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AFTER
THE CATACLYSM

A Romance of the Age to Come

H. PERCY BLANCHARD

Cochrane Publishing CoD<pany

New York

1909

COCHIAME PUBUSBINC Cft

^09410403

Foreword

This story, all but the last two chapters was writ-
ten in the fall of the year 1900. The fiyi machine
was a mere theory. Wireless telegraphy had just
been invented by Marconi, but the idea of "tunii;g" it,
had not been then hit upon. The Automobile was ao
much a toy in 1900 that its world-wide utilization in
the near future had not impressed the public, nor yet
its supersedure as a pleasure conveyance again in its
turn by the Aeroplane.

So many of the things pictured in 1900 as still to
come have, in the short eight years since, been real-
ized; so many social and economic forces have been
moving and inclining in the direction anticipated by
this Story, the temptation has become irresistible to
finish the same as at first intended and publish it.

The Wkiter.

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

A ROMANCE OP THE AGE TO COMS.

CHAPTER I.

It was about two o'clock in the morning.

For such a City as Rochester, the streets could well
be called deserted.

The light top coat that I had thrown on to cover
my dress suit was none too warm, though it was yet
early in September of the year of our Lord one thou-
sand nine hundred and one.

The swinging rhythm of a two-step that lingered
on my memory, unconsciously kept beat with my
own brisk stride as my thoughts pursued their un-
checked wanderings amid the realms of vanity.

True, it was time that a bachelor of thirty-three
should begin to take life somewhat seriously, and yet
it was only that very evening that a bright-eyed maid
of seventeen had told me that 1 would never fall in
love with any girl till first my flute had jilted me. I
recalled with an inward smile her answer, when I told
her that my sweetheart always sang to me when I
touched her lips to mine : — "Oh ! then you must be en-
gaged." Then I remembered that the dear child
5

APTBR THE CATACLYSM.

was just seventeen ; which thought for some illogical
reason provoked another smile.

But rudely enough were my pleasing reveries Inter-
rupted.

Suddenly, some three blocks down the street, the
Station doors of the unsleeping fire brigade slammed
open ; and at the magic instant, out through the huge
portals dashed the full armed chariots of the fire
fighters.

"Fire ! Fire !" the bursting horsehoofs yelled as the
iron shod feet rang down the echoing pavement.

"Fire! Fire!" clanged eagerly the dingle of the
engfine's warning bell.

On sped the roaring fire-throated steamer and the
rattling reels ; on and away, as they galloped past me,
and swirled in the glare of the electric light around a
corner in the foreground.

Here and there windows opened ; and, with that in-
born curiosity to see a conflagration that all of us pos-
sess, I changed my rapid walk into a run, and hurried
along in the wake of the engines.

It was apparent to me, as soon as I turned the cor-
ner, that serious business was in hand for some that
night.

A crowd had already gathered. How, whence, and
on whose alarm, remains a constantly recurring mys-
tery; but the pavement was black with a dense
throng of men, women, and even little children.
Some, half clad, evidenced the hurry with which they
had left their beds.

AFTER THE CATACLYSM.

As another steamer came galloping up, the assem-
blage opened, swallowed the glittering engine, then
closed again.

All eyes were turned to a row of stone-fronted
buildings, six or seven stories high, upon which the
nozzles were pouring water. Out of the lower flat
the grocery and retail stocks were being hurried, in
face of the enemy already in possession. Three of
the buildings were now a mass of flame, and it was
a foregone conclusion that the comer store would ul-
timately go.

Wisely, most of the brigade were moving west-
ward to out-flank destruction, leaving those in the
fatal grasp to meet their doom.

The ladders had sought first this and then another
window ; and, as the firemen brought down the fright-
ened inmates, one by one, the generous cheer betok-
ened the crowd's appreciation. At 'i&i, presumably,
all had been rescued, and the multitude relapsed into
quietