization in the aggrandize- 
 ment of any one individual at the expense of the 
 balance of the community, but we certainly excel 
 in general happiness. Strong men are lazy and 
 selfish, they want a sure thing; they want a binding 
 marriage; but as the women here have an equal 
 part with the men in establishing habits and cus- 
 toms, they have asserted that what a woman really 
 wants is to live with a man as long as he loves her, 
 and when he ceases to love her she prefers to be 
 free from restraint. The greatest charm of our 
 life is in its animality, but assuming desires that we 
 do not have is loathsome." 
 
 " All the poetry of my life is very closely 
 associated with my family," interrupted Adam 
 brusquely. 
 
 " It must be a haphazard kind of poetry," an- 
 swered Sibis, " for one does not have the choosing 
 of one's family. I should think selected friends 
 would be more conducive to poetry than those 
 
Temple of Reason 209 
 
 whom you call relations. Besides, all people are 
 happier in proportion to their sympathies with the 
 people about them, and not to such only as are like 
 themselves in some trivial peculiarity, such as race, 
 occupation, or social position. Let me ask you, 
 how often does it happen with you that a man finds 
 sympathy for all his inclinations in one woman? 
 
 " Our appreciation of Nature should spread like 
 the honeysuckle, and not be caged like a pet that 
 desires to run away. Love is a part of life, for 
 sympathy is as necessary to the mind as oxygen is 
 to the body. No idea is potent until it echoes in 
 another's mind. Your civilized system of marriage 
 must be contracting. No woman can follow a man 
 in all his seven qualities of appreciation, neither 
 can any man be in unison with any woman with all 
 her seven qualities. Your happy marriages must 
 be stories of self-sacrifice — nullifying desires — 
 stopping at all such actions as are not agreeable to 
 both. Is that as it should be? Is it necessary? 
 No! As it is possible for you to swim with one 
 friend, sing with another, and wrestle with another, 
 without creating jealousy, why cannot all seek 
 affinity in the progress and development of life as 
 free people should? " 
 
 Adam, with his positive English assurance and 
 reverence for things long established, replied: 
 
 " I know a young woman who possesses every 
 quality my heart yearns for. I was journeying to 
 fetch her, when wrecked in the ice. She is to return 
 with me to my home in England. My father will 
 die. I have his name, and I will be the head of 
 the family, and she will have a son with my name, 
 who in due time will take my place. You see, with 
 us it is those before and also those after us. We are 
 not complete in ourselves, for our family system 
 
2IO Geyserland 
 
 with the ancestors' good name and blood is prac- 
 tically everlasting, while here you are born and 
 die and it is all finished." 
 
 Sibis was now saddened by Adam's account of 
 Christendon, and continued: 
 
 " Your ancestors' good name may be everlasting, 
 but his blood must be getting thin, for in twenty 
 generations it would be in proportion — one mil- 
 lion to one. You certainly explain these matters 
 like a true son of civilization. The relations made 
 by your marriage must have a lot to do with the in- 
 heritance of what you call ' money, business, and 
 property.'* Some day your women will refuse to 
 accept these conditions, and revolt. Now, pray 
 tell me, good man, why your marriage is necessary? 
 When you are lonesome, why do you take such 
 drastic steps and make unbreakable ties? Mar- 
 riage with you must require great heroism. Men 
 and women have to risk all for unwarrantable 
 chances. We tried your system before we entered 
 into our present one, and I know of no one who 
 wishes to return to it." 
 
 " I should feel like a fool, loving everyone," said 
 Adam, " and I believe in mastering the masses, not 
 serving them. I want my wife securely mine to love 
 alone — mine to take care of, and mine to love for- 
 ever. There is little affection in all your system." 
 
 " On the contrary, we are all affection. Free 
 affection is more charming than affection secured 
 by iron chains and prison bars. It must be the 
 cause of a great deal of sorrow in your country 
 when the woman one loves is another man's wife, 
 or vice versa. Love your race — it will give a new 
 
 * The distrust of one's relatives has always prevailed, and prevailed 
 to such an extent among the Asiatic despots, that it was almost an estab- 
 lished custom to slay all when crowned ; for example, eighty-six were 
 assassinated to relieve the anxiety of King Theban of Burmah. 
 
Temple of Reason 211 
 
 charm and value to your life. Our altruistic com- 
 mune is in direct opposition to your egotistical, 
 narrow civilization. Please digest this fact, and you 
 will find life happier here. Love all your fellow- 
 beings, consider yourself a useful fragment in this 
 corps of victorious progress. I think you will find 
 us as full of heart as those you left at home. We 
 do not think out things in the same way. Our 
 minds are on totally different paths. With us, 
 parents have been long considered very meddle- 
 some parties; they always had exaggerated opin- 
 ions of the importance of their offspring. You 
 know that among the wild animals a mother tries 
 to kill all offspring but her own, and now our state, 
 with the exception of the mother and the infant, 
 does not recognize parents in any way officially. 
 " Human beings look too much upon their child- 
 ren as property. It is the mother's reward to care 
 for her infant. Our state does not deprive the 
 mother of the acme and epitome of maternal joy, 
 the care of the infant; but once weaned, the child 
 belongs to the community. No animals expect 
 their young to work and compensate them for being 
 brought into existence. Young animals cease to 
 care for their parents as soon as weaned. Our 
 ancient records are filled with stories of ungrate- 
 ful children, parricides, rebellious, restless, impa- 
 tient sons who could not wait for their parent's 
 natural death. Family ties consequently became a 
 curse.* The wild cat is the best of mothers, but 
 all her maternal love seems to terminate as soon as 
 her offspring are weaned. Children do not belong 
 to parents, they are only loaned to them. Children 
 belong to the world, and the government should 
 
 * Moses had to threaten the Jewish children with death if they did 
 not treat their parents with love. Fifth Commandment. 
 
2 1 2 Geyserland 
 
 arrange that they are properly trained for their 
 existence. Of course, here it is known, or rumored, 
 by whom our children are mothered, but babies 
 are early weaned, and the state loves, cares for, and 
 protects them. You must have noticed in your 
 country how often the childless love children, and 
 you will notice here the honor and the gratitude 
 the government and people show the noble child- 
 bearers. The children love the state, which is 
 greater than parents and older and more lasting 
 than a family name. 
 
 " Nature has implanted in the infant a disposi- 
 tion to assume the air of gratefulness toward his 
 parents who furnish him with the necessities, com- 
 forts, and pleasures of life, as he is dependent upon 
 them. But as the child becomes master of himself, 
 it is natural for this disposition to wear ofif. Then 
 there is no tie between them. Nature has given us 
 just enough brains to sympathize with Nature's 
 creations. The All Powerful could have given us 
 more brains, but did not. They may be develop- 
 ing, but in my opinion no man or woman has ever 
 had enough intellect to pledge sincere affection for 
 the balance of his or her life. Happy is the man 
 who can learn the immeasurable distance between 
 his wishes and his powers. There is too much risk 
 in your marriage contract, you quaint-minded man. 
 One might hazard one's life away without know- 
 ing its value. Marriage is a trivial custom handed 
 down to you from trivial beginnings," concluded 
 Sibis, as she good-naturedly placed her hands on 
 his shoulders, and with a friendly push bade him, 
 " Farewell, come again." 
 
 The mild, marital ties of the latter Roman days 
 
Temple of Reason 213 
 
 were condemned by the church. Why? Because 
 the rigid family system, with home, the unit, 
 was most acceptable to the early Christian hier- 
 archy, as it had been to all despotic govern- 
 ments. 
 
 The church assumed control of the new belief, 
 and instead of accepting the superb freedom that 
 accompanied Jesus' simple " follow me," its dog- 
 mas were welded and soldered to every interest in 
 life. 
 
 The church and the despot not only desire that 
 their subjects should obey, but also insist that all 
 shall have the same religious ideas. The church 
 loves to have things " fixed," in order to locate all 
 the physical and mental actions of its members. 
 The bond between church and state has ever been 
 a bulwark against original thought and progres- 
 sive investigation; hence it is a sin to consider any 
 moral question in opposition to the church. 
 
 When a man buys a house, gets a wife, has a 
 child, enters society, social clubs, or a church, it is 
 each time another promise to " be good " and obey 
 a government. A man to be good should have a 
 feeling of disinterested courtesy and sympathy, or, 
 as the Persian Antigonus of Saco maintained, " We 
 must not practice like a hireling for a reward, but 
 must be virtuous without expectation." 
 
 All positions assigned to women in Christendom 
 to-day are subordinate, and are vestiges of the hu- 
 miliating customs of the primitive marriage by 
 capture or by purchase, with the exception of the 
 Teutons, who from the most ancient times have 
 recognized that the child-bearing woman is the 
 standard of the race ; and women, then as now, were 
 respected accordingly. Caesar was much impressed 
 by this fact, and took female hostages in preference 
 
214 Geyserland 
 
 to male ones. There was no such word as love 
 among people of low culture; it was lust and labor. 
 
 In all low strata of culture the difiference be- 
 tween man and woman is purely sensual. In Cen- 
 tral Africa a woman's hand or foot is the same as a 
 man's. The moment culture begins and man treats 
 woman with an honest acknowledgment of her lib- 
 erty and natural predilections, then each and every 
 organ develops in a true female manner. A normal 
 woman's mind is not like a normal man's mind, any 
 more than a normal woman's little finger is like a 
 normal man's little finger. Plato and Jesus agreed 
 that men and women were of equal importance, 
 but neither of them said that they were the same. 
 There is man's work and there is woman's work. 
 
 Which is best — betrothal, marriage, or trial? 
 It is a question to be settled by conditions. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 TRUTH AND HONOR VERSUS PERSONAL RESPONSI- 
 BILITY — EGG EPISODE 
 
 " Life without friendship is like the sky without the sun." 
 
 — Cicero. 
 
 "There can be no law where there is no penalty back of it." 
 The greatest of human follies is that of having defenseless wealth. 
 
 One hundred and fifty years ago the coins, 
 weights, and measures throughout Europe were in 
 a hopeless state of confusion, but the National Con- 
 vention of France, by introducing the metric sys- 
 tem, brought order out of chaos. Some such proc- 
 ess had probably taken place in Geyserland in re- 
 gard to the language, for Adam with little or no 
 trouble soon found himself conversing in the 
 vernacular. 
 
 One of Adam's associates on the hillside was 
 Flot, a celebrated liar, who was amused by Adam's 
 childlike simplicity in always telling the truth, 
 while Adam, with his blunt, British frankness, did 
 not see the necessity of constantly lying. 
 
 Dr. Doran — the best authority on chivalry — 
 says, " It is a part of chivalry to say one thing and 
 think another." We think the same, with slight 
 alterations, might be said of all polite people of 
 to-day. Sharp practice has become good form in 
 commercial life to-day. As Hetty Green says, " In 
 olden times a man's word was as good as his bond. 
 To-day every man's bond must be scrutinized with 
 the very best of glasses." Abnormally false dec- 
 
 215 
 
2l6 Geyserland 
 
 larations are made in the social world without the 
 slightest pang of conscience; for example, to out- 
 wit the tax collector is a matter to boast about, and 
 men with the reputation of being honorable gen- 
 tlemen say, " I believe " in the Creed, or " I will " 
 in the marriage service, when they do not believe 
 any such thing or intend to do any such wholesale 
 giving. 
 
 In civilization, where the aim is to have all our 
 functions made easy, unquestionably the worries 
 of our life would be vastly diminished if we could 
 rely on the truth of everybody's statements; but as 
 it is prudent as well as natural to chew food, so it 
 is natural as well as prudent to question the truth 
 of people's statements. As a wise old guy said, 
 " One must not believe half the lies one hears." 
 
 The author of Don Quixote has shown the ab- 
 surdity of romantic chivalry. The history of the 
 world is a travesty of honor. Expediency has 
 prompted statesmen to embody the principles of 
 honor in their system of government. These prin- 
 ciples have been dignified to the point of religious 
 sacredness in order to control those whose lack of 
 " punctilious scruples " failed to hold them per- 
 sonally responsible. The lack of honor in human- 
 ity is illustrated in Walpole's remark that he had 
 found only one man whom he could not " buy " — 
 William Pitt, " the little patriot." Machiavelli 
 says, " Agathocles, the tyrant of Syracuse, was in- 
 sensible to pity, good-faith, or any noble principle; 
 he never trusted any one, and thus was never be- 
 trayed." The honor of Catholic churchmen, who 
 recognize no earthly responsibility, is well exem- 
 plified by the " safe-conduct " given to John Huss. 
 This was revoked by the bishop, who ruled that 
 safe-conducts could not protect heretics; or as 
 
 di- 
 
Honor Versus Personal Responsibility 217 
 
 Clement VII said, " The Pope has the power to 
 bind and to loose, and not to keep his word." Note 
 Falstafif's reasoning on his obligation to be ready to 
 die in battle. 
 
 Falstaff. I would it were bed-time, Hal, and all well. 
 P. Henry. Why, thou owest God a death. [Exit.] 
 Falstaff. 'Tis not due yet; I would be loth to pay him 
 before his day. What need I be so fon\^ard with him that 
 calls on me? Well, 'tis no matter; Honor pricks me on. Yea, 
 but how if honor prick me off when I am on? How then? 
 Can honor set a leg? No. Or an arm? No. Or take away 
 the grief of a wound? No. Honor hath no skill in surgery 
 then? No. What is honor? A word. What that word 
 honor? Air. A trim reckoning? Who hath it? He that 
 died o' Wednesday. Doth he feel it? No, Doth he hear it? 
 No. Is it insensible then? Yea, to the dead. But will it not 
 live with the living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer 
 it: therefore I'll none of it: honor is a mere scutcheon, and so 
 ends my catechism. [Exit.] 
 
 — {Henry the Fourth.) 
 
 It was everybody's privilege in Geyserland to 
 challenge an assertion. The " straight line " has 
 always been symbolic of an ideal stage of civiliza- 
 tion, with rigid honor and narrow paths. Whereas, 
 the broader life of Geyserland permitted curved 
 paths, which made reflection wider, wit more alert. 
 Plot's picturesque lies merely showed his love for 
 this curved line of beauty. His falsehoods were 
 on the line of practical jokes which seldom in- 
 flicted pain. It was his keenest joy to cause other 
 people confusion and bewilderment by artfully 
 dodging from one lie to another. This was well 
 known to the Geyserlanders, who said that he was 
 so slick he could even tell the truth with the object 
 of deceiving. Hence they valued information 
 from him at naught or less. 
 
 Honor (that is, truth, honesty, and duty) is a 
 
2 1 8 Geyserland 
 
 sterling attribute of the noble. It is the principle 
 of doing one's duty to those who cannot enforce it. 
 If the state and the public could rely upon the con- 
 stant practice of honor, a solution would be at hand 
 for our most serious social difficulties; but honor 
 from its very nature is beyond the possibility of 
 being enforced; therefore, we must resort to more 
 practical methods. Honor as an element of eco- 
 nomics cannot be relied upon, but justice can be 
 brought to be a freeman's right. The " cow tail 
 contracts " between labor unions and capitalists, 
 fast and responsible at one end and loose and inde- 
 pendent at the other, must be replaced by personal 
 responsibility at both ends. 
 
 Jeremiah (600 B.C.) suggested that individual 
 responsibility must take the place of vows and 
 oaths. It had become apparent even in his day 
 that honor was an abnormal, rather than a normal, 
 institution. It is the duty of those who govern 
 to see that personal responsibility replaces honor 
 in every possible situation and condition of life. 
 It is necessary to do away with custom-house 
 oaths, personal-property declarations, and uniden- 
 tifiable people — an individual should be trusted in 
 the same manner as a corporation which has no ex- 
 pectations of a heavenly reward or punishment. 
 An oath of office should always be accompanied by 
 a feasible menace sufficient to maintain personal 
 rectitude, just as the Roman soldier fully realized 
 death as the inevitable punishment for desertion or 
 cowardice. 
 
 Let the rich and the poor each solicit inspection. 
 The arrogant assumption by some supercilious peo- 
 ple of an honor and probity above suspicion is 
 ridiculous. 
 
 To question a man's honor is to place in doubt 
 
Honor Versus Personal Responsibility 219 
 
 his conscience; nevertheless, history has but one sad 
 lesson, and that is, that more than half the misery 
 of this world has been brought about by misplaced 
 confidence. It is absurd that the same sage people 
 who condemn efforts at cooperative communism 
 as Utopian, should continue to believe in the possi- 
 bility of universal truth and honor. No progress 
 is made without concessions. Let us not be dis- 
 courteous to those who do not wish to rely on our 
 conscience and doubt our sincerity. The Altruist 
 tells the truth because he believes it is the truth. 
 It is an Altruist's work to fulfill an Altruist's 
 words; but he does not make it a matter of pride 
 and principle to insist upon being believed. He 
 admits the right of others to question his state- 
 ments. The common habit of backing one's opin- 
 ion with a wager and challenge for an investiga- 
 tion is much to be preferred to the habit of attitu- 
 dinizing with an " honorable statement " that dis- 
 dains doubt and forbids contradiction. Honor is a 
 chimera — money a reality. 
 
 Our civilization is not an ideal condition of ex- 
 istence. Many reach the fore rank of public con- 
 fidence by an assumed mask of probity, and with 
 dishonor in their hearts. Crimes involving a 
 breach of trust can, from their very nature, only be 
 committed by persons whose good reputation has 
 secured for them a position of confidence. It takes 
 an honest face to pass a fraudulent check. The 
 tales of honor are studied by hypocrites, so that by 
 imitation they can acquire the confidence of those 
 whom they wish to deceive. Ever since the days 
 of the Pentecost communities there have been Ana- 
 niases and Sapphiras. But the time will come when 
 they will not be feared, because they will be ex- 
 pected, and safeguards will be taken, for the masses 
 
220 Geyserland 
 
 will be so alert and wide awake that they will pro- 
 tect their common rights. 
 
 We, personally, are as honest as any one, but we 
 believe that those who trust us while compliment- 
 ing our pride are themselves unwise, and are fol- 
 lowing a dangerous path. Trust no one, rich or 
 poor, weak or powerful, corrupt or incorrupt. 
 
 Each individual should be required to furnish 
 some means of identifying himself as the author of 
 whatever he does, and thus be held responsible for 
 his actions. The land must learn a lesson from the 
 sea. No haughty airs pass a ship into port to-day. 
 Every ship launched must register its signal code; 
 and every ship coming into port without giving the 
 proper signals for its identification is treated as a 
 pirate. It is essential, in order to create work of 
 high character, that the craftsman should take 
 pride in his creation and sign it. Every cut stone 
 in the Burgos Cathedral is signed by a private 
 mark of the man who cut it. 
 
 This idea of the sanctity of friendship or loyalty 
 to a communal friend has probably come to us 
 from the Middle Ages, when there existed a rivalry 
 between the king's courts and the church courts. 
 The latter did not fail to acquire favor by giving 
 refuge in their sanctuaries to those convicted of 
 any crime by the former. To condone a mean act 
 is to participate in its committal. A social body 
 is responsible for its individuals. A dishonest 
 member smudges the reputation of a whole asso- 
 ciation. A bad sample may condemn a whole 
 cargo. 
 
 A society should be so organized within that 
 each unworthy member would be expelled. A Chi- 
 nese parent is the first to give his guilty child up to 
 the authorities for punishment. There is nothing 
 
Honor Versus Personal Responsibility 221 
 
 meritorious in one schoolboy protecting from de- 
 tection and punishment another who cribs. A boy 
 who cheats at his examination is not so much the 
 enemy of the teacher as of his classmates. 
 
 To apply this principle to women: The theory 
 of divided responsibility is a pernicious one. 
 
 Until within the last fifty years woman was rec- 
 ognized — and recognized herself — as the depend- 
 ant or underling of a man, the head of the house- 
 hold. To hold a woman personally responsible 
 requires that she should be individually and eco- 
 nomically independent. Such a startling innova- 
 tion necessarily takes time to evolve from that de- 
 pendent condition, for so long as women are con- 
 sidered dependent upon the masculine members of 
 the household for responsibility of their actions, 
 just so long will they be incapable of occupying 
 trustworthy positions. Charlotte Stetson has re- 
 marked, " Woman is a thousand years behind a 
 man in her economic status." We strongly believe 
 that there are only two courses open to woman — 
 either to know and observe the laws prescribed 
 by the government, or else resume the place of 
 her husband's underling, being guarded and se- 
 questered, and thus placed in a position where the 
 husband can be held responsible. In the perpetu- 
 ation of the race the only function of the man is to 
 propagate — the woman does the rest. It will be 
 a step forward with us if we let the man pay the 
 taxes, and the state take care of the mother and her 
 offspring. What is the use of demanding unnat- 
 ural conditions when the above method is possible? 
 As long as the unfortunate lunatics, the blind, and 
 the helpless, were dependent on the bounty of indi- 
 viduals, there was a pitiable horde of outcasts about 
 the church steps, resembling the unclean eaters of 
 
222 GEYSERLAND 
 
 Carthage. It is well known that our conventional 
 woman will sacrifice everything for the man, or 
 cause, she loves. And for that reason, women have 
 seldom been placed in civic positions of justice or 
 honor. Nancy Sykes is an excellent example of 
 how little a woman cares for honor or the right, 
 compared to her fidelity in love. 
 
 What has honor been in the past? There is not 
 a trace of it in the Iliad. Ulyssees' treatment of 
 the spy Covon was most treacherous. The object 
 of every Christian is to be righteous; the object of 
 every ancient Persian was to be truthful. " The 
 law of the Medes and Persians which altereth 
 not." Notwithstanding this popular sentiment 
 that in a measure has descended to our time in the 
 Parsees (the descendants of Persians who migrated 
 to India to avoid Mohammedanism), there have 
 not been wanting conspicuous cases of dishonor- 
 able conduct in Persia — Cambyses' treacherous 
 murder of his brother, for example. It is interest- 
 ing to note the contempt for dishonorable acts 
 shown by the later Greeks and Romans in their dis- 
 gust for the Carthaginians, from whom they re- 
 ceived no honorable reciprocity; and consequently, 
 with them, " Punic faith " was an epithet of dis- 
 grace. 
 
 It has never been made quite clear to us why 
 those who acquired property by cunning, schem- 
 ing, and deceit were considered so much more 
 odious than those who acquired it by force, cruelty, 
 and bloodshed. For, barring the feeling of morti- 
 fication, we should prefer to lose our property and 
 those who are most dear to us, by buying a gold- 
 brick, rather than by having our bones broken and 
 our sons killed. Different people are dominated 
 
Honor Versus Personal Responsibility 223 
 
 by different principles, and rightly so. The sneak- 
 ing fox IS as much a part of the scheme of Nature 
 as the faithful dog. 
 
 Rome with her autocratic leaders, and Carthage 
 with her Arab promoters, were both of our race 
 1 he personnel of Rome consisted of farmers sol- 
 diers, and usurers,— alert, stoic, and disciplined — 
 who were vigilant to discover undefended wealth 
 and to capture and appropriate the luxuries of the 
 effeminate, to crush those who might become ri- 
 vals, and with an inherited love of justice try to 
 force on their tribute-paying empire the laws of 
 truth honor, and integrity. The Carthaginians, 
 on the other hand, craftsmen skilled in every 
 branch, hired others to do their fighting. Livy 
 wrote that the Carthaginian army was made up of 
 the outcasts of the world. The Carthaginians 
 were untiring in commercial pursuits, and with 
 greedy enterprise developed the resources of every 
 locality within reach. By their arts, their manu- 
 factures, and their transportations by land and 
 ^yater they supplied the world with untold quan- 
 tities of necessaries and luxuries at tremendous 
 proht to themselves. 
 
 Carthage was the ally of Rome against Pyrrhus 
 B.C. 275, and the little band of Carthaginians then 
 residing in Rome set the pace for their refinements 
 and luxuries. They laughed because in Rome 
 there was but one set of plate, which was passed 
 from one family to another as they wished to en- 
 tertain. When the Italian Peninsula was con- 
 quered by Rome, Carthage became the only rival 
 of equal power upon the Mediterranean, hence 
 Carthage had to be destroyed. It was the young 
 
224 GEYSERLAND 
 
 Stalwart Stoic against the old Epicurean, the Euro- 
 pean against the Oriental. They would not assim- 
 ilate, so one had to be destroyed. Rome had every- 
 thing to gain and little to lose — Carthage the re- 
 verse. Youth conquered; it generally does. Sev- 
 enteen days were devoted to the burning and de- 
 molishing of the homes of the skillful, industrious 
 Carthaginians, and all their records were de- 
 stroyed. The hate, envy, and vengeance of the 
 Romans annihilated those who had not fled. 
 
 To magnify their own importance, literary men 
 have always delighted to destroy the sources from 
 which they derived information. We know that 
 the historical records of India were destroyed by 
 the Brahmins, and the Romans did away with the 
 books of the period of Numa, and of the Turditani 
 in Spain. Nothing is so irritating as the reticence 
 of the Romans with regard to the Carthaginians 
 whose literature passed through their hands. 
 Sallust, it is said, read a history of Carthage in the 
 Hebrew language. As it has never been found, he 
 probably allowed it to be destroyed. If he had 
 only recognized its value and preserved it for us, 
 the world would have been greatly indebted to him. 
 As he did not, we must realize the fact that their 
 history has been passed down to us by their enemies, 
 and that those who write history, like those who 
 count the election votes, become the absolute dic- 
 tators of man's destiny. We know nothing of these 
 ancient people until they were brought into contact 
 with the Greeks and Romans, by which time they 
 had been corrupted, not only by age and prosper- 
 ity, but by intermarriage with negroes, Berbers, 
 and Numidians, and had thus acquired a spirit of 
 cunning and bad faith. What lends strength to 
 
Honor Versus Personal Responsibility 225 
 
 this hypothesis as the cause of degeneracy is the 
 fact that their kinsmen, the Phoenicians, in spite of 
 their reputation for tricky, clever trading were 
 always more respected than the Carthaginians. 
 The Romans learned their lesson from the Car- 
 thaginians and then killed their teacher. Rome 
 took what she wanted and destroyed the balance, 
 as little heeding the value of the perishing infor- 
 mation as the Spanish soldier in Peru heeded the 
 importance of the Inca's quipu records which they 
 burnt to warm their lucre-loving hands. 
 
 In a battle or a storm one able leader is essen- 
 tial. In floundering times of poverty, progress, or 
 reconstruction, the wisdom of an intelligent popu- 
 lar vote is always beneficial, as in poor Switzerland, 
 Holland, or our thirteen colonies — however, a 
 rich, matured nation, seeking peaceful and conser- 
 vative ways, is, possibly, well rid of sordid rival 
 politicians and best governed by a prince, as ripe 
 Rome was governed by the adoptive fatherly em- 
 peror Antoninus Pius. The bane of all republics 
 has been prosperity, and the pestiferous cause of 
 their downfall was the rivalry between opulent 
 politicians. 
 
 We are informed by Aristotle, who lived before 
 the first Punic war, that the Republic of Carthage 
 was well governed, as it " had flourished for five 
 hundred years governed by their Senate." We re- 
 gret that he did not inform us how or from what 
 classes their Senate was elected, as there never has 
 been a satisfactory or trustworthy method for dis- 
 covering those best fitted to govern. In any case 
 we must conclude that as prosperity increased, 
 vigilance slackened, over-confidence became com- 
 
226 Geyserland 
 
 mon, and the corrupt controlled. Unhappily, 
 this seems to be the history of most prosperous 
 nations. 
 
 Aristotle's praise of Carthage recalls Voltaire's 
 praise of Venice. Both were originally demo- 
 cratic nations that fought for trading privileges. 
 Voltaire stated that Venice had lasted for a thou- 
 sand years, and he predicted that Venice would last 
 indefinitely under the same form of government, 
 little suspecting that Napoleon would within fifty 
 years extinguish the embers of Venetian democ- 
 racy as easily as a child snaps a soap bubble. In 
 the words of Froude, " The old story — ^virtue and 
 truth produced strength; strength, dominion; do- 
 minion, riches; riches, luxury, and luxury weak- 
 ness and collapse." 
 
 The steadfastness of the Medes and Persians 
 meets our highest approbation, but we have only 
 scorn aroused for the Carthaginians, who were 
 celebrated for their lack of truth, or any feeling 
 of justice or idea or honor. Where any kind of 
 gain was possible they pitilessly turned a deaf ear 
 to reason and remonstrance. To make them still 
 more hated, they had the loathesome habit of wor- 
 shiping serpents, they sacrificed their offspring in 
 the burning furnace of their God Baal. They 
 were cannibals — they feasted on their fellow- 
 beings. The ferocious, blood-loving, remorseless 
 lion seems throughout all time to have been em- 
 blematic of the Semitic race. 
 
 The jealousy of the Autocrat toward the suc- 
 cessful Projector is apparent in history. Beau- 
 tiful Troy was wrecked by the allied Greeks; the 
 garden of Persia by battling Macedonians; the too 
 prosperous Carthage by the envious, disciplined 
 
Honor Versus Personal Responsibility 227 
 
 mZ^h'^'^-k '' ^ o'^'? ^P"^" ^y ^he rapacious, 
 te i^'j'^^'""'' ^''" ^y '^^ Spanish; and India 
 by l^ngland personified in Lord Clive. Carthage 
 should not have been destroyed. 
 
 .u^n^^u-^^^i^' ""^ ^^^ ^^'^^' the descendants of 
 the Cushite-Ethiopians are and always have been 
 the travelers, visitors, and explorers. A Tew 
 of to-day in Montreal will have nephews from 
 Constantinople and Moscow visiting him and his 
 sons can find a welcome from kin in any commer- 
 cial city to which he may wish to send them. When 
 the lyrians were besieged by Alexander, without 
 invitation or hesitancy they sent their women and 
 children to Carthage, where they were hospitably 
 received^ When disaster came to Carthage in the 
 second Punic war, the prudent, unwarlike mer- 
 chants scattered, a large number going to their 
 most remote factories or branch houses, to the 
 Hebrides, to Ireland, and Scotland. We believe 
 that the kilt and plaid can both be traced to Car- 
 thage. Men of rank wore kilts in old Mexico In 
 Yucatan many Carthaginian words and works are 
 still found.* Wherever the Carthaginians have 
 gone their Punic faith has accompanied them 
 Ihc descendants of those who fled from Car- 
 thage at the time of the second Punic war have 
 never been trustworthy. There is no question 
 that many of the Irish and Scotch are descended 
 from the Carthaginians. The predilection of 
 u^^^^ ""' ''.^?/'7' cunning trade is proverbial 
 7J^ ^'''''I Albion." The unhappy Charles 
 1. of England ^st the respect of his people by 
 his falseness. The Irish, the terror of all for- 
 eign countries, have never succeeded at home be- 
 cause they are so false to each other. Their Car- 
 thaginian origin is further apparent from the fact 
 
 * See " De Roo," p. 609. 
 
228 Geyserland 
 
 that traces of Carthaginian superstitions are to- 
 day found on the Irish coast. For example, many 
 of the coins of the Carthaginians had upon the re- 
 verse side a representation of the Temple of the 
 Tyrian Hercules, which was built to commemorate 
 the conquests of Hercules, and recorded the spot 
 which they considered to be the end of the world. 
 This temple can still be seen, and yet it cannot be 
 visited, for it is at the bottom of the bay outside 
 the harbor of Cadiz. When there is a strong north 
 wind, aided by a powerful ebb tide, the columns 
 and walls of the old temple can be seen through 
 the vegetation with which nature strives to hide 
 them. It is a singular coincidence that the Irish 
 on the sea-coast of Lough Neagle have for a score 
 of centuries imagined they see ruins shining be- 
 neath the waters, though no one else has ever been 
 able to do so. The Carthaginians, loving warmth 
 rather than cold, settled where the Gulf Stream 
 tempered the climate of Cornwall, Munster, Con- 
 naught, Argyle, and Inverness. 
 
 While the perfidious, commercial Carthaginians 
 were celebrated as being a dishonorable people, 
 their enemies, the conquering warlike Romans, 
 were as celebrated for being honorable. In Rome 
 virtue took the form of valor and patriotism, 
 justice and truth were marked characteristics. The 
 equestrian order was particularly imbued with the 
 sentiment of justice. In fact, since the day when 
 Quintus Curtius, of the equestrian order, sacrificed 
 himself for the city's good, there has always been a 
 pride and dignity about an equestrian soldier that 
 forbids a dishonorable act. Yet even in republi- 
 can Rome, where honor was so much esteemed, the 
 people were loth to trust each other, wherein they 
 were wise. Nor did they allow any individual to 
 
Honor Versus Personal Responsibility 229 
 
 hold supreme power for any length of time. Their 
 Consuls served for only one year, and could not be 
 reelected until after a lapse of ten years. Voters 
 went to the polls unarmed, victorious armies had 
 to be disbanded upon reaching the home frontier, 
 and in treating with the enemy, hostages were re- 
 quired, not promises. Notwithstanding their citi- 
 zens were honorable and patriotic, they were 
 not trusted; and mobs, riots, and rebellions were 
 prompt in quelling any usurpation of power. 
 Mobs, lynch-laws, and vigilance committees are 
 as natural to a healthy nation as sneezing is the 
 natural, though violent, method of overcoming a 
 nasal irritation. As illuminating gas, gunpowder, 
 electricity, naphtha, and dynamite are harmless 
 under the control of wise people, so are human 
 liberties secure if properly watched. 
 
 The arts of the ancient Irish, their gold work, 
 their bronze, their lace work, their enameling and 
 their carvings in wood, all show Carthaginian in- 
 fluences. The Carthaginians were noted slave- 
 dealers. Caesar sold his captives to Irish mer- 
 chants. The Irish have always been great slave- 
 dealers. " Before the Norman Conquest it was the 
 custom to buy men and women in all parts of Eng- 
 land and carry them to Ireland for sale, the buyers 
 usually making the women pregnant to insure a 
 better price." * They were reputed to have had 
 the loathsome Carthaginian vices — cannibalism 
 and worshiping snakes. The worshiping of snakes 
 prevailed until 425, when St. Patrick organized a 
 successful crusade against the snake worshipers to 
 permit the commercial exchange of glass from 
 Glastonbury for the laces and bronzes of Ireland. 
 
 Such anthropologists as Deniker, Rhys, and 
 
 *Life of Bishop Wolstan. 
 
230 Gevserland 
 
 Ripley support us in the hypothesis that there was 
 an ante-Celtic people on the Western coast of Ire- 
 land and Wales resembling the Berbers, called 
 " Ibero-Pictish " or " Atlantis-Mediterranean." 
 The Irish disposition, reckless and gay, is more 
 Mediterranean than Teutonic* The word " Mag " 
 (son) as a personal appellation, like the Gaelic 
 term "Mac" (son), is used by the inhabitants of 
 the Indian Peninsula. The African Berbers use 
 this term " Mac " in the same way. " Mag " and 
 " Mac " are so familiar in sound that we are forced 
 to bear in mind that sounds are ancient and spell- 
 ing modern. Another indication of the Oriental 
 in Albion is the great resemblance between the 
 Stonehenge ruin in Wiltshire and that at Kasseem 
 in Southern Arabia. 
 
 As Baldwin says, " The Keltic countries of West- 
 ern Europe, when first invaded by the Romans, 
 were all civilized countries. In this respect their 
 condition was much higher than history, directed 
 by Roman influence, is accustomed to admit. It 
 would be an unwarrantable and improbable as- 
 sumption to suppose they had, at that time, the 
 highest condition of civilization they had ever 
 known. They must have declined with that de- 
 cline of Phoenician power and commercial enter- 
 prise which interrupted their communication with 
 the East. But they still had intelligence, wealth 
 and importance. We can see that their skill in 
 many of the arts of civilized life was in nowise 
 inferior to that of the Romans themselves. If 
 Roman scholars had carefully studied the Keltic 
 language, literature, and antiquities, and faithfully 
 recorded the result of such studies, we should not 
 now begin our histories of Great Britain with the 
 
 •Dr. Stevenson, Bombay Journal, 1892. 
 
Honor Versus Personal Responsibility 231 
 
 invasion of Caesar. The Romans did not go to 
 Ireland, although, in their time, its commerce, 
 wealth, and culture made it the most important of 
 the Keltic countries. On this point Tacitus says, 
 in his life of Agricola, 'The ports of Ireland are 
 better known through commerce, and more fre- 
 quented by merchants, than those in Britain.' " * 
 
 'j^ iji iii it ii' 
 
 Soon after Adam's appearance in Geyserland he 
 had a droll experience which deprived him of his 
 unquestioning faith in his hillside companions. 
 Among the group in which he worked were three 
 young men, " good fellows," as we would say — 
 wide awake and ever on the alert for fun. They 
 were Flot, who abhorred the truth; Joe, and the 
 happy-go-lucky squint-eyed Habens. Habens did 
 the work he was told to do, but he had no ambi- 
 tion to be promoted to higher fields of usefulness. 
 The love of convenient ease will ever tempt people 
 to accept unworthy positions. Unfettered liberty 
 was Joe's joy; he was a true monk of the Abbey of 
 Theleine. Uncongenial people can be avoided; 
 they are not like odors or false music, that piti- 
 lessly intrude. What we do not understand to- 
 day, interests us to-morrow, and thus our world 
 becomes larger. 
 
 All three were highly elated when Adam was 
 added to their number, and welcomed him with 
 suspiciously vivacious goodfellowship, and showed 
 him the hillside customs. We do not know why 
 birds do not remain in the south to propagate, nor 
 why the males fly north first, but we do understand 
 that the discovery of the nest of a canvasback duck 
 in Geyserland was considered a great triumph of 
 perspicuity, and the eggs were classed as a delicacy 
 of the first order. One morning when well up in 
 
 *" Baldwin's "Prehistoric Studies," p. 381. 
 
232 Geyserland 
 
 the mountains, searching for lichens, Adam found 
 a canvas-back nest containing eggs. 
 
 " That is a deserted nest," said Habens. " An 
 accident has happened to the mother, and the eggs 
 are rotten." 
 
 " That is not so," said Flot. A thoroughbred 
 lie generally produces silence. " This is a most 
 fortunate discovery," he continued. " iVdam, who 
 does not know how much our new Marshal, Roul, 
 likes duck eggs, must present them to him." Then 
 addressing Adam he said, "You know strangers 
 are always ill at ease until civilities are exchanged. 
 Here is your chance to make friends with Roul, 
 who would not now be Marshal if you had not 
 disabled our brave Fasho." 
 
 "You are wrong," said Habens, always with a 
 squint. " A man bribed is a man bullied. Adam 
 should give these to some friend of the Marshal." 
 
 " Most certainly," said Flot. " They should go 
 to Evrona, with the Marshal's compliments — they 
 may eat them together. I will arrange the mes- 
 sage; you, good Joe, make the parcel; so hasten, 
 Adam, duck's eggs are best when fresh." 
 
 In Geyserland public opinion opposed any pri- 
 vate accumulation of property, so there was a popu- 
 lar aversion to anything being given that was not 
 of a perishable nature. 
 
 Evrona, in her bower, listlessly swinging in a 
 hammock, saw her old friend Roul loitering in 
 the neighborhood. Idly musing on his presence 
 there, she was startled by Adam's abrupt approach. 
 
 " What is it, Adam? " she exclaimed. 
 
 " I have these for you," Adam said, with an 
 honest smile and awkward bow. " These fresh 
 duck's eggs with best wishes of your old playmate, 
 the Marshal Roul." 
 
Honor Versus Personal Responsibility 233 
 
 Running to the bower door, Evrona whistled a 
 long low whistle. " Come in, Roul," she cried, 
 " you most generous of men ! Now I know why 
 you lingered there. How kind of you!" 
 
 Roul, so unexpectedly summoned, responded 
 immediately, and to gain time to collect the partic- 
 ulars of the situation, put a kiss on her ready lips. 
 
 " It was so sweet of you," said Evrona. 
 
 " No time like the present to eat them," said 
 Roul. 
 
 It was so arranged, and soft linens and dainty 
 breads were produced; Adam, meanwhile, stand- 
 ing by, wondered why he had not been thanked. 
 His meditations were stopped most suddenly, for 
 as soon as Roul broke an egg, he sprang at Adam, 
 and knocked him down with a fair blow in the eye, 
 upsetting the table, and then grasping him by the 
 neck, demanded fiercely, " What do you mean by 
 this?" Choking could not make Adam tell who 
 sent them, but Evrona, with the ready intuition of 
 a woman, recognized Adam's manliness, and be- 
 lieving him to be the victim of a practical joke, 
 tried to make peace, and gave him a goblet of wine. 
 
 Half the fun in this world comes from mistakes. 
 We all laugh at the dog who dropped his bone to 
 get the one reflected in the water; but practical 
 joking is a species of mischief that only exists in 
 people whose mental caliber is not noble. 
 
 Cleaners were summoned, and became angry 
 because of the stench and filth, and did not hesitate 
 to beat and belay poor Adam with dust-pans and 
 brooms, until he fairly ran from the neighborhood 
 and started to rejoin the gang of hillside workers. 
 
 Adam was not hunting for a fight, but he had 
 lived long enough to know that some men esteem 
 themselves, and expect others to esteem them in 
 
234 Geyserland 
 
 proportion to the degree of humiliation they cause. 
 Adam had no idea of taking this " being made a 
 fool of " from Flot. He appreciated that it was 
 a clean case of a dirty trick, so before joining 
 the mountain crew he rested well, recovered his 
 breath, formed his plan. He certainly did not in- 
 tend to gratify them with an account of the details, 
 except perhaps to warn them of Roul's anger and 
 possible revenge. Nothing was said as he took his 
 grub-hoe to resume his work, but knowing looks 
 passed, as one by one noticed his black eye. Adam 
 saw their devilish merriment, but he controlled his 
 anger as he recognized the situation as one in 
 which every man should right his wrong himself 
 — that an appeal to law would be unmanly. 
 When the hour of rest came, he walked slowly to 
 where Flot stood, and with his soft mitten struck 
 him across the face and then threw the mitten at 
 his feet. It was not necessary for Flot, or the 
 others who were present, to know the etiquette of 
 boxing to understand Adam's meaning. 
 
 A group formed, and many,applauded as Adani, 
 with a smile, " squared off " in old fashioned 
 prize-ring form. The Geyserlanders understood 
 fair play. Fair play and justice must not be con- 
 founded. Justice is the basic element of hu- 
 man jurisprudence; fair play is the instinctive 
 element to be found throughout all the higher 
 grades of animal life. The first lesson learned by 
 alert observers at a Zoo is the realization of the 
 " right of possession " of the first one to get the 
 peanut or bun. When several dogs of a pack at- 
 tack a single dog it is not from rivalry, but from 
 a sense of duty and precaution, as the dog is prob- 
 ably an undesirable diseased intruder or an outcast. 
 
Honor Versus Personal Responsibility 235 
 
 Adam had the training of a long line of ancestors 
 of fighting men. Kent County, the original 
 stronghold of the Norseman pirate, has ever been 
 in the van with men ripe for rebellions — Wat Ty- 
 ler, Jack Cade, and others. 
 
 Adam's height, length of limb, and quickness 
 enabled him to land some fairly good blows on the 
 stolid, hard, knotty, horny Flot, but not knowing 
 the customs of the country, he was utterly unpre- 
 pared for a kick in the solar plexus that completely 
 knocked him out. When he recovered he found 
 Flot tenderly bathing him with cold water; then 
 Adam's smile made the two friends for evermore. 
 Adam was voted a good fellow by his comrades in 
 toil. We men always like men we have flogged, 
 or to whom we have extended courtesies. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 NEW IDEAS — COMMUNISM REPLACING CIVILIZA- 
 TION 
 
 Forward as occasion offers. Never look around to see whether any 
 shall note it. — Marcus Aurelius. 
 
 We are hardly aware of the changes that are taking place about 
 us; our children will understand them distinctly. — Wendell Phillips. 
 
 " Customs, like men, pass their prime of life without knowing it." 
 
 Most opinions are not formed by reason, but by 
 mimicry. Weak men copy strong men, children 
 their parents. The parrot philosophy of ninety- 
 nine people out of a hundred is occasioned by 
 accident of birth because, from lack of intellectual 
 enterprise, people usually accept the first ethical 
 system offered, generally that of their parents. 
 Ancestral customs by degrees take a religious char- 
 acter; for example, circumcision became a reli- 
 gious ceremony because in early days the doctor of 
 a tribe was also the priest and adviser. 
 
 In spite of the good intentions of those who seek 
 to do what is right, they are often wrong in their 
 judgment. The pious old gray friars considered 
 ignorance as great an excellence as poverty. To 
 them the words " scholar " and " heretic " were 
 synonymous. Learning and new ideas will always 
 be antagonized by those who are comfortably in- 
 stalled. The Franciscan monks were constantly 
 afraid that the knowledge of the Greek language 
 and other new ideas would endanger the security 
 of their peace of mind and bodily comfort. 
 
 236 
 
Altruism Evolving from Civilization 237 
 
 Groups of people, even whole nations, have be- 
 come imbued with convictions that at first thought 
 appear unnatural or uncalled for; that have like 
 epidemics swept through portions of the globe and 
 stampeded all men and women regardless of 
 previous convictions. The embryo of a future 
 order is often found in the chaos of the present. 
 Chivalry was an artificial sentiment, a stage role, 
 that magnified the importance of valor, gallantry, 
 and religions; yet for several hundred years that 
 sentiment dominated Europe. In the ignoble 
 slums of Antioch germinated the gospel of the 
 Gentiles. 
 
 So to-day, in our public parks, on our street cor- 
 ners, under railroad bridges, in our railway sta- 
 tions, and in our gutters where free discussion pre- 
 vails, children learn ways and methods about their 
 own generation in marked contrast to the princi- 
 ples of living held by their parents. 
 
 Conservatism has always been fashionable. Cic- 
 ero scofifed at Caesar's idea of measuring the year 
 by the sun instead of the moon, saying, " Not 
 content with bullying the earth, he now proposes 
 to bully the heavens." " Joshua bade the sun, not 
 the earth, to stand still," and Luther rejected the 
 great Copernicus's theory because he believed the 
 Bible to be inspired. Daniel Webster and Chan- 
 cellor Livingston fought hard against the introduc- 
 tion of steam railways; Sir Humphrey Davy and 
 Sir Walter Scott ridiculed the idea of illuminating 
 gas. Steel plows were derided because they poi- 
 soned the soil. The administration of ether was 
 first forbidden by the church, as it conflicted with 
 administering the last sacrament to the dying. 
 Society so loves repose that it will almost al- 
 ways antagonize any suggestion of change in the 
 
238 Geyserland 
 
 existing order of things. The man who loves truth 
 will avoid all trivial fastenings and hold his judg- 
 ment ever ready for a change. Unhappy, unpop- 
 ular, brave, truth-seeking skeptics generally herald 
 the advent of reforms. "Free-thinker" is only 
 a term of abuse used by dullards. " Every re- 
 form," says Herbert Spencer, " has to pass through 
 the successive stages — indifference, violent oppo- 
 sition, final adoption." Violent measures may ac- 
 complish their purpose. Antwerp and all Spain, 
 where the Inquisition claimed the most victims, 
 are to-day strongholds of Catholicism. A whole 
 people can be annihilated. Caesar exterminated 
 the original tribes of Brittany as a punishment for 
 their treachery, and three hundred years later 
 Britons were brought from Albion to repopulate 
 that uninhabited country. When Innocent III. 
 sent out word to kill the heretics regardless of sex 
 or age in the towns where there were Albigenses, 
 the Holy Abbot Arnaul took no chances. His com- 
 mand was: "Slay them all; God will know His 
 own." 
 
 If we could only change our habitual point of 
 view and look at our social methods from a more 
 distant standpoint, as we look at cases of bygone 
 weapons in a museum, how childishly simple they 
 would appear. The sacred old way, the dread of 
 leaving the trodden path, the horror of improved 
 methods is well illustrated by the evolution of 
 the lamp. Collectors say that until about seventy- 
 five years ago all lamps were made on the same 
 principle, but to-day it is pathetic to see any 
 one using the old-time apparatus. It is as- 
 tonishing how long intelligent people have lived 
 without almost primitive necessities. The Peru- 
 
Altruism Evolving from Civilization 239 
 
 vians had neither nails nor doors. Soap as we 
 understand it to-day is comparatively a modern 
 scheme introduced into England in the time of 
 Charles I. 
 
 Dignity and liberty are natural allies, and the 
 hope of the race lies in the fact that dignity will 
 rebel. People's wits are sharpened by use and 
 argument; and when a man begins to think, he 
 begins to doubt. 
 
 As our earth has moved in its cycles it has 
 seemed predestined that certain ideas should ripen 
 at certain epochs. In Shakespeare's time the earth 
 Avas known to be round, but the masses still be- 
 lieved in the Ptolemaic idea that the earth was the 
 center of the universe. Some of the more free- 
 minded thinkers among Shakespeare's contem- 
 poraries, however, began to believe the possibility 
 that the new theory of Copernicus was the correct 
 one. To beat back that tendency of the age. Pope 
 Paul V ordered Galileo to be placed in a dungeon, 
 " or abandon entirely the opinion that the sun is 
 in the center of the universe, and that the earth 
 moves." Galileo, primarily for the public good 
 and incidentally for himself, thought it his duty 
 to live, and fervently swore that the earth does not 
 revolve. Roger Bacon was one of humanity's 
 greatest benefactors during the middle ages; but, 
 because he was a world-improving thinker, and 
 to keep him from recording his thoughts, he was 
 imprisoned for fourteen years. Our imagination 
 can only feebly grasp what his great mind might 
 have done for us if he had been given freedom and 
 opportunities during those fourteen years. 
 
 Fraternal feelings will replace selfishness be- 
 cause common opinion is ripened for that change. 
 
240 Geyserland 
 
 Advanced culture will bring about the ideal of 
 common altruism, and without a struggle this 
 will succeed the spirit of private selfishness, 
 very much as the Latin Union Postal Service 
 of to-day has evolved from the couriers and ex- 
 press companies, and is smoothly working without 
 ever causing strikes, riots, or bloodshed, simply 
 
 because our public recognizes the need of it. 
 
 ***** 
 
 Sibis and Adam met again in the loggia of the 
 Temple of Reason, Sibis's favorite haunt, and con- 
 tinued the conversation relative to the compar- 
 ative merits of conditions in Geyserland and Chris- 
 tendom. Adam had already heard her argue in 
 defense of Geyserland, and with a proper amount 
 of courteous hypocrisy was as unconvinced as is a 
 priest of Osiris after listening to a Christian mis- 
 sionary. 
 
 " Our former experience with civilization," 
 Sibis continued, " enables us to balance and judge 
 the merits of both systems. You and I do not 
 differ so much as we seem to dififer. You have 
 been brought up in one atmosphere of thought, 
 I in another. You know only one side, and dog- 
 matically judge the other. To use your system 
 of comparing human beings with animals, look 
 at the communities without hands — the ants, 
 beavers, and bees. They are organized with social 
 love, and do not recognize anything that resembles 
 the private property or the right of an individual 
 as opposed to the swarm. The importance you 
 give to an individual cannot be maintained in a 
 high state of culture. Every mass is responsible 
 for its atoms." 
 
 " Please tell me how you happened to make this 
 extraordinary change from civilization to altru- 
 
Altruism Evolving from Civilization 241 
 
 ism? " Adam interrupted. " It strikes me it would 
 be like asking lambs to love wolves." 
 
 " It was a far-reaching step," Sibis replied, 
 " but the process was not half so troublesome as it 
 looked. It was simply a triumph of noble emo- 
 tions over ignoble ones. The wolves became sa- 
 tiated with devouring the lambs. The over-rich 
 discovered that it was inexpendient to leave too 
 much money to their children, hence they left it 
 to charities, too often injudiciously and without 
 method. 
 
 " Nothing has come to stay — whatever is created 
 will perish. A philosopher's mind is repeatedly 
 getting chaotic and repeatedly being placed in 
 order. It is absurd to consider foundations sacred, 
 but it is easier to change the upper embellishments 
 than the foundations. Great reforms can only be 
 made from the beginning, and an opportune time 
 must come. Radical innovations seldom bring any 
 permanent benefit. It is when ideas are ripe that 
 progress should be made. The time generally 
 comes when an old structure is condemned and, 
 rather than attempt to renovate the old, a new one 
 is put in its place, then the foundations are newly 
 arranged. We changed from self-love to racial 
 love because the germ was ripe; it was time to 
 break an eon of stagnation. New practical ques- 
 tions arose that had to be solved. Civilization did 
 not satisfy the multitude; it was decayed, because 
 baseness, rather than high principle, was rewarded 
 by the laws. It was a question of progress or de- 
 terioration. When one system dies another is 
 born. As the hot rays of the sun decay the sweet, 
 over-ripe fruits at the proper time, so does the 
 seething power of the expressed opinions of the 
 educated masses wither the over-done selfishness 
 
242 Geyserland 
 
 of individuals who monopolize the control of pub- 
 lic necessities. As the dead over-ripe fruits fer- 
 ment and germinate into new living matter, so 
 these colossal fortunes melt away from their former 
 egotistical founders and become a part of the ever 
 living commonwealth. A time comes to all people 
 who hate evil and love righteousness, when they 
 see that the selfishness underlying all their methods 
 is an error which they must get rid of as soon as 
 possible. The wise Altruist will finally prevail. 
 Common grievances lead to common action. 
 Light eats into darkness; darkness does not eat into 
 light and darkness only comes when light fades. 
 When we reached this stage we saw things differ- 
 ently. Each person's suitable vocation was ap- 
 parent. 
 
 *' As a mother-bird sees her young leave the nest, 
 so our mothers recognized that it was their most 
 important duty to train their children to do with- 
 out them. All recognized that but for family 
 or law the dying man could leave no tangible 
 power to any one but the community. We found 
 that many who had been cold and reserved in com- 
 mercial civilization became genial and social in 
 the community. The masses recognized that our 
 Geyserland with all its resources belonged to them. 
 The change was brought about by ' light', not 
 * power.' Individual prosperity was only the 
 stepping-stone to our advanced condition of cul- 
 ture, just as in your country a rich man retires from 
 prosperous commercial practices to enjoy a gener- 
 ous old age. Our days of decaying civilization 
 were very wretched with individual property, dog- 
 matic religions, and marriage. It was not the man 
 who worked, but the man who schemed who ac- 
 
Altruism Evolving from Civilization 243 
 
 cumulated power. Those who had the property 
 were the shrewd, selfish ones, and they bartered 
 amongst themselves until their number became so 
 small that a few owned all, and conditions were 
 impossible. Excessive accumulations are unnat- 
 ural. If a bee gathers more honey than he can 
 consume, others will inevitably benefit by his 
 energy. The day comes when he realizes that he 
 is the joked, not the joker. Chosen representatives 
 came together and argued on our future destiny. 
 We had too many people; some were overfed and 
 others starving. Many were sick and worn out 
 by old age and labor. Then the principle of the 
 common-weal of the race was established and our 
 present laws were adopted; at the same time it was 
 decided that the people should own all the public 
 utilities and as a body have the right to elect their 
 own masters. All children were to belong to the 
 state, and as each rich man died, the common- 
 wealth became his heir. Special costumes re- 
 placed the inequalities of dress, and each person 
 was given his suitable work to perform. — There 
 are other brotherhoods besides that of kin, that of 
 our affinity with our friends. The history of prog- 
 ress is the history of volunteer discipline and self- 
 imposed duties, while the history of decay is the 
 history of selfish excess and the lack of mental, 
 moral, and physical courage. 
 
 " The minds of our people were greatly wrought 
 up by the new ideas, for the whole conception of 
 life — its duties, its aims, and its responsibilities — 
 had been revolutionized by this altruistic doctrine. 
 When it was once decided that every one's exist- 
 ence was secured, then the rich and the poor aban- 
 doned acrimony and approached this subject with 
 the same spirit of gentleness, which is the neces- 
 
244 Geyserland 
 
 sary foundation for all altruism. Public opin- 
 ion has now made this reform secure. There are 
 a great many things that people think they cannot 
 do, until they find that they have to do them. The 
 masses allowed the mighty rich to exhaust them- 
 selves, which was an art of conquest by yielding. 
 " I won't say you are stupid, Adam, but you are 
 lacking in a curiosity which should demand the 
 causes of your actions. Go, count the fetters and 
 shackles on your orthodox countryman of to-day, 
 then count his liberties. Take a Geyserlander and 
 do the same. Compare the result and you will 
 find as much difference between them as you will 
 between the comforts of your liberal people of 
 to-day and the comforts of your primitive ances- 
 tors. Go, learn this lesson. The false conditions 
 of civilization do not permit the survival of the 
 fittest. The fittest may be ill-provided for and 
 starving, while those who should not have been 
 born are kept alive by wealth, and allowed to per- 
 petuate their kind." 
 
 Adam Mann was silenced, but not convinced, 
 for it is bitter for a man with exalted ideas of his 
 own capabilities to adopt those of people whom 
 he has every reason to believe his inferiors. 
 
 The voice of Nature will some time permeate 
 the mind of him who thinks, and he will know that 
 what he does for Nature is appreciated by it and 
 nothing else matters. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 LUCK— WEWO'S HARANGUE 
 
 " In modern times there exists an immense body of established scien- 
 tific truth, which checks the natural extravagance of intellect left to 
 itself." — John Fiske. 
 
 " This world of ours has, on the whole, been an inclement region for 
 the growth of natural truth; but it may be that the plant is all the 
 hardier for the bendings and bufletings it has undergone. . . . Emo- 
 tional feelings appeared in the world before knowledge; and thoughts, 
 conceptions, and creeds, founded on emotion, had, before the dawn of 
 science, taken root in man." — John Tyndall. 
 
 John Carlyle compared our knowledge of the cosmos, or universe, 
 "To the knowledge which a minnow in its mountain stream has of the 
 outlying ocean." 
 
 In the glow of the twilight Evrona sat musing 
 on her bower-porch. By some strange chance this 
 gay butterfly girl was pensive, with puzzling, un- 
 settled thoughts. But who can question why? 
 Surely one's thoughts cannot be arranged by the 
 clock, nor by the almanac. Yet certain fancies 
 come with certain atmospheric conditions. Our 
 finest thoughts, like our pensive emotions, come to 
 us during idle transitional moments. The nomad 
 Bedouins of the deserts recognize the hallowed 
 beauty of the approaching crepuscule, the fervid 
 calm of Nature at noontide, and the mystic wonder 
 of departing day as appropriate moments for 
 prayer. The impressionistic artist appreciates the 
 charm of the angelus in the fading light of the 
 studio. 
 
 Evrona was aroused from her reveries as the 
 popular Doctor Wewo sauntered along the mall. 
 
 Dr. Wewo was a most genial and popular phy- 
 
 245 
 
246 Geyserland 
 
 sician, jolly, well-rounded, good-natured, and very 
 intelligent, with a healthy mind in a healthy body. 
 He was a masterpiece of studied heredity for an 
 attractive temperament — an ideal philanthropist 
 and patriot. And as he loved everything:, every- 
 thing loved him. Wewo was grateful to the entire 
 community because of his having been well cared 
 for by a portion of them when he was young. For, 
 like many others in Geyserland, he did not know 
 his own father or mother. 
 
 " Wewo," she called. 
 
 "Why, hello!" he exclaimed. 
 
 "For whose pleasure are you working now?" 
 she asked. 
 
 " I am at your service, my pretty lass," he gal- 
 lantly replied. 
 
 " Well, come then. Tell me, What is Luck? 
 what is Destiny? for I am utterly at a loss to 
 know." 
 
 " Anything that I can tell you, my dear child, 
 I shall be glad to do." 
 
 " Can't we come into this feast of knowledge 
 of the mysterious?" asked Fasho, who had over- 
 heard the conversation while approaching with 
 Fairmena. 
 
 " What is pleasant is very enjoyable," said Donis, 
 as he sauntered up the path. Foreman Saso, 
 Adam, and the Assistant Surgeon, who were near, 
 also joined Evrona's little impromptu party. 
 Evrona welcomed them graciously. Nature ap- 
 pears to have started sociology with the happy 
 feature that all women should be hospitable and 
 delight in entertaining. 
 
 After her guests had nestled in their places, 
 Evrona said, 
 
 " Sh, — listen! Fve captured Wewo. He's go- 
 
Wewo's Harangue 247 
 
 ing to tell us about Luck. I'm glad you're here 
 to help me, for I really believe I couldn't under- 
 stand him alone. Why is it, Wewo, that life is so 
 inexplicable? Why is it that our esteemed Fasho 
 should have had this deplorable accident, while 
 this stranger Adam wandered safely over leagues 
 of frozen dangers? " 
 
 The philosophical Dr. Wewo, like Socrates, pre- 
 ferred arguing to preaching, as he believed that 
 argument by collaborating with others in the search 
 for truth is the process by which progress toward 
 knowledge is made. But to please Evrona he de- 
 livered the following confab: 
 
 " Happy shall I be if my friends find my theories 
 as fascinating as the sweet manners and fair face 
 of our hostess. Children are told, ' Be good and 
 you will be happy,' and on this maxim the child's 
 philosophy is founded. Our ancient lawgivers 
 also tried to build on the same principle, but now 
 it behooves us to consider that which all students 
 of cause and effect know, that we cannot expect 
 the great system of Nature to descend to such 
 trivial balancing as do those give-and-take com- 
 mercial people who talk about and reckon on fair 
 and unfair treatment. If asked, ' Does reward 
 wait upon honest efifort? ' Nature remains silent. 
 There is nothing in Nature which guarantees that 
 deserving people shall be rewarded. Equity and 
 barter are human inventions. Nature is not gov- 
 erned by the laws of human economics. The only 
 reward that Nature guarantees us is the joy and 
 sympathy of those who understand it. When way- 
 ward chiefs used to quarrel and their faithful 
 followers fought, it ofttimes happened that those 
 who had the least concern in the dispute suffered 
 the most; so it was in this case. To rescue Adam, 
 
248 Geyserland 
 
 Fasho fought the elements, Adam was saved, and 
 the unfortunate Fasho wounded. Fasho's only re- 
 ward lies in the noble thought of his duty done and 
 in the consciousness that his action meets the ap- 
 proval of those whom he respects. 
 
 " It is by asking questions that the truth becomes 
 known and illusions are dispelled. Truth and 
 knowledge are synonymous. What we now com- 
 prehend in the term 'Luck' will in the future 
 be reduced in proportion to the knowledge we ac- 
 quire of Nature's laws. Rational arguments ac- 
 companied by intelligent experiments must ever 
 be the source of our enlightenment. There are 
 several times as many milestones of wisdom ahead 
 of us as there are behind us, and when the last one 
 is passed the riddle of destiny will not have been 
 solved; but believe me, a large part of what we at 
 the present ignorantly designate as ' Luck ' will 
 eventually be demonstrated to be systematized 
 science. 
 
 " People make theories, but we must ever con- 
 front these theories with facts; for the triumph of 
 refined knowledge means the rejection of every 
 false theory. Neither Fasho being wounded nor 
 the hapless sailor Tinto being killed should be 
 classed as luck. Their fate should be reckoned by 
 the chances they took in hazardous employments. 
 
 " The world is horribly complicated to the ig- 
 norant, confusion is identical with the idea of 
 mystery. Order shows the laws we know, and the 
 more one knows the more order one observes. 
 Nature does not only play upon the surface. 
 Should we not ask ourselves, ' Is there a meaning 
 in the universe?' Does the 'First Cause' con- 
 stantly contemplate its work? Does it interfere 
 
Wewo's Harangue 249 
 
 in the routine of Nature? Can we, isolated as we 
 are, grasp its meaning? Rash is he who hopes to 
 know everything, but certainly we can see enough 
 of Nature's works to appreciate that the First 
 Cause — Nature — is our mother and our friend. 
 Our supreme duty is to study, to define and to 
 record all causes and effects, 
 
 " New experiences are not digested until their 
 results are put on record, so that the causes of our 
 sorrows and pleasures can be known to those who 
 follow us. To classify one's ideas of Nature's 
 ways is the starting of knowledge. To classify 
 one's own possibilities is its continuation. 
 
 " The so-called proofs of Providence are the 
 follies of faith. Luck is responsible for those 
 questions of chance that science has not yet been 
 able to solve. It places calculation at defiance, as 
 is demonstrated by our system of throwing dice 
 periodically for the choice of bowers to avoid any 
 possibility of partiality. There are no special 
 providential acts. The part that this mythical 
 Providence takes in any enterprise is in proportion 
 to the weakness of intellect or the credulity of 
 man.* 
 
 " There never has been any revelation that was 
 not entirely based on the imagination of man, nor 
 are the ways of Nature affected by the entreaties of 
 man. Cosmotic methods cannot show mercy, but 
 man can, therefore the prayers of the afflicted 
 should be addressed to those mortals in power who 
 are in sympathy with Nature, for they alone can 
 help. So, instead of lifting one's eyes to heaven 
 when a victim of undeserved fortune, one should 
 
 * Epicurus denied such a thing as Providence, and Vohaire said: 
 " If Jesus and his apostles had a method for curing leprosy, it should 
 have been recorded." 
 
250 Geyserland 
 
 with earnestness and intelligence strive to prevent 
 the recurrence of such misfortunes. The contem- 
 plation of extenuating circumstances, commonly 
 called ' mercy,' is a product of human expe- 
 diency." 
 
 All present were surprised when Adam inter- 
 rupted, 
 
 " We have a pretty safe rule at home, ' To avoid 
 bad luck, mind our own business.' " 
 
 After the laughter caused by this egotistical re- 
 mark had ceased, Donis observed, 
 
 "What is selfish cannot be easily admired." 
 
 " But," insisted Evrona, who, unconsciously 
 perhaps, practiced the art of contradiction that 
 often draws out best thoughts, " even if it is reason- 
 ing with a feeble mind, I am still of the opinion 
 that there must be some supernatural power that 
 seems to protect some and allows others to suffer. 
 There are times when I feel that luck is working 
 against me." 
 
 " No," exclaimed Wewo, " I must repeat, luck 
 is only a name for those events which have not yet 
 been explained by knowledge. It is impossible 
 to understand natural laws without knowledge. 
 When a thing happens everywhere and always, 
 there must be some reason for it. If you once ad- 
 mit the possibility of the course of destiny being 
 influenced in the interest of the individual, you are 
 opening the door to a belief in the supernatural 
 powers, and this is and always will be unhealthy 
 and unwise. Superstition and ignorance will ever 
 contend with emotion and reason; but the happy 
 element of society will ever be ready to appreciate 
 and adore Nature, whereas the unhappy will be apt 
 to become resentful, and for solace seek fallacious 
 gods and vague fancies. Each false theory is 
 
Wewo's Harangue 251 
 
 started by a man who either unconsciously assumes 
 that he knows about the matter, or is purposely try- 
 ing to deceive. Wisdom is the result of sifting pre- 
 vious human testimony. We must beware of the 
 danger of rashly generalizing from inadequate 
 data. A child standing at the mouth of a river 
 during the flooding of the tide might easily suppose 
 that luck made the water run from the ocean up 
 the river, but hourly observation recorded for a 
 week would correct that opinion. 
 
 " By these means we not only see the importance 
 of questioning and perhaps disbelieving things that 
 we once considered true, but we learn that it is by 
 noting the results of these coincidences that theories 
 are formed; and exact science is established only 
 by proving that a certain cause always produces 
 the same specific result. 
 
 " The discovery of truth should be the aim of 
 every one, and the proclamation of it an imper- 
 ative duty. He who draws attention to a new 
 scientific fact should be a hero. It is the duty 
 of every one when he observes a coincidence of im- 
 portance, known only to himself or a few others, 
 to record it at once. Call all unproven beliefs in 
 question, and if they are not supported by evidence 
 it is our duty to fight them. We should all want 
 knowledge. When people talking seriously ad- 
 vise you for your own good not to read a certain 
 pamphlet, then read that pamphlet and judge for 
 yourself. ' Why should we dread the light, as 
 do bats or owls? ' Beware of false teachers. 
 There are thousands who are willing to be intellec- 
 tual tuning-forks, to set the note for their dupes — 
 which would be most creditable if their assumption 
 of knowledge were based on education. The 
 triumph of education is to make us doubt what has 
 
2^1 Geyserland 
 
 never been proven. Those of mankind who want 
 to do right are always on the alert, selecting the 
 best precepts for their guidance. This is a re- 
 ligion and its mobility is to its credit. It can safely 
 be called religion, because it embodies the prin- 
 ciples of conduct, in contrast to the lower animals 
 whose only moral decisions are the result of in- 
 herited acumen. 
 
 " So soon as men begin to dwell upon spiritual 
 things, their efiforts become surely vain, and they 
 lose their interest in an enlightenment which might 
 have become beneficial. In olden times thunder 
 was considered the greatest phenomenon of Na- 
 ture, and many other erstwhile ideas were held as 
 the sign of the anger and vengeance of the Gods, 
 whereas now we know thunder to be noise caused 
 by the air rushing in to fill the vacuum between 
 the clouds, and in no way connected with our 
 ethical life. Until the nature of atmosphere was 
 understood, the credulous believed it was peopled 
 by spirits. It is quite as foolish to consider luck 
 as supernatural. Through thousands of blunders 
 and disappointments the human mind is coming 
 into partial realization of its true position in the 
 universe. Animals show distinct signs of grati- 
 tude, fidelity, sorrow, love and remorse that com- 
 pare favorably with mortals. Possibly the animal 
 is dominated by feelings of fear, whereas man's 
 more developed intellect has given him the power 
 to reason why he is living. Then he will up and 
 catch the floating wave of infinite love in Nature's 
 harmonious vibrations, and may ponder on what 
 is expected of him. The appreciation of that gift 
 should make every mortal noble. 
 
 " Our teachers, with their records of acquired 
 knowledge and precepts, have it in their power to 
 
Wewo's Harangue 253 
 
 instill their favorite ideals. As it is the drilling 
 of the body and the forming of healthy habits 
 of walking and standing that make them become 
 second nature, so it is in the drilling of the mind 
 to approach all ideas logically, in seeking the * true 
 way,' that diminishes the disaster called ' bad luck.' 
 Our future can be sublime if we profit by 
 past experiences. We must dignify reason and 
 ridicule superstitions. 
 
 " Doubly dense is he who does not realize that 
 conditions might continually be made better. 
 Mankind from his advanced development is justi- 
 fied in claiming an appreciation and sympathy with 
 the Great Unknown. As our domesticated animals 
 appear to appreciate the character of those who 
 care for them, so noble mortals have an afliinity for 
 their Creator's wishes." 
 
 Fasho, who was still writhing under his own 
 bad luclc, here interrupted — 
 
 " If, however, others disagree with us, our good 
 manners prescribe that we should tolerate their 
 right to their own opinions." 
 
 " Not so," ejaculated Saso. " It is our first 
 duty to protest against error. It is my opinion 
 that we should laugh at all phantom terrors. 
 When children fear thunder and lightning, dark- 
 ness, witches, dreams or ghosts, a wise teacher 
 should laugh at those fears. To respect or tolerate 
 such thoughts is to recognize, or to partially ap- 
 prove of them. It is our duty to stop such idle 
 fancies. They are ridiculous and should be 
 scofifed at. A man in the field, hit with a hail- 
 stone, must not be allowed to think that it was 
 aimed at him." 
 
 "What is not understood is difficult to explain," 
 remarked the brilliant Donis. 
 
254 Geyserland 
 
 Wewo, who had philosophically tolerated these 
 interruptions, now resumed his discourse. 
 
 " The belief in supernatural performances must 
 be cured by knowledge acquired either by our own 
 experiences or by the popular feeling that the 
 subject has already been thoroughly sifted by ex- 
 pert reasoners and found untrue. It is necessary 
 in many cases to take the opinions of our most 
 eminent scientists; personally, we cannot say that 
 there are no mermaids in the ocean grottoes or 
 hobgoblins in our dells, but our wise men, who 
 have thoroughly investigated the subject, assure 
 us that there are none. It is our duty to see that 
 our children are taught by the wisest of teachers 
 and not by those who still believe in fallacies. The 
 teacher's first task is to instil into her pupil's 
 mind the habit of questioning what is not under- 
 stood. The object of education is to keep up the 
 enthusiasm for progress and lofty ideals; for an 
 education without lofty ideals will only exaggerate 
 degeneracy. The fullest sympathy with Nature 
 is the noblest end of education. What should we 
 gain by learning? Truth, and an idea of that 
 Vast Power which rules the universe by order and 
 never by caprice. Therefore, let no one wish to 
 limit learning, for it is as impossible for an active 
 mind with a restricted education to grasp the vast- 
 ness of Nature, as it is impossible for a scientific 
 musician to render all harmonies without a full 
 key-board. 
 
 "We do not believe that Nature counts the 
 hairs upon our heads, the sands of the sea-shore, 
 the atoms of atmosphere, the leaves of the forest, 
 or the birds of the air. Nature is indifferent to 
 the individual man. Its ways are too vast to per- 
 mit the peacockish conceits and vanities of mortal 
 
Wewo's Harangue 255 
 
 minds. A supposed record of one's iniquities with 
 a specific punishment for each is a bugaboo for 
 babies. The importance that individuals attach 
 to themselves and their actions has as little bear- 
 ing on Nature's management of the universe, as a 
 cooking-range has to do with a volcano. The 
 Creator's scheme of the universe is not trivial. 
 
 '' Nature is larger and more beautiful as the 
 signification of its laws become apparent to us. 
 Commercial justice must not be expected from 
 Nature. The savage, if he feels wind on his 
 cheek, not understanding the conditions of atmo- 
 sphere, thinks it is God. The supernatural is 
 ' very close ' to the ignorant, but to the philosopher 
 the laws of the First Cause are everywhere, and 
 with comprehensive methods control things, but 
 never manifest any special favor or hatred toward 
 any particular race, species, or unit. Nature, 
 without prejudice, is always expanding toward 
 healthy improvement. 
 
 " I will conclude with the best advice I know, 
 which is this: Observe and contemplate that 
 which seems mysterious, put your conclusions into 
 words, meet others who have also considered freely, 
 expound your views to them and solicit theirs, 
 and hold yourself willing to freely set aside 
 your original views, if convinced that the others 
 have formed their opinions more wisely than you. 
 The triumph of education is not only to acquire 
 a knowledge of the Creator's wishes, but to aid 
 strenuously in their fulfilment." 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 RURAL LANE — ADAM — DR. WEWO 
 
 " For just experience tells, in every soil, 
 
 That those who think must govern those who toil." 
 
 — Goldsmith, " The Traveler." 
 
 ".To fill the time allotted to us to the brim with action and with 
 thought, is the only way in which we can learn to watch its passage 
 with equanimity." — Lecky. 
 
 " It may be proved with much certainty that God intends no man to 
 live on this world without working, but it seems no less evident that 
 he intends every man to be happy in his work. It was written ' in the 
 sweat of thy brow,' but it was never written ' in the breaking of thy 
 heart.' " — John Ruskin. 
 
 " This idea of arbitration resembles an exchange of civilities which 
 took place between a mule and his master. 
 
 " ' Let us arbitrate,' said the master. 
 
 "'Why?' said the mule. 
 
 " ' Because when you kick and strike you break my wagon.' 
 
 "'How shall we arbitrate?' asked the mule. 
 
 " ' If you kick less I'll whip you less,' answered the master. 
 
 "'Will you give me my freedom?' cried the mule. 
 
 " ' Oh, no,' smiled the master. ' We're not going to arbitrate that ; 
 we're going to arbitrate your whippings. It'll be a great thing for you 
 if you can arbitrate a few of my drubbings off of your back which I'll 
 consent to in order to escape your back-ankle flyers at my cart.' 
 
 " ' Ah ! ' said the mule. ' And I must work for you just as before.' 
 
 " ' Just as before,' said the master — ' that's why a mule's made.' " — 
 — Morrison I. Swift. 
 
 The heroic statement that " Britons never will 
 be slaves " certainly is not borne out by their his- 
 tory. No ancient people were more priest- 
 ridden than the Druids. Suetonius with ten 
 thousand men conquered two hundred and thirty 
 thousand Britons under Boadicia. They peace- 
 fully accepted the Romans as masters for over 
 three hundred years, and when Rome withdrew 
 her soldiers the Britons squealed for their return 
 to protect them against the Saxons. The Saxons 
 
 256 
 
Adam's Discontent 257 
 
 had no sympathy with them and they disappeared 
 wherever the Saxon went. The Britons were ready 
 converts to Catholicism and conspicuously back- 
 ward at the time of the Reformation in asserting 
 their rights to intellectual freedom. The same is 
 true of their kinsfolk in Brittany, the stronghold of 
 the Catholics in France. The Briton is a seaman 
 and only asks to be ruled. William the Conqueror 
 had no trouble with his British subjects. They 
 accepted feudalism, which is only a scheme for 
 keeping a subdued race down, without a murmur. 
 But it was different with the freedom-loving 
 Saxon; they writhed, twisted and fought against 
 feudalism and in four hundred years conquered it. 
 
 When Adam's labored thinking had partly 
 cleared the misty fog of his Geyserland surround- 
 mgs, Dr. Wewo reported him as convalescent and 
 Jab, one of the taskmasters, sent for him. Adam 
 was examined both mentally and physically on all 
 subjects concerning his capacity for usefulness. In 
 this he observed that in their system of industry 
 they had a type of official that was new to him, 
 the taskmaster. He did not like it. Every civil- 
 ized man has a horror of letting another take the 
 reins of his career. It stirred Adam's autocratic 
 blood to be tagged, numbered, and inventoried. 
 Adam was not meek. The descendant of a Saxon 
 never cheerfully accepts a secondary position. It 
 has never been shown that the peerage of England 
 was any better than the peerage of other Euro- 
 pean countries, but the disciplined fighting line of 
 the old English farming class has always been 
 the ideal fighting line. The Saxons who drove the 
 native in Britain before them as they drove the 
 red-skin in America before them settled down as 
 
258 Geyserland 
 
 cultivators of the soil. They had it in them to 
 be the heroes of the sea, the battle, and the soil. 
 They were not commercial nor did they quarrel 
 or compete among themselves. Their lord or 
 baron gave them each land. In exchange they 
 gave him, when needed, their courage and long- 
 bow or battle-axe, and all went well until English 
 wool was found to be the best in the world, then 
 small farms were changed to sheep leys and 
 England was flooded with a desperately poor class. 
 That was the beginning of economic competition; 
 but the spirit of hatred never prevailed among 
 them, even when they fought for a job on the 
 wharves like dogs for a bone. Thus for four hun- 
 dred years the hardiest men of Europe have been 
 forced to seek their livelihood by ventures all over 
 the world. Compromise is the expedient of ex- 
 perience, Adam reasoned, and sagaciously con- 
 cluded that that which is compulsory might as well 
 be voluntary. 
 
 Adam found consolation in cursing. 
 
 Jeremiah, the original prophet of the lowly, 
 donated that privilege to the poor Israelites of his 
 time. — It is written that the helpless and poor 
 should be justly paid, " Lest he cry against thee to 
 the Lord and it is reputed to thee for a sin."* — 
 Modern rationalism has attributed cursing and 
 profanity to a poverty of language. 
 
 Adam had been cursing his luck as he paced 
 restlessly back and forth in a quiet rural lane, in a 
 mad frenzy. For the sake of the reader we will 
 paraphrase his rough words in the following 
 manner: "Am I a captive slave, or am I a child 
 in this community? Is this a rabbit warren for 
 men? Am I powerless? Is this an adventure, 
 
 ♦Deuteronomy xxiv. 15. 
 
Adam's Discontent 259 
 
 or is it after all to be my life, "death, and end — 
 future — nothing! By St. George! we will see. 
 These smirking idiots shall not benefit by my hoe- 
 ing their corn. They say I am not capable. 
 Capable? There is no qualification of the word 
 ' capable.' One is, or one is not. I am capable, 
 by the Lord Harry! To show these freaks who 
 have no moral sense how I would do things, if 
 they do not wake up I will own this place. But 
 what is it worth? No coin, no money, and very 
 little of anything else to take away. Nothing 
 but pretty things not worth a moment's consider- 
 ation." 
 
 This soliloquy was interrupted by his health 
 overseer, Mr. Wewo. 
 
 " Hail! friend Adam," said Wewo. " My con- 
 gratulations on your good health." 
 
 " To you, skillful doctor, I owe my life," said 
 Adam, and with courteous irony added, "If my 
 life is worth anything, my compliments and grati- 
 tude in that proportion are due you." 
 
 "Bravo! Very pretty," replied Wewo, wisely 
 ignoring Adam's obvious discontent. " A well- 
 spoken man is the basis of good-fellowship. There 
 is plenty of room for every charming person in this 
 world. I am glad you are with us, and let us 
 hope that you will live long and enjoy this happy 
 land." 
 
 " Zounds! " exclaimed Adam. " Why, Doctor, 
 I am already homesick; I cannot be happy here. 
 I do not like this life; there is nothing in it for me. 
 It does not lead to anything." 
 
 " Then where would you go? Tell us what you 
 want. Since our records began, 6,000 years ago, 
 we have tried steadily to improve in the culture of 
 our people, whereas, from your story, at your own 
 
26o Geyserland 
 
 home little progress is shown. You are still where 
 we were 2,000 years ago. Let me illustrate. As 
 a tree develops slowly through various stages from 
 a kernel to perfect maturity, so culture must pro- 
 gress gradually, leaf and branch at a time. We all 
 know that in your state of culture the strong will 
 take away from the weak, the selfish from the 
 generous, and the quick-witted from the slow- 
 witted. You have a short record of a few gross 
 of years, but still live in families and family clans, 
 each bound to his little group with constant jeal- 
 ousies and quarrels. Have your people never 
 studied the bees, wasps, and beavers; and if so, has 
 it not been suggested to you by these animals that 
 there is something nobler than selfish, egotistical 
 aggrandizement? People cannot proceed far in 
 their social existence before they learn that the 
 happiness of those around them must constitute a 
 large part of their own pleasure. Early education 
 should be of a character to fit people to volunteer 
 their friendship to others who need it." 
 
 " I do not like it here," Adam answered. " I 
 believe all that constitutes modern life centers 
 around the individual man. I don't believe in 
 committees nor in village discussions. There is 
 confusion in a multitude of councilors. An indi- 
 vidual with brains, ability, and confidence can real- 
 ize heights that no committee would dare to at- 
 tempt. If I am not asking too much, in your 
 sublime superiority, why have you people omitted 
 justice? Justice should have the right of way 
 before all other questions. I am asking for justice 
 and therefore that to which I have a right. My 
 father and sisters certainly wished me to have a 
 more exalted occupation than weeding vegetables." 
 
 " What have your father and sisters to do with 
 
Adam's Discontent 261 
 
 your true or just position in the world? " asked 
 Wewo. 
 
 " I do not want to be an ordinary man," said 
 Adam. " I am ambitious, I wish to dominate 
 others. I have it in me to do so. At home I am 
 some one of importance. I believe an intelligent 
 public is the best and only taskmaster, and that the 
 free individual is always the one who steps for- 
 ward. Freedom is a mockery if men must pass 
 their lives to no better purpose than serving task- 
 masters. At home there is always a servile mass, 
 whom we call laborers, who will do any kind of 
 menial work for any kind of pay, and my feelings 
 and dignity are hurt by my being asked to do their 
 work here." 
 
 " The highest among us are the servants of the 
 masses," Wewo replied. " There are no others, 
 others are ourselves — the whole scheme is one. 
 A nation is its people, and its soil makes it a nation. 
 Remembrances, usages, legends, misfortune, hopes, 
 common regrets — these are the intangible things 
 of life; the soil, the race, the mountains, the rivers, 
 the productions are the tangible ones. You help. 
 That is all that you can do, and your noble prin- 
 ciples should dictate to your conscience that you 
 should do it. Why do you not want to be in har- 
 mony with us? You should occupy your thoughts 
 with the present and future results of your actions, 
 and not let your origin or your destiny bother you. 
 Why jeopardize your right of way to a noble life 
 by confounding the follies of your ancestors in the 
 past, and the absurd institutions of your country 
 with the right thing for you to do now? A fool 
 is a man who tries to do something he is unable 
 to do. Have patience. If you have any higher 
 endowments, your correct worth will be acknowl- 
 
262 Geyserland 
 
 edged. Brains and character go to the front in 
 this country as surely and justly as in any country 
 in the world. Let me suggest to you to request 
 the taskmasters to inquire into your previous sur- 
 roundings, the habits and customs of your country. 
 Your antecedents have been so different from ours, 
 that if you have the power to explain, our learned 
 men would much like to trace the origin of your 
 innate predilections." 
 
 " It is not likely that I will tell anything until 
 I know what my predilections are worth," replied 
 Adam. " They are assets. What I have is my 
 own, and what I can get will be my own." 
 
 " As you wish it," said Wewo, with an ill-con- 
 cealed sneer at Adam's low commercialism. " As 
 all people who have loved have contempt for those 
 who have not loved, so an Altruist pities those who 
 cannot grasp the full scheme of perfect fellow- 
 ship. Our enlightenment has progressed to a point 
 where, for the interests of all, all have agreed 
 that some should be chosen to analyze and place 
 each to his or her best advantages. Remember 
 that each member of this community who is not 
 in his correct place is a menace to the whole com- 
 munity. A discordant member is like an onion 
 in a fruit dish. 
 
 " There is a great deal to be done in this world, 
 but it is not necessary for you to try to do all. 
 There is a mind for every one and you are entitled 
 to yours. You can question any of our established 
 usages; invent, or learn something better and pro- 
 claim it for discussion. A man with your experi- 
 ence and intelligence might be able to bring to our 
 attention things which we have as yet overlooked. 
 Our taskmasters first take into consideration the 
 
Adam's Discontent 263 
 
 requirements of the public, and secondly, the 
 capacities, talents, and inclinations of the workers. 
 There is scarcely any occupation from that of a 
 member of our Council to a gatherer of sea-weed, 
 for the performance of which some one has not an 
 instinctive tendency; but, for the lack of task- 
 masters, I can safely affirm that hardly any one in 
 your civilization finds the career for which he has 
 an affinity. If you will not demonstrate the work 
 for which you are qualified, then the taskmasters 
 must use their own discretion in naming your oc- 
 cupation; and if you don't work you will not be 
 fed. There is work that is interesting and en- 
 nobling, and other work that is uninteresting and 
 accompanied by mental stagnation. It is servile 
 degradation to labor for no purpose, but it is the 
 acme of human happiness to do good, useful work 
 for others. Therefore, we all insist that these 
 weary tasks shall not fall too heavily on any one 
 individual. 
 
 " Each of our taskmasters is constantly on the 
 lookout for the man he can advance. To choose 
 the right man means to dismiss the wrong man. 
 And, please remember, my dear Adam, that what 
 is not familiar is always disagreeable at first; but 
 happiness lies in being busy where one can be use- 
 ful. Popular industry is the foundation of our 
 progress, and efforts have been continually made 
 to make it more productive and beneficial. The 
 commonplace is as necessary as the sublime. Per- 
 sons must be held responsible for their actions in 
 every condition of life. In the lower stages of 
 culture a man was born to a certain occupation, 
 but there was an enormous amount of hazard as 
 to his being fitted for his work. Later, in the 
 
264 Geyserland 
 
 higher stages of culture, men chose their own 
 work, but again the chances of getting people in 
 the right place were too hazardous. Your boasted 
 civilization must be a comedy of misfits. There 
 is no law of Nature that people shall gravitate to 
 the places where they belong. 
 
 " A doctor should not prescribe for himself. A 
 man's judgment is seldom more at fault than when 
 in passing judgment on himself and his own ac- 
 tions. Some people sing a song well. Some dress 
 with taste. Some can make good bread; others 
 think they can, but don't know that they can't. 
 Ambition cannot make a man a musician. A man 
 with talent for his duties will find its execution his 
 noblest reward, far exceeding that of venal com- 
 pensation or notoriety. We should all want to 
 do well that which we can do easily, for it is a crime 
 against the community for an incompetent person 
 to be employed where a competent one is available. 
 The implements of every craft should be given to 
 those who are best qualified to use them. Our task- 
 masters are the best human arrangement we have 
 been able to discover for getting the best men for 
 the tasks required. With their intimate knowl- 
 edge of the antecedents of each individual and 
 knowing the compound of a man's temperament, 
 they are better able to judge of a man's fitness for 
 his career than he himself would be. You will 
 be given unlimited opportunity. Compete in any 
 field, show your superiority, and the change will 
 be made as promptly as possible. Everybody is 
 a genius, and it is only necessary to find his career. 
 A weed in one place is a flower in another. 
 Happy, happy is the man who finds a suitable oc- 
 cupation — which is possible ; or has it shown to 
 
Adam's Discontent 265 
 
 him by those fitted to do so — which is more prob- 
 able. There are misfits in every condition of life, 
 owing to uncongenial surroundings. The moment 
 one ceases to be alone, social conditions commence. 
 If people agree and help each other, cooperative 
 industrial communism begins. But it is doubtful 
 if, unless instructed, they will, by following their 
 own inclinations, always do the correct thing; 
 hence our system of taskmasters. Apples grow on 
 apple trees; peaches on peach trees; the good hus- 
 bandman knows the fruit to expect, and, instead of 
 letting the apple tree waste its strength in useless 
 branches or disease, or trying to produce peaches, 
 he cultivates it to bear its own fruit. That is the 
 principle of communism. It is the reverse of 
 waste, — the cultivation of the laws of Nature." 
 
 " Perhaps I am a fool," said Adam. " Perhaps 
 all Englishmen are fools. I don't believe it 
 possible to get rid of misery by making everybody 
 miserable. But it certainly is a noble consolation 
 to have something which you know you do not 
 need. I should like to look forward, to have hope, 
 to have a perspective, some property, some possi- 
 bility of marriage and kinship. How does dis- 
 content vent itself here?" 
 
 " If a man has more than he needs, it is waste," 
 replied Wewo. " Discontent is noble if born from 
 worthy enterprise, but when mothered by envy it 
 is despicable. If you are dissatisfied you should 
 make your complaint known and have a court ap- 
 pointed to consider your cause of discontent. You 
 are at liberty to measure your freedom. I have 
 told you to make known your familiarity with other 
 customs and teach." 
 
 " I have answered you that I would do so," 
 Adam interrupted, " when I see that I am to be 
 
266 Geyserland 
 
 properly recompensed. Power is royal. Obe- 
 dience is servile. A man's secrets are his own, and 
 not the property of the first chance acquaintance." 
 
 "So!" exclaimed Wewo impatiently. "But 
 please understand, doing nothing is not a virtue. 
 Stagnation is a vice. An owl may have an original 
 master-mind, but its utility is nil, because its 
 thoughts are not conveyed to any one. It is our 
 duty to be occupied. We live in a despotism of 
 Justice and Duty, and this must remain an un- 
 alterable creed until a higher system is discovered. 
 Lazy people look happy, and some industriously 
 inclined copy them. Beware of such. Perform 
 your task. After that, demonstrate your ability 
 in any pleasant occupation. We believe in and 
 encourage those who have fads. Remember, you 
 will be watched. Would you study the stars — the 
 Observatory is at your disposal. Would you study 
 the animals or any other subject — the opportuni- 
 ties are given you without stint. But should you 
 unnecessarily abuse any living thing, or do a mean 
 act, there you must stop. ' Stop at the poise ' is 
 the motto of successful communism. My dear 
 friend Adam, by the poetry of your mind and the 
 love of the better way you will soon free yourself 
 from all your sordid illusions. Selfishness, or self- 
 interest, is a salient law of Nature. But the tri- 
 umph of selfishness is, to have every one about 
 you happy. Our games and sports are here, that 
 people may enjoy them. Study to be gay, my 
 boy." 
 
 " But what is the use of having everything that 
 we want? " interrupted Adam. " There is fun at 
 home in wanting things. It is our principal occu- 
 pation. There is no game in a scheme where one 
 cannot lose. Competition is the game of progress. 
 
Adam's Discontent 267 
 
 Satiated senses are horrible. The contentment of 
 a beast is not the contentment of a man. I want 
 to be free and scheme to get the things I want. 
 You have no field for pluck. Peace is death. No 
 sailing can be done in a calm sea. I want scope 
 for my enterprise. This peaceful life is stagna- 
 tion. It is not life, but death. Every to-day is 
 like yesterday." 
 
 " Every one's freedom must stop where another's 
 right begins," Wewo replied. " A state should 
 be like a clock that all help to wind; its regulator 
 should be adjusted only when necessary. Compe- 
 tition is the spirit of excellence ; but unless cultured 
 and controlled will lead to trivial crazes, like a 
 man who would excel in fasting or gluttony. No 
 one in society is, was, or ever will be free. The 
 only question is, whom shall we serve? Nature 
 replies, each other. However, it is imperative 
 that the most capable should command and all 
 others should obey. Let those who know, com- 
 mand; let those who think, obey. In this same 
 manner an ideal spirit for the cause will develop." 
 
 " You have accumulated knowledge and now 
 exchange it for your exalted position," replied 
 Adam. " It is the birthright of all mankind to 
 try to better themselves. I want to get into the 
 game, and I know a better scheme for doing it. I 
 would exchange what I know for some one to do 
 my work. I want more freedom and less dicta- 
 tion from those around me." 
 
 " Excuse me," said Wewo. " You are demand- 
 ing two things, one to be independent and the other 
 to be privileged. You say you wish to belong to 
 the exalted class. This is entirely a question of 
 your capacity; for here any man in a lower position 
 is at liberty to replace a man in a higher position, 
 
268 Geyserland 
 
 by proving his ability. But the man who makes 
 himself independent does so at the expense of an- 
 other man's rights. Our ablest thinkers have 
 recognized that the headstrong tendency of a clever 
 man, who knows he is clever, has ever been the 
 greatest drawback to his usefulness to others. 
 Hence the necessity of judicially curbing this 
 haughty individualism in order that a fraternal 
 spirit may become popular. Liberty becomes 
 chaotic unless restrained by high principles. You 
 want to be idle. Now we have it! You want 
 more than your share, which means some one else 
 will have less than his share. Then by exchange 
 and barter you will coerce him to do your duties. 
 Self-interest is for the moral world, what gravita- 
 tion is for the physical world. Your system is 
 to reward abnormal thrift by idleness. Poor, un- 
 happy man! Mark my words, energy and thrift 
 are both dangerous elements. People with per- 
 nicious thrift can do more unbalancing in any com- 
 munity than those who overstep the boundaries 
 of pleasure. You want property and to be able to 
 say, ' This is mine, you shall not touch it.' Foolish 
 man! Our race tried that three thousand years 
 ago. Property is not freedom. Freedom is a lack 
 of unnecessary fetters and here we have it. Lib- 
 erty is the light, air, flowers, stars, and the absence 
 of restraints. Our government, like a bountiful 
 mother, directs that we shall have all necessities, 
 and it is for us to respect the virtue of the matrons, 
 and obey the taskmasters. Individuals who would 
 go against the will of the people are traitors. This 
 discipline is what the majority want. We think 
 that it is better than your independence." 
 
 " That is very pretty," said Adam. " But to 
 look out for one's self is, and must ever be. Nature's 
 
Adam's Discontent 269 
 
 first law. Expediency is the first law of self- 
 preservation. In my opinion, to run a community 
 without money is like running a wagon without 
 grease, a shop without scales, or a church without 
 a contribution box. I still believe that an indi- 
 vidual's industry should be rewarded by additional 
 comforts." 
 
 '' It certainly should, but the taskmasters ought 
 to consider each one's capacity and set the task 
 that he can do best. But it is not their duty to let 
 some busybody do all the work and have all the 
 cream. You would, with that principle, soon 
 establish a condition that would make wealth the 
 sole object of life, and poverty the only thing to 
 be dreaded, and you would certainly have the poor 
 with you always. Every community should guar- 
 antee a fixed minimum of suffering, misery, and 
 privation." 
 
 Here the old fellow danced a sort of jig, and 
 sang a song, the gist of which was " Nature's will 
 is the ideal." 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 NEW PLYMOUTH 
 
 " Plaisir d'amour dure qu'un moment 
 Chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie." 
 
 " He prayeth best, who loveth best 
 All things both great and small ; 
 For the dear God who loveth us, 
 He made and loveth all." 
 
 — Coleridge. 
 
 It was in April, and the long, severe Cape Cod 
 winter was drawing to a close. However, the 
 sharp bitter east winds of March which still blew 
 were felt unmercifully by those in feeble health 
 and old age. Gilbert Natson, Polly's father, who 
 had left the mild climate of Kent, well-to-do, hale, 
 hearty, and cheerful but a few years before, was 
 now very ill and dying in wretchedness. His 
 daughter Polly had been charmed by the fine talk 
 of the mealy-mouthed Mr. Pratt. Her emotional 
 hunger had been bewitched by his earnest belief, 
 and she had now become his wife. Her heart had 
 been captured, and her life sacrificed. People 
 who prosper in one locality are often destined to 
 be abandoned by the smiles of fortune in another. 
 The vacillating vibrations of destiny would seem 
 often to be affected by one's surroundings. Cer- 
 tainly, prosperity, with its golden sunshine, for- 
 sook Mr. Natson on his arrival in America, and 
 unhappy clouds hung over him, bringing showers 
 of misfortune. Polly vainly tried, in spite of all 
 the privations and misery of those early days, to 
 have a happy home, but now was broken-hearted 
 and exhausted by the loss of her only child, who 
 
 270 
 
New Plymouth 271 
 
 had died the day before, after an existence of not 
 quite three days. 
 
 The poor girl, lying helpless in one part of her 
 desolate home, was in anguish at her inability to 
 help her dying father lying in an adjoining room. 
 Returning from the infant's funeral, the Reverend 
 Pratt entered, shaking the snow from his cape and 
 bringing with him a gale of icy air, which was 
 warm, however, in comparison with his cold, 
 measured, unsympathetic words, " ' The Lord giv- 
 eth and the Lord taketh away; Blessed be the name 
 of the Lord.' The grave was dug and with much 
 difficulty we loosened the frozen, hardened earth, 
 lowered the coffin, and in accordance with Holy 
 Writ sprinkled the dust on our little babe now in 
 heaven." At this moment a groan from the ad- 
 joining room recalled to Polly's frenzied mind the 
 dying condition of her father. 
 
 " Please, Joseph, see if you can do anything for 
 father." 
 
 " I'm very sorry," he replied, " but the good ship 
 Avon is in the offing. Peradventure they have 
 Non-separatists among them, and I must call the 
 elect together that we may prevent their landing 
 here, and persuade them to settle elsewhere." 
 
 Franklin said, " When religious people quarrel 
 about their religion, or hungry people about their 
 victuals, it looks as if they had not much of either 
 about them." Mr. Pratt left his wife and went out 
 into the bleak air again. It is painful to reflect on 
 the low, selfish meanness of which our species is 
 capable. Some men think the advantage of own- 
 ing a thing is in the privilege it gives them to mal- 
 treat it if the law forbids its destruction. Mr. 
 Pratt was evidently one of these. 
 
272 Geyserland 
 
 Too late Polly discovered that instead of marry- 
 ing one of noble feelings, this fanatical blackguard 
 was but a mixture of egotism, vanity, and conceit. 
 There is little choice between the mentally par- 
 alyzed, unemotional dolt who says that there 
 is no Omnipotent Spirit and the arrogant knave 
 like Mr. Pratt, who intrudes everywhere braying 
 that he knows " all about it," with the hope that 
 the living and the dead may hear him. As Goethe 
 wrote, *' There are two things of which a man 
 cannot be careful enough — of obstinacy, if he con- 
 fines himself to his own line of thought; of incom- 
 petency, if he goes beyond it." 
 
 Mr. Pratt's thoughts were not of his home. 
 Domesticity and tenderness did not enter into his 
 composition, and the sympathy which should have 
 been his wife's was given to his religious craze. 
 His hard, pinched, and peaked face never softened 
 to a smile. Like most zealots, he thought it holy 
 to deprive himself of many of the healthy blessings 
 of life and to ostentatiously endure unnecessary 
 sufferings. Unhappy wretch, he sympathized 
 equally little with the happiness of the living as 
 with the agonies of the dying. The beauty of 
 God's world he had forfeited when he swallowed 
 and absorbed a chilled dogmatic religion. Weak 
 characters like the fanatic or drunkard do not real- 
 ize that when they swallow the baneful draught — 
 mental or alcoholic — the first symptom is the col- 
 lapse of what firmness or self-control they previ- 
 ously possessed. When a man becomes a religious 
 fanatic, his judgment is seriously impaired, losing 
 the healthy piloting of reason and logic. 
 
 In every community there are bigoted leaders 
 unfit to have the guidance of their fellow-men. 
 
New Plymouth 273 
 
 Leaders, more crazed than inspired, like Peter the 
 Hermit, howling throughout Europe " that no sins 
 are so heinous that they cannot be washed away by 
 the waters of Jordan." Inspiration is but being in 
 the mood to talk or write. Mr. Pratt could only 
 thrive among a people dazed by religion or emo- 
 tional delirium. Rascals will always quote maxims 
 precepts, and texts for their own advantage Dis- 
 honesty of leadership is the heaviest burden for 
 any people to carry. It is a fact worthy of note that 
 although a man can love and appreciate the beauty 
 of the sky, the mountains, the flowers, the music 
 of the singing birds, and a million other creations 
 of J\ ature, simply without explanation, yet he can- 
 not become a churchman alone. He must have 
 some one— a Mr. Pratt— to explain each dogma, 
 and if he does not believe all he is immediately 
 with great impressiveness and some rancor in- 
 formed that only such as are credulous may be 
 saved. Smooth orators will always find fertile 
 soil for supernatural ideas in lax, uncultivated 
 minds. 
 
 Money, wine, and women are the usual tempta- 
 tions of a man, but an abnormal vanity sometimes 
 pushes mortals to think themselves especially divine 
 and inspired to teach. Such thieves of intellectual 
 balance and peace of mind should be arrested, tried 
 and given their correct positions, in the same man- 
 ner as ruffians who commit robbery or inflict 
 physical suffering. A man who attempts to teach 
 the unknowable does worse than nothing. Those 
 fiendish creatures who would rape and outrage a 
 young girl before the age of adolescence, and ruin 
 her physical future, do not seem far removed from 
 Ignorant, religious enthusiasts who introduce into 
 a child s mind dogmas before its maturity, that 
 
274 Geyserland 
 
 paralyze the free use of the mental capacities for 
 the balance of its life. Personally, we would pre- 
 fer being bodily crippled to being mentally unbal- 
 anced. Two-thirds of the harm done in this world 
 has been done by those who are emotionally in- 
 sane. It is marvelous how soon a liar believes his 
 lies, and with a mixture of vanity and sense of dut}^ 
 expounds them. 
 
 The silver lining of the dark cloud of Puritanism, 
 with a desire to rid the church of any and all super- 
 fluous forms and ceremonies, a desire to get back 
 to the pure Mosaic law, was in the line of progress, 
 and the spirit of its continuance had developed 
 great results. We have no record of the inter- 
 marrying of the English and Jews during their 
 sojourn in Holland, but knowing the intense love 
 the Separatists had for the Old Testament and their 
 dislike for all contemporary creeds, it seems a pos- 
 sible hypothesis that a good-sized strain of the Jew- 
 ish blood was infused into the Pilgrim. Certainly 
 their descendants the Yankees have taken such a 
 high standing among traders and Projectors that 
 even the orthodox Jew has more than once had to 
 be contented with a secondary place. Undoubt- 
 edly there was a Dutch element in New England.* 
 We may smile at the attempts in Cape Cod to 
 practice Mosaic sanitary customs intended for 
 the heated sands of Arabia, and in no way ap- 
 plicable to the New England emigrants. A mo- 
 ment's reflection must convince us that expediency 
 caused Moses to make a special commandment 
 against the covetous proclivities of the Jews. He 
 
 * John Cutler, grandsire of Ward McAllister and the highly esteemed 
 ancestor of many aristocratic families in Boston and Charleston, ama- 
 teur piano maker and first brass founder in the country, was a Dutch- 
 man with the too foreign names of Johannes Deraesroaker. 
 
New Plymouth 275 
 
 could have made a law against maliciousness, 
 which is far worse, but the Jews were not malicious. 
 In the same manner Mohammed had to put clean- 
 liness next to godliness for the sand-sore people of 
 the desert. But the desire to simplify and get 
 down to " bed-rock " in science and philosophy 
 has produced on these New England shores such 
 noble names as Franklin, Emerson, and Chan- 
 ning. 
 
 Mr. Pratt asked for no pity or mercy from man, 
 and was not prepared to give any. Life was so 
 full of cruelties and horrors in the seventeenth cen- 
 tury that it was almost weakness or cowardice to 
 have such a humane feeling as pity. 
 
 " Says Esk to Tweed, 
 ' Ye run slow indeed ; 
 What gais ye rin so slow ? ' 
 To Esk says Tweed, 
 ' I run slow indeed, 
 But where ye droon ae man I droon two.' " 
 
 Refusing, and not asking mercy, marks the sav- 
 age. With the American redskin ferocity was a 
 virtue, while pity was a cowardly weakness at 
 which their pride revolted. The chiefs of the 
 Fiji Islands preserved their cripples for amuse- 
 ment. It has never been proven that women are 
 less cruel than men, the most bloodthirsty despots 
 having been women. As Carlyle said, " Madame 
 du Barry sent 500,000 people to be killed to ofifset a 
 personal discourtesy." 
 
 Autocratic despots are always more ferocious 
 and sanguinary than were mobs of revolting com- 
 mon Boors. Sulla was more brutal than Marius. 
 
276 Geyserland 
 
 No savage was ever so cruel as the highly cul- 
 tured Persian Artaxerxes with his torture of " the 
 boat." Artaxerxes II., the Persian king who sanc- 
 tioned the restorations of the fortifications of Jeru- 
 salem, at the battle of Cunaxa, 401 B. C, conquered 
 his brother Cyrus, whom we remember as the un- 
 happy employer of Xenophon and the ten thou- 
 sand Greeks. Artaxerxes fraudulently desired the 
 renown of having killed his brother Cyrus, who 
 fell in the melee of the battle. Mithridates, a fa- 
 mous soldier, inadvertently told the true story at a 
 banquet of how he killed Cyrus. Therefore he 
 was condemned to " the boat," which Plutarch de- 
 scribes as follows: 
 
 " They take two boats, which are made to fit each other ; and 
 extend the criminal in one of them in a supine posture. They 
 then invert the other upon it, so that the poor wretch's body is 
 covered, and only the head and hands are out at one end, and 
 the feet at the other. They give him victuals daily, and if he 
 refuses to eat, they compel him by pricking him in the eyes. 
 After he has eaten, they make him drink a mixture of honey 
 and milk, which they pour into his mouth. They spread the 
 same likewise over his face, and always turn him so as to have 
 the sun full in his eyes; the consequence of which is, that his 
 face is covered with swarms of flies. As all the necessary evacu- 
 ations of a man who eats and drinks are within the boat, the 
 filthiness and corruption engender a quantity of worms, which 
 consume his flesh, and penetrate to his entrails. When they 
 find that he is dead, they take off the upper boat, and enjoy 
 the spectacle of a carcass whose flesh is eaten away, and of 
 numberless vermin clinging to and gnawing the bowels. Mith- 
 ridates with much difficulty found death, after he had thus 
 gradually wasted for seventeen days." 
 
 We of the twentieth century are so far removed 
 from terrible atrocities that it is hard to appre- 
 ciate such times. When we consider that pain, 
 and what is probably quite as bad as pain itself, — 
 
New Plymouth 277 
 
 the fear of pain, — were practically driven from the 
 earth by the discovery of ether and other anes- 
 thetics fifty years ago, we certainly have reason to 
 congratulate ourselves. 
 
 Cruelty has been disposed of by the voice of the 
 masses, for the power of the press and the aris- 
 tocracy have stamped it as ignoble. But in the 
 days of Mistress Polly people had a stolid bygone 
 philosophy accepting their misfortunes and expect- 
 ing little sympathy. Those were the times not far 
 removed from Philip and Alva. Fresh in their 
 memory was the massacre of Ribauld and his 
 Huguenot colony on the coast of Florida. The 
 Inquisition and the auto de fe were in the height 
 of their horror in Spain. The times were severe. 
 It was a few years later that Cromwell put his cap- 
 tives at Drogheda and Wexford to the sword and 
 sold thousand of his compatriots into slavery at the 
 Barbados and to the Sultan. 
 
 L. Owen Pope, writing about Christian heroes 
 of romance, or the age of chivalry, quotes the fol- 
 lowing ordinance for the soldiers and knights on 
 the voyage to the Holy Land : 
 
 " Whoever killed a man on board ship was to be tied to the 
 corpse and thrown with it into the sea. Whoever killed a man 
 on shore was to be tied to the corpse and buried alive with it. 
 Drawing blood with a knife was to be punished with the loss 
 of a hand; a mere blow, with three complete duckings in the 
 sea. A thief was to be shaved, to have boiling pitch poured upon 
 his head and a cushion of feathers shaken over it, so that his 
 misdeed might be known to all; and he was to be put ashore 
 at the first place at which the ship touched. . . . To the 
 leaders, who could not write their own names, deception and 
 treachery were as familiar as force; to their followers rapine 
 and murder were so congenial that, in the abscence of Saracens, 
 Jews, or townsfolk, it seemed but a professional pastime to kill 
 or to rob a comrade-in-arms." 
 
278 Geyserland 
 
 To show that the English race is a cruel 
 race, we have only to refer to their early days in 
 Britain. 
 
 A letter which a Roman provincial, Sidonius 
 Apollinaris, wrote in warning to a friend who 
 had embarked as an officer in the Channel fleet, 
 which was " looking out for the pirate-boats of the 
 Saxons," gives us a glimpse of these freebooters 
 as they appeared to the civilized world of the fifth 
 century. 
 
 " When you see their rowers," says Sidonius, " you may 
 make up your mind that every one of them is an arch pirate, 
 with such wonderful unanimity do all of them at once com- 
 mand, obey, teach, and learn their business of brigandage. This 
 is why I have to warn you to be more than ever on your guard 
 in this warfare. Your foe is of all foes the fiercest. He attacks 
 unexpectedly; if you expect him, he makes his escape; he de- 
 spises those who seek to block his path; he overthrows those 
 who are off their guard ; he cuts off any enemy whom he fol- 
 lows; while, for himself, he never fails to escape when he is 
 forced to fly. And more than this, to these men a shipwreck 
 is a school of seamanship rather than a matter of dread. They 
 know the dangers of the deep like men who are every day in 
 contact with them. For since a storm throws those whom they 
 wish to attack off their guard, while it hinders their own com- 
 ing onset from being seen from afar, they gladly risk them- 
 selves in the midst of wrecks and sea-beaten rocks in the hope 
 of making profit out of the very tempest." 
 
 The picture is one of men who were not merely greedy free- 
 booters, but finished seamen, and who had learned, " bar- 
 barians " as they were, how to command and how to obey in 
 their school of war. But it was not the daring or the pillage 
 of the Saxons that spread terror along the Channel so much 
 as their cruelty. It was by this that the Roman provincials 
 distinguished them from the rest of the German races who 
 were attacking the Empire ; for while men noted in the Frank 
 his want of faith, in the Alan his greed, in the Hun his shame- 
 lessness, in the Gepid an utter absence of any trace of civiliza- 
 tion, what they noted in the Saxon was his savage cruelty. It 
 was this ruthlessness that made their descents on the coast of 
 
New Plymouth 279 
 
 the Channel so terrible to the provincials. The main aim of 
 these pirate-raids, as of the pirate-raids from the north, hun- 
 dreds of years later, was man-hunting, the carrying off of men, 
 women, and children into slavery. But the slave-hunting of 
 the Saxons had features of peculiar horror. " Before they raise 
 anchor and set sail from the hostile continent for their own 
 home-land, their wont when they are on the eve of returning 
 is to slay by long and painful tortures one man in every ten 
 of those they have taken, in compliance with a religious use 
 which is even more lamentable than superstitious; and for this 
 purpose to gather the whole crowd of doomed men together, 
 and temper the injustice of their fate by the mock justice of 
 casting lots for the victims. Though such a rite is not so 
 much a sacrifice that cleanses as a sacrilege that defiles them, 
 the doers of this deed of blood deem it a part of their religion 
 rather to torture their captives than to take ransom from them." 
 — John Richard Green^ " The Making of England." 
 
 Polly's anguish at being left utterly alone by her 
 husband was broken by the entrance of the wife 
 of the good John Bradford, who, in contrast to 
 saintly piety, with a woman's true instinctive al- 
 truism, asked, "Can I help you?" She stroked 
 Polly's fevered brow until the unfortunate young 
 woman slept, then went into the next room and 
 ministered to the wants of the dying man. 
 
 The review of Gilbert Natson's last years seemed 
 to catalogue every misfortune. He blamed him- 
 self that his daughter's life had been so wretched, 
 and he deplored his weakness in not checking her 
 infatuation for so hard a man. Dear old man, he 
 loved his daughter, but now he regretted that she 
 had been born and almost wished her to accompany 
 him in death; for as he softly breathed his last, he 
 saw no hope, no perspective for her. It was to 
 please Polly that he had left England, for he 
 had not been infatuated by the exaltations of Mr. 
 
28o Geyserland 
 
 Pratt. He believed in the superiority of moral 
 virtue over ceremonial acts. He had the tem- 
 perament to which the Roman Church brings re- 
 pose. The simple old man would have preferred 
 to accept the comfort of a delusion rather than go 
 to the trouble of questioning statements. Knowl- 
 edge and philosophy are the comforters of brave 
 thinkers, whereas all religions are schemes for 
 making emotions easy. Elbert Hubbard an- 
 nounces that " All religions are but canned phi- 
 losophy." Gilbert Natson had his hand in that 
 of the brave Miles Standish, and with his dying 
 gasp begged that doughty warrior to do what he 
 could for his prostrate daughter. 
 
 With the warm days of May, and the new leaves 
 appearing. Mistress Polly was convalescent. Com- 
 pletely broken-hearted, she knew she was the cause 
 of her father's leaving happy old England, and 
 of his wretched end in this bleak colony. Her 
 husband's cant and quotations from Scripture only 
 served to increase her sorrow. Mr. Pratt's hypo- 
 critical and cowardly humility was in bold con- 
 trast to the proud straightforwar(^ness of her old 
 playmate, Adam Mann. With far-reaching fears 
 of future dismal days, she became short-tempered 
 and fault-finding, and the bloom of her youth was 
 gone. She had no close sympathetic friend in all 
 that colony since her loving father's death ; and her 
 heart was starving for some words of love and com- 
 fort. People laughed at her. Why do Anglo- 
 Saxons laugh at failure? There are but three 
 things proper to laugh at — wit, one's own failures, 
 and the assumption of others. What is there 
 funny when by accident a man sits on the floor in- 
 stead of upon a chair. At an English pantomime 
 
New Plymouth 281 
 
 why is it that the gallery will always laugh when a 
 man falls down? 
 
 Polly needed some soft, kind words such as her 
 father never failed to give her, praiseworthy old 
 man! Since his death she had found no gentleness 
 in those with whom she came in daily contact, and, 
 as the sweetest cream will sour the quickest, Polly's 
 temper went to the opposite extreme, and it is not 
 set forth in the records of the old colony that any 
 one excelled her in ill-nature, scolding, or fault- 
 finding. 
 
 In June the good ship Hercules brought the fol- 
 lowing letter from Adam: 
 
 "Tenderton, Feb. 7, 1636. 
 " Mistress Polly Natson, with these tidings, greet- 
 ing: 
 " I send this paper messenger under seal by Sam- 
 uel Sheaf, merchant at the sign of the Golden Sheaf 
 in Cannon Street, London. Now since thy depar- 
 ture many matters have changed here. The land 
 and harvests have prospered. I wish thou were 
 here to see them. I write this to thee to-night to 
 tell thee that I am, with short delay, to sail for 
 New Plymouth, to beg thee to be my wife, and 
 return as queen of Stone Hall. This may to thee ap- 
 pear a new thought. To me, it is my old and only 
 dream, and long and profoundly have I wished 
 thee to be by my side. The secret of my love for 
 thee has always weighed heavily and now is over- 
 whelming, and can no longer be restrained. If 
 there is aught to prevent our marriage, my strong 
 arm will try with God's assistance to overcome it. 
 Pretty, sweet, gentle one, I must tell thee all I feel. 
 This written message will float over the sea to pre- 
 
282 Geyserland 
 
 pare thee to receive one who worships and adores 
 thee. I will not tarry, sweetheart, but will soon 
 be at thy feet to ask that I may love with such faith- 
 ful devotion, that perchance thou wilt be grateful 
 and love me in return. 
 
 " With my service to thy father, and my love 
 everlasting to thee, loving Polly, I am with God's 
 blessing thy would-be husband, 
 
 " Adam Mann.'' 
 
 Ships were following ships in these early days 
 of Charles I, with emigrants to the colonies. The 
 population of New England had increased by im- 
 migration during these fifteen odd years from the 
 few surviving souls of the Mayflower to 30,000, 
 scattered throughout the settlement. 
 
 Adam sailed in the ill-fated Raven very soon 
 after his letter had gone to the Hercules, and 
 during the monotony of this tedious voyage he 
 was never gloomy, but with a smiling countenance 
 walked the deck alone, thinking of the Polly he 
 knew, and as the ship skirted along the Greenland 
 coast he was happy with the thought of soon see- 
 ing her. When they were confronted with ice he 
 laughed at the rough path to his true love, and 
 when the disaster came, with the confession of the 
 wretched Captain Joe Hawkins and John Shag- 
 stafif, he alone of all the party did not abandon 
 hope. 
 
 The season had been wonderfully mild for 
 Northern latitudes. After much distress Adam 
 had become the sole survivor. Bewildered in the 
 Arctic ice, he pushed recklessly and innocently 
 toward the northern lights, living on ship's rations 
 and shell-fish, until he was rescued by Fasho and 
 his crew. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 OBSERVATORY — BIMO — FAIRMENA 
 
 " God offers to every mind its choice between truth and repose. Take 
 which you please, you can never have both." — Emerson. 
 
 " Manners are the shadows of great virtues." — Whateley. 
 
 " I still wish to distort no man's belief, but only to point out to 
 those in whom they are already shattered, the direction in which in my 
 conviction firmer ground lies." — Strauss, " The Old and New Belief." 
 
 Fairmena^ one calm, balmy morning when the 
 valley of Geyserland seemed surrounded by an 
 atmosphere of peace, wandered up the mountain 
 path to the crystal observatory, where her friend, 
 the wise old astronomer Bimo, was engaged in his 
 much-loved study of celestial laws. The intimacy 
 between this old man and young girl was like twi- 
 light and morning, or like the blending of the sen- 
 timent of the angelus and the crepuscule. 
 
 It seems to have been a scheme of destiny that 
 a healthy male should be beautiful to attract the 
 female. Bimo was a well-preserved old guards- 
 man, looking like our typical Jupiter with large, 
 heroic features and luxuriant white hair and 
 beard. He was tall, with the alert bearing of 
 an athlete; courteous and good-natured, with a 
 keen mind sparkling with wit. Bimo was an 
 aristocrat. Custom has given the word " aristo- 
 crat " a meaning which ranks the man above his 
 fellows, because he possesses superior moral and 
 social qualities that can be relied upon. Old age 
 owed nothing to Bimo; he had not cozened his 
 youth, but, like a good clock generously wound 
 for a certain period, had preserved sufficient force 
 
 283 
 
284 Geyserland 
 
 to keep perfect time long after the motive power 
 should have been exhausted. 
 
 Bimo was a progenitor as well as a guardsman. 
 In early life, as an intellectual amusement, he had 
 selected astronomy as a subject for study and medi- 
 tation. The solutions of the most mind-bewilder- 
 ing problems of this mysterious science were a 
 pleasure to him, and he assiduously pursued them. 
 He was now not only the best able to expound all 
 previous records, but his genius had enabled him 
 constantly to add new data. He had been re- 
 quested by the task-masters to continue these as- 
 tronomical studies, and had been excused from 
 all the irksome duties of a guardsman. This, 
 however, did not exempt him from his duties in 
 regard to cultivating the Mother Earth. It had 
 never been the rule in Geyserland that those who 
 worked their heads should be exempt from rugged 
 and hygienic exercises. The distribution among 
 all classes of the unintellectual work, which is 
 necessary in every community, prevented a de- 
 graded class of laborers and workers. Besides, it 
 was recognized that a physical capacity not prop- 
 erly exercised would be retired by Nature. As 
 our Charles Kingsley wrote, " To him who uses 
 what he has. Nature gives more and more, day by 
 day." 
 
 Humanity seems to possess longevity in propor- 
 tion to their good sense and physical care. The 
 briefness of the life of animals may depend upon 
 their lack of hands and the decay of needed teeth. 
 But in every case old age is the most horrible of 
 diseases, because it always ends fatally. But old 
 age has its charms; with age comes the mental at- 
 titude of the love of others, and selfishness is re- 
 
At the Observatory 285 
 
 placed by altruism. Bimo was a fine example of 
 this, proving, like Humboldt, that intelligently 
 cultured people live longer than the ignorant. 
 Our parting with our illusions marks the mile- 
 stones of our wisdom; so modest, wise Bimo had 
 kept young.* 
 
 There was nothing garrulous about this dear 
 old gentleman, whose charming manners, coupled 
 with his honorable old age, marked his nobility 
 of character. In fact, there was everything royal 
 about him but a throne. He was an acknowl- 
 edged favorite, and so generally liked that all 
 hoped the St. Martin's summer of his life would 
 be a long one. 
 
 There seems to be an over-abundance of repro- 
 duction in this world of ours of everything except 
 good manners. Good and cheap reproductions of 
 the masterpieces of art and literature are within 
 the reach of all; but the field of elegant manners, 
 kind words, and courteous ways still appears ex- 
 traordinarily rare, undeveloped, and ignored. 
 
 While Fairmena was resting in a cushioned, 
 shady corner of the large turret, Bimo was walk- 
 ing nervously to and fro, his mind wrapped in deep 
 thought. She knew that no one on the island had 
 knowledge enough to understand him. For she 
 realized that a man who devoted his whole life to 
 one subject naturally could not demand as much 
 sympathy as a more versatile one. She also knew 
 that sympathy is like light — it tries to go every- 
 where, whereas reason is brain work; but the com- 
 bination of the two make friendships which per- 
 
 * Being antiquated or condemned for old age, in spite of Army and 
 Navy regulations, is a matter of capacity and not a limit measured 
 by time. 
 
286 Geyserland 
 
 mit one to enjoy another's true feelings, and that 
 was what the dear old man needed. Gently inter- 
 rupting him she begged that he would tell her 
 about the peribole of that other sun. *' I may not 
 understand it, but it will ease your mind to para- 
 phrase your ideas in words," she said, in her frank, 
 ingenuous way. Bimo could have thanked her, 
 but an acceptance is more sincere than any expres- 
 sion of gratitude, so, with a smile, he granted her 
 request and explained his idea of the movement of 
 a distant celestial combination. The sincerity of 
 her attention was the superlative epitome of a 
 woman's unconscious charm. 
 
 Happiness is the guiding-star of mankind. The 
 ardent pleasures of youth are not necessarily pleas- 
 ures of life, for big, kind-hearted Bimo was happy 
 because his experience, wisdom, tact, and poetical 
 mystifications had enabled him to cause Fairmena 
 to forget her sorrow and loss. The heart recon- 
 ciles conditions that might otherwise be most 
 incongruous. 
 
 Hopes are the most interesting things of life. 
 As we have said, youth is egotistical, old age altru- 
 istic. When young people recognize that the doc- 
 trines enforced upon them in childhood are 
 founded on insufficient evidence, they lose faith in 
 even rational precepts. Fairmena's hopes cen- 
 tered in her prospective duty and Bimo's hopes 
 were for her happiness. Her confidence and re- 
 spect for him allowed her to reveal her naked mind 
 — she concealed no thought from him. Grace and 
 charm of manner are like balm, soothing the vexa- 
 tions of life. He understood her tears about Fasho 
 and knew the intense interest she took in the race 
 and her future contribution to the country. The 
 profoundness of his mind charmed her, and she 
 
At the Observatory 287 
 
 gave him sympathy in his mighty flights of thought. 
 Matters which will transpire later in this narra- 
 tive cannot be mentioned now. 
 
 Without warning, Elder Jab, accompanied by 
 Inspector Donis and the hump-back minstrel, Fru, 
 entered the interesting study. Addressing Bimo, 
 Jab said: 
 
 " We have just been to the Dissolution House 
 and have seen what man's relation to life on this 
 earth is. Now we come to you to find out man's 
 relation to space and the future." 
 
 " Or in one word," suggested Fru, " we have 
 come to ask you to tell us what you know about the 
 vast beyond, as there is nothing on this earth to 
 assure us that this is the end." 
 
 " Some people," remarked Donis, " cannot see 
 that which is obvious." 
 
 " It is evident that Fru does not see that which 
 should be obvious," laughed Bimo, for at this mo- 
 ment Fru tripped and came near falling into the 
 sacred arms of Fairmena, whose presence for the 
 first time was observed. Then the three arrivals 
 gravely saluted the matron elect, in accordance 
 with the custom of the land. 
 
 " Unfortunately, I am not a luminous plant," 
 said Fairmena, " and if I lack the power to illu- 
 minate this dark corner I am awfully alive to this 
 deathish discussion. If you will listen as I have 
 been listening, Bimo will, with his knowledge of 
 the universe and celestial machinery, make death 
 appear a very trivial occurrence. It seems to me 
 that our existence is as insignificant to him as 
 a flake of snow. The cosmos he knows about 
 is so vast and so endless that our minds cannot 
 grasp its eternity and our lives seem to last but a 
 second." 
 
288 Geyserland 
 
 The Geyserlanders, on the same line as Confu- 
 cius, believed that all contemplation upon occult 
 subjects was unhealthy. Faith in one or the other 
 of the two great systems of occult belief has influ- 
 enced ninety-nine out of every hundred of man- 
 kind, since we have had any mythical or historical 
 records. The older — the belief that sustained the 
 seers, oracles, magi or prophets; the more modern, 
 practically dating from historic times — the belief 
 in a future existence as a reward or punishment 
 for good conduct. All people are brave about some 
 matters, all people are cowards about some mat- 
 ters. A woman who will shriek at the sight of a 
 mouse will stand nine months' suspense without a 
 murmur, her life hanging by a thread. A man who 
 will face any physical danger has become hysteri- 
 cal because a witch has passed her " evil eye " upon 
 him. The vast majority are cowards about the in- 
 visible, and this condition is liable to continue until 
 education has made intellectual bravery as popular 
 as moral and physical now are. The world can 
 rest assured that the executive will be ever ready to 
 connive with those who spiritually guide the 
 masses. 
 
 Religions have been very useful for those who 
 govern despotically, for as Gibbon wrote, " The 
 various modes of worship which prevailed in the 
 Roman world were all considered by the people as 
 equally true, by the Philosopher as equally false, 
 and by the Magistrate as equally useful." " Go 
 preach to the coward, thou death-telling seer," 
 sang Campbell. Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, and 
 Europe have always had their believers in magic, 
 thaumaturgy, alchemy, necromancy, astrology, 
 and all the rest of the black arts; even the money- 
 
At the Observatory 289 
 
 loving Semitic people had their Moloch. The 
 land-grabbing, church-destroying agents of Henry 
 VIII all died in the church! Hard has been the 
 way of the honest doubter. He has ever been a 
 social outcast — " an ignoble person with no holy 
 imagination." 
 
 Good old Bimo had explained to Fairmena his 
 theory that the emotional feeling she had was a 
 part of the holy soul. There was but one soul, and 
 that, like oxygen, was to be found everywhere, and 
 as oxygen can penetrate some substances better than 
 others, so the Holy Soul permeates some people's 
 minds more than others. To a busy, ambitious 
 mind religion is but a trivial duty, an un-absorbing 
 thought; but to the poets, or people of lofty imag- 
 ination, whose minds are not enslaved by earthly 
 minded selfishness, an appreciation of the infinite 
 love of Nature is an ever-penetrating and domi- 
 nating force. In Geyserland, when the perfect 
 sleep of death came, that soul which one had ac- 
 quired was returned to the all-pervading Soul of 
 Nature. Bimo and his people had never had their 
 minds disturbed by stories of hideous sufferings in 
 a future world. Had any one ever advanced any 
 such terrible tales to agitate the fears of the weak- 
 nerved they would have been promptly suppressed 
 by the elders, as public nuisances; just as Marcus 
 Aurelius, in order to protect the happiness and 
 peace of mind of his subjects, endeavored to stop 
 the early Christians in the Roman Empire in the 
 teaching of their doctrines of future torture. 
 
 In Geyserland death was not a supernatural 
 process, but the end of an individual character or 
 life. Every life that has had a beginning must 
 have an end. Every corpse is the cradle of other 
 
290 Geyserland 
 
 lives. The millions of germinating cells in a corpse 
 may develop millions of other lives, but the body 
 as a unit is dead. The desire for a future existence 
 for one's self is father to this thought. Who would 
 not like to die and have a new set of cards dealt 
 him in this great game? 
 
 As regards the possibility of thought after death, 
 the profound Bimo would have been willing to 
 give comfort to Prince Hamlet, if that gentleman 
 had held his opinions ready for alteration. Ham- 
 let, when much worried, said: 
 
 " To die, to sleep ; 
 To sleep: perchance to dream; ay, there Is the rub; 
 For in that sleep of death what dreams may come 
 When we have shuffled off this mortal coil." 
 
 The expression of this idea of Shakespeare is one 
 of the few instances in his work where he suggests 
 an opinion on any dogmas of the church. Consid- 
 ering the great church controversies that were oc- 
 curring at his time, we can best account for his 
 silence, either by admitting his prudence or giving 
 him credit for the sagacity which Confucius pos- 
 sessed, whom we have already quoted as saying, 
 " It is not wise to dwell on spiritual things." Jul- 
 ius Caesar, who held the highest sacerdotal office, 
 became disinterested and silent when gods or reli- 
 gions were mentioned. 
 
 To make this point clear to Prince Hamlet, 
 Bimo would have said, in the language of to-day, 
 first, the mind is a material organ like the eye; sec- 
 ond, the eye is similar to a kodak or photograph 
 machine, each glance destroying a film, which 
 must be renewed by blood circulation before 
 another glance can materialize; third, with death 
 
At the Observatory 291 
 
 circulation stops, and therefore with death seeing 
 and thinking must stop. 
 
 Discrepancy in age is no bar to love, lust, or sym- 
 pathy. A failure in one's affectionate aspirations 
 in youth often leads one to seek a totally different 
 ideal. Mental affinity is absolutely necessary for 
 happy mating. Plato did not recognize that fact 
 in his republic. 
 
 The welfare of the state was the salient incentive 
 of the Roman, but the weal of the race was the fun- 
 damental motive of Fairmena's life, hence her in- 
 terviews with the unfortunate crippled Fasho 
 brought her bitter disappointment, almost a per- 
 sonal aversion. Query — Is constancy a subject 
 which we judge correctly? Why should it be 
 placed as the noblest of female virtues? Consid- 
 ering the present social relations, it is the woman's 
 wisest course. Constancy is a choice of the lesser 
 evil, an extreme alternative, in the same manner 
 that many ancients found it better to surrender and 
 be slaves than to be exterminated. Women cannot 
 permit themselves to be deserted, therefore, al- 
 though unnatural, the principle of constancy is 
 insisted upon by them. 
 
 Before we can dispel the suffering caused by in- 
 constancy, the final purport of constancy must be 
 ascertained. Wives have been acquired by force, 
 purchase, and coquetry. The latter is the only one 
 that harmonizes with our ideas of romantic love 
 and constancy. 
 
 We get a glimpse in Homer of constancy as ex- 
 emplified in the early marriage by force, where 
 Briseis, whose husband was killed by Achilles, was 
 fully consoled because Achilles took her to his own 
 bed; or by Helen, who eloped for ten years and 
 without a blush resumed her place as mistress of 
 
292 Geyserland 
 
 Menelaus's home. History is full of purchased 
 or slave wives constant from fear. 
 
 " Loving constancy " dates from the days of mu- 
 tual fascination, and so long as this fragile system 
 benefits church or state it will be upheld. We say 
 " fragile system " — is not the constancy of a man or 
 woman like the fidelity of a dog, a matter that must 
 be verified by experience, rather than promised 
 before being essayed? 
 
 An advanced state of culture can recognize this 
 sentiment only to the extent it does other fads and 
 fancies; that is, on the principle that personal lib- 
 erties must not be permitted if detrimental to the 
 happiness of the masses. We believe that innu- 
 merable cases of anguish of heart and mental suf- 
 fering will diminish in proportion as our heart 
 sympathies are transferred from the individual to 
 the race. 
 
 Fairmena's visits to Bimo became frequent. The 
 Council of Doctors thought well of this intimacy, 
 and she was notified of their approval by the Su- 
 preme Council, for in their sphere of usefulness 
 the matrons of Geyserland were free to select their 
 own companions. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 MATRONS' PARK 
 
 "The virtue of prosperity is temperance; and the virtue of adversity 
 is fortitude." — Bacon. 
 
 "There is no wealth but life; life including all its powers of love, of 
 joy, and of admiration." — RusKiN. 
 
 In all communities there are two parties. Those 
 who represent the most popular methods, and those 
 who protest against them. In this game of human- 
 ity which is to be the popular model? Will it be 
 the self-denying Stoic or the luxurious Epicurean? 
 The following conditions should determine. It is 
 easy to see that in times of war and disaster the 
 sterling qualities of the Stoic would be tempora- 
 rily the ideal ; but in times of peace and plenty it is 
 equally true that the Epicurean would be more in 
 harmony with the conditions. 
 
 The Stoics are stern, unbending, patriotic, and 
 brave; having themselves under perfect control 
 and discipline; with strong convictions, and for 
 these convictions they often care more than for 
 their own lives. The Epicureans are of a gentler, 
 less strenuous type, friendly and forgiving, tolerat- 
 ing others who differ from them, loving harmony, 
 peace, ease, and plenty. Their thoughts approve 
 of mirth, gallantry, and pleasure, but condemn un- 
 kind words, cruelties, or jealousies. 
 
 Briefly discriminated, the Stoic is brave in ad- 
 versity, while the Epicurean is happy in luxury. 
 A rough glance at the world and we see the luxu- 
 rious and industrious Carthaginians, Greeks, and 
 
 293 
 
294 Geyserland 
 
 Hindoos accumulate and hoard jewels, gold, and 
 surplus riches — and in direct contrast we see the 
 warlike Stoical races like the Romans, the Norse- 
 men, and the English take it away from them. 
 
 The Epicurean state is the outgrowth of the 
 Stoic state. The Stoic is the root, the branch, and 
 the leaf; the Epicurean is the flower and the fruit. 
 The Epicurean state marks the ripeness of the na- 
 tion, and when advanced if not safeguarded is cer- 
 tain to decay, for those people who look with the 
 greatest wisdom into the welfare of the community 
 will always make the most cultured races; but 
 there is always the peril that the unwary Stoic may 
 become a narrow-minded fanatic, or the unguarded 
 Epicurean may descend to the degenerate class. 
 Many a man from his own negligence or lack of 
 forethought has to practice self-denial, and natur- 
 ally welcomes the consoling philosophy of the 
 Stoic; but self-sacrifice symbolizes the noble and 
 true character. Such was Sir Philip Sidney, who 
 when dying on the battlefield gave a suffering sol- 
 dier his drink of water, saying, " Thy necessity is 
 greater than mine! " 
 
 Having no neighbors, the Geyserlanders' ambi- 
 tions and energies, after the prevention of waste, 
 were directed toward stopping anything like the 
 deterioration of the race. The Geyserlanders be- 
 lieved in enjoying life to the maximum. They ar- 
 gued that one happy life was better than two un- 
 happy ones, just as one beautiful rose is preferable 
 to two blighted ones. 
 
 They had a constant fear of becoming overripe 
 and degenerating, and as a principle insisted that 
 the Stoic, warlike element should be made to bal- 
 ance the Epicurean element of luxury. Each of 
 
Matrons' Park 295 
 
 the seven qualities was especially cultivated in ro- 
 tation and given a period of prominence. 
 
 Donis w^as calling Adam's attention to the attrac- 
 tions of the beautiful picturesque gardens surround- 
 ing the mansion of the matrons.* 
 
 The matrons, like every one else in Geyserland, 
 were obliged to cultivate the soil, one of their spe- 
 cial duties being the care and cultivation of the 
 flowers in Matrons' Park. As the Geyserlanders 
 believed in breeding from healthy people, physical 
 idleness among the matrons was not sanctioned. 
 The women who toil have ever been better mothers 
 than those who, like parasites, hang idly about 
 their luxurious homes. The brawn and muscle of 
 our best men always argue that their mothers were 
 not afraid to work and to till the soil if necessary. 
 The ancient Teuton gave his wife a yoke of oxen, 
 and received from her the equipments of war. 
 Our grandmothers, who were brought up without 
 corsets and believed it bad form to use the back of a 
 chair, were perhaps better mothers than the lan- 
 guid mother of to-day with her multi-cushioned 
 boudoir, rubber-tired carriage, elevators, and the 
 never-changing reheated air of the hot water and 
 steam appliances. 
 
 ******* 
 
 As Donis and Adam walked through the garden 
 they noticed the junior matron, Fairmena, indus- 
 trious with her hoe, and the gallant old sage, Bimo, 
 chaffing her inexperience. She good-naturedly re- 
 plied to his teasing: 
 
 * In the East, life in a garden seemed to be the ideal existence. The 
 word " Paradise," which was often used by the Jews for their Garden 
 of Eden, was taken from the Persian language, anc* originally meant 
 the elaborate park near the palace of the Achamenides. 
 
296 Geyserland 
 
 " Why do you laugh at me, since you approve 
 of the taskmasters' wisdom in requiring me to dig 
 up the naughty little weeds? I do not know them 
 from others." 
 
 " You will not know everything at once, dear 
 girl. Acquiring knowledge is like the old story of 
 civilization. When a landlord tried to rid him- 
 self of neighbors by buying their land, the result 
 was — more neighbors. Which are the naughty 
 little weeds is a question that has bothered the 
 wisest of our experts." 
 
 " Then," said Fairmena, " why not let them all 
 grow? " 
 
 " Because, my sweet little ignoramus," contin- 
 ued Bimo, " that is the salient problem of culture, 
 how to cultivate some growths and weed out others. 
 In floriculture, as in all methods of propagation, 
 it has been proven that a plant thrives in propor- 
 tion to the amount of nourishment it is able to ab- 
 sorb; therefore it is better to have one plant prop- 
 erly nourished than a number of partially nour- 
 ished ones. The weed is a plant of a smaller value 
 and must be sacrificed for the plant of greater 
 value." 
 
 The fact that this old man should like to explain 
 what he knew about advanced science to the young 
 matron-elect, and the fact that she should be inter- 
 ested in listening to his profound reasoning, was 
 not unnatural. 
 
 As Donis and Adam strolled along they heard 
 peals of laughter coming from the grove of white 
 birch on a knoll. As they drew nearer they found 
 a gay party lunching there, and they were invited 
 to join them. The gallant Roul, who was one of 
 the number, saw that they were served with pas- 
 
Matrons' Park 297 
 
 ties, cake, and wine, and all that the palate rel- 
 ished. This giant Epicurean, Roul, loved all 
 things that were attractive and beautiful. Besides, 
 he was master of that rare art — good manners. A 
 progenitor of the race, as opposed to the father of a 
 family of individuals, had a calm impartiality that 
 permitted his being polite to every one with a 
 tranquil sense of duty done. 
 
 Old Mother Var Voon, in spite of her age, — six 
 dozen years, — was sitting with the others on the 
 sod, laughing with the merriest of the throng. 
 This good woman had long since retired from her 
 duties of motherhood with the most excellent rec- 
 ord, and now performed the simple task of caring 
 for the flowers. She had no worries about this 
 world or a next, for the fear of a future punish- 
 ment never cast a shadow on the happiness of life 
 in Geyserland. She was true to her race, and like 
 the Epicureans, " considered all religious forms to 
 be a curse to mankind." She was care-free and gay, 
 neither handsome nor ugly, but one with whom all 
 loved to associate, because she was always bubbling 
 over with good spirits, easily elated, and never de- 
 pressed. She was neither uncivil nor particularly 
 sympathetic, but carried her own sunny tempera- 
 ment and made others partake of it. Everything 
 pleased her and she pleased every one. The wit- 
 loving, unambitious Roul particularly loved to 
 lounge in her genial society. After his tasks were 
 done he thought that all there was in life was to 
 eat, drink, and love, like our old Egyptian philos- 
 ophers. Metaphysics had few charms for Roul. 
 He made no effort to get a line around human 
 knowledge. Repose of mind and activity of body 
 were his delight. Roul did what was right and 
 was happy without the enthusiast's hope of future 
 
298 Geyserland 
 
 happiness, or the serene resignation of the fatal- 
 ist's belief in predestination. He had inherited 
 the qualities of temperament that suited life in 
 Geyserland. He was courteous, brave, talented, 
 willing, industrious, appreciative, and to a certain 
 extent sympathetic* 
 
 A man who never oversteps or makes a mistake 
 is not approaching the limit of his capabilities, for 
 he is like a man who has fifty per cent of strength 
 and uses only thirty. Roul did what he was told 
 to do, and always conducted himself with credit 
 on occasions of importance. He was content to 
 have some one else do all the thinking and plan- 
 ning. Like all Epicureans, he did not take deep 
 interest in public affairs; he had none of the patri- 
 otic earnestness of Sibis or Wewo, Fairmena or 
 Fasho; personally, he was always genial, he was 
 like that estimable type of man with us who shakes 
 off the dogmas of the church and refuses to be 
 ruled by any other dogmas. He approached the 
 happy ideal of altruistic, social love, an ideal very 
 popular at that time in Geyserland. 
 
 * No men ever fought better than the pipe-clayed, blond-wigged men 
 of Frederick the Great, and no men have ever braved intellectual prob- 
 lems and thought deeper than the puffed and powdered contemporaries 
 of Voltaire. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 woman's shackles, or possible liberty with us 
 
 "Accuse not Nature; she has done her part, do thou but thine." 
 
 — Milton. 
 
 " There is a long twilight between the time when a god is sus- 
 pected of being an idol, and his final overthrow." 
 
 — Tyndall. 
 
 " Find the right, and the law will take care of itself." 
 
 — Marshall. 
 
 " Some hae meat and canna eat, 
 And some wad eat that want it; 
 But we hae meat, and we can eat; 
 Sae let the Lord be thanket." 
 
 — Burns. 
 
 " If any man is able to convince me and show me that I do not think 
 or act right, I will gladly change; for I seek the truth by which no 
 man was ever injured. But he is injured who abides in his error and 
 ignorance." — Marcus Aurelius. 
 
 Adam's indignation at not being allowed to se- 
 lect the character of the work he had to perform 
 in Geyserland was equaled if not excelled by his 
 horror at the freedom from the ten thousand re- 
 straints that prevail in Christendom. He was 
 furious at missing a few of what he considered his 
 personal " rights," but he had not reached that 
 philosophical point of toleration which permitted 
 of " why not? " when he saw others enjoying what 
 would have sent him to the pillory at home. 
 
 The foundation of some characters is the prin- 
 ciple of accomplishing results, while that of others 
 is the principle of renunciation. General Booth 
 with his Salvation Army represents the former; 
 while the Trappist Monks well illustrate the latter. 
 
 As we believe that the triumph of a woman's 
 career is to leave the world better for having been 
 
 299 
 
300 Geyserland 
 
 here, this chapter is devoted to possibilities with 
 that end in view. We claim our right to disagree 
 with the marriage laws of to-day. We consider 
 them in our present conditions quite as out of place 
 and uncalled for as the antiquated ordeals and divi- 
 nations of the fourteenth century. Marriage laws 
 were formerly necessary and beneficial in the rural 
 districts where the work was equally divided be- 
 tween man and wife, the former cultivating and 
 planting, the latter spinning and knitting in a se- 
 renely happy partnership. But the time has now 
 come when these laws should be modified to con- 
 form with modern conditions, popular education, 
 rapid transportation, swift communication of ideas, 
 and the new position of woman with her personal 
 responsibility, independence of action, security of 
 person assured by her private fortune, and the pro- 
 tection of her legal rights. Liberty is the tuning- 
 fork of progressive culture. Despotism desires 
 matters fixed. Marriage is a relic of despotism. 
 " To marry and settle down " is the slogan of civil- 
 ization. More freedom and the abolition of every 
 useless shackle is the watchword for expanding 
 humanity. 
 
 The conscience of this world is fast drifting 
 toward the opinion that it should not be bound by 
 so many antiquated laws and customs. Herbert 
 Spencer said that so long as women continued to 
 be stolen or bought, their individualities were ig- 
 nored. Theories dogmatically delivered should be 
 questioned. We must meet each theory as a chal- 
 lenge to our intellect, and we must trace each the- 
 ory pertaining to our actions until we find a satis- 
 factory cause for its existence. Thinking is like 
 bathing — the vast majority never go beyond their 
 
Woman's Shackles 301 
 
 depth; others will strike out into deep water with 
 confidence, and have pity mixed with contempt 
 for the wading masses. With the dawning of a 
 new truth one feels the mastery of power. Haw- 
 thorne wrote, " A female reformer in the attacks 
 upon society has an instinctive sense of where the 
 life lies, and is inclined to aim directly at the spot; 
 especially the relation between the sexes is natu- 
 rally among the earliest to attract her notice." Why 
 should our attempts at right living under modern 
 conditions be thwarted by theories that we have 
 outgrown? We can be free and live in a state of 
 culture far beyond the present circumscribed lim- 
 its. Why not? Everything is right in its right 
 place. John Hampden defied the law, so did the 
 Boston Tea Party. Let us accept nothing as illegal 
 until it is proven to us that a wrong has been com- 
 mitted. There are religious laws, and laws of the 
 land; but the supreme law is the law of Nature, 
 greater than a bull of the Pope or a decree of any 
 despot. Morality is no longer a matter of custom 
 nor of legislation, but of common sense and expe- 
 diency. The satisfaction of our wants is Nature's 
 will. The greatest misfortune of our age is the 
 unborn desired quality of children which our pres- 
 ent conditions deny. 
 
 Hermania Barton, in Grant Allen's " The 
 Woman Who Did," was a typical Geyserlander. 
 The recital of her life was only the sad story of 
 unappreciative associates and cantankerous envi- 
 ronments. " We get freedom by seeking truth." 
 But it is equally true that we cannot live harmo- 
 niously with those who radically disagree with us. 
 Hermania's being left destitute was a criminal lack 
 of forethought. 
 
302 Geyserland 
 
 Until a sufficient degree of intelligence has been 
 achieved by a people, many natural functions must 
 be controlled by law, because the world-wide de- 
 moralizing weaknesses of mimicry, vanity, and 
 hypocrisy cannot be controlled by the average in- 
 telligence. The advantage reason has over impulse 
 is that it can adapt itself to conditions. A period 
 of culture will come when many women will not 
 be dependent on any individual; when they will 
 be entirely free, and will assume their proper place 
 in the community. Since emerging from a savage 
 degree of culture, woman has been necessary to 
 man, but man has not always been necessary to 
 woman. Before the dawn of history marriage 
 was evolved, and it was at that time that the 
 most awful tragedies of married life occurred. 
 Spencer says, " We cannot avoid thinking that 
 millions of women were stoned to death to 
 produce the proper conjugal fidelity." Wester- 
 marck . says, " The history of marriage is the 
 history of a relation in which women have 
 been gradually triumphing over the passions, the 
 prejudices, and the selfish interests of men." From 
 those early days women have nurtured their in- 
 stinctive right of freedom, and such women as have 
 rebelled have done nothing more than claim their 
 just privileges. What did such women as Queen 
 Elizabeth, George Sands, George Eliot, Mile. 
 Mars, or Mile. Rachel care for a man's protec- 
 tion? Every true woman will put the laws of Na- 
 ture above the laws of the church or state. A rig- 
 idly established religion or government is gener- 
 ally an impediment to progress; they may both be 
 improvements on past conditions, but the strict 
 laws that are intended to prevent retrogression also 
 prevent progression. The noted saying of Confu- 
 
Woman's Shackles 303 
 
 cius, " Walk in the trodden paths," — the Golden 
 Rule of China, — has kept that country from pro- 
 gressing for twenty-three centuries. It is only by 
 alternating between theories and experiments that 
 progress is made, and the last fifty revolutionary 
 years of experience have proved that marriage is 
 four times out of five unsatisfactory, and with the 
 conditions of to-day could be dispensed with. The 
 right to experiment should be as free as possible, 
 for experimenting is the first outgrowth of original 
 thought. 
 
 All laws should be elastic, for, as Bagehot says, 
 " Progress is only possible in those cases where the 
 force of law has gone far enough to bind the na- 
 tion together, but not to kill all varieties and de- 
 stroy Nature's perpetual tendency to change." 
 
 Adultery is a crime, not a vice, and is synony- 
 mous with stealing. Stealing is mean, and that 
 which is mean no noble person will do; yet with 
 our apologies to the fair criminals, the typical, re- 
 putedly correct, and popular young woman of 
 to-day delights more in taking away another's 
 beau, even the last hope of an " old girl," than in 
 any other pleasure of the ballroom. It is a deplora- 
 ble feature of human vanity that the thieving adul- 
 terer has always been a braggart. 
 
 The whole scheme of marriage and family, with 
 its tagging, numbering, and grouping in order to 
 make us easy to govern, is also for the perpetuation 
 of the family name and the inheritance of accumu- 
 lations. Certainly romantic love is not improved 
 by these restricting measures, and they who submit 
 are on the road to degeneracy. 
 
 There is an element of self-humiliation that ac- 
 companies the act of a woman first submitting to a 
 
304 Geyserland 
 
 man's love. Both men and women know this by 
 intuition, not by reason. When the full signifi- 
 cance of this element of humiliation is realized it 
 is probable that women will assert their rights 
 and claim their womanhood. The verve of many 
 a courtship is a desire to " get even " with a 
 haughty woman, and indifference promptly fol- 
 lows marriage. 
 
 The love of the mother is a sacred love, but the 
 love that many a man has for a child is but a vain 
 demonstration inspired by the thought of a by-gone 
 victory — just as a woman proudly wears her dia- 
 mond tiara as a token of her lover's love. 
 
 A sad reflection on marriage is that courtships 
 are made and harmonize with a locality, while 
 married life is pursued among other surroundings. 
 Men and women who love each other in the ball- 
 room may have few if any interests about the fire- 
 side. The cabinet maker knows that the perfection 
 of joining is where glue is added to the well-fitted 
 tenon and mortise. This glued dovetailing is con- 
 sidered a permanent fastening; therefore, no mas- 
 ter craftsman adds the glue until he is certain that 
 he wishes immutability. Such work is first tested. 
 The marriage service is the glue which makes the 
 partnership of man and woman permanent. Why 
 should not the priest as well as the skilled crafts- 
 man be assured of his own right doing? 
 
 Among people of w^ealth who are free from the 
 conventional proprieties, what does marriage add 
 to the betrothal? Was there ever a couple united 
 by betrothal who could not have lived just as hap- 
 pily without the marriage ceremony or any further 
 oaths and vows? Is not marriage a traditional 
 fetter where no fetter is needed? Does a woman 
 
Woman's Shackles *' 305 
 
 want to live with a man whom she does not love? 
 Should not the first realization of contempt mean 
 separation? Why is it necessary to take the mar- 
 riage vows? Is every one afraid of back-sliding 
 on the morrow? Why do our marriage laws in- 
 sist that we pledge a future which we cannot fore- 
 see? A man or woman can promise and contract 
 to perform certain duties, but nobody but a fool 
 will promise to have at a future date certain 
 opinions or emotions. 
 
 Constancy is so rare that it should be classed 
 with other hallucinations of the mind. Life-long 
 sympathies are unnatural. The interests of youth 
 are not the interests of old age, and unless people 
 have abnormal affinities new interests will arise 
 that will make new friends more desirable than 
 the simple conditions of one's youth. Take for 
 example David, who was in a position to lead the 
 life he desired to live. Each of his four wives 
 sympathized with different periods of his life. 
 Unfortunately, the best weapon the church ever 
 had to curtail the liberty of women has been 
 women themselves, who too willingly yield to 
 mental outrage by the priests before the puberty 
 of their reason. Why can't women throw off all 
 falsehoods and garments of make-belief? If our 
 women lead useless lives, the fault is assuredly not 
 in their lack of capacity to lead useful ones — it is 
 the bugaboo of reputation and vogue.* 
 
 When is a woman happy? We can give no 
 better answer to this query than to quote a woman's 
 
 * Letourneau concludes his "Evolution of Marriage," page 357, thus: 
 " It is in the sense of an ever-increasing individual liberty, between 
 men and women, that the conjugal relations have at first been nearly 
 everywhere from masters to slaves; then marital despotism may be 
 traced during a long historic period ; the power of the father of the 
 family, which at first had no limit, at length became curbed ; the per- 
 sonality of the woman was more and more accentuated and the rigid 
 
3o6 
 
 Geyserland 
 
 opinion in the Oneida Community mentioned by 
 Hinds. 
 
 " Communism gives woman, without a claim from her, the 
 place which every true woman most desires, as the free and 
 honored companion of man. Communism emancipates her from 
 the slavery and corroding cares of a mere wife and mother; 
 stimulates her to seek the improvement of mind and heart that 
 will make her worthy of a higher place than ordinary society 
 can give her. Freed from forced maternity, a true and noble 
 desire for children grows in her heart. Here no woman's hand 
 is red with the blood of the innocents, as is whispered so often 
 of many of her sisters in bondage. Gradually, as by natural 
 growth, the Community women have risen to a position where, 
 in labor, in mind and in heart, they have all and more than all 
 that is claimed by the women who are so loudly asserting their 
 rights." 
 
 Or, better still, take the words of John Hum- 
 phrey Noyes, of Oneida Community, " History of 
 American Socialisms," page 628: 
 
 " The law of marrige is the same kind with the Jewish law 
 concerning meats and drinks and holy days, * * * ^\\ 
 experience testifies (the theory of the novels to the contrary 
 notwithstanding), that sexual love is not naturally restricted to 
 pairs. Second marriages are contrary to the one-love theory, 
 and yet are often the happiest marriages. Men and women find 
 universally (however the fact may be concealed), that their 
 susceptibility to love is not burnt out by one honeymoon, or 
 satisfied by one lover. On the contrar}\ the secret history of 
 the human heart will bear out the assertion that it is capable of 
 loving any number of times and any number of persons, and that 
 the more it loves the more it can love. This is the law of nature, 
 thrust out of sight and condemned by common consent, and yet 
 secretly known to all. 
 
 " The law of marriage ' worketh wrath.' i. It provokes to 
 
 marriages of the first centuries of the republic were replaced under the 
 empire by a sort of free union. Doubtless this movement necessarily 
 retrograded under the influence of Christianity, but as it always happens 
 in the logic of things, it has nevertheless resumed its course; it will 
 become more and more evident and will surely pass the point at which 
 it stopped in Imperial Rome." 
 
Woman's Shackles 307 
 
 secret adultery, actual or of the heart. 2. It ties together un- 
 matched natures. 3. It sunders matched natures. 4. It gives to 
 sexual appetite only a scanty and monotonous allowance. 5. It 
 makes no provision for the sexual appetite at the very time when 
 that appetite is the strongest. By the custom of the world, mar- 
 riage, in the average of cases, takes place at about the age of 
 twenty-four ; whereas puberty commences at the age of fourteen. 
 For ten years, therefore, and that in the very flush of life, the 
 sexual appetite is starved. This law of society bears hardest on 
 females, because they have less opportunity of choosing their 
 time of marriage than men. This discrepancy between the mar- 
 riage system and nature is one of the principal sources of the 
 peculiar diseases of women." 
 
 Liberty of choice was imperatively insisted upon 
 in Geyserland as the sacred right of the matron. 
 The women of America should not be allowed by 
 the government to bear children unless they have 
 a surgeon's license for themselves and for their 
 mates; but those who do bear children should be 
 ten times more respected and better cared for. It 
 makes no difference what her station is, it is a 
 happy privilege for any girl to have a healthy 
 father for her child, besides being an advantage to 
 the community in which the child is born. The 
 vanity of an unhealthy woman who desires to 
 breed is as vicious as the vanity of an uneducated 
 teacher who wants to expound the unknown. 
 
 Dr. Henry Campbell said, "Theft and murder 
 are considered the blackest of crimes, but neither 
 the law nor the church has realized that worse 
 than theft, and well-nigh as bad as murder, is the 
 bringing into the world individuals full of dis- 
 eased tendencies through disregard of parental 
 fitness." Quality, not quantity, in children is 
 what we need; we must by law check the pro- 
 creation of diseased bodies and base types of fear- 
 
3o8 Geyserland 
 
 driven, cowardly minds. The parents of weak- 
 lings are criminals, shame upon them. Inno- 
 cence, ignorance, or amative fascination are no 
 excuse. The community is insulted and outraged 
 when weaklings are born. 
 
 In the pastoral agricultural days children were 
 a source of power to their parents. Westermarck 
 speaks of an African king who could muster two 
 thousand warriors among his progeny. In so- 
 ciety, however, children are expensive luxuries 
 and are seldom wanted. 
 
 It makes little difference whether people belong 
 to the highest or the lowest intellectual caste, in 
 giving unqualified and unlimited vows of mental 
 sympathy and love, they are unquestionably crazed. 
 The responsibility of caring for the offspring has 
 prevented many a noble love-child. Why cannot 
 the republic see that the children are the republic, 
 that everybody has a right to love all children — 
 the blossoms of their race. The good resulting 
 to the women themselves, no less than to the na- 
 tion, from proper child-bearing is being generally 
 recognized as indisputable, and has became a fre- 
 quent topic of discourse at the more advanced 
 women's clubs and organizations, which, not- 
 withstanding the criticisms upon them, are doing 
 much to broaden the lives of the women of the 
 present time. 
 
 When Mrs. Francis M. Norton advocated a law 
 which would grant every mother a pension for 
 every child born, she was applauded. " This," 
 said she, " will stop commercial marriages, and 
 marriages will be for love. When a woman is 
 independent she will not marry for a home. A 
 pension for child-bearing would make her inde- 
 pendent in every way." 
 
Woman's Shackles 309 
 
 The medical profession are well aware that a 
 woman possessed of the real mother instinct who 
 has not had it gratified by having a child is as 
 aged in appearance at twenty-five as the woman 
 of thirty-five who has borne one. Procreation is 
 the first and dominant thought of perfect woman, 
 but it is a mere detail among the thoughts of men! 
 We have gotten beyond the prejudices of the fif- 
 teenth century when no illegitimate man could 
 become a burgess. 
 
 Money has ever been woman's greatest friend. 
 Only when independent can a woman dictate the 
 conditions for herself and her offspring; but so- 
 ciety by its recognition can dictate the exact 
 manners, ways, habits, and customs it desires. 
 Unfortunately, society's voice is not the voice 
 of Nature. It is generally biased by the acci- 
 dental environments of both traditions and 
 customs. 
 
 In many ways women are " unconscious authors 
 of their own misery." Inexperienced, unwise, 
 innocent beings make irrevocable contracts, vows 
 and promises; then, slave-like, they hug their 
 chains and hate those who do not make the same 
 sacrifices. Fettered people abhor those who are 
 not fettered. We have never heard a free woman 
 speak ill of a married woman, nor did we ever 
 hear a married woman speak well of a free woman. 
 Was there ever a more absurd monopoly than that 
 of married women, who, if any others dare to have 
 children, get indignant, flurried, wild and hys- 
 terical. Yet, unfortunately, like all monopolies, 
 it has the support of the law. 
 
 The quality of bravery is more generally asso- 
 ciated with man than with woman. We object to 
 
3IO GeyserlanD 
 
 this distinction. Men are muscularly stronger, 
 women are braver. Spencer wrote, " Chronic ill- 
 usage produces physical inferiority and physical 
 inferiority tends to exclude those feelings which 
 might check ill-usage." The typical woman is full 
 of nerve. Among the early Christian martyrs 
 more women than men died for their faith, and 
 no nobler type appeared during the French Revo- 
 lution than Madame Roland, whose last words 
 before being guillotined will live forever: "O 
 Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name! " 
 When a woman has convictions she fears nothing. 
 Women can be killed, but are never conquered. 
 Marriage laws have made the world a prison for 
 women, and the first thought of every prisoner is 
 how to escape. 
 
 A liberal-minded woman is denied entrance into 
 our modern society, for the same reasons that quali- 
 fied her entrance into society in Athens. Thus 
 that dread specter, custom, — the fear of being 
 ridiculous, of being shunned, — has made cowards 
 of millions of innocent, unsophisticated women. 
 The right of woman is to permit her faculties 
 a healthy development without restraint, unless 
 economic conditions forbid. However, it must 
 be kept in mind that in every condition in life a 
 woman must either be personally responsible for 
 her actions or else be chaperoned and sequestered. 
 There is no middle course. 
 
 A boy's education has generally been directed 
 toward being useful in the sphere of life he is 
 likely to occupy; but a girl's training has not de- 
 veloped with the different succeeding forms and 
 conditions. This lack of woman's training has 
 permitted a modern type of man to evolve a gam- 
 bling, plunging, dishonorable spendthrift, the idol 
 
Woman's Shackles 311 
 
 of the " sporty " world. This contemptible type is 
 fast becoming so popular that wives and daughters 
 in polite society are no longer safe from his de- 
 grading influences. 
 
 Men have by their labor-saving inventions and 
 factories destroyed many of the old occupations 
 of women, such as spinning, knitting, and the 
 making of garments, and for the lack of suitable 
 vocations every mechanic's daughter is brought up 
 to be able to amalgamate with the society of idle 
 bondholders. If parents will not, the state must 
 insist, that all children shall be reared not only 
 to be independent of their parents, but also to be 
 of benefit to the state. 
 
 People who want to be good and make no effort 
 to be intelligent are more dangerous than those 
 who are intelligent with no desire to be good. The 
 churchman of the time of Galileo thought it was 
 impious to look through the telescope, for fear of 
 being convinced of the truth of Galileo's state- 
 ments. Many of our young unmarried women are 
 from limited education the unhappy victims of 
 antiquated creeds and customs. They are like 
 Catholics, whose prayers do not represent their 
 thoughts but their memories. Fettered by re- 
 ligious cobwebs, they are compelled or coerced to 
 believe many things that are absurd to any one 
 of enlightenment; they fail to trace the multiplied 
 evils consequent upon old-fashioned methods, and 
 instead of devoting their lives to the common weal, 
 they become interested in church organizations, 
 and often they attach themselves to institutions the 
 very existence of which means a continuance of the 
 customs or usages that caused the narrow, limited 
 existence they themselves are doomed to live. 
 
3 1 2 Geyserland 
 
 In Geyserland to be born a woman did not mean 
 to be born an inferior. There they recognized that 
 the initiative and imaginative faculties of a man ex- 
 celled those of a woman ; they also recognized the 
 superiority of a woman's choice; in fact, they went 
 so far as to assume that a superior thought could 
 only be perfected by the collaboration of the male 
 and female minds. The monopolizing of any one 
 woman's mind by one man would appear to them 
 grotesque and incomprehensible. 
 
 It is a mistaken idea that children are equally 
 the offspring of the father and mother.* 
 
 The theory that prevailed for centuries in India, 
 that an infant was entirely the creation of the father 
 and that the mother was a mere incubator, did not 
 prevail in Geyserland. The children belonged to 
 the community, and the matrons were considered 
 the chief creators and guardians of the race. The 
 martyrdom of a mother is, without exception, the 
 triumph of heroic, voluntary suffering. 
 
 It is not natural for a woman to love an inferior. 
 A man is less delicate. In the crossing of races 
 the mother invariably belongs to the inferior race. 
 Only because of our abominable social and mar- 
 riage laws are our healthy young spinsters in so- 
 ciety coerced to make so-called desirable alliances 
 with men who are not physically, mentally, nor 
 morally their peers. The time has come when a 
 woman should enjoy the freedom that modern con- 
 ditions have made possible for her. We do not 
 agree with Mr. Ruskin, " that through the poor 
 outcasts and the despicable, can society be recon- 
 structed," because the aristocratic social hero is 
 
 * Sir John Lubbock wrote, " Children were not in the earliest time 
 regarded as related equally to both father and mother; but the natural 
 progress of ideas is: ist, that the child is related to the tribe generally; 
 2d, to his mother; lastly, and lastly only, that he is related to both." 
 
Woman's Shackles 313 
 
 indisputably the model for the masses. The well- 
 being of humanity is above all social or church 
 laws. Mimicry is a relic of the ancient ape, but 
 unfortunately independence of thought is not en- 
 courage in our large schools. Our academies are 
 only record halls for methods and ideas of past 
 times, guarded by a jealousy which " pooh-poohs " 
 innovations. 
 
 Briefly we will finish this chapter. The same 
 principle that justifies a government in permitting 
 a banker with sufficient capital and good name to 
 transact the banking business, should likewise li- 
 cense a healthy spinster to bear children if she 
 hypothecates or pledges such trust securities as 
 will guarantee the healthy support of herself and 
 her children. By this modification of the law no 
 wrong would be done the community, the woman, 
 or the child. 
 
 And, furthermore, we believe that with the 
 present love of liberty, the growing tendency to- 
 ward race suicide, and the general discontent with 
 social conditions, many of our independent women 
 would defy social ostracism and accept such a pro- 
 jected amelioration of their conditions rather than 
 marry abroad or risk a permanent alliance at home. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 MAPLE SHADE NOOK 
 
 " Quiet, to quick spirits is hell." — Milton. 
 
 Love of nature is a privilege, not a penance. 
 
 " A word too much, or a kiss too long. 
 And the world is never the same." 
 
 To Adam's sorrow, matters were so well sys- 
 tematized in the Geyserland commune that the 
 necessary work expected from each individual was 
 small, and he found that unless he became inter- 
 ested in some of the local pastimes his only resource 
 would be vain castle-building, or worrying about 
 himself. Adam was not morose, but completely 
 out of sympathy with his surroundings. The 
 Seven Temples did not interest him, he was home- 
 sick, and his hours of lesiure bored him. He did 
 not know what to do next, and would not have done 
 it if he had. 
 
 If the world would only recognize that happiness 
 dates from our nativity, and depends upon our 
 temperament and not wholly upon our education 
 or surroundings, how much more careful would 
 they be who permit us to be born. 
 
 There was no good reason why Adam should not 
 enjoy life, but he was constantly wandering alone 
 and absenting himself from the sports and games, 
 thinking of his sweet Polly Natson. He here per- 
 sonified an unenviable type of Christendom which 
 magnified the importance of constancy and ignored 
 the rationalism of there being two sides to every 
 
 314 
 
Maple Shade Nook 315 
 
 question — even constancy and love. He had, vs^ith 
 questionable wisdom, irrevocably decided whom 
 he wished to love, and seemed to enjoy being very 
 miserable about it. His constancy was so abnor- 
 mal that he spurned the idea of being comforted. 
 A happy man owes his companionship to his 
 friends of society, but the duty of one who is down- 
 hearted is to keep himself in the background. 
 When a man is in luck he feels convivial, light- 
 hearted, and gay; but few care about social fun 
 when things are going wrong. 
 
 During the spring, that season of the year when 
 the sun did not set in Geyserland, Adam's habits 
 became confused, like a blind man's idea of time. 
 The mellow chimes of the watch-tower were the 
 only gauge he had to measure the day. He seldom 
 slept in his bower, but strolled alone to investigate 
 the different odd sights, as independent of night as 
 a cat. Adam felt, but did not know, that the only 
 pure love is the love of Nature, and Nature never 
 turns a deaf ear to those who love it. He was not 
 a follower of the ignoble Saint Philip Neri, who 
 said: "The love mortals show for animals is the 
 love stolen from God." On the contrary, like most 
 Englishmen, he had a keen appreciation of animal 
 nature. If the necessity of money-making forces 
 an Englishman to city life and manufacturing 
 centers, he revels in the anticipation of his coun- 
 try outings on Bank holidays. He enjoys every 
 moment of his time of bucolic freedom, and, un- 
 fortunately for his acquaintances, never tires of 
 talking of how to breed rabbits or how to cultivate 
 the scent of hounds. 
 
 As the possibility of any new animals was ex- 
 tremely improbable in Geyserland, the authorities 
 
3i6 Geyserland 
 
 took every precaution to prevent the powerful from 
 exterminating the weaker ones. Hence it was nec- 
 essary for those to whom the duty was allotted to 
 sequester in protected inclosures many of the 
 weaker animals. This phase of Geyserland proba- 
 bly interested Adam more than any other, and his 
 wanderings often led him to places where the 
 animals were kept. 
 
 One spring evening he strolled to an inlet of the 
 outer sea to see a seal pond where these gentle and 
 intelligent animals were cared for in the same man- 
 ner as poultry or sheep are with us. They fur- 
 nished to the inhabitants of Geyserland almost as 
 great a variety of useful articles as the sagacious 
 pork-packers make the hog contribute in Chicago. 
 
 The treatment of seals so reminded him of the 
 care of the hens and chickens at home — Adam was 
 a man whom animals love — that as he wandered 
 back to the great geyser lake, his mind returned to 
 his dear old Stone Hall and his barn-yard fowls. 
 He was glad to find one of the comfortable benches 
 in the secluded shade of some maple trees. Hav- 
 ing no beasts of burden, there were few roads in 
 Geyserland, but there were beautiful malls, shady 
 paths, picturesque alleys, and secluded walks for 
 use and beauty. Rocks hewn into artistic shapes 
 and rustic benches were found liberally scattered 
 near these avenues, making cosy, comfortable, and 
 possibly romantic places. There he could rest and 
 meditate, while the birds sang around him, and, 
 with these misty, delightful cogitations he soon 
 fell asleep. The weird midnight of the Arctic, like 
 the silent noontide of the Tropics, beckons rest 
 and emotional dreams of peace. 
 
 When studying people, or an individual, it is 
 
Maple Shade Nook 317 
 
 far more interesting to note what they are doing 
 for amusement, than what they are doing from 
 necessity. Those who ofifer as compensation for 
 merit in this world, a career of idleness in a future 
 world, seem to have selected a fascinating bait. 
 Unfortunately, credulity is not confined to the 
 lower order of intellect. Bunco-steerers do not 
 look upon hayseeds as their only prey. All men 
 are gullible at times. Frederick the Great could 
 only account for the history of Europe by believ- 
 ing that the whole world had been crazy for twelve 
 hundred years. What is this future world? Write 
 out for yourself a scheme of happiness. We never 
 knew of a Jew or Gentile who would be happy in 
 heaven as it is described, " doing nothing," or 
 who would be satisfied with a diet of " milk and 
 honey." Sensible ambitions seldom aim at indo- 
 lence. One can not classify pleasure until one has 
 had a superfluous amount; for example, a child 
 cannot properly place ice-cream or caramels in his 
 scheme of life until he has had an abundance of 
 each. This church ideal of happiness is one that 
 savors of the life of a Polythenian chief, whose dig- 
 nity even demanded that he be fed by his wives 
 and slaves, lest he should lose prestige, or of James 
 II., whose servant held the cards when he played 
 whist. — Congenial occupation is happiness. 
 
 The efforts to legislate about the occupations of 
 leisure have produced absurd laws and restrictions 
 in every land. In Geyserland leisure hours were 
 occupied by the gratifications of the seven qualities. 
 Each sense had its temple, as described in the 
 fourth chapter. It was recognized that " busy " 
 happiness and mirth were the proper embellish- 
 ments of life, and the elixir for all. All animals 
 play. Nature loves play. What are the pretty 
 
3i8 Geyserland 
 
 flowers? What is the rainbow? What are the 
 singing birds? What is the glorious sunset? 
 Nature's play. 
 
 The flesh-mortifying precepts of the church had 
 borne fruits. Adam wanted mental excitement for 
 his moments of leisure. Hopes and perspectives 
 were necessary. Why should people who have 
 always had what they want, be selfish? It must 
 be imagination or the fear of wanting in the future. 
 Why should a person who has never known hun- 
 ger, fear it? Forethought must be the child of 
 experience and imagination. 
 
 Adam did not abandon himself to mirth, for he 
 wanted to be serious. It was not lack of enterprise, 
 for he had visited each temple, and had tried to 
 enjoy each sense; but he did not come from a sen- 
 suous ancestry. His pre-natal right to seven senses 
 had not been recognized. The average pickaninny 
 is born with a richer sensual nature, and is more 
 capable of enjoying the physical blessings of the 
 world, than the average denizen of Christendom, 
 certainly as regards the senses of taste, music, and 
 beauty. Why should any one's capacities for being 
 charmed be unnecessarily limited? What scheme 
 of righteousness is this that, if it does not encour- 
 age, at least does not condemn the morbid seeking 
 of recreation at doleful funerals rather than danc- 
 ing on the village green? 
 
 Happiness and contentment are curious studies. 
 The negro slaves seem happy, the busy Chinese are 
 unhappy, the English or Scotch do not seem gay. 
 The French and Japanese love life, ambition, and 
 fun. Hopes and prospects make thinking people 
 gay, no matter how trivial the hopes and prospects 
 are. The state of sadness seems a dormant condi- 
 
Maple Shade Nook 319 
 
 tion of interests. The butterfly was a grub, and 
 with an awakening of interests we can all be 
 cheerful. 
 
 Adam was awakened with a start, and found 
 Evrona sitting beside him, chuckling with laugh- 
 ter, and with a suspicious tickling little switch in 
 her hand. 
 
 He straightened himself, and half opening his 
 eyes detected deviltry in hers. 
 
 " What are you going to do next? " said she. 
 
 " I am not going to thank you for bringing me 
 back a thousand leagues from my dear home." 
 
 " Look again, and polish up your gallantry," 
 said she, as a soft caressing force emanated from 
 her face. " Do men win women in your country by 
 staring at them? Have you no pleasant word to 
 say? How do you win pretty girls at home? " 
 
 The smile that crept slowly over Adam's face 
 was a comedy without words for the accomplished 
 flirt Evrona. 
 
 The blood in his veins was not ichor. After rea- 
 son and emotion, touch is the first of the qualities, 
 and is the embodiment of health. The close prox- 
 imity of such a pretty girl made him forget his 
 loneliness, and his cold, stolid indifference thawed. 
 
 " I shall be glad that you did awaken me," said 
 he, " if you will tell me how pretty girls are won 
 in any country." 
 
 " They are won best by him who uses no art in 
 the winning." 
 
 "Then, by George! verily, I might succeed, as 
 I have no art." 
 
 "Then doubtless you have had countless suc- 
 cesses, and as the stars might tell, but they won't, 
 you tell me," she said, putting her fair arm on 
 
320 Geyserland 
 
 Adam's shoulder and nestling into a listening 
 position. 
 
 This familiarity and friendliness in her face 
 would have tempted Adam to comply with her 
 wishes, for in his past Kentish days he had been 
 guilty of telling some stalwart yarns in the tap- 
 rooms at Tenderton. But his limited vocabulary 
 and the danger of the subject made him hesitate 
 and blush before inventing a few lines of his own 
 " good adventures." This was all great fun for 
 Evrona, whose merriment grew as Adam's em- 
 barrassment increased. She sat closer to him, and, 
 placing his arm around her neck, said: 
 
 " Why this scrupulosity? Don't be afraid. I'm 
 not a wasp nor a hornet, but a butterfly, who wants 
 to be amused. Tell me all about your queer home. 
 Do you think I would like it there? " 
 
 "You make me happy here," said Adam, ter- 
 minating the long silence. 
 
 '' At last," she said, " my little boy can speak. 
 Now what difference does it make whether I am 
 happy at your home, or you are happy at mine, so 
 that we can laugh together? " 
 
 Women are always alert on the social frontier, 
 and are always ready to flirt with new ideas or 
 strangers, in contrast to men, who have but little 
 use for strangers, and want things their own way. 
 
 Evrona plied Adam with a thousand questions, 
 which, at first, he answered in monosyllables; but, 
 finally regaining his composure, he conversed 
 freely, until the watch-bells around the island sum- 
 moned him to work again. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 FRU — HEROES — THE COMMON — OLD-TIME 
 FESTIVAL — THE NEW YEAR 
 
 " The least homely sister is the beauty of the family." 
 
 " The least incapable general of a nation is its Caesar." 
 
 — G. Bernard Shaw. 
 
 The Utility of Captain Webb swimming the 
 English Channel is that it has given hope to many a 
 heart-sinking, shipwrecked sailor far from shore. 
 
 It would be difficult to imagine a more charm- 
 ing scene than that presented by a portion of the 
 common on the shore of the lake at the time of an 
 out-door festival. Throngs of grown people and 
 children, in their picturesque but rather scanty 
 costumes, were gathered in groups, walking or 
 lounging on the green, velvety turf. The shrubs 
 and clusters of trees basked in the glory of the Sep- 
 tember sun. White marble statues adorned ap- 
 propriate places. 
 
 Among the numerous gala days of Geyserland 
 there was twice a year an " old-time festival," on 
 which occasions the students reproduced the suc- 
 cesses of former times. They dropped to-day to 
 play yesterday. They imitated the old methods of 
 spinning and weaving, butchering and cooking. 
 They sang the songs and danced the dances of the 
 old barbaric and civilized days, interspersed with 
 stories and legends of the past. This was the 
 radical's tribute to the conservative element. 
 
 If it were not for legends and tales associated 
 
 321 
 
322 Geyserland 
 
 with different localities in Europe, the interest of 
 the tourist would be greatly diminished. What 
 would the Rhine be without its legends? and even 
 in our own land, chronicles of the Colonial wars 
 have given a touch of romance to many picturesque 
 localities. 
 
 With the exception of the Holy Soul, or the 
 Great Spirit of Nature, the Geyserlanders recog- 
 nized nothing spiritual. Perhaps their nearest 
 approach was an ancestral worship or the rever- 
 rence in which they held the memory of their noble 
 dead, which suggests that many of the earlier 
 words for " God " meant " the wisdom of those 
 gone before us." In Geyserland, tablets and statues 
 abounded. These statues were not erected for fam- 
 ilies who sought to magnify their own importance 
 or to honor a family name, but by an appreciative 
 community, who cherished the individuality of 
 those who had benefited their fellow-men, and thus 
 desired to perpetuate their memories by carving 
 their likenesses and their deeds in hard, durable 
 stone, just as England has erected a memorial to 
 Shakespeare in Westminster Abbey, which is in 
 no way connected with his grave. These carved 
 records were necessary, because the same allure- 
 ments that exaggerate school children's petty ac- 
 counts of earlier achievements, also tend to influ- 
 ence the history of all men of eminence. It is to 
 be noted, that, in the gradual growth of heroes' 
 reputations, they become padded with a congre- 
 gation of the odds and ends of their contempo- 
 raries' deeds — as Abraham Lincoln was credited 
 with all the witty stories of Civil War times. Un- 
 less honestly described, the hero ceases to be a real 
 personage and becomes supernatural, a useless 
 
The New Year 323 
 
 thing, a mere curiosity — like Hercules or William 
 Tell. None of the Geyserlanders were, or ever 
 had been, considered supernatural. There were 
 no holy, canonized mortals, no infallible prelates, 
 or supernatural models with whom it was sacri- 
 ligious to compare one's self. It was believed that 
 every Geyserlander had a right to the hope and 
 ambition to equal, if not surpass, the heroes who 
 had gone before. 
 
 Personal responsibility leads to a personal rec- 
 ord. For whom is this record? By whom are we 
 to be judged? Each day is a judgment day in de- 
 tail that we ourselves can judge. But who is to put 
 the quietus, to decide if our lives have been a suc- 
 cess or a failure? 
 
 In Egypt the right of burial was established by 
 a trial after death. With less burial ceremonies, 
 this custom prevails to a certain extent with us 
 to-day. The importance given to the burial is re- 
 placed by the regard for the memory of the de- 
 parted one. The sad feature about this method 
 is that the principal or chief actor never becomes 
 acquainted with the result. Like life insurance, 
 one must die before the winning. Good actions 
 demand appreciation, and we believe that those 
 who do right for the love of right do not very much 
 care for a promised supernatural reward, nor in- 
 sist upon recognition while living. 
 
 The masses, the millions of semi-noble people, 
 are unquestionably stimulated and encouraged by 
 the applause and approval of their fellow-men, 
 which makes us believe that appreciation may 
 come to us in the following order: first, our own 
 self-respect; second, the respect of others whom 
 we respect; and, last, and this the most selfish, 
 tangible recompense. 
 
324 Geyserland 
 
 On this warm afternoon, Fru, the unfortunate, 
 small-bodied, big-boned hunchback poet, was ex- 
 pounding to the public the worth of its great men, 
 and with delightful verbal fancies, was telling tales 
 about the originals of these memorials. Like the 
 minstrel bard of our pre-printing-press days, Fru 
 was naturally a poet, if a poet is one who knows a 
 story and can tell it beautifully. Troubadours and 
 minstrels were praiseworthy men, for they sang of 
 the heroes in the early days who had added a glory 
 to noble actions that, let us hope, will never be out- 
 grown. 
 
 As the half-naked boys and girls gathered about 
 him and listened to his comic style, the interest 
 taken, and the laughter and applause were good 
 evidence that his vocation had been correctly 
 chosen by the taskmasters. Happy, healthy, laugh- 
 ing children make the sweetest music that our ears 
 have ever known. 
 
 The barbaric races who cultivated hero-worship, 
 soon out-distanced others in culture and general 
 progress. The native red man of North America 
 seems to have been particularly wanting in hero- 
 worship, when compared with other races. Be- 
 fore the landing of the white men one could have 
 traveled for thousands of miles among the aborig- 
 ines and seen no monument to record past events, 
 or commemorate the career of dead heroes. 
 
 It is impossible to estimate how many noble ac- 
 tions have been the result of " Plutarch's Lives." 
 the horrors and cruelties of the middle ages were 
 largely due to the low standard of hero-worship. 
 There was no powerful sentiment inspired by 
 eminent people that made cruelty ignoble. James 
 Freeman Clarke wrote, in " Ten Great Religions," 
 
The New Year 32^ 
 
 " The life of Epictetus was as true as his thoughts 
 were noble, but he had fallen on an evil age, which 
 needed for its reform, not a new philosophy, but a 
 new inspiration of divine life." There are two 
 ways of improving human ethics, by precept and 
 by example. To accomplish certain tangible re- 
 forms: higher wages, shorter hours, etc., clubs, 
 organizations, leagues, and unions often help. But 
 for the ennoblement of the masses — a hero — an 
 individual example, if honestly portrayed, can in- 
 fluence millions of fellow-beings. Prosperity is 
 less controlled by debating senators than by the 
 examples of a worthy, just leader. 
 
 " Amadis of Gaul," and the church's flesh-morti- 
 fying ascetic saints, were poor standards for heroes 
 compared with the victors of the Olympian games 
 of Greece, or the moral glory of such Romans as 
 Horatius, Quintus Curtius, and Regulus. Let us 
 glance at the various types of heroes. The Olym- 
 pian hero, who developed the noblest civilization 
 the world has yet known; the gritty warrior of 
 Rome, the noble followers of Christ in the first two 
 or three centuries, the maudlin ascetic, the useless 
 martyr and worthless saint of the Dark Ages, the 
 hero of Charlemagne with his battle-ax and mace, 
 the chivalrous knight with his deeds of romance, 
 the man of worth to-day, respected by his fellow- 
 men — the influence of all these heroes has made 
 our history what it is. 
 
 Every virtue known to man grew up from a 
 recognition of its need. New virtues and changes 
 of popular characters are brought about by new 
 ideals and new heroes, rather than by legislation 
 or precept. The recording of noble acts is a price- 
 
326 Geyserland 
 
 less legacy, because, as books beget books, so heroes 
 beget heroes. The better hero is the natural out- 
 come of the less noble one. 
 
 Records of both physical and intellectual heroes 
 were kept in Geyserland, and the same enthusiasm 
 which inspired the Greeks at their Olympian 
 games, prevailed in that isolated Polar state, over 
 a new record of scientific progress. Fru was thor- 
 oughly conversant with these statistics. Like our 
 modern guide-books, he was ready to give the story 
 of each and every one of these cherished models. 
 When there is no public press, the art of speaking 
 is the best method of reaching the public mind. 
 The objective point of a poet is achieved when he 
 succeeds in making people appreciate the glories 
 of Nature as he feels them. 
 
 There is no law of Nature that prevents different 
 people from having the same idea unknown to each 
 other, and possibly worked out by different lines 
 of reasoning. Fru was telling about a chemist who 
 first made thermometers. His career had been less 
 eventful than that of Galileo, and the inspiration 
 of his energies was more for humanity than for 
 fame. He made the thermometer as a peacemaker, 
 rather than as a scientific tool. We doubt if the 
 debt of gratitude due to Galileo as a peacemaker 
 is sufficiently appreciated by us to-day. The 
 reader might try the experiment of removing all 
 the thermometers from his surroundings, then wait 
 and hear the wrangling about the temperature. 
 All reliable methods of weights and measures are 
 peacemakers. Why cannot some man of a fertile 
 mind produce a gauge for ascertaining how foul 
 the air is in the house we inhabit? Then he, too, 
 will be a peacemaker and a hero. 
 
The New Year 327 
 
 While Fru was talking about this Geyserland 
 inventor of thermometers, two well-developed boys 
 were " squaring up " for a " scrap " close to where 
 Fru and his audience were gathered. 
 
 "Bravo! Steady! Bif¥!" 
 
 " Somebody stop those lads, one will be hurt! " 
 exclaimed the kind-hearted laundress, Selladore. 
 
 " And why not? " said Wewo. " Let the little 
 imps fight on and see which is the better imp. If 
 they don't lose their temper there is no harm done. 
 A boy who doesn't develop spunk will never be a 
 man. It is the natural love of measuring one's 
 growth." 
 
 " Nonsense! " said Selladore. " Surely these lit- 
 tle rivalries can be settled in some easier way than 
 fighting. Can't you wise men find a better system 
 of developing courage in our children?" 
 
 " Certainly — let them fight with little swords. 
 But, mark me, these little fist-fights carried on 
 without malice are the only proper training of 
 manhood. If we suppress this childish competi- 
 tion, how can we secure competition in adults? 
 What exercise means to health the spirit of compe- 
 tition means to progress. Infants can be petted 
 and spoiled by their mothers, it will not hurt them. 
 Children should be allowed to be wild and natural, 
 it develops them. The discipline that makes the 
 guardsman would ruin a child. It is time enough 
 when they become lad and lassie at the age of 
 twelve and the characters are formed, that they 
 should be educated and disciplined. Teach a child 
 obedience, but do not drill it, for that contracts its 
 nature and cows its spirit. Am I not right, good 
 mother Var Voon? " 
 
 " Quite right, Mr. Wise Man. Good-natured 
 quarrels are the little episodes that make life inter- 
 
328 Geyserland 
 
 esting, for some people must have accidents in 
 order to have sensations. Will you try a bout with 
 me, laddie? " 
 
 " Certainly, we will fight with weapons made 
 of eider-down. We will fight like turtle doves 
 wooing in the tree." 
 
 " No," exclaimed the plump ex-matron. " If 
 we are to fight in the tree, please leave the eider- 
 down under the tree." 
 
 A crowd of idlers gathered, and the boys' fight 
 went on; it was jolly, cleanly fought, and spirited. 
 
 The bout was hardly finished when the chimes 
 rang out and one of the maidens exclaimed, " The 
 moon! The moon of the New Year! " 
 
 In response to this discovery, everybody stood 
 up and began a sweet paean to the harvest moon, the 
 advent of the New Year. 
 
 Then a dear old veteran mother, dressed in white 
 and yellow, said, "Sweet Fairmena, look; there 
 comes the senior taskmaster, Robo!" 
 
 The venerable Robo advanced slowly, and sa- 
 luted Fairmena with a courtly salaam. " My con- 
 gratulations, lovely daughter of our realm. Bring 
 hither the raiment, lads." He then presented her 
 with a beautiful casket containing her new cos- 
 tumes. 
 
 " Thank you, Sire," said Fairmena, " and thank 
 you all for your kind words. My lads, to my bower 
 with this casket. I will follow." 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE SYCAMORE GROVE — STARTLING CONSPIRACY — 
 EVRONA, ADAM, AND LORK 
 
 " The simple plan, 
 That they should take who have the power, 
 And they should keep who can." 
 
 — Wordsworth. 
 
 " My own doctrine is the doctrine of expediency, and it makes for 
 surviving." — Jack London, " Seawolf." 
 
 " My present state requires nothing but knaves 
 To be about me, such as are prepared 
 For every wicked act." 
 
 — Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 
 Adam was not the only one who was dissatisfied 
 with the existing state of affairs in Geyserland, for 
 Evrona had been sadly disappointed when tried 
 and found wanting. This wayward, beautiful girl, 
 satiated with the admiration of her ardent admirers 
 and innately unsympathetic with vacillating peo- 
 ple, found the friendship of the staunch Adam at- 
 tractive. She liked him because he talked of doing 
 new things, and she was ready to sympathize with 
 any fresh departure from the established ways of 
 the land. She was captivated by his earnestness, 
 little heeding his aims, because with her it was the 
 feminine sympathy for creation which is always a 
 woman's dream. 
 
 Women have but little initiative or imagination, 
 but excel men in quick appreciation of new ways 
 and things. They are always the first to welcome 
 a stranger. Evrona had not forgotten Adam's 
 
 329 
 
330 Geyserland 
 
 smile of innocence and manliness at the time of the 
 egg episode. A soul's responding glance is often 
 a foundation for many a friendship. 
 
 Adam pushed his good fortune, and sought her, 
 the comeliest young woman in the land, to be his 
 companion in listless moments, and to her he con- 
 fided his disapproval of Geyserland methods. His 
 interest in her, however, was merely superficial. 
 He never for a moment regarded her as his equal. 
 She was affectionate, even fascinating, but as to 
 taking things seriously — such a thought never 
 entered his head. She was an alien. His attitude 
 was characteristic of his English blood.* 
 
 To listen to Adam was treason, yet, being inter- 
 ested, she allowed it and he talked on, and drew 
 pictures of the independent classes of England, and 
 the fire and reckless dash of wide-awake and ambi- 
 
 • There is an element certainly cruel, and possibly ridiculous, when 
 a people magnifies its own importance to such an extent that it ignores 
 meritorious qualities of other people and refuses to assimilate with 
 them. To-day one would not be wide of the mark if one should wager 
 that out of a hundred Irishmen ninety per cent, would vote to annihilate 
 the negroes and Chinese as heathen. The Carthaginians had little of 
 race prejudice. Alexander advised his officers and soldiers to assimilate 
 with the inhabitants of all conquered countries. The Romans did the 
 same thing, but the twice-born Brahmin conquerors of India, and the 
 Incas of Peru enslaved the conquered, whereas the Jews of Canaan and 
 the Angles of the southern and eastern shores of Britain annihilated the 
 inhabitants. The Anglo-Saxon annihilated the Britons in those portions 
 of the island they first conquered because the Britons were organized 
 upon a different scheme of social life. They did not wish a servile 
 people among them. The grand old Anglo-Saxon unit was a freeman, 
 whereas the Celtic-Roman-Briton was either noble, underling, or slave. 
 There remain no aborigines in the West Indies. There will be no 
 Australians nor New Zealanders in years to come. The negro with 
 his happy disposition, which leads more to mimicry than to ambition, 
 is more likely to survive than those races which have no amalgamating 
 qualities. The Jews claimed to be a chosen people, because, as Marshall 
 Wilder suggests: "The Jews wrote the book," but the more scientific 
 Riplej' states : " The Jews are not a race, but only a people. Such 
 individuality as they possess, by no means inconsiderable, is of their 
 own making from one generation to the next, rather than a product 
 of unprecedented purity of physical descent." 
 
Conspiracy 331 
 
 tious men. She was interested in him, and they 
 became affectionate companions with their secret 
 thoughts of discontent as a live bond of sympathy. 
 
 Secrets are necessary to crafty, designing people, 
 but all lovers of the public good must recognize 
 a subtle danger where they exist; for a secret gen- 
 erally means trickery somewhere. The priests of 
 the Roman Church have, like the ancient oracles 
 of the Magi, insisted upon having the confidence 
 and secrets of its followers, and no one can deny 
 the tremendous power they have thus obtained. 
 The public wants, as Goethe said, " more light." 
 If we only knew the secrets of our trusts and mo- 
 opolies, how very soon they would become quasi- 
 public property. 
 
 Evrona always sought Adam when she was 
 downhearted, as he alone, of all her friends, could 
 console her. He could always tell her of things 
 that " might be." These desperate moods had been 
 overwhelmingly intensified by the ceremonies of 
 the " new moon," at which time Fairmena had had 
 her triumph, receiving the token of a noble future 
 career, while she, Evrona, had been stigmatized 
 as a female drone. 
 
 Utter helplessness, when surrounded by wrongs, 
 is a terrible situation, dangerous to one's self and 
 to those around one. Like a frenzied rat in a vac- 
 uum, one becomes wild before succumbing; or 
 when the power or ability or capacity does come, 
 how seldom one strikes the real enemy, and how 
 prone one is to advertise one's wrongs by striking 
 an eminent person, absolutely innocent, in pure 
 frenzied desperation. Third parties too often seem 
 to be the innocent victims of the desperate. Like 
 the old story of a man who, having lost like a gen- 
 
332 Geyserland 
 
 tleman all of his money in a gambling house, on 
 leaving the house viciously kicked an innocent old 
 man who had stopped to tie his shoe-string on the 
 club steps, with the unjust query, " Why in the 
 devil are you always tying your shoe-strings on 
 these steps? " 
 
 Adam would have admitted that he was happy 
 if he could have freed himself from his early selfish 
 prejudices and his impractical romantic love for 
 Polly Natson. Like all other citizens of Geyser- 
 land, he submitted himself to a complete physical 
 inspection every dozen days, which was recorded 
 in all its details. By his last records his health was 
 better than it had been at any previous time. He 
 only felt unhappy because the others were as happy 
 as he, and, with the characteristic, autocratic Eng- 
 lish desire to dominate everybody, he sought how 
 he could become master of the situation. What 
 were the possibilities — escape? rebellion? 
 
 Adam stood well in his own opinion. Modesty 
 and merit are not often found together, for when a 
 man is clever he is generally clever enough to know 
 it. " The like of me comes but once in centuries," 
 wrote Erasmus, and Shakespeare said of one of his 
 own verses, " The pyramids shall not outlive this 
 powerful rhyme." " What a genius I was when 
 I wrote that " — Dean Swift. Pride and boasting 
 seem to have been early habits, for on Assyrian 
 monuments and cylinders kings boasted of their 
 prowess, as, " Under the auspices of Nimip 120 
 lions fell before me." 
 
 Adam had been brought up to think that he was 
 a man of importance, somebody in particular, and 
 he believed that he had that genius that could 
 command an army and organize a government. 
 
Conspiracy 333 
 
 Would-be heroes are not long forlorn; he pro- 
 posed to brook no rule, but to master those around 
 him. His autocratic ancestors believed in settling 
 disputes by strength, but he knew that when a man 
 was positively certain that he was right and was 
 opposed by the majority, that he then had to either 
 submit to arbitration, or be prepared to have his 
 head broken. Ancestral traits cannot be eradicated 
 in one generation, and the same force that made the 
 martial neighbors of the Athenians have contempt 
 for their unwarlike spirit, made Adam with his 
 piratical ancestry — to whom war was the " right 
 of way," the Supreme Court of justice — despise the 
 inhabitants of Geyserland. He never let ethics 
 interfere with his ambitions. Adam never doubted 
 his philosophy and had no kinship with any " per- 
 haps " ; he knew what he wanted. He did not ap- 
 preciate these Geyserlanders and did not know that 
 they were akin, years back, to those warlike, un- 
 ruled, and unconquered Eskimos who broke up so 
 many of the small Danish colonies in West Green- 
 land in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 
 
 He was much wrought up. He purposed be- 
 ing master of himself in matters that pertained to 
 himself, and looked upon taskmasters as impudent 
 intruders upon his rights of manhood. Adam 
 realized that he could not escape unaided, and 
 what would any of his Geyserlander companions 
 do in Christendom? They would die of homesick- 
 ness in spite of their perfect physiques, or, escap- 
 ing that, they would be broken on the wheel for 
 their unorthodox thoughts; hence, revolt was the 
 only possible thing, and once in power he could 
 make his own arrangements for returning home. 
 
 There were no " dregs of society " with which to 
 recruit a revolt. The power that preserved order 
 
334 Geyserland 
 
 in Geyserland was the Guards. What could Adam 
 offer guardsmen? They seemed very peaceable 
 and apparently had no grievances. Yet he must 
 control this element. " There is no use arguing 
 against Cssar, who has twenty-five legions. '' What 
 had he to offer? Promises? He could promise all 
 the stars in the firmament if necessary, and Adam 
 appreciated Plato's words, " You cannot guide a 
 multitude without deceiving them." No matter 
 which way the wheel revolves, forward or back- 
 ward, all revolutions are brought about by the in- 
 troduction of a new ideal, or the resurrection of 
 an old one. Adam's ideal was the dashing, pirati- 
 cal adventurer. In every community there is a 
 possibility of a discordant element. Even heaven 
 had a Lucifer. So Adam decided to search among 
 the guards for the discontented, as a man looks for 
 tainted food in a basket. He was courageous, and 
 to him this undertaking seemed perfectly feasible. 
 Evrona and Adam were present upon the lawn 
 the day of the midsummer's new moon, when Fair- 
 mena received her casket of new raiment, and con- 
 gratulations from her friends. They silently 
 watched the happy scene, Evrona with jealousy, 
 and Adam, keenly sensitive to his inferior position, 
 with the sullen feelings of one deprived of his 
 birthright, ambitions, and hopes. As the crowd 
 dispersed Evrona followed Adam to a nearby 
 beech grove, and laughingly embraced him. 
 
 When forming an opinion of a community 
 where the rights of women are as distinctly recog- 
 nized as the rights of men, any advantage of either 
 sex should be noted; for example, in Christendom 
 one privilege which men have to their advantage, 
 and for which women have no equivalent, is the 
 
Conspiracy 335 
 
 social custom of offering a token of regard when 
 friends meet — it may be a drink, a cigar, a 
 pinch of snufif, or a joke. The only privilege 
 women have when they meet is the nervous 
 handshaking or embracing, which seem vain sub- 
 stitutes and, unless accompanied by flattering 
 speeches, are empty and void. Public exhibitions 
 of affection (affectionate demonstrations) are 
 vulgar. Handshaking is only a resource for the 
 nervous to avoid awkwardness. Those of punctil- 
 ious manners, like the Orientals, seldom touch each 
 other in public; the act of kissing with them is 
 indicative of such an advanced stage of intimacy 
 that it is never done in the presence of witnesses; 
 but their occasional custom of patting or stroking 
 appears most appropriate, as it is quite natural for 
 us to pat and stroke a pet animal. 
 
 " Come," said Evrona, with an attempt at her 
 old-time vivacity, " cheer up. One can be sad, 
 two should be gay. Come with me, tell me all your 
 secrets, let no subject be sacred between us. Have 
 you worked so hard that no time is left for joys? " 
 
 " I do not understand your joys, my sweet cos- 
 set," said Adam. 
 
 *' Why should you, if you like them? Happi- 
 ness is a sweeter goal than excitement, and assum- 
 ing an air of being happy shows good breeding." 
 
 " Pleasures should be the reward for something, 
 for where all are happy, the charm is gone." 
 
 "Your reason is diseased; let your healthy in- 
 stincts prevail. Put your arms around me and let 
 us stroll together." 
 
 " Sweet girl, because you are talking you must 
 not imagine you are thinking. You think too little 
 — if you would use your mind more you would 
 
336 Geyserland 
 
 get more happiness out of life. In my land hand- 
 some women like you have all the happiness, and 
 the others are not mentioned." 
 
 "We must take and appreciate the pleasures of 
 life as we find them," she said. " I cannot expect 
 to be like Fairmena. They say my disposition is 
 not good enough to hand down to posterity." 
 
 " Queer people — sheep," grunted Adam, and 
 thought to himself, " What we strive for at home, 
 grit and hell-defying daring, is suppressed here." 
 Then, aloud, said: "What would happen if you 
 should defy the laws? " 
 
 " Why should I defy them? They are our laws 
 — my laws," she replied. 
 
 " They are not my laws, I have no inclination 
 nor intention to obey them," exclaimed Adam. 
 
 " Tut, tut, that is treason." 
 
 " Never mind, listen. My father gave me 
 power, and in my country, young as I was, I di- 
 rected work, and I now object to working in the 
 fields." 
 
 " But," said Evrona, " in order to live happily 
 in a community, people must be slaves of what they 
 need; and as social laws are needed, they must be 
 slaves of the social laws. Our taskmasters are most 
 wise and just. Let the officers do the thinking. 
 They watch others and are themselves watched, 
 and so on. You have been shown your rights." 
 
 " At home we have two classes of people — the 
 scheming class, those who think, and the obedient 
 class, those who have their thinking done for 
 them," interrupted Adam. " I belong to the 
 former class, and do not intend to have taskmasters 
 tell me to do things that I do not consider neces- 
 sary." 
 
 " Do what you are told to do, and don't think 
 
Conspiracy 337 
 
 any more about it," she said; " for it is foolish for 
 you and me to do the work for those whose busi- 
 ness it is to govern us. They are the best fitted 
 to arrange each person's work for the country's 
 good." 
 
 " Damn the country's good! My good is what I 
 am after. I was made for the world, not the world 
 for me; but a government must be made for me. 
 I will not accept this or any other government that 
 denies me liberty. I gasp for breath when I think 
 of being alone in this community. I feel like a yel- 
 low, homeless dog, full of affection, with no one 
 to love me. Does everybody like this state of 
 things? Is no one unhappy? " 
 
 " Of course, we have discussions, and the losers 
 are not cheerful. But, hush! You are talking 
 treason." 
 
 "To the Devil with this social tyranny! Why 
 should I sow," said Adam, " if my children cannot 
 reap? I would rather be in jail or some haven of 
 rest. Why permit those ignorant taskmasters to 
 smother me? Somebody is wrong here. These 
 laws do not suit me. I believe in reform, and, by 
 Beelzebub and all his outfit, I am going to do the 
 reforming! " 
 
 " But your reform will be a perpetual struggle 
 day and night; very nice for the young and strong, 
 but I hate to think of the old ones. Might will be 
 right, and the powerful will take cruel means to 
 keep their power. It would be well enough for 
 me, now that I am young and pretty, but when I 
 am old and broken I should not be as happy with 
 your ideas as with the customs here. So, come 
 now, Adam, you cold, unnatural creature, come 
 with me, stop brooding like this. It will lead 
 to no good. If you are human, come, let us be 
 
338 Geyserland 
 
 happy together. It is splendid fun to be silly. Let 
 us laugh and be gay." 
 
 " Run along, fair butterfly. I will follow later. 
 But, wait, who is that guardsman skulking about 
 and watching us? Is it possible that I am already 
 dogged by spies? " 
 
 " Oh, don't worry about him," said Evrona, " he 
 is one of my many shadows. I should not have to 
 invite him twice to come to my bower." 
 
 " If you think he would be a friend, he is the 
 kind of man I would know." 
 
 " I won't do what is wrong." 
 
 " Damn what is wrong! You don't know what 
 is right and what is wrong. It is wrong not to have 
 power. Do as I say and we shall have power. 
 You don't see the world for yourself, you look at 
 it for other people. A woman like you should be 
 above all these trivial things; recognize your 
 power — be great. Women who come after you 
 will be grateful to you for having stood by me in 
 showing what a clever woman could do." 
 
 "As you say, Adam; for everything you want 
 me to do, I'll do," replied Evrona. " Go fetch him 
 hither. I am not afraid of him — he will do any- 
 thing for me." 
 
 " I will tell him that you want him, for the way 
 he looks at you, and the way he looks at me it as 
 different as the way a bumble-bee would look at 
 a rose and at a jimson weed. I am the jimson 
 weed." 
 
 A few minutes later, when Lork approached, 
 she said, " I have sent for you, Lork, because I want 
 you to know my friend Adam." 
 
 Lork, with becoming civility, hoping by his 
 courtesy and obedience to propitiate Evrona, made 
 some gracious remark. 
 
Conspiracy 339 
 
 " Thank you, good Lork. Adam is still a 
 stranger here; he knows not our ways. Let him 
 tell you about the people among whom he has 
 lived. He who is kind to my friends I consider 
 kind to me," she said, with a glance full of mean- 
 ing. Then, knowing the advantages of her ab- 
 sence, she suddenly remembered something she had 
 forgotten. 
 
 After she had gone, Adam approached the 
 guardsman, saying: 
 
 " My head aches from the lack of using. I have 
 a cunning head and in my country that means 
 wealth and power." 
 
 " What mean you by wealth and power? " 
 
 " Power, the essence of life, is that for which 
 every male animal under the sun should strive," 
 exclaimed Adam, bubbling over with civilized 
 ideas. " Wealth means extra possessions which in- 
 crease man's power in proportion to their ex- 
 changeable value." 
 
 " Wealth, my good fellow, here that is all im- 
 possible, for we each have our place in the govern- 
 ment like so many bones in the body. The knee- 
 bone can only do the knee-bone's work." 
 
 "Bosh! Who told you that? What do you 
 know? You have lived among one kind of people, 
 I have lived among two kinds." 
 
 Lork did not relish being spoken to in this sharp 
 manner, but it was policy to keep his temper, so 
 he simply answered : 
 
 " Our laws must be obeyed." 
 
 "The devil they must! Where I came from 
 laws are made to be broken. Our richest people 
 thrive by the flaws in the laws. We are brought 
 up to obey the laws we want to obey, and the laws 
 we have to. I will die before I do servile work; 
 
340 Geyserland 
 
 that is, if I can not thrash or outwit someone to do 
 it for me." Popular feeling in Geyserland was 
 not on the side of such as outwit the law. 
 
 " Gently, my friend, speak not against the gov- 
 ernment." 
 
 " Do you wish to report me for investigation? 
 That will be noble and brave. Harken, man, I 
 should like to see things better here. I know that 
 I with some good friends to help me could soon 
 dictate who should do the disagreeable work on 
 this island, and it would not be you or I. Listen, 
 be my friend, and I will make things better for 
 you." 
 
 ''Things better! How?" 
 
 " As I have said, power is all we need, it controls 
 the game. Why do you work? Let me tell you. 
 It is because you do not think. Get the strong 
 against the weak, and the weak will stay where 
 they belong. The weak have no rights, because 
 Nature has given the stronger the privilege of hav- 
 ing their own way. Those who want, must work; 
 those who don't want, need not work. So let us 
 organize power, and he who can best do it shall 
 be our chief." 
 
 " You will be denied food at the first proof of 
 your rebellious thoughts." 
 
 "You are not certain," replied Adam; "but if 
 it were so, is it not more manly to take that chance 
 than to live in ignoble servitude? My idea is that 
 all people must be warlike, or become servile — • 
 which they mighty well deserve to be. Is there 
 not something, somebody that you like better than 
 life? It is all a question of being master or slave. 
 If you are master you can ask the girl you admire 
 to be yours, yours only, and yours forever, and as 
 for children, the man who owns the cow owns the 
 
Conspiracy 341 
 
 calf. Let me murmur something to you. I have 
 such a girl in yonder land. She is waiting for me, 
 and if you will help me and be my friend, I will 
 help you and do all that I can." 
 
 Adam looked him straight in the eye. Lork 
 caught Adam's glance, and, as he understood, his 
 face softened. This removed a great load from his 
 mind, as his jealousy of Adam on account of Ev- 
 rona did not tend toward anything approaching 
 friendship. Meeting Adam's open English gaze, 
 his manner changed, and, extending his hand, he 
 only said, " You can count on me." 
 
 " You know others," said Adam. " See them, 
 talk to them secretly. I will prepare a plan." 
 
 " I know many who would rather do other work 
 than their prescribed tasks, and some others who 
 would rather quarrel and fight than do any kind 
 of work," replied Lork. 
 
 " That is good," mused Adam. " Tell these peo- 
 ple that their chance has come. Go carefully. 
 You must promise the discontented guards that 
 they will each be an officer and each have a matron 
 and his own children. Tell the women they can 
 all be mothers. The land shall be ours, and so 
 divided that each strong and faithful follower 
 shall have his share and be master over his own 
 servants. Get all the people you can to argue about 
 their dissatisfactions, because arguing promotes 
 unrest. Bring me your friends secretly, and I will 
 tell them how William of Normandy conquered 
 old England. Consider Nature — the birds. How 
 do they work? Is it the hen or the rooster which 
 toils? Which is the stronger? The combination 
 of the clever and the strong should be the roosters 
 of this community. To the deuce with old men, 
 children, women, and weaklings! " 
 
342 Geyserland 
 
 "After we succeed, she shall be mine alone?" 
 said Lork, interrogatively. 
 
 " I will do all I can to help you to the end," 
 Adam ignominiously replied. " Let that be a 
 sacred secret between us." This treatment of Ev- 
 rona can only be explained by his not thinking of 
 her as of the same order of creation as himself. 
 
 " Agreed. As you say, I will do. I will report 
 anon. Good-day." 
 
 Adam, inspired with that courage which comes 
 from bravery and knowing that no man could make 
 a dive who did it by halves, realized that he had 
 crossed his Rubicon. 
 
 Adam had none of the Jefifersonian democracy. 
 Universal suffrage had not at his time been 
 preached. To appreciate his ideas of the inequal- 
 ity of people, we might look at it from his point 
 of view and review the origin of inequality. 
 
 In the early days of barbarian culture, when peo- 
 ple first began to establish their ancestry by their 
 father in preference to their mother, the young 
 husband with his wife, cow, and sheep migrated 
 from his too thickly peopled birthplace and 
 claimed so much land in a new territory. Then the 
 custom was, and that custom, according to Sir 
 Henry Maine, still prevails in its purity in many 
 parts of Asia, that each son when born had a posi- 
 tive claim to a portion of land equal to that of his 
 father, and each succeeding male child had an 
 equal share with those who preceded him. To 
 avoid the inconveniences of possible disputes and 
 frequent settlements, the property was seldom di- 
 vided, the oldest son of the oldest son being 
 recognized as the supreme owner. Strangers were 
 sometimes adopted into families or clans, and 
 
Conspiracy 343 
 
 sometimes when a tribe had been weakened by war 
 or famine were allowed to assume all the rights of 
 blood relationship. At other times, if the clans 
 were sufficiently strong and independent, this right 
 was not permitted and strangers occupied another 
 caste as inferiors, but not necessarily as serfs. Thus 
 the tribes were often divided into three castes; the 
 principal family, or the aristocracy or gentry; then 
 the freedmen, who were not of the blood, and the 
 slaves or captives. In those days all were not born 
 equal, or even free, and those were the ideas and 
 customs most familiar to Adam. This system of in- 
 equality survived almost in its purity in the Scot- 
 tish highland clans in the time of Adam, and also 
 prevailed throughout Europe. 
 
 The prospects of success brightened when Adam 
 discovered the importance of the aid Evrona 
 brought him. She liked him, and measuring him 
 by something above herself, she was flattered by 
 the importance of the secret. Adam wanted his 
 father and his friends to think well of him, but 
 Evrona was great enough to care for the friend- 
 ship of a stranger, as women always do. Some peo- 
 ple have a rare, instinctive talent for enjoying 
 intrigue and keeping secrets. Besides her admirer 
 Lork, she had, among many others, a wrinkled-up, 
 gossiping old man named Tintax, The Tattler. 
 
 It is worth considering for a moment why, in a 
 country where there is no property, a young woman 
 should like an old man. Probably she is flattered 
 by the attention of one of experience. Old men 
 are gentler and less selfish than young men, and a 
 girl acquires a position of esteem among wise peo- 
 ple when presented by an aged admirer. Evrona's 
 
344 Geyserland 
 
 friend, the aged Tintax, always went around with 
 a mental indigestion, having in his mind subjects 
 he could not understand, a much-worried looking 
 man, who would have been far happier if he could 
 have swallowed or accepted the solution of others 
 on moral and political questions. His was an un- 
 easy soul, and besides this unhappy characteristic 
 he also had the reputation of knowing the business 
 of everybody else. Thus, inadvertently, he grad- 
 ually furnished Evrona with a list of those whom 
 Adam could approach. Adam sought for the pro- 
 letariats — but there were none. His only hope was 
 to pick from the brave and brawny those who were 
 unhappy, disappointed, or brooding with dis- 
 content. 
 
 He was most perplexed to discover inducements 
 to offer these people to join in his rebellion. He 
 was shrewd enough to know that it is folly to bait 
 a mouse-trap with cheese in a cheese factory. The 
 Geyserlanders had everything they desired. What 
 possible compensation could he offer to them in 
 Christendom? Hence, he realized that he must 
 study temperaments rather than conditions, and 
 recognized that love for a woman with the auxili- 
 ary traits of envy, lust, jealousy, and pride might 
 furnish him with the necessary means of securing 
 followers. Thoroughly interested, he was soon 
 launched in his scheme to foil the government of 
 Geyserland. He selected such men as would har- 
 monize with his discontent, as a lady would select 
 the colored skeins for her embroidery. To arouse 
 industry by selfishness is not always easy. Yet he 
 purposed to unite all the selfish, strong people, and 
 thus force the others into submission. This was a 
 task full of danger. Adam was no coward, he 
 knew nothing of fear, cared nothing for personal 
 
Conspiracy 345 
 
 comforts. But he was desperate — desperate with 
 a frenzy that would scuttle a ship, if he could not 
 have his own way. He could not appreciate and 
 would not tolerate his present position. He did 
 not believe himself to be selfish, he simply wanted 
 what he was accustomed to have. And he found 
 that in Geyserland there were some who listened 
 to his excited legends of the period of civilization 
 and secretly questioned themselves whether the old 
 infuriating game of " Every one for himself " did 
 not have more charm, just as there are in our 
 country a few who look back with regret to the 
 passing of sailing ships, canal boats, and horse 
 carriages. 
 
 When selfish individual enterprise is rewarded 
 by personal benefits, such a hold is made on man 
 that it is almost impossible for him to take an al- 
 truistic view of life, and the unhappy feature about 
 this is that there are so many imitations of this suc- 
 cessful sordid scheme, that, like a plague, all 
 Christendom becomes impregnated with it. 
 
 As the returned Arctic explorer sickens for the 
 terror and excitement of the Arctic exploits, so to 
 Adam the peaceful days in Geyserland seemed in- 
 sipid. Strong young men were particularly at- 
 tracted by Adam's talk, for Adam believed himself 
 right, and strong belief wins strong men. Slowly, 
 with patience and persistence, his plot grew. 
 
 Adam's methods were not without ingenuity. 
 He told everyone that he wanted to know their 
 ways so as to compare them with the customs he 
 had left at home, and that he proposed making an 
 oration or lecture to demonstrate the advantages 
 of each system. 
 
346 Geyserland 
 
 Flot, the funny man of the field, suspected some- 
 thing wrong, and reported it to Wewo, which was 
 doubtful friendship on Flot's part. He thought, 
 however, he was taking the lesser mean course, as 
 a small man would give his big intoxicated friend 
 in charge of the police when his big friend was 
 determined to go to a gambling den. A physician 
 who can cure a limb is better than the surgeon who 
 would amputate it. As no one believed what Flot 
 said, his warning was not much considered. Wewo 
 did speak to Adam, but Adam's reply was per- 
 fectly plausible, as Wewo himself had advised him 
 to make known the habits of the country he came 
 from, as he wished to be well informed about the 
 differences. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 FASHO AND FAIRMENA AT THE SPRING 
 
 " Adoration is the homage due from a creature to its Creator." — 
 Charles Reade. 
 
 " Statesman, yet friend to truth of Soul sincere, 
 In action faithful and in Honor dear. 
 Who broke no promise, served no private end, 
 Who gained no title, and who lost no friend." 
 
 — Pope. 
 
 It will ever be logical for man to expect the 
 First Cause of the universe to consider him as he 
 would expect to be considered by his own creations 
 — his children. And all emotional demonstrations 
 of gratitude and acknowledgment in this line are 
 but the homage due to the bounty of the Spirit of 
 Nature. 
 
 Hallowed emotions of the mind are just as nec- 
 essary to some as sweet music and agreeable odors 
 are to others, and all religions are but inventions 
 to make hallowed emotions easy. 
 
 If mortals could give a mind to each of their 
 mechanical inventions, from which they could re- 
 ceive a response of sympathy, then their relation- 
 ship with their creation would be closer and their 
 love for it greater. Our Creator made it possible 
 for all living creatures, from the lowest order of 
 procreative life, to develop that mysterious quality. 
 Mind. 
 
 The Geyserlanders divided mind, which is erro- 
 neously supposed in Christendom to place men 
 above brutes, into two parts, — emotion and reason, 
 — and believed these two parts existed in varied 
 degrees of development in all living things. The 
 
 347 
 
348 Geyserland 
 
 philosopher with scientific knowledge, that is, with 
 a just appreciation of Nature, will have emotional 
 feelings that will replace the puerile forms and 
 ceremonies of any prescribed religion, but his emo- 
 tional feelings w^ill always seek an outlet. 
 
 We should each demonstrate our emotions as we 
 feel them, as the flowers give their beauty, the 
 birds their song. 
 
 Emotional feelings can be divided into four 
 stages : 
 
 I St, Spiritual, with uncanny immaterial influ- 
 ences ; with magicians and hypnotists for exempli- 
 fiers, like the soothsayers or magi of the East. 
 
 2nd, Theological, with church organizations 
 and efforts toward unity and emotions, such as was 
 taught by the Jews, Buddha, Mohammed, and 
 Joseph Smith. 
 
 3rd, Metaphysicalj with attempts to explain un- 
 knowable matters according to the rules of com- 
 mon sense, as Emerson, Channing, and the frater- 
 nity of Unitarians would direct. 
 
 4th, Scientific, or the positive study and individ- 
 ual appreciation of the universe, the cold creed of 
 rationalism, as Humboldt, Goethe, Wagner, Haec- 
 kel, Kant, Voltaire, Comte, Huxley, and Confu- 
 cius would have it. 
 
 Let it be observed these four degrees rotate in 
 this order, and those who become lazy, weak, or 
 wearied by the fourth degree, return to the first, as 
 we have seen done by those wisest of rnodern men, 
 Swedenborg and Wallace, seemingly to begin on 
 the wheel again with the fourth dimension, spirits, 
 hypnotism, etc. 
 
 Savages have always been appreciative of the 
 most palatable drinking water, and as it is natural 
 for all of us to pause with a feeling of awe before 
 
Sacred Spring 349 
 
 anything that is mysterious, pure springs have from 
 most ancient times been regarded with a mysteri- 
 ous awe. In the early days of European Christi- 
 anity, missionaries could not overcome the adora- 
 tion that the pagans had for these selected springs 
 and fountains, therefore the priests, with charac- 
 teristic craftiness, dedicated all such fountains to 
 the Holy Virgin, or to some saint like Catharine 
 or Apoliinaris, hence the shrines and sacred grot- 
 toes — and thus another tangible element of worship 
 was added to the church. 
 
 Fairmena had wandered to a famous spring in 
 the forest. There she stood with her beautiful 
 arms outstretched toward the clear cerulean sky, 
 visible through the boughs of the lofty pines, each 
 towering toward the boundless space in sympathy 
 with her thoughts, like the pillars in a Gothic ca- 
 thedral. Thus poised she chanted some musical 
 lines to the Source of the Mystery that furnishes 
 the delicious beverage. The outburst of Fair- 
 mena's appreciation was spontaneous, because there 
 was no ritual in Geyserland; but such songs of 
 praise to the Only Soul were common, as a relief 
 for the divine emotions of the mind. As naturally 
 as the birds, Fairmena burst into a melody of praise 
 of our Host. 
 
 " We are often made to feel with a shivering delight that 
 from an earthly harp are stricken notes which cannot have been 
 unfamiliar to the angels." 
 
 — Edgar Allan Poe. 
 
 Investigations of Nature's bounties are proper 
 and healthy, songs of thanksgiving are wholesome; 
 but prayers — another name for desires — if sincere 
 are ungrateful, if formal are only mental degrada- 
 
350 Geyserland 
 
 tion. Fairmena's paean of praise was purely 
 thanksgiving. 
 
 The psalms sung one thousand years before 
 Christ were the earliest record we have of these 
 outbursts. Poor Greece and Rome were only be- 
 ginning to think at that time. Therefore, let us 
 give the Jews credit for the first whispering or 
 hailing to El the Only Soul. Unbridled flights of 
 fancy and unwarrantable assumption were, by the 
 primitive people, conceived in all manners, vary- 
 ing from the one spiritual God of Zarathushtra 
 of the ancient Persians and of the Parsis and Uni- 
 tarians of to-day to the endless numbers of person- 
 ifications of the gods of the Greeks and Romans. 
 It was not so in China, where a totally different 
 manner of living was practiced. There there was 
 no enthusiasm, " everything was flat like their own 
 country," order, properties, manners, industries — 
 all were commonplace repetitions " in the trodden 
 path." 
 
 In Geyserland, where centuries of philosophical 
 reasonings had evolved a contempt for anything 
 supernatural or mythical, a middle course was pur- 
 sued, and the dreamy, poetical ideas were counte- 
 nanced because their wise men knew that life with- 
 out fancies and fads would be without imagina- 
 tion or the spirit of progress. 
 
 Shallow mental work produces nervous excite- 
 ment of the mind. The mysticism and beauty of a 
 vesper service has been felt by the most arrant 
 heretic. In the earliest times the savages sought 
 more in Nature than they could see, for as we 
 know, emotions preceded thought. The primitives 
 
Sacred Spring 351 
 
 thought that certain objects in the universe had 
 more influence over them than others, and they 
 could not comprehend a mysterious power without 
 some tangible symbol or token, because a confused 
 mind always seeks symbols. Fetishes and amulets 
 thus became the objects of their superstitious wor- 
 ship. Phallic worship was the visible outgrowth 
 of the phenomenon of procreation, and survives 
 with us in our steeples, obelisks, horse-shoes, and 
 bracelets. 
 
 The next progressive step was when the devout 
 worshiper invoked lesser powers to intercede with 
 the Great Power — to have little powers or saints 
 intercede with the more hallowed ones. The 
 Mohammedans have reduced intermediates to one 
 — " The Prophet." With the Mohammedans, sal- 
 vation is gotten by fighting for the crescent and by 
 unquestioning obedience and belief. They ac- 
 quired this latter doctrine from the church, and in 
 return the church, at the time of the crusade, 
 adopted their idea of fighting for the cross. These 
 two religions were the only ones which converted 
 by the sword. 
 
 It is rather a remarkable coincidence that the 
 terms " God " and '' Devil " became reversed. 
 Devil is from the old Sanskrit word for the Good 
 Spirit that has come down to us in the Latin Deus 
 and the French Dieu. The word God comes from 
 " Bog " — a demon of the Teutons, who was prayed 
 to because he was evil and greatly feared. They 
 did not pray to the good spirit, as there was no 
 necessity. 
 
 It makes no difference what god or gods one 
 worships, as there are a thousand ways of approach- 
 ing the Holy Soul with divine feeling. Churches 
 were organized as emotional clubs. One religious 
 
352 Geyserland 
 
 creed is good, until extended observations and re- 
 flection supply a better one, unless that religion, 
 like the Roman Catholic, has as a fundamental 
 element the discussion about it a sin. 
 
 With the advance of knowledge, the First Cause, 
 the Divine Spirit, becomes stupendously magni- 
 fied, and although still incomprehensible, is more 
 and more recognizable as the first and only impel- 
 ling force of man's love. 
 
 Let good acts be your prayers, appreciations 
 your laudation, every perfume your incense, every 
 note your Te Deum, every repast your communion, 
 every fellow-being your Son of God, and every 
 poetic thought or pure emotion your portion of 
 the Only Soul. 
 
 Fairmena had stopped her lines of praise. Her 
 thoughts were free and the ethereal soul of Nature 
 was being absorbed by her emotions. Her mind 
 was wandering on in a silent psalm to the Power 
 back of all the causes, when she was made con- 
 scious of a presence near her. 
 
 " What words can a man find for the lost dream 
 of his life? " said Fasho. 
 
 " Obey, be true to yourself, and do your duty, 
 Fasho."' 
 
 '' To obey and to be thus bound and to be thus 
 harnessed ill becomes a man like me. Oh! Fair- 
 mena, is there no other path, can't you refuse this 
 noble mission for me? Love wants all. Love will 
 take nothing but all. Love will give all that love 
 can give." 
 
 Fairmena, who keenly felt that maternity was 
 her mission in life, said, " Fasho, you should not 
 ask me this. I should be a criminal against our race 
 and abhorred by all the people whom you and I 
 
Sacred Spring 353 
 
 respect. You and I would both be wrong." Her 
 pure love of right dominated her. She did not 
 depreciate Fasho's noble nature, but she knew that 
 her offspring would not be worthy of the republic, 
 and her " no " was the final " no " of a high-prin- 
 cipled woman. 
 
 " Then death must end it all, and with some 
 sweet, deadly drug I will hasten to oblivion," he 
 replied. 
 
 "We are always dying, Fasho; each day we lose 
 a part of our life, and we need courage to do our 
 best with what remains. The unlucky blow that 
 made you a cripple was just as severe to me, my 
 dear, and my life will never be the dream of joy 
 I had expected. You and I can ever be adoring 
 friends. Love is adoration, not sensual lust." 
 
 " Destiny is joking; this shall not be!" said he 
 as he approached her. 
 
 "Stop! Help me, Fasho!" cried Fairmena, as 
 his attitude revealed but too distinctly that he 
 wished to embrace her. 
 
 " All that I can be to you, I will be," continued 
 Fairmena, with that intenseness that belongs to 
 firm minds. " Although you have my heart and 
 sympathy, my body is consecrated to the state, and 
 there is only one way in which my duty lies. I 
 would not have solicited this position, but the po- 
 sition called for me, and we understand what that 
 means; my body must be the servant of duty, but 
 my aching heart, my sympathy, my love, are yours, 
 dear Fasho." 
 
 " Oh, Roul!" Fasho groaned. 
 
 " Fasho, you know our laws and how proscribed 
 my privileges are; you have always been the only 
 love of my heart; you will have no reason to be 
 jealous of Roul. — Loving without hope is the 
 
354 Geyserland 
 
 greatest bond we have with the Holy Soul. — The 
 nearest link to the divine and a most ennobling in- 
 fluence." Perilous for her self-control, Fairmena 
 added, " I leave you now, but you, Fasho, will help 
 me. Think, study what you can do for me." 
 
 To conceal her own grief and the passionate 
 throbbings of her heart, she hurriedly walked 
 away from this painful interview, and faded into 
 the darkness without once turning her head. 
 
 When there is perfect sympathy of mind and 
 heart there is inevitably a passionate desire for bod- 
 ily blending. The importance given this feeling 
 has varied in all degrees of culture, but love with- 
 out sympathy is as common to-day among the high- 
 est educated classes as in the slave market of the 
 savage. Love, or that physical function which is 
 gratifying to every perfectly healthy person, when 
 combined with sympathy is the realization of the 
 hope of all intelligent people, but like honor and 
 truth, it is almost chimerical, and those statesmen 
 who reckon without the combination build the best. 
 Around the sympathy of each person is a cir- 
 cle, some narrow and intense like Fasho's love for 
 Fairmena, others wide and comprehensive, like 
 unto a love and interest for all the people of the 
 world. 
 
 Fasho sat down, watching the bubbling waters, 
 lost in thought, when he in turn was interrupted by 
 Adam, who shuffled, bowed, and said: 
 
 " My salutations, Mr. Marshal." 
 
 "What do you want? " asked Fasho curtly. 
 
 " I wish to say that you might forgive the cause 
 of your misfortune if you knew me better. Allow 
 me to put upon your handkerchief this perfume. 
 
Sacred Spring 3^^ 
 
 It was my selection from the olfactory depot this 
 mornmg. I would talk with you." 
 " Go on, lout." 
 
 "Be careful, Fasho; I admit no man my supe- 
 rior. 1 have not been in the habit of being spoken 
 to lightly, and it will be difficult for me to accus- 
 tom myself to it. But I can ill afford to quarrel 
 with my benefactor." 
 
 " You overgrown, loose fish. I want neither 
 love nor pity from an inferior." 
 
 It is observed that Fasho did not adopt the ori- 
 ental method of insulting Adam, by referring to 
 his family, that odious custom now so common in 
 the whole wide world. 
 
 ^ "Now stop, stop right now!" cried Adam. 
 Don t try to browbeat me. I was brought up in 
 England, where that is every man's game. Per- 
 haps I can inform you about some things to your 
 advantage, and your indifference may change to 
 gratitude. Your people for centuries have lived 
 most model lives. You have always been slaves to 
 stern and rigid laws, possibly to cure the result of 
 previous conditions. Now the work is done 
 Ihese traditions may be obstacles to individual 
 treedom. For after a thing gets ripe it gets rotten. 
 Why not adopt such principles as will enable you 
 to enjoy more? Being considerate of others is not 
 the tull standard of man; he must also possess the 
 power of ability to secure his own right and be 
 ready to die rather than be wronged by another 
 1 he only authority that you and I should recognize 
 IS that of the man who can force us to obey. You 
 and I are victims here, and I want a good reason 
 tor not having what I want. You are brave Our 
 great philosopher Plato said, ' Brave men must 
 always have the choice of women.' Women with- 
 
356 Geyserland 
 
 out graces are good enough for ordinary men. You 
 want and you merit the most beautiful woman in 
 the land, and I — I would wish to be my own mas- 
 ter." Then he continued slowly, " This can be ar- 
 ranged. It is an old saying with us that everybody 
 has one chance in the world. I can show you yours, 
 if you will listen. Roul is an absurd successor to 
 you. I would change that. You should have what 
 you want. A woman cannot be valued much by 
 you unless she is worth a display of merit and ef- 
 fort. I can put the opportunity into your hands; 
 for believe me, I can be as crafty as a fox and as 
 industrious as a beaver. You are a born leader of 
 men and should be a father for the race." 
 
 Roused with the national spirit, Fasho inter- 
 rupted him with a contemptuous gesture, saying, 
 " I am satisfied with doing my duty, what else is 
 there to live for? — to be born, to eat, to drink, to 
 sleep, to love, and then die, means nothing. Duty 
 means that I shall be at the post allotted to me, and 
 then I am a factor in the state, some one, and the 
 progressing machine moves onward. I have no 
 desire to sell myself to those who need me for sel- 
 fish motives, nor to claim that to which I have no 
 right. This principle was good enough for those 
 who bred me, and it will suffice for me." 
 
 " Nay," said Adam, who with an Englishman's 
 idea of game and justice believed that when he 
 wanted anything the principle to follow was first 
 to assume that it was his, and then to claim it; sec- 
 ond, to threaten fight, and third, if that failed, to 
 arbitrate. " The man of wisdom should be above 
 laws and creeds; not a slave to, but a master of 
 principles. Remember that eleven dozen and 
 eleven out of every gross should be fellows, but not 
 you, Fasho. You should be a leader. Your peo- 
 
Sacred Spring 357 
 
 pie do not appreciate that it is as natural for peo- 
 ple to have a leader as it is for an animal to have a 
 head. You have no chief here; you're like a flock 
 of sheep without a shepherd. God's will is all 
 right, but this commonweal is not my scheme. And 
 let me call attention to the fact that whatever lives 
 and thrives, is both living and thriving on the loss 
 and the defeat of others. Roul's success came from 
 your fall. Is Fasho to be a thing of the past? I 
 would not allow it; you should risk all to win all, 
 like a hero. You hate cowards; so do I. I am not 
 afraid of the taskmasters. I think I know how to 
 evade them. I will be no man's slave. You would 
 be happier at my home. This is no place for you. 
 You want life, risks, excitement. You would en- 
 joy the chase after property, the daily struggle of 
 making enough earnings to pay for the expenses, 
 and when you get more than you need, you can 
 make others do the work. Life is a great game 
 with us. If you once tasted the reward of your own 
 industry you would never be willing to work for 
 taskmasters or any other masters. You don't want 
 to go through the world like a spirit and not cast a 
 shadow. Wine, wit, and beauty, how can they be 
 divided by any communistic system? We have no 
 commonweal. The strong on top, the weak to the 
 wall. The lazy, weak, starving, and sick die. 
 That is liberty. Your limited child-bearing is 
 nonsense! Say the word, and your friends the 
 guards, the power of the land, are yours, and Fair- 
 mena, whom you want, shall be yours." 
 
 " Stop, you creeping thing! Away! Begone! 
 Such words to me, a man of noble feelings! Cos- 
 mos from yon azure blue may influence me, but 
 not such a despicable creature as you! " 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 DISSOLUTION HOUSE — PENOLOGY 
 
 " Very many wrongdoers, especially when the wrongdoing is per- 
 mitted by a whole class, are wrongdoers only through force of circum- 
 stances. Try to remove the cause of their wrongdoing, but do not 
 cultivate toward them a spirit of raucous hatred, which in the end 
 will react most surely upon ourselves." — Theodore Roosevelt. 
 
 " Men, by doing nothing, soon learn to do mischief." — Cato. ^ 
 
 Adam Mann's fault-finding and seditious talk 
 had been fully reported to Saso, who was foreman 
 of the social gross or " family group " in which 
 Adam had been enrolled. Saso was naturally in- 
 terested in the general behavior of this exotic and 
 eccentric member of his followers. He liked him. 
 Eccentricity of character and the spirit of individ- 
 uality were encouraged in Geyserland. Original 
 characters, like social or intellectual scouts, often 
 bring into camp new information and improved 
 methods. 
 
 Adam's experience at the hospital on his arrival 
 had been a pleasant one, so he promptly and cheer- 
 fully reported to a summons there from Saso. 
 
 " It has been reported to me, Adam, that you are 
 studying the good and bad points of our culture. 
 I have sent for you to show you the methods we 
 have for stopping crimes and vices. The practice 
 of treating them as a physical disorder is an old 
 custom with us, because knowledge, by explaining 
 the cause, has turned our condemnation into pity, 
 our vindictiveness into expediency." 
 
 Then Adam, with his cool. County Kent, stolid, 
 indifferent manner, replied, " I should like to see 
 your methods, as I am interested in such details." 
 
 358 
 
Dissolution House 359 
 
 He soon discovered that he was on the dread 
 threshold of death, but was relieved to learn that 
 there was no torture, and was astonished that he 
 had not previously heard about the Dissolution 
 House and the methods used there. These matters 
 were never flaunted in the public eye; there was no 
 attempt to gratify the morbid curiosity of the 
 masses. He now realized that there was a hor- 
 rible quiet about this retreat, and that an uncanny 
 atmosphere of death pervaded the place. 
 
 " Expediency will clear the way for good and 
 bad, but a noble feeling is essential for an appre- 
 ciation of right and wrong," continued Saso. 
 " Therefore, force must rule the world until right 
 is ready. All who come here are prisoners. We 
 have two classes, those with hope and those who 
 are doomed. The people outside are allowed to 
 know in which class their friends are — that is all. 
 The doctors are responsible to no one." 
 
 " It is about the same with us," interrupted 
 Adam. 
 
 " Listen," Saso resumed, " and I will tell you the 
 story of our Inspector Donis. A dozen years ago, 
 when he was a handsome young guardsman, one of 
 his duties was to patrol outlying districts. In one 
 of these there lived an attractive young woman. It 
 was his right and privilege to ask for another 
 guardsman to accompany him in this delicate mis- 
 sion, but he laughed at the idea of having others 
 to assist him, thinking that his sense of duty was 
 strong enough to resist any temptations. The vio- 
 lent passion with which this beautiful young 
 woman inspired him, however, so completely mas- 
 tered him that in spite of all his moral discipline 
 he lost his self-control. According to our ethics, 
 Donis had the right of persuasion to make the fair 
 
360 Geyserland 
 
 charmer prefer him to her erstwhile lover. But 
 the lustful Donis, overwhelmed with carnal desire, 
 madly killed the object of his jealousy. Then with 
 the noble humiliation of a conscience-stricken man, 
 filled with shame and grief, he acknowledged that 
 his sensual passions had gotten beyond his control, 
 and with superb manliness he submitted to the sur- 
 geon's knife. Where philosophy fails to restrain 
 the overpassionate, the surgeon's knife can annihi- 
 late the desire. Since then the emasculated Donis 
 has performed his duties with perfect gentleness. 
 Our race has been as much improved since our 
 surgeons have dared to use the knife, as the rose- 
 bush and the vine whose unworthy branches have 
 been nipped have been benefited and developed by 
 the horticulturists." 
 
 "That is a great deal of authority to put at the 
 discretion of a few elders," remarked Adam. 
 
 " True, but it is seldom abused. People do not 
 come to the hospital unless they are commanded to 
 do so by those who know all about them." 
 
 Smilingly, Adam ignored this thrust, and with 
 characteristic nerve said, " With you, people have 
 to be told they are ill. With us, the prevalence of 
 morbid introspection sends thousands to our hos- 
 pitals with imaginary ailments." 
 
 " Very curious. And speaking of that, let me 
 ask how people with you would be treated for sedi- 
 tion and treason?" 
 
 Adam winced — an icy chill crept down his spine. 
 But he was truly brave. His heart throbbed with 
 English blood, the blood that knows danger, and 
 doesn't quail. " It is considered the duty of every 
 Englishman to criticise and, if necessary, ridicule 
 all methods or administration of the government," 
 he calmly replied. 
 
Dissolution House 361 
 
 " You are dodging the question," said Saso. 
 " There is a difference between unshackled criti- 
 cism and treason. If you found one servant inter- 
 fering with another doing his or her work, what 
 would be done with him? " 
 
 " He would be fined a small amount of money, 
 or be imprisoned for a short time," said Adam. 
 
 " I should think that such a system would in- 
 crease and develop into large proportions. Your 
 prisons must have vast capacities and be a great 
 drain upon the resources of the community. It is 
 odd that you should punish an ef^fect, instead of 
 correcting a cause; for all punishments should be 
 for the enlargement and not for the curtailing of 
 the benefits of the community. With us, should 
 the elders become convinced that a person is dan- 
 gerously seditious, he would come here and obliv- 
 ion would be his end. Friends in his social gross 
 would know his fate when a child from the nursery 
 was added to their gross." 
 
 "You should have a habeas corpus law here," 
 said Adam. " Your methods are cruel, because 
 you do not allow one to prepare for death." 
 
 " What do you mean by being prepared to die? " 
 said Saso. 
 
 " Being prepared to die is to agree to believe a 
 creed which permits one to escape a future hell 
 and to enjoy everlasting bliss in heaven." 
 
 "Bosh! Death means dust. Do not affect be- 
 liefs which we know are not true. You should 
 think more about living and less about dying. It 
 is quite enough to have a disposition to perform 
 good actions in this world, without looking for- 
 ward to doing foolish actions in another. Live 
 every day to judge and cherish the memory of the 
 past. Don't speculate on future judgment; let 
 
362 Geyserland 
 
 every vibration of your thoughts mean ' judgment ' 
 to you. We have no malice, no cruelty, no torture, 
 because we recognize that with all crimes there are 
 extenuating circumstances; but, as public security 
 is of the first importance, an individual's existence 
 cannot be considered, so measures must be taken to 
 prevent crimes. Mark you! those placed in charge 
 of the people's freedom must be as firm as the dis- 
 ciplinarians of the despot. What is not suitable is 
 returned to dust. The sanctity of human life must 
 be established on the value of the usefulness of that 
 life to the community. Our practices are very sim- 
 ple and work perfectly." 
 
 PENOLOGY 
 
 Severe punishments are more for the prevention 
 of repetition of crimes than for revenge. A horse 
 thief is hanged because he generally steals the fleet- 
 est horse and is hard to catch. Noah cursed Ham, 
 that others should not make sport of him when he 
 was drunk. Troy was destroyed that princesses 
 should not be abducted. The invincible Achilles 
 would not continue to fight because he believed 
 kings should respect the mistresses of their follow- 
 ers. The primitive law of revenge was to punish 
 the guilty person, with this modification, when it 
 was difficult to find the culprit, vengeance could 
 be visited upon his kin to the seventh degree. In 
 this way families became keenly interested in the 
 hasty acts of their relations, and would often give 
 up the real offender to be made an example of. 
 The second stage was to compensate the kin of the 
 injured party, but slowly it was recognized by the 
 tribe that these compensations weakened the tribe, 
 therefore vengeance took its third form, that of a 
 
Dissolution House 363 
 
 fine paid to the community; lastly, vengeance took 
 the noble form of pity, and the people safeguarded 
 themselves by scientific means. To-day the popu- 
 lar love of justice and hatred of cruelty have ban- 
 ished vengeance from all large minds, and it is 
 disappearing with advancing culture. 
 
 It has only been in the last hundred years that 
 penology has been treated as a science. All sav- 
 ages and barbarians were either free or slaves; 
 there was no intermediate condition. There was 
 little distinction between the captive of war and 
 the refractory or the debtor at home. In every 
 case the slave lost his civil rights. It is interesting 
 to note the contrasting opinions of conditions at 
 different epochs. The deplorable, wretched gal- 
 ley-slave evolved from the honorable recruits of 
 ancient times, such as the volunteer companions of 
 Jason seeking for the Golden Fleece, and the 
 companions of Ulysses touring the Mediterranean 
 on a " yachting trip." The sanctuary where crim- 
 inals claimed their liberty on account of joining the 
 clergy prevailed in England until the time of Will- 
 iam and Mary. 
 
 In the early historic days the three incentives 
 for taking a tribesman's life by those who con- 
 trolled the tribe were: 
 
 ist, atonement, to propitiate the anger of the 
 gods. 
 
 2d, retaliation and vengeance. Retaliation, a 
 commercial expedient for getting even — " an eye 
 for an eye " or " a tooth for a tooth." Vengeance 
 — retaliation with compound interest. " Seven- 
 fold vengeance shall be taken for Cain, but for 
 Lamech seventy times seven-fold." 
 
 3d, menace, the penalty of death, a precaution- 
 
364 Geyserland 
 
 ary threat to possible evildoers who may thus be 
 deterred from endeavoring to perpetrate their 
 folly. In old Mexico they combined the sacrifice 
 and the menace. Their god Ruitzilopochth had to 
 be propitiated with two hundred healthy young 
 men and women each year. Therefore the agents 
 of the priests bought where they could buy the 
 cheapest. The lazy slave was the cheapest healthy 
 one. These two hundred healthy victims were 
 securely manacled, and had their hearts cut out 
 while living. 
 
 The menace is the feature that interests the mod- 
 ern student of penology. The most noticeable 
 difference between philosophy and religion is, that 
 philosophy promotes virtue and happiness, whereas 
 religion menaces sin and vice. Penology should 
 learn a lesson from each. The tyrant's ideas that 
 the most ferocious chastisement is the most certain 
 preventive of repetition, it is now generally ad- 
 mitted, can be replaced by the more humane 
 method of depriving those lacking self-control of 
 the power to repeat their crimes. 
 
 If the severity of the penalty depends upon the 
 moral responsibility of the criminal, we should find 
 extenuating conditions with every ferocious crim- 
 inal. Experience has shown that it is more just to 
 have a criminal punished by a magistrate than by 
 the party ofifended. The voice of the noblest ele- 
 ment of humanity has protested and will protest 
 against all unnecessary cruelty. The state must 
 study the causes of the assassin's lack of moral 
 responsibility which can be found on the following 
 lines: birth, the inheritance of vicious tendencies; 
 environment, bad companions and bad examples 
 from infancy; education, the lack of that nurture 
 
Dissolution House 365 
 
 which ennobles and persuades one to make for 
 human usefulness. 
 
 Punishments have taken one or more of the fol- 
 lowing forms: death, torture, mutilation, exile, 
 confiscation of property, imprisonment, slavery, 
 degradation, shaming or making ridiculous. Be- 
 ing stoned to death was probably the most primi- 
 tive method of the community's doing away with 
 its malefactors. Other methods followed were 
 throwing to the beasts by the Assyrians, being 
 thrown from the wall by the Babylonians, decapi- 
 tation by the Egyptians, and burning in a fiery fur- 
 nace by the worshipers of Baal, or in a wicker cylin- 
 der by the Druids. Crucifixion, which evolved 
 from the custom of tying malefactors to trees in 
 forests, to die a lingering death, is of unguess- 
 able antiquity. Alexander crucified thousands of 
 the stubborn defenders of Tyre for miles along 
 the captured sea-shore. The cross was always the 
 scepter that threatened the idle or refractory slave. 
 Six thousand of the followers of Spartacus were 
 crucified on the highways of Italy as a warning to 
 other slaves. In Egypt the criminals and those 
 taken in war were bound in fetters and compelled 
 to work night and day guarded by foreign soldiers 
 who did not speak their language. In the time of 
 Henry VIII. it is reputed that seventy-two thou- 
 sand criminals were burned at the stake or sent to 
 the gallows. In Queen Elizabeth's reign it was 
 almost as bad. No one's life was safe in the out- 
 lying districts, which almost justifies the anarchists' 
 tenet: "A community without police can best 
 take care of itself." Hanging as a popular capital 
 punishment is comparatively modern, and it is a 
 very soothing reflection for those who love human- 
 
366 Geyserland 
 
 ity to know that when hanging was suggested to 
 Constantine, he was horrified, and considered it too 
 terrible even for a slave. Nature be praised! 
 Mankind does not approve of such cruelties as it is 
 not familiar with. Fasting was the church's orig- 
 inal earthly punishment for sin. However, when 
 the church gained power and became avaricious, 
 the wealthy penitents were permitted to commute 
 their fasting by almsgiving, which was practically 
 paying fines. (" Fredum," being the German for 
 " fine," was probably the origin of our word free- 
 dom, a privilege the destitute were denied.) Life- 
 long imprisonment and death have both proven 
 quite ineffectual for the prevention of crime. In 
 fact, statistics show that in various parts of Europe, 
 as well as in many parts of the United States, the 
 abolition of the death penalty has provisionally in 
 some, absolutely in others, greatly decreased the 
 percentage of these crimes. 
 
 The priests of Cybele were eunuchs. The myth 
 informs us that because the inconstant Atys's love 
 for Cybele was not sufficiently strong to control his 
 love for the daughter of the River Sangarus, he 
 was struck with vertigo; therefore, he, in a re- 
 pentent mood, mutilated himself in order that he 
 might never be false again. Later, all the priests 
 of Cybele did the same in her honor. The dancing 
 dervishes of to-day get the swinging movements 
 from these ancient priests of Cybele, who thus ex- 
 posed their mutilated condition. 
 
 The advantages of having impotent men not 
 only for chamberlains and keepers of the royal 
 bedrooms, but also for general household work, 
 became apparent to those in power long before the 
 dawn of history. The number of men who were 
 by nature without organs of generation was not 
 
Dissolution House 367 
 
 large enough to supply the demand; therefore, 
 many of the slave children were castrated and 
 many freemen mutilated their own children, as 
 the advantage of the intimacy a eunuch had in 
 the royal household materially advanced his career 
 in life. In India if a base-born native had inter- 
 course with a twice-born woman, he lost his prop- 
 erty and was castrated. Henry I. of England 
 ordered all counterfeiters to have their hands cut 
 off and also to lose their manhood. In the same 
 century the Bishop and all the Chapter of Seez 
 were castrated because of some offense given to the 
 Duke of Normandy, " who deprived them of a 
 superfluous treasure, since they had already vowed 
 chastity." Prisoners of war have frequently been 
 mutilated; the victorious Mahdi, in 1892, castrated 
 one in every ten of the Italian soldiers before lib- 
 erating them. 
 
 The mortification of the degradation of castra- 
 tion is not so great as is generally supposed, because 
 there have been many eminent eunuchs. Waiving 
 the legends of distinguished eunuchs in ancient 
 times, in modern times we have, besides, many un- 
 authenticated cases, such authentic and well-known 
 examples as Origen, Narses, Abelard, the second 
 Duke of Wellington, John Randolph of Roanoke, 
 John Ruskin, and Albert Wolfe. 
 
 Whereas neither death nor imprisonment for life 
 has proved an efficient precaution for the preven- 
 tion of vice, it is apparent that some other method 
 must be used. Experience in Geyserland had 
 evolved a system for eradicating the violent, uncon- 
 trollable passions of women and men, and the 
 remedy went as deep as the complaint. This sys- 
 tern was motherhood for women and castration for 
 men. 
 
368 Geyserland 
 
 It has been observed that where man's tempera- 
 ment is benefited by castration, the temperament of 
 women in general has not been benefited by ovari- 
 otomy, but has been by motherhood. All horsemen 
 know that a mare that is peevish and intractable 
 can be cured or much benefited by allowing her 
 to have a colt. However, for women of abnormal 
 tendencies ovariotomy has proved the only effi- 
 cacious treatment. Dr. Kerlin, in speaking of a 
 young woman who had had her ovaries removed, 
 said, " When I consider the great benefit that this 
 young woman has received, the entire arrest of an 
 epileptic tendency, as well as the removal of inor- 
 dinate desires which made her an offense to the 
 community; when I see the tranquil, well-ordered 
 life she is leading, her usefulness and industry in 
 the circle in which she moves, and know that sur- 
 gery has been her salvation from vice and degra- 
 dation, I am deeply grateful." 
 
 As regards castration, the subject has been well 
 considered bv Surgeon-General William A. Ham- 
 mond and Henry M. Boies, authorities whose ar- 
 ticles remain unchallenged. Says Dr. Hammond: 
 
 " My object is simply to show that castration would be more 
 deterrent than capital punishment ; that it would tend to make 
 the criminal a useful member of society ; that it would be a 
 powerful factor, probably the most powerful at our command, 
 in so altering his mental organization as to remove him from 
 the category of the criminal class, and, what is perhaps a point 
 of still greater importance, would effectually prevent the propa- 
 gation of criminals. 
 
 " First. The probable deterrent effect of castration as com- 
 pared with that of capital punishment. 
 
 " I think most physicians will agree with me in the assertion 
 that man places greater value upon his generative powers than 
 he does upon his life, and this in a great measure independent 
 of any desire he may have for sexual intercourse. He knows 
 
Dissolution House 369 
 
 that he would be regarded with abhorrence or contempt by his 
 associates as a being who has lost his manhood, and who is, 
 therefore, unfit for further association. ... I have put 
 the question several times to criminals under sentence of death 
 whether, if the opportunity were offered them to make a choice, 
 they would not prefer castration to the gallows, and there has 
 been but the one response — that they would rather hang than 
 be deprived of their testicles. It would be a continuing punish- 
 ment, and hence in accordance with the views of Beccaria, who 
 says, ' It is not the intenseness of the pain that has the greatest 
 efifect on the mind, but its continuance; for our sensibility is 
 more easily and more powerfully affected by weak but re- 
 peated impressions, than by a violent but momentary impulse.' 
 
 " Second. Castration would have the effect of making the 
 criminal a useful member of society. A dead man is of no use 
 to the public. A castrated man could be employed in a variety 
 of ways for the benefit of himself, his family, and society at 
 large. There is no reason why he would not make a good 
 clergyman. He could edit a mild kind of newspaper or periodi- 
 cal, and might even make a tolerably efficient member of a 
 legislative body. As a nurse in the sick-room or for children, 
 and as a domestic servant he would be preeminently useful. 
 Indeed, the avocations that he could pursue with advantage to 
 himself and the public are sufficiently numerous, so that I think 
 it may safely be asserted that society would be the gainer by the 
 substitution of castration for capital punishment. 
 
 " Third. Castration is a powerful factor, probably the most 
 powerful agent at our command in so altering the mental or- 
 ganization of the wrongdoer as to remove him from the cate- 
 gory of the criminal class, and certainly to prevent acts of 
 violence in contradiction of the law. The subjects become 
 amenable to discipline, obedient to law, and absolutely indis- 
 posed to acts of violence. Now, castration effects such a notable 
 change in the men upon whom it is performed that this great 
 alteration can only be accounted for on the hypothesis that it 
 has produced a profound modification of the brain structure, 
 and this to such an extent as to remove the subject of the 
 operation from the criminal class, and to place him in such a 
 condition that great crimes and misdemeanors are entirely be- 
 yond his desire or capacity. Thus it is more powerful as a 
 reformatory power than all the teachings and examples that 
 sociology can offer. 
 
 " Fourth. As a means for preventing the propagation of 
 
370 Geyserland 
 
 criminals, castration is as effectual as death itself, while it has 
 many advantages over this agency. It ought to be no difficult 
 matter to convince the law-making powers that in castration 
 they have not only a method of preventing crimes, but one which 
 would in time utterly abolish such a part of society as a criminal 
 class, while the humanitarian could console himself with the 
 idea that both these important ends were being effected without 
 the sacrifice of life." 
 
 Mr. Henry M. Boies says in " Prisoners and 
 Paupers ": 
 
 " By carefully providing for its degenerates and abnormals in 
 comfortable prisons, asylums and almhouses, giving them the 
 advantages of the highest knowledge and science of living, 
 society unwittingly aggravates the evil it seeks to alleviate. It 
 maintains alive those who would perish without its aid. It 
 permits their reproduction and multiplication. It fosters, with 
 more attention than it gives its better types, the establishment 
 and increase of an abnormal and defective class. It not only 
 perpetuates by care, but encourages, by permitting unrestricted 
 ' breeding in ' among them, the unnatural spread and growth 
 of a social gangrene of fatal tendencies. It is assuming op- 
 pressive and alarming proportions, which begin to be felt in 
 the whole social organization. In terror our advancing civiliza- 
 tion begins to inquire if there be no way of counteraction con- 
 sistent with its highest benevolence, by which this abnormality 
 of abnormalism may be avoided, criminality and pauperism re- 
 stored to natural proportions, or to that ratio of increase which 
 may be the inevitable result of ignorance and excess in living. 
 
 " We believe that the progress of medical and surgical science 
 has opened up such a way entirely practicable ; humanitarian in 
 the highest sense, unobjectionable except upon grounds of an 
 absurd and irrational sentiment. The discoveries in the use of 
 anesthetics and antiseptics have rendered it possible to remove or 
 sterilize the organs of reproduction of both sexes without pain 
 or danger. This is the simplest, easiest and most effectual solu- 
 tion of the whole difficulty. . . . Such a removal would be a 
 positive benefit to the abnormal rather than a deprivation ; rather 
 a kindness than an injury. This operation bestowed upon the 
 abnormal inmates of our prisons, reformatories, jails, asylums, 
 and public institutions would entirely eradicate those unspeak- 
 
Dissolution House 371 
 
 able evil practices which are so terribly prevalent, debasing, de- 
 structive, and uncontrollable in them. It would confer upon 
 the inmates health and strength for weakness and impotence, 
 satisfaction and comfort for discontent and insatiable desire. 
 
 " The abnormal does not want children, has no affection for 
 them, and gets rid of them as soon as possible if they come. 
 If this were not so, their offspring, being abnormal, weak, 
 sickly, diseased, deformed, idiotic, insane or criminal, doomed 
 to a burdensome and suffering existence or an early death, are 
 a curse rather than a comfort to their parents ; so that in no 
 sense could the deprivation of these organs inflict injury or 
 damage to criminal or pauper. On the contrary, they would be 
 enabled thereby to enjoy many comforts and privileges, and be 
 relieved from many restraints at present necessarily imposed 
 upon them. The range of their enjoyments would, in fact, be 
 greatly enlarged, both in confinement and at liberty. Many 
 indeed might be allowed freedom who are now closely confined. 
 
 " The remedy we suggest would certainly be effectual of an 
 immeasurable benefit to the human race, the exercise of an 
 inherent right which really injures none, and, moreover, it ap- 
 pears to have become an imperative duty which society owes to 
 its own preservation, which may not be neglected without actual 
 sin. 
 
 Society arrests and confines the leper, the victim of small- 
 pox, yellow fever, cholera, or typhoid, and treats them accord- 
 ing to its own will, with or against their consent. It does not 
 hesitate to remove a gangrened limb, a diseased organ from the 
 person, if it is necessary ; it shuts up the insane, the imbecile, 
 the criminal, for the public protection ; it inflicts punishment of 
 various degrees; compels men to labor without pay, for its 
 good, in durance ; even deprives them of life if it pleases, as- 
 sumes arbitrary control of the life, liberty, and happiness of an 
 individual, if it considers it necessary for the public welfare; 
 and no reasonable being questions its right or duty to do these 
 things. At the same time it allows its deformed and diseased 
 in mind, body and soul to disseminate social leprosy and can- 
 cer with impunity, while the skill of its surgeons could prevent 
 the infection by an operation almost as simple as vaccination. 
 It seems inexplicable that the remedy should have been so long 
 delayed." 
 
 Ernst Haeckel was educated for a physician, but 
 after practicing medicine for a short time, deter- 
 
372 Geyserland 
 
 mined that the healthy rather than the unhealthy 
 interested him. He perceived that the world's 
 riddles were not to be worked out by degenerates, 
 and that the care of degenerates was questionable 
 philanthropy. He believes the dissolution of a de- 
 generate '' no calamity to either himself, the state, 
 or the race." 
 
 The merit of mutual aid ends when the perpet- 
 uating of uselessness begins. Sir John Lubbock 
 describes this well in " Ants and Bees." A slightly 
 wounded ant is cared for, whereas a badly 
 wounded one is ignored and left to die by the way- 
 side. Kropotkin illustrates the same idea with 
 crows in his chapter of " Mutual Aid among Ani- 
 mals and Birds." The North American redskins 
 were never annoyed by the aged and infirm. 
 
 As Culture advanced in Geyserland they adopted 
 new standards for the stages at which people should 
 be condemned, and when any one's infirmities or 
 afflictions exceeded that standard they were con- 
 sidered as unjustly occupying a place that ration- 
 ally belonged to another. When one compares 
 the methods of civilization — the misery of the old, 
 sick, crippled, blind and insane, the keeping people 
 alive— to the Geyserland method of peacefully 
 wafting away the old and helpless, during a nar- 
 cotic slumber, and also their unparalleled precau- 
 tions to have only such born as would benefit man- 
 kind, one must not be too hasty in one's judgment. 
 We agree with Lecky, who wrote, "We ourselves 
 are surprised that the conscience of the world has 
 so long been reconciled to the prevailing cruelties." 
 It is safe to assume that those who will censure 
 these practices in Geyserland as being uncivilized 
 
Dissolution House 373 
 
 and cruel because the value of human life and hu- 
 man soul was so little considered, would read of 
 the great European wars, plagues, and famines 
 calmly — without a shudder. 
 
 The greatest right of a living man is to live; 
 next to that is, to die. The privilege of dying by 
 one's own act has been universal except in Chris- 
 tendom. Suicides should be restrained, but sui- 
 cide should not be made impossible. Could there 
 be any more terrible nightmare than realizing the 
 condition of a wealthy maniac in one of our asy- 
 lums seeking to die, bound in a strait-jacket 
 and preserved for the profit and vanity of his 
 keepers, — food for parasites, — or a victim of the 
 misplaced mercy of the maudlin philanthropist 
 who would but does not know how to do the right? 
 
 Whether by intention or accident, as Adam was 
 leaving the hospital in the gray darkness of the 
 Arctic winter, several guardsmen entered leading 
 a demented old woman. The poor creature had 
 been celebrated in her youth for her excesses; but 
 nerves like india rubber do not improve with over- 
 use, and her mind was broken. Like a withered 
 apple clinging to the tree, she was useless to her- 
 self and every one else. 
 
 Saso, after a few odd signs to the others, quickly 
 motioned Adam to accompany him with the 
 guards. The whispered caution, " Silence," was 
 unnecessary — Adam's mouth was parched. The 
 party was received by a woman of middle age, 
 with a pleasing face. She signed the papers 
 for the guard and dismissed him. The demented 
 woman was taken by her assistants to a room where 
 they administered an anesthetic, and she became 
 quiet. In thirty seconds she was dead. In two 
 
374 Geyserland 
 
 hours, with the idea to hasten Nature's wishes, her 
 flesh and bones were by some chemical process 
 reduced to a pulp, ready to be returned to Mother 
 Earth again. There were no graveyards in Gey- 
 serland. This was like the common mummies of 
 Egypt being shipped to England by the ton to be 
 ground up into fertilizer for English market- 
 gardens. What was done in Geyserland in thirty 
 seconds was done by England after thirty centuries. 
 Ethically the conditions were the same. This may 
 be a disagreeable idea, but no more repulsive than 
 the thought of your friend who died years ago now 
 being eaten by maggots and worms. 
 
 There were no ghoulish funerals or graveyards 
 in Geyserland. The custom of putting our dead 
 into cofiins and embalming them has come down 
 to us from the Egyptians, who, according to 
 Herodotus, believed that the souls stayed with the 
 body until the body was completely decayed, and 
 then it began a circuit of transmigration through 
 many species of animals, which lasted 3000 years 
 and then again entered the body of a mortal. The 
 Egyptians sought to delay this decay for thousands 
 of years by preserving the body. 
 
 The silent and solemn performance unquestion- 
 ably impressed Adam, and his musings were not 
 of the happiest as he returned to his bower; but 
 he was brave, and while appreciating his danger, 
 could look it in the face. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 EVRONA'S daily life — LORK AND EVRONA — 
 
 MODESTY 
 
 " The philosopher lives on the lining of his stomach. The rich man 
 on the lining of his purse." 
 
 " People by increasing their wants elevate their tastes." 
 
 The general assumption that communistic life 
 is monotonous would seem to be denied by Adam's 
 notes, disconnected though they were, on the rou- 
 tine life in Geyserland. The art of living, when 
 highly developed, is evidence of an advanced cul- 
 ture. It permits all varieties of comforts, yet is 
 free from conventionalities; possesses luxuries, 
 without waste, these combined with well chosen, 
 beautiful accessories inspired by the spirit to please 
 others. 
 
 To give an idea of the daily life in Geyserland, 
 we must state that each adult had a bower or home, 
 and from Adam's intimacy with Evrona it is safe 
 to assume that his descriptions refer to her abode. 
 The only title a Geyserlander had to his " bower " 
 was that which came from the periodical casting 
 of lots. This is noticeably different from our 
 methods of homestead titles. The title that is 
 recognized as the best in civilization is the one 
 the record of which dates back without a flaw to 
 the original thief. 
 
 It is difficult to compare bower life in Geyser- 
 land with our home life in civilization, because 
 there were no families and no household indus- 
 tries. Communal depots furnished all necessities 
 
 375 
 
376 Geyserland 
 
 and also such accessories as the tastes of the occu- 
 pants suggested, or a satisfactory reason was given 
 for the refusal. The part played by electricity in 
 Geyserland was perhaps like that played by 
 " vril " in the " Coming Race " of Bulwer, and 
 was beyond the ken of Adam; but his mention of 
 bowers receiving from a central plant light, heat, 
 hot and cold water, music, classified information, 
 and current topics is readily understood by us. 
 Food was supplied by public cookeries. They 
 used grill-rooms, and probably like the Spartans 
 they formed groups into which no one might in- 
 trude, unless by unanimous consent.* 
 
 No one has the right to be unhealthy. The state 
 should prohibit the possibility of such a condition. t 
 
 The Council of Doctors in Geyserland exercised 
 a general supervision over the diet of the inhabi- 
 tants; besides grapes for wines, they cultivated figs, 
 pomegranates, apricots, peaches, oranges, citrons, 
 lemons, limes, apples, pears, bananas, and melons 
 of all varieties. All the vegetables known to us 
 appear to have been known also to them. The 
 butchering was under the exclusive care of the 
 
 * Repasts, and the hours of eating thenn, have varied in all times and 
 countries. 
 
 " To rise at five, to dine at nine. 
 To sup at five, to bed at nine. 
 Makes a man live to ninety-nine." 
 
 — An Old English Proverb." 
 Queen Elizabeth dined at ten A. M., Queen Victoria at ten p. m., and the 
 independent North American Indian ate when hungry, and if so inclined 
 got up in the middle of the night, cut a piece of venison, cooked, and ate 
 it alone. 
 
 A man's hunger seldom lasts over fifteen minutes, and he, realizing 
 that later he will not enjoy his food, often becomes impatient, and 
 acquires the name of being ill-natured. The story of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Jack Spratt makes a pretty rhyme, but theirs must have been an imprac- 
 ticable household. We prefer the anecdote of the old lady who before 
 engaging a cook ascertained that their tastes were the same. 
 
 t Malaria used to kill fifteen thousand persons a year in Italy. In 
 1902 state quinine was introduced, and last year the mortality fell to 
 7835- 
 
Evrona's Daily Life 377 
 
 doctors. The animals which were selected for 
 food, their previous fattening, their merciful death 
 and economic distribution were marvels of meth- 
 odical attention. The sanitary arrangements in 
 Geyserland were similar to those used in ancient 
 Rome and modern China. The abhorrence of 
 waste seemed always to be a dominant principle. 
 
 The routine of Evrona's day began with her 
 bath in the morning, followed by physical-culture 
 exercises, then, with some of her social group, she 
 breakfasted. After the morning repast, in her 
 working costume, she reported to the guild of 
 woolen workers, who had entire charge of the 
 cloth garments of all the individuals of the island, 
 irrespective of their gross. The guild carded, 
 spun, made, decorated, distributed, mended and 
 cleaned all the woolen garments of the inhabitants. 
 
 In spite of the fact that the scientific and inven- 
 tive talent of Geyserland was directed more toward 
 the elimination of unhappy and disagreeable work 
 than toward the introduction of labor-saving de- 
 vices, the hours of labor were few, because all 
 the adults worked. In Evrona's case her stint of 
 useful work was finished early in the day, and then 
 she and her co-workers, in different groups, had 
 their mid-day cheer, followed by a few hours of 
 unrestricted leisure. She often went to the Tem- 
 ple of Hearing, where she was sure to find musi- 
 cians, and enjoyed the best of music. The study 
 of the fine arts and music is essential, because such 
 study is generally accompanied by interest, and 
 the student acquires many of the finest character- 
 istics of a strong nature, such as patience, diligence, 
 perseverance, originality, self-control, and consid- 
 eration for others. As Evrona had been detailed 
 with others to give spectacular performances in 
 
37^ Geyserland 
 
 the evenings, she visited the gymnasium or Temple 
 of Health, where experts coached her in graceful 
 movements and attractive tricks of dancing. 
 
 Athens encouraged the drama. Rome forbade 
 it unless associated with the worship of the gods. 
 Torturing seems the lowest type of popular spec- 
 tacle, and the drama can well be called the high- 
 est. Burke said that there was no orator in the 
 House of Commons " who did not owe something 
 of his skill to the acting of Garrick." To condemn 
 a higher order of amusement means to open the 
 doors for the idle public to lower orders of diver- 
 sions. The gladiatorial shows which were a bid 
 for popular favor, were very degrading, whereas 
 the Olympian games were founded on a desire to 
 develop, and they succeeded in developing the 
 highest culture the world has ever known. 
 
 In Geyserland the performances were varied 
 as the seasons changed, by comic lectures, feats of 
 athletics, frolics, or some general entertainment; 
 for the health-loving Geyserlanders cared just as 
 much for their contests and games as we do. They 
 kept records for running, leaping, jumping, box- 
 ing, wrestling, archery, lifting, throwing heavy 
 or light articles, and, to their credit, the only re- 
 wards were the commendation of the people and 
 the hope of a better record to be inscribed on the 
 copper tablets. 
 
 Every one anticipates his reward in a specific 
 form. A Spartan preferred a sprig of laurel to 
 a handful of gold. These joyful, childlike games 
 of Geyserland were in harmony with their general 
 thoughts and habits of good-fellowship. There 
 were brave, adventurous guardsmen detailed to 
 
Evrona's Daily Life 379 
 
 kill obnoxious beasts, but there were no sportsmen 
 whose happiness was cruelly derived from the ex- 
 citement of killing big game. Such sport is a re- 
 turn of our idle class to the hunting stage of our 
 savage ancestors; it is a sad case of atavism, re- 
 sembling the domesticated dog which, although 
 well fed regularly, uselessly hides his superfluous 
 bone, an instinctive habit that is an echo of his 
 ancient days of want. Fun and frolic are natural, 
 and a balance to our unavoidable sorrows. Sir 
 John Lubbock has written that ants wrestle, play 
 hide and seek, and other games that in no way 
 have a sexual significance. 
 
 Like the inhabitants of the Nile, who sleep 
 in their huts, but cook and practically live out- 
 side of them, the Geyserlanders loved the 
 great air, and when enjoying games or aquatic 
 sports their costumes were remarkably scanty. 
 " Naked and not ashamed " was the primitive 
 state, and it is doubtful if culture has im- 
 proved any race by so-called respectable clothing. 
 " Naked " in this sense does not mean nude, but 
 one without superfluous garments. Clothes are 
 auxiliary skins, either for protection against the 
 elements, to equalize personal appearance, or to 
 discriminate social, political, and military caste. 
 In Geyserland the amply draped matrons made a 
 marked contrast to the apparently unconscious lack 
 of covering of the others during the sports. 
 
 All who have read the unexpurgated edition of 
 Burton's " Arabian Nights " must recognize that 
 the frank, unconscious immodesty of the Eastern 
 women must shock the etiquette of the women of 
 the West. On the other hand, the bold customs 
 of the West are incomprehensible to the cloistered 
 women of the East. Just as strong a contrast is 
 
380 Geyserland 
 
 seen where in the East people cover their heads 
 and take ofif their shoes, in the West they polish 
 their shoes and uncover their heads. We believe 
 the prudish concealment of charms, whether men- 
 tal or physical, has been the direct cause of thou- 
 sands of wasted lives, thousands of sad " wall 
 flowers " victims of useless hypocritical laws of 
 dignity and decorum. Certainly perverted lives 
 are wasted ones. The native women of Orinoco 
 refused to cover themselves " because it caused 
 them shame." The attendants of the nobility in 
 early Egyptian festivals, as seen on bas-reliefs, 
 wear only a girdle about their hips. Montaigne 
 (1580) observed, " 1 know not who would ask a 
 beggar, whom he should see in his shirt in the depth 
 of winter, as brisk and frolick, as he goes muffled 
 up to the ears in furs, how is he able to endure to 
 go so? Why, sir, he might answer, you go with 
 your face bare, and I am all face." Eskimos 
 do not wear clothes in their huts. Japanese 
 men and women and their children bathe naked 
 in the same hot pool at the same time. Moham- 
 medans insist more upon cleanliness than coverings. 
 During plagues and pests clothes are sources of 
 the greatest danger. Rheumatism, pneumonia, 
 and all the common troubles of civilized people 
 came with the introduction of clothes. 
 
 Conventional prudery, like many forms and cus- 
 toms, has been handed down to us without sufficient 
 reasons for its utility. What is coarse and vulgar 
 in one epoch, climate, or time of life may be mer- 
 itorious under different conditions. We object 
 to the too sweeping generalizing of our alleged 
 moral philosophers, particularly their " Don'ts." 
 Their bewildering hallucinations are like dross 
 to be found in every crucible. 
 
Evrona's Daily Life 381 
 
 Why should we be ashamed of anything we do 
 that is not repulsive? To quote Fincke: 
 
 " Women originally being chattels and being 
 naturally rebellious and flirtatious, were by their 
 masters subjected to severe restraints and seclusive 
 regulations, enforced by bitter cruelties; thus, cer- 
 tain habits have become as second nature to them. 
 The Oriental people to-day veil their women al- 
 most completely from the public gaze." 
 
 Who ever thinks of being shocked by the im- 
 modesty of animals or flowers? Where there are 
 artificial concealments or secrets, is it not safe to 
 assume that there is something wrong? Women 
 say they are instinctively prudish. This is the 
 natural outcome of several centuries of conven- 
 tional restraint. Intelligence is supposed to re- 
 place instinct as the scale ascends from a lower to 
 a higher grade of animals, but inherited procliv- 
 ities never wholly disappear. However, all chil- 
 dren have had to be taught to avoid indecent ex- 
 posure, as they do not comprehend that without 
 clothes they are guilty of an impropriety. All of 
 us have dreamed the old, old dream of appearing 
 in public without clothes, a simple demonstration 
 of atavism — like the " falling dream." 
 
 It must be admitted, however, that nudeness is 
 a luxury which all cannot indulge in, for physical 
 defects have to be hidden by clothing, just as the 
 tainted fruit in the center dish is covered with 
 smilax. Those who need the smilax are the over- 
 ripe, as Irving said that no one was " so rigidly 
 prudish and inexorably decorous as a superannu- 
 ated coquette." 
 
 Those who set the fashion — be they royalty, 
 sporting women, or actresses — -have always deter- 
 mined whether that fashion shall be such as will 
 
382 Geyserland 
 
 grace a fine figure or conceal a bad one; to illus- 
 trate the latter contingency, ruffs or collars were 
 introduced by Joanna, the crazy daughter of Ferdi- 
 nand and Isabella, and mother of Charles V. She 
 had a running sore on her neck, and for her sake 
 for four hundred years Christendom had concealed 
 one of the greatest beauties of the human body — 
 the throat. Side-saddles are in vogue because 
 some lady of the Court of Anne of Cleves, in the 
 time of Henry VIIL, was so misconstructed that 
 a chair had to be put on a horse for her. From all 
 times we see traces of an unhealthy, morbid de- 
 sire for women to copy men and men women. 
 Men copied collars from women and women 
 copied the farthingale from men. It is as natural 
 for men to wear their hair long as for women. 
 Wealth of hair was the luxurious token of the 
 patriarch or chieftain, a shaved head a token of 
 the slave or servant. This has survived to-day in 
 the wig of the Speaker of the House of Commons 
 and those " brain-champions," the advocates and 
 barristers, while the tonsure of the monk indicates 
 his servitude. Alexander commanded his soldiers 
 to wear their hair short as a measure of prudence 
 in the melee of battle and that fashion has pre- 
 vailed until to-day. The ethics of the North 
 American Indian forbade a beard. Beards were 
 not worn from the time of Alexander until the 
 time of Hadrian — about six hundred years. 
 Mustaches were out of fashion from the time of 
 Louis XIII. until Napoleon III. If a man of the 
 fourteenth century should return to this world he 
 would be surprised to find sugar sold by the ton, 
 for in his day, before the discovery of American 
 methods of cultivating sugar-cane, it was sold by 
 the dram. So we, if we could return at some fu- 
 
EvRONA's Daily Life 383 
 
 ture time, might find our present wholesale im- 
 portance of chastity and modesty judged by very 
 different standards. 
 
 Each sex will always strive to possess those qual- 
 ities which the other sex admires. This makes for 
 bodily cleanliness. Hairless man has evolved 
 from the selection of the least filthy, a smooth skin 
 affording less protection for parasites. The de- 
 sire to conceal all the sources of uncleanliness is 
 directed by the same motive that makes many tribes 
 in Africa conceal the mouth when eating. 
 
 The motives for decorating and adorning of the 
 human figure are interesting to review. 
 
 Why do men dress their wives handsomely? Is 
 it because they are proud of them? Is it to please 
 them? Is it to strengthen their financial credit? 
 Is it to make their friends jealous? Is it to please 
 themselves? This puzzling problem we have 
 failed to solve, but we are inclined to suspect that, 
 once ownership is assured, all fuss and feathers 
 . . . are bluff or vanity. The savage was him- 
 self tattooed, not his wife; the sachem had more 
 feathers than the squaw; the old-fashioned heroes 
 were elaborately arrayed, not their consorts; but, 
 unfortunately we think, since the time of George 
 II. women have dressed more expensively than 
 men. Throughout the animal kingdom it is inva- 
 riably the male who is the nobler looking, and 
 why? Because it is the scheme of Nature that the 
 male should contest and compete as a candidate for 
 the female's selection. The competition for attrac- 
 tiveness among the males means the building up of 
 the race. 
 
 Since Adam had begun promoting his revolt he 
 had adopted Geyserland ways, and craftily took 
 
384 Geyserland 
 
 advantage of these social gatherings, assuming an 
 approval of their system. Up to this time his un- 
 willing performance of his duties had been un- 
 satisfactory to the inspectors, but now his manner 
 had changed and he, by his general cheerful- 
 ness, had been brought into closer touch with the 
 people. 
 
 Adam pandering for Lork's lust, and his scur- 
 rilous treatment of Evrona, can only be explained 
 by his lack of altruistic culture. He knew what he 
 wanted, and cared little how much pain he caused 
 Evrona in getting it. The autocratic strain in 
 Adam prevented him from having a just feeling 
 toward those of a different race. He had no ap- 
 preciation of the study of temperaments as we 
 have tried to explain in Chapter VI. What have 
 racial qualities to do with capacity? Is not a 
 pound of merit a pound of merit anywhere? Is 
 not a trustworthy Parsi superior to an unscrup- 
 ulous white man? 
 
 The arrogance of the white Autocrat has blunted 
 his sense of justice to the other races. The reac- 
 tion in the United States in giving full civic rights 
 to ex-slaves is now recognized as an error. Three 
 generations of slavery could not change the savage 
 African to a civilized being; he is a hothouse civil- 
 ized being; he has not passed all the milestones of 
 culture that the intellectual man of the Northern 
 Temperate Zone has traversed; he lacks all that 
 verve and moral strength that gives the capacity 
 to organize, which the white man has gathered 
 in his six thousand years of strenuous intellectual 
 evolution. It will be remembered that Moham- 
 med placed the negro on an equal plane with the 
 white man — and what was the result? The negro 
 
EvRONA's Daily Life 385 
 
 soon sank, and has ever remained in the lowest 
 grades of menials. 
 
 " What do I care," thought Adam, " about 
 these people's model laws? My father's fathers 
 have looked out for me, and what other people 
 need does not interest me." Every child of a civil- 
 ized race is educated to be an ambitious adven- 
 turer; it is their system, and such a man measures 
 his importance by the regrets, envy, and hatred of 
 his competitors. Scruples are out of place when 
 an Anglo-Saxon wants anything. So Adam's in- 
 struction to Evrona to " hurt no one's feelings " 
 was for policy only. He told her to promise any- 
 thing, but cautioned her to remember that " people 
 are not grateful for past favors, but are liberal for 
 the hope of blessings to come." Her infatuation 
 for him led her to do his bidding with a confidence 
 begotten of blind love; womanlike, she thought 
 that she who loves does nothing who leaves any 
 request undone. 
 
 Evrona was sitting in her bower, checking off 
 names of possible adherents to Adam's cause. It 
 was evening and she was anxiously expecting a 
 visit from Lork, whose relations with her had be- 
 come lukewarm and languid. This man, lacking 
 imagination, was an imitator and a snob, only am- 
 bitious to be on the correct side and wear the cor- 
 rect folds in his cloak. He was devoted to the 
 most sought after girl, and was quick to second 
 any new ideas in the hope of being confused with 
 the originator. The consciousness of weakness is 
 degrading, and Lork realized the lack of depth 
 of his own character. 
 
 Since Evrona had become so intimate with 
 Adam, many of her other admirers had retired; 
 therefore, Lork no longer considered her the star 
 
386 Geyserland 
 
 of the gayest element of Geyserland, and his de- 
 votion became tepid. Lust and vanity seldom 
 make a permanent tie, but are generally surfeited 
 by possession. The ambitions that inspire man's 
 energies are, first, his own independence; second, 
 the desire for the regard of the woman he loves. 
 
 There was no definite understanding between 
 Lork and Evrona. Any laws made by society to 
 prevent quarreling between rivals, like marriage 
 or " limited contracts," are for the benefit of peace. 
 
 Some men and women are as incapable of lov- 
 ing as others are of dancing; some loves benefit, 
 whereas others seem to degrade. Lork's love 
 was without respect; it was pusillanimous, yield- 
 ing but to a morbid fascination. 
 
 The astute Lork calculated that he might ac- 
 quire more praise by an opportune defection from 
 a weak cause than he could hope to receive as a 
 reward of fidelity to Adam's rebellion. However, 
 he kept his appointment with Evrona, and was 
 leaning against the window-frame with arms 
 folded, his attitude a general expression of doubt- 
 ful enthusiasm. 
 
 " As we are both risking our lives for this 
 Adam," said Lork, " let us be sensible and study 
 the matter; for there is nothing noble in stupid 
 adherence to an unwise cause — it is virtuous to 
 be prudent and vicious to be imprudent. Which 
 is the better way? Query, Should a noble person 
 adhere to an ignoble cause? A noble man cannot 
 say that thing is good which he knows is bad. The 
 educated public opinion will never accept such 
 nonsense. There must be some blood shed." 
 
 "Of course," replied Evrona; "but the strong 
 are to be fully rewarded. What can the weak do? 
 People with mixed ideas never work together. 
 
Evrona's Daily Life 387 
 
 Certainly you will excel and be a chief amongst 
 us with your future family possessions." 
 
 " How can one man control ten men's servants? " 
 asked Lork. 
 
 " Perfectly," replied Evrona. " One brave man 
 like you is worth four dozen cowards, for pride 
 doubles the force of a brave man. I hate cowards. 
 Besides, Adam does not expect much fighting. 
 He thinks many would rather have one master 
 than be obliged to please every one in the com- 
 munity; that many will like a change, many are 
 immediately resigned to misfortune, while others 
 will not desire to fight until too late. Adam hopes 
 for a stampede. The excitement in the hope of 
 getting others to do one's work will please all 
 enterprising guardsmen." 
 
 " In a word, it means that the weak are going to 
 work for the strong, instead of everybody working 
 for everybody else; and we, the strong men, will 
 get what we want," said Lork. 
 
 " The pleasant things of life of course will be 
 for us," remarked Evrona, "for we will be no 
 longer subject to taskmasters. You can be a par- 
 ent and have your own children, which will belong 
 to you, because they are yours." 
 
 " Who is to be the mother of my children? Will 
 you be?" asked Lork. 
 
 " I am making no promises," laughingly replied 
 Evrona. " You may see somebody you like better 
 to be the queen of your heart and household, my 
 dear Patriarch Lork." 
 
 "Humph!" 
 
 Evrona was frightened — and felt as the fisher- 
 man does when he has a presentiment that his catch 
 has escaped. She realized that Lork was not the 
 devoted suitor he once was. 
 
388 Geyserland 
 
 Chilled lascivious friendship makes a good foun- 
 dation for infamous enmity. A love born of 
 sexual craving will die with sexual satiety. The 
 fire on the hearth was not seconded by the torch 
 of sympathetic love between these two beings. No 
 rose light, the sacred signal, burned over Evrona's 
 bower that night. She was powerless, as she had 
 played her trumps, and could only rely on frail 
 gratitude, or Lork's honor — a highly differentiated 
 trait in Geyserland. 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 
 LORK AND SASO 
 
 " I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not 
 bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to the light I have. I must 
 stand with anybody that stands right, stand with him while he is right, 
 and part with him when he goes wrong." — Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 LORK was in a quandary. Loyalty to Adam's 
 cause conflicted with loyalty to his state. He had 
 pledged himself to Adam, and did not wish to 
 break his word. There was something repulsive 
 to him in doing a deliberately mean act. " His 
 honor rooted in dishonor stood." Yet there was 
 his duty to the government. Preeminently selfish, 
 he could not but realize that an action which bene- 
 fited the community would be appreciated, and 
 bring perhaps that ever-longed-for popularity. 
 Therefore, he went to Saso, the chief of Adam's 
 social group, and told him of Adam's plotted re- 
 volt. 
 
 Saso listened to Lork's story, but as Adam was 
 of his social group and Lork was not, his sym- 
 pathies were naturally with Adam. 
 
 " Lork," said he, " you have told me, now say 
 no more about it. A revolt is uncalled for, and 
 whatever is untimely is doomed to perish. I will 
 take such steps as are necessary. Have you ever 
 heard the story of ' The Three Lovers '? It is one 
 of the oldest legends we have; you will find it 
 amongst our traditions of the days of barbarism. 
 
 " It occurred in times when the social con- 
 ditions around our balmy lake were severe. 
 
 389 
 
390 Geyserland 
 
 Then the people were divided into several groups, 
 or family clans, each with a stalwart chief. Each 
 chief would try to have his clan the most power- 
 ful. Some of these chiefs were bad, some good. 
 The old and weak people did all the work, the 
 strong and the young were fighting or loving. 
 They knew nothing of gentleness, consideration, 
 moderation, or mutual helpfulness, but each lived 
 selfishly for himself or his clan. The attractive 
 young women, as a reward for prowess, or in ex- 
 change for advantages, were given to those whom 
 their chief selected. 
 
 " The famous old Chieftain Rorax had a pretty 
 maiden daughter named Dorna. Two warriors 
 sought her for their loving mate — one named Aoni, 
 who was noble, the other, Bruto, was a base, des- 
 perate scoundrel; but there was a third, Camo, 
 who did not know about Bruto. This third one 
 was filled with jealousy toward Aoni, the noble 
 one. He resolved and planned to destroy him. 
 One day the old Chieftain Rorax, while in the dark 
 forest, discovered Camo making a pitfall. He 
 watched, and admired his cunning and ability in 
 making such a deceptive trap, and retired without 
 revealing himself. The next morning the des- 
 perate lover Bruto was found lying dead in the 
 pitfall. Rorax sent for Camo, who, obeying the 
 summons, approached full of fear and humility; 
 but the grateful old Chieftain thanked him and 
 told him he knew all about it, to say nothing more, 
 but to name the reward he wished; and Camo's 
 reward was the maiden. They who knew the 
 truth thought lightly of Camo. A man who ear- 
 nestly enters into a plot, sees it carried out, and 
 stands by the result can at least claim sincerity of 
 
Saso and Lork 391 
 
 purpose. But he who plans a deed which by a 
 freak of chance accomplishes another end, and he 
 accepts the safety of the unlooked-for result, can- 
 not be admired on any score. 
 
 " You will not be respected, Lork, for making a 
 virtue out of what started in weakness. The role 
 of a rogue-accomplice is, has, and always will be 
 odious. The principle of a nobleman is, never 
 give up a friend unless you would give up your- 
 self if you had done what he had done. A spy 
 to be a hero must be one who goes from his own 
 chieftain to the opposing side, not one who de- 
 serts the opposing side for reasons of policy or 
 prudence. However, comrade Lork, let this mat- 
 ter drift. Adam is a great deal with Evrona, and 
 if he becomes infatuated he will shed his egotism 
 as a snake sheds its skin." 
 
 " Now just listen to me," interrupted Lork. 
 " Few men care for the adoration of women, and 
 this man cares for no one but himself. This selfish 
 exotic would continue to pine for his primitive 
 habits, even though our beautiful Evrona were 
 twenty times more beautiful than she is." 
 
 " So be it," said Saso, not wishing to argue the 
 possibility of Adam's infatuation, '' but we will 
 not close the trap until the rat has entered. The 
 blow that hits oneself is the one that teaches the 
 best lesson. The science of conquering by yielding 
 is the course to pursue with all those who have 
 self-confidence. Adam is self-confident, let him 
 have what he wants; that is the shortest way from 
 civilization to altruism. He is a pig; the pig is the 
 crowning glory of civilization. They probably 
 have better where he came from, but the satiated 
 
392 Geyserland 
 
 pig is the fundamental cause of altrusim; for when 
 civilization is ripe it falls to the ground and is 
 replaced by a new degree of culture, as in the 
 forest the birch follows the oak and the oak follows 
 the pine." 
 
CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 THE FORUM — FAIRMENA'S TRIUMPH — PUBLIC 
 
 BUILDINGS — COMPENSATIONS — SACRIFICES — 
 
 ADAM'S TRIAL 
 
 " I praise all good thoughts, words and works, through thought, 
 word, and deed." — Aresta. 
 
 "Life without labor is contemptible; labor without art is brutal." 
 — Hubbard. 
 
 The annual installation of the young matrons 
 who had been selected for the yearly addition to 
 the matron's group occurred this autumn of 1639 
 on a particularly beautiful day. The Forum 
 with its High Temple of Honor was situated on 
 an elevated terrace about one league from the 
 shore. The place was thronged and resplendent 
 with the crowd of distinguished citizens who had 
 gathered to witness the stately ceremony of the 
 coronation of the new matrons. The pageant of 
 this particular fete in Geyserland was remarkably 
 beautiful and inspiring. Since early morning the 
 portals of the Forum had been thrown open to the 
 swarms of people coming to see Fairmena and her 
 companions crowned. The elders, seers, and aged 
 matrons were seated on commanding thrones. 
 Each individual, as he or she approached, could 
 not but be charmed by the artistic culture of the 
 trees and shrubs. The permanent architecture 
 and the temporary decorations were wonderfully 
 appropriate for the pageant. This pageant was an 
 appeal to the emotions of the masses and those who 
 witnessed it. Like those who were active partici- 
 pants in it, all sympathized with joyous enthusiasm. 
 
 393 
 
394 Geyserland 
 
 The Geyserlanders loved the beautiful. Like 
 the later Greeks, their theology took the form of 
 the beautiful in art instead of prayers. They had 
 musical laudations; instead of sacrifices they cul- 
 tivated the aesthetic; and their beautiful v^as the 
 embodiment of health and truth. 
 
 It is hard to get art away from idolatry. All 
 artists are instinctively pagans. Paganism is built 
 upon man's gratitude to the Unknowable, and un- 
 less an artist confines himself to beautiful designs 
 and geometrical patterns, he must put a meaning 
 into his work, and that irresistibly leads to person- 
 ifications. It is in our blood to draw a beautiful 
 woman for Columbia and to personify every state, 
 science, or industry with an appropriate figure. 
 
 Barbarians were not art-loving people. The art 
 of the nomad was in his gun-stock, bridle, and 
 saddle; the refining influences of civilization de- 
 rnanded home decorations, but the altruistic spirit 
 always showed itself in noble public buildings. 
 The cathedral and town hall of the middle ages, 
 and the library, hospital, and school-house of to- 
 day. So it was in Geyserland, and their temples 
 were in perfect accord with the wishes of the Ro- 
 man Vitruvius, in possessing " utility, stability, and 
 beauty." The high standards to which Grecian 
 artists had brought the personification of their 
 varied gods had completely replaced all emotional 
 feelings toward grotesque fetishes and idols. Art 
 had made the statues admired more for their beauty 
 than for the personality of the god they repre- 
 sented. Mohammed determined to have only a 
 spiritual god. He forbade all artistic personifi- 
 cations, as the Omnipotence and the Omnipresent, 
 being everything and everywhere, was never rep- 
 
The Triumph of Fairmena 395 
 
 resented by any form or token; and the Prophet 
 succeeded far better than either the Jews or the 
 Christians had done. The remarkable remains of 
 the mosques at Cairo and the palaces at Granada 
 show how the Arab Moslem architects and their 
 lieutenants, for painting and sculpture, confined 
 themselves, as they were instructed to do, to geo- 
 metrical designs — unlike anything " in the heavens 
 above, or the earth beneath, or the waters under the 
 earth." It is proper to mention that it is a com- 
 mon error to give credit to the Moors for these 
 works; for the Moors were many, the Arabs few. 
 
 The Christian church went backwards with the 
 emblems of Trinity, crucifixes, crosses, and statues. 
 
 A healthy, noble people imbued with buoyant 
 thoughts will manifest their appreciation of their 
 surroundings by gracious acts, and the joyousness 
 of these acts is in marked contrast with the differ- 
 ent forms of misery adopted by people of low in- 
 tellects who demonstrate their fear or reverence 
 to our Host the Creator by sacrifices, privations, 
 and general woe-begoneness. Gratitude to and 
 fear of the mysterious are the emotional founda- 
 tions for all divine thoughts. The varieties of sys- 
 tems, rites, and practices of religions are only man's 
 embarrassment in displaying his feelings. The pov- 
 erty of our vocabulary is unquestionably the cause 
 of profanity, idolatry, fasting, and mortifications 
 of the flesh, from the self-mutilations of the fren- 
 zied Coptic priests, to the choral singing of the 
 school class, or the whistling of the boy in the 
 woods. 
 
 Why should any gods be pleased with sacrifices 
 or prayers? Why should any gods desire sacri- 
 fices except as a token of gratitude? And is not 
 
396 Geyserland 
 
 sacrificing a foolish method of expressing grati- 
 tude? If we should send a friend a barrel of whis- 
 key, we do not love him the more because he throws 
 a portion of it away in ecstasy or in exuberance of 
 his gratitude; therefore, it is difficult to imagine 
 why Nature should think the better of any of us 
 for unnecessarily curtailing our pleasures. The 
 institution of sacrifices as an atonement for sin or 
 as a propitiation to the gods was an ancient Cush- 
 ite-Ethiopian custom, and appears to have per- 
 meated all ancient races. We see it in the holo- 
 causts of Homer, in the human sacrifices of the 
 Druids of Albion, and in the Aztecs of Mexico. 
 The Tyrians, who were the direct offspring of 
 the Cushite-Ethiopians, were conspicuous for their 
 offerings to their god Baal. The Jews, who were 
 always jealous of the Tyrians, were ever anxious 
 to copy their religion, and Christianity is founded 
 on the theory of the sacrifice of the Son of God 
 as an atonement for the sins of the world. Why 
 should any gods be pleased with prayers suggestive 
 of better management? Are not such supplica- 
 tions criticism? The Geyserlanders believed the 
 Original Creator so perfected the cosmos that it 
 was superfluous for man or beast to appeal or pray 
 for betterments. Prayer suggests the following 
 parable. Two men each buy a clock. The first 
 buys a clock made by a perfect clock-maker, which 
 he is gratefully convinced can run indefinitely 
 without repair. The second buys a clock from the 
 same perfect clock-maker, and not only regards 
 it as his sacred duty, but believes it a commendable 
 act of laudation to continually ask the maker to 
 change and repair it. To the glory of our race, 
 let us be thankful that the same type of progressive 
 people who years ago fought against torture and 
 
The Triumph of Fairmena 397 
 
 hereditary slavery are to-day fighting against these 
 useless customs. 
 
 The following short parable by Voltaire in 
 " Zadig " shows how he would illustrate the differ- 
 ence between useless sacrifices and useful employ- 
 ment: 
 
 " A famous merchant of Babylon, who died in the Indies, 
 divided his estate equally between his two sons, after having 
 disposed of their sister in marriage, and left a present of thirty 
 thousand pieces of gold to that son who should be found to have 
 loved him best. The elder raised a tomb to his memory; the 
 younger increased his sister's portion by giving her a part of 
 his inheritance. Every one said that the elder son loved his 
 father best and the younger his sister; and that the thirty thou- 
 sand pieces belonged to the elder. 
 
 " Zadig sent for both of them, the one after the other. To 
 the elder he said : 
 
 Thy father is not dead ; but has survived his last illness 
 and is returning to Babylon.' 
 
 "' God be praised,' replied the young man; 'but his tomb 
 cost me a considerable sum.' 
 
 " Zadig afterward repeated the same story to the younger 
 
 son. 
 
 God be praised,' said he. ' I will go and restore to my 
 father all that I have ; but I could wish that he would leave my 
 sister what I have given her.' 
 
 " ' Thou shalt restore nothing,' replied Zadig, ' and thou 
 shalt have the thirty thousand pieces of gold, for thou art the 
 son who loved his father best.' " 
 
 While waiting, all the little side-shows of holi- 
 days were in play. There were story-tellers, con- 
 tortionists, mimics, ventriloquists, tumblers, and 
 prestidigitators, and all for the fun of the fun and 
 for the love of popularity. Covetousness and com- 
 pensation are the mainsprings of civilization. 
 Centuries before Christ, Moses condemned covet- 
 ousness as one of the greatest of offenses, but every 
 Jew then as now regarded compensation as the 
 
398 Geyserland 
 
 right and lawful thing. But we believe that as 
 compensation is degrading because it develops 
 selfishness and fosters a desire to take advantage 
 of others, it has no place in an altruist's scheme of 
 living. Adam was English, and England had 
 become serious in Adam's time.* 
 
 Adam's bewilderment at the gratuitous exertions 
 recalls the ancient Roman feeling, where, if a 
 Roman saved another Roman's life, he received a 
 branch of oak leaves, any other compensation be- 
 ing considered insulting to offer and ignoble to 
 accept. Every one likes his reward in the form 
 expected. Monks and sisters of charity expect 
 " happiness in a future life." Fakirs, conjurors, 
 magicians, palmists, and contortionists of India 
 give their exhibitions in the open air to " acquire 
 merit." These expert fakirs cannot be hired for 
 money to appear upon a public stage; they will 
 not work for lucre, but spare no effort to attain the 
 favor of the god, and scorn everything like pecu- 
 niary reward offered by the Barnum or other Occi- 
 dental showmen. It is prostitutional and con- 
 temptible to do a meritorious act with the motive 
 of self-interest. "When thou makest a dinner 
 . . . call not thy neighbours who are rich; lest 
 perhaps they also invite thee again, and a recom- 
 pense be made to thee." t Martin Luther said 
 about bishops, " The Devil goes into them the mo- 
 ment they take the sop." Persons who have never 
 made money are better material for a community 
 than those whose industry has been rewarded by 
 
 * Before the fifteenth century in the boroughs of England there were 
 constant merry-makings, games, pageants, and shows. However, long 
 before the Reformation and Puritan principles, the new commercial 
 ambition of some and the discouragement of others, turned against the 
 unnecessary expense of frolics and gayeties, much to the discomforting 
 of cooks, brewers, tavern-keepers, and players. 
 
 t Luke xiv. 12. 
 
The Triumph of Fairmena 399 
 
 the satisfaction of some selfish reward. Let us 
 admire that high standard of humanity which 
 happily seeks the truth, scorning the stifling atmo- 
 sphere of reward — material or social. 
 
 A sudden stopping of the music, a moment of 
 silence, and then a beautiful march was played by 
 a corps of musicians. 
 
 Fairmena, accompanied by thirty other maidens, 
 forming, with herself, the coterie of new matrons 
 for that year, appeared at the far entrance of the 
 Forum escorted by the Senior Council of Doctors. 
 
 Slowly and rhythmically they approached the 
 tribune, where the high dignitaries sat on lofty 
 seats under a gorgeous canopy, and as they passed 
 certain standards and columns, verses were taken 
 up and chanted by different choruses. The tunes 
 varied and the lines changed as the procession ad- 
 vanced toward the dais, where sat the Supreme 
 Elders. When they arrived before the throne, 
 the chief doctor, with a gesture of dignity, silenced 
 the musicians. 
 
 " August Presence," said he, addressing the 
 Chief Elder, " I bring to the assemblage of ma- 
 trons to-day these, the fairest jewels of the nation, 
 for the nation." 
 
 " Young women, do you solemnly appreciate the 
 grave responsibility before you?" said the elder 
 then standing. 
 
 " We do." 
 
 " The happiness of our race increases in ratio 
 with its health," he added, "and to what a super- 
 lative degree a mother's carefulness is necessary, 
 the Supreme Council of Doctors informed you." 
 
 " Reverend Chief," replied Fairmena, the leader 
 of the chosen few, " our hearts wish that our chil- 
 dren, the fruits of our existence, shall do honor to 
 
400 Geyserland 
 
 our race, Humanity; our virtue we hold sacred 
 to the orders of those placed over us by the govern- 
 ment. What is the matter? " 
 
 A loud tumult and the clashing of arms here 
 interrupted the ceremony. The Captain of the 
 Guard arrived with many prisoners, held by the 
 "turn-coat" Lork and other guardsmen. Promi- 
 nent among the prisoners was Adam Mann, ar- 
 rayed in his Puritan costume, with firearms, etc. 
 
 A captain of the guards, saluting, said: 
 
 " Great pardon, sire. An assault has been made 
 upon the armory and tool-house by these people, 
 led by Adam Mann." 
 
 " Are his followers many? " asked the elder. 
 
 " That we cannot say, as the opinion of the crowd 
 has not been expressed," replied the officer. 
 
 The Chief Elder then took counsel with the 
 other elders and decided that it would be well to 
 have an immediate investigation, which produced 
 the following evidence: 
 
 ist. The watchman or sentry of the armory was 
 absent from his post with Evrona. This was dis- 
 covered and reported by Guardsman Lork. 
 
 2nd. That Adam had secured his odd belong- 
 ings. 
 
 3rd. Preparations were almost complete for de- 
 stroying by fire the arsenal, containing all the mis- 
 siles and sharp fighting implements. 
 
 4th. The desperate character of resistance on 
 the part of the conspirators until counseled by 
 Adam to submit. 
 
 " As it appears, this stranger is at the bottom of 
 the mischief," said Elder Jab, resuming. " Adam, 
 have you anvthing to say in defense of your ac- 
 tion?" 
 
 " Only that I have not been treated with proper 
 
The Triumph of Fairmena 401 
 
 courtesy here. I have not been considered as I 
 deserved, and I proposed to acquire my rights and 
 position." 
 
 " Does this man mean that we have not good 
 manners?" asked the Assistant Surgeon. 
 
 "' That is about it," said Adam. 
 
 " Let him explain," suggested Sibis. "A crim- 
 inal caught in the act has no rights and needs no 
 trial ; but the love of fair play is an old prerogative 
 of the spectators. Let him explain to us his theories 
 on good manners." 
 
 " Good manners," continued Adam, '' demand 
 that when a foreigner comes to your shores he 
 should be treated with such courtesy as his position 
 at home would suggest. The manner in which he 
 was accustomed to looking at things should be con- 
 sidered. I am not a digging farmhand at home, 
 and common hospitality would be to treat me as a 
 guest until I could return to my native land. I 
 believe the backbone of manliness is to insist upon 
 one's personal rights. Instead of receiving me like 
 a guest, you have treated me like a captive; and I 
 with the help of these dupes have used what means 
 I could to escape. Do you have no system for the 
 forgiveness of crimes? Let me atone for my fol- 
 lowers. You may kill me, or send me home, but 
 I will not work for you." 
 
 The Assistant Surgeon here exclaimed that the 
 man's impertinence and ingratitude should bar him 
 from any further hearing or consideration. He 
 had brought death and disaster when he arrived, 
 had been of little use during his stay, and had 
 made this riotous effort to depart. He suggested 
 that a receipt for his body should be given at the 
 Dissolution House and his name be mentioned no 
 more. 
 
402 Geyserland 
 
 " The place where this man comes from is so 
 vastly populated that we, in comparison, are like 
 a few hairs on the hide of a musk ox," said Sibis. 
 " The means of subsistence are so unlimited that 
 his people never have considered waste. It is their 
 custom to take, use, destroy, and move elsewhere. 
 Bimo has told me that in time the peribole of the 
 sun will be shortened; then again we shall be 
 surrounded by fertile hills and green fields, and 
 possibly we may be tempted to think as Adam 
 does." 
 
 " This is not a question of thinking," interrupted 
 the elder, " but of wrong doing. Doers of wrong 
 are suppressed by our laws. Geyserland is not 
 run as a charitable association, but as a commune 
 of subjects of the commonweal, who for the good 
 of all expect absolute individual obedience." 
 
 " If this stranger questions our politeness, let 
 him not doubt our culture," returned Sibis. " Let 
 it not be said that our community has no mercy. 
 Toleration is always a sign of advanced enlighten- 
 ment. The laws of Nature are severe. Nature 
 does not care for the individual. Its fire burns 
 the innocent and guilty alike. Nature has no 
 mercy, no pardon. Equity is human. We must 
 decide this matter apart from our laws and cus- 
 toms, for the conditions are different. We must 
 get together the facts before judging the case. 
 Whether an act be wrong or not depends largely 
 upon the intent with which it is done. Don't let 
 our laws punish one who, perhaps, is not so guilty 
 as he appears. Let us be prudent and wise, for, 
 as we know that no man is absolutely indispensable, 
 so we know that the fellowship of every useful man 
 is to our advantage. It seems to me that this man 
 has more than his life to lose. The story of the 
 
The Triumph of Fairmena 403 
 
 mysterious surroundings of his past should be 
 heard and receive our serious attention." 
 
 " Would you recommend pardoning him and 
 punishing his accomplices?" 
 
 " No! " exclaimed Adam, " I am the guilty one. 
 If any one is to suffer, it is I. I don't see that any 
 great harm has been done to your establishment. 
 It is a pretty weak structure that cannot stand a 
 little storm occasionally." 
 
 " Honest error is innocence," remarked Sibis. 
 " When sincere people quarrel they are probably 
 both partially right, and the strong can make con- 
 cessions." 
 
 ''You forced him," interrupted Evrona; "he 
 resisted in the same way that any noble creature 
 would resist. Rather admire his courage than 
 condemn his rebellious instincts. It is harder to 
 curb a wildcat than a domesticated dog. He has 
 done nothing mean. That, after all, is my measure 
 of a man. Hear him." 
 
 " No, no! Evrona," spoke the elder, " cease your 
 twaddle; it is useless for you to talk. He must 
 have a less wayward advocate than you." 
 
 "Hold! Stop!" cried Adam, breaking loose. 
 " All listen. I will speak for myself. I appeal 
 to you, O Mighty Person ! I appeal to you for my 
 freedom, I demand it! " 
 
 " Demand nothing," answered the elder. 
 " Guards, hold your prisoner." 
 
 " Stop ! " shouted Adam. " He who approaches 
 me, dies." 
 
 The Epicurean Roul recognized the danger, yet 
 with the composure of absolute bravery advanced 
 toward Adam, but at a gesture from Elder Jab, 
 halted. 
 
 " Hear me, O Chief," continued Adam, turning 
 
404 Geyserland 
 
 to Elder Jab. " You and I are from different peo- 
 ple. You are masters of but one locality. Talk 
 to me of men when you can judge mankind from a 
 knowledge based on a wider experience than that 
 gained in a cramped-up space no bigger than a 
 small English district. Promise me on your sa- 
 cred word your aid to secure my return to my own 
 country. Promise me a pardon for these innocent 
 followers, and I, on my part, promise to explain 
 this wonderful death-giving instrument. Speak, 
 Sovereign Chief! " 
 
 Adam's attitude was superb. There are things 
 that appear to be without worth that have worth. 
 Manner is one of these. Assumed dignity is the 
 insolent shield of impotency and ignorance, 
 whereas natural dignity is the manifestation of 
 intellectual alertness and manhood. In Geyser- 
 land all were judged by their material merit, but 
 Adam's natural bearing gave him a distinction that 
 influenced all in his favor. 
 
 " Stranger," said Elder Jab, " it is not for you 
 to dictate terms to the elders, and it is thought by 
 us that you will be better dead than living to per- 
 vert your fellow-men. Arrest him." 
 
 " One word," said Adam, at the same time point- 
 ing with his hand to the skies. " The God of us 
 all has hidden many of His secrets. You know 
 many, I know many. Alive, I can explain; dead, 
 you will lose all I bring and ofifer you." 
 
 "Guards!" commanded the elder. 
 
 "Beware!" threatened Adam. "If a man 
 moves, you, elder, will be the first to die! I mean 
 what I say. Make no mistake. Do you see yon- 
 der bird? It dies." Adam then deliberately 
 aimed at a bird perched on one of the columns, 
 fired one of his pistols, and the bird dropped dead. 
 
The Triumph of Fairmena 405 
 
 All present were appalled and frightened by the 
 report, the flash, and the cruelty. 
 
 "Now, Chief, a truce to all this idle talk; let 
 this be between you and me. You represent this 
 beautiful Geyserland, I represent millions of your 
 fellow-beings far away. We are men, not chil- 
 dren. I am not without gratitude for what has 
 been done for me in Geyserland; but as a crow 
 is not at home in a pigeon's nest, or a salt-water 
 fish in a barnyard pond, neither am I happy here. 
 The conversations of your good Sibis have not 
 fallen on a barren heart. I will do all that I can 
 for you. I wish to do what is right, and I know 
 that you and these good people understand me 
 better now. You may have a receipt for my body, 
 as your noble associate, the Assistant Surgeon, sug- 
 gested, or you may let me go, and take the grati- 
 tude of an English gentleman. It is for you to 
 choose." 
 
 " Chief," spoke up Bimo, " with your permis- 
 sion I would recall the legend of the curious Chal- 
 dean craft that drifted centuries ago on the outer 
 coast, and how our wise men of those ancient 
 days studied and recorded its very shape and make ; 
 so might we with this waif." 
 
 The Chief Elder, after further counseling with 
 those near him, slowly said to Adam: 
 
 " We, who by the people's wish rule in Geyser- 
 land, have heard your words and recognize the jus- 
 tice of your argument. As you wish, so shall it 
 be. Go, return to your civilization — to your rich 
 and your poor, your masters and slaves, your kin 
 and your quarrels. Go tell them what you saw 
 in Geyserland. Go tell them how we ill-used you, 
 and perchance some day you will wish yourself 
 back again. Man, I promise by my sacred rights, 
 
4o6 Geyserland 
 
 I swear and call for witnesses the guards. Guards, 
 you have heard me, now let all the prisoners be 
 free." 
 
 " Amen," said Adam. 
 
 Then Taskmaster Jab, addressing the Assistant 
 Surgeon, directed: 
 
 " You, who are well versed in the science of our 
 land, question this man on all points, that all the 
 secrets of the universe that we know not of shall 
 be added to our emblazoned tablets, as our present 
 knowledge is only the record of our own experi- 
 ences. Beg that he will show you things or meth- 
 ods that will add to happiness rather than such in- 
 struments as will destroy and curtail it." 
 
 " All savages care more for the power of killing 
 than any other power," remarked Dr. Wewo. 
 
 " And you, Fasho," continued Elder Jab, " for- 
 mer intrepid hero, and hunter of the frozen sea, 
 to you we give entire charge of this expedition to 
 escort this man to the farthest shore, where you 
 found him. Leave him with such food and cloth- 
 ing as he shall desire — alone." 
 
 Then turning to the young maidens, he handed 
 to each a soft embroidered scarf, saying: 
 
 " Fairmena, and you, beloved matrons, accept 
 each this token of your new position. I proclaim 
 that you are to be honored above all other workers 
 in our happy land. Now let the music proceed, 
 and let every sense bear tribute to our praise of 
 the Omnipotent, the Creator of all. Let satur- 
 nalia prevail." 
 
CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 TURTLE DOVE COTE — FAIRMENA — BIMO 
 
 " To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under 
 the heavens." — Witherbee. 
 
 We hear much about race suicide. Apes will 
 not breed in captivity. Why should mortals, their 
 quasi-relatives, do it? It is conceded that mar- 
 riage laws have made the world a prison for 
 women. Females should be the real selectors of 
 mates, as they are the creators of the race. Two 
 stags fight, the doe takes the victor, assuming that 
 he is the superior. Man may do the courting, he 
 can decorate, demonstrate, and advertise his quali- 
 ties, but the right of the matron is to make the final 
 selection. When not hampered by financial, so- 
 cial, or religious qualifications she will waive all 
 sensual desires and always try to have her offspring 
 inherit good physical, intellectual, and moral char- 
 acteristics. 
 
 The Jews forbade, under penalty of death, the 
 priests to go before the altar of sacrifice after 
 drinking wine, or for a man who had a blemish 
 to go near the altar, in order that the sanctuary 
 might not be profaned. In Geyserland the sanc- 
 tuary of human procreation was equally preserved 
 from profanation. The failure of the best men 
 and women to propagate was as much an un- 
 natural vice in Geyserland as the unnatural grati- 
 fication of the senses. 
 
 Turtle Dove Cote, Fairmena's home in the park, 
 
 407 
 
4o8 Geyserland 
 
 was picturesquely perched on the rocky hillside 
 of a clear cascade which flowed through the fra- 
 grant, flowery reservation of the lake. It was in 
 this chalet, or cottage, that Fairmena had recently 
 been installed, with all the regular attendants and 
 luxuries that accompany a matron's home. 
 
 This was the inspiring prospect that greeted 
 Bimo, the first of Fairmena's friends to pay hom- 
 age in her new installation. Like a maple leaf in 
 autumn, he seemed more glorious than ever be- 
 fore. His eyes sparkled, for his virility was not 
 dead. His white hair, like spun-silver, shadowed 
 a wrinkled face which was but the interesting log 
 of a noble voyage over the vast ocean of life. 
 
 Fairmena's heart throbbed with joy as she wel- 
 comed her dear old friend to her beautiful new 
 abode. Although he had had sixty odd years of 
 life, in the present situation Bimo was slightly 
 awkward and embarrassed. Fairmena's happy, 
 joyous spirit when showing him her home, as if her 
 heart had chosen him for her mate, was to him an 
 amazing surprise. In spite of his immense intel- 
 lectual alertness he was slow in grasping her intent. 
 Foolish is the person who thinks old men do not 
 love youth and beauty. They do, but their worldly 
 wisdom and experience have inculcated in them 
 the bitter lesson of self-denial and resignation. 
 Bimo's embarrassment was the result of the reali- 
 zation of the unhoped-for privilege of loving this 
 exquisite young matron. 
 
 Bimo being a progenitor, it had not been neces- 
 sary to notify him that his attentions to Fairmena 
 were pleasing to the Supreme Council, as in Gey- 
 serland a matron, with the consent of the Council, 
 could accept the love of any of the progenitors, 
 and it was a habit, although not enforced, that the 
 
Turtle Dove Cote 409 
 
 chosen progenitor resided at the cottage of the 
 matron for a period of two years. 
 
 When people understand each other love be- 
 comes a pantomime. Bimo clasped her in his 
 arms, and on her virgin lips, with all the fire of 
 Jupiter with lo, pressed an incipient kiss. It was 
 like the warm spring sun which dispels the cool 
 vapors from the valleys and vales, and brings life 
 into all hibernating nature. 
 
 This thrilling, branding Geyserland matron's 
 kiss equaled, if it did not excel, the binding of 
 priests and parsons, judges and justices, vows and 
 oaths of Christendom. 
 
 All she had was his, and all he had was hers. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 ADAM AND LORK — PROSPECT HILL— FASHO AND 
 
 SIBIS 
 
 " Forgiveness to the injured doth belong, 
 They never pardon who commit the wrong." 
 
 — Lowell, 
 
 " Be noble and the nobleness that lies 
 In other hearts, sleeping but never dead. 
 Shall rise in majesty to meet thine own." 
 
 — Lowell. 
 
 LABOR DAY — DAY OF REST 
 
 It was an autumnal holiday. In Geyserland 
 there were an extraordinary number of holidays 
 and festivals. All of these events were popular. 
 They had no day like our Labor Day, because they 
 had no servile class to pity and commiserate — they 
 all worked and were equally dignified. Is the 
 American Republic to have an " outcast class " — 
 like the eaters-of-unclean-things outside the gates 
 of Carthage? Flaubert describes these people, 
 eaters of shell-fish and serpents, sporting among 
 tombstones, inhabiting cabins built of mud and 
 sea-weed, clinging to the cliff like swallows' nests. 
 " There they dwelt, in promiscuous confusion, 
 without either government or gods, absolutely 
 naked, at once feeble and savage, and for centuries 
 past abhorred by the Carthaginians on account of 
 their unclean diet." How long is American man- 
 hood to tolerate such a holiday as " Labor Day," 
 and such a custom of servile obsequiousness as " re- 
 ceiving tips"? The type of humanity that will 
 voluntarily celebrate a day set apart to glorify the 
 
 410 
 
Prospect Hill 411 
 
 servile class, — the type of humanity whose wage is 
 the result of a mealy-mouthed appeal to charity, 
 — has no place in a modern Republic. For fifty 
 centuries there has ever been a " Labor Day " — 
 the seventh day, a day of rest. The week is not a 
 sacred division of time. The word " Sabbath " 
 can mean "the divider." Before the Jews ever 
 dreamed of Adam or of any scheme of the crea- 
 tion, it was the custom of the Cushite-Ethiopians 
 to count by the duodecimal numbers (6-12- 
 144) and to reckon the year by twelve lunar 
 months, of twenty-eight days each. Mankind 
 was supposed to labor six (the half dozen) days. 
 The seventh day did not count, as it was an idle 
 day; but the sum total — twenty-four plus four idle 
 days — made twenty-eight days the lunar month. 
 
 Adam had wandered along the mountain path 
 to Prospect Hill. The panorama of Geyserland 
 lay before him. The scant growth of the moun- 
 tain-side in the foreground, the pastures and cul- 
 tivated fields stretching away to meet the lake and 
 settlement in the middle distance, and beyond a 
 background of distant snow-capped mountains. 
 As Adam mused he suddenly appreciated that he 
 had been followed by some one whom he soon rec- 
 ognized as Lork. 
 
 Lork had not spoken to Adam since the revolt. 
 The traitor was out of harmony with his self-re- 
 spect. He was that type of cautious coward who 
 believed in conciliation rather than have another 
 man hold him in contempt. He rather expected 
 malice from Adam; but Adam, being assured of 
 his freedom, had what he wanted and harbored no 
 malice. It was no longer a question of establishing 
 reputation for manliness, as had been the case when 
 he fought Flot. 
 
412 Geyserland 
 
 Malice is a contemptible thing. Children do 
 not have it. It is the recourse of a weak, cowardly 
 spirit. Revenge is a different thing. Caesar had 
 no malice, and never punished a Roman soldier 
 except for cowardice; but when, for a spirit of 
 precaution, he thought it necessary to take revenge 
 he showed no mercy on his treacherous allies. He 
 put whole tribes to the sword, or sold them into 
 slavery. This was a war measure, on the principle 
 that the most ferocious chastisement is the most 
 certain deterrent. Offended dignity, seeking re- 
 venge, marks a trivial caliber of mind. Such a 
 mind had Lork. 
 
 Lork desired the friendship of Adam, whom he 
 now recognized as being respected by every one. 
 Adam being alone, he seized the opportunity to 
 follow him. 
 
 He now approached, and with a doubting smile 
 said: 
 
 " Do you wish friendship or indifference?" 
 
 " Here is my hand," replied Adam. " By haz- 
 ard you have not hurt me." 
 
 " Then," responded Lork, " let me make haste 
 to do that which will make you respect me." 
 
 " I have heard that all things are possible," said 
 Adam, looking at him with a quizzical smile. 
 
 " If you would like me to return to your coun- 
 try with you, I will be glad to do so," said Lork, 
 continuing, " Your ways are not our ways, but I 
 have seen enough of you to respect you, because 
 you are the type of man who is himself, and I want 
 to be your friend. I want you to like me and to 
 know that I like you, and to know that when you 
 need me you have but to command me. Will you 
 take a stroll with me? " He felt that he had done 
 
Prospect Hill 413 
 
 the mean thing, although his treacherous action 
 had been justified by his second thought. 
 
 Lork had apologized; which action Adam had 
 been educated to think was one of painful humilia- 
 tion. "Who excuses himself, accuses himself." 
 So his manner softened, he was noble enough not 
 to dwell upon Lork's treachery. Our attitude to- 
 ward our fellow-men is largely of our own choos- 
 ing. We can sympathize, approve, enjoy, censure, 
 oppose, or combat. 
 
 They wandered over the mountain paths, 
 through the pine forests to the distant asphalt lakes. 
 Next to the mysterious beyond the skies, the mys- 
 teries of the interior of the earth are the most ap- 
 palling. This oozing bitumen with asphalt and 
 volcanic manifestation had a fascination and gave 
 the sacred emotional feeling that we all have when 
 seeing anything arrive from the hallowed mys- 
 terious unknown. 
 
 It was late as they wandered back hand on shoul- 
 der and arm twisted around arm as friends walk 
 in pleasant paths. A friendly sensation of touch 
 brings peace. As late in the evening they reached 
 the outskirts of the settlement, it was with mutual 
 surprise that they noticed that there was a rosy 
 light in the bower of Sibis. They wondered who 
 could fascinate Sibis. Who could personify in 
 himself her love for all the world? 
 
 Menacing advice from an inferior, even if not 
 followed, is apt to have an arousing effect, and it is 
 possible that when Adam told Fasho at the spring 
 to assert himself new ideas were germinated. The 
 sower does not always know the seed he sows. 
 The soil that refuses the grass may accept the rose. 
 
414 Geyserland 
 
 Fasho decided that the comedy of constancy need 
 not be carried to the point of tragedy. This was 
 an intellectual conclusion obtained by reasoning, 
 helped by a feeling to exert himself more for his 
 fellow-creatures, for Fasho realized that he was on 
 the wrong road toward benefiting others, or him- 
 self, and determined to check himself. He knew 
 that the secret of navigation lay in trimming the 
 sails to the storm. When one can reach harbor 
 by altering the course it is folly to persevere in 
 struggling against the wind. Steadfastness to all 
 things is a fool's dream. 
 
 Fasho, like the eagle of his beloved mountain 
 peaks, arose and surveyed the situation. Sibis was 
 right — he must accept the verdict that a man with 
 a crooked back should not be a progenitor. He 
 had been promoted and now was a comptroller, and 
 with his new duties, naturally, new interests came. 
 He realized that the oak was good for other things 
 besides producing the acorn. He abandoned his 
 ambition to make new records for personal prow- 
 ess, and was glad to show others how to even sur- 
 pass his own famous deeds, being anxious for that 
 glory which comes from meritorious conduct 
 rather than athletic adroitness. 
 
 Fairmena was ever thinking of maternity, 
 which was uninteresting to Fasho. When a friend 
 talks continually of interests with which we are not 
 in sympathy we are bored. What Fasho really 
 wanted was a sympathetic friend who had the type 
 of wifehood, not of motherhood. It gradually 
 dawned upon him that Fairmena lacked certain 
 spiritual qualities which he possessed, and that she 
 only measured him by his animalism, to see if he 
 came up to her standard as a physical mate. She 
 
Prospect Hill 415 
 
 was as impassionate as she was beautiful, think- 
 ing always of her duty, and constantly alarmed for 
 fear that he might caress her, which act the elders 
 would not approve. A person with one idea is 
 not charming. Fairmena only knew her own 
 mind and had a very small acquaintance. 
 
 It is not good for a man to live alone. When 
 in misfortune, he generally prefers in a manly 
 way to take his sorrow undiluted; but when the 
 reaction comes he wants sympathy for his new 
 hopes and aspirations, and a live man will gener- 
 ally get it, for a mortal's love admits of much rea- 
 soning which justifies his transfer of allegiance. 
 When a real and strong affection has come to an 
 end it is not well to mock the sacred past by acting. 
 '' Who has loved once, he best can love again." 
 After months of meditation which had slowly 
 shaped his plan of action for the future, Fasho left 
 his bower and went out into the quiet, peaceful, 
 starlit valley which was wrapped in a mellow 
 glow of the Arctic light. Few were abroad, some 
 of the bowers were dark and closed, some were lit 
 up by the white social light, others were noticeable 
 on account of the sacred red light that shone above 
 the door of the bower, a warning that forbade any 
 intrusion. 
 
 Fasho started ofif at an exceedingly brisk pace 
 for a cripple, until he came to a remote bower 
 to the southward. There was one peculiarity 
 about it which distinguished it from others; a 
 delicious odor of cooking pervaded the place, 
 showing that the inmate did not eat with her 
 social group. This was the abode of the dainty 
 Sibis, who, though she held no official rank as food 
 preparer, acted as a welcomed volunteer-suggester 
 
4i6 Geyserland 
 
 of the different kitchens of the island. Cooking, 
 the most useful of arts, was her passion, and she 
 had introduced so many improvements that the 
 Council, in the same manner as they had given 
 Bimo the facilities for studying the stars, gave to 
 her all the necessities for cooking, and she now ate 
 in her bower instead of with the social group. 
 Archaeologists have found no record of women 
 doing cooking in Egypt. 
 
 " We can live without pictures, 
 We can live without books, 
 But civilized men 
 Cannot live without cooks." 
 
 Her methods were like the scent of the hound 
 or the sight of the deer — incomprehensible. Sibis 
 was a pure Epicurean, but not in any way a degen- 
 erate. Exquisite delicacies are often lost by sim- 
 plifying processes. Machinery cannot give the 
 characteristics of the best hand-made work. The 
 Phoenicians who replaced the cumbersome 
 glyphics with their alphabet unquestionably sac- 
 rificed untold fascinating details. As Sibis was a 
 woman whose bent of life was in making others 
 happy, she was a privileged character, and had an 
 extraordinary influence over the youth of both 
 sexes, due to her sympathy and to her active mind 
 and wisdom. Like the courtesans of Athens, she 
 had profited by her freedom to acquire knowledge 
 of men of the world, which enabled her to take an 
 intellectual position of friendship and confidence. 
 
 Sympathy without the enjoyment of the pleas- 
 ant vibrations coming from touch, is a Christian 
 ideal, and children in Geyserland, from the time 
 they were weaned until they became adults, were 
 taught to avoid all amative gestures like touching, 
 
Prospect Hill 417 
 
 handshaking, or kissing. Salutations were made 
 by bows and gestures only. The simple, peaceful 
 companionship betw^een men and women generally 
 results in the giving or the desiring to give of a 
 certain amount of the healthy magnetic sense of 
 touch, varying in degrees of intenseness. 
 
 Fasho pressed a button of shining white metal 
 and a silvery bell sounded in the interior. 
 
 Sibis, surprised by a visitor at this late hour of 
 the night, touched a spring, and the cozy anteroom 
 of her bower was filled with a soft radiance from 
 the two dozen shaded lamps. She had the refine- 
 ment of good taste, and the bold harmony of the 
 walls and rugs and cushions bespoke the character 
 of its occupant. In Athens it was not the toga 
 that indicated the gentleman, but his manner of 
 wearing it. People become fastidious as to the 
 quality when quantity is abundant; there is no 
 choice except from the superfluous. 
 
 The face of Sibis was thin, but her expressive 
 features were large, and well framed by her abun- 
 dant white hair; her chiseled features made a 
 marked contrast to the bronzed, rugged Fasho, 
 who was molded in a coarse, heroic shape. Her 
 large, mobile lips carried the impression that their 
 owner could have no small meanness. Her mind 
 was better than her body; but a man will pardon 
 almost anything when a woman pleases him. 
 
 " Fasho," she exclaimed, " you in the costume 
 of leisure! What does this mean? " 
 
 " I am so lonely, Sibis. I need a friend. Good 
 friend, I need you." 
 
 "You need not ask for my friendship, Fasho; 
 it has always been yours." 
 
 " But I want your loving sympathy." 
 
 " Dear Fasho, as the ivy in the forest clings and 
 
41 8 Geyserland 
 
 scarcely weighs on the stricken tree — so shall my 
 love be with you, and you shall find that the slight 
 reed, Sibis, is not too frail for the giant Fasho to 
 lean upon." 
 
 We are slaves of what we need, and Fasho 
 needed the sympathy of Sibis. Gratitude for gen- 
 tle, sympathetic words is one of the milestones on 
 the turnpike toward altruism. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 CLIFF SHORE PATH — ADAM AND EVRONA 
 
 " The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be." 
 
 Seafaring men have, while at sea, seldom ac- 
 complished literary work. Ideas come and go, as 
 the waves toss and drop the vessel's hulk. The 
 same can be said about those who dwell by the 
 sea-coast, where no logical train of thought can be 
 successfully executed. The authors from the sea, 
 such as John Smith, Marryat, Cooper, and Clarke- 
 Russell, have written their books on shore. The 
 plains or the mountain-sides are the chosen haunts 
 of the philosopher, or the logical thinker, like 
 Emerson. 
 
