^»^ 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 ^^^^»l 
 »' 
 
 
 

 
 iSfn-^ 
 
 
 
 ■^ijl^^i^ 
 
 ^x^', 
 \ 
 
 ■^w. 
 
 %m^ 
 
 ihA-^t^'.!^ 
 
 '^W^M 
 
f-m^'^- 
 
 
 '•• 51iJ '^ 
 
 ^M^'U 
 
 ^(^-«E. 
 
 "i^^m^-/ 
 
 -^ .J?^Cs3 
 
 
 IT 
 
 ? -^- 
 
 
 "^^^^ 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 •^^- 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Arcinive 
 in 2010 witii funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 littp://www.arcliive.org/details/itmiglitbestoryofOOswan 
 
1/'^': 
 
 
 ■' r 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 A Story of the Future progress of the Sciences, the 
 
 Wonderful advancement in the Methods 
 
 OF government and the Happy 
 
 State of the People. 
 
 BY 
 
 H. E. SWAN. 
 
 H. E. SWAN, 
 
 STAFFORD, KANSAS, 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1893 
 
 by 
 
 HERBERT B. SWAN, 
 
 In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 
 
 PRESS OF ... . 
 C. B WOODWARD 
 PTG. & BOOK MFG. CO. 
 ST. LOVIS, MO. . . . 
 

 PREFACE. 
 
 THIS volume — It Might Be — is intended to suggest 
 what we believe would be successful remedies to 
 some of the evils now facing the people of our land. 
 While suggesting remedies to these evils, it is trying to 
 picture the wonderful growth which the sciences would 
 inevitably take were they freed from the embarrassing 
 position in which they are now placed — that is, sur- 
 rounded by the great questions connected with the 
 struggles of life. While some of the pictures may be 
 wide of the mark, yet we do not believe that, if the abso- 
 lutely true representations of the near future were shown 
 up, or could be drawn, our picture would then look vis- 
 ionary or too highly colored. 
 
 The hope of the author is that some one may come 
 forth from the great mass of humanity who shall be able 
 to lead the Nation to a higher and more successful mode 
 of conducting its affairs, and that this book may teach 
 some one, and, teaching him, cause him to feel more and 
 more the brotherhood of the race, and, feeling more of 
 this common humanity, may be led to help more in the 
 great struggles now being made by these millions for a 
 
 «urer, happier mode of living. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 5)T.\FFORD, Kansas, 
 
 January, 1896. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 " Look in my face; my name is It-Might-Be ; 
 Unto thine ear I hold the dead- sea shell, 
 Of ultimate things unuttered the frail screen. 
 Mark me, how still I am? But should there dart 
 One moment through thy soul the soft surprise 
 Of that winged Peace, which lulls the breath of sighs, 
 Then shalt thou see me smile." — Rossetti. 
 
 " Hark, what sound is that, Doctor ?" 
 
 The two men suddenly stopped. They were at the 
 side of a great bowlder, which seemed lately to have rolled 
 down from the heights above, and to have lodged at the 
 roots of a great tree, which had been blown down by some 
 storm in the now long ago^ tearing up an embankment of 
 eai'th five or six feet high, and into the basin thus left in 
 the mountain's side this massive bowlder had fallen. As 
 they paused and looked around them, they noticed that 
 there were great tracks down the side of the mountain, 
 which had been made by the awful plunge of some over- 
 hanging rock as it rushed down to the valley below, 
 tearing the trees and bushes from their ancient resting 
 place in its downward plunge and scattering the brush 
 here and there, tearing great holes in the ground as it 
 leaped from cliff to cliff. After looking sharply about for 
 a few moments and listening intently, the doctor roi)lied : 
 
 '' It is the moan of some man or beast in great pain. 
 But, Elverton, what means this great confusion, and 
 what power has loosed those mighty rocks and sent tlieni 
 plunging to the valley yonder? I did not notice tbis 
 strange appearance until now, I was so excited in my 
 search for that deer you wounded down there." 
 
8 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 " 'Tis strange, very strange, Doctor. You see that, 
 the treer are not injured, "except where some rocli lias 
 crashed into them. Had this been caused by some great 
 storm, the other trees and bushes would show its effects 
 as well; and up there where those rocks came from no 
 cyclone or such storm ever reaches. It is above the limit 
 of such storms." 
 
 " Listen," said the doctor, as again a low, murmuring 
 sound broke the stillness of the mountain forest. Tliey 
 soon discovered that the strange sound proceeded from an 
 opening at the bottom of the rock, against which they 
 were leaning. Upon a closer examination they found that 
 there was an opening into the mountain's side, which the 
 rock had nearly closed when it found its resting place 
 here a few days before. No time was lost in securing a 
 small sapling, for, said the doctor, " I believe there is 
 something imprisoned down there under that rock which 
 is the cause of this queer noise." The sapling was used 
 as a lever to remove the rock, which was accomplished 
 after much puffing, grunting and some lifting; but once 
 loosened, it plunged away down into the valley beneath, 
 exj)osing by its removal a small opening which extended 
 downward into the mountain as far as they could see. 
 That he might the better hear the sounds which came 
 from the mountain, the doctor placed his head as far 
 down as he could into the cavity. He was soon so excited 
 by what he heard that Elverton thought he was going to 
 fall down, so he caught hold of his feet and pulled him 
 back, when the doctor looked up. Elverton looked into a 
 face whose meaning he could not read, but upon which 
 was a look of extreme terror. The eyes protruded, the 
 face was whitened and the body trembled in every nerve. 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 9 
 
 He did not speak, but quickly pointed to the opening in 
 ;he ground. After looking at the frightened doctor for a 
 few moments and getting as a reply to his questions but 
 the pointing finger, he lay down upon the ground and 
 placed his head within the opening, the doctor taking the 
 precaution to take hold of his feet. For some moments 
 he lay there and then slowly arose. His looks had greatly 
 changed. No man ever wore an expression of more 
 surprise and astonishment than did Elverton, as he arose 
 to his feet. It was some time before he could speak, and 
 then, in a voice whose trembling plainly expressed his 
 surprise and wonder, he said : 
 
 " Why, Doctor, I never heard such sounds in my life 
 before. Where does it come from and what does it mean? 
 Such music as only the angels in heaven could make, 
 then those awful shrieks, then that terrible crashing, as 
 if the very suns of the universe were falling together in 
 mighty battle. Who can it be shut up in this old moun- 
 tain, or have we suddenly dropped to some other world 
 never before dreamed of ? Can it be that within the 
 bosom of this mighty mountain there is a speaking tube 
 reaching up and drinking in the songs of the shining 
 seraphs on the golden shore, and one reaching down to 
 the lower world and transmitting the wails and shrieks of 
 the lost ? Tell me, Doctor, what does it mean ? " 
 
 "Mean? Why, I have not the slightest idea," he 
 answered. " Hold me and I'll listen again." 
 
 He again laid down upon the ground, but this time 
 upon his side, and, with his arm extended across the 
 opening, he grasped the roots of the tree and lowered his 
 head within the hole. For the next few moments his 
 face was a study to behold ; now lit up with a smile and 
 
10 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 ecstacy of delight, then set and firm as if in deep thought ; 
 then tightly drawn, as if his heart strings were being 
 broken with some great grief; tears started to his eyes, 
 only to be dried in a few moments, as a look of awe spread 
 over his countenance. The sounds soon ceased, and 
 after he had waited some time for their return, but with- 
 out success, he slowly and reluctantly arose, saying, as he 
 did so: 
 
 ' ' Can it be that some new tribe of beings are at home 
 down there and are engaged in deadly combat ? I wish 
 we had a rope and lantern. I would like to go down and 
 explore that mystery. I suppose it must be an opening 
 into a mammoth cave, and I would like to explore it." 
 
 While they were talking, a momentary shadow flitted 
 past them, as if caused by some slowly passing bird, and 
 they both looked up, but could not at first see the cause 
 thereof ; but a scream of an eagle higher up the mountain 
 soon explained the appearance of the shadow. As they 
 were about to turn their gaze back to the ground, Elverton 
 caught the glimpse of a shining object, far up above the 
 mountain top, and, pointing his finger in the direction 
 thereof, called the doctor's attention thereto, saying: 
 
 " What's that up there. Doctor? Looks like a meteor 
 or comet, yet too steady for a meteor and not far enough 
 off for a comet." 
 
 The doctor looked up and saw only a very bright 
 light, yet it came from far away up beyond where the 
 clouds ever attain, or eagle wing could find air dense 
 enough to buoy it up. Its size they could not tell, for 
 they had no way of telling how far away it was. It 
 seemed to be stationary and shown with a light reflected 
 from the sun, intensified by its own dazzling brilliancy. 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 11 
 
 and glistened like a star of the first magnitude shining in 
 a clear midnight sky. 
 
 '' I don't know what that thing is, Elverton, and I am 
 getting a little anxious to get away from here, for it 
 begins to seem a little uncanny to me. What say you 
 about going down into that valley, where we can talk 
 over these things — " 
 
 They were still looking at the bright object above the 
 mountain, when they noticed that it suddenly began to 
 shine brighter than ever and seemed to wave about and 
 tremble. At the same time they began to feel a strange 
 oppression of the air about them. The leaves on the 
 trees began to flutter, and yet not a breath of air was 
 stirring. The two men slowly sank to the ground, where 
 they lay and panted for breath, not being able to move 
 about and hardly to think or breathe. The mountain 
 trembled ; a few stray rocks were loosed from their resting 
 places and rolled past them down the mountain. The air 
 seemed to be on fire, and cracked and popped like break- 
 ing twigs; the rain began to fall, yet not a cloud could be 
 seen. There were a few blinding flashes of lightning, 
 followed by awful roars of thunder, and then the rain 
 ceased to fall, the air calmed down and all was quiet 
 again. They arose and with one accord started down the 
 mountain, and not very slow did they walk, either. They 
 had traveled two or three hundred yards before either 
 spoke, and then the doctor, in a husky voice, whispered : 
 
 "Was that an earthquake, Elverton, or what in the 
 world was it? My head hurts, and my hair pulls even 
 now." 
 
 Elverton drew a few long breaths, tried to calm him- 
 self, and replied : 
 
12 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 '" As to what that was or its cause I do not know. I 
 only know that I felt as though a thousand arms of iron 
 were around me, each one pressing as if to crush out my 
 life. My fingers tingled, my hair pulled, and my heart 
 seemed trying to leap out of my throat." 
 
 " What can you make of it, Elverton ? I can't imagine 
 what it means, but I, for one, did not wish to remain 
 there and have it repeated in my presence." 
 
 "Nor I," replied his friend; "yet I would like to 
 know what that cavity in the mountain contains." 
 
 " Well," said the doctor, " I am in favor of securing 
 the necessary articles and come out here to-morrow and 
 explore this mystery to its depths," 
 
 " I agree to that," replied the doctor's companion, as 
 they walked down toward the base of the mountain. 
 "But, Doctor, that could not have been an earthquake, 
 for that same phenomena must have happened before and 
 loosened those great bowlders, which plowed such furrows 
 up there, and we would have fait the shock at Silverton, 
 and no one there has reported such an occurrence. And, 
 besides, all that weight and motion seemed to be from 
 above and not beneath; and did you notice how that 
 thing up in the air shone just as it begun ? I confess I 
 was so frightened I did not notice the direction it came 
 from very much, and did not stop to take my bearings, 
 except in my departure from the place. I tell you, 
 Doctor, I believe that shining something up there in the 
 air had much to do with that troubled atmosphere and 
 those subterranean sounds. A wonderful amount of power 
 was turned loose there somehow, and I would like to 
 know what and where the secret lever was that unbound 
 it." 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 13 
 
 " That reminds me," the doctor rejoined, " that only 
 a few days ago I read tliat some Professor Crooks had 
 estimated that each cubic foot of ether, tliat subtle some- 
 thing that fills all space, contained ten thousand feet of 
 energy. And it seems to me that in some manner the 
 elements around this old mountain met the conditions 
 and let out a floodgate of heretofore imprisoned force. 
 After passing through what we have for the past half 
 hour, I am led to look upon the professor's statement as 
 less visionary than I once supposed." 
 
 " Were it possible to utilize all the force wasted up 
 there this afternoon, there would be but little use for steam 
 engines, for it seems to me that power enough was freed 
 to turn every mill wheel and haul every load in the Union 
 for the next dozen years. That certainly was an electric 
 force we felt, for my fingers and nerves felt it, and my 
 hair seemed to wish, if possible, to depart from my head. 
 Then, too, you could see and hear it on every side. 
 It must have escaped into the ground, when we saw those 
 awful flashes, for it ceased thereafter. That rain seemed 
 queer to me, coming, as it did, without clouds." 
 
 " Some law for the causation of the fall of rain, which 
 man has heretofore failed to discover, must have been 
 exerted there," said the doctor; then, continuing, " I 
 believe that our nation is just entering upon an epoch 
 which shall be characterized by such a grasping and utiliz- 
 ing of the forces bound up in Nature's storehouse as has 
 heretofore been undreamed of. ' ' 
 
 "I have often wondered," returned Elverton, the 
 preacher, "if that passage in the Bible did not mean 
 much more than we ever got out of it." 
 
 *' What passage, Elverton ?" 
 
14 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 ''I believe it is Romans, viii: 21, 22, and reads 
 something like this : ' Because the creature itself, also, 
 shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the 
 glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that 
 the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together 
 until now.' I do not think that theologians have ever yet 
 got half way to the depth of it. It will be fully under- 
 stood and demonstrated when we, as a people, reach that 
 state of glorious freedom spoken of in the first verse. 
 When our minds reach that rest from care and anxiety, 
 allowing them to grow and expand the wings and fly 
 away to heights which imagination now fails to reach, 
 then will we grasp and unlock the doors into Nature's 
 secret closets, and loose the bands of untold millions of 
 energy and chain it as slaves to do our bidding. When I 
 look back to what we were, and only a few years, either, 
 then to the place we now occupy, I can but say that no 
 flight of our imagination toward the mark of future 
 advancement can reach half way up the ladder to the 
 summit. We now talk of flying machines, pneumatic 
 railroads, telegraphing without connections, etc. Doctor, 
 the time will soon roll around when we shall have reached 
 that point in our history, and traveled on to stars of 
 progress, whose brightest ray does not reach down to the 
 present time. I only wish I could be one to help in 
 hastening that glorious day." 
 
 " But, Elverton, I am stirred to the very depths of my 
 soul over the experiences of the past half an hour, and I 
 must in some way account for them, or I am fearful of 
 the consequences. Had there been such sweet songs 
 only, I might have imagined that mermaids were a reality 
 9,nd that wq had found a retreat of theirs; but those 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 15 
 
 awful crashes, that low moaning, those piercing shrieks — 
 oh, I seem to hear them now. Explain it, Elverton, or I 
 shall go crazy." 
 
 ' ' Explain it ? You might as well ask me what the 
 Creator made the sun of," he answered. "I have not 
 the slightest idea. It was so odd, so strange, so awful. I 
 can think of no possible cause therefor. I never heard of 
 such an exhibition, either about this old mountain or any 
 other, before, and as to its cause I cannot even dream, 
 unless it be that shining object we saw, those strange 
 sounds and that awful electric shower have a bearing in 
 some way upon one another, and that in some mysterious 
 manner that shining balloon was the cause of all the rest. 
 True, I cannot imagine how, but a cause it certainly had, 
 and I wish to find out what it was." 
 
 ''So do I. But there's the wagon and our comrades. 
 We better say as little as possible about these events and 
 come out together, to-morrow, for a complete explora- 
 tion," replied the doctor, as they neared the company, 
 who had come out on the hunting excursion with them. 
 
 " Hello there ! Are you alive? What kind of a storm 
 was that up there on the mountain ? ' ' was the greeting 
 that they received from their waiting companions. 
 
 "We would be pleased to have you tell," was the 
 doctor's reply. "We were in some kind of a thunder 
 and rain storm, which seemed to come just to frighten 
 us. We got a little wet and a good deal frightened." 
 
 " Well, we heard a few awful heavy thunder claps, but 
 
 were so shut in by the forest and hills that we could not 
 
 see the storm, and wondered what it was," came the reply. 
 
 "It was quite a severe storm, but did not last long, 
 
 and no damage was done," Elvertoa answered. 
 
16 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 " We wondered what kind of a storm it could be, for 
 the greatest amount of game we ever saw came running 
 down past us just as it was over, and we had the good 
 luck to kill those three deer and saw hundreds of rabbits. 
 The game was all so frightened that it paid no attentior 
 to us, but ran within a few yards of the wagon, and we 
 had good shooting for a few minutes." 
 
 "You look as though you were most frightened to 
 death, Doctor. What is the matter? " asked another. 
 
 " Yes, I was frightened. The bolts of lightning struck 
 so close to us that I begun to think there would soon be 
 another widow in Silverton," he replied. 
 
 " What was it, anyway ? " another asked. " Was it 
 a cyclone ? " 
 
 " No, it was not a cyclone, but just seemed to be an 
 electric storm ; yet it was different than any I ever saw 
 before," was the doctor's way of answering, for he wished 
 to explore the cave and find out the right cause before he 
 said very much about it. He then added, for the purpose 
 of changing the subject, "How long have you been 
 waiting for us ? " 
 
 "About an hour," was the reply, as they began to 
 hitch up, preparatory to the return trip home. 
 
 They were soon on the way to Silverton, which was 
 ten miles off. It took the united care and effort of both 
 Elverton and the doctor to keep the subject of conversa- 
 tion away from the mountain storm. But they arrived 
 safe at home without having made any further explana- 
 tion of their secret. 
 
 When the doctor's wife asked him that evening why 
 he was gathering together so man}^ things, and what he 
 wanted of a lantern, a tape line, so much rope, and why 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 17 
 
 he got that cheese and crackers, he only answered that 
 they had found a cave up there in the mountains, and 
 that he was going with the preacher in the morning to 
 explore it. 
 
 The preacher's wife wondered what it was he had 
 found so interesting as to call him from his morning 
 study, his afternoon calls and to ask the class leader to 
 conduct the weekly prayer meeting, saying that he might 
 not be back in time. All his wife found out was that a 
 cave had been found and must be explored the next 
 day. 
 
 Two men arose very early the next morning, after a 
 night of little sleep, and at the appointed time^ four 
 o'clock, met at the doctor's barn, where the team was 
 soon hitched up and they were away. They drove down 
 the deserted street and out into the country toward the 
 great mountain, whose great side looked only like a dark, 
 ominous cloud, as the moon was just setting behind it. 
 On they drove past the beautiful groves, past the heavily 
 laden apple orchards — whose fruit filled the air with 
 fragrance — past the cornfields, whose harvest was full for 
 the industrious farmer, who was just now awakening to 
 begin the labors of the day. They passed field after 
 field and orchard after orchard, bowing with burdens of 
 richness for the blessing of man. Soon there was a lull 
 in the conversation, and after a short pause Elverton 
 spoke : 
 
 ' ' Nature seems willing and anxious to supply all the 
 needs of the human body, yet thousands, this very hour, 
 are longing for the necessities of life, which seem to be 
 spread around here with such bounteous hand. Where 
 does the blame lie, Doctor? Is it not at the door of 
 
18 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 mankind themselves? Nature supplies enough for bread, 
 meat, materials for clothing, buildings and necessary 
 implements, air enough (God knows, and so do we, that 
 no being need to live nor die in the alleys of miasma of 
 the large cities), song and music enough; but, oh, how 
 many are starving for these very things, and Nature's 
 storehouses so full. Doctor, the problem of the age is, 
 how to get man up to Nature's great feeding troughs, 
 without the weaker ones being pushed out and crowded 
 back by the stronger." 
 
 "And when some one does find some new way of 
 chaining and using more of the natural forces, some new 
 discovery in science, some new balm for aching bodies, 
 he rushes away to get the exclusive right thereof in a 
 patent or copyriglit, or locks up the secret in his own 
 breast and then dies with it securely locked there. Instead 
 of blessing the race with it, as he ought to do," replied 
 the doctor, who longed to know Keely's secret. "This 
 race is cursed with a mighty dose of selfishness, and the 
 problem of the age, to my mind," the medicine man 
 said, "is to find some remedy for this inherent, contag- 
 ious disease. Were I to find it, my fortune would be 
 assured." 
 
 " Ah, there it is again, Doctor; you would need to take 
 a dose of your own medicine, for you seem to be afflicted 
 with the same malady. You seemingly would find it 
 only for pay." 
 
 " Very well, friend Elverton, but I had expected you 
 to say, with your usual promptness in turning subjects in 
 that direction, that the remedy had been discovered, 
 and that, nineteen hundred years ago, in far-off Palestine, 
 which, while I grant it, only reply, that diseased people 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 19 
 
 seem adverse to taking the remedy, or it has to be sugar- 
 coated so thick to get the people to try it, that the coating 
 destroys the effect of the remedy to be taken." 
 
 "Yes, that is so," was the reply, "but people seem 
 to lose their reasoning powers when they leave the realm 
 of bodily and mental disease and go on to moral con- 
 tagion. But the remedy is growing in favor. It has no 
 patent or copyright on it to hinder its progress and enrich 
 the advocates thereof. But the day is not far distant 
 when the dread of the remedy will be overcome by the 
 aggravation of the disease and the glorious health of the 
 cured." 
 
 "See, there's a pond full of ducks," whispered the 
 doctor. " Let's try a shot;" saying which, they got out 
 of the buggy, hitched the horses and started toward the 
 pond. 
 
 "You crawl up behind that knoll, Elverton, and I'll 
 try and get a shot from behind that clump of bushes." 
 
 It was yet quite dark, but from Elverton's position he 
 could see, by the reflection of the setting moon, the sur- 
 face of the pond and the ducks therein. At the pre- 
 arranged signal he fired both barrels, soon after which 
 the doctor fired. The preacher picked up three large 
 ducks, the result of his shot, and started for the buggy, 
 which he reached in time to have the horses untied before 
 the doctor's arrival. 
 
 " Where are your ducks ? " was his greeting. 
 
 After the doctor had got in and sat down he replied : 
 
 " Well, I did not get any. From my position, with 
 
 my back to the moon, I could not see even the surface of 
 
 the pond, and after you shot they flew over me and I 
 
20 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 guessed at the range by the sound of their wings and fired, 
 but did not hit any." 
 
 ''Just like you, anyhow," spoke up the preacher. 
 "Just the way you doctors do in practicing medicine. 
 You go into the profession with your backs to the hght 
 (the commandments of God, which are the preventative 
 remedy) ; then in your diagnosis, do not get over to the 
 right side of the pond to catch the reflection of the hght, 
 but catch one symptom of a disease, then immediately 
 conclude you have it, administer the remedy and, by the 
 time you find out that you were mistaken, the patient is 
 gone, far beyond your power to bring back. Your 
 science is living in a too darkened condition. You doc- 
 tors ought to come out of the twilight of medical science 
 into the broad sunlight of a remedy ■ for every ill the 
 human frame is heir to, and a sure diagnosis of every 
 disease." 
 
 "Good," returned the doctor, " but don't you know 
 that we are far in advance of you preachers ? When we 
 have decided on the nature of a disease we have but four 
 systems of treatment, while you have hundreds, some 
 directly opposed ; and some of the theologians sight the 
 game, aim the gun, but have no load in the weapon. 
 Then many times the game cannot be shot, for it has 
 alighted on the barrel, out of range of the charge. I 
 mean by that, first, they go through the outward forms 
 and ordinances, but have no vital experimental religion 
 to work the changes necessary. Then, again, many 
 people do all and more than some churches require f^.nd 
 yet are not changed in this life, much less in the one to 
 come. The barrel should be cut off a few feet; lop off a 
 few creeds, isms and doctrines, and we will talk to you 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 21 
 
 about trying the dose. I have heard you say that you 
 wondered why unsaved people did not try the remedy, 
 when so many proofs of its efl&cacy were to be found on 
 every hand. Now, Elverton, I wonder why you church 
 people do not do something toward church consolidation. 
 You acknowledge that it would be better if there were 
 less creeds and forms of belief, yet you do but little to 
 change it. Why not set us the example ? " 
 
 ** We are doing something in that line, Doctor, yet I 
 acknowledge that the progress is very slow. What the 
 world, inside and outside of the pales of the Church, 
 needs is to feel more and more the brotherhood of the 
 human race, use more love and charity in our dealings 
 with one another; and I believe, Doctor, as God raised 
 up Abraham, Moses, Luther, Washington, Lincoln and 
 many others for a special purpose', so will He in the 
 fulness of time raise up a man for this work, so much 
 needed now — the Christian fellowship of all God's chil- 
 dren. It seems to me that no grander, nobler work could 
 be done in this century than to teach all humanity its 
 dependence upon the ruling power of the universe, and 
 its duty to its neighbor." 
 
 " Well, preacher, that's fine, but as long as there 
 is disease, sorrow, misery, briers and thistles, side by 
 side with joy, happiness, roses and violets, just so long 
 there will be jealousies, crimes, sighs and ' Man's inhu- 
 manity to man.' " 
 
 "Not so, Doctor. The presence of these very troubles 
 ought to be the moving cause toward a closer fellowship. 
 Were man freed from all these things, there would be no 
 such need of fellowship, sympathy and self-sacrifice; and 
 as an army's greatest heroism and valor is shown when 
 
22 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 encountering the greatest opposition, so is it individually. 
 The deeds of love and sacrifice now seen on every hand 
 would soon be unknown, were that which called them forth 
 removed. Had it not been for a Conemaugh flood, the 
 world would have known but little of its people, and the 
 interest now felt in them, and the love which leaped 
 forth from a nation's heart and wound those sufferers to 
 its bosom, would have dwindled away, unused and 
 unknown. Thousands who visit Chicago this year from' 
 foreign lands would have known very little of the city, and 
 probably would never have come, had it not been for the 
 great fire and the subsequent reports of its great rise and 
 wonderful growth." 
 
 They were now nearing the foot of the mountain. 
 The sun's rays were just touching its top, lighting it into 
 beauty and life. The sky was clear, the air balmy, and 
 all bid fair to be a pleasant day. In a short time the 
 by-road they were following, had dwindled down into a 
 cow-path, up which, through the underbrush, they could 
 drive no further. Stopping, they unhitched the horses, 
 and, ■with part of the ropes brought along, the horses 
 were lariated out. Then they put what things they could 
 into the game bags, threw them over their shoulders, and, 
 with the guns, lanterns and such other things as they 
 thought they Avould need thrown over their arms, they 
 started for the opening in the mountain. After they had 
 been traveling up the mountain side through the brush, 
 leaping the ravines and complaining of the rough roads, 
 for some time, now and then looking up to see if it were 
 possible to catch a glimpse of the strange object won- 
 dered at the day before, the doctor stopped, saying that 
 he was played out and must rest, and that, while he 
 
IT MIGHT BE. • ^3 
 
 rested, Elverton might take the spy-glass and see if he 
 could find their balloon, as he called it. 
 
 Elverton took the glass and for a long time sat and 
 scanned the heavens for a glimpse of it, the doctor watch- 
 ing him, and now and then between the puffs — for he was 
 a very fat man, and had stopped for lack of breath as well 
 as being tired — asking him if he could see it. Finally 
 Elverton excitedly spoke up : 
 
 " I see it, I see it! Just where we left it yesterday," 
 and handing the glass to the doctor, he said: "Here, 
 take a look at it. Doctor." 
 
 It was some time before the doctor could catch sight 
 of it, as he was so warm and excited that he could not 
 hold the glass still enough to see in any one place very 
 long at a time ; but at last he did see it. 
 
 " Yes, I see it. Looks like a monster umbrella wrong 
 side up floating around up there. Is it something 
 belonging tc the earth, or is it some meteor or comet 
 stopped to cool off ? It must have shone mighty bright 
 during the night, and I wonder why we did not see it 
 while on our way here. I should like to know who could 
 have flown that great thing up there, and what his object 
 could be in doing so. How do you suppose it was trans- 
 ported here, through all this underbrush, over the rocks 
 and across the gullies?" 
 
 They arose and started on, still talking about the object 
 of their search. After what seemed to them tAvo hours 
 of hard walking and climbing, they came to the uprooted 
 tree and the opening in the mountain, found on the 
 day before, and within whose recesses they had but little 
 idea of what they were to find and what its value to the 
 world would be along the lines their conversation had 
 
24 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 taken sinc6 they first saw it. They had been there but a 
 few moments when the doctor said he was in a hurry to 
 secure the rope, get their traps together and get down into 
 the cave, for, he said: 
 
 ' ' I have no great desire to remain around here until 
 we have another such occurrence as yesterday." 
 
 Their things were soon ready, one end of the rope tied 
 to the root of the great tree, which they thouhgt would be 
 strong enough to hold them, the guns slung over their 
 shoulders by straps and the hatchets and lanterns tied to 
 the strap of the game bag, that they might have free use 
 of their hands. They then decided that the preacher 
 should start down first, followed closely by the doctor. 
 The start was made and down they both went, little 
 dreaming of the wonderful experience they were to pass 
 through. 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 25 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 " Thy voice sounds like a prophet's word; 
 And in its hollow tones are heard 
 The thanks of millions yet to be." — Halleck. 
 
 For the first ten or twelve feet the size or nature of 
 the opening did not chaiige and they could easily lower 
 themselves by stepping from rock to rock down the sides, 
 while they steadied themselves by the rope, but as they 
 descended, the rocks became damper and more slippery, 
 making their progress very slow. They descended for 
 about twenty feet; part of the time they could ease 
 their descent by the use of the rocky sides, and then for 
 a few feet it would widen out so broad that they would 
 have to lower themselves solely by the use of the rope. 
 After they had reached a depth of about twenty feet, the 
 sides seemed suddenly to be cut off, and below them 
 they could see only dark vacancy. As to the depth or 
 size of the room below, they could not tell. After look- 
 ing about for a few moments, a halt was called and a 
 consultation held. After much talk, some about giving 
 it all up and returning, they decided to lower the lantern 
 and see if the bottom could be found. The rope that 
 dangled beneath them was now pulled up and the lantern 
 tied to the end thereof and then lowered, until the rope 
 had all been played out. The lantern now hung some 
 twenty feet beneath them, and by its dim light the 
 preacher thought he could see the bottom or floor of the 
 room. 
 
26 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 '" I see the bottom, I believe," he said, " and would 
 like to be there, but this rope-climbing is new business to 
 me, and I am getting tired of it. Can you make the 
 descent. Doctor?" 
 
 " Guess my weight will take me down," he answered. 
 " You go ahead, and I'll follow." 
 
 Slowly they lowered themselves, but so much weight 
 did they have strapped to them, that it soon became very 
 hard work. Great beads of sweat stood out on the doc- 
 tor's brow and trickled down from his nose on to the 
 preacher below. It was with a great effort that he could 
 hold on at all. His panting sounded much like the puff- 
 ing of a locomotive in the distance, yet he hung on with 
 a firm grip, even surprising himself at his endurance. 
 The preacher, who was much lighter, feared much better, 
 yet his tender hands soon began to feel the effects of the 
 tight grip on the rope. But they were now near the lan- 
 tern, and cheered themselves with the thought that they 
 were near the bottom. A queer sight it certainly was. A 
 hundred and fifty pound man, wearing his long-tailed 
 coat, standing collar and balance of the usual preacher's 
 outfit, and above him a two hundred and forty pounder, 
 blowing and pufiing like a steam engine, his great plug 
 hat waving from side to side; and yet, gentle reader, this 
 was no funny matter to the men engaged in the feat. By 
 and by the preacher reached the lantern, and found, to 
 his consternation, that what had seemed as the bottom 
 was only a cold, damp mist, which had appeared in the 
 glare of the lantern as a rock bottom. 
 
 "There's no bottom here. Doctor. What shall we do? 
 I can't hang on much longer. My hands are already 
 blistered." 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 27 
 
 " I don't know," that puffing man replied, between 
 the puffs. " I am about give out." 
 
 " Can't you climb up, Doctor, and get some more 
 rope to tie to the end of this?" hurriedly exclaimed the 
 preacher, as visions of home and family rapidly passed 
 before his mind. And to be lost here. Who would ever 
 find their remains and tell the story of their death? 
 
 " I could not climb up an inch to save my life," said 
 the doctor. 
 
 " Twist the rope around your leg to help hold you," 
 said the preacher in a husky whisper, as he felt the rope 
 quiver and thought the doctor was coming down. "Don't 
 I fall and knock me off too, Doctor." 
 
 The doctor made a frantic effort to twist the rope 
 around his leg. Dirt began to fall from above. The rope 
 was sinking. 
 
 "The root of that tree is breaking loose," said the 
 now terrified doctor, " and we will soon fall. What shall 
 we do?" 
 
 Death seemed to be reaching out with his cold, icy 
 fingers for them. The doctor's frame shook with a chill, 
 his red face turned to one cold and white, his eyes stared 
 and he could scarcely get his breath. The preacher 
 began to offer a prayer and seemed to await with bated 
 breath the coming disaster. The suspense was terrible. 
 The root would break loose in one place, only to stop 
 with a jerk as it caught in another. Now it is held to 
 the tree by only one small root. 
 
 " Oh, why did I come to die in this way?" said the 
 doctor. " Why did I not stay" — but his remarks were 
 cut short; there was a jerk, a slip — it caught — then 
 slipped again, only to catch, but for a second only. Now, 
 
28 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 down they go. Down, down, down — would the bottom 
 never be reached? Would not death come to their relief 
 and close this awful suspense? Over thirty years of the 
 doctor's life passed in review before his mind in those 
 few brief seconds. The preacher's mind was in a whirl. 
 It can last only a few seconds. There is a splash, a few 
 groans, a momentary flash and a loud report from one of 
 the guns, when preacher, doctor, hatchets, guns, rope, 
 lunch, roots, etc., are in a heap together. Mud and 
 water fly in all directions, the root falls upon the doctor's 
 plug hat and drives it firmly down to his shoulders. 
 There is some rapid pawing and pushing as he attempts 
 to get it off, and a few muttered curses escape his lips. 
 The preacher offers a prayer of thanksgiving ; the long- 
 tailed coat is ruined, the plug hat is past redemption, the 
 cold, damp mud covers them from liead to foot. The 
 lights in the lanterns have gone out, they went out at the 
 first downward jerk, and all is dark, dark as Egypt's 
 darkest night. The two men arose, but the rope, spy- 
 glass, lunch, etc., remained quiet and pacified in the 
 mud below. 
 
 "Well, this is a pretty fix to get into," said the 
 preacher, for he was the leaner of the two and could get 
 his breath quicker than the doctor. " Where are we, and 
 when will we ever get out of this hole? Have you a 
 match. Doctor? Mine are all wet." 
 
 The doctor fumbled awhile before he could get through 
 the mud and find his pocket, where he found a match- 
 box, for he was a smoker and always went well prepared 
 for a light. 
 
 " Where will we find a place dry enough to strike a 
 match on, now that I have found it?" he said. 
 
JT MIGHT BE. 29 
 
 " Don't know, Doctor. I am covered all over with 
 mud, and I suppose our things are, too." 
 
 " Oh, I have it," said the doctor. " My hat is dry 
 on the inside, for that old root fell right on top of it and 
 drove it on so hard that I could hardly get it off." 
 
 He soon had a light struck, but the globe of the first 
 lantern he fished out of the mud was broken ; the hatchet 
 had fallen on it. Another match was lighted and the other 
 lantern found, which was all right, except being covered 
 with mud. It was lighted, and what mud be could get 
 off with his hand and handkerchief was removed, but the 
 light now furnished was very dim. They now looked 
 around a little, but the light was so dim they could not 
 see either sides or top to the room. A strange place. The 
 mud was five or six inches deep, and the mist was so 
 cold that it caused the chills to creep up their spines. 
 
 '' I would like to know how we are ever to get out of 
 this prison. We must be fifty feet down here in the 
 mountain, with no means of getting out there again, and 
 no means of communication with the outside world, which 
 knows nothing of our whereabouts. Our rope is here, 
 instead of being tied to the root of that tree up yonder, as 
 we expected. And look, Doctor, at the bones of animals 
 all around here, which have fallen down this same open- 
 ing and never found a way out, but have starved to death. 
 I tell you it looks discouraging to me." 
 
 ' ' If it had not been for this mud, we would have 
 been dead now, which- would be preferable to starva- 
 tion. Ugh, look at the bats flying around. They are 
 messengers of ill to me. " 
 
30 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 " Well, Doctor, we had better make the best of our sur- 
 roundings and see if we cannot find a way out of this den." 
 
 They picked up what they could find of their traps, 
 shook off the mud and started to find a way out. After 
 wading through the mud and mire for about twenty feet, 
 they came to the side of the room, the wall of which was 
 covered with soot and slime. Along this wall they walked, 
 looking for an opening, until they came to another side, 
 and along it they had walked for a few yards, when they 
 found a narrow passage in the wall, which was so high 
 that, with the feeble light of their lantern, they could not 
 see the top. Down this alley they passed for some dis- 
 tance before they came to another room, through which 
 a small stream flowed. Here they stopped for some time, 
 while they endeavored to wash some of the mud from 
 their persons and clothing. It was a long time before 
 they could find any sign of an opening from this room, 
 save the one they came in at. The doctor thought he 
 could make out the dim outline of an opening about ten 
 feet from the floor on one side, and they soon thereafter 
 found a ledge of rocks leading up to a rocky shelf, which 
 seemed to lead around to the opening, about ten feet up 
 from the floor. They then concluded to climb up and 
 see if a way out could be found up there. After much 
 toil, slipping back and pushing up, pufiing and blowing, 
 they reached the shelf, and, though it was narrow, man- 
 aged to pass around on it to the opening. Here the doctor 
 stopped to rest again. 
 
 * * We are making slow progress toward the finding of 
 the cause of those sounds. I don't see anything around 
 here that would cause me to think that they came from 
 any place I have seen yet, do you, Elverton?" 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 31 
 
 "■ No, I do not. And I am becoming awful sick of 
 our task. I wish we were back at Silverton. But I see 
 no other way of reaching there than to go on the way we 
 are and find an opening out of here." 
 
 They arose and started down the narrow way, which 
 was so very limited in places that the doctor had to shed 
 his luggage and have the preacher carry it ahead, in order 
 for him to be able to get through. After ten or twelve 
 tight places had been squeezed through, they came out 
 where the opening was larger and led them on, first to 
 the right and then to the left, when finally they emerged 
 into a large room, and found that the rock they were 
 standing on was a shelf, far up the side of the room. The 
 light from the lanterns was not strong enough to allow 
 them to see either ceiling or floor of the room. Some 
 distance off to the right, and above them, they could see 
 that there was an opening through the ceiling out to the 
 daylight. From the appearance of the room, and the 
 opening, they concluded that they were back in the room 
 they had so suddenly fallen into some time before. Fol- 
 lowing this ledge or shelf of rock along the wall for some 
 distance, they came to another opening in the wall, which 
 led directly back into the heart of the mountain. They 
 searched for a way or plan to reach the opening in the 
 top, for a long time, but no such way could be found. 
 Thinking it was their only show, they turned down the 
 open passageway, and had walked on but a short distance 
 when they came to a turn therein, down which they 
 looked and were astonished to see bright streaks of light, 
 where they shot through small cracks in the end of the 
 passageway. It was plain to be seen that the light was 
 not from the sun, for it was much different in appearance. 
 
32 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 " Let's stop here," said the doctor. " I don't know 
 about going on down there. I think there is a fire in that 
 room. Don't you see that tliese walls are all covered 
 with soot, just as the first room was we got into? If we 
 go on down there it will be hot." 
 
 '' I don't see any other way out of this place than in 
 that direction," was the reply. I think we had better go 
 on down there and see what it means. That may not be 
 a fire which we see there, and even if it is a fire, I don't 
 believe it can be far from the surface, and we may be 
 able to find a way around it to the outer world again. 
 Let's go and knock that end in and see if there is a way 
 of escape." 
 
 "Yes. But if we go and knock it in and find the 
 room full of fire, and by knocking down that partition 
 open a damper into this smokestack for the fire and 
 smoke to rush into, what will we do then? I want to 
 know first, before we make any rash moves. Elverton, 
 there is too much Arabian Nights, of a dark kind, about 
 this trip to suit me." 
 
 " We shall then be obliged to sit down here and 
 starve, and I am not longing for any such experience as 
 that just now. Doctor. We might go near it to see if it 
 is hot, at least, for if there is a great fire beyond we shall 
 be able to find it out before there will be any necessity of 
 pushing in that wall." 
 
 " All right. We can do that much. You go ahead, 
 Elverton. You are leaner than I am, and can stand 
 more heat." 
 
 They had hardly started toward the light when they 
 were riveted to their tracks in astonishment, for there 
 came to their hearing senses such sweet melody, such 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 33 
 
 music as the best musicians of all ages could not half 
 equal, such melody, such harmony, so sweet. They stood 
 and listened for some time, not daring to move, lest the 
 musician, whoever or whatever he was, should be fright- 
 ened away. But it soon ceased, and all was still again. 
 
 " What strange, uncanny world have we got into, 
 Elverton? This beats anything I ever heard or read of. 
 I never dreamed of such music. I am anxious to go on 
 and find out about it. I want to hear it again," said the 
 now thoroughly excited doctor. 
 
 " Come, let's go on and unravel this mystery. There 
 is no heat here, so cannot be any fire there." Here the 
 voice of the preacher was drowned by a series of pro- 
 longed moans, which sounded much like the breaking of 
 the waves on a distant shore. They would ebb and 
 flow, now rise in intensity and then sink back again; now 
 moan quietly as if the wind were sighing softly through 
 the tree tops ; then rise until the roar was like a mighty 
 Niagara. For fully ten minutes they stood and listened 
 to its queer sounds, when it, too, died away, and all was 
 quiet. 
 
 After much talk and conjecture as to the nature of 
 their surroundings and dangers which might be before 
 them, it was decided to go ahead and push in the door. 
 Their guns were unstrapped and their charges examined, 
 that they might be ready for instant use, should it be 
 needed. The doctor then approached the door and pushed, 
 but it held fast. They both put their shoulders to it and 
 gave a mighty push. It gave way and fell in, dropping 
 some three or four feet to the floor below, closely followed 
 by the two men, who landed in some such a mess as they 
 did in the first room. But instead of the dense darkness. 
 
34 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 there was a flood of brilliant, yet soft, mellow light. Hast- 
 ily they arose, but were riveted to their places by the 
 scene before them. There in the center of the room, 
 which was about forty feet square, stood a splendid speci- 
 men of humanity. His eyes were tender, yet searched 
 them with a piercing gaze. He was apparently of about 
 thirty years of age, of medium size, and well proportioned. 
 He was well but plainly dressed, and seemed as much 
 astonished at their appearance so suddenly as they were. 
 But the man was not the strangest sight that met their 
 gaze. Scattered around the room were such things as but 
 one man in the whole Avorld before (and that the man 
 before them) had ever beheld. They stood and stared 
 around them for some moments, when the stranger burst 
 out into peal after peal of laughter; and no wonder, for a 
 more comical spectacle could hardly be imagined. The 
 two men, not half washed, mud and soot all over them, 
 streaked and spotted, staring about in wonderment, taken 
 in connection with their sudden and ludicrous entrance, 
 was enough to make anybody laugh. It was quite a while 
 before he could control his laughter enough to be able to 
 speak; our two friends staring about like two owls in the 
 meantime. He then addressed them : 
 
 "What does this mean? Who are you, and what 
 business have you here in my private apartments?" 
 
 In a trembling voice, for he was greatly excited, the 
 preacher replied : 
 
 " We hardly know who we are ourselves, and what 
 business we have here, and how it all happened; we can 
 hardly tell, but if you will give us the time we will 
 try and explain." 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 35 
 
 After he had offered them a seat to sit upon, he 
 repHed : 
 
 " Go ahead, stranger. I would hke to know how you 
 found this retreat of mine, and how you got into such a 
 fix as I see you in now." 
 
 " We were out hunting yesterday, and heard some 
 very strange sounds coming from a hole in the side of the 
 mountain, and while we were listening and talking about 
 it, we caught sight of some strange thing flying in the air, 
 and then an awful electric storm passed over us, which so 
 aroused and interested us that we concluded to come out 
 here and explore it. We came, and when we were lower- 
 ing ourselves mto the cavern, the rope broke loose and let 
 us down into the darkest, muddiest, most dreadful place 
 I was ever in, which was the cause of the sad plight you 
 now see us in. From there we wandered around a long 
 time trying to get out, only to come to that door, and in 
 our eagerness to find the cause of some very strange 
 sounds, which we heard while in that alleyway, j)ushed 
 in the door, and here we are. Our home is in Silverton, 
 ten miles away. This man is the doctor there. His name 
 is Ruttlidge. My name is Elverton, and I am the Meth- 
 odist preacher there. We ask your pardon for having 
 intruded upon you." 
 
 " Certainly, I pardon you. I could hardly do other- 
 wise," he said, at the same time extending his hand to 
 the wondering men before him. The scene was so ludi- 
 crous that he again burst into a hearty laugh, which, 
 though somewhat embarrassing to them, they could but 
 expect. They had not been able to erase all the mud 
 from their clothes, and in squeezing along between the 
 walls of the passage they had blackened their hands and 
 
36 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 faces, which were well streaked where the sweat had run 
 down tlieir faces and they had endeavored to wipe it off 
 with their sooty hands. Laughable figures they were as 
 they stood in the dazzling light, which filled the room. 
 His laughter was soon under control and he addressed 
 them: 
 
 "I perceive that you are astonished at what your eyes 
 behold and would probably like an explanation from me, 
 before I proceed to question you further. I had not 
 intended that any eyes but my own should see these 
 sights for awhile yet, but you are here and I might as 
 well make the best of it. These sights seem strange to 
 you and this light you are not used to, and yet I will show 
 you stranger things before I get through with my 
 explanation." 
 
 The two men could not help staring about them, so 
 strange were the sights they beheld. In the center of the 
 room, on a raised platform, they saw a large glass globe. 
 It was about ten feet high and six feet in diameter in the 
 center and was nearly in the shape of a great pear, with 
 the pointed end upward. It had been made whole and a 
 small door had been cut out of one side, into which a 
 steel door had been fitted air tight. The globe was 
 divided into two nearly equal rooms by a partition, which 
 was securely fastened to the glass around its edges by 
 rivets, which were headed on the outside of the glass. 
 It had been cemented to the glass until it was air tight. 
 The partition was so thin that the least change of the 
 conditions upon either side of it would cause a correspond- 
 ing move in the partition. It would have taken a hun- 
 dred to have made a block of metal an inch thick. This 
 partition now shone and seemed to burn brighter than 
 
TT MIGHT RK. 37 
 
 any electric light they had ever seen. Upon each side of 
 the partition were fixed many arms of copper, securely 
 held there by bands of steel, and they were so near that 
 the naked eye would have said that they touched it, but 
 they did not, except when the partition moved to them. 
 These arms were connected to copper wires, which passed 
 out of the globe through the door. There were also wires 
 passing out at each end of the globe, which passed to 
 machines in other parts of the room. One connected to 
 a large telephone, another to a large storage battery, one to 
 two great air pumps and many other machines and con- 
 trivances within the room. A wire was also noticed that 
 came down through the ceiling and connected with the 
 partition, and from the opposite side of that connection 
 another one extended down into the floor of the cave. 
 Upon the wall to the right of where they stood was a long 
 lever which Avas arranged to pass down over a long scale 
 upon which were such marks as these: " BC1523," 
 "BC2348," ''BC1004," "BC149," "BC4," "AD70," 
 " AD1815," '' AD1862," and many other such charac- 
 ters, each being opposite a dee]) notch in the steel frame. 
 
 The stranger stepped up to the scale, saying as he 
 did so : 
 
 " It would probably be best to let the machine do a 
 little talking before I begin to explain it, then you will 
 the better understand what I shall tell you," saying 
 which he pushed the lever down and into the notch 
 marked '' BC4," when there was a transformation. An 
 electric motor at the other side of the room began to hum, 
 the great air pumps began to move, the light quivered and 
 trembled, flashed and sparkled from the partition, within 
 the globe, the wires wliich hung within the two sides, or 
 
38 Tf MIGHT ftK. 
 
 rooms, of the globe, soon changed from black to red and 
 then to white, so hot did they become. A long lever was 
 fastened near the motor which was arranged over a scale 
 like the one near the stranger, and this was seen to move 
 slowly up nearer and nearer the slot marked " BC4," 
 which, when it had reached, immediately dropped 
 therein, with a sharp click. The great motor now ceased, 
 and three or four small machines which had been run- 
 ning also stopped. The partition within the globe moved 
 as the ripples on a little pond, then the wire to the tele- 
 phone quivered a moment, when, lo ! the room is filled 
 with such; music as our friends never heard before. They 
 acted as though they were trying to hold themselves back 
 from the machine, then they would start up toward it 
 and then recede. Great tears rolled down their cheeks, 
 they moved sideways, then kneeled, they arose, they 
 laughed, they cried, they grasped hands, they hugged 
 each other and went through all sorts of maneuvers. The 
 preacher looked toward the ceiling and exclaimed : 
 
 " I can't stand this. I shall fly away." 
 
 The doctor only sobbed, as great swelling sighs shook 
 his frame from head to foot, and then he would clasp his 
 hands and sob : 
 
 "Oh, my! Oh, my!" 
 
 The young man reversed the lever and the story the 
 angels sang to the shepherds was over. It had taken its 
 flight far out into space again, from which it had sprung. 
 
 The two men sat down, but it was a long time before 
 they ceased to laugh and the tears to run down their 
 cheeks and were composed enough to talk. Then they 
 began to ask questions. 
 
 " What was that song ? Where did it come from ? " 
 
IT MIGHT RE. 39 
 
 " That song," he answered, " was the song the angels 
 sang to the shepherds the night that Christ was born, 
 and this occurrence I will now give you happened twenty- 
 three centuries before the angels sang the one you have 
 just heard," and he moved the lever so that it would 
 point to ''BC2349." 
 
 Again the motor started, again the pumps began their 
 work, the machinery around the room began to move, 
 but it was much longer this time than before that the 
 notch was reached. Very slowly the finger, near the 
 motor, moved down the scale j^ast the numbers "BC600," 
 "BCIOOO," " BC2000," on higher and higher, slower 
 and slower. Would it never reach the point ? Now it 
 nears the looked-for mark. There is a click. The lever 
 drops into the slot. The machinery ceases, the globe 
 ripples and flashes brighter than before, the wires quiver; 
 the instrument on the wall clicks out a few sharp sounds 
 and then it speaks. 
 
 There is a low, rumbling sound, which breaks out into 
 a mighty roaring, as of the splashing of the waves on a 
 rock-bound coast, or a rushing of mighty Avaters down a 
 mountain gorge, then a roar as of a great cataract, min- 
 gled ever and anon by the sharp peal of the thunder, now 
 near at hand and then far off its mutterings would sound. 
 Now above its roar could be heard, faintly at first, but 
 soon growing distinct, the shrieks, groans and shouts of 
 drowning people. The doctor jumped to his feet and 
 rushed toward the instrument Avith extended hands, as a 
 shriek from a mother's throat, when her child sank be- 
 fore her eyes, burst from the instrument. 
 
 The shouts were all in a strange language, and the only 
 sound they could understand was a name wliich had a 
 
40 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 resemblance to the name "Noah." The fearful groans 
 and shrieks so wrought up their feelings and they became 
 so excited that the stranger was obliged to reverse the 
 lever and send back to its home in the long ago, the, at 
 one time, present of the flood. 
 
 *' Don't touch any more such scenes as that, kind sir, 
 I beg of you," said the doctor, after he had got composed 
 enough to talk. 
 
 The amazement of our friends was now at its highest 
 pitch, and inquiringly they turned to the stranger and 
 asked for a solution of this, to them, unanswerable 
 problem. 
 
 They had found the source of the strange sounds heard 
 the da}' before, as well as of the electric storm, but as to 
 how these sounds were produced was to tliem a mystery. 
 Who was this strange, wonder-working man? Was he of 
 a tribe who could at the least whim or wish step over into 
 the unseen future and the forgotten past and read its 
 signs and solve its mysteries? Whence came this power, 
 which seemed to be manifest so plainly to them in its 
 effects to-day? 
 
 True, this is an age of surprises and strange phe- 
 nomena. Yes, we have the means of sending thought 
 with lightning speed across the continent and plunging it 
 beneath the ocean's wave, but who ever before heard of 
 calling it down into the present from the dim aisles of 
 the distant past ? Where could the argument be found 
 to base such a theory on, much less to demonstrate the 
 actual workings thereof ? True had been the stranger's 
 words': '' And I will show you more wonderful things." 
 
 Could he explain it? Would he explain it, or would 
 he leave them here in the depths of mystery? Their 
 
IT MIGHT RE. 41 
 
 anxiety about the possibilities of a return home liave now 
 been quieted by a greater anxiety. Could this unsolved 
 be solved ? They now begged him for a solution of this 
 wonderful mystery. Bidding them to be seated and tell- 
 ing them that, for the present, he did not wish the knowl- 
 edge of these things to go any further, he seated himself 
 and began. 
 
42 IT \fI(!HT BR, 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 
 " My name is Trafford Allerton. Thirty years ago 
 this month I first saw the light of day in the city of New 
 York. My father was a rich merchant and he gave me a 
 good chance to get an education. From the first I took a 
 great liking to the study of electricity and the other forms 
 of natural force, eagerly reading all I could get on these 
 subjects and experimenting some. 
 
 " As soon as I graduated from college, I was placed on 
 the road to sell goods for our store, wliich business I fol- 
 lowed for eight years. My moral and religious instruc- 
 tion was all received from my mother, who was of the 
 most gentle, loving disposition I ever knew. She could 
 not bear to see suffering of any kind without an effort to 
 alleviate it. Many a day did she spend in some of the 
 most degraded, sin-cursed hovels of our city, trying to 
 teach the people of a better way to live than in sin and 
 filth. I used to go with her, even when a little boy, and 
 many were the lessons I learned while with her on these 
 missions of mercy. When I was home from college on 
 vacation, I used to go with her, and when sent out on the 
 road the habits and disposition she had taught me did 
 not leave, and my greatest enjoyment was found while 
 out on such errands. I did these things because I had 
 been so taught and could find more pleasure in that than 
 any other way. I did it, not so much for the good that 
 was done to those who received the attention as for my 
 own enjoyment. It was great enjoyment to me, to see 
 then- surprise at having a man who was a total stranger 
 
If mau'v nK. 43 
 
 to them call and talk to them, wait on the sick, take in a 
 few delicacies, or drop a few dollars into some poor per- 
 son's hand. The tears would start in their eyes and they 
 would look up with such a ray of sunshine in their faces 
 as I could not forget for many days. I love this work. 
 It is supreme happiness to me. As I passed from the 
 counting rooms of the rich bankers and merchants into a 
 poor, cold, diseased hovel, or from some of the overladen 
 cornfields, wheat stacks and fat, sleak stock of the Western 
 plains back again to the poor man's home in the city, I 
 often pondered over the question, who is to blame for this 
 unequal distribution ? Sure Nature does her part. Then 
 comes the question, does man do his part ? And, if not, 
 why does he not ? He is the one to be benefited thereby. 
 Can it be that he is insensible to the cries of want and the 
 sighs of suffering, or is he forgetful, thinking only of self, 
 while millions suffer for what the few have stored up for 
 years to come. Why tliis lack of brotherhood ? Why 
 this striding and pushing like a pack of wolves ? I have 
 known honest, straightforward men to be ruined, finan- 
 cially, by some old knave, who lived in luxury the bal- 
 ance of his days, while his poor victim, a noble, refined 
 man, eked out a miserable livelihood by some drudgery, 
 or finally laid down on a charity cot in some hospital to 
 die, his remains to return to the dust in the potter's field. 
 I made the subject a study, and my research only met the 
 same answer at every advance step therein, ' Man's 
 inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn.' 
 'Tis not Nature, nor Nature's God to whom we can point 
 the blame. The Western plains invite millions to a happy 
 home, but the poor, degraded wretch within the tenement 
 house cannot be induced to go there. Why ? No faith 
 
4-4 IT MIflHT P.P.. 
 
 in the person who tells lum of the broad fertile plains. 
 Afraid it is some scheme of land sharks to beat him. He 
 knows of no better place than where thrive the inequal- 
 ities of the great city and will not believe the recital of 
 the facts about the great expanse of territory there. No 
 faith in man the real cause . Had he always met only honest 
 men, who meant his good, as well as their own; had his 
 inherent faith in humanity never been shaken, his cry 
 would be, ' Westward ho ! ' and acres would teem with 
 abundant harvests at his touch. Were it not for a lack 
 of faith in humanity, the capital could be found to open 
 many a new mine in the West, start many a new mill 
 wheel and send to work, at good wages, thousands of idle 
 workmen. It is not a lack of demand, but a lack of faith 
 and brotherly love to satisfy that demand, that is holding 
 the human race fettered and bound. Could the cry, 
 misery and pain of suffering mortality go up unceasingly 
 before the ears of those who were the cause of it, coupled 
 with the knowledge that the whole human race knew of 
 their dastardly deeds and were listening to their hard 
 speeches and cruel demands, there would be a loosening 
 of the reins drawn so tightly now through the mouth of 
 many a hard-pressed man. 
 
 " I studied, thought and wondered if no way could be 
 found whereby these demands, made away from the 
 world's ear and carried out behind the screen, Avhile the 
 play was being carried on before the curtain to draw the 
 attention in another direction, could be shown up before 
 the world just as it existed. 
 
 " A word once spoken can never be unspoken; a deed 
 once done can never be undone; a blow once struck will 
 remain a struck blow through eternity; aery, however 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 45 
 
 low or high, is a cry forever ; a sigh once having escaped 
 the breast has flown beyond our power to call it back ; a 
 tear once spattered out of tear pond, by the fall of sorrow 
 or pain, will never be gathered back again; the shriek of 
 the injured, the cry of the heart-broken, the curse of the 
 blasphemer, the lie of the liar, the song of the singer, the 
 tender word of the mother, the harsh word of the master, 
 the speech of the politician, the sermon of the preacher, 
 yea, and more too, once sent adrift on its mission, never 
 more returns to its source. Results. may be gathered 
 therefrom, generation after generation, but the original is 
 past calling back. The tasted apple in the garden, the 
 rejected mercy at Sodom, the fearful speech of Regulus, 
 the edicts of Nero, the agonizing cry of Elizabeth, will 
 never listen to the call, ' Come back, oh, come back.' 
 
 "Then I asked myself, where are these sighs and 
 groans, these shouts and curses ? Have they not flown 
 heavenward ? 
 
 ' ' One day I had the privilege of taking a ride in a bal - 
 loon, and I noticed as we rose higher and higher that the 
 barking of the dog, the lowing of the cattle and the shouts 
 of friends could be heard with wonderful distinctness. I 
 then reasoned that these sounds, which are but ethereal 
 motion and activity, must be like a moon or sun, which, 
 thrown out into space by the hand of the Great Maker, 
 will fly on and on forever, and, as the earth, the sun and 
 all the celestial bodies we know anything about, as well 
 as the electric currents, seem to fly around an orbit, how- 
 ever small or vast that may be, why not these sounds be 
 as other phenomena, some of which we understand. May 
 they, too, not be flying on and on around some vast orbit, 
 where they have been going since they were first sent 
 
46 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 adrift by their originator. I then asked myself this ques- 
 tion : If this theory is true, where are those orbits ? 
 Where is the track around which is hastening the ethereal 
 motion caused by God's call to Adam, * Where art thou?' 
 the speech of the angels to Abraham, the answer of Pha- 
 raoh to Moses, the shouts of the victorious and the wail 
 of the defeated in Caanan's wars, the sounds of the arii- 
 sans building Babel, the thunders of Sinai, the music 
 of David's singers, the boast of Goliath, the cry of Jesus, 
 'Jerusalem, oh, Jerusalem,' the triumphant shouts of 
 the martyrs, the boom of Waterloo's guns, the cracking 
 of the flames at Moscow, the sighs of Valley Forge, the 
 shouts at Lookout Mountain, the wail of the afflicted, the 
 cry of the hungered and the billions of other sounds ? 
 
 ''God says: 'My word shall not return unto me 
 void.' A circuit or an orbit is mentioned here. 
 
 ' ' Every breath we breathe changes the conditions of the 
 atoms of existence ; every blow we strike displaces num- 
 berless atoms, never again to find their former place. 
 The word spoken forces out the atoms of ether from the 
 lungs, which in turn must force back other atoms, that a 
 place may be found for them, and they in turn press out 
 others, and so on and on through immensity and eternity. 
 Then why not these motions find a level, where, 
 unhindered, they might go on forever, as does light, 
 through immensities of space and countless generations 
 of time, to dart its rapid ray into the mirror of the eye, 
 centuries after it left its source, trillions of miles away, 
 and, as a wave moves out in all directions from the point 
 of disturbance, so does light, thus illuminating millions 
 of worlds. It must be true, I thought. But where is 
 this realm of sound ? Can it be above the region of 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 47 
 
 atmospheric pressure, where it can fly about, as a bird 
 above the surface of the lake, in its natural place ? And, 
 if my theory was true, how was I to demonstrate it ? 
 How make use of these currents to light our darkened 
 memories, as the electrician uses the electric spark to 
 lighten our darkened streets at night ? 
 
 "Many days and nights I studied this enigma, ponder- 
 ing and experimenting until at last I conceived an idea 
 of a contrivance, like this you see here. 
 
 "I asked my father for a year's rest, which was readily 
 granted, together with what funds I might need. I 
 then went to the different manufactories and ordered that 
 which I thought would be necessary in my experiments. 
 My next difficulty was to find a place where I might try 
 the experiment unseen and alone. I visited many sec- 
 tions of the country, but found that all the places that I 
 saw had the objections of being either too far from the 
 railroad or of being frequented too often, until I found 
 this old worn-out mine, which I thought would just 
 answer my purpose, but your intrusion here to-day proves 
 that I was mistaken even in this. I supposed that here 
 no curious eye would look in upon me, and yet it was 
 near enough to Silverton for me to easily transport my 
 materials from the railroad here. These things were 
 shipped to Silverton. I hired a team and had but little 
 trouble in moving them here by the road once used in 
 hauling away the coal. 
 
 "It took me a long time to clear away the rubbish and 
 mud which had congregated in and around this old mine 
 since it had been vacated. But after a good deal of real 
 hard work it was accomplished, and I began my experi- 
 ment in real earnest. 
 
48 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 " The globe there was first erected, as you now see it, 
 but not until many attempts at it had been made and 
 only a failure the result. You see, it weighs over a ton, 
 and for one man to roll it upon that foundation and then 
 to erect it, took a long time and the help of a good many 
 ropes and pulleys, but the task was accomplished and I 
 had it secured in its place. That partition you see, Avhich 
 divides the globe into two rooms, I was a week in placing 
 in position and cementing air tight. It is made of the 
 finest of steel ; the manufacturer said it was the finest 
 piece of workmanship they ever did and it is of great 
 strength, though only one-one-hundredth of an inch in 
 thickness. Those air pumps were then placed in position 
 and a connection made from one of them to the upper 
 room in the globe and from the other to the lower room in 
 the globe. Those wires through each room were then 
 placed there. Their use is to aid the pumps in creating 
 a more rarified condition of the atmosphere w^ithin the 
 globe by being heated with a current of electricity from 
 the dynamo yonder. The telephone speaking boxes, 
 phonograph, electric lights, registers, levers and other 
 machinery you see here were then placed in position with 
 their proper connections and I began work on the con- 
 trivance which I expected to act as the connecting link 
 between the contrivances in this room and the supposed to 
 exist sound orbits which, as far as I knew, might be a 
 hundred miles away up yonder toward the sun. I had 
 procured for this purpose a large balloon, over which was 
 secured a thin plate of copper one hundred feet in diam- 
 eter, much like a great umbrella, with the balloon as the 
 handle. The copper roof was connected by a wire to the 
 storage batteries and the partition in this room. My 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 49 
 
 reasoning on this point was like this : If it is possible to 
 send an electric current from the roof of a moving train to 
 a wire stretched on telegraph poles along the track and to 
 receive a current therefrom without connections, I can, 
 on the same principle, complete the circuit through my 
 powerful storage batteries and copper plate roof, so as to 
 tap the current flying through its orbit up there. 
 
 " All was at last ready, and two Aveeks ago last Mon- 
 day I arose from my bed, where I had slept but little the 
 past few nights, the interest in my work being so great, 
 quivering with excitement and anxious to try my ma- 
 chinery. I did not stop to cook any breakfast, but took 
 a cold lunch. By eight o'clock I had the balloon filled, 
 the copper sheet adjusted and firmly attached to the 
 ribs supporting it, and all fastened to the top of the bal- 
 loon. From the copper sheet I secured the wire, two 
 miles long, the other end of which was connected with 
 the machinery in here. All was ready and I stepped to 
 the reel, and, not without some haste and excitement, I 
 allowed the rope holding the balloon to play out, and it 
 rapidly arose. Up it went, higher and higher, until the 
 two miles of wire and rope had been played out. I then 
 rushed down to this room to view the progress of my 
 experiment and to complete the preparations. Nothing 
 strange could I see; not a sound in the telephone; not a 
 spark of electricity was shown by the register, from which 
 I could see that no circuit had yet been formed. I then 
 started the air pump connected with the lower globe 
 room and allowed it to run until the automatic stop-cock 
 closed it, thus indicating that it could exhaust no more. 
 An electric current was then run through the wire in that 
 
50 IT MIGHT BK. 
 
 room, and had been going on but a few moments when 
 the partition fell with a crash. 
 
 " The experiment was all stopped then for that time, 
 or until the damage was repaired. Impatiently I wound 
 down the balloon and allowed the hot air and gas to 
 escaj^e and went to work again to secure the steel ])artition 
 in position. This time I secured it with these stay bolts, 
 which were passed through the glass and secured with 
 taps on the outside. During the next three days and 
 part of the nights I worked before it was again ready for 
 trial, but a lesson had been learned. I had been taught 
 that no partition that I could place in that glass globe 
 could stand the air pressure from above, so in the future 
 I would exhaust each room alike and thus remove the 
 immense pressure from the partition. Again all was 
 ready and the balloon sent up ; again the pumps were 
 started ; but this time both were started together. This 
 work proceeded until both stops had closed and the 
 current then sent through the lower room, that the condi- 
 tions surrounding the lower pole might be the same as 
 that around the upper one, two miles up in the air. This 
 was soon stopped and a connection made between the 
 storage battery and the steel partition, which at once 
 began to glisten with the electric current passing through 
 it. I next noticed that a piece of wood, which came in 
 contact with the wire up near the roof, was smoking, and 
 I then knew that a circuit had been formed somewhere 
 above. The lever which connected the telephone with 
 the instrument had now to be moved, and so great was my 
 excitement that I could hardly move that little lever 
 where^I wanted it. 
 
 " You will never be able to imagine the leap my heart 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 51 
 
 took when the telephone gave out a few sharp clicks, 
 similar to those from a telegraph instrument, yet that was 
 all, and after awhile I sat down discouraged and wondered 
 what next to do. By and by, I thought I would let a lit- 
 tle air into the upper room, for the conditions in the globe 
 might not be the same as those at the other end of the 
 wire. 
 
 " Well, just what happened I do not know. The room 
 seemed to suddenly fill with balls of lightning, and the 
 blanket in the door there took its flight; then the moun- 
 tain tremlsled and quaked; I heard an awful report, and 
 when I awoke and looked at my watch I saw that time 
 had flown on two hours. There was no change within the 
 room, except that the wire from above had been burned 
 off and now hung swinging from the ceiling. I went out 
 and looked around. I saw trees uprooted, actually pulled 
 out by the roots; great rocks had been loosened and 
 rolled down into the valley below. All was confusion 
 about the mountain top." 
 
 Our friends looked at each other, and the doctor spoke 
 up: 
 
 '* This explains what we could not understand yester- 
 day, about the conditions on tlie other side of the moun- 
 tain; and, by the way, did you not have a miniature affair 
 of this kind, yesterday, friend?" 
 
 " Yes, I forgot to make the proper connections at one 
 time, and before I could get to that lever yonder, it had 
 begun to shake things up a little," he answered, and then 
 continued : 
 
 "Well," to continue, "I soon concluded that I had 
 made a connection with a mightier current up there than 
 I had intended. I then determined to try the machine 
 
52 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 without charging the partition so heavy, and, before be- 
 ginning again, a safety connection was run down into the 
 ground to moist soil, so that, if found necessary, I miglit 
 switch the business off into the ground if it made a show 
 of too much power. Tlie pumps and electric current 
 again did their duty, and, when all was ready, the con- 
 necting lever was again moved and I suddenly became 
 aware that a mighty battle of words was being turned 
 loose here. I heard the shouts of officers and men, the 
 boom of cannon and the rattle of musketry, the groans of 
 the dying and the shouts of the victorious, until I stood 
 horror struck and could stand it no longer, so turned on 
 the air and it instantly ceased. 
 
 " A happier and more astonished man could not have 
 been found in all Pennsylvania than I was just at that 
 time. My theory for the changing of the ambitions of 
 the human race was to be realized at last. The pana- 
 cea for the ills and the sorrows of the human race had 
 been found, for where was there to be found a man who 
 would do many wicked acts, when he knew that those 
 very acts and words would be public property at once. 
 
 " But I soon found that there were still great difficul- 
 ties in the way. This sound of battle would not do it all. 
 I must solve the way to reach all the other sound orbits 
 and bring out their secrets. I tried the machine again 
 and again and soon found that the different orbits were 
 reached by the difference in the air within the two rooms 
 in the globe. The more rarified the air the higher and 
 older the circuit of sound it would reach, and I soon 
 learned the amount it took to reach a certain height or 
 date. The amount of electricity that it used on the par- 
 tition also affects the reach of the machine. With the 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 53 
 
 machine I have not been able to reach an earher period 
 than B. C. 3,000 yet. 
 
 " It seems as years rolled on and new sounds or dis- 
 turbances were produced, the former ones were forced 
 higher and higher, until the machine that will go higher 
 than B. C. 3,000 must be extremely sensitive. I have 
 arranged the amounts of electricity and exhaustion of the 
 globe rooms necessary to reach a given period, under con- 
 trol of these marked notches, and can give you, on short 
 notice, for research around a certain date, any sound ever 
 made, from Noah's time down the avenue of ages to the 
 present time. 
 
 "Let us further demonstrate its power," he said, as 
 he stepped to the register and moved the lever to a slot 
 marked "Now," saying at the same time that he had 
 not perfected the machine so that he could get down to the 
 hours, but he could come within a day of any time no 
 more remote than a hundred years, and that it was not 
 so complete that it would not now and then attract an 
 unlooked-for current, which would make the old moun- 
 tain tremble. They remembered that only yesterday it 
 cut up just such a caper as that. He was interrupted 
 here by a shout, and then the following began : 
 
 " Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: — I am much 
 pleased at having this opportunity of talking to this vast, 
 bright and intelligent audience on the political issues of 
 the day." 
 
 " Enough of that political speech to suit me," said 
 
 the operator, as he stepped to the side of the room and 
 
 slightly moved a lever, which, he said, caused the copper 
 
 . cover of the balloon to tilt to one side and thus to attract 
 
 another current, which was soon manifest by a sound of 
 
54 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 glasses, the low curse and drunketi laughter from some 
 saloon. Again the lever was changed and the sound of 
 voices in the Chinese language was heard. The next 
 change brought the sounds made by an immense flock of 
 geese in some Northern lake. After a few more changes 
 there was heard the sound of a locomotive whistle and the 
 cry of a brakesman, '' Silverton," and the operator sat 
 down with our friends to listen. Soon a voice, which the 
 doctor recognized as from one of his patients, piped out: 
 
 " Well, I don't care what you say about it, that doc- 
 tor charged an awful price, anyway. He knew full well 
 that we would pay his bill, so worked it to keep me down 
 just as long as I could stand it. You was a fool for pay- 
 ing it, sir, and I don't care who knows it either." 
 
 The machine then seemed to catch up another current 
 from the same city, and our friends recognized the voices 
 of two prominent business men in a heated difficulty 
 over some business matter. The train then made a great 
 noise as it rumbled into town, a wagon was heard passing 
 over the pavement, a child cried, a boy yelled, and all 
 sorts of sounds came on. Then came the sound from 
 some old woman gossip, in a whisper: 
 
 ' ' They do say that Preacher Elverton is making love 
 to Betty Popkins. Wonder what his wife would say if 
 she knew it?" 
 
 The operator noticed the color in the preacher's face 
 come and go and he seemed to be ill, so he shut off the 
 thing, lest the preacher should faint. 
 
 Then up spoke the doctor, who had been so mad at 
 what he had heard about himself that he had hardly 
 noticed wliat had been said about the preacher : 
 
 "Yes, that's it. Ride night after night at the beck and 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 55 
 
 nod of a cranky old woman, only to be cursed for it at 
 last. The next time she sends for me I'll be away. " 
 
 "That was not half as bad about you as about me, 
 Doctor," said the preacher. "What do you think of 
 that? Did you know that I was sparking another woman 
 than my wife? I believe I know the voice and I'll go 
 and astonish her, you may rest assured, by telling her 
 that I heard her say it. Guess it will cure her of gossip- 
 ing, for a while at least. But, sir, when it becomes 
 known that such a machine is in existence, won't it have 
 a wonderful tendency to keep people's mouths closed on 
 things which ought not to be uttered? The long looked 
 for, prayed for, cure for these ills of the human race." 
 
 "Yes," spoke up the operator, " with this machine I 
 can catch the last gasp and word of the murdered man 
 and detect the murderer, if he spoke or made a noise, and 
 find out the cause if a wordy battle led to the act. I can 
 trace to its rightful source any scandal, hear a million 
 things not intended for the public ear ; parade before the 
 world the words and tone used by the man who drives 
 the poor widow from the last roof, and record the last sigh 
 and sob of the afflicted ; the hard speeches of men against 
 their neighbors; the secret consultation of the robber 
 band planning for the next crime ; show up the home- 
 life of one who makes such a high profession and prove 
 the truth or falsity thereof, and thousands of other 
 things." 
 
 A long time they talked about the possibilities of the 
 invention. Many a question our friends put to the stran- 
 ger, and among other things he told them that he expected 
 to so perfect the machine that he could take up the cur- 
 rent for any hour and any part of the world as he wished. 
 
56 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 He said that he had not yet learned the exact order of 
 these currents and much guess work was necessary before 
 finding the one looked for. He told them that he hoped 
 with its use to change the affairs of government, by cut- 
 ting out all dishonesty, and stop a greater part of the 
 crimes of the present time by being informed of their 
 plans before their execution. A more equal distribution 
 of the wealth would be brought about, by causing the 
 wealthy to know more of the needs and suffering of the 
 poor, and, in fact, to make the human race feel its brother- 
 hood and dependence upon one another more than now. 
 After the conversation began to lag a little, the doctor 
 requested Mr. Allerton to "turn that 'air thing loose 
 again," as he wanted to hear something more. 
 
 The lever was moved again to the notch marked 
 ''Now," and the tilting lever moved again, and the ma- 
 chine began on a current wholly unexpected to the listen- 
 ers. At first they simply listened to what it said, then 
 they began to get interested; the doctor's teeth set firmly 
 together, he hardly drew his breath, but sat and listened. 
 The preacher sat and held to the bench, his hair slowly 
 rising on end. The color left the faces of all the men. 
 They sat there like men of stone, riveted to their seats by 
 the words they were listening to. It went on and on. 
 They looked at one another with blanched faces, seem- 
 ingly terror-stricken. Then Allerton arose and stepped 
 over to the phonograph to see if this wonderful occurrence 
 vi^as being recorded. Yes, it was. The phonograph w^as 
 slowly revolving and the steel point was making the record 
 thereof in the cylinder's covering. For more than an 
 hour they sat and listened before it was over, and the ma- 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 57 
 
 chine took up other sounds. Then it was shut off. 
 Allerton now turned to his companions, saying: 
 
 " We have no time to waste. This calls for action. 
 We must be up and away and stop that terrible affair." 
 
 They carefully laid their plans, each man taking a 
 part to do. The preacher said he could call in another 
 preacher to fill his pulpit, and the doctor had a friend 
 whom he could turn his patients over to, and they would 
 be away on their great mission. The balloon was wound 
 down and put away, and every tiling was straightened 
 around for a few weeks' absence of its owner, and the three 
 men hastily left the cave, and going out and around the 
 mountain top found the team, and were soon speeding 
 away toward Silverton. 
 
58 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " The best laid schemes of mice and men 
 Gang aft aglee " — Burns. 
 
 The hotels in the city of Pittsburgh, Pa., had been 
 overflowing for the past four or five days, and it seemed 
 as if the city could not supply the demand for lodging 
 made upon them by the vast number of strangers who 
 were continually pouring in, and that, too, without any 
 apparent cause. 
 
 Editors discussed the reason ; bankers wondered 
 what it meant ; real e8,tate dealers looked for a boom in 
 the value of their property, thinking that the people had 
 become suddenly aware of tlie advantages of their city ; 
 the managers of the seventy furnaces and iron mills won- 
 dered what called so many visitors around their mills ; 
 but the churches did not notice any increase in their 
 attendance. The chief of police, fearing trouble of some 
 kind, doubles the police force and writes the governor 
 that an unusual number of toughs are in the city and that 
 he fears an outbreak of some kind. 
 
 It is Saturday night, and the town clocks have just 
 struck eleven. The number of pedestrians on the streets 
 seems to suddenly diminish. Have they gone to their 
 couches? Ah, no. See those dark objects moving swiftly 
 up each dark alley ? They all have one destination in 
 view. So many dark objects pass this street and then 
 that one, that the police begin to wonder what is going to 
 happen. 
 
 Look. Do you see that smoke yonder, up the Alle- 
 gheny? not one but two, three, yes, half a dozen steam- 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 59 
 
 boats send up their smoky signals. Look now down the 
 Monongahela; a scene like that from the north. They 
 come nearer and nearer to their several landings. A 
 stream of men file out of the boats and congregate on the 
 banks there. What have they from which the moon sends 
 cold, shivering rays? They are guns. They move from 
 the north and from the south toward one point yonder, 
 where a tall dark building stands, forth from which flick- 
 ers the light of a blast furnace. Each company nears a 
 common point; they halt, and then seem to slowly fade 
 away in the darkness, and not a form is seen. All is 
 calm and quiet. What does it mean? There, did you 
 see that object as it moved out into view? It came from 
 the direction of the city, and stands there in the dim 
 moonlight. Look; another comes, now another, now by 
 twos and threes; then they come by scores. They are 
 forming on that level plain. Now they move slowly for- 
 ward. They have something under their arms, which the 
 moon's rays show up as guns; some have axes, some 
 mauls, some clubs and others different weapons. They 
 march on in the direction of the place where the first seen 
 company so lately disappeared. 
 
 " Halt, who goes there?" 
 
 See, before that company of black objects, which a 
 short time ago emerged from the city, arises a lonely man 
 who sends out on the startled air these sounds. He has 
 a shining Winchester in his hands. 
 
 Do you see that fleeting black object off there to the 
 right? On and on he goes, not haltmg until after he has 
 passed through alley after alley and at last stands within 
 a telegraph office. Listen, the click, click of the instru- 
 ment as it starts with its message, on and on with the 
 
60 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 speed of the lightning, until its message is laid down on 
 the table before the waiting chief executive of the land. 
 A few marks are made on the paper by that official, a 
 name is signed, and away goes that subtile sometliing on 
 its message of duty. In a dozen or more cities its flashes 
 are recorded. Men, who have stars on their coats, arise 
 from their seats and go out into the night, wondering why 
 that duty is to be performed, and why the order was sent 
 by the president. A score or more of prominent men 
 answer the knock at their doors, only to meet face to face 
 with the men, with the stars, and with faces paled with 
 fear they accompany him to the strong house and hear 
 the creak of its iron door as it moves on its hinges, secur- 
 ing them for the balance of the night, but not to sleep, 
 only to wonder on through the night what was being done 
 by the company of men at Pittsburgh, and what their 
 being arrested had to do with the plot, or if some one had 
 given their secret away. 
 
 Before the echoes of the lone man's voice had died 
 away on the air surrounding Pittsburgh, a rough bass 
 voice replied, sternly, if not fiendishly: 
 
 " Surrender, sir. Throw up your hands or I'll shoot," 
 and a keen eye looked along a smooth rifle barrel toward 
 the lone man, who did not flinch, but quickly raised his 
 gun to his shoulder and replied : 
 
 "Surrender? Never. Drop that gun. I say, drop 
 that gun. I am the guard here and have authority to 
 shoot you down if you do not immediately obey." 
 
 " Sir," replied the leader of the band, '' We are here 
 for business, and mean just what we say. Lay down 
 your gun, or I shall order my men to fire upon you," and 
 he advanced upon the lone man. 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 61 
 
 " Stop. Do not take another step in advance, or you 
 die," came back tlie reply in a tone that carried its true 
 meaning with it, and seemed to set fire to the already 
 strained passions of the band, who could stand the force 
 thereof but little longer without doing something terrible. 
 
 The town clock in the distance struck twelve. It was 
 Sunday. 
 
 There was a momentary pause, and the leader turned 
 toward his men; then a wave of the hand; then a dozen 
 flashes of light ui)on the darkness of the night ; a form 
 falls to the ground ; when. Oh ! My God ! What means 
 that rising line of dark objects ? What means those 
 leveled Winchesters? What means that awful gleam of 
 the eye from those holding the guns? What means that 
 long line of shining guns, pointing toward the band, in 
 front, behind, at the sides? Will the triggers be pressed? 
 Will the scene run with blood? Will souls go out to meet 
 their God from a mighty conflict here? 
 
 With blanched faces and trembling limbs, the mem- 
 bers of the band look upon the sudden transformation of 
 the scene, from one man, one shining barrel, to thou- 
 sands. 
 
 The falling man arises, and drawing himself up to his 
 full height, for he is but slightly injured, he speaks: 
 
 " I say, surrender, and for the last time before we fire. 
 We know what you are up to. We know your intentions. 
 Lay down your guns, or I shall give the signal to start 
 this blood spilling in dead earnest, for you failed in what 
 you wished and intended toward me." 
 
 There is a hushed pause, then a few muttered curses; 
 the leader turns toward his men and speaks a few words. 
 Each man of the band then slowlv lowers his gun to the 
 
62 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 ground. They are then turned about and " Forward, 
 march!" is the command given. They start toward the 
 ships, in which they are placed for safe keeping, awaiting 
 orders from Washington. 
 
 Thus, " Failed " is written across this attempt of 
 organized anarchy to gain control of capital's property. 
 Whether the aggravations of the times would justify such 
 an attempt, we leave for wiser heads than ours to solve. 
 
 The day of trial for those arrested at Pittsburgh comes 
 off at once; they receive their several sentences, and are 
 distributed in the several prisons to work out their times. 
 But the score of men arrested in distant cities as being 
 the leaders and instigators of the attempted rebellion (in 
 wiiich it was expected to gain control of the mills at 
 Pittsburgh first; the trains would then be stopped, hence 
 no soldiers could be rushed there for some time, and 
 when they once were there, many other cities would thus 
 be taken charge of and held; thus forcing, as they 
 expected, capital to come to their demands, which were 
 not modest in the least), are next to be tried. 
 
 Their pleas are, "■ Not guilty." 
 
 The men who were to endure the danger were easily 
 convicted, but these men think that no evidence can be 
 found against them and, with a great show of bravery and 
 innocence, they stand for trial. The jury is chosen and 
 all is ready for the prosecution, yet but three men are 
 present as witnesses, our two Silverton friends and their 
 strangely found companion. 
 
 These events have been the means of raising the 
 interest and excitement of the people of the Union, as 
 well as of all the civilized world, to its highest pitch, and 
 the eyes and ears of the people are strained to their 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 63 
 
 utmost to catch all that was possible of this trial. The 
 daily papers have their reporters and telegraph operators 
 in the court room by scores, and it seemed as if all the 
 comitry was on tip-toe of expectation to hear the news 
 from this great trial. 
 
 The last juror has been chosen and the lawyers on 
 both sides now announce their readiness to proceed with 
 the trial. One of the attendants brings in a stand, upon 
 which is placed a phonograph, as the first witness. 
 
 Strange witness, surely. 
 
 The lawyer for the prosecution has explained that 
 they expect to prove that the men, in secret council 
 met, concocted the rebellion attempted, and are in reality 
 the principals in the scheme, and the first evidence 
 offered will be a verbatim rejjort of that secret council. 
 
 Mr. Allerton comes forward, is sworn, and then takes 
 his seat at the side of the instrument. 
 
 A lever is moved and the cylinder of the phonograph 
 begins to revolve, and from the mouthpiece comes these 
 words : 
 
 "The secretary will now call the roll. Be quiet, 
 gentlemen, and those who do not wish to participate in 
 these proceedings and take their stand with us will please 
 retire at once. No one leaves. Gentlemen, as your 
 names are called, you will proceed to the secretary's 
 desk, and take the oath and sign your names. Pro- 
 ceed, Mr. Secretary. George McLaughlin, come forth 
 and sign the oath and take the vow." 
 
 A momentary silence follows. 
 
 " Mr. McLaughlin signs and takes the oath. So 
 record it, Mr. Secretary." 
 
64 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 At the recital of these things there was consternation 
 among the prisoners at the bar, many a face, from 
 which the blood had fled, telling of the fear back of it. 
 
 The long roll proceeds; each name called, to be 
 answered by the chairman : * ' He takes the oath and 
 vow. So record it, Mr. Secretary." 
 
 The roll call is over only when each man's name, who 
 sits in the prisoner's box, is called and receives the 
 chairman's reply. 
 
 " Now, gentlemen, we are ready for business," rattles 
 on the machine. 
 
 "The plan of this movement has been written out 
 and will now be read by the secretary." 
 
 " PV/iereas, We hold the balance of power at the ballot, 
 if united and given a free trial thereof, or at the bayonet 
 if forced thereto, and, 
 
 ' ' Whereas, We have proven that at the ballot we can 
 never be successful, so much of our element being ruled 
 by wealth through the influence brought to bear by the 
 necessities we have to meet; therefore, be it 
 
 ^^ Resolved ^ That we unite in the use of the bayonet 
 and strike the blow at once that shall now and forever 
 free us from the chains capitalists have bound about us; 
 and, be it further 
 
 ' ' Resolved, That the following be the plan of action 
 in striking that blow : At twelve o'clock on the first night 
 in November next, all the blast furnaces, iron and steel 
 mills, glass factories, locomotive and engine, safe, brass, 
 copper, bronze, tin and all other works of like nature in 
 Pittsburgh, Pa., be seized and held by force. We have 
 the power to do so. We will send a small army down 
 there very quietly, to get control; then our organizations 
 throughout the country wall prevent the movement of 
 troo]js in there to recapture it. No railroad train nor 
 canal boat shall be moved after word is sent out by 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 65 
 
 the different officers in charge of this movement. Eacli 
 one who is recorded here to-night will be placed at the 
 following points to arrange for and oversee the movement 
 and to prevent the recapture of the cities." 
 
 Then followed the list of the names of the prisoners 
 at the bar, with the names of the cities where each had 
 been arrested. 
 
 The machine still rattled on, giving the full details of 
 the plan and many short speeches which had been deliv- 
 ered by those present, all followed by the calling of the 
 roll for voting on the plan and resolutions, and each one 
 was recorded as voting " Aye." 
 
 Wonderful evidence. But can it be proven that it 
 has come from a reliable source ? Is it true ? Was it 
 taken by some one near at hand, unknown to the 
 assembly ? 
 
 A whole nation awaits in suspense the proving of the 
 testimony. 
 
 Mr. Allerton is now asked to explain the source of 
 this evidence and the proofs of its reliability. He arises 
 and addresses the judge and jury : 
 
 "Your Honor and Gentlemen of the Jury: I have 
 made a machine by which I am enabled to catch the 
 sounds floating around in space, no matter where or 
 when uttered. Some time ago I was experimenting with 
 it, when the sounds recorded in that phonograph and 
 just spoken were brought down and uttered to me." 
 
 *' What is that you say? " asked the judge. " Do 
 you mean to tell us that you could hear sounds made in 
 a closed room, in a distant city, by the aid of a machine 
 you have made ? " 
 
 " That is just what I mean," was the reply. 
 
66 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 *' Such visionary evidence as this will need some very 
 clear proof before admitted. Explain your machine 
 to us." 
 
 "■ Well, to make a long story short, I will tell you why 
 I made it and how it works ; then for the proof will take 
 you to it and let it prove its own testimony. We are 
 taught that sound is the undulations of the ether which 
 fills space. So is light. Now, light travels on and on, 
 never ceasing. Why not sound ? Electricity is probably 
 undulation also, and it travels in circuits ; so do the suns 
 and moons of the universe. Light also may travel in 
 immense orbits. If the suns and planets, light, elec- 
 tricity, etc., go on unceasingly, why not sound? And if 
 it does, where are those circuits ? I reasoned that they 
 must fly around high up on the surface of the atmosphere. 
 I made a machine to test this reasoning, and as the tele- 
 graph operator catches the current flying along the wire 
 by the track from the roof of the car, so I have caught 
 these sounds, flying along their orbit, high up yonder," 
 he answered, pointing upward. '' In proof of this I am 
 ready to put on the stand these two men," pointing to 
 our Silverton friends, " who have seen and heard it, and 
 also to accompany you to the machine itself, and let you 
 both see and hear it." 
 
 There was a breathless silence in the room as the 
 doctor and preacher came to the stand, were sworn and 
 severally verified the statements of Mr. Allerton. 
 
 The judge then announced the court adjourned, that 
 the jury as well as himself might accompany Mr. Aller- 
 ton to the machine. 
 
 The telegraph flashes the news of this wonderful 
 discovery to the length and breadth of the land, and 
 
IT MIGHT BE. • 67 
 
 across the water to the Eastern world. The papers con- 
 tain httle else than the news of this trial, the testimony 
 and its source. Many laugh at the idea and doubt the 
 sanity of the man who offered it. A special train is 
 chartered to take the judge, jury, reporters and others to 
 Silverton. 
 
 They reach the once quiet little city, now filled with 
 people from every direction. Teams are soon secured, 
 and in a short time one of the longest processions ever 
 seen in that part of the country is on the way to the 
 mountain. 
 
 The cave is reached, the judge, jury and a few 
 reporters allowed to enter, and impatiently the throng 
 outside awaits the filling and the ascension of the balloon. 
 Slowly the great thing swells up and, when loosed from 
 its moorings, rises upward as fast as the wires and ropes 
 will play out. It reaches the desired altitude and the 
 operator re-enters the cave, where anxiously awaits the 
 crowd. The lever is soon moved and the first message 
 that comes out from this most wonderful of all inventions 
 is the roar, din and confusion, the shouts and the cries, 
 mingled with the crash of falling buildings at the awful 
 flood of Conemaugh. The affrighted listeners leap to 
 their feet, thinking that the mountain, which surrounds 
 them, is coming down to crush the whole company. 
 There is a rush for the door, but Mr. Allerton sees the 
 consternation and quickly stops the terrible story. With 
 some persuasion and explanations they are again led to 
 enter the room, while the operator now moves the lever 
 in the direction of a notch marked " Washington, 1830," 
 when this greets them : 
 
 " Mr, President, when the mariner has been tossed 
 
68 . IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 for many days, in thick weather and on an unknown sea, 
 he naturally avails himself of the first pause in the storm, 
 the earliest glance of the sun, to take his latitude and 
 ascertain how far the elements have driven him from his 
 true course. Let us imitate his prudence, and before we 
 float further on the waves of this debate, refer to the 
 point from which we departed, that we may at least be 
 able to form some conjecture of where we now are. I ask 
 for the reading of the resolution." 
 
 Had tlie listeners not quoted parts of this speech in 
 their debates and speeches at school, long before this ? 
 And did they not at once recognize the words of Webster's 
 great speech ? But, ah ! never before did they hear the 
 matchless eloquence of that voice as they now heard it, 
 and they began to realize how it was that Webster could 
 move that vast throng before him. 
 
 The lever was moved again, and the testimony they 
 had listened to in the court room was again offered up in 
 evidence. 
 
 A full explanation of tlie machine and its workings 
 was made, every word of which the rejDorters gathered, 
 which fully satisfied the judge and jury. 
 
 It did not take long after their return for the jury to 
 hand in their verdict, no defense being made by the 
 prisoners. 
 
 Millions of people read the reports sent out from Sil- 
 verton that day, and anxiously did all civilized nations 
 await a full explanation of this strange invention. Noth- 
 ing else seemed thought of. No man's name is used as 
 often as that of Trafford Allerton, the commercial traveler 
 and inventor. He is bewildered with the attention shown 
 him^ the telegrams and letters sent him, the myriad of 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 69 
 
 reporters who hang around him, and the millions of 
 money offered for the sole right and use of the inven- 
 tion, by wire and cable, from kings, queens and poten- 
 tates. 
 
 He sits down in his room in the modest little hotel in 
 Silverton, dazed and bewildered. His mind seems to 
 totter for a moment; lie reels and would have fallen to 
 the floor, but the door opens and in comes that sweet- 
 faced, blessed woman, his mother, with the tears dampen- 
 ing the wrinkles in her cheeks and adding moisture to 
 those lips. She clasps him to her breast, and then sitting 
 him in the chair, plants kiss after kiss upon his brow. 
 God bless the mothers of our boyhood and manhood; 
 always present when needed, with tender touch, sweet 
 words and a glistening tear drop to quiet us down and 
 hold our feelings in check. 
 
 " God bless you, my son; but remember that you are 
 but a man. Do not allow this success to turn your head 
 and destroy your past good disposition. Be a man. Be 
 humble. I would rather you had never made this great 
 discovery than that it should make you vain, cold and 
 distant. I would much prefer you as you always have 
 been — kind, loving, quiet Trafford — even if poverty and 
 affliction should come, than to have you like so many 
 otherwise great men, though wealth and fame be piled 
 around you mountain high." 
 
 Trafford looked up. His gaze met a look of sublime 
 love and tenderness which sank down into his innermost 
 being; his hand was raised and placed against the warm 
 cheek of his mother, and he replied : 
 
 " If ever a man had a jewel of a mother, I am that 
 man. Mother, by the help of Heaven's throng, I'll never 
 
70 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 be other than the Ijoy I was when I knelt at your knee. 
 See, mother, I kneel there again as of yore; please talk 
 to our Father for me." And with her head bowed upon 
 her son's shoulder, the mother offered a prayer of such 
 simple trust and faith that the son arose, never to forget 
 that blessed moment, nor to depart from its requests. 
 
 For a time the excitement caused by the discovery 
 seemed to hide the scenes at the trial, conviction and 
 sentence of the prisoners, but slowly the nation lost its 
 excitement and settled down to its normal condition. 
 
 While the world had reason to be thankful that 
 another war had been averted, yet the conditions which 
 led up to those events remained the same as ever. Men 
 who had heretofore sneered at the power of anarchy now 
 had their eyes opened to the immense power under its 
 control. Self-protection is the first law of nature, and 
 they now began to look around for a plan of protection. 
 Money would not protect against bomb-shell and cannon, 
 when in the hands of such a secret band among our pop- 
 ulation. While the statesmen and politicians of the 
 nation wrestled with these mighty problems, Allerton was 
 perfecting his machine. 
 
 He further reasoned that if sound is motion, and can 
 be grasped, light is also motion, and why cannot it be 
 grasped and shown to the astonished world, although its 
 undulations may be thousands or hundreds of thousands 
 more per second, yet he thought they could be secured. 
 He took a tour of the country, examining all the electrical 
 appliances, crossed the Atlantic and continued his research 
 there, until he had studied all he could find, then returned 
 and made a machine, upon nearly the same principle as 
 his sound machine, only much more sensitive. A very 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 7l 
 
 sensitive magnetic plate was placed to one side and a little 
 above the sound plate on the balloon, and instead of one 
 electric pole being placed under tlie center of the plate, 
 one was placed above it as well as under, each having 
 connections to the same wire, which was thus enabled to 
 catch the vibrations in each direction and with incon- 
 ceivable rapidity. So great was the rapidity of the vibra- 
 tions, that the best instrument he had, which would 
 measure up as high as a million a second, would not 
 solve the problem of the number of vibrations per second, 
 to light. This was then connected with an instrument in 
 the cave, composed of a glass globe, with a magnetic par- 
 tition, so arranged that the air might be exhausted and 
 give the same conditions as surrounded the other end up 
 in the balloon. The electric charged poles above and 
 below this plate were connected with a large magnetic 
 plate suspended from the side of the room, upon which 
 the electric changes were to be produced, in the copy of 
 the long ago scene. The telegraph instruments were 
 upon tables around the room, which were connected with 
 the offices of the great newspapers throughout the land. 
 The day appointed for the trial came, and the cave was 
 filled with scientists and reporters, to its fullest capacity. 
 The nation was again on tip-toe of expectation, anxiously 
 awaiting the result. 
 
 When all \yas ready, Mr. Allerton stepped up to the 
 table, upon which Avere arranged the buttons, which dated 
 the time of the scene wanted, and pressed in the button 
 marked "1892." 
 
 The electric motor began its vibrations, the pumps 
 began to groan, the registering lever on the wall rapidly 
 neared the slot marked " 1892." All eves were turned 
 
72 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 toward it; netirer and nearer it came, then with a sharp 
 click it fell into its place. The plates within each globe 
 flashed for a moment, then the complete circuit was 
 formed, and the sound machine, which was also con- 
 nected, gave out a low sound, much like the sighing of 
 the wind through the tree tops ; but look at that reflector 
 on the wall. There plainly is shown the bosom of a calm 
 flowing river, down whose current can plainly be seen a 
 boat gliding noiselessly toward the city yonder. Looking 
 closely you can see vast thi*ongs of people upon the river's 
 bank, near the city. All is so still within the room, and 
 so perfect is the work of the invention, that you can 
 plainly hear the screech of the owl in the distance and 
 plainly see the ripples on the river. The boat stops in 
 mid-river and then slowly turns toward the bank and the 
 people congregated there. Slowly the boat nears the 
 bank, and the metallic sheet on the wall seems to tremble 
 with excitement ; nearer and nearer ; a form arises from 
 the mass of forms on the boat, and, as it reaches the 
 bank, attempts to land. A crowd moves down from the 
 bank, near to the water's edge, then pauses. A few mut- 
 tered curses issue from the sounder. There is a brilliant 
 flash upon the screen, a sharp report from the sounder, 
 then a groan, and you see the form on the reflector fall. 
 The excitement is so great and the attention of those 
 present so riveted to the picture on the wall, that the tel- 
 egraph instruments are silent for some time, then there 
 
 goes out to the world these dots and dash : — ... 
 
 (success). 
 
 A half hour of spell-bound watchfulness follows, and 
 the operator touches tlie lever, breaks the circuit, and the 
 reflector is blrnk and the sounder silent, and the scenes 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 73 
 
 and sounds from Homestead's disgraceful scene are gone. 
 And now the electric fluid leaps across the continent and 
 dips beneath the ocean in its haste to tell of the opened 
 secrets once locked up in Nature's secure recesses. It tells 
 the story to the astonishment of the Old World, then on 
 it goes to tell and re-tell it, until it has spanned the globe 
 in its jubilant activity. 
 
 How the happy newsboy yelled, " Allerton's machine 
 a howling success. Here's the latest, only a penny." 
 How eagerly millions of eyes read the news, and many 
 enthusiastic ones shouted, leaped and wept for joy. They 
 talked of what it would do, they sung of it, they dreamed 
 of it, they wrote about it. 
 
 'Twas done. The great secret that Nature had been 
 groaning to be delivered of was opened to the astonished 
 world of humanity. No more guess work about the past, 
 but certainty brought down to our households, just as it 
 happened, though forgotten and lost to view down the 
 misty aisles of the past. No more going to Switzerland 
 to view the Alps, only to climb, dizzy-headed, to their 
 summits, but now will we bring their grandeur and 
 beauty down to our parlors ; no more trips to Niagara to 
 see its sights and hear its roar, we can have a Niagara at 
 home] no more perilous attempts to reach the North 
 Pole, but we will turn our machine on her and bring her 
 scenes to our door, robbed of her frigidity, for we will see 
 her snowdrifts and icebergs while seated at our parlor 
 fires; no more guess work about Moses, David, Solomon, 
 John the Baptist, Herod, Pharaoh, Paul, and how a 
 thousand other men looked, we'll bring out from the 
 heavens above us their photographs, and hear them talk 
 and see their expressions at the same time ; no more 
 
74 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 having the Christ of all ages and lands, painted Italian 
 by Italy's artist, nor German by Germany's, nor Hotten- 
 tot by their man, nor American by ours ; but we will see 
 Him face to face ; hear His words of wonderful tenderness ; 
 see that countenance, brighter than the noonday sun, 
 and fall at His feet and worship Him. 
 
 The door of Nature is now unlocked, which shall cause 
 a transformation in the methods of government, a change 
 in the business affairs of life. It shall prove the brother- 
 hood of man and drive out the poverty of the land ; will 
 put a quietus on crime ; will stop the blow before struck, 
 and will cause the half-uttered curse to die upon the lips. 
 Each human being's actions and words are placed at the 
 disposal of his neighbor, and it is a wonderful incentive 
 for him to behave well aud use only such language as he 
 wishes to come up before the many homes of our land. 
 But how shall this change be brought down to a working 
 basis? How shall the great transformation be ushered 
 in? Not by might, God forbid. But if a neighbor's crime 
 come up before the face of the community, immediate 
 justice will be meted out to him. The wickedness of the 
 king, if opened to the gaze of his subjects, would cost him 
 his neck. The trickery of the politician would cost him 
 his office and place in the party. If some of the past life 
 of the wife or husband becomes the property of the other 
 in this way, the divorce court would be rushed to its full- 
 est capacity. How, then, can this great change be brought 
 about peaceably? Past advancements only open the way 
 to new problems. A new danger now threatens the gov- 
 ernment. Are all the dishonesties of the government 
 officials to be spread before the public gaze, together with 
 their methods of getting there? Is every dollar expended 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 75 
 
 for liquor and votes to be accounted for? Are the meth- 
 ods of judges and juries to be ventilated? Are all the 
 crimes of the criminal to come up before the face of the 
 one injured? Is the lie uttered to be shown false? Can 
 all this be done and am'- power be found to prevent imme- 
 diate anarchy and single-handed warfare until the race is 
 exterminated? No. This invention must be used with 
 care, and only at certain occasions and for certain pur- 
 poses, or the latter end will be w^orse than the former, and 
 pandemonium ensue. Something must be done to pre- 
 vent its indiscriminate use, and the distribution of the 
 information thus secured. God's greatest blessings may 
 be turned into the greatest curses, if man fails to follow 
 the plan of operation. The electric fluid, instead of pro- 
 pelling our trains and lighting our streets and a thousand 
 other useful works, may burn our buildings and take our 
 life. The power generated by a great dam of water may 
 come down and destroy the city. The dynamite cart- 
 ridge, which ought to be used in blasting and like useful 
 deeds, may destroy our finest dwellings and take the lives 
 of our best people. Man's God-given freedom may be 
 turned to the commission of the greatest crimes. All 
 Nature's elements may be so turned. Then, how to pre- 
 vent the use of this discovery, from wliich so many grand 
 things are expected, from being turned into a curse, was 
 the problem that stared the nation in the face. 
 
76 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 " Yet I doubt not through the ages one increasing 
 purpose runs, 
 And the thoughts of men are widened with the 
 process of the suns." — Ten ht/soii. 
 
 The day has been bright and clear and not cold for 
 a January day. The sun has sunk to rest behind the 
 mountains which lay beyond the city of Everett. The 
 wind, which has been blowing very gently all day, has 
 now increased to a strong north wind, blowing before it 
 dark, lowering clouds. The cold was fast becoming 
 severe, and by ten o'clock the snow was being driven in 
 blinding sheets before the wind and the mercury registered 
 many degrees below freezing. 
 
 " Father," said Neva Tyrole, who was seated in an 
 easy chair in the banker's pleasant parlor in one of the 
 finest houses in the city, "is Mr. Peterson, that man who 
 was hurt last spring, any better ? " 
 
 " No, Neva, I believe not, and I heard to-day that his 
 wife was sick with the typhoid fever. I fear this will be 
 a hard night on them, as no one will probably venture out 
 to care for them, the night is so bad," was the banker's 
 reply. 
 
 " Well, father, they must be seen to. I have now 
 been away two weeks and do not know how they have got 
 along. Please tell John to hitch up, I must go and see 
 how they are cared for this dreadful night." 
 
 " Oh, no; you could not go up there this time of the 
 night. Wait until morning," he replied. 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 77 
 
 '' No, I cannot wait. I could not sleep well to-night 
 without knowing that they are all right. I must go," 
 was the answer. 
 
 The banker knew what it meant to try and change her 
 mind when she was bent on acts of mercy, so arose to go 
 and call John, when the mother began and tried to get 
 the daughter's consent to let the father go, but she knew 
 the father would not take the interest she would in them, 
 and would consent to nothing but a visit herself. 
 
 " How could father care for a poor sick woman?" was 
 her reply. 
 
 The team was soon ready and Neva, wrapped in warm 
 cloaks, with a bundle from the pantry under her arm, 
 stepped out into the dark and was soon driven away by 
 trusty John. After a cold drive through a dark, stormy 
 night, the horses were halted before the door of a two- 
 room house, which was set back from the road part way 
 up the mountain side. The young lady alighted from 
 the carriage and, stepping up to the door, grasped the 
 knob and walked in; she had been there so often before 
 that she had long since learned to go right in without the 
 formality of knocking. Within the room was a scene she 
 had not expected to see. In one corner of the room upon 
 a bed lay a woman, so sick that she did not know any one 
 had come in. Three children were sound asleep at the 
 foot of the bed, and upon the floor at the side of the bed 
 lay the form of a man. No fire was in the stove, and the 
 candle had nearly burned out. Neva stepped up to the 
 man and touched him, when she saw that he was insensi- 
 ble. John was called in and they began to work with the 
 man, having first started a fire, but it was a long time 
 before he returned to consciousness. The man was there- 
 
78 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 after soon warmed up so as to be able to tell his astonished 
 visitors that they had been alone all day, and that after 
 the children had crawled into bed and gone to sleep they 
 had no one to keep up the fire, and he had attempted to 
 get up and start it. Not having used his limbs since the 
 team ran over him in the spring, they failed him, and he 
 supposed he fainted away. He then went on to tell her 
 that the lady who had been intrusted with the task of 
 taking care of them in Neva's absence had called but 
 once, and his wife had been down ten days and he was 
 afraid she was going to die. 
 
 After a good deal of questioning and some looking 
 around the room, it was learned that they had not had a 
 good meal for a week. " We have had but little to make 
 a fire of until to-day," he said. "The delivery wagon 
 brought up some coal and wood, and the man who brought 
 it said that some stranger down town paid for it and said 
 that he would come up and see us to-night." 
 
 Neva turned to John and told him he might go home 
 now, but be sure to stop on the way and tell the doctor to 
 come up at once. So, after he had helped the crippled 
 man into bed, he was soon gone, and the sick man, wearied 
 by his pains and trouble, was soon asleep. Neva busied 
 herself by bathing the sick woman's face and hands, 
 washing the sleeping children's dirty faces and cleaning 
 up the room. By and by the doctor came, examined the 
 patients, left some medicine and went away, and all was 
 silent. 
 
 Along about two o'clock there was a sound of feet at 
 the door, voices were heard, and a knock at the door gave 
 evidence that some one Avanted admittance. She arose 
 and opened the door, before which stood a man, who 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 79 
 
 asked if this was Avhere Mr, Peterson lived. When 
 answered in the affirmative, he stated that he had come 
 up to inquire about the sick ones. She bid him come in, 
 asking at the same time where the other man was, for she 
 heard talking before he had knocked. 
 
 " That was a man whom I had hired to pilot me 
 here," he said. 
 
 " But why come at this hour of the night?" she asked. 
 
 ''I will explain, madam. I was traveling through 
 here, when, just as we reached this place this afternoon, 
 the engine broke down. While they were repairing it I 
 went up town and at the hotel heard some one say that 
 this man was sick and destitute. I sent him up some 
 coal, thinking I should get time to come up and see what 
 else he had need of, but the engineer has been telling us 
 all day that he would be ready to start in a few moments, 
 until about an hour ago he telegraphed for another engine, 
 as this one could not be mended, and it would be four 
 hours before that one reached here, so I thought I could 
 well improve the time by coming up here." 
 
 Neva then explained who she was and how Mr. Peter- 
 son got injured, and when, also of their condition, how 
 she had been away and had come in on the same train he 
 did, and of her call and their condition when she found 
 them. 
 
 The fire was now getting low, and as she started to 
 replenish it, he noticed that the coal box was empty, and 
 out he went and brought in the coal. She then informed 
 him of the empty water bucket and where the well was to 
 be found. While he was out after the water she began 
 wondering who he was and what about his staymg around 
 yery long. But reasoipi came to the front and said to her, 
 
80 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 ' ' You need never fear harm from a man who will send 
 coal to a poor stranger in a strange city and then come 
 up here this awful night to see him." He soon returned 
 and again took a seat by the stove. 
 
 " I hope," he said, " that my call at this unseemly 
 hour has not frightened you, and, if my company will not 
 be unwelcome to you, I would be pleased to help you 
 care for these poor people until morning, but should you 
 prefer it, I will return at once." 
 
 '■ ' You have already been so kind to them that I. could 
 not think of asking you to return to the city this bad 
 night, but will be glad of your company," she replied. 
 
 They were soon conversing freely with one another, 
 though in a low tone, so as not to disturb the sick, who 
 were sleeping quietly. The subject she soon turned to 
 that wonderful invention of Mr. Allerton's. He had heard 
 of it, of course, and its construction, uses and future were 
 fully discussed. 
 
 "I have often thought," said she, "that if such 
 scenes as these seen here to-night could be fully known 
 by the people, how much less pain and want there would 
 be, for millions of people would help this poor family if 
 they knew of the circumstances. I wish a way could be 
 found to force people to look at just such distress as we 
 see around us on every hand and that every day." She 
 pictured the affairs of the land in a day when we all could 
 and did know of the distress about us and were endeavor- 
 ing to better it. She was so enthused with her subject 
 that her eyes sparkled and she became really eloquent in 
 her picture of the affairs then. They discussed of what 
 " IT MIGHT BE " and ought to be, until the morning light 
 began to send its cold gleams into the room. The stranger 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 81 
 
 then arose and remarked that if he proceeded on Jiis 
 journey he must start at once in order to reach the depot 
 in time to catch the train, and further, he said that he was 
 on his way to Washington, called there by the president, 
 for consultation about the very same machine they had 
 been talking about, but that before he left he wished to 
 know her name, that he might have the privilege of know- 
 ing who he had been so pleasantly entertained by. 
 
 "My name is Neva Tyrole," she answered, "and 
 may I have the pleasure of knowing your name? " 
 
 " I must first ask your pardon for not explaining my 
 identity before this. My name is Trafford Allertori," 
 saying which, and with a hearty good-bye, he was gone. 
 
 Not many days after these events, a call was sent out 
 by the president for a general consultation convention to be 
 held at Chicago thirty days hence. It was to be composed 
 of three delegates from each state and territory, for each 
 business represented in that state or territory. That is, 
 there were to be from each state and territory three farm- 
 ers, three lawyers, three bankers, three doctors, three 
 preachers and so on through the Catalogue of honest 
 callings. 
 
 The object of the meeting the call explained as follows : 
 
 " It having become necessary to make some great 
 changes in our methods of regulating the relations the 
 several classes of people bear to one another, as seen in 
 the unrest and anxiety manifested on every hand in the 
 great amount of strikes, the countless robberies, the 
 crimes of every sort and kind, the increasing number of 
 failures in every branch of business and the general dis- 
 trust and doubt on every hand, together with the fact that 
 Congresses at a loss what to do to satisfy the masses in 
 
82 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 their demands and the utter inability of our wisest men 
 to patch up the old ship of state so that it will not leak 
 in some vital point; therefore, I, the President of the 
 United States of America, do hereby convene this con- 
 vention for the purpose of consultation between the 
 different lines of business represented in our land, to the 
 end that we may in some manner arrive at a mutual 
 understanding of the needs of state under the present 
 form of government. 
 
 At the appointed time the great convention met, and 
 was called to order by the president of the nation. The 
 object of the meeting was stated, the necessary clerks 
 elected and, in order that they might have order and 
 system to their doings, the chairman called for a statement 
 of the complaints and remedies asked for by each line of 
 business. 
 
 The first to gain the floor was a lawyer, and he started 
 out in eloquent shape to portray the difficulties surround- 
 ing his profession ; how some of the big lawyers got all 
 the cases and the little ones starved to death, and of the 
 many ways the people had of settling their difiiculties 
 without going for a lawyer; of the many wills which 
 ignorant men wrote out, and which defied the skill of the 
 best lawyers to break ; the many trials they have to get 
 the many ofiices thaj; have much pay and little work; 
 and, by the way, said he, " We want that passage in the 
 Bible, 'Woe to ye lawyers,' declared unconstitutional." 
 
 The editor then began his speech: "I tell you, my 
 friends, this running a newspaper on promises is all 
 bosh. Why don't they pa}' us as j^romptly as they do the 
 grocer, the banker, or any other bills ? We send a paper 
 for ten years, only to have it put back in the post-office 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 83 
 
 at the end as refused. And there is the subject of news. 
 Why, do you know that it takes our best reporters at least 
 half an hour to find out a little scrap of news that ought 
 to be given freely ? Then there are mortgages, paper 
 and postage bills, help hire and the devil to pay.'''' He 
 wanted the government to make the paper and sell it to 
 him at cost, and take delinquent subscription accounts 
 in payment therefor, and he certainly wanted the libel 
 laws repealed. 
 
 The farmer had been trying to get the floor all during 
 these other speeches, and was now recognized by the 
 president. His speech was in substance like this : "For 
 the past ten years I have been selling my wheat for less 
 than it cost me to produce it. I have sold cattle for 
 one and one-half cents a pound that cost me four cents to 
 produce. I have paid heavy taxes, exorbitant interest 
 and about one-third the value of my produce to get it to 
 market; then a good, big slice to the middle man. What 
 I must have is : twice as much for what I have to sell as 
 I now get, and must be able to buy the necessities of life 
 at half their present cost ; and the interest I pay must be 
 as low as two per cent, at least. Then I can probably 
 live." 
 
 The banker then arose and began : "I only wish that 
 some of these people could look on two sides of a ques- 
 tion. They talk of our high rates of interest and short 
 time, when they know nothing about it. They point to 
 the Bible as their authority on the usury question, when 
 the fact is, the Bible says just as much about usury on 
 other things as on money. The man who is well paid 
 and satisfied to work for two dollars a day, with no long 
 years of study behind it to learn how, and no capital. 
 
84 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 invested to lose, is taking a much higher rate of interest 
 when there is a scarcity of labor and he raises his figures 
 to three dollars a day, not because the man who must 
 hire can afford it, but because he has the jjower to force 
 him to do it, than we ever pretend to ask. Let me see: 
 three dollars instead of two ; a profit of one dollar, or fifty 
 per cent a day, or about thirteen hundred in a month of 
 twenty-six working days, or fifteen thousand and six 
 hundred a year. How does that look up beside our ten 
 or even twenty per cent a year ? The man who sells a 
 horse for $110, which cost him $100 yesterday, is making 
 ten per cent a day, or three thousand six hundred a 
 year. Oh, they say, this capital cannot be turned every 
 day; neither can ours. If we had laws so arranged that 
 we could always collect our accounts, then we would 
 gladly talk about less interest." 
 
 The doctor then complained about dishonest patients, 
 who would not give truthful answers to his questions, and 
 then curse him if he did not properly diagnose the case 
 and perfect a cure. He also complained of the quacks, 
 who know nothing about disease or medicine, and did a 
 great work for the undertakers and brought disgrace on 
 the profession. '' Our charges, too, would be much less 
 if the people were as prompt to pay as they were to 
 promise, when sick. We would cut off all the quacks 
 and lots of the home practice, and thus improve the 
 health of our people." 
 
 The saloon-keeper complained of prohibition and loss 
 of personal liberty, and cried for license. He also wanted 
 a law passed making it a misdemeanor to call a saloonist 
 a robber, a slow murderer and man without a heart, etc. 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 85 
 
 He said he had no set speech prepared, as this was not 
 their way of working conventions. 
 
 A lady, up near the speaker's stand, was on her feet 
 the instant the saloonist sat down, and began : 
 
 " You may all speak of your troubles and difficulties, 
 but they do not compare with our trials. We pay taxes, 
 work just as hard as the men, yes, we lose the characters 
 of our boys and girls, happiness and peace, suffer the 
 pain and woe of living with a drunken husband or father, 
 and many other afflictions, and you allow us not even the 
 privilege of complaining and trying to aright the affairs 
 around us. Just give us a blow at rum and its power, 
 and we will with one awful sweep drive half of the misery, 
 pain and woe from this land of ours. As a class we are 
 your equals intellectually and far above you morally, and 
 ought to have the same rights that men have. Freedom 
 and equality is our cry." 
 
 The preacher made a speech and told the people that 
 it would be much better if preachers' salaries were paid 
 as other public men's wages were paid. Then they could 
 go ahead and tell the people who professed one thing and 
 lived another just what was to become of them, and not 
 work an injury to himself by doing so. 
 
 The hired girl had a few complaints to lay before the 
 convention for action. One was for more afternoons off ; 
 another for better pay ; also for much more freedom in 
 regard to the length of the time she could sit up with her 
 affianced at night. 
 
 No one class seemed willing to give in, even for a 
 little, to the opposite, and it began to look as though no 
 plan could be settled upon, and that they were to go to 
 their homes and allow the ever-widening chasm between 
 
86 TT MICrHT BE. 
 
 labor and capital to spread and spread until no possible 
 way of settlement would be possible, but utter defeat and 
 degradation of the weaker side. On and on the debate 
 went for mure than a week, until at last a motion is 
 carried to adjourn sine die at four o'clock on the next 
 afternoon, and the}^ were just ready to adjourn that day's 
 fruitless wrangle, when a telegram was handed the chair- 
 man, which was read before the convention. It was as 
 follows : 
 
 "SiLVERTON, Pa. 
 
 " I'll be there to-morrow. Have received a great plan. 
 It will be sure of acceptance. Traffobd Allerton." 
 
 It was with a good deal of anxiety that the nation 
 awaited the results of the next day's action. For it did 
 look as if no conclusion could be reached, and they would 
 return home, only to allow matters to go on getting worse 
 and worse, and the breach between the food producer 
 and the food consumer to grow wider and wider. 
 
 What could the plan be that the great man of the age, 
 Allerton, seemed to be so sure was the right one ? Had 
 he not done wonderful things in the past, and would he 
 not, in some strange way, draw together again the 
 estranged factions in our population ? What was meant 
 by his strange telegram, was the subject of the conversa- 
 tion on all sides that night. 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 87 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 "A lucky chance, that oft decides the fate 
 Of mighty monavchs."— Thomson. 
 
 "Father, I have never seen that renowned machine 
 which Mr. Allerton made, and wish I could. I am sure 
 he would grant me the privilege, if you will only let me 
 go. You are one of the best fathers a girl ever had, and 
 I don't believe you will say no, will you ? " said Neva 
 Tyrole to her father. 
 
 " Well, I don't know that I have any objections, if 
 your mother can be induced to go with you." 
 
 "You may rest assured that means go, for mother, 
 long ago, consented to go, and this morning's mail 
 brought me an invitation from Mr. Allerton to come 
 down and see and hear it." 
 
 Mrs. Tyrole entered the room just then, and Neva 
 turned toward her and continued : 
 
 " Oh, mother, father says we can go to Silverton. So 
 let's get ready and go in the morning." 
 
 "Very well. I can go as well then as any time, I 
 think, and will be very glad of the opportunity of seeing 
 such a wonderful machine." 
 
 So it was settled that they were to go on the morning's 
 train, and preparations were made accordingly, and in 
 due season they arrived at Silverton and were driven by 
 the liveryman to the cave in the mountain, where they 
 found Mr. Allerton busy, trying to study out something 
 
88 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 new for his machine to do ; .and with Trafford they found 
 that gentleman's mother, who had been with him about a 
 week. 
 
 The great machine was the source of much interesting 
 study to Neva, but she soon learned the whys and where- 
 fores of its many levers and wheels, and many were the 
 hours they all spent watching the canvas and listening to 
 the stories of the long ago 
 
 One afternoon, after Neva and her mother had been 
 there a few days, Trafford came in from flying the great 
 balloon and said he did not think they would have much 
 time that afternoon for experimenting, as a rain storm 
 seemed to be apjiroaching, and as the storm might in 
 some way affect the delicate instruments, he did not 
 wish to run much risk of ruining the instrument. 
 
 Tlie machine was set at work, and they were soon 
 watching and listening at the scene of Gettysburg's great 
 battle; and shut up as they were back in the cave, they 
 did not notice the approach of a thunder storm, which was 
 now near at hand. The great clouds had piled up higher 
 and higher against the eastern horizon, until now the 
 whole eastern heaven was one black, inky mass of storm 
 clouds, from which incessantly gleamed the lightning's 
 flash, its lurid glare reflecting from mountain peak to 
 mountain peak, and from valley to hilltop. The roar of 
 the thunder shook the old mountainside and echoed from 
 peak to peak. The wind had been blowing in the face of 
 the storm, but now it lulls. Not a breath seems to stir, not 
 a leaf on the trees is fluttering. A few great drops of rain 
 fall upon the leaves yonder, which in the silence sounds 
 like the discharge of musketry in the distance. Now the 
 inky mass of clouds is lit up by a brilliant flash of light- 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 89 
 
 ning, and the crash of the thunder sounds as if the 
 mountains were clashing against each other. 
 
 The inmates of the cave are aroused from their self- 
 forgetfulness, and Trafford rushes to the door and out. 
 One good look he takes at the approaching storm, and 
 then hurriedly enters the cave to break the connection 
 there, that he may lower the balloon into a safe place 
 until after the storm is over. He hurries across the room 
 to the levers, and grasps one to throw it back and break 
 the circuit, when, lo! a change of scene. The room 
 seems filled with fire ; flash after flash of electricity leaps 
 from one machine to another, and Trafford is shocked 
 and falls to the floor insensible. The ladies are frightened 
 and sit motionless, viewing the awful workings of the 
 lightning. 
 
 Do you see that canvas? See that scene? A man 
 and woman, clothed with leaves. Yonder in the dis- 
 tance rise shining walls, surrounding a garden. Can you 
 see the tree tops above the wall? See those blossoms, 
 those birds, that beautiful waterfall, as it leaps from the 
 height beyond the trees? What is that flash of light that 
 stands in the doorway there? It is an angel form. So 
 bright does it shine that the lightning's flash across the 
 room is dim in comparison. He has a sword in his hand, 
 the blade of which seems to be a lightning's flash. There 
 are sounds. Some one talking. Neva hears the conver- 
 sation, and no sooner does she hear than she determines 
 to catch it in the phonograph. Some one may be able to 
 interpret it. Quickly she arises and crosses the room. 
 Great balls of electric fire roll around her, but she reaches 
 the lever and quickly moves it down into its place. It 
 moves; the cylinder revolves. That conversation is being 
 
90 IT MIGHT BE, 
 
 recorded. She returns to her seat and falls exhausted, 
 but soon recovers, and with the mothers, sits, unable to 
 leave the seat. Mrs. Allerton sees Trafford lying upon 
 the floor and tries to go to his relief, but is unable to do 
 so. At times the room seems filled with a sheet of 
 flame, and then the electric fluid rolls itself up in a ball 
 and rolls over the floor, and, coming in contact with the 
 wall, it bursts with a loud, sharp report, one after another 
 following in quick succession. Never before did that 
 great globe shine with such a light. It is so brilliant that 
 they are blinded by it and cannot see the changes that 
 are wrought on the canvas. By and by the light in the 
 globe grows less brilliant. Those balls of fire are gone, 
 and, save now and then a flash and report, the storm 
 seems about over. vStill the ladies remain in their seats, 
 not able to move. Not a word is spoken. Trafford soon 
 returns to sensibility now, and as a flash of light crosses 
 the room, he leaps to the lever and jerks it down, the 
 connection is broken, and all is quiet. 
 
 The ladies soon awaken out of their benumbed condi- 
 tion, and Trafford, who had seen and heard none of the 
 sights and sounds they had been unwillingly called to 
 experience, is soon informed of what happened. He goes 
 out of doors, and there quietly sailing is the great bal- 
 loon, far above the storm limit. The storm is over, and 
 in its wake is joyous, refreshed nature. Trafford enters 
 the cave, and speaking to the ladies, says : 
 
 " Did the canvas show anything, or were there any 
 sounds from the speaking tube there?" 
 
 " Yes," answered Neva, "there was such a pretty 
 scene of a beautiful garden, a shining angel and a man 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 91 
 
 and woman covered with leaves, and the speaking tube 
 gave the conversation of the people." 
 
 ' ' I would give all I have got if I had that conversa- 
 tion recorded," said Trafford. 
 
 " Well, it is recorded in that phonograph," returned 
 Neva. " I thought you would want it, so I pushed the 
 lever over there in its place and you have it safely 
 recorded there." 
 
 Then Mrs. Allerton explained how Neva had faced the 
 balls of fire and crossed the room and made the connec- 
 tion. 
 
 " How could you do it," asked Trafford, "with all 
 that lightning and thunder around you? You certainly 
 have much more bravery than I ever gave you credit for." 
 
 " When I saw that garden and that shining angel, 
 that man and woman," she answered, "I thought it 
 must be the Garden of Eden, and that the conversation 
 was between Adam and Eve, and I knew their speech 
 would be valuable, so connected it." 
 
 " Let's hear what they said," was his reply, as he 
 stepped over to the phonograph and attached the speak- 
 ing tube and set the machine in motion. 
 
 First there came from it a few low, moaning sounds, 
 then a number of sharp reports of thunder, followed by 
 the sounds of some one talking. 
 
 It seemed to be a conversation between Adam and 
 Eve, just after they had been driven from the Garden. 
 Adam is calling to mind and telling Eve what seems to 
 have been God's plan of government. Adam thinks as 
 they have been driven from God's presence, that he 
 might forget the plan, so is telling it to Eve, that she may 
 help him to remember it. He speaks of future nations. 
 
92 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 kings, presidents and their duties to one another; and of 
 many kinds of business, farming, stock-raising, mer- 
 chants, physicians, laborers, rich men, etc., that are to be 
 in the future days, and the methods God gave him for 
 their government and the transaction of their business. 
 What a plan! It opened up plainer and plainer; more 
 fair and just than any scheme they had ever heard of 
 before. On and on it went, until the whole plan of 
 national and self-government was opened to them as a 
 vision in a dream. Adam closed his talk with the admo- 
 nition that they must teach it to their children, and they 
 in turn to theirs, that the plan might not be lost, so that 
 when they grew to be a great nation they might know 
 how to proceed in the government thereof. 
 
 " Why would that not be just the plan for our govern- 
 ment now?" said Elverton. 
 
 " It would certainly do for this or any other nation," 
 was answered. 
 
 "If that convention at Chicago has not adjourned, 
 this plan ought to be placed before them at once. Do you 
 know whether it has or not? I have not read a daily 
 paper for a few days and do not know what they have 
 done." 
 
 *' They have done nothing yet," she returned, " and 
 are talking of adjourning to-morrow." 
 
 " Then I must go there to-night, and give them this 
 plan to-morrow. To be sure of their awaiting until to-mor- 
 row 1 will telegraph the chairman," said Trafford, as he 
 seated himself at the table, on which was a telegraph 
 instrument, which was connected with the wire at Silver- 
 ton, and this message flashed toward Chicago : 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 93 
 
 " SiLVERTON, Pa. 
 "I'll be there to-morrow. Have received a great plan. It 
 will be sure of acceptance. Tr afford Allerton." 
 
 After the message had been sent, Trafford examined 
 the indicator on the wall and found that it had been 
 forced far below any point he had ever had it, indicating 
 a far earlier period of reach. Some of the wires had been 
 melted nearly off, and all the evidence was to the effect 
 that the amount of electricity called into use was a thou- 
 sand times greater than his generators could possibly pro- 
 duce. Thus he plainly saw that never again would there be 
 a probability of reaching that remote period of time, and 
 thus much more valuable became the cylinder in the ■ 
 phonograph. The amount of electricity used in reaching 
 that realm of time could not be safely handled by any 
 machine, much less be called into existence by it. 
 
 All is arranged, and while waiting for the carriage, 
 seated in the cave, Trafford speaks : 
 
 " Do you believe that this plan has been hid all the 
 way down through the ages? I would like to know when 
 and how it was lost, and why it was not used all along 
 the way to the present." 
 
 " Maybe it has been used and tried away back in 
 Bible times, before the people were carried away into 
 bondage and lost all their old customs and legislations," 
 Neva answered. " Did not Moses, Joshua, Samuel and 
 others teach the people and write their teachings in a 
 book of the law?" 
 
 "Yes," Trafford answered, '' and I wish I had time 
 to try this machine on some of those times, and see how 
 their teachings compared with the scheme we now have." 
 
 " Can I try some of them to-night, while you are on 
 
94 IT MICHT BE. 
 
 the way to Chicago," replied Neva, "and if found satis- 
 foctory, report to you in the morning, and you can use 
 them in the convention to-morrow?" 
 
 " Yes, you can," he repHed, "and I do hope that 
 these trials will confirm what we now have, for I will need 
 to explain to them that this plan has been used, and is a 
 success in every particular." 
 
 All necessary instructions are given about operating 
 the machine, reporting to Trafford and connecting the 
 machine with the Chicago wire for use on the morrow. 
 The carriage arrives and away he goes, while Neva sits 
 down to study the dates in which the great legislators of 
 ancient days made their parting speeches and explained 
 the law to their followers, that she might reach them for 
 use on the morrow. 
 
 At the first peep of day people began to arrive at the 
 great Chicago auditorium. The little telegram of the 
 day before had created the greatest excitement and 
 wonder the nation had known for some time. The people 
 did not know what to expect from this wonderful man. 
 And then, such a telegram: "I have received a great 
 plan. Sure of acceptance." Had received? Where 
 did he receive it from ? The world was ignorant of such 
 a plan. Had he seen some strange vision ? Yet he was 
 sure of its acceptance. What kind of a scheme could it 
 be, that he would be so sure of acceptance, when every- 
 thing the learned heads of the nation could think of had 
 been placed before the convention, only to be rejected ? 
 Would his great machine have anything to do with it ? 
 Would they get to hear its strange, weird voice ? Would 
 his plan be accepted, and would it be a success ? The 
 pations of the world had been looking for a successful 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 95 
 
 scheme through the ages and had failed. Would this 
 commercial traveler and inventor step out in this nine- 
 teenth century, and speak peace to the troubled waters of 
 national affairs ? 
 
 Those who had attended during the first days of the 
 convention, but had despaired of anything being accom- 
 plished and had gone home, could be seen rushing back 
 during the night, so that every morning train in Chicago 
 had a full load to deposit in the city. 
 
 The morning papers were filled with all kinds of 
 guesses as to what the scheme could be and where it was 
 from, and speculations as to the ability of Mr. Allerton 
 to cope with the present state of public affairs. One paper 
 said it meant a return to a kingdom, which was the only 
 right method of government. Another guessed it was a 
 community of goods arrangement. Another thought it 
 would be a dividing up on an equality and beginning 
 over again. 
 
 Silver men of the West sent in requests that their inter- 
 ests might not be lost sight of in the new plan. The 
 gold men of the East were on hand to look out for them- 
 selves. The farmer was determined to do nothing with 
 it if it did not help the price of his wheat and hogs. The 
 banker was determined that it should not interfere with 
 his rates of interest. The lawyers were ready to tear it to 
 pieces and show that it was not constitutional. And thus 
 each and every delegate was nerving himself to fight it 
 if it did not exactly suit his ideas. What a gauntlet 
 the new plan had to run ! Could it possibly pass through 
 successfully, was a great question. 
 
 At the hour appointed for the convening of the 
 coRiveiition, the president took the chair and rapped the 
 
96 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 meeting to order. After prayer and the reading of the 
 minutes of the previous day, tlie president announced 
 the meeting opened for business. Some one arose and 
 asked for the plan mentioned in last night's telegram, 
 but was informed that Mr. AUerton liad not arrived, and 
 would not reach the convention until afternoon; where- 
 upon a motion was carried to adjourn until two o'clock, 
 as there would be no use in wrangling there, as nothing 
 could be accomplished ; and that if Mr. AUerton had no 
 perfect scheme, they had better go home and countinue 
 to fight it out on the old line. The convention stood 
 adjourned until two o'clock. 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 97 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " Peace, and order, and beauty draw 
 Round thy symbol of light and law." — WTiittier. 
 
 Mr. Allerton arrived in the city at one o'clock, and at 
 once went to work arranging the stage in the auditorium 
 for his machines. 
 
 Well did Trafford know what a gauntlet his plan had 
 to I'un; yet, when the convention was convened and was 
 called to order at two o'clock, and he was called to the 
 stage, he looked over the great crowd calmly and self- 
 possessed, and from the moment he faced the sea of 
 upturned faces he was master of the scene. 
 
 He turned and addressed the chair, then, in tones as 
 quiet and reassuring as the summer breeze fans the leaves 
 at setting of the sun, he began : 
 
 ' ' This hour will go down in history as the fulcrum 
 upon which the destinies of the nation turned to success, 
 progress and glory. It is not necessary that I sliould 
 review the past, nor harangue you with a scene of the 
 present, nor canvass tlie acts of this convention. Not a 
 ray of hope could be gathered therefrom. No beacon 
 light have you been able to find that would guide us, 
 stormed-tossed mariners, to a haven of rest. I sat in my 
 cave, in the far-off mountain, and pondered over the 
 condition of things and their onward drift, wondering 
 what the final end would be, but could find no anclior to 
 stop the great, weather-beaten ship of state from drifting 
 over the Niagara of utter ruin. Then I thought, ' Man's 
 extremity is God's opportunity,' and lias been His way 
 
98 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 of dealing with the race in the past. Have we not 
 reached our extremity ? Yes. Will we profit by God's 
 opportunity ? I unhesitatingly reply, yes. 
 
 ''A few days ago, a lady came to visit mother and 
 I, and see my inventions in my mountain home. She 
 soon learned the way to govern them, and understood the 
 whys of each lever and wheel. While we were experi- 
 menting a few days ago, there came up a great storm 
 from the valley beneath, and in some way the electric 
 forces grasped our instruments." 
 
 And then he went on and spoke of the occurrence and 
 the message that was received, and of how it was secured 
 by Neva, and that it was the plan, and that he knew it 
 was a perfect plan, for it was what he believed to be 
 God's way of governing. Believing, he said, that there 
 were few present who had ever heard the voice of the 
 machine, he would first give them a sample of its 
 workings and then the plan. 
 
 Few people here had come expecting to hear this 
 wonderful instrument, and were most agreeably surprised 
 to hear him say that the wished-for opportunity was so 
 near at hand. A hush fell upon the vast throng. So 
 still were they that the click of the telegraph instrument, 
 as he sent the message to Neva to begin, was heard all 
 over that great room. The instrument ceased its clicking ; 
 there was a pause of about five minutes, which seemed to 
 the anxious throng as ten times that space, and then, in a 
 voice low and sweet, the song swelled out. 
 
 Louder and louder it grew, until that vast auditorium 
 was filled. Such melody that tlirong had never heard 
 before; such harmony has never been equaled by man. 
 It filled the room to the farthest corner and swept over 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 99 
 
 the great multitude, moving them as a great wind would 
 move a field of grain. Men seemed endeavoring to hold 
 their feelings in check, while the ladies burst into great 
 floods of tears, then to clapping of the hands and shouting. 
 They sing, they laugh, they shake hands. Then as the 
 song continues and becomes more and more powerful, 
 the commotion in that throng grows less and less, until 
 each one sits and listens, charmed by the wonderful 
 melody. Their faces shine with radiant joy ; all care has 
 flown, and such a marvelous influence has the song over 
 them that one would think, to look at them, that they 
 had been suddenly transported to the regions of bliss, 
 where sorrow and sighing flee away. But all things here 
 that are pleasant and grand have an end, and so it is with 
 the song. It reaches its climax and then begins to die 
 away and soon is gone, and the sighs and sounds from 
 the crowd seem as the drippings of the rain drops from 
 the trees after the passage of some gentle shower. The 
 angel's song to the shepherds has flown out and out on its 
 great circuit of perpetual progress. Their emotions again 
 quiet down, when yonder arises the banker, who speaks : 
 
 "Mr. President: I am now ready to agree with my 
 opponents on their way out of our troubles — " 
 
 He has not ceased to speak before they are on their 
 feet and are ready to agree with him on his plan. The 
 opposing factions all over the hall are arising with the 
 same terms to offer, and it now begins to look as though 
 something would be accomplished. But this emotion will 
 soon wear off and, if nothing is done here, things will not 
 be changed. 
 
 Mr. Allerton now arises and motions with his hand 
 for silence, which is soon regained, and he speaks : 
 
100 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 " I now believe you are ready for our great plan, and, 
 if so, I will first give you the sounds that accompanied its 
 advent into the world again." And the machine again 
 went to work, giving them as a beginning an awful 
 thunder crash, which caused the ladies to scream and the 
 men to tremble. Louder and louder it grew until the 
 building shook and trembled, and the mighty sounds 
 seemed to roll over and over around the room; but 
 it soon became so terrible that the people could not stand 
 it, and it had to be shut off. Some such a scene it must 
 have been as that which hung over Sinai's mount at the 
 giving of the ten commandments. 
 
 There is a short pause, and then Trafford announces 
 the beginning of the conversation containing the great 
 plan. All is deathly still within the room, save the talk- 
 ing of the machine, which is plainly heard by all. And 
 now the secret locked up in Nature's bosom for so long a 
 time is made public property. It had not proceeded far 
 when sounds of approbation began to come up from all 
 over the room. 
 
 ''That's the way," "Amen," "Just the thing," and 
 many other expressions of satisfaction were offered. It 
 is not long. Each department of its workings is soon 
 completed, and the machine has told its story. 
 
 A hundred people are on their feet to move its adop- 
 tion and as many to second the motion. 
 
 But with this haste Trafford is not pleased. He waves 
 them to their seats and speaks : 
 
 " Thus have our people always been, too fast to follow 
 off whatever seems to please their present fancy. I have 
 received word since my arrival here that the machine in 
 the cave has been kept busy during the night, and that 
 
' IT MIGHT BE. 101 
 
 many things have been received which confirm our plan 
 as one not only old as the human race, but one tried and 
 found to be a complete success, as important witnesses 
 will testify to. Please be seated and listen, while I call 
 for this evidence." 
 
 They are soon seated, a message sent to the cave, and 
 the instrument speaks again. After it has spoken over 
 again speech after speech, and each has been duly inter- 
 preted by one who understood the dead languages, the 
 lever is turned and all is over. The plan is public 
 property, now before the convention for its action. 
 
 Here and there, from all over that great multitude, 
 they arise and exclaim : 
 
 " Who would have thought it ? " "I read that long 
 ago!" " I never thought that was meant by those 
 passages." " How simple and yet how true." " It is a 
 certain remedy." 
 
 "Yes," spoke up Trafford, "this message has been 
 in our possession since the beginning, never lost in 
 all our darkness and wanderings ; and it has never been 
 secret, but open before our senses. And we, like those 
 of old, would not receive its meaning until brought or 
 sent down in some wonderful way. But, thank God, we 
 now see the light and will proceed to profit thereby. I 
 call for the question." 
 
 The motion of adopting the plan is carried amidst the 
 greatest enthusiasm. 
 
 Then the plan of putting it in operation comes up, 
 and some are so anxious to see it at work that they 
 propose that this convention declare it the law of the 
 land, and proceed to carry out its provisions, without 
 recourse to the right and lawful methods of getting at it. 
 
102 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 After much discussion of the mode and plan of placing 
 the new scheme into operation, and that in the shortest 
 possible length of time — for all were anxious to be freed 
 from the entanglements which surrounded them, and to 
 see perfect equality in actual working life — they all 
 reached the conclusion, and so requested the president, 
 that the best way to proceed was along the methods we 
 now have of placing into force needful laws. It was 
 decided that each citizen of our nation ought to know 
 what the plan was, where it was from and how it would 
 work ; and as the best means of extending this informa- 
 tion, the president issued a call for a special convening of 
 Congress for the purpose of calling a special election to 
 vote upon this plan. In due time Congress convenes and 
 at once calls the special election. 
 
 Thousands of public speakers go throughout the land 
 explaining the plan, not one of whom was egged or denied 
 a hearing, but crowds appeared at each meeting, eager to 
 hear its explanation. Pamphlets explaining it are sent 
 to every citizen in the land. Every paper, of whatsoever 
 kind, carried its explanation to its readers. All favor it. 
 It is preached from the pulpit, talked on the streets and 
 highways, prayed over, and finally voted on and carried 
 by a unanimous vote. 
 
 Congress convenes again, passes the necessary bills, 
 the president signs them, and they become the law of the 
 land. 
 
 But what will the result be ? We shall see. 
 
 Never before did the people settle down to business 
 after an election with such a unanimity of feeling as 
 now. All seemed filled with hope. This was now to be 
 a nation of equality for all classes. A smile was on the 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 103 
 
 farmer's face and a joy in his heart, as he went out to his 
 work ; for he knew that he should be paid for his labor ; 
 no guess work now. The debts would flee away as mist 
 before the rising sun. The day laborers felt happy as 
 they went out to work. They, too, knew that they would 
 be well paid for their labor and never be out of a job. 
 The banker's eyes did not seem half so keen as he looked 
 over his counter at his customer, who wanted a short 
 loan, for he well knew that the man could easily pay it 
 back. He also knew that there are few men who would 
 not pay if they could. The editor was happy, for every 
 one would pay up now, and the crimes reporter could be 
 discharged, for there would be but little for him to do 
 at that business now. His labor would be in a line 
 intellectual and helpful hereafter. The doctor is happy, 
 for he would be called only by those who could well 
 pay, for all were in that condition now. The hearts of 
 the ladies, from the length to the breadth of the land, 
 were lighter than ever before, for morality and the nation 
 were now "right side up with care." Glorious time! 
 The carpenter's hammer sounded all over this happy 
 land; the miner was hard at work; the mechanic was 
 rushed with business; the mills had a greater demand 
 for breadstuffs than ever. This solved the over-production 
 cry. There were not half factories enough in the country, 
 not enougli iron mills, not enough packing houses, not 
 enough manufactories, not enough anything of this kind. 
 What a rush ! What a change ! 
 
 One great element in the cause of this change was the 
 putting to work of the 2,000,000 idle men of this country, 
 none of whom now receive less than three dollars a day, 
 or in the year about $1,800,000,000, which is expended 
 
104 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 for food, clothes and the necessities of life. No wonder 
 all the other trades are benefited by such an impetus to 
 prosperity! Then another element of success was tiie 
 putting of the 1,300,000 men dependent on the liquor 
 traffic to work, making in honest ways their $1,200,000,000. 
 And, too, the $118,000,000 of capital which was invested 
 in the manufacture of liquor, giving 33,600 people work 
 with a yearly payroll of $15,000,000, now in other indus- 
 tries gives employment to 135,000 men, with a yearly 
 pay roll of $1,200,000,000, with the great saving for food 
 and clothes of the $1,200,000,000 once spent for liquor. 
 It looks, when summed up, like this : 
 
 Pay of idle laborers set to work $1,800,000,000 
 
 Wages of those from liquor employment, in- 
 crease 1,185,000,000 
 
 Amount saved from liquor consumption 1,200,000,000 
 
 $4,185,000,000 
 
 Over fifty dollars for every man, woman and child in 
 the land, and that, too, each year. Three times the 
 amount of money in circulation in the country. Would 
 not these items alone make a complete change in our 
 financial affairs, and that, too. in a few days? Thank God 
 for that thunder storm, which gave us the great scheme. 
 
 While these mighty changes were going on around 
 him, Trafford Allerton was busy working away in his 
 mountain cavern. That you may get some idea of the 
 line he is working on, listen to his description of his feel- 
 ings, as given to Neva Tyrole, the two fathers and 
 mothers, who are out there on a visit: 
 
 " I was in Baltimore a short time ago, and was walk- 
 ing down the street during a heavy thunder storm, when 
 the lightning came down and rolled along the streets as 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 105 
 
 great balls of fire. To me," he said, " there was nothing 
 to fear, as all the people around me seemed to think. I 
 felt very strange about it, as I had never felt before. To 
 me those flashes of electricity seemed to be arms held 
 out imploringly, and the flashes of light were but eyes, 
 looking entreatingly, and the terrific thunderings said to 
 me: * Oh, release me from these bonds, which hold me 
 by chains I cannot break. Why do you stand and see 
 me writhe and twist in my agony and not lend a helping 
 hand? Why am I obliged to go on in this way, burning 
 buildings, frightening the timid, sending the awful cyclone 
 on its mission, leveling forests and homes alike, taking 
 human life, when I am destined by the Creator to higher 
 and nobler ends? Oh, my ought-to-be master, come to 
 my relief. Open the doors of this prison house, and I'll 
 be your servant as long as time shall last.' 
 
 " It was an effort for me to keep from rushing into the 
 street and grasping that monster ball of death-dealing 
 fluid in my arms and telling it how I longed to loosen its 
 bands, but knew not how. Since that time I have been 
 studying the subjects offered to me there. I have won- 
 dered if it is true, as suggested to me then, that the true 
 mission of this subtle something was for some other and 
 more useful work. Ought we not to have the power, as 
 we saw the terrific tornado coming, to turn it, as we do 
 the incoming locomotive, simply by opening a switch, 
 and if this power is for us, if we will only study it out, 
 are we not then to blame for all the death and destruction 
 this powerful agent is the cause of? 
 
 " May not this earth, the ball itself, be a vast storage 
 battery for this great force, into which it rushes whenever 
 the atmosphere is over-charged therewith? The flash of 
 
106 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 the lightning shoots earthward, the cyclone's force is 
 spent in the same direction ; for I have seen where small 
 frail pieces of wood have been pulled into the hard ground 
 by its force; it was not driven in, for the stick would not 
 stand the pressure necessary to do so. Electricity is the 
 power of these storms, as is easily proven. Have you not 
 read that in cyclones, chickens are stripped from their 
 feathers and rabbits of their hair? Truly, the work of the 
 electric current. Then, if it is a fact that the earth acts 
 as a great storage battery, we ought to have some method 
 of drawing off the surplus electricity from the atmosphere, 
 and thus, when we saw an electric storm forming, we 
 could turn on the connections and draw the cause of the 
 storm down and store it up in the old earth, where we 
 might be able to control it." 
 
 He ceased speaking, and Neva spoke up : 
 
 * ' I have been wondering what it was that caused that 
 storm we had up here a while ago to reach this height, 
 which is above the limit of storms, and have thought that 
 this machine had a magic influence over it and lifted it 
 up above its regular sphere, where it Avas utilized and 
 Avorked for our benefit. It seems to me, if the conditions 
 here would lift the current, why would they not, if placed 
 below" the circuit, lower it, where we might utilize it by 
 running it into our batteries, to be used for lights and 
 motive power." 
 
 ' ' I had thought a good deal about that storm and the 
 cause for its sudden elevation, and could not solve it, but 
 I believe your solution is true," said Trafford, "and I 
 will — " 
 
 There is a sound from the telegraph instrument. 
 Click, click. Trafford picks up a sheet of paper, and as 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 107 
 
 he reads the sounds he writes it out on paper, and this is 
 what he has written : 
 
 i\lELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 
 
 To Bank of England, 
 
 London: 
 Send one million pounds gold by first steamer. 
 
 Bank of Australia. 
 
 He reads it aloud, and a more astonislied man you 
 seldom see than was Trafford. 
 
 " Where did this come from," he asks; then touch- 
 ing the key he asks for Melbourne, when the answer 
 comes back at once. He asks who it is he is talking to, 
 and many other questions, tells who and where he is and 
 receives the answers, until they are satisfied that the elec- 
 tric current is leaping across the continent and over the 
 ocean to the far away land, when suddenly the sounds 
 cease and his best efforts will not start them again. The 
 circuit is broken. But the why of it puzzles him. He can- 
 not tell its cause. 
 
 After much study and talk they come to the conclu- 
 sion that in some way his telegraph instrument reached 
 the same conditions as tliat attained by the one in Aus- 
 tralia, which opened the circuit, and when it lost that 
 condition it closed the circuit. 
 
 But how to demonstrate and prove it and put it into 
 active use was another great problem for the inventor to 
 solve. 
 
 Work on, thou most marvelous man of the coming gen- 
 eration, and may thy efforts be successful in unloosing 
 the bands of the gigantic forces wrapped up in Nature's 
 prisons, and the bending of them to our use. 
 
 " It must be solved," he says. " I will call the great 
 men of science to my aid, and we will open this mystery." 
 
108 IT MIGHT BE, 
 
 The next mail carries thirty or forty invitations to the 
 foremost men of the nation, in the study of electricity, to 
 meet with Trafford Allerton in New York City, ten days 
 hence, to help him in the solution of a new problem in 
 their line. 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 109 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 "Thy fate is the common fate of all, 
 Into each life some rain must fall, 
 Some days must be dark and dreary."— Longfellow. 
 
 In the parlor of a New York City hotel, about thirty 
 men are congregated together. They are the best skilled 
 men in the electrical sciences that the Union affords. One 
 man is talking, it is Trafford Allerton, and this is what 
 he says : 
 
 " That you may understand the cause of this called 
 conference, I will make an explanation, relate some 
 observations and offer a few suggestions : 
 
 " I believe that electricity works under similar laws to 
 those that govern the other forces about us. For example, 
 water is a blessing when it falls from the gentle shower, 
 runs down the little rivulet or seeps away in the veins 
 under the ground, and a thousand other ways; but when 
 penned up in too great a quantity for its barriers, it is an 
 injury, as in the broken mill dam, the destroyed dyke 
 along the river, the waterspout or the exploded boiler. 
 Air is a blessing, but when traveling sixty or eighty miles 
 an hour it is transformed into a great destructive force. 
 Heat is a blessing, but when in too great an amount 
 destroys crops, property and Ufe. Thus we might include 
 money, hunger, force of any kind, darkness, light, etc., 
 etc. What these things must have to be useful is equali- 
 zation — great quantities where needed, and lesser where 
 the need thereof is less. Thus I believe it is with elec- 
 tricity. We must have some of it, but its congregating 
 
110 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 in too great an amount in a certain place causes it to 
 break over its bounds and do a vast amount of damage. 
 It, too, needs equalization. Then, I believe, we will have 
 our rain in its season, the clouds, or the absence thereof, 
 as needed, and a lack of great thunder storms and 
 cyclones. Some parts of our country need more than 
 others to produce a like result, on account of the 
 surrounding conditions being different. Thus, the amount 
 of rain one county would need would flood and ruin the 
 crops in another. I believe we ought to have a system 
 of electricity, so combined that the whole body thereof 
 shall remain at a level, and that great quantities in one 
 place may be drawn off to fill vacancies in another. I 
 propose the appointment of committees to ascertain the 
 amount of electricity which will produce certain results in 
 different sections of the country, and then the building of 
 a system to equalize this force. The system can be so 
 arranged that when a certain locality has too much force 
 it will overflow to some place that lacks." 
 
 His speech continued until he had outlined all his 
 policy, when it was taken up by the others and added to 
 or criticized, until they all became of one mind, and the 
 necessary committees were appointed to travel through 
 the land to test and make records of the resistant force 
 throughout the Union. 
 
 Trafford's mother wishes a trip to the mountains, so 
 he chooses as his route Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado. 
 Neva and her mother are invited to accompany them, and 
 gladly accept the invitation. The desired instruments 
 and machines are soon built and they are on the way to 
 Kansas. Their first stop is made in Western Kansas. 
 They arrive at their destination a little after noon, and 
 
IT MIGHT BE. Ill 
 
 pass the balance of the day in getting the wagon and 
 instruments ready for a trip out into the sand hills on the 
 morrow, to begin their experiments. A good supply of 
 food is laid in, for they expect to be gone a number of 
 days, and the next morning they are away to the north. 
 About twenty miles from the city they enter the sand 
 hills, and soon come to a place they consider suitable to 
 make the first test. That afternoon is passed in placing 
 the machinery for the test. The principal part of the 
 experiment machinery consists of a large box, which was 
 about four feet square and six feet high, the sides of 
 which were copper ; a steel bottom and the copper top 
 was extended much like a pipe to an uj^right engine. To 
 this box were adjusted the necessary instruments for the 
 test. It had a door of glass at one side, large enough for 
 a person to enter by. He expected to make the necessary 
 tests by the aid of the chemicals which were brought along, 
 by their action within and escaping from the car pipe, 
 much like the way modern rain-makers try to operate. 
 
 The necessary arrangements are all made, and they 
 await the morning to try the experiment. It was 
 arranged that Neva was to adjust the instruments within 
 the box, while Trafford arranged the batteries attached 
 to the outside thereof. The morning arrived, and after 
 a hasty breakfast they began operations, with much 
 anxiety, wondering if the instruments would do the 
 wished- for service. Through the glass door in the side of 
 the box Neva enters and adjusts the instruments, and 
 prepares to change them as may be necessary during tlie 
 test. Trafford makes the arrangements from the outside, 
 and the instruments soon record a change, which is 
 pjccitedly communicated to Trafford. Higher and higher 
 
112 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 the pressure goes, more and more they become excited as 
 they watch the favorable progress of the test. The two 
 mothers watch it with much interest, and excitedly move 
 around on first one side and then another. Higher and 
 higher it climbs, until Neva says slie begins to feel the 
 effects of the electricity, still up and up the gauge goes. 
 Another and another turn Trafford gives the crank. The 
 sky is clear, but suddenly they are stricken down by a 
 blinding flash of light, a deafening roar follows, and when 
 the three outside the box arise, lo! to their horror, they 
 see the box suddenly arise. Trafford leaps toward it, but 
 it is above his reach. It rises up and up. Look, the 
 glass door is open and Neva is looking down. Too high 
 to jump. What can she do but stand and look and 
 scream? What can they do but look and tremble, horror- 
 struck? Higher and higher it goes, and faster and faster 
 it rises. It grows smaller and smaller to their gaze. The 
 women run wildly around, screaming for help, but 
 Trafford is powerless. The machine has gone, and taken 
 with it Neva. The batteries are connected upon the 
 outside thereof, out of the reach of even Neva. It is now 
 a speck in the azAire blue, fainter and fainter it becomes, 
 until the mother through her tears can see it no longer. 
 Soon it is lost to Trafford's view also. The women sit 
 down upon the ground and sob, heart-broken. The 
 mother turns to Trafford : 
 
 '^ What will become of her? Will it fall? Where is 
 it going to?" To all of which he can give no satisfactory 
 answer. He does not know. Nothing can be done but 
 sob and fear. 
 
 " She'll starve to death if it don't fall and kill her," 
 the mother exclaims. 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 113 
 
 "Yes, if it does not come down soon," Trajfford 
 answered. '' There was a keg of water in the box, we 
 needed in the tests, that will quench her thirst for awhile, 
 and our canned food was put in there to be out of the 
 way in coming out here. These will last her awhile. But 
 where has she gone?" 
 
 The sorrowing ones conclude the best they can do is 
 to return to the city and send word all around, that 
 people may be on the lookout for her remains, for surely 
 that thing would soon fall, for it was very heavy. 
 
 The last they saw of it, it was traveling up and east at 
 a fearful rate, seemed to be gaining momentum as it went 
 on and on. 
 
 Sadly they retraced their way to the city they had left 
 the day before, and made known the sad story of Neva 
 Tyrole. 
 
 The sad and wonderful story of her ascension is soon 
 hurled by the telegraph over the Union and across to the 
 Eastern world. 
 
 The result of these tests was being awaited with so 
 much anxiety everywhere, that this was all the sooner 
 known and by nearly everyone. 
 
 As Trafford walked his room that night and studied 
 how to solve the mystery and where to find her, he was 
 nearly crazed. Besides her strange departure, he now 
 begins to realize that his feelings for her were stronger 
 than he had supposed. He had been so busy that he had 
 not stopped to think of love, but now that she was gone, 
 he forgets his discoveries in the electric world and makes 
 the discovery in his own breast that he loved Neva Tyrole. 
 
 '^ Where is she?" he asks himself over and over again. 
 " Can it be that this solar system has one common but 
 
114 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 great current of electricity that the planets run on, like 
 one car after another on a street railway, with here and 
 there a switch, and that she is off on that great attraction 
 and may land in the moon, or Jupiter, or Saturn, or 
 maybe the sun? Can it be that this world is thus run on a 
 great circuit, which may enter at the North Pole and pass 
 out at the South, and thus cause the revolution of the 
 earth on its axis, like a great motor? Where, oh, where 
 has she gone? Will I ever see her again? Oh, my God, 
 keep her; protect her." 
 
 No sleep do they get that night. There is nothing 
 they can do here to help her, so the morning train starts 
 them back for their Eastern home, but oh, how much 
 different than when they came out. 
 
 '' If she was only dead," the mother sobs, "I could 
 stand it. But oh, my daughter, where, oh, where are 
 you?" The machine in the cave fails to give any news 
 of her whereabouts, though tried again and again. 
 
 The days roll on into weeks, yet no tidings of the lost 
 Neva Tyrole reach the anxious waiters. 
 
 What can they do to find her? The nation knows of 
 her loss, l)ut that is as far as they can go. The weeks 
 wear away into months, and the months into years, but 
 not a word ever comes from her. 
 
 The tests have been made, no other accident having 
 happened, and the idea has been put into practical use. 
 
 The nation's prosperity and improvements in all lines 
 climbs up higher and higher, but no tidings come of the 
 lost one, until it has long ago ceased to be the subject 
 of much talk, except among the relatives. But Trafford 
 has been studying these long years, until now that five 
 years have flown away and he has decided upon making 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 115 
 
 an effort, a desperate effort, to find her. He has reasoned 
 in this way : 
 
 "Just before that flash of Hghtning, she told me where 
 the gauge stood. I know how the machine was made, 
 and how much there was of the different chemicals used. 
 Now, if I go out where she started from and charge a 
 machine as that one was charged, why will it not take 
 me where she was taken? True, she may have been 
 taken to an awful death, but I was the cause of her 
 departure. I'll risk my life in a desperate attempt to 
 solve this mystery and find her." 
 
 His parents, as well as Neva's and his host of friends, 
 try to dissuade him from his awful attempt, but he will 
 not change. 
 
 A machine is built, an exact mate to the one she took 
 her departure in. The same spot they had tried the 
 machine in five years before is found, and the machinery 
 unloaded. This time he goes prepared. He takes a 
 barrel of water, plenty of food, a good gun and lots of 
 ammunition, extra clothing, and a large amount of the 
 chemicals to replenish the buttery and instruments, 
 although he fills it with the same amount he first put in. 
 
 The news of this daring attempt had been sent all over 
 the land, and a multitude of people are present to see him 
 off. Sad are the partings l)etween the joarents and son 
 and his many friends, but he breaks away at last and 
 enters the box. He has arranged a crank, by which the 
 machinery on the outside of the car can be worked from 
 within. None are daring enough to wish to accompany 
 him, for as no news has ever been heard from Neva, they 
 all believe her dead. None care to risk the attempt 
 simply for the novelty of the thing. 
 