 Love and logic are different. Adam, by hazard, 
 met Evrona under a cliff on a secluded path near 
 the edge of the lake coast. The little waves rose 
 and fell between the rocks around them. Why is 
 it that a man wears his heart on his sleeve, and that 
 a woman in love is coy and does the things that 
 are most contrary to her interests and affections? 
 This is one of the inexplicable traits of nature 
 which has baffled scientists and philosophers from 
 the beginning of the world. Happy is the man 
 who can read his mate's adoring heart. And why 
 again is it that when a woman does make the ad- 
 vancing steps toward affectionate intercourse, a 
 reserve and combative spirit takes possession of the 
 man? It is the one who merely accepts who is 
 selfish. She who gives is noble. A man of spirit 
 
 419 
 
420 Geyserland 
 
 will soon hate a woman who has wronged herself 
 for him. A woman was a trophy in ancient days, 
 and a man acquired importance from the difficulty 
 of obtaining a woman of an alien tribe. To pos- 
 sess such a woman argued prowess of the victor, 
 whereas a man who married a kinswoman was less 
 esteemed and often became an object of scorn. 
 Adam, whose departure had been delayed on ac- 
 count of the information he was able to give to 
 the Assistant Surgeon, now became impatient to be 
 ofif. 
 
 He did not understand Evrona's loyal love, 
 and her presence annoyed him. A man always 
 hates the society of those to whom he has been un- 
 just and mean. 
 
 People who have never had a great love can- 
 not properly value its worth. Adam's fanciful, 
 frenzied affection for Polly Natson dulled his 
 appreciation of the love Evrona offered him. It 
 is strange that a man will climb a tree for an unripe 
 peach when a mellow one falls into his hands. 
 
 Evrona's nature had evidently changed, that is, 
 if seriousness was not a coherent part of an appar- 
 ently frivolous, laughing temperament. 
 
 "Why should we part?" said Evrona as she 
 leaned upon Adam's shoulder. She was happy, 
 because touch, the first of the senses, is to the lover 
 the most responsive of sensations, and so soothing 
 that all thoughts of the past or hopes for the future 
 seem trivial. Priceless indeed are such fleeting 
 moments. 
 
 "Do you think I am afraid to go with you?" 
 she continued. " Alone, you will lack a cheering 
 friend." 
 
 " I go alone, I know the peril, I want no com- 
 panion," Adam brusquely replied. " I am not 
 
Adam and Evrona 421 
 
 afraid of death, but of not living as I should. I 
 am in honor bound to go." 
 
 " Dear Adam, the laws of Nature bind us; why 
 consider your vague traditions of duty and honor? " 
 
 ''My honor is my love for myself or respect 
 for my conscience," said Adam, and then with a 
 smothered yawn and his characteristic lack of sen- 
 sitiveness asked, "What do you really wish?" 
 He desired to know just what was expected of 
 him. 
 
 " Cannot you love me more than you love your- 
 self? " queried Evrona. " Don't you appreciate 
 the pleasure of having my love? I am all yours. 
 Take me with you or stay here; your happiness is 
 more to me than my own. I may like your ways 
 better than you like ours. I want to be the mother 
 of your child." 
 
 Evrona's munificence had been generous — unre- 
 strained, without question. 
 
 A tear gathered in Adam's eye, betokening a 
 weakening of his resolve. He was not happy, yet 
 he had made his resolution to go. Conscious of 
 his weakness, and dreading to break down this res- 
 olution, he assumed an attitude of ill-concealed 
 indifference — of brutality, even, that ignoble re- 
 source of vacillating manliness. 
 
 " Another awaits me at home," said Adam. 
 
 Evrona asked, after a long pause, when she had 
 gained perfect control of her voice, "Does she 
 love you? " 
 
 " I have asked her to let me love her." 
 
 " When did you see her last? " 
 
 " Twenty years ago. But we were children to- 
 gether, and honor bids me wait." Adam then told 
 her all that he knew of Polly's history. 
 
 "You dear, simple man, how little you know 
 
422 Geyserland 
 
 about women," said Evrona. ..." You don't know 
 when a girl loves you, or when a girl does not love 
 you. My dear blind boy, you are blinded by a 
 blind infatuation. Your phantom maiden Polly 
 may be a grandmother now. You are dwelling in 
 dreamland. Are you not too old to have such 
 illusions, such flimsy hopes? What magnetic 
 charm do you possess that compels her to wait your 
 luxuriant time and convenience to claim her? 
 Don't let hope make game of you. There cer- 
 tainly must be a point where constancy stops and 
 insanity begins, and you, dear Adam, are at that 
 point." 
 
 This caused Adam a serious thought, but his in- 
 born, bull-headed English stubbornness would not 
 allow any possibility of being in the wrong or even 
 imagining failure. 
 
 "I don't understand this ' honor' of yours," she 
 continued. " A man or woman is a fool who 
 would go through life entirely without folly. You 
 know what Donis says: 'What is superfluous is not 
 necessary.' You and I can return to your land if 
 you wish and live happily in some quiet place away 
 from your home." 
 
 " The devil we could! My home is Stone Hall, 
 where I belong." 
 
 " Would you be ashamed of me at Stone Hall? 
 Have you no room for me at that large place? I 
 have been useful to you here, why not there? Why 
 do you go? I love you." 
 
 " Those whom we decide to love," said Adam, 
 " we love always. I met you too late, gentle 
 Evrona. I may be dull, but I did not flatter my- 
 self that I was in your mind more than others." 
 
 As Adam glanced at Evrona the idea crept 
 through his disturbed brain that she was of a 
 
Adam and Evrona 423 
 
 nobler strain of human species than himself, and 
 one whom he had little merited to possess. Sud- 
 denly, with an overwhelming outburst of afifection, 
 Evrona threw her arms around him, saying: 
 
 "You fool, don't you see how I love you? 
 What is this nonsensical dream that stands be- 
 tween us? Is this visionary beauty whom you 
 have not seen for twenty years going to take the 
 place of me, a real human being? Look at me, fire 
 and passion, Adam, oh, Adam!" 
 
 She cried and he kissed her eyes — forget-me- 
 nots drenched in dew; but the taste of the tear was 
 pain. 
 
CHAPTER XXX 
 
 CONFERENCE BETWEEN ASSISTANT SURGEON AND 
 
 ADAM 
 
 " And much it grieved my heart to think what man had made of man." 
 
 — Wordsworth. 
 
 A COZY room in the Temple of Reason was oc- 
 cupied by Adam and the Assistant Surgeon. The 
 crafty surgeon having assumed a position of su- 
 periority early in the interview, Adam objected. 
 
 " I want you, sir, to consider my feelings sacred 
 and to use no words that will offend them." 
 
 Thus, the Assistant Surgeon soon realized that 
 Adam was no fool. He abhorred fools, but knew 
 there is something to learn from every one who 
 thinks, be he knave or nobleman. Mental op- 
 position is exhilarating and sharpens one's wits. 
 He enjoyed it. Mental opposition is always 
 healthy for one's judgment, provided one's judg- 
 ment is dominated by the love of truth, rather than 
 the fear of complications to come, such as that 
 confusion which necessarily follows when one 
 changes one's opinions. 
 
 There is no doubt that putting ideas into peo- 
 ple's heads increases the variety of vices. It has 
 never been denied that the professional physician 
 is the most helpless and pitiable victim of dopes 
 and drugs, such as chloral and morphine. A co- 
 piously educated weakling is far more dangerous 
 than an uneducated one. 
 
 The more Adam and the Assistant Surgeon 
 
 424 
 
The Assistant Surgeon 425 
 
 talked, the more the Assistant Surgeon realized 
 that an island, even in a perfect state of culture, 
 was a prison. The love of freedom develops dif- 
 ferently; some wish to be free intellectually like 
 Erasmus, others morally like Henry VIII.; again, 
 others physically, like a tramp. Erasmus, who 
 lived in a dark age, but, relatively, little darker 
 than the one we live in now, was one of the first 
 free thinkers in Christendom. The first in any 
 new field often, but not always, attains a degree of 
 excellence which long remains unsurpassed. For 
 instance, the pictures of Van Eyck, the inventor of 
 oil painting, are to-day, after four hundred years, 
 unsurpassed for freshness and durability; again, 
 the delicacy of the original daguerreotypes has not 
 been equaled by modern simplifications and in- 
 ventions. The same is true of early book-bind- 
 ing. So, for intellectuality, the poised but unpop- 
 ular Erasmus, who dared think everything, has 
 not been surpassed for his philosophical conclu- 
 sions. He wrote about the wrong-doings of the 
 monks and priests, and equally refused to accept 
 Luther's arbitrary rulings. His sympathy seemed 
 to be with the classical free-thinkers, particularly 
 Lucien and Seneca. As the Papists were more 
 than half pagans, and the Protestants were more 
 than half Jewish, he agreed with neither, and con- 
 sequently he was disliked by every one and re- 
 spected by all. A man may be heroic who is well 
 balanced, but he will never be a popular hero. 
 
 Expediency will clear the way for good and bad, 
 but a noble feeling is essential for an appreciation 
 of right and wrong. The learning of the Assistant 
 Surgeon had come from an abnormal curiosity 
 rather than from the noble desire to possess a store 
 
426 Geyserland 
 
 of knowledge for public usefulness. Patriotism 
 appeared to him as only prison bars, and duty as- 
 sumed only the form of a local question. He 
 wished to travel. It is by no means necessary that 
 a man should travel to be in accord with the har- 
 monies of Nature's ends. Very few philosophers 
 have been travelers. Kant, Spinoza, Samuel John- 
 son, and Jonathan Edwards did not travel. 
 
 Adam's idea, that a man of wealth and distinc- 
 tion should be free from sanitary restraints and 
 independent of petty irritations, pleased this self- 
 ish surgeon. We love in others that which is like 
 ourselves. Sympathy is a tendency of one indi- 
 vidual to fall in with the emotions of others — a 
 community of sentiments. Poor man, he was a 
 relic of civilization. As to-day we find savages 
 and barbarians living in civilization, so this civ- 
 ilized egotist bloomed in altrustic Geyserland. 
 
 As a shrewd thinker the Assistant Surgeon saw 
 the game and thought he would like to play it. 
 Lycanthropy, the name given by physicians to that 
 mental aberration when a man fancies himself a 
 beast and refuses clothing or cooked food, — like 
 Nebuchadnezzar, — has its mental counterpart 
 when a man of high altruistic breeding and edu- 
 cation descends to the egotism of the savage. To 
 an altruist the pleasures within the grasp of a suc- 
 cessful man of Christendom, although gigantic in 
 proportion, seem trivial in satisfaction, but the As- 
 sistant Surgeon, with his unhappy temperament, 
 had fallen short of his ambitions in Geyserland, 
 and too late was the only sincere convert Adam 
 made. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 SI BIS AND EVRONA — ADAM'S DEPARTURE — ESKIMOS 
 
 Mercy — " It is twice bless'd ; 
 
 It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes." 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 " All desire is illusion, and a new binding upon the wheel." 
 
 —Kipling, " Kim." 
 
 " When a strong man armed keepeth his court, his goods are in peace; 
 but when a stronger than he come upon him and overcometh him, he 
 taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted." — Luke ii. 21. 
 
 How shall a man and woman who have loved 
 part? We mean those who have not been bound 
 by legal ties, or such a vow as " Until death do us 
 part." The ruse of the brilliant Frenchman, " I 
 know all. Good-bye," might succeed nine times 
 out of ten, but has in it an element of cruelty 
 which prevents its adoption. 
 
 Adam's cool desertion of Evrona was but the 
 manifestation of a pig-headed determination to go 
 his own way; but with her it was not a wounded 
 pride, but a heartrending sorrow. 
 
 People who are in sorrow often seek small, piti- 
 ably narrow lives. Men go to sea for long cruises, 
 or enlist in the fighting lines of the army; women 
 seek solace in some abject occupation, nearer home. 
 
 Christian nunneries and monasteries are dimin- 
 utive worlds, complete in themselves, but they are 
 not big enough to take the broad idea of the fel- 
 lowship of humanity, because their biased loyalty 
 to a hierarchy has warped their loftiest sentiments. 
 However, they still remain comforting retreats for 
 the heartbroken and disconsolate in spite of the 
 narrow life led in them. 
 
 427 
 
428 Geyserland 
 
 True consolation comes from extended sympa- 
 thy and love, but never from contracting vows and 
 mortifications of the senses. The good Samaritan 
 belonged to no Christian order. 
 
 Savages, like wild brutes, are afraid of sympa- 
 thy, but grateful for gentleness. A thirst for 
 sympathy prevails in all thinking people, and the 
 more enlightened a man becomes the more sym- 
 pathy he needs; for we all like our most intense 
 thoughts echoed in another's mind. The dis- 
 covery of the need of sympathy and the supplying 
 it for a consideration has marked one phase of 
 civilization ; for on the basis of " Tell me your tale 
 of woe," priests, doctors, and lawyers have erected 
 the three learned professions. 
 
 Reader, comfort all those in affliction. Allevi- 
 ate their sorrow by your sympathy. 
 
 Fairmena had accompanied her loving mate 
 Bimo to the Observatory Tower on the morning 
 that Adam, with the farewell escort in charge of 
 Fasho, departed for his home in Christendom, and 
 with a spy-glass she had followed the barge's 
 course to the distant outlet of the lake. 
 
 With a new love on, it is not always true that the 
 old love is off, so, as Fairmena watched the crip- 
 pled Fasho in the stern of the boat, she more than 
 half sighed at the thought of " what might have 
 been." Seeing the man whom she had so dearly 
 loved bestowing such unselfish kindness on the one 
 who had been the indirect cause of his and her 
 own disappointment, thrilled her with a love and 
 admiration for her race and pride in Fasho that 
 brought tears to her eyes. 
 
 After the barge had disappeared among the dis- 
 tant rocks, Fairmena, glancing across the valley, 
 
Adam the Altruist 429 
 
 saw Sibis and Evrona walking down the cliff path 
 which overlooked the sea. Poor Evrona had not 
 gone to the wharf. She could not smother nor 
 crush the longing for Adam's affection, nor the 
 intense desire to be with him. She had been 
 totally unselfish in her efforts to aid him, and this 
 was the way he had repaid her. 
 
 Sibis, always intensely humane and living to 
 study life and cheer the unfortunate, said to 
 Evrona : 
 
 " What is it you wish to be, Evrona, a kind of 
 parasite?" 
 
 " No," sobbed Evrona, " but it is the nature of 
 a woman to be a working, useful aid to him whom 
 she can respect and love. It certainly is my nature 
 — his ways, his thoughts, his ambitions, his life 
 should all have been mine. I certainly would not 
 have loved him as a leech loves his victim. When 
 I really love a man, I cannot help desiring to make 
 every sacrifice for him. I would help him in all 
 things as a loyal helpmate. Adam was brave, 
 and he was as noble as he was brave." 
 
 Sibis saw, and philosophically appreciated the 
 fact that when a woman loved as Evrona loved, 
 she was not only willing to sacrifice herself, but 
 everybody and everything for the object of her 
 passion. She knew that a woman cannot be 
 cured of love as a man can. A man has only to 
 study the deficiencies of the woman he loves; not 
 so with a woman — she but loves the more. She 
 may disapprove of the crime, but she loves the 
 criminal. 
 
 Continuing her conversation with Evrona, Sibis 
 said: 
 
 " I, too, liked Adam. He had qualities worth 
 remembering. You are a bright woman, why not 
 
43 o Geyserland 
 
 write of his many good deeds? Get an occupation 
 for your mind, my dear. It is the law of Nature 
 that we can better encounter the sorrows of life 
 by seeking work, rather than seeking pleasure. 
 You know him well. You know his thoughts and 
 opinions on questions which were not recorded by 
 the materialistic committee of which the Assistant 
 Surgeon was the head. They only emphasized the 
 least important of his characteristics. I myself 
 believe that Adam left Geyserland from a sense of 
 duty — not because he wanted to go." 
 
 " I know it," sobbed Evrona. " Fool! " 
 
 "What other reason had he for going?" con- 
 tinued Sibis. " The love of a sweet girl like you 
 would have made a weaker man forget all else. I 
 believe you loved him because he had that sense 
 of duty, and we know that he never did a mean 
 thing while he was here — except to encourage your 
 love." 
 
 " That was my fault," interrupted Evrona. 
 " He did not do a mean thing to me, he did not 
 know me until too late. All the world knows that 
 you have a heart, Sibis, but who would suspect me, 
 the laughing Evrona, to have any depth of 
 feeling?" 
 
 Evrona's love for Adam had the sterling ring. 
 It had stirred the finest chords and brought out the 
 deeper and nobler feelings of her nature. Liberty 
 often develops greatness of character, as in the 
 most lax times of Imperial Rome, in the most im- 
 moral times of Charles II., and during the French 
 Regency some of the purest types of individual 
 nobility appeared. 
 
 The church is narrow in having only Juno the 
 woman of the fireside — the mother as the model 
 woman for the people; sending the Minervas to 
 
Adam the Altruist 431 
 
 nunneries and the Venuses to the Devil. It is in- 
 teresting to observe how converts from Paganism, 
 " promoters " of the Christian church, about two 
 hundred years after the death of Jesus, wanting a 
 female ideal, as neither the Jews nor Christians 
 had any, seized upon the character of Mary, the 
 spouse of Joseph, who had always been treated 
 with questionable courtesy by her son, and from a 
 necessity made a goddess of her. 
 
 " I would not be frivolous, Evrona," said Sibis, 
 " but I wish I could do the kind acts you do. Dear 
 sister, our roles, though different, have the same 
 end in view. I love you for loving poor mis- 
 guided Adam as you did. We should not blame 
 him; he could not understand feelings he had 
 never experienced. Let us hope that he will not 
 have time to think, or recall to mind or body, what 
 was his and what he threw away; and let us hope 
 that he will continue in his stupid egotistical igno- 
 rance. I know, dear, that there is no worse agony 
 than being misunderstood. It seems so trifling — 
 but it stifles. I understand your sorrow, loving 
 one, and will not leave you." 
 
 " Please do not," sobbed the woman, as she in 
 desperation grasped the frail Sibis with her round, 
 rosy arms. " All I ever cared for is gone. This 
 sorrow will take away my desire for living. Oh, 
 Sibis, he did not know! " 
 
 " Perhaps not. Egotistical selfishness is bred into 
 the very bone of his people. If you could have 
 kept him only a few months more, he would have 
 outgrown his whimsical opinion of right and have 
 acquired rational ideas of duty, and have enjoyed 
 a happy life with you — and for us." 
 
 " Sibis, sister, walk with me to the Experimental 
 Grange?" 
 
432 Geyserland 
 
 "What!" exclaimed Sibis approvingly, after a 
 low whistle of surprise. 
 
 " It is now to be my home," nodded Evrona. 
 " Dr. Wewo arranged this for me, he said, for the 
 common weal. Dr. Wewo ought to know what 
 love is, as he has lived with the same sweetheart 
 for forty years. But without mercy he insisted that 
 my Adam should go." 
 
 Wewo was too good a homo-culturist not to 
 know the advantage to his race of a strain of for- 
 eign blood. He was no busybody matchmaker 
 nor priest — sentiment with him meant the welfare 
 of future masses, not the individual momentary 
 gratification. 
 
 The tears were overflowing in the eyes of Sibis, 
 but she made no reply to Evrona's remark, but 
 marveled at the depth and wisdom of Wewo. 
 
 To return to the subject of the departure ot 
 Adam it is necessary to state that he had consulted 
 Bimo, the astronomer, about the best routes to the 
 Temperate Zone. Bimo found Adam an intelli- 
 gent listener concerning the sky, and advised him 
 to leave before the spring, as the early part of the 
 trip would be the same at any season, and thus 
 meet any benefit by the mild weather the farthest 
 north. He was also told to watch the flight of the 
 birds and was shown the guiding stars. 
 
 In our days, with our habits of indoor life and 
 cheap mechanical time-keepers, few, outside of 
 navigators and professional astronomers, take any 
 interest in celestial bodies. It was different in the 
 seventeenth century, when they still cast horo- 
 scopes, told time, and traveled by observing the 
 position of the stars. 
 
 The scientific preparations made for Adam's de- 
 
Adam the Altruist 433 
 
 parture were the topic of much discussion in the 
 little altruistic republic. The improved methods 
 of the Geyserlanders permitted many comforts un- 
 known to our Arctic explorers, such as concentrated 
 diet, improved snowshoes, and a tarpaulin shell, a 
 hybrid between an umbrella, canoe, and gigantic 
 Ggg shell, and little fire pills (possibly radium), 
 that were capable of heating a portable oven for 
 several hours. 
 
 Adam's courage was superb — ice and cold, hun- 
 ger and solitude would not be a new experience 
 to him. As we know, he was the sole survivor of 
 the Raven's muster of one hundred and eighty souls. 
 He had seen them, one by one, slowly perish in that 
 frozen North, — the good and the bad,— Puritans 
 and pirates, the strong and the weak, — and yet 
 when the time came for his departure he was not 
 undaunted. 
 
 Why is it that a man loves danger? The soldier 
 loves the battle, the sailor loves the storm, and 
 people who have had intense suffering and danger 
 perhaps find life insipid without them. The more 
 intense life is, the better some enjoy it. Fasho and 
 his crew, looking like luxuriant Eskimos clothed 
 in their thick skins and woolens, escorted Adam 
 farther south than any of them had ever been be- 
 fore, and left him equipped with the best of warm 
 garments, and every known safeguard against the 
 elements. 
 
 The parting was not without pathos, as Adam 
 saluted and bade each one a farewell with a sincere 
 thank you, unaccompanied by any hypocritical 
 courtesy. Here was the unity of man. Adam was 
 a part of them all. There are no individuals on 
 occasions like this. Every man, being, or thing is 
 part of us, and it may be attributed to our low de- 
 
434 Geyserland 
 
 gree of culture if we are unable to rise to that grand 
 fellowship in Nature. 
 
 Adam, leaving behind him all comforts and 
 happiness to seek Polly Natson, was not unlike the 
 mountain youth of " Excelsior " as he started 
 through the fields of ice and snow in pursuit of an 
 illusion. His thoughts of her were chimerical — 
 she was a reality. Query, Are the best of us sane? 
 
 Why should our hearts and sympathies go out 
 always to a romantic lover? Constancy and pig- 
 headedness are so closely related that the one is 
 often taken for the other. 
 
 Adam probably left Fasho somewhere about the 
 line one hundred and tenth meridian, west longi- 
 tude, but its latitude must remain unknown. He 
 spent many days in walking ahead on the ice, and 
 then had to retrace his steps to flank impassable 
 crevasses or high barriers. Weeks passed, hope 
 and fortitude became numb, and the consciousness 
 of having used bad judgment in leaving Geyser- 
 land grew day by day. His mind cleared, and he 
 realized his servitude to early biased prejudices; 
 for it is by our failures that we see deeper into 
 life; in this way our errors help us. The stinging 
 thought of why he had left Geyserland increased 
 daily from a half-formed query to the tremendous 
 question of life and existence. 
 
 Moments of solitude, meditations, will make a 
 thinking man crazy — or great. Adam felt the 
 quickening of the altruistic feeling. He realized 
 that he was on a fool's errand, leaving charming 
 realities for fallacies and phantoms, and he sighed 
 when he thought of having left a kingdom of peace, 
 like that which Daniel and Jesus described, and 
 that he alone of all Christendom was the one who 
 had seen it put in practice. First he cursed his own 
 
Adam the Altruist 435 
 
 stupidity; then he gradually became of loftier 
 mood. The Bible says, " Blessed are the pure in 
 heart, for they shall see God " ; " Blessed are the 
 meek, for they shall inherit the earth"; and 
 " Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the 
 kingdom of Heaven." Adam had become pure 
 in heart, he had become meek and had become as 
 a little child — but, he knew that it was absolutely 
 impossible to get back, and with a faint, sore heart 
 he pushed listlessly forward, in spirit, a new 
 Adam. 
 
 One day in June, when he had apparently 
 reached his last hour, if not his last moment, and 
 his starved, enfeebled heart no longer gave strength 
 to his mind and limbs; when he momentarily ex- 
 pected to collapse from exhaustion, the sight of 
 fresh blood upon the hardened snow revived his 
 sinking forces. Following up the trail, his vision 
 was gratified by once more seeing some of his fel- 
 low-beings. 
 
 A few wretched creatures were engaged with 
 their primitive harpoons in a desperate conflict 
 with a polar bear. Adam, even in his weak condi- 
 tion, managed to give the fatal wound with his pis- 
 tol. There is quite a difference between hunting 
 as an ancient pursuit and as a modern sport. In 
 ancient days the game might be wounded in the 
 morning, but followed by the hunter sometimes for 
 hours before it dropped from exhaustion, hence 
 the word " hunter." The " sportsman " of modern 
 times with his rifle kills his game instantly. 
 
 At first the surprised and startled natives were 
 belligerent at the sight of a strange man; but upon 
 recognizing his terribly exhausted condition, re- 
 lented and dragged him, with the dead bear, to 
 their miserable home. 
 
436 Geyserland 
 
 Adam met these savages probably in the neigh- 
 borhood of what is now known as Wolsteholme 
 Sounds. 
 
 These savages had little or no culture. It was 
 two hundred years later that their descendants first 
 adopted the bow and arrow. Even the kayak, or 
 skin-covered canoe, was unknown to them. They 
 lived in hovels called " igloos," built of blocks of 
 ice. These were pleasant or endurable in winter, 
 but toward early summer (the season when Adam 
 discovered them) they were very disagreeable on 
 account of their constant drippings and foul 
 stenches of rotten fish and putrid oil from the 
 filthy, dirty floors, which were often covered with 
 the bloody remains of a dead seal. In these ice 
 huts the only objects resembling furniture con- 
 sisted of a bank of ice, along the sides, covered with 
 skins which served as seats and a common sleeping- 
 place. A lamp with moss-wick was suspended 
 from the center of the roof and acted as a heater 
 and light giver. It was apt to stifle the unaccus- 
 tomed visitor, fresh air or a breath of air of any 
 kind being almost unobtainable. 
 
 They derived most of their sustenance from the 
 sea, and what they ate they ate raw, so that they 
 had nothing palatable for poor Adam in his 
 expiring condition. 
 
 Overcome by despair, Adam stretched himself 
 upon the rude sleeping-place and tried to practice 
 the great lesson of altruism he had learned in Gey- 
 serland. He was " blue," and sought the moral of 
 his existence. To have the " blues," and to have 
 nobody profit by them, is like harrowing a pasture 
 and sowing no seed. With his dying strength he 
 continued to make notes and comments on his ex- 
 traordinary adventure, with the praiseworthy ex- 
 
Adam the Altruist 437 
 
 pectation that they might some day reach those 
 whom they would benefit, and that the world would 
 be better for his having lived. 
 
 It had been difficult for Adam, with his antece- 
 dents, nursed as he had been upon pure egotism, 
 to comprehend pure altruism. But the example of 
 Geyserland had enabled him to mount to a higher 
 round of enlightenment. 
 
 Nothing more is left of Adam's record. All 
 must die, and every one leaves some work unac- 
 complished when dying. Probably after becom- 
 ing partially acquainted with the uncongenial com- 
 panions he abandoned hope and realized that his 
 life was about to end in their midst. Hour by hour 
 his strength left him. He became resigned to the 
 fact that his efforts to reach Polly Natson were 
 useless, and was glad to cease the fight against that 
 inevitable destiny, death. He little knew that the 
 object of his energies was a cross, nagging woman. 
 
 His rescuers, realizing that death was near, di- 
 vided his possessions among themselves. His 
 treatment of his Bible gave them the impression 
 that it was a hallowed thing; his veneration for 
 that, his absolute indifference to everything else, 
 so impressed them that it was guarded with mys- 
 terious awe. Generations after, when it was taken 
 from thern by the Dutch, they were glad to get rid 
 of it, as it had been an uncanny possession since 
 Adam had left it. 
 
EPILOGUE 
 
 " Excellent salads are to be found in every field." 
 
 " The little good I have done, is my best work." 
 
 — Voltaire. 
 
 " Be not only good, be good for something." 
 
 The shoemaker and janitor, Jules Heron, with 
 his wife and daughter, occupied the lodge of an 
 apartment house in the Rue des Petites Epingles 
 (Little Pin Street, Paris). Their accommodations 
 consisted of two rooms about ten feet square. The 
 outer one, which was his work-shop and janitor's 
 lodge^ contained a bed and shoemaker's bench. 
 The inner room was furnished with a soapstone 
 range and untrapped sink, a few chairs, and a cot 
 used by his pretty daughter Hortense, who, in spite 
 of such unhealthful surroundings, was rosy- 
 cheeked and robust, in startling defiance of all 
 sanitary theories and plumbers' maledictions. 
 
 It was this winsome, vivacious girl who bade me, 
 one Sunday afternoon in August, ascend to Mr. 
 Seaton's rooms on the third floor. I found him 
 busy in the laboratory, fretting about his own ig- 
 norance, and suggesting that his parents would 
 have benefited the world more had they taught 
 their son more chemistry and less catechism. He 
 had now become an enthusiastic dabbler in the 
 science. 
 
 It was a pleasure to see the old gentleman after 
 a lapse of nearly thirty years. My visit was no sur- 
 prise, for I had a few days before sent him my 
 manuscript, with the message that I would call to 
 get his opinion of it. 
 
 438 
 
Epilogue 439 
 
 " I have read your ' Triumph of the Despotism 
 of Freedom,'" said Mr. Seaton. "It is not the 
 book I expected. I thought you would have se- 
 lected a more mundane theme. You have no vil- 
 lains, no heartrending cruelties, nor exciting 
 'penny dreadful, fireside magazine situations'; 
 nothing thrilling; your style is axiomatic, it is dry, 
 dogmatic, sermony, and prosaic." 
 
 " I think horrors are not necessary," v^as my 
 reply. " I have tried to show that the machinery 
 of evolution, which has been running for thousands 
 of years on the theory of ' whatever is, is right,' is 
 now clogged by unnecessary fagged ends of ancient 
 thoughts and useless refuse. I have also endeav- 
 ored to sketch a happier social station than that 
 in which I grew up. I have tried to cheer and give 
 hope to the unfortunate; to show to those with 
 evil thoughts a nobler course. I have tried to pic- 
 ture a new dream for the idle classes, and to the 
 philosophers I have shown my convictions with all 
 sincerity." 
 
 " You have borrowed, without giving credit, 
 more than half your ideas, and have written what 
 our grandfathers knew and did not think proper to 
 say," Mr. Seaton responded. 
 
 " It is the hardest thing in the world to prevent 
 memory from conflicting with originality. I have 
 tried to be a thinker, and know that I have been a 
 thief," I replied. " However, two per cent, of orig- 
 inality is as much as a fair critic has a right to de- 
 mand from an author, and, as I could never re- 
 member the correct wording of any one's opinion, 
 I have done the best that I could with my own 
 brain, mixed with confused borrowings. It was 
 George Eliot who said, ' Scholarship is a system of 
 licensed robbery.' There were things my grand- 
 
440 Epilogue 
 
 father knew that he would not talk about, but the 
 things I know I will talk about. Dana said, 
 ' Write for the intelligent sixty who can under- 
 stand and the sixty million will learn from the 
 sixty.' I have invented no new controversies, but 
 have given light and ventilation to some dim, 
 misty, but important ones. I love to play with 
 sharp tools, and I have not been afraid to handle 
 subjects that are skipped by, well — let us say ' pru- 
 dent people.' " 
 
 "Before closing," Mr. Seaton objected, "you 
 should gratify all curiosities, satisfy the qualms of 
 imagination, and leave a pleasant feeling in our 
 bosoms when we lay the finished book down." 
 
 " Perhaps Evrona and Lork did follow and 
 rescue Adam ; I suppose they did ; but an army that 
 fights with a reserve corps is not as thrillingly in- 
 teresting as one which fights with its entire force. 
 There never was a reserve corps in the army of 
 Washington. The public likes actions done with 
 the sacred fire of earnestness, with no thought of 
 reserve, and with an unlimited strenuousness of 
 endeavor. Adam could have taken a carrier pig- 
 eon with him, and by reporting the position of the 
 stars, have been rescued; but the point is, he lived 
 to appreciate the beauty of altruism. I fear, my 
 good Mr. Seaton, that your taste has been spoiled 
 by French novels, which are written with a desire 
 to allay, rather than stimulate, deep thinking; and 
 these novels generally after dubious wanderings 
 leave the reader happy with a good Mother Goose 
 moral ; but surely that is not the mirror of Nature. 
 The moral of ' Vanity Fair,' contrasting the enjoy- 
 ment of Becky Sharp and Amelia, is truer to life 
 than the fixed up, happy endings of the orthodox 
 novel. Some portrait painters paint a pretty pic- 
 
Epilogue 441 
 
 ture and then make it look like the subject, others 
 paint the subject and it makes a pretty picture; the 
 latter seems the most praiseworthy method. It is 
 the writer's fault if what he says is not clear. A 
 falsehood, by constant repetition, may acquire the 
 appearance of truth, but it is not truth. I might 
 have mentioned Polly Natson again, but it is un- 
 necessary. There is but one end to a scolding 
 woman — she stops scolding when the blood stops 
 circulating." 
 
 " A man's opinion concerning woman-kind is 
 generally biased by a knowledge of the woman he 
 knows best," interrupted Mr. Seaton. " If they 
 were all amiable, like my good maid Gabrielle, or 
 like your dear Mother Var Voon, how happy we 
 should be to have them around us. The mosaic 
 construction of your fable has a certain amount of 
 originality, but you have departed from the upper 
 cult. — You have a very loose philosophy blended 
 with a very disconnected narrative." — 
 
 " Mr. Seaton," I replied, "if I wished to make 
 a departure from the practices in vogue, to 
 omit the accepted refinements of literary style, 
 you can see that by being independent in one 
 direction I was in a position not to repel 
 liberty of thought in another, and possibly thus 
 have gained deeper thoughts and a higher mo- 
 rality. You suggested that I should write 
 an ideal of individual life. I have chosen to 
 write an ideal of communal life. An isolated per- 
 son is only half developed and can only attain a 
 low degree of culture. I have tried to sketch the 
 largest possible individual with all his rights as an 
 individual, and also the career of a community as 
 a unit. I have tried to contrast the parade of self- 
 ishness with the possibility of a monastic commu- 
 
442 Epilogue 
 
 nity; to show the folly of perpetuating useless anti- 
 quated customs; to show that by guarded breed- 
 ing a worthy personnel may be produced; to ad- 
 vise people to ridicule all those who believe in the 
 supernatural; to live larger lives, to despise se- 
 crets, to love Nature, and with a nobler philosophy 
 to enlighten those who harbor malicious thoughts 
 of vengeance; to show that happiness may come 
 from the vague comfort of a dream or of a falla- 
 cious fancy, but genuine peace of mind must be 
 won by adapting our lives to the realities." 
 
 " My dear boy, you do not have to go to Geyser- 
 land to be an altruistic philosopher. Our capa- 
 bilities are like a tool-chest in which there are 
 some tools that have become dull and rusty from 
 lack of use. Mutual aid has always been evi- 
 dent; we recognize glimmerings of it everywhere 
 in history. Look at the monks of the fifth century 
 who lived by bridgeless rivers to ferry travelers 
 over. Every day there are those who voluntarily 
 nurse the sick. Is not this desire to do for others 
 without reward, this noblest impulse of man, altru- 
 ism? There was nothing done in Geyserland that 
 could not be done here. Your ideal — the Altruist 
 — is a character that we all know; and while we 
 are discussing this subject let me say that no emi- 
 nent novel has ever been written that has not shown 
 the Altruist to be an object of pity and ridicule 
 and the victim of every knave. Your inheritance 
 scheme is plausible and perhaps possible. Our 
 modern facilities for traveling permit an enter- 
 prising person to get away from local, social re- 
 straints. In America it is only by defying the laws 
 that freedom is enjoyed, but here in Paris neither 
 the government, priests, local influences, nor labor 
 unions interfere with one's independence or pri- 
 
Epilogue 443 
 
 vate life. — There are now more happy polygamists 
 in Paris than ever existed in Utah, and every day 
 there is somebody born who will appreciate the 
 large, free life that Jesus taught. Yet, from the 
 weakly authenticated accounts of Jesus we believe 
 that He was mortal — and, thanks to His example, I 
 am happy. I cannot and would not be like 
 Him, for if all mankind were alike the arrange- 
 ment of bouquets would be the same. — My next 
 criticism is in regard to your materialistic ideas 
 of recognizing but one power, Nature, which 
 will not be acceptable to the confused ideas of the 
 fashionable church people. 
 
 " A husbandman," I said, " throws the seed, 
 hoping it will fall in congenial soil, and he is not 
 discouraged if some soil is barren. Man should 
 take as his model of duty that unpopular but no- 
 blest of scavengers, the blue-bottle fly, the mother 
 of maggots, who will be forever hated and accursed 
 by our cooks, because, in spite of every precaution 
 that human integrity has invented, it seeks carrion 
 everywhere, even in the most secluded ice-chest, 
 with an enterprising persistency that the cooks 
 think unequaled. Each thinker should seek the 
 truth as the bottle fly seeks carrion. Many truths 
 are concealed; some are greater than others, and 
 consequently will be visible longer. The able man 
 is the one who sees deepest into any one subject 
 and sticks to it, and perhaps throws new light upon 
 that subject. To make digression does not require 
 a profound mind." Then, with a suspicion of vehe- 
 mence, I added, " The secret of our future exist- 
 ence, if there is to be one, has been well kept. 
 When my mind first tackled the mysteries of re- 
 ligion, I prayed the Lord to guide my mind, ' as 
 He would have it go,' and I soon afterward deter- 
 
444 Epilogue 
 
 mined that there were no providential acts, like 
 the answer to prayer. Marius said that all Romans 
 were liars. Marius was a Roman. So where are 
 we?" 
 
 We were interrupted by a deep male voice which 
 came from the kitchen. 
 
 *' This is Sunday," said Mr. Seaton, "and hav- 
 ing read your book, I shall not hesitate to have you 
 stop and have some flap-doodles with us. Gabri- 
 elle's son is here, and he is a prominent pupil of 
 the Ecole Polytechnique." 
 
 Mr. Seaton had no occasion to be ashamed of 
 Gabrielle's son. Henri le Breton had the large 
 bones and healthy physique of his peasant mother 
 of Brittany, with the head of the Autocrat and the 
 physiognomy that showed the influence of fifteen 
 hundred years of strenuous intellectual evolution. 
 The big-boned, robust, uneducated, good-natured 
 Gabrielle was a comfort to the small-boned, dys- 
 peptic, nervous, genial Mr. Seaton, and she had 
 been with him more than thirty years. Her lack 
 of education had been so completely offset by her 
 good heart and affection that any question of 
 change seemed improbable and unnecessary. It 
 was a union where the first cross word meant sep- 
 aration. At the time of Henri's birth Mr. Seaton 
 had financially protected her from any fear of 
 poverty. If one cannot be both happily married 
 and mated, it is better to be happily mated than 
 unhappily married. 
 
 With the assistance of the working-girl, Gabri- 
 elle gave us a good " pot-luck" dinner, an ambro- 
 sial repast, such as can only be had in dear old Bo- 
 hemian Paris — oysters, soup, olives, and caviare, 
 baby fillets, carmon, salad, cheese, etc. 
 
 Economy is a local question. Peter Seaton lived 
 
Epilogue 445 
 
 well, but with no ostentation. To live expen- 
 sively in order to gain the commendation of those 
 whom we wish to think well of us, foolishly costs 
 much good money. 
 
 Mr. Seaton informed me that our old waiter 
 Xavier had died and that his brother Jacques, who 
 had been dependent upon him, had become a help- 
 less victim of the " Green Muse " — absinthe. I 
 also learned from other sources that Mrs. Seaton 
 and her daughter, Victoria, a young widow, were 
 now conspicuous in the " smart set " of New York. 
 The comedy of luxury that some are willing to 
 play is truly amusing. They were happy in that 
 fashionable world, with plenty of money, inde- 
 pendent of everything but social and religious 
 laws. Seasons came and seasons went, and the con- 
 tented mother and daughter continued to smile, 
 untrammeled by any further ambitions or desire 
 to change. Ladies of fashion are always " loyal " 
 to a conventionality, however stupid. It takes less 
 brains to be selfish than to be generous. 
 
 The moral of the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Seaton 
 justified his trite saying, "" When success is impos- 
 sible, try again — something else." 
 
 Should a noble person adhere to an ignoble 
 cause? 
 
I 
 
 « 
 
 I 
 
INDEX 
 
INDEX 
 
 Adam Mann, 33. 
 Adhemar, 46. 
 Adoration, 347. 
 Altruism, 82, 125, 150. 
 Amusements, 378. 
 Ancestral Worship, 40. ' 
 Anglo-Saxons, 384. 
 Apprentices, 102. 
 Anarchism, 82. , 
 Arabs, 144, 126. 
 Architecture, 394. -.y 
 Artaxerxes, 276. 
 Assistant Surgeon, 173. 
 Athletics, 378. 
 Autocrats, 131. 
 
 Barbarism, 82. 
 
 Bastards, 65. 
 
 Beggers, 104. 
 
 Bimo, 283. 
 
 Bond Holders, 39. 
 
 Boors, 126. 
 
 Breeding, 162. 
 
 Boise, Henry M., 370. 
 
 Britons, 256. 
 
 Cards, 126. 
 Carthagenians, 222. 
 Castration, 367. 
 Cataclysms, 49. 
 Caxton, William, 103. 
 Cave Dwellers, 131. 
 Chastity, 188. 
 Children, 211. 
 City of Brass, 51. 
 Civilization, 82. 
 Communism, 8r. 
 College Fellowships 160. 
 Consolation, 428. 
 Colors, Note, 156. 
 Constancy, 291, 305. 
 Covetousness, 275. 
 Costumes, ^t,, 379. 
 Cooking, 415. 
 Council of Doctors, ^y. 
 
 Crime, 189. 
 
 Critics, 20. 
 Cruelty, 277. 
 Customs, 61. 
 Cursing, 258. 
 
 Death, 289. 
 
 Degenerates in Geyserland, 372. 
 
 Development of Children, 2,V- 
 
 Dissolution House, 358. 
 
 Donis, no, 359. 
 
 Doctors, 67. 
 
 Dreams, 57. 
 
 Drama, 379. 
 
 Duty, 179. 
 
 Duodecimal Multiplication Table, 
 
 Egg Episode, 232. 
 Elastic Laws, 303. 
 English Cruelty, 278. 
 Emotions, 347. 
 Epicurians, 292. 
 Equilibrium, 201. 
 Essenes, 108. 
 
 Experimental Grange, 206. 
 Eunuchs, 366. 
 
 Fairmena, 74. 
 Fashion, 382. 
 Fasho, 76. 
 Festivals, 410. 
 Feudalism, 91. 
 Fish Eaters, 131. 
 Forgiveness, 412. 
 Fru, 324. 
 Freedom, 425. 
 Future Life, 282. 
 
 Gambling, 128. 
 Gentlemen, 17. 
 
 Geographical Conditions, 45. 
 Geyserland Customs, 60. 
 Grain Eaters, 131. 
 Gratitude, 79. 
 God and Devil, 351. 
 449 
 
450 
 
 Index 
 
 Guards, 74. 
 
 Hamlet, 290. 
 
 Hammond, Surgeon General 
 
 368 
 Hereditary, 166. 
 Heroes, 324. 
 Holy Soul, 79. 
 Home, 39. 
 Homoculture, 157. 
 Hope, 128. 
 Holidays, 410. 
 
 Illegitimate Children, 65. 
 Individual Freedom, 67. 
 Indcpendant Woman, 313. 
 Inspection, 72. 
 Inventions, 326. 
 Irish, 228. 
 
 Jealousy, 360. 
 Jeremiah, 218. 
 Jews, 61. 
 
 Note, 330. 
 Juno, Minerva and Venus, 430. 
 
 Labor Day, 410. 
 Lady, 17. 
 Lies. 215. 
 Lork, 194. 
 Love, 203. 
 Loyalty, 389. 
 Luck, 245. 
 
 MacDonald. A. J., 85. 
 
 Malice, 412. 
 
 Marriage, 62. 
 
 Marble Wharf, no. 
 
 Mating, 201. 
 
 Matrons, 66. 
 
 Mental Capacity, 205. 
 
 Mercy, 275. 
 
 Misfit Marriages, 13. 
 
 Missing Link, 56. 
 
 Modesty, 379. 
 
 Moral Duty. 185. 
 
 Mother Var Voon, 295. 
 
 Money, 62. 
 
 Morris, William, 94. 
 
 Music, Primitive, 131. 
 
 Mysteries, 107. 
 
 Negroes, 59. 
 Nihilism, 83. 
 
 Noyes, John Humphrey, 306. 
 
 Old Age, 285. 
 Old Time Festival, 321. 
 Oneida Community, 306. 
 Only Soul, 79. 
 
 Paris, II, 438. 
 Patriotism, 71. 
 Paradise, 295. 
 Parting, 427. 
 Platonic Love, 190. 
 Pirates, 183. 
 Penology, 362. 
 Providence, 2J9. 
 Poor, 104. 
 Prayers, 395. 
 Projectors, 74. 125, 141. 
 Punishments, 362. 
 Punic Honor, 221. 
 
 Qualities of Man, 75. 
 
 Race Suicide, 313. 
 Recording Causes, 249. 
 Refinement, 17. 
 Religion, 348, 288. 
 Rotation in Occupation, 72. 
 Rotation in Temperaments, 165. 
 Roul, III. 298. 
 Ridicule, 2ho. 
 
 Saxons. 132, 257. 
 
 Sabbath, 411. 
 
 Sacrifices, 395. 
 
 Savages, 81. 
 
 Saint Patrick, 229. 
 
 Sanctity of Life, 361. 
 
 Sacred Spring, 349. 
 
 Shagstaff, John, the Pirate. 36. 
 
 Shrines 349. 
 
 Sibis. 172. 
 
 Sympathy. 428. 
 
 Sports, 378. 
 
 Stoics. 292. 
 
 Sin. 189. 
 
 Shame. 379. 
 
 Seaton. Peter, 13. 438. 
 
 Seven Temples. 75. 
 
 Socialism, 83. 
 
 Sin'cide, 373. 
 
 Supernatural, 254. 
 
 Taskmasters. 67, 262. 
 Teaching. 252. y 
 
 i 
 
Index 
 
 451 
 
 Temperaments, 121. 
 
 " The Woman That Did," 301. 
 
 Tropics, 170. 
 
 Turkish Baths, 188. 
 
 Terrorism, 83. 
 
 Tristan d'Achunha, 60. 
 
 The Three Lovers, 389. 
 
 Unions, 99. 
 
 Unnatural Habits, 193. 
 
 Vengeance, 412. 
 
 Variety of Human Types. 156. 
 Vest, Senator, 191. 
 Vice, 189. 
 
 Waiters, 12. 
 Winning Ways, 199. 
 Wreck, 282. 
 Weaning, 211. 
 
 Zadiz, 397. 
 
 Zealot Pratt, 271. 1 
 
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