116 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 The connections are made, and the work begins. The 
 gauge on the inside begins to rise higher and higher, up 
 and up, when Trafford puts his head out of the door 
 and warns the people of the close proximity to the height 
 reached when the flash of lightning fell before, and they 
 hurriedly back away. 
 
 Strange scene; thousands of people; hundreds of 
 vehicles in a great circle, facing inwardly, where sits this 
 strange looking box. We could never write the thoughts 
 that go galloping through Trafford 's brain. The box 
 seems to grow bright, then, with a blinding flash of 
 lightning, an awful roar, and the people look expectantly, 
 but nothing can be seen. Then they look up and far 
 away in the azure blue, they see that box, rushing through 
 space with tremendous velocity. It seemed to be a better 
 conductor than the former one, or in its glad expectancy 
 on its search for the lost lady, starts off with wonderful 
 rapidity. It grows smaller and smaller to the gaze, and 
 is lost to the view of the naked eye, and soon to the many 
 spy-glasses turned toward it. 
 
 With heavy heart, the father and mother and many 
 friends return to their homes, wondering if they shall ever 
 hear from the lost son and daughter. 
 
 The editors of the land indulge in a good many 
 speculations as to the result of the voyage out into space. 
 Some even try to prophesy of its successful completion, 
 saying : ' ' Who ever heard of anything keeping Trafford 
 from accomplishing that which he attempted?" All 
 seemed to look toward it favorably, and expected an early 
 solution of the mystery. 
 
 While the country had grown wonderfully in the past 
 five years, and progressed to a marvelous height in the 
 
IT Mir.HT BR. 117 
 
 sciences, yet there was much yet to be done in this line, 
 and it was with regret that the people looked on the 
 departure of the one who had contributed so much toward 
 the success attained, and was at the time at the head of 
 the department of electricity of the nation. 
 
118 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The blinding flash of Hghtning did not affect Trafford, 
 but he was terribly shaken up by the sudden start his car 
 took in its upward flight, and when he had time to recover 
 himself and arise from the floor, he looked and the instru- 
 ment indicated an altitude of 5,000 feet. The roar made 
 by the awful rush of the car through the air was deafen- 
 ing, and it was some time before he could so collect himself 
 as to be able to think or act as he wished. As he rose higher 
 and higher the sound grew less and he became more used 
 to it. He looked out of the glass door, down and down 
 Cities seemed like scattered flowers in a field, and the 
 rivers looked like crooked threads. He could see that he 
 was rushing eastward with tremendous velocity. Great 
 cities seemed to pass under him as telegraph poles by a 
 passing train. He could see a white sheet of water ahead 
 of him, which he was not long in reaching, and as he 
 passed it he came in sight of another, which he supposed 
 to be one of the great lakes. They were off to the north 
 of him, but how far he could not tell. Now and then the 
 car would tip a little forward and the rushing air would 
 act upon the open chimney to his car in such a manner 
 as to create an ear-splitting shriek, far shriller than any 
 locomotive whistle. Yet on and on he flew. He had 
 intended to keep a record of the changes in his instru- 
 ments, but he was so excited that he forgot all about it. 
 He rushes on and on, over great cities, past here and 
 there a mountain, and he notices that the sun is sinking. 
 For the first he thinks of the flight of time and takes out 
 
IT MIGHT P,E. 119 
 
 his watch. It is seven o'clock. He has been on the go 
 for ten hours and it seemed like an hour only. He did 
 not think of getting hungry or thirsty before, but now 
 takes a little lunch. It grows dark and the twinkling 
 stars are plainly seen through the top of the car. Along 
 toward nine o'clock he looks out of the glass door before 
 him again and he discovers the broad, white bosom of a 
 great body of water, and knows that he is nearing the 
 Atlantic ocean, which causes the cold chills to creep over 
 him. Will the chemicals in the batteries last long 
 enough for him to cross the ocean, or will he sink beneath 
 the wave? Can it be that there is where Neva sleeps 
 so silent? Will he find a watery grave at her side? 
 Such thoughts as these drive all desires for sleep from 
 his brain. The instruments record an altitude of 32,000 
 feet, but the same it has been since a short time after his 
 start. He soon passes out and over the sheet of water 
 and still the car rushes on and on, as if anxious to meet 
 its mate gone on five years before. He begins to calcu- 
 late the rate at which he is traveling and finds that it is 
 not less than 200 miles an hour, nearly four miles a 
 minute. What an easy motion. Not a jerk nor jar. It 
 does not seem as though he were moving, and were it not 
 for the roaring of the wind around him and the awful 
 shriek of the pipe whistle now and then, he might easily 
 imagine he were back in the Kansas sand hill, stuck fast. 
 The ocean's bosom shows no advance of the car, just the 
 white floor beneath him all the time. What a way to 
 travel. No hot boxes; no bearings to oil; no axles to 
 break ; no bridges to wash away ; no collisions ; but oh, 
 what the end may be. Will he drop into the sea or will 
 he pass over it only to sink low enough to collide with a 
 
120 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 mountain top? Or may he not take a sudden start off 
 for the moon or Pole star? He has enough to think about 
 and keep him awake during the night. It begins to grow 
 light in the east, the stars soon fade away and the sun 
 rises. He looks out, but can see only a watery waste. 
 He eats his breakfast, which strengthens him and he feels 
 much better. It is now nine o'clock by his watch, but 
 he can see by the sun that it is after noon in that part of 
 the world. In a little more than two hours thereafter he 
 catches sight of land, far ahead, which grows plainer and 
 plainer until he nears it, and soon, with a sigh of relief, 
 pjjsses out and over it. By examining his compass and 
 seeing that he has been traveling a little south of east, he 
 concludes that he is now over Africa. 
 
 Must be that the chemicals will give out soon. Yet 
 his altitude is the same and he seems to be traveling at 
 the same rate. When dinner time comes, by his watch, 
 the sun is beginning to sink behind the western horizon 
 in that land. How strange it all seems. He soon passes 
 into another night. He is tired out and lies down on the 
 floor of the car and soon sinks into a deep sleep. On 
 and on he sleeps. The night wears away, yet his watch 
 still shows that in Kansas it is four, five, six and then 
 seven o'clock. Still the car rushes on. His watch shows 
 it to be eight o'clock Tuesday evening. He started Mon- 
 day morning at nine o'clock. Looking out of the door 
 as soon as he awakens, he sees that the light is just break- 
 ing in the east. It is Wednesday morning there. The 
 car does not go as steady as it did, but jerks, this way 
 then that. INIaking a light, he looks at the instrument 
 and finds that he is but 1 ,000 feet high. The car has 
 fallen 31,000 feet while he slept. The car jerks so that 
 
IT MIGHT BR. 121 
 
 he can hardly keep his feet. The car sinks lower and 
 lower, and moves ahead much slower. He can distin- 
 guish the tree tops and see the streams very plain. But 
 no cities; not a sign of civilization. Lower and lower, 
 300 feet high, 250, 200, 150, 100, down and down; it 
 touches the tree tops, comes to a broad river and comes 
 nearly sinking therein, but manages to cross and touches 
 on the bank beyond. It bumps along on the ground for 
 a short distance, then stops suddenly up against what 
 seems to be a large rock. 
 
 The journey is over. Trafford arises to his feet and, 
 throwing open the door, steps out into the twilight and 
 looks about. He is in the center of a small opening in 
 the forest. He walks around the car, when, lo ! do his 
 eyes deceive him? He steps forward; he touches it. 
 Yes, it is true. It is the long lost car. His car has found 
 its mate. He sinks on the ground overcome, and can 
 not keep back the great tears, and sobs aloud as he offers 
 a prayer of thankfulness to his God for this discovery, the 
 first sign or token of the missing Neva. There are the 
 same instruments, only blackened and rusty with their 
 long stay here. But now comes the question, where is 
 Neva? Following this question in rapid succession come 
 others. What land is this? Who lives here? If I should 
 find Neva, how could I get her out of here? Has she 
 sickened and died, been devoured by wild beasts, or is 
 she well and alive? 
 
 He soon had his pockets full of food, his belt full of 
 cartridges; his battery is not forgotten, for he might find 
 her sick and need it, and throwing his gun over his 
 shoulder he is soon away into the forest. He has traveled 
 on for perhaps an hour, when he comes to the border of 
 
122 TT MIGHT BK. 
 
 an open space of ground, where the grass and weeds do 
 not grow. In looking to the ground he now sees innumera- 
 ble foot prints and concludes that this is the council place 
 of a tribe of wild people. Soon, from across the opening 
 'from the forest beyond, comes the sound of voices. He 
 steps back into the underbrush and crouches down out of 
 sight to await developments. He has not long to wait. 
 He wonders, will these people know anything of the long 
 lost Neva? 
 
 From the forest on the opposite side emerges a black 
 man, a giant he is, too, over six feet tall and weighing 
 fully 250 pounds. He is followed by another and another; 
 yes, a vast number of them. They file in in single file 
 and form a large circle in the open inclosure. A motion 
 from the leader and they all seat themselves on the 
 ground. After sitting there and chattering awhile, the 
 leader arises and waves his hand, when they all arise and 
 an opening in the circle is made on the side they came in 
 on, through which comes a much larger man than the 
 first leader, but dressed in the most gorgeous style. There 
 hang from belts about his waist and neck shining pearls, 
 and here and there a long piece of ivory. A sort of a 
 crown is upon his head, and large rings are in his nose 
 and ears. He is followed by half a dozen other men, but 
 not so finely dressed, although much better than the first 
 ones who came in. After this company comes two large 
 men, who carry long spears; these are followed by some 
 people which, from the difference in the dress, Trafford 
 takes to be women — some large and some small. They 
 file within the inclosure and take seats to one side on a 
 sort of a mound built there. The big, gorgeously dressed 
 fellow has a stump to sit upon, and by his side stands a 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 123 
 
 woman. She is dressed in a garment of some woven 
 native plant and a kind of a veil is over her face. 
 
 The two large men who entered carrying spears now 
 step to the center of the ring. 
 
 The big man, the king, arises and speaks to them, 
 but Trafford does not understand what he says. While 
 he speaks, he lifts the woman, who had been standing 
 at his side, to the stump, and often during his talk points 
 to her, then smoothes down her long black hair, proba- 
 bly praising her good looks. She steps down at his side, 
 he ceases speaking and takes his seat, and the two men 
 in the center of the ring rush at each other. 
 
 This is a queer but interesting scene to Trafford. 
 What can he do but sit and watch them from his hiding 
 place. The combatants roll over on the ground ; they pound 
 each other, bite, scratch and use all other methods of 
 warfare they can think of. Not a word is heard from 
 either of them, save now and then a groan as one or the 
 other is knocked down. Neither does the crowd move or 
 speak. Silent witnesses of the fight. Each man is 
 covered with blood, but they battle on, until Trafford 
 wonders if it will never quit. By and by, one man falls 
 and can not get up. The other jumps upon his fallen foe, 
 and with kicks and IjIows soon has him pounded into 
 insensibility, whereupon he takes up one of the spears 
 near at hand and plunges it into the breast of his fallen 
 antagonist again and again. The battle is over. The 
 conqueror turns and walks toward the king with one 
 bleeding arm and hand uplifted and speaks a few words. 
 
 The king arises and has spoken but a few words, when 
 he turns to the woman at his side and addresses her, at 
 the same time pushing her toward the conqueror. 
 
124 IT MIGHT BR. 
 
 She takes a few steps and then stops, and Trafford 
 sees her lift her hands toward heaven, her eyes seem to 
 be piercing the distant blue sky, and these words fall upon 
 the ears of the startled Trafford : 
 
 " Oh, my God, has it come to this, to be the wife of 
 this wretch? Have I not prayed and agonized for deliver- 
 ance these long years? Where, oh, where is my Trafford? 
 Will he never come to my rescue? I would that I might 
 die, oh, precious Savior, rather than this disgrace." 
 
 Trafford sits for a moment as one stupefied, but only 
 for a moment. See what a change in that man in the 
 bushes. The color has all left his face ; he clutches the 
 barrel of his repeating rifle, trembles for a moment, then 
 his sinews become hardened. He arises, and with a 
 mighty bound leaps from the hiding place, as a lion would 
 leap in his strength, and forward he bounds. 
 
 There is a commotion in the camp ; all have arisen to 
 their feet, as they hear a shout, and then these words, 
 understood very well by the lady, ring out clear and firm : 
 
 " I have come, my darling. I will save you." 
 
 In a moment she is in his arms. He has torn the veil 
 from her face, and as the great tears chase each other 
 down her face, he kisses them away. It is some time 
 before either can speak, and the natives look on in won- 
 derment, but only for a short time. The man who lately 
 conquered in the fight seems to understand that some- 
 thing is wrong, and with a grunt of dissatisfaction he 
 starts forward to regain his lost i)rize. Trafford raises his 
 hand as a sign to stop, when the king turns to Neva and 
 asks for an explanation of this intrusion. She asks him 
 for a few moments' time to converse with this, to the 
 natives, strange being. In a few words she told him that 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 125 
 
 the fighters each wished to marry her and that they had 
 met in their usual custom to settle such disputes, and 
 that she was now claimed by the conqueror as his wife. 
 
 Trafford asked her to tell them that he had come to 
 deliver her, and that she was to be his wife, and that they 
 must not try to hinder him. 
 
 She turned to the king with the explanation, but the 
 natives were not satisfied therewith, and did not think that 
 one man, and he smaller than any of them, could run off 
 with such a prize as she was. 
 
 She then told them, as Trafford suggested, that he did 
 not wish to harm them, but that he would show them 
 what he could do if they did not behave. 
 
 They wished to see him try his power, thinking that 
 they were to see another fight with the big black. 
 
 Neva told them, for Trafford, that he would show them 
 all at once, and asked them to form in their circle again 
 and this time take hold of hands. This they quickly did. 
 
 Trafford was not long in adjusting the battery and 
 arranging the poles. He then stepped up to the king and 
 offered his hand, which the king took just as Neva com- 
 pleted the circuit by taking a black hand at her side. In 
 an instant a cry of horror went up from the whole circle 
 as they felt the electric current flash through their beings. 
 They were frightened. Trafford had noticed a number of 
 birds flying about over their heads and, to complete the 
 frightening jjrocess, he dropped the king's hand and, 
 picking up his gun, discharged it at the bird, which imme- 
 diately fell to the ground, dead. 
 
 This was too much for this superstitious people, and 
 with one accord, and with a mighty noise, they scampered 
 away into the forest, leaving our friends alone. 
 
126 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 Trafford picked up his tilings and, with his arm around 
 the little woman he came to find, they started off in the 
 direction of the cars. Neva was too overjoyed to talk 
 much or even think as they hurried along toward the 
 cars. She had not even asked about home and how he 
 found her and the thousand other things she soon there- 
 after wanted to know. The trip back to the car was made 
 in half the time Trafford used in going. After they had 
 reached the car, explanations began, first on one side and 
 then on the other, until the sun was far past the meridian, 
 when Trafford began to think of eating, when he said : 
 
 " Well, Neva, have you forgotten how to prepare ameal 
 by this time? You will find something for dinner in the car 
 there. By the way, there are some packages in there your 
 mother put in, saying that you might need them if I ever 
 found you. While you are at work there I will recharge the 
 batteries out here, that we may be able to return soon." 
 
 In the package Neva found different dressing material 
 than any she had worn for over four years, which, when 
 put on, changed her appearance to quite a perceptible 
 degree, and caused Trafford to say : 
 
 " It made her look like the Neva Tyrole he used to 
 know and expected to make his wife at no distant day." 
 
 To which she responded : 
 
 " I wish you had made me your wife and kept me at 
 home five years ago." 
 
 While they were eating, the subject of their return 
 trip came up. Whether the car will go beyond its pres- 
 ent limits or not they do not know. They may have to 
 walk the thousand miles or more from this, the heart of 
 Africa, to the coast. But they are going to try the 
 machine and trust to Providence again that afternoon. 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 127 
 
 Arrangements are all made. They are sitting just 
 outside the door, eating their dinner, when they hear a 
 sound in the forest before them, and Neva says : 
 
 " I believe those savages are coming after us." 
 
 She had said no more when out of the woods came a 
 fine looking black man. Neva instantly recognized him 
 as the real king of the tribe she had been with these five 
 years. The fight that had come off that day and the king 
 and the people thatTrafford had seen, were of a neighbor- 
 ing and warlike tribe, which had a few days ago conquered 
 those with whom she stayed, and as she was captured 
 with them too, she was offered as a prize by the old king to 
 the best man he had for a wife, and this man who now came 
 out of the forest toward them was tlie rightful king and 
 friendly toward her, and had now escaped and come to tell 
 her that the fierce savages were on the way to recapture 
 her and kill Trafford. He also asked to be taken along 
 with them to her country, that he might learn the customs 
 she had taught him so much about, and thus might he 
 be able to lead his people into a better way of living. 
 They consented, and he was taken in the car with them 
 and the batteries set to work. In a very short time they 
 can hear the shouts of the enraged savages as they come 
 on. Soon out of the woods they come, 200 strong, armed 
 with clubs, spears and stone axes. 
 
 They make direct for the car, yelling at the top of their 
 voices. Trafford grasps the rifle and awaits their coming. 
 The principal thing that he first fears is that they will break 
 some of the machinery and thus disable the car ; then they 
 will fall an easy prey to that vast hordeof savage men. 
 
 What close quarters they are in. Do not even know 
 that the car would ever start, even if the savages did leave 
 
128 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 it alone. Had Neva only been found to be lost again, 
 and Trafford with her, too? No. He came to save, and 
 save he would. 
 
 Neva picks up a large knife and steps up to the car 
 door at his side. They are ready to fight for their lives. 
 The black king stands ready to use a rod of iron he has 
 found in the bottom of the car. 
 
 On they come, with their big king in the advance, 
 yelling to Neva, in the language she knows so well, that 
 they are going to kill them, and ordering them to come 
 out of their retreat. They are only twenty yards away ; 
 now fifteen. Trafford raises his rifle, aims at the king's 
 thigh, and pulls the trigger. 
 
 The old king leaps high in the air and yells so loud 
 that he drowns the report of the rifle, and falls to the 
 ground. The braves rush up to the king's side and 
 examine the wound in his leg, and then, gnashing their 
 teeth in increased rage, they rush toward the car. 
 
 *' How's the gauge, Neva? I don't want to kill any 
 of them unless I have to." 
 
 She answers that it is within a few notches of the 
 required amount. He awaits their approach. What a 
 dreadful array of humanity they are as they approach, the 
 whites of their eyes looking like so many stars or moons 
 in the night; their mouths wide open, yelling as loud as 
 they can; brandishing clubs and spears; they approach 
 the car, only a few feet away. Trafford is about to send 
 the leaden bullet home to one great savage's heart, when 
 the wished for, anxiously awaited event happens. 
 
 It comes. The flash descends ; the woods resound to 
 the echoes of the thunder's roar, and Neva, Trafford and 
 the black are jerked to the floor, as the car suddenly 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 129 
 
 leaps upward. Up and up they go. The crowd of blacks 
 are but spots below and soon have faded out of sight ; and 
 away they go, the sun to their backs, out over forest, lake 
 and mountain. 
 
130 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 " 'Tis not in mortals to command success, 
 But we'll do more, Sempronius; we'll deserve it." 
 
 — Addison. 
 
 According to Trafford's reckoning and the setting sun, 
 it must bo Wednesday evening, but his watch shows it to 
 to be a morning hour. 
 
 Though there is much they might be troubled about, 
 where they are going, where they should land, etc., yet 
 they forget all this uncertainty in the joy of having met 
 again. The car hurries on through space at a frightful 
 velocity. The stars twinkle their tiny light down 
 through the top of the car. The roar continues, now and 
 then punctured by the awful shriek of the whistle at the top. 
 
 Along in the latter part of tlie night they pass out 
 over an ocean. It is the Indian ocean. There is no 
 change in the speed of the car, nor of its altitude. 
 Thursday morning soon dawns on them, but they continue 
 to travel on during the day. Many questions Neva and 
 the black king have to ask Trafford. The king, who had 
 been taught our language by Neva, was interested in 
 hearing Trafford tell of the wonderful country he lived in. 
 His name was, as near as it can be pronounced in our 
 tongue, Seoto. Along towards night they catch a glimpse 
 of land far ahead, which they conclude is Australia, but 
 no stop here. On and on the car takes them. Out and 
 out for over six hours across the plains of Australia, by 
 and by to .pass put ancl over the greatest of waters— the 
 PacifiQ Qce^n, 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 131 
 
 Hour after hour they spend, Trafford in Hstening and 
 Neva in telling of the events of her stay among the 
 blacks. She says: 
 
 " Those blacks who were seen by you, and who would 
 have killed us, were a neighboring tribe to the one I lived 
 with.- They have given our tribe much trouble ever since 
 I lived there, and a few days ago they again invaded our 
 city and defeated our blacks, and have them prisoners 
 now. Those two blacks who were fighting over me I 
 never saw before that day. As soon as the.fight was on 
 between the two tribes, when the city was invaded, I was 
 found by the strange king and was offered by him as a 
 wife to the black who should succeed in capturing our 
 king, the man here with us now. Those two men caught 
 him together, and were deciding which should have me 
 by that brutal fight. The tribe I lived with was just as 
 warlike. when I landed there, but they thought I was 
 some great god, and for a long time, while I was learning 
 their language, they worshiped me, and I had no way of 
 teaching them better until I was able to talk to them, 
 after which they seemed to think that I was of some 
 higher order of beings than they were, and would always 
 do as I wished about everything. I settled all their 
 disputes, and after awhile got them to understand our 
 religion, and to worship the great God, who led you to 
 try that plan of finding me, just at the right time and 
 when I had done all I could to advance them any higher, 
 without following some such plan as we are now on, that 
 of taking their king to our own country to see and know 
 of our better ways, that he may go back and then lead 
 his people up to the standard that they ought to occupy. 
 If you get this machine so that you can. manage it, I 
 
132 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 would like to go back there some day, and see that 
 simple people again, and once more lead their meetings 
 in the worship of the only true God, although they will 
 get along very well if their enemies leave them alone. 
 Don't you think, Trafford, that we could go some day? " 
 
 " It might be," he answered. 
 
 We will leave this happy couple and their dark com- 
 panion, for they are flying on through space too fast for 
 us, and in the parting glance we take they are seen seated 
 on the bottojn of the car, pleasantly talking. The instru- 
 ments show an altitude of 32,000 feet, and the speed is 
 not less than two hundred miles an hour. 
 
 What a strange sight that car is, as it rushes on and 
 on over miles and miles of watery waste, turning neither 
 to the right nor the left, but on and on in* a straight line, 
 as if hurled out of the hand of some great and awful 
 power, over mountain, land and sea. 
 
 The moon and the stars shine down upon it by night, 
 and the sun's rays seem to hurry along to catch up with 
 it by day. Great steamers look like a drifting spar upon 
 the bosom of the placid Pacific ; and from their height 
 they can not see the rise and fall of the mighty waves, 
 nor catch a glimpse of their foamy tops. To them the 
 great floor is all one level, glassy plain. They are out of 
 sight; a great cloud has passed in between them and us, 
 and shut off our vision, but we look to another scene. 
 
 Two men are sitting quietly at their work, looking 
 through their telescopes at the great Lick observatory, on 
 Mt. Hamilton, California. One is looking at the sun, 
 now nearly down into the western sea. He has been 
 studying it for a long time, when he suddenly stops and 
 turns to his companion, exclaiming; 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 133 
 
 " Allerton's got back. I just saw his car coming 
 as it passed between my glass and the sun." 
 
 '' Are you sure ? " was his companion's answer. 
 
 " Yes, I am certain," he answered, as he turned to the 
 telephone and rung up San Jose, and excitedly spoke 
 into the machine, without waiting for an answering ring: 
 "Allerton's machine is coming. Blow the whistles and 
 call him down." 
 
 And it is not long until the greatest noise went up from 
 San Jose that they ever before produced. Bells rung, 
 whistles blew, sky rockets went up, people yelled and 
 a perfect roar went up to meet the coming couple. 
 
 The cloud has passed away, and we see into the car 
 again. 
 
 "Gome, Neva, I see land," said Trafford, as he 
 turned toward her from the door, out of which he had 
 been looking. 
 
 " Yes; and that must be the Union, our home. How 
 glad I am," she said. " What are they doing down at 
 that city, Trafford ? I see lights in the air." 
 
 " I don't know, but I expect they have seen us. You 
 know there is an observatory near San Jose, and I expect 
 they have seen us, and are trying to attract our attention 
 and call us down." 
 
 " Let's go down and see," she replied. 
 
 " All right. We might try our machine here as well 
 as anywhere;" and he turned the crank and shut off part 
 of the current, when instantly the speed began to slacken 
 and the machine to sink. 
 
 When the machine had sufficiently slowed up, and 
 while steadily sinking, they opened the door and looked 
 ( >ut. What a beautiful scene lay spread out before their gaze ! 
 
134 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 There, eight miles to the north, lay the calm, placid 
 bosom of San Francisco bay. Yonder, to the northwest 
 forty miles, they could see the spires of San Francisco. 
 What a beautiful valley, the Santa Clara! There, twelve 
 miles from the city, is Mt. Hamilton, so plainly seen, 
 rearing its head far above the valley below. Yonder can 
 be seen the beautiful park in the Penitencia Canon, seven 
 miles east. There is the Methodist University of the 
 Pacific, here the State Normal School. How quiet and 
 beautiful they lay, and how majestically flow the winding 
 streams of the Coyote and Guadalupe, each side of the 
 city. Seemingly fit landing place for an angel fresh 
 from heaven. 
 
 Slowly they near the ground ; lower and lower the car 
 sinks, and then, squeezing its way down between the 
 large limbs of a number of fruit trees in an orchard, it 
 sinks easily to the ground, and a safe landing is made. 
 The glass door is opened, and the three have stepped out 
 from the car to the ground before any one readies them. 
 A great crowd soon gathers around the three, and many 
 are the warm congratulations offered them on their safe 
 return. Every one expected their early return, and they 
 all "told you so." The chief of the western fruit 
 bureau, the highest official in town and on an equality 
 with Trafford officially, soon arrives in liis electric car- 
 riage and they are taken to his beautiful home. 
 
 The news of their arrival has traveled the length and 
 breadth of the land in a very few moments. Everybody 
 soon learns of the safe arrival. They have hardly been 
 seated in the pleasant home of the chief, when a mes- 
 senger places in Neva's hands a message. It was dated 
 at Los Angeles, California, five minutes before being 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 135 
 
 delivered. It is from Neva's mother, and says that the 
 four parents will leave at once for San Jose. Upon 
 inquiry of the chief, they are informed that Neva and 
 Trafford's parents came out to California to spend a vaca- 
 tion, thinking it would be a change of scene and might 
 cause them to cheer up, and that they arrived in Los 
 Angeles yesterday. 
 
 "And how long will it take them to reach here?" 
 asked Neva, to whom the methods of travel in use here 
 now are unknown. 
 
 " About two hours," was the reply. 
 
 By the time they have rested somewhat they are led 
 out to supper. 
 
 A messenger announces the presence of the agent of 
 the news board, who simply asks our friends to name an 
 hour when he can take their story of the journey, request- 
 ing that, if possible, it may be in a very short time. 
 Trafford sends out word that they will be ready in half 
 an hour. They are hardly through with their supper 
 when the agent returns, and they step back into the 
 parlor, where is adjusted a funnel to a telephone box. 
 They are seated, when the agent asks Neva to give them 
 as complete an account of her absence as she has time. 
 She hesitates for a moment, when Trafford tells her she 
 need not wait for the agent to get paper and pencil, but 
 that if she will go ahead that the telephone will catch 
 every syllable she utters, and instantly record it in every 
 city in the Union that has a newspaper. How strange it all 
 seems to her! The sun has sunk far below the horizon; 
 there are no lights to be seen in the room, and yet it is as 
 light as day, the light being exactly like the light of day. 
 Sitting where she is, she begins with her strange story 
 
136 IT MIGHT RE. 
 
 and, hurrying through, has given a })artial history thereof 
 in half an liour. 
 
 Trafford is then asked to tell of his experiences in the 
 past week, which he does, finishing in about the same 
 length of time that Neva had used. Thanking them, the 
 news agent then withdrew. Thus is the story of their 
 wanderings, not over two hours after their arrival, placed 
 in printed form into the hands of millions of people all 
 over the Union. Yes, it has soon crossed the Atlantic, 
 and is read by hosts of interested readers over there. 
 
 There is a sound on the porch, the door opens, and in 
 step the four parents. Kisses, embraces and sobs of joy 
 are the order for the next few minutes. The man whose 
 hospitality they are enjoying, with his family, pass out 
 into the adjoining room, and the half dozen people in the 
 room have a happy meeting. Again and again Mother 
 Tyrole insists on kissing her daughter, as they talk over 
 the events of the past. It is far into the night before 
 they retire; but just before they go to their sleeping 
 apartments, their host places in their hands a large 
 number of telegrams of congratulation. They come from 
 the president of the nation, who happened to be in 
 Chicago, and said that he would be with them in the 
 morning; from the heads of all the departments of 
 government, the chiefs of Agriculture, Mining, Finance, 
 Medicine, Commerce, Printing, Lumber, Cotton, and all 
 the other depariments, as well as from England's presi- 
 dent, for the government there had been changed to a 
 republic by the peaceful ballots of the people ; also from 
 the heads of all other civilized nations, and many of the 
 leading men of the land who were not in official posi- 
 tions. 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 137 
 
 The morning finds them refreshed and ready for the 
 great reception, arranged for them by the people during 
 the night, the news of which and the invitations thereto 
 had been sent to evBry town and city in the land. 
 
 The president has arrived and, with the other heads 
 of the government, has called upon the returned pair. 
 Thousands of people pour into the city from all over the 
 land. Among the distinguished men who have arrived 
 and called on them we must not fail to name, are Rev. 
 Elverton, the chief of the Department of Eeligion, and 
 Dr. Ruttlidge, the head of the Department of Medicine. 
 
 The reception has been arranged to take place in 
 the beautiful four-hundred-acre park in the Penitencia 
 Canon, seven miles east of the city, at ten o'clock. 
 
 An electric carriage is sent up for our friends and 
 ' their parents, and they are soon on the way to the park, 
 down the broad avenues and past the many fine residences 
 and great orchards. 
 
 One of the first things that Neva notices is the rail- 
 ways. When she left on her great trip to Africa, the 
 iron horse traveled over the plains and mountains from 
 city to city, upon rails secured to ties, which were placed 
 upon the gi'ound. There has been a change, and she 
 does not understand it and asks an explanation. 
 
 Trafford answers her question : ' ' You see that the 
 rails are suspended upon those iron poles there. See 
 that car there? " She turned in the direction indicated 
 and there saw the car. It was built much in the shape 
 of an immense egg, tapering to a point at each end, and 
 about eight feet in diameter in the center. The carriage 
 they are riding in is stopped, and they get out and step 
 up a few steps and enter the car. In the central portion 
 
138 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 thereof are a number of reclining chairs , about a dozen in this 
 car. The sides of the car are of thick ghiss. The floor and 
 about five feet of each side and the top thereof are of steel. 
 
 In each end of the car are rooms, the ceiling of which 
 is not as high as that of the central or sitting room, and 
 lowers down with the shape of the car. In these rooms, 
 Trafford explains, are carried the baggage and such other 
 things as one would wish to carry. When people are 
 traveling on a long journey, and expeci to be away over 
 night, they put up a bed in one of the rooms, where 
 they can sleep just as comfortably as in their beds at 
 home. 
 
 They then stepped out of the car, and she noticed 
 that it hung from the rail above by two arms, which were 
 fastened to each end of the car, and were arranged to run 
 along on the rail. "But why these two tracks?" she 
 asked, and was told that one rail was for travel in one 
 direction and the other in the other direction, thus they 
 never had such a thing as a collision. The electric safety 
 contrivance was so arranged that one car going very fast 
 would never run into one going slower, for whenever they 
 came just a certain distance apart, the valves would 
 equalize the amount of electricity used by each car, and 
 would at the first switch, which were arranged along the 
 track all the way from a few yards to a few miles accord- 
 ing to the amount of travel thereon, move the' slow car 
 ahead on to the switch, and release the faster to go on at the 
 desired speed. When she asked the speed of the cars, 
 she was told that it was at any speed the traveler wished 
 up to two hundred miles an hour, but that no cars they 
 had been able to make up to the present time would 
 exceed the speed of two hundred miles an hour. 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 139 
 
 "And what is that there?" she asked, pointing to 
 a track where hundreds of cars were hanging close 
 together. 
 
 " That is the switch, and those cars are the ones this 
 vast crowd came in on. They are just switched off there 
 awaiting their return." 
 
 "And where are the telegraph poles?" she asked. 
 
 She was informed that there were no telegraph poles, 
 but that the rails of the railroad acted as the wires used 
 to. They can be so arranged that every office in the 
 Union will catch the sound simultaneously, or it can be 
 changed in a moment's time, so that but two offices will 
 receive the desired information. 
 
 " And is that the way you do your corresponding 
 now? " was her next question. 
 
 " Yes, the most of it. Sometimes the message is 
 delivered by a messenger, as it was to us last night, else 
 we would have been kept at the telephone half of the 
 night. Each home is suijplied with a connection to the 
 rail, whether it be in country or city, unless — as in a few 
 isolated cases — they are too far off from the track, living 
 in some barren part of the country where no road has yet 
 been built. These lines are the best transmitters of a 
 message ever known. They contain such an amount of 
 electricity that the current will flash the message all over 
 the land, without being sent and resent at each division, 
 as in former days. If you wished to speak with a friend 
 in Ohio, you would call for the central station of the State 
 you were in; they would connect you with Ohio's central 
 station, and they, when called, would connect through the 
 county central station with the friend's home to whom 
 you wished to talk, and you could talk as long as you 
 
140 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 pleased. The connections could be made in a few 
 moments, and as your talking would hinder the use of 
 the rail for no one else, you could talk on until you 
 wished to stop." 
 
 They soon reached the park, and such a throng of 
 people ! They are warmly greeted by all who can get 
 near enough to speak their greetings and grasp their 
 hands. 
 
 The program soon begins, and a good many short, live 
 speeches are made, songs are sung, all have a good time, 
 and when the dinner hour arrives, a table half way across 
 the park is spread, and thousands enjoy eating at the 
 biggest picnic table ever spread anywhere. 
 
 While they are eating dinner, the president turns 
 to Neva and says : 
 
 " We start to-morrow on our yearly inspection tour 
 of the different branches of the government, and would 
 be pleased if yourself and Mr. Allerton would accom- 
 pany us." 
 
 "I should certainly be very glad to, wouldn't you, 
 Trafford?" 
 
 " Certainly. Who could refuse such company and 
 such a trip ? " 
 
 So it is arranged that they are to start the next morn- 
 ing at ten o'clock for Denver, to inspect the workings of 
 the mining bureau as it affects the silver interest there. 
 
 After the reception is over that afternoon, they take a 
 run up to San Francisco, forty miles distant, and view 
 the beach and the many other interesting scenes there, 
 returning to San Jose by dark. 
 
 They remain at the same home that they did the 
 night before. 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 141 
 
 After it becomes dark out of doors, and Neva notices 
 no change of the light in the house, she ask& what 
 makes the light remain in the room just as though it were 
 yet day. 
 
 She is informed that the walls are coated with a sub- 
 stance (which she had thought was wall paper) that 
 absorbed the light during the day time, and that at night 
 it was given off so that they had perpetual day in their 
 homes, and at no cost except the cost of putting on the 
 coating once every year or two, which was not more than 
 it used to cost to paper a house. 
 
 During the evening, a car containing half a dozen men, 
 who belonged to the bureau of electricity, arrived and 
 called upon Trafford, their chief. A consultation was 
 held, lasting until midnight. The subject under con- 
 sideration was the problem of travel, such as Trafford and 
 Neva had tried upon their long trip and proved so 
 successful. The result of the consultation was that they 
 came to the conclusion that the earth is bounded by an 
 electric belt, which passes around from northwest to 
 southeast, but only a little to the north and south, as 
 was proven by the direction their cars took in their jour- 
 neys. They then concluded that travel could be arranged 
 for that route, and the parts of the world not reached by 
 this belt could be reached by the other usual modes of 
 travel. They decide to build a series of cars upon an 
 improved plan, and to more fully test this novel idea — 
 this rapid way of traveling. 
 
 In 1893 it took eiglity days to circumnavigate the 
 globe, which was thought a wonderfully rapid mode of 
 travel; but here and this very week it had been circum- 
 pavigated in five days, and one day had been spent in, 
 
142 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 looking up passengers on the way. Then it took five 
 days to cross the Athmtic, now fifteen hours. Wonderful 
 speed! Then it took six days to go from New York 
 to San Francisco, but now the journey was being made 
 by hundreds every day in fifteen hours. That was called 
 a fast generation, hurry and rush from the cradle to the 
 grave, but what of this ? Then there was trouble and/ 
 anxiety seen in every face, now joy and peace lit up all 
 countenances. Great change ! Yet no greater than was 
 that day from the times of their forefathers. 
 
 Had the picture of '93 been drawn for our Puritan 
 fathers, they would have called the artist crazy, or that 
 he was possessed of witchcraft. Yes, and had the 
 picture of these days been drawn for the men of '93, he, 
 too, would be considered dreamy and a fellow of imagi- 
 nary notions ; and could the picture of ten years hence be 
 drawn for the people of the fast generation which we 
 have been describing, again the artist would be consid- 
 ered mad. The real facts in the case are, that it is not 
 possible for a man's mind, in the present state of growth, 
 to reach any such a breadth as would be necessary to 
 take in the height, the depth and the length to which 
 this race, to which we belong, is destined to grow in the 
 future, if we will keep on in the present line of advance- 
 ment, the one intended for us. 
 
 But nights still have an end, and the days still come, 
 and so did this one and the next day, and ten o'clock 
 arrived and our friends are seen prepared to begin the 
 round of inspection throughout the land. 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 143 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 " Love rules the court, the camp, the grove. 
 And men below, and saints above ; 
 For love is heaven and heaven is love." — Scott. 
 
 The president's car, which had been run onto the 
 switch at the house where they were stopping, hangs 
 ready for occupancy. There are no depots now. The 
 raihvay system is as the highways used to be. It is 
 government property, and every one either has a car or 
 hires one from some neighbor when he has atrip to make, 
 and just starts off, just as they used to on tlie highways 
 with their carriages and horses. No tickets to buy; no 
 connections to miss. 
 
 In former days the people were the government, and 
 it seemed to act as a great octopus, feeding from the 
 people. Charging was the rule, and for everything from 
 a postage stamp up, never thinking of such a thing as 
 anything being free, the officers thereof acting as leeches, 
 drawing their living from the hard-earned possessions of 
 the citizens, cliarging for recording deeds up and up 
 through all the many ways they had of doing their work. 
 
 Now this has been changed. The people are not tlie 
 government, but the government is the people. It exists 
 only as an agent and helper for the people, and every 
 improvement or change it makes is not that it may have 
 another opportunity to draw sustenance from the inhab- 
 itants, but that it may lessen their labors and increase 
 their possessions. 
 
144 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 They were soon seated in the car, the lever is moved 
 and away they go. How easy moves the car. No noise, 
 no smoke, no jar or jerk, but on and on they seemed to 
 fly, past cities, farms, mountains, and over rivers, valleys 
 and canyons. It seemed like flying. The glass sides of 
 the car make it seem as though they were out in the air. 
 
 " Why does not this car make the noise that our car 
 did when Ave were coming back from Africa?" Neva asked. 
 
 " That car met the air with a flat side, while this one 
 with a point, which causes no friction or noise," she was 
 answered. 
 
 They passed the valleys and over the mountain tops 
 so easy and rapid that it seemed to Neva and the black 
 king, Seoto, as though they had been hurled from some 
 great catapult. It is hardly three o'clock when they pass 
 down the mountain's side and slow up in Denver. 
 
 That evening, as Neva and Trafford were walking 
 down the street, who should they meet but Dr. RuttHdge, 
 who was on his way to Cincinnati, and had stopped over 
 here for a few hours, sight- seeing. 
 
 They walked on down the street together, when, as 
 they turned down another street, they came upon a man 
 who was but little more than a walking skeleton, having 
 had the consumption for years. 
 
 Neva noticed him, and remarked as they passed on 
 that she thought the doctors ought to be able to do as 
 much for diseased people as the other sciences were in 
 their line. 
 
 " Yes, I have thought as much," said Trafford. "You 
 ought to be able to find a remedy that would be the 
 cure-all, for it seems to me that is God's teaching. In 
 the field, where grows alike the burr and the thistle, the 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 145 
 
 wise farmer steps with his hoe, and with the same instru- 
 ment and in the same way roots up each alike. The 
 larger obstructions to the raising of a crop can be removed 
 in the same way by the use of a little more force and a 
 larger instrument. All the enemies of the government 
 are treated by the same force, but as their several conse- 
 quences will necessitate ; the sheriff for the single 
 individual and the army for the mob. The little fire takes 
 water to put it out as well as the great fire ; the only 
 difference is in the quantity that it takes. 
 
 ' ' It seems to me that you ought to be able, by this time, 
 to discover what force life is. The disease in the limb, 
 body or head is caused by the conquering and destroying 
 of the elements of life that went to make up its health, by 
 some of the germs of disease, and the nearer the body 
 comes to death, the more prominent becomes the evidence 
 of a more complete victory on the part of the disease 
 germs over those of life." 
 
 " If we should follow out your theory to a successful 
 finale, we would obliterate disease and there would be no 
 more death, and that is impossible," returned the doctor. 
 
 " Not so," answered Trafford, "Death is but a change, 
 not annihilation, by any means, and if only a change, 
 why not that change be wrought rightfully? The cater- 
 pillar, as he nears the borders of his change, does not 
 waste away in disease, but simply approaches a more 
 perfect caterpillarhood, soon to put on butterfly hood. 
 Elijah got so full of the life that his change was caused by 
 a force greater than death and disease, for disease tears 
 down, while his force built up and carried aloft. Paul 
 was so filled with this element of life that it lifted him 
 above the troubles of the body and even up and up to the 
 
146 IT MIGIi:- BE. 
 
 third heaven. This great life force so strengthened John's 
 sight that he looked from the isle of Patmos into the far- 
 off heaven. Doctor, when 3'^ou reach your laboratory, 
 take down your magnifying glasses and chemicals and 
 begin down with the lowest forms of life in the disease 
 germs, and then comparing them with health, on up and 
 up, solve the problem of what leaves the body when 
 disease sets in and health leaves. There is but one 
 remedy for moral contagion and sin ; find the remedy for 
 physical contagion and disease." 
 
 " If your theory be true, it would solve the problem 
 we have been at work on for a long time, that is, the 
 merging of the different systems or schools of practice 
 into one. At any rate, I shall try and see what I can 
 make of it, Allerton," the doctor replied. 
 
 " What is that big, round building there, Trafford, 
 that looks so much like a great, big steam boiler?" asked 
 Neva, who was noticing all the strange things. 
 
 " That," said Trafford, " is the city air power boiler." 
 
 " And what is that?" she asked. 
 
 ' ' From that boiler comes all the power used in the 
 mills, factories, printing offices, etc., of the city. The 
 boiler contains, instead of steam, compressed air, which 
 is forced in there and kept at the required pressure by a 
 very simple contrivance. A great cylinder is arranged 
 with a piston therein, and then a small dynamite cartridge 
 is exploded against it, which forces it in, and with it the 
 air into the boiler, and there is no cost to amount to much 
 about it, either. This pressure is carried to the engine 
 needing it at the factory, in pipes much like the water 
 mains. This, of course, does away with all the steam 
 boilers and their expensive methods of generating force. 
 
IT MIfiHT RE. ' 147 
 
 The boilers never rust out ; no fire-boxes burn out, and 
 the wliole plan is so simple that I wonder that it was not 
 used immediately after the scheme was thought of in the 
 air-brake to the railroad trains." 
 
 They had been traveling on for some time, talking 
 first on one subject and then another, when Neva again 
 noticed something she could not understand, and asked : 
 
 " What are the buildings made of? They don't look 
 like brick, stone or wood." 
 
 "No, they are not brick, stone or wood. The build- 
 ings put up now are much better, easier and cheaper built 
 than they used to be. The material we use now is wood 
 pulp, very nearly the same we used to make tubs and 
 buckets of. It is much lighter than any other material 
 we could use, and when hardened is as solid and firm as 
 if cut out of a solid block of stone or wood. Buildings are 
 built to all heights needed, and in many fantastic shapes 
 and styles. They act mucli after the working of the ice 
 house, warmer in winter and cooler in summer." 
 
 They stepped into a store, and Neva called for a 
 handkerchief. She was taken to that department of the 
 store, where a number were shown her, each bearing a 
 card, explaining the material they were made of and the 
 price. She picked up one and looked at it, then turned 
 to the clerk and asked : 
 
 " Are you sure it is all linen?" 
 
 The clerk looked at her in a puzzled manner, and then 
 turned toward Trafford as if to ask what was the matter 
 with that lady. 
 
 Trafford then explained to her that these goods had 
 all passed through the government exchange, and that 
 they were guaranteed by the Union to be just as repre- 
 
148 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 sented. No one, nowadays, ever questions the qualities 
 of goods offered for sale, for they are all true to name. 
 
 '' But what has the government to do with them? I 
 don't remember what that plan said, now." 
 
 '' The government acts as a great exchange between 
 its citizens. It buys what they have to sell and sells 
 them what they have to buy. These goods were bought 
 of the government, to whom they were sold by the factory 
 making them. Thus it is with all the articles of 
 commerce, grain, live stock, cotton, groceries, dry goods, 
 and, in fact, everything is sold by the producer to the 
 government exchange, of which there is one in every 
 town, and many in isolated parts of the country. This 
 exchange acts in much the same capacity that the whole- 
 sale houses used to. These goods were bought by this 
 store at a price which all may know, and are in turn sold 
 to their customers at a price fixed by law. Before a 
 merchant can buy goods of the government, he has to 
 give bonds, and agree not to sell anything for other than 
 the published price." 
 
 The next day they went out to the mines, and Neva 
 saw some things that made her eyes stick out. This is 
 the way she described what she saw to her mother after 
 their return : 
 
 " We were let down into a mine, I don't know how 
 far, and when we -got there they took us off into a big 
 room, where they had some queer-looking machines and 
 a great, big wire, all covered over with something like 
 cord. In the side of the room was a hole and into this 
 hole the wire was pushed. After awhile it would go no 
 farther, and they said it had reached the metal at the end 
 of the hole. The man who had charge of the work said 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 149 
 
 that the attraction of the metal to the wire pulled it in. 
 In a few moments the man moved the lever, and an indi- 
 cator finger on one of the machines moved and a little 
 motor began to run. The man then took a rod and pulled 
 a plug out of the wire, and out of the hole thus left in a « 
 few minutes the bright melted metal began to run. It 
 fell into another machine, which delivered it out in little 
 or big blocks, just as was required. Trafford told me that 
 was the way they mined the metals now, and that an 
 immense amount could be melted out by the electricity 
 in a very short time, and that it did not take much help 
 to run it. The cost, he said, used to be a hundred times 
 as much as now, and the work a hundred times slower. 
 I asked them what they did with tbe metal, and they said 
 the government bought it all and that it either used it in 
 the many improvements that were being built by the 
 government or sold it to those who wanted it for that 
 purpose. What gold and silver that the people did not 
 use was coined into bricks and stored in the treasury." 
 
 Trafford, who had just come in, went on to say that 
 in many of the iron mines were foundries, and the melted 
 metal was then and there run into the shapes and forms 
 wished for. He also informed them, when they asked 
 about the price, that that had remained the same as it 
 had been fixed after they had perfected their present 
 method of mining, so that the miner knew that he was 
 sure of a market and also just what price he would get 
 for it. The industry, he said, was in a very prosperous 
 condition, and could not meet fully the demands that 
 were made upon it for material with which to build the 
 immense amount of improving now going on everywhere. 
 
 The next morning they were away to the east, expect- 
 
150 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 in^^ to inspect the workings of the live stock bureau, as 
 seen in the great packing houses of Kansas City, which 
 was now the center of that industry. 
 
 They were soon out of Colorado and into Western 
 Kansas, when Neva expressed a desire to go out and see 
 the place from which she started on that strange journey, 
 so the car was stopped at what was then a town, but 
 which had grown to a large city now. There their car 
 was turned northward and they were soon landed at the 
 place looked for, which was no longer a sand hill, but a 
 well improved farm. Tliey started out to walk around a 
 little, but had not gone far when a jack rabbit started up 
 and ran off a short distance and then stopped. Seoto had 
 never seen one before, and, of course, did not know what 
 it was, and his true nature came to the front in a moment; 
 he jerked off his shoes, which were something he had 
 never seen until he saw them on Trafford, but had been 
 induced by Neva to put on a pair, and started out through 
 the field for that swift animal. While the rabbit trotted 
 liesurely ahead of him as if trying to tempt him to run 
 faster, the big black man ran his best. In a few moments 
 they saw him stop, then sit down, then roll over and then 
 he yelled, an awful yell. 
 
 They wondered if he had gone crazy, or what the 
 matter was. Had his old savage nature come back, and 
 was he enraged into a crazy fit of temper by his unsuc- 
 cessful attempt? They hurriedly went to the scene to see 
 what the matter was. It did not take them long to find 
 out, for there he lay on his back in the center of a large 
 sand burr patch. Did you ever see a sand burr? Then 
 you know what misery he must have been in, with their 
 thousands of sharp, pointed hooks sticking into him. It 
 
IT MIGHT RE. 151 
 
 took them half an hour to get the burrs off from him and 
 get back to the car, but the hooks on the sharp points 
 which had broken off in his flesh gave him trouble for a 
 long time. 
 
 When they were safely seated in their car and on the 
 way again, Trafford spoke up: 
 
 " That little occurrence of Seoto's has set me to think- 
 ing. It seems to me that the plow and the cultivator are 
 too slow a way of getting rid of the weeds, and I believe 
 that we ought to be able to find out the combination of 
 the elements that go to produce weeds, which God said 
 was a curse to the ground, and when we find it, so change 
 as to be able to kill all these plants that are a detriment 
 to us. When our race was sent out on the face of the 
 earth the Creator said they were to subdue it, and here 
 thousands of years after that time, and we have not done 
 as commanded yet. I shall call the attention of our chief 
 of botany to this line of thought and research, and see if 
 he cannot solve it." 
 
 " A new thought to me," returned the president, 
 " but I believe there is something in it." 
 
 After they had talked a short time on this question, 
 Neva had another question to ask : 
 
 " Tell me how it is that this country is so well improved 
 now and seems to have such good crops, when, at the 
 time I left, it was a land which dried out and drove away 
 its inhabitants about every other year?" 
 
 "That change has been caused," the president 
 answered, "by our system of rain-making. Have you 
 not noticed in the papers the rain calendar?" 
 
 " Yes, I saw that, but I thought that it was simply 
 some weather prophet's prognostications." 
 
152 It MIGHT r.R. 
 
 " No, it was not. That was a real calendar. We 
 have a good shower in the locality the date states on each 
 one of tlie days mentioned there. The way it is done is 
 through the electric railway, which acts as a great electric 
 highway. The electricity therein is not made by genera- 
 tors, as you may have supposed, but is attracted from 
 Nature about it. Well, when we want a rain in Western 
 Kansas, the current of electricity is turned on there in 
 greater quantity by being drawn from the balance of the 
 system. This greater amount causes it to overflow its 
 track and cliarge the atmosphere, which makes it rain. 
 When we want it to stop, all that has to be done is to 
 again open the connections and the force is drawn down 
 from the heavens and it stops raining. It used to be 
 taught that the rain came from the great bodies of water 
 and the moist soil by evaporation, and was blown about 
 in the clouds by the wind, but we have changed our 
 minds wonderfully on that scheme now, and have 
 found out that the rain can be and is drawn from 
 the great sources of moisture by the power of the elec- 
 tricity, just as a flame will draw the oil from the bowl 
 of the lamp through the wick. We very often have some 
 water fall before the moisture in the atmosphere has risen 
 enough to cause a cloud. This equalization of the elec- 
 tricity does away with all lightning and thunder storms ; 
 no more cyclones, great blows, hot winds, and no sudden 
 and great change in the temperature. ' ' 
 
 They have reached Kansas City, and the car is switched 
 off and they go to the home of the president's brother, 
 who lives there, to remain that night, intending on the 
 morrow to make the examination of the packing houses 
 here. 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 153 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 "All things are artificial, for nature is the art of God." 
 
 — Browne. 
 
 The next morning tbey paid a visit to the packing 
 interests, and found them covering acres and acres of 
 ground. Here the government had one of its central 
 storages for stock and meats. The head of one of the 
 great houses, in explaining the process of meat curing, 
 told them how the farmer disposed of his stock at the 
 town near which he lived, to the government agent. The 
 stock was then loaded into cars, which were made for 
 that purpose, each car being able to hold about ten head 
 of cattle or about forty head of hogs. When loaded, 
 these cars were moved from the switch to the main track, 
 a card was attached, which gave the name and address of 
 the agent sending them, also the number of pounds, 
 which was for the purpose of enabling the clerks to keep 
 the account with the right man, the lever is then moved, 
 and away the stock goes at the rate of two hundred miles 
 an hour to the central station, where they are turned out 
 into some of the pens of the great yards to await their 
 time of departure for the killing rooms, when purchased 
 by the buyers. They are either packed down then and 
 disposed of to the government or shipped, through the 
 same medium, as fresh meat all over the land. 
 
 ' ' And do you have refrigerator cars now as they used 
 to have?" Neva was then told that they yet used the 
 refrigerator car, but the principal method of preserving 
 the meat fresh was by the chilling process, which, he 
 
154 IT MIGHT BR. 
 
 went on to explain, was the removal from the meat and 
 the boxes it was packed in of that which caused it to 
 spoil, just as the disease germs could be killed by infection 
 in a sick room, or air-poisoned alley. 
 
 An immense amount of meat was now used by our 
 people, and it kept all the houses of the land at work on 
 full hours, and with a large force of hands, to anywhere 
 near supply the demand. He also said that the meat or 
 butcher shops of the land were supplied from these great 
 centers. There was no killing done around through the 
 county, not even by the stock-raisers themselves. When 
 they wished to butcher, as it used to be called, they 
 simply took a steer or hog to the exchange and sold him, 
 and at the meat shop would buy what they wished with 
 the proceeds thereof, and have about as much meat as 
 they would have had, and now it is cured or chilled, and 
 will keep. Here, as elsewhere, the government was the 
 exchange between the consumer and the houses prepar- 
 ing it. 
 
 On the way back from the packing house they stepped 
 into a newspaper office to see how this business was now 
 carried on. Here they were told — for Neva was not back- 
 ward in asking questions — that there was a government 
 news bureau, which had charge of the gathering of all 
 the news, except the local news, which would be used 
 only by the one paper. The news, from wherever it 
 happened, was sent to the central news bureau by the 
 'jjlione, and there it was culled and sent out to all the 
 newspaper offices in the land. There was no charge for 
 the news furnished, but the government sold all the 
 supplies and machinery needed, which they had bought 
 from the manufactories, and in this, as in everything else 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 155 
 
 that passed through the government exchange, there was 
 added a margin of five j^er cent for handling, which went 
 to pay the expenses of the government. 
 
 When the news was checked off from the 'phone 
 in the newspaper office, it was handed to a man who was 
 sitting at an instrument much like a large typewriter. In 
 the large daily offices they had many of these machines. 
 With this machine a paper is printed just as they wish to 
 issue, and the i)ictures inserted in their proper places. 
 The photographic plate then becomes the matrix, into 
 which the metal is poured, which becomes the type for 
 printing. This is then put on the machine, which is 
 much like the ones they used to use, only more simple 
 and rapid. Tliere has been but little change in the mail- 
 ing facilities, except in tlie speed with which they are 
 delivered. The government mailing clerks each have a 
 car in which they travel ui)on their several routes. The 
 mailing and express systems are now combined. There 
 is no charge made in the mailing part, but a small fee is 
 charged in the express department at so much a pound, 
 independent of the distance it has to go. The free delivery 
 system, greatly improved, is in use in all the cities and 
 most populous country districts. 
 
 Here in Kansas City, the government has just com- 
 pleted a large building, which has an auditorivun capable 
 of seating one hundred thousand people, and upon the 
 stage at the end there has been placed the screen and 
 speaking tubes of one of the latest improved of Allerton's 
 inventions. This is to be the only one in existence, and 
 belongs to the nation, but is placed under the control of 
 Trafford. It is intended, when it is ready for working, to 
 give each evening some song, speech or occurrence of 
 
156 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 the long ago. The auditorium will be open to all who 
 wish to enter and listen to it, and a connection will also 
 be made W'ith the 'phone system, and all the homes of 
 the land can attach their speaking tubes and listen to it if 
 they wish. As the party passed into the building to 
 see and examine the yet unused machine, for it was 
 finislied but a week or ten days ago, Trafford explained 
 that they could now furnish plates of any desired size for 
 home use, to which the connection could be made, and in 
 the many homes of this favored land they could see the 
 scenes as well as hear the sounds. 
 
 They stepped upon the stage and looked around. All 
 that could be seen there was the great metal sheet, forty 
 feet high and two hundred feet long; at each end and at 
 the center of the top and bottom were placed the speaking 
 tubes, each of which would speak the same sounds 
 simultaneously, and thus, surrounding the scene, it 
 would seem that the sounds were from the characters on 
 the canvas. In a closed room at one side of the stage is 
 the globe and machines used in the work. They vno 
 longer use a balloon high up in the air, but now the great 
 plate, charged with electricity, rises of itself, this city 
 being in the same current or belt that Neva took her great 
 journey in. They take seats, and Neva asks the man 
 whom Trafford has appointed to care for the machine to 
 show them, if he can, the place they were at in Africa. 
 
 The man replied that if she could tell him just where 
 it was in that great country, that he could find it, but 
 that looking for some uncertain locality with this machine 
 w'as like turning a mighty telescope toward the heavens 
 in search of some particular star and not know where that 
 star Avas, yet he would try. 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 157 
 
 The machine is now so improved that no preparatory 
 work is necessary, but it is always ready. He sits down 
 at a large table, which has a metal top, upon one-half of 
 which is engraved a map of the world, and over which 
 hangs a sharp-pointed arm. On the other half of the 
 table is engraven a long column of dates, which extend 
 in point of time from the present back to " B. C. 3500," 
 and in a small engraven square in the corner of this half 
 is the months and days of the month, and over each one 
 of these diagrams hangs a pointed arm, just like the one 
 over the other part. 
 
 The operator first takes one of the arms and touches it 
 to the place marked "Now," and the other arm on that 
 side of the table is touched to the day and month repre- 
 senting that time. Pie then asks Neva to come to the 
 table and move the other arm to the locality on the map 
 she wished to see and hear from. She sat down at the 
 table, facing the metal canvas, and taking the pointed rod 
 in her hand touched it to a point on the map representing 
 Eastern Africa. 
 
 The second it was touched a scene flashed over the 
 screen. It showed a mountain and the valley at its base, 
 which was covered with a dense forest. Coming up at one 
 side of the mountain could be seen a rain cloud ; the flash 
 of the lightning could be seen, and the speaking-tubes rang 
 out the roar of the thunder. They also heard the roar 
 of a lion and the laugh of a hyena, but could not see 
 them down in the forest, the foliage on the trees was so 
 dense. 
 
 She then moved the point a little to the east, and at 
 once was seen upon the screen the rippling bosom of a 
 great lake. Water birds could be seen swimming in the 
 
158 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 water and flying above its surface, and the sounds coming 
 forth were from the birds seen on the canvas. 
 
 Again it was moved, and a little village of thatched 
 huts is plainly shown. In the village can be jjlainly seen 
 a large number of black men engaged in deadly conflict, 
 and the tubes speak forth the confusion of soupds coming 
 therefrom. But look at Seoto. He has arisen from his 
 chair and started for the scene, his eyes flashing fire, and 
 his fists clinched. They finally succeed in convincing 
 him that he cannot belp them, for they are thousands of 
 miles away. 
 
 " But they are my people," he exclaims. " See, they 
 are killing them. Look — see — see — they are whipping 
 the robbers; they fall back — they run; they are driven 
 off," he excitedly exclaims, as the scene shows one side 
 driving the other, with great slaughter, from the town. 
 
 '' Let me go home," he begs. '' My people are free 
 again. Send me home." 
 
 Neva succeeds in quieting him, but the old fellow is 
 so excited yet that in a few moments he breaks out again, 
 talking about his people, and walks about. He is so 
 happy at the success of his people, that he rushes up to 
 shake Neva's hand, and grasping hold of her arm, he 
 jerks her hand, which still holds the point to the table, 
 entirely off from the map and out onto one side of the 
 table, where it rests. 
 
 Look now at the screen; there are bare mountains, 
 bleak valleys and barren deserts pictured thereon. No 
 sound escapes the tubes, and all is solemn silence. They 
 look and look at the scene. Not a sign of life ; no motion; 
 all a seemingly cold, barren waste. 
 
 '' Where is that scene from?" the president asks. 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 159 
 
 Trafford looks at the point in which the arm is placed, 
 then, taking down an astronomical map, studies it for a 
 few moments, and answers : 
 
 " I believe, from the position that point is in and the 
 direction the moon is now from the earth, that that must 
 be the moon." 
 
 But how plain it is shown. Even the great rocks can 
 be seen, and the chasms seem to open their great mouths 
 in astonishment at having their likenesses shown up here 
 so plainly. 
 
 Neva slowly moves the point around and different 
 parts of the moon are brought into view. They cross its 
 great barren plains, pass over the (what seems to be) 
 frozen surface of its mighty oceans, climb its mountains, 
 look down into the craters of its cold and extinct volca- 
 noes, until they are awed into silence by the great mass 
 of seemingly useless material thrown around so promis- 
 cuously here. 
 
 ' ■ Who ever thought of reaching the moon with this 
 machine?" said Trafford, and then excitedly said, as a 
 thought or new idea seemed to run through his brain : 
 
 " You hold that point there and I'll move this other 
 arm down the alley of time and see if the moon has always 
 been as it is now." 
 
 He slowly moves the arm back century after century, 
 but no cliange, no sound until he comes to the date, 
 B. C. 3,000, then they notice that there is shown in the 
 picture a few almost dried-up rivers, and the ocean's sur- 
 face is piled with great blocks of ice, and the volcano's 
 crater is red-hot at the bottom. He moves it back as far 
 as the scale of the machine will reach, B. C. 3,500, and 
 the rivers flow through the land in m-uny directions; tlie 
 
160 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 ocean is an open body of water ; clouds hang about over 
 the surface of the sea and hmd ; vast plains are covered 
 with a green carpet, and then here and there is a large 
 forest ; and look there at that volcano ; see the fire and 
 smoke ; see that melted lava run down the side of the 
 mountain and into the sea; see the vast amount of steam 
 that arises where the lava pours into the sea, and listen; 
 the tubes are speaking; hear the hiss of the steam and 
 the roar of the volcano — 
 
 " Move the point, Neva." 
 
 As it moves, grand scenery comes into view. There 
 are strange sounds coming from the machine now. Is it 
 the song of birds? Is it the sighing of the breeze? Maybe 
 it is the melody of the babbling brooks. They have no 
 means of telling what the cause thereof may be. The 
 point is moved around and they watch the screen and 
 listen to the sounds for a long time, and oh, how they 
 wish for a machine that will take them back and back to 
 the creation. Would it, if they had such a machine, 
 show that the moon had been inhabited, and what would 
 the inhabitants be like? Many questions they wonder- 
 ingly asked one another ; but they must not stay here any 
 longer, they have business to attend to, so arise and leave 
 the building. 
 
 It is with wide open eyes that the astronomers read 
 the account of this new discovery, as it comes out in the 
 evening papers, and not only do the astronomers read it 
 with eagerness, but the vast population of our land read 
 it in astonishment. 
 
 The nation is pleased with the first test of the machine 
 and there is a mighty rush of orders for metal jDlates for 
 home iise^ that these sound!? fiii4 scenes may come to the 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 161 
 
 private homes also. Thousands of the plates of all sizes 
 are shipped each day and put up in the private residences, 
 and the factories are rushed night and day supplying the 
 hundreds of thousands called for. 
 
 But to return to our party, who, that evening, take a 
 run up to Cliicago, and "where on the next day they meet 
 to consult with the heads of the department of finance. 
 
 While the president, the chief of the department, and 
 many of the bankers are holding their consultation, one 
 of the cashiers sits down with Neva and, in answer to her re- 
 quest to explain the financial system of the land, he begins : 
 
 "To begin at the beginning," and he hands her a 
 piece of paper, which she recognizes as a $50 bill. 
 "Now, if you will read the words engraved thereon you 
 will get some idea of what our money really is." 
 
 And she read aloud : " This represents $50 inj^urchas- 
 ing value and is a full legal tender for all debts, public 
 and private. ' ' She saw that it bore the government stamp, 
 and that the president's name was thereon as well as the 
 register of the treasury. 
 
 "But what do you do when you need gold in your 
 dealings with other nations?" she asked. 
 
 " Our treasury contains millions of it, but as the 
 governm.ent makes all our purchases from abroad and all 
 the sales there, the gold is only used as a world's money. 
 We do not handle any of it, to amount to anything, in 
 our banks. There is never such a thing as a corner in 
 gold, as the nr.tion sells but little of gold money to the 
 people, and is not compelled to sell any if they thought it 
 best not to do so. 
 
 " You now see what our money is. It needs no gold 
 backing, for it is not a promise to pay, but simply repre- 
 
162 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 sents a purchasing value. This is the only kind of money 
 we have. The banks issue none. The government has 
 no outstanding bonds or indebtedness. That was long 
 since wiped out by the great amount received in its duties 
 as an exchange. Our banks do much the same business 
 they used to." 
 
 ' ' But have you the postal deposit system that they 
 used to talk so much about?" 
 
 " No," was the reply. " The banks are still the place 
 of deposit, but the government guarantees all the deposits. 
 Before a bank can begin business it must deposit with the 
 government $50,000. They then receive authority to 
 open as banks of deposit, exchange, etc., as they used to. 
 The government then guarantees the deposits to the 
 amount of $50,000 or whatever amount above that they 
 have placed on deposit with the nation. The amount of 
 their deposits with the government may be increased or 
 diminished at any time by returning the guarantee and 
 furnishing evidence that they have no more on deposit 
 than they wish to leave in the national treasury, provided 
 that no bank shall have less than $50,000 on deposit with 
 the government at any time. But it is made a penitentiary 
 offense to take more on deposit tlian is guaranteed by the 
 government. Our rates of interest have fallen so that it 
 is seldom that we can get a large loan for a long time at 
 the required rate — four ]i)er cent. 
 
 " This, of course, has a tendency to cause rich people to 
 put their money into more paying channels, such as facto- 
 ries, mills, farms, etc. ; and this is the best for the country, 
 too, for it causes it to be built up and improved thereby." 
 
 " But how is this immense expense to the government 
 kept up?" 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 163 
 
 "I will answer that by reading you a report I have, 
 which is to be read to the convention this afternoon, which 
 is to be used there as tlie report of the income of the 
 government for the past year. These figures are but 
 approximate; the exact figures will be given in the treasur- 
 er's report when it comes out at the end of the year. 
 These figures are given in the amount of production, then 
 in the value as in our present prices : 
 
 Wheat, bushels, 800,000,000 value $ 800,000,000 
 
 Oats, " 600,000,000 " 240,000,000 
 
 Corn, " 2,500,000,000 " 1,250,000,000 
 
 Cotton, bales, 10,000,000 " 1,000,000,000 
 
 Cattle, head, 40,000,000 " 2,000,000,000 
 
 Hogs, " 60,000,000 " 1,200,000,000 
 
 Sheep, " 50,000,000 " 500,000,000 
 
 Mining productions 400,000,000 
 
 Manufactured articles of all kinds, value 10,000,000,000 
 
 Total $17,390,000,000 
 
 All of this is handled by the government twice, or 34,780,000,000 
 Upon all of which it gets five per cent, or $ 1,739,000.000 
 
 " The running expenses of the nation have been cut 
 down to about $100,000,000 per year, so you see that 
 we have the vast sum of over $1,700,000,000 to devote 
 wholly to the uses of the government, such as the care of 
 the helpless and the aged (we have no paupers), the 
 building of public buildings, colleges, churches, school 
 houses, bridges, parks, to drain off swampy lands and 
 fit them for settlement, and thousands of other things." 
 
 After they had left the convention and were sight- 
 seeing around, Trafford proposed that they go over and 
 see the Fair. 
 
 " What kind of a fair have they here?" asked Neva. 
 
 "You remember that some years ago they had a 
 World's Fair here. Well, that was rebuilt, and on a much 
 grander scale than the former. This one is o])ened the 
 
164 TT MIGHT "BE. 
 
 year round, Sundays excepted. Here, every new inven- 
 tion finds its way, to be seen and studied by our people, 
 for we have no patent laws now. The government pays 
 very liberally for all new inventions that are worthy of 
 introduction, and as they are made, takes them off of the 
 maker's hands and in turn introduces them into use. 
 Things new and old in all the sciences and art are to be 
 found there. Everything you could think of and more, 
 too. This is kept up by the government and is free to 
 every one." 
 
 The balance of the day was spent at the fair, and as 
 they returned home a little after dark, they noticed that 
 some of tlie business houses had been painted over with 
 the coating used to light the interior of their residences, 
 and that it was preferable to the liglit furnished by the 
 electric lighting methods. The president remarked that 
 it would not be long until all our larger cities would be 
 lighted that way. 
 
 That evening they sent for the chief of the botany 
 department and suggested to him the propriety of search- 
 ing for a remedy against the weed and thistle malady, 
 which is the curse of the farming industry. They were 
 surprised to find that he was already to work in that very 
 line and was meeting with encouraging success. He said 
 that he expected by next year to be able to as thoroughly 
 inoculate the obnoxious thistles and weeds with a deadly 
 disease as they now could the insects, bugs and worms that 
 used to be such a destructive pest. 
 
 That evening Trafford is called by Rev. Elverton, who 
 is still in California, and informed that a great religious 
 convention would be held in the auditorium at Kansas 
 City, with his leave, the next day. The delegates from 
 
IT MIGHT BE, 165 
 
 the different denominations had been elected and given 
 the necessary power to arrange the matters as was seen 
 fit, and that as tliey were ready and anxious to meet, they 
 had been called so soon. He also asked our party to be 
 present, to which they agreed. 
 
166 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 " All government, indeed, every human benefit and 
 enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act is founded 
 on compromise." — Burke. 
 
 Tlie convention was presided over by Eev. Eiverton, 
 and all passed off peaceably and with unanimity. People 
 had learned b}' this time to arise above petty strifes and 
 jealousies, and but few of the delegates indulged in any 
 " vain strivings about the law," and those who did were 
 quickly voted down by the convention, and it was decided 
 to unite. But it was a long time before they could arrange 
 all the particulars of the union. They could not unite in 
 word, but then they read those words of Paul, " The 
 kingdom of God is not in word, but in power," so, of 
 course, it was not in word that they wished to unite, but 
 when they looked up higher, a spiritual base could be 
 seen, " The faith once delivered to the saints," upon 
 which all true Christians could stand. The Bible did not 
 describe any two conversions just alike, so they need not 
 expect the operations of salvation to affect them all 
 alike, but each one in his own way, as God saw fit to 
 impress the truths of the Bible upon that soul. 
 
 So the articles of union were drawn and signed. There 
 was quite a change in the locations and standing of the 
 preachers, yet those who were really in earnest made no 
 complaint. As they were as useful to the national wel- 
 fare as any other of the nation's public men, the officials 
 of the government proposed to pay them from the public 
 treasury, but this they would not accept, for it would rob 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 167 
 
 the people of one of their greatest privileges, that of giving 
 to help the progress of the gospel. 
 
 Morality was now the general rule and not the excep- 
 tion as formerly. 
 
 The liquor traffic having heen banished from the land, 
 being the greatest cause of this change in the morality. 
 The first step that was taken by the government to put out 
 tlie curse was to cut down its price and profits to the same 
 ratio that everything else was fixed at, this only for medical 
 or scientific purposes. In its use as a beverage, the next 
 step, which accomplished its death, was the law which made 
 the man who furnished the liquor to another, which led 
 him to commit a crime, subject to the same penalty that 
 his victim had to pass through. And Allerton's machine 
 did away with any hopes of not being detected therein. 
 There was no profit in it, and it was too dangerous for men to 
 fool with, when they could n;iake a splendid living and lay 
 up something besides in any other business, so they quit. 
 
 As they were leaving the city for Cincinnati, the next 
 stop, Neva asked how it was that they got along without 
 poor houses, for she had been told that there were none. 
 
 "There are no poor houses," she was answered, 
 '' because there are no poor to put in them. The govern- 
 ment guarantees plenty of work to all. If they can find 
 no work at home, the government always has a great 
 demand for laborers of all kinds, and they are sure of a 
 position for any length of time they wish, and at good wages. 
 
 '' Aged and infirm people are not treated as paupers, 
 but if they have not enough to keep them comfortably, a 
 salary equal to two-thirds of what they might have made 
 were they able to work, is paid them from the public 
 treasury." 
 
168 IT MIGHT RR. 
 
 " There is another thing I have been wanting to ask 
 about, and that is, how do you conduct the immigration 
 business now?" asked Neva. 
 
 " The matter of citizenship is somewhat different and 
 more strict than it used to be," the president answered. 
 " Visitors to our land procure from their home govern- 
 ments certificates of their good moral character, which 
 are presented to the clerk at the port of entry, where they 
 make a statement of the length of time they expect to 
 stay, and their purpose in coming. If they are just visit- 
 ors, they are allowed to go on unmolested, but if they 
 have no certificates they are not allowed to enter. In 
 other words. Uncle Sam tries to be as careful of his chil- 
 dren as fathers and mothers do of their children. No one 
 who would be an injury to our land in any way is allowed 
 to land, though visitors from all lands are welcome, if 
 they are all right and come with good intentions. 
 
 " To become a citizen of the Union, the emigrant must 
 certify to the clerk at the port of entry, as he presents his 
 certificate, that he comes expecting to become a citizen, 
 when a certificate of citizenship on trial is given him, 
 which is good for five years. He becomes a citizen at 
 the end of the five years if he has been able to and has 
 passed the yearly examinations on the duties of a citizen 
 to the government and our mode and method of govern- 
 ment, and the English language. The examinations are 
 so arranged that by the time he has passed them all he is 
 pretty well informed about this country, and is able to 
 talk with us in our language; then, after he has taken the 
 oath of citizenship and loyalty, he becomes a full-fledged 
 citizen. But if, after five years' residence here, he fails 
 to pass the examinations, he is sent back to the country 
 
IT MIGHT BR, 169 
 
 from wliicli lie came, and the property he has acquired is 
 purchased from him at its value and the price thereof, less 
 transportation charges, is paid him. Of course, there are 
 a few exceptions to this rule, as, for instance, an aged 
 person who comes over with his family and children, who 
 expect to become citizens ; the aged person is then allowed 
 to remain, but never becomes a citizen, and is never paid 
 any of the sums paid to our citizen aged and infirm. 
 Sickness or some other unlooked for trouble, over which 
 the applicant has no control, may give him the privilege 
 of an extension of the trial period, 
 
 " The privilege of becoming a citizen of this land car- 
 ries with it such golden opportunities that it is necessary 
 to make these laws very stringent and binding. All the 
 things which they had to pass were placed in the course 
 of study of our common schools, and our own children 
 were obliged to learn them as well. 
 
 " No more thugs and criminals from foreign lands are 
 landed here, for we hold the country issuing the certificates 
 responsible for the truth thereof. Thus dissatisfied people 
 in England, Russia, Germany, Italy and the other coun- 
 tries of the world can not come over here, only to be 
 dissatisfied still, as some of them would with any form 
 of government that held their passions and meanness 
 in check, but must have first been good, law-abiding 
 citizens there. Neither are people coming over here 
 from other lands just for the purpose of gain, only 
 to return with their plunder when they get enough to 
 satisfy them. No foreigner can acquire land or prop- 
 erty here; he must declare his intention of becoming 
 a citizen and live here and pass the yearly examinations, 
 or go back." 
 
170 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 They reach Cincinnati, and that evening Trafford 
 walks over to the office of Dr. Rutthdge. The door is 
 partly open and he walks in. There sits the doctor at his 
 table, surrounded with bottles, chemicals, glasses and who 
 knows what all. He is talking to himself, but loud 
 enough to be plainly heard : 
 
 "I thought I had it. Where did I miss that link? 
 The life, the life— where, where is it — not in the breath — 
 of what does it consist?" He studies on; see him work; 
 see how he sweats. Again he speaks: "Where shall I 
 look for it now?" 
 
 "'The life of the flesh is in the blood,' the inspired 
 writer tells us. Why not go to the great physician for 
 help?" said Trafford, and then, before the doctor could 
 answer him, he had gone. 
 
 The next morning as Neva and Trafford were sitting 
 at the balcony window, looking out upon the busy city, 
 a happy thought seemed to come to Trafford, and he 
 turned to his companion and said : 
 
 ' I don't see how I could have got along another year 
 without you, Neva — " 
 
 " Oh, I suppose you would have got along all right, but 
 what would have become of me?" was her quick answer. 
 
 " Well, my darling, I do not want you to get away 
 again, and, by the way, don't you think that now would 
 be a good time to set the day?" 
 
 " What day?" she teasingly inquired. 
 
 " The day of all days to me, the — " 
 
 "Yes, what day? I would like to know, too," said 
 the president, as he quickly and quietly stepped into the 
 room, having approached unobserved and taken them by 
 surprise. 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 171 
 
 '' Well, did you drop down from the roof, Mr. Presi- 
 dent?" was all that Trafford could say. 
 
 The president did not notice the interrui^tion and did 
 not wait for an answer, but continued : 
 
 " Maybe I am not welcome just now, but let me offer a 
 suggestion, and then I'll retire. It is this: It will take 
 us a few days to finish up our examinations and reach 
 the capital. I propose that the date be set at the end of 
 this trip and the place at the auditorium in Kansas City. 
 I'll see to the arrangements at the auditorium. When 
 you have decided let me know. Good morning," and the 
 president was gone. 
 
 ' Tis not necessary to parade the conversation of these 
 lovers before the public any further, except to record the 
 fact that the president's invitation was accepted. 
 
 That afternoon, as they were all sitting on the porch, 
 Seoto, who never had much to say, but who had kept up 
 a great deal of thinking, asked the following question : 
 
 ' ' Why cannot you annex Africa to the Union and have 
 this same grand government down there? I have noticed 
 this land, and, while you have many great cities and 
 wonderful improvements, yet I don't believe you have 
 half as good ground here to raise crops from as over there 
 in that great continent. If these methods of controlling 
 the storms could be used there and the same w^onderful 
 methods of farming be used as are in use here, I am sure 
 immense crops would be the result. Just try your electric 
 plows there, go there with your great seeders, and you will 
 need greater harvesting and threshing machines than you 
 now have; yes, your present husking machines, which 
 go over twenty acres a day, will have to be improved to 
 work there. For ce-nturies those lands have been enriched 
 
172 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 by the decay of the immense vegetation, and now must 
 be very near perfection." 
 
 " What an idea," returned the president. "Quite an 
 acquisition to the Union Africa would be. If it were 
 purchased from the natives and opened to homesteaders, 
 what a rush there would be. We will think more of this 
 proposition in the near future, Seoto." 
 
 There is a call at the 'phone and Trafford attends to 
 it. ' Tis Dr. Ruttlidge talking, and he tells Trafford this : 
 "I've found it. I've found it. Your words helped 
 me into the light. I have proven it correct," and then he 
 goes on to explain what his discovery is and what he expects 
 therefrom. The plan of cure will now be to inoculate the 
 sick with the germs of life, and in such an amount as to 
 be able to wholly overcome the disease germs of any dis- 
 ease. It means cure for all disease. He also adds that 
 he is sure it will act as a cure for insanity and imbecility. 
 Through the discovery just made, he says, the electrician 
 will be able to kill all the germs of disease afloat in the 
 air, and to thoroughly disinfect the country. 
 "Can it be possible?" asks the president. 
 "Yes, I believe it can. I have thought for a long 
 time that some such remedy must be found." 
 
 " Would this method of cleaning out the disease germs 
 be applied to Africa, what a glorious country that would 
 be to live in," added Neva and Seoto, almost in the same 
 breath. 
 
 The conversation is continued on during the afternoon 
 and evening. Many plans are laid for the future and 
 great hopes built thereon. 
 
 The next day they set out again on their mission and 
 visit iu the next few days many cities, and complete the 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 173 
 
 examination of the departments of the government. The 
 trip is over and they arrive at Kansas City this evening. 
 To-morrow the marriage service between Trafford AUerton 
 and Neva Tyrole is to take place. 
 
 The nation has heard of the coming event and has 
 long since nodded in approval thereof. The city will be 
 filled with thousands of people, and other thousands who 
 have their homes fitted with the plates to connect with 
 Trafford's great machine will sit in their parlors, with 
 their neighbors who have none, and they will all see and 
 hear simultaneously the events of the morrow in the 
 auditorium. The arrangements are all made. 
 
 The new car for traveling in the electric belt around 
 the globe has been finished, tried and found to be a suc- 
 cess, which at the same time explained that strange 
 message from Australia, received in the mountain cave. 
 They were both in the same belt and reached the same 
 conditions and connected. 
 
 The wedding tour is to be made in this car, together 
 with the parents, the president and his wife, around the 
 globe, stopf)ing at the most interesting points along the 
 way, and leaving Seoto at his forest home to do what he 
 can toward bringing those people to a desire for union with 
 this Union. 
 
 The hour of meeting at the auditorium arrives The 
 room is packed by over a hundred thousand people. The 
 wedding party comes in and are given seats at the side of 
 the stage. The president then steps to the platform and 
 announces that the singing will be by a choir from the 
 long ago, and the machine is set to work : 
 
 The song it has sang out a few times before again 
 bursts out, but this time the metal screen shows a beauti- 
 
174 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 ful scene, the host of the angehc throng. Such a wedding 
 occasion no one ever attended before. Look at the happy 
 faces ; feel the heart-beats of rapture ; see the angel throng 
 and hear the song. The whole audience feels as if lifted 
 heavenward. 
 
 When the song dies away the machine is turned on 
 Niagara, and they see the great falls and hear the awful 
 roar thereof. Then away to the Yellowstone park, where 
 they linger for some time before turning to the Yosemite, 
 where they see the falls, the mighty cliffs, and the 
 grandeur of this place. From here the machine turns to 
 bring up the wonderful scenery of the Rockies, then leaps 
 far away to the Alps, the Rhine, down into Africa, across 
 to India, and then the point is fixed on the North Pole, 
 and that mysterious, imaginary nothing but a frozen plain 
 is viewed with satisfaction. From here the instrument is 
 turned to the moon, and then back and back, as on a 
 former occasion, through the alley of time, until the 
 people, as did Trafford, wished for a more far-reaching 
 machine. Now it is turned toward the sun and a bright 
 flash covers the screen. The point is moved here and 
 there on the sun's surface and finally comes to a dark 
 place, which looks like a hole through a luminous haze, 
 with a dark bottom, the surface of the sun. The haze 
 which surrounds the sun looks more like an electric light 
 than any other light they can think of. Then from there 
 the machine is turned back to the earth and to Palestine, 
 and the time finger placed at the part of the calendar 
 marked " BC992," and they hear the songs and the music 
 which rang out at the dedication of Solomon's temple. 
 
 This song dies away and soon ceases to echo from 
 wall to wall, but not in each heart, when Rev, Elverton. 
 
IT MIGHT BE. I/O 
 
 steps to the front and thus addresses that great audience, 
 and, through the telephone system, milHons not able to 
 be there to-day : 
 
 '* Kings, emperors and presidents of other nations, 
 who have so kindly accepted our invitation and are here 
 with us to-day, and my brothers and sisters of America : 
 With feelings of joy and exultation I stand before you to 
 address you to-day. We are mingled here, representa- 
 tives of every nation on earth, and it is proper and fitting 
 that on this great occasion, the first ever held where all 
 countries were represented, and in this glorious union, 
 to which all the nations of the earth now look for exam- 
 ples in government, and in the presence of the two to 
 whom we, as members of the human family, owe our 
 deepest gratitude — for they have been willing servants in 
 God's hands of bringing us to this glorious rest — that I 
 recount some of our victories and the means used to win 
 them. I am at once impressed with our unworthiness. 
 How slow we have been, through the ages past, to grasp 
 the teachings at our hand of this glorious Jubilee Day, 
 and the more glorious ones yet to be reached ; for ' Eye 
 hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into 
 the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for 
 them that love Him. Now we have received the spirit 
 which is of God ; that we might know the things that are 
 freely given to us of God.' 
 
 " The means of reaching our j^resent state were at 
 hand all through the dark hours of the past. They were 
 flamed into the prophets' minds, thundered from the 
 law's height, hymned in the psalms, sighed in the wail- 
 ings and sung in angels' songs, and yet we did not 
 realize their import. We stumbled and fell over them, 
 
17G IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 and even pushed them away, when they were so anxious 
 to serve us in opening our eyes from darkness to this 
 marvelous light. 
 
 ''Our eyes began to open, when in yonder cave the 
 lightning's flash touched the marvelous work of Mr. 
 AUerton's hands, aud spread upon the screen that wonder- 
 ful picture in the garden, and those words burst forth : 
 ' Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but 
 of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt 
 not eat of it ; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou 
 shalt surely die.' 
 
 "How true that was, yet we read it again and again 
 and failed to see it. Who, but God, who hath made the 
 eternal separations between good and evil, could decide 
 the one from the other? And our first parents, the first 
 time they attempted to decide, made a mistake, and 
 there lost the peaceful, happy estate of the garden. 
 Have we not been trying ever since, by our many com- 
 mandments, statutes and laws, to decide what is wrong 
 and put a penalty thereto ? and, oh! how many grievous 
 mistakes have been made. Man, a finite creature, decide 
 upon infinite things ? The very thought of it appalls us. 
 Why the laws and teachings of Revelation ? Because 
 man is not in a condition in an earthly, ignorant state to 
 make heavenly, omniscient decisions. And the next 
 command: ' Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the 
 earth and subdue it, and have dominion over every living 
 thing that moveth upon the earth.' At once Cain went 
 out and decided he knew how to replenish the earth, and 
 killed Abel, another mistake, by leaning unto man's 
 understanding; and ever since our people have followed 
 in his tracks. 
 
IT MIGHT BE. 177 
 
 ' ' We have been saying ever since Adam : ' We 
 cannot have dominion,' when God commands it; but we 
 now begin to see that we can, and the mysteries are 
 being unfolded from : ' The creature itself also shall be 
 delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious 
 liberty of the children of God. For we know that the 
 whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together 
 until now.' Yes, and Isaiah's prophecy will soon be 
 fulfilled: 'The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the 
 leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the 
 young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall 
 lead them.' 
 
 * ' We have always been taught that we are all of one 
 great family or one great body, with God as head or 
 father. If this is so, the hand has ever been digging out 
 the eye, the foot refusing to go, the heart withholding its 
 nourishing blood, and the lungs closing their doors of 
 usefulness. As family, brother has been robbing brother 
 and ruining sisters through all time. Our message 
 teaches us now, of the family, with renewed vigor. To 
 the parents the children go for help, and there take and 
 unload their burdens and cares. 
 
 " ' The government shall be upon His shoulders,' not 
 ours, and He is one with the Father. Why not to 
 Him, as government, go for help, also to be unburdened ? 
 He is the Mediator between God and man, and also 
 between man and man. When this great invention 
 recalled to our minds such teaching as the following, we 
 began to see that His method was our only hope, and 
 that it was sure : * Behold, the Lord God will come with 
 a strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him.' ' And 
 the Desire of all nations shall come.' None but Im- 
 
178 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 manuel (God-with-us) would be the desire of all nations. 
 'The spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might 
 and knowledge shall be upon him, and he shall not judge 
 after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hear- 
 ing of his ears.' After studying these and many other 
 such thoughts in the message, we begun to catch a 
 glimpse of the great scheme intended for us, the one great 
 family. It was thus the ancient patriarchs, priests, 
 prophets, judges and kings conducted the affairs of the 
 nation during its successful periods, and a step to one 
 side from the plan led to disaster and ruin. 
 
 " Well, we met in convention, we talked it over, heard 
 the message anew, and then repealed all laws contrary to 
 this plan, and made it the universal law of the land. 
 Now, our government is a great agency between the 
 people, and the state, county and city laws are but steps 
 leading up to the great central point, and that founded 
 on the Revealed Word. The rules of all cities are alike, 
 as well as of all counties and states. There is now no 
 repealing or making of laws. They are the perfect code 
 from an omniscient Being, and cannot be added to 
 or subtracted from. We now know how to observe the 
 injunction : ' Look not every man on his own things, 
 but every man also on the things of others.' Has a man 
 too much grain, stock, goods, or anything useful, he 
 thinks of those who need it ; but not knowing who they 
 are, he leaves it with the great national eye, the govern- 
 ment; it pays him therefor the fixed price, and the one 
 in need makes his wants known to this same medium of 
 exchange, and is satisfied. It is the same with labor and 
 all intellectual attainments. The nation has use for all. 
 Departments of government are established for each 
 
IT MIOHT BE. 179 
 
 branch of the sciences, for religious research, invention, 
 music, etc., where the best professors are stationed at 
 government expense to perfect these branches, their 
 discoveries being at once put into use by the nation, 
 whose property they are. No patents or copyrights now, 
 but all follow the golden rule and defraud no one. The 
 immense amount now flowing into the government from 
 the tithe is what has so wonderfully built up our inner 
 improvements, as you see them now. To prove it all, 
 we will ask for a message from this machine now." 
 
 The lever moves, the machine rolls on, and in a few 
 moments there stands in likeness upon the screen a form 
 which holds their attention. Words cannot describe the 
 appearance, but to gaze thereon calls up all the tenderest 
 feelings of the breast, awakens ^11 that is good, pure and 
 noble within us, melts all that is wrong, and causes to 
 burn with a thousandfold lustre all that is saintly within 
 the heart. Before this form the great, the noble and the 
 famous of all ages have fallen in adoration. We think of 
 love, mercy and truth, and our hearts seem endeavoring 
 to burst their bounds as we behold the Lilly of the Valley, 
 the Bright and Morning Star. Behold! He speaks: "I 
 am the way, the truth and the life. Come unto me all 
 ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
 rest." 
 
 Then upon the screen is another change, and with 
 uplifted hand stands one to bear testimony to this great 
 Physician, and describe the workings of his remedy: 
 ' ' Love suff ereth long and is kind ; love envieth not ; love 
 vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up ; doth not behave itself 
 unseemly ; seeketh not her own ; is not provoked ; thinketh 
 no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the 
 
180 IT MIGHT BE. 
 
 truth; beareth all things, believeth aU things, hopeth all 
 things; love never faileth." 
 
 A sliarp click from the machine and all is over. 
 
 The president of England arises and speaks : " It is 
 plain to my mind that all this is for all the world, and 
 that we should all be one great government ; and in token 
 that we each of us, who are representatives of the nations 
 of the world, will see to it that we are all united in this 
 one great, grand and glorious compact, under the cove- 
 nants of old, ' If ye will obey my voice and keep my 
 covenant, ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and 
 a holy nation. ' ' ' And all those representatives answered : 
 "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do." They 
 joined hands in token of the vow, while Trafford and 
 Neva stepped to the center of the ring, where stood the 
 preacher, who in a brief service pronounced them hus- 
 band and wife. 
 
 Here we must leave them, patient reader, to pursue 
 their life of peace and joy, hoping that they may never 
 meet a wave to retard their pleasant voyage down the 
 river of life. This and the mighty problems in connec- 
 tion with the union in one great government of all the 
 world, and tlie possibilities of Africa and India, are 
 questions we may not grapple with now, and can only 
 answer your inquiry : " Is it possible ? ' ' 
 
 "Yes, IT MIGHT BE." 
 
EpaioFth Organs 
 
 NOTED FOR. 
 
 Richness of Tone, 
 Durability of Action, 
 Finish of Case. 
 
 
 These superior instruments are sold 
 by the makers direct to homes at 
 
 Net Factory Prices 
 
 Thereby saving our people the usual agent's 
 expenses and profits, enabling one to secure 
 a high grade instrument at an honest price. 
 
 Shipped on approval, no money asked until 
 organ arrives, is tested and found perfectly 
 satisfactory. 
 
 Catalogue, pictures and factory prices free, 
 if you state where you saw this advertisement. 
 
 Write to-day -^^^^ 
 
 Williams Opgan and Piano Company, 
 
ESTABLISHED 1800. 
 
 FOSGATE'S ANODYNE CORDIAL, 
 
 CURES 
 
 DIARRHffiA, DYSENTERY, CHOLERA MORBUS, WIND COLIC, CRAMPS, 
 
 CHILDREN TEETHING. FOB CHRONIC DIARRHfEA THERE IS 
 
 NOTHING EQUAL TO IT. 
 
 An Old Reliable Family Medicine in Use for Nearly 100 Years. 
 
 Read Testimony of Mrs. Jane C. Rogers, late Superintendent of 
 Cayuga Asylum for Destitute Children at Auburn, N. Y. 
 
 I have been superintendent at the Cayuga Asylum for Desti- 
 tute Children 31 years ; during all this time have used Fosgate's 
 Anodyne Cordial, for many ills that my young flock are heir to, 
 with unvarying success. I always keep a supply of it in our 
 medicine chest, and would not be without it. For the bowel 
 complaints that are common to children and for infants teething 
 there is nothing equal to it. Dated, June 1st, 1891, Auburn, 
 Cayuga Co., N. Y. (Signed.) MRS. JANE C. ROGERS. 
 
 Mothers will find it particularly useful for CHILDREN when 
 TEETHING, as it allays irritation, induces moderate perspira- 
 tion, and produces sleep, being superior to all other remedies. 
 For sale by Druggists or sent by mail on receipt of price. 
 PRICE 35 CENTS. 
 
 FROM 
 
 FOSGATE'S MEDICAL LABORATORY, 
 
 AUBURN, N. Y. 
 
 FOSGATE'S ANODYNE CORDIAL. 
 
 William Fosgate, Jr., 
 
 PROPRIETOR AND MANUFACTURER. 
 
PERTINENT THOUGHTS, 
 
 Bishop Warren, of the M. E. Church, says of this 
 work : "I am persuaded that we, as a church, must face 
 the great problems on which thousands are tliinking. Do 
 your best. You cannot go amiss, if you feel that Christ 
 says to you, 'Give ye them to eat.' He has provided a 
 remedy for every possible ill of the weary world." 
 
 "The phonograph has proved the theory to be true 
 that waves of sound representing words, music, thunder 
 or whatever you please may be preserved in permanent 
 form, and may be reproduced again and again, and still be 
 preserved for further reproduction centuries hence. This 
 fact if further explored and developed might justify the 
 belief which is already expressed that somewhere and 
 sometime in the universe we will find a rehearsal of all 
 sounds that we have supposed to have died out during all 
 the ages long past. Think of again hearing the cannon 
 booms and shout of victory and despair at Waterloo; 
 think of hearing again the real and original words of Wes- 
 ley, of Pitt, of Burke, or Savonarola; or better still, of 
 the Savior himself as He walked to Galilee or stood above 
 Jerusalem and plead with men to forsake their wicked- 
 ness and follow Him. To be sure all this will seem like a 
 flight of fancy to many of our readers, but if human in- 
 vention enables us to reproduce these words in the man- 
 ner described above, is it at all impossible or even unlikely 
 that infinite intelligence can and will devise a wondrous 
 phonograph out of whose infallible oracles the varied 
 deeds and words of our lives will hereafter be reviewed?" 
 — Rani's Horn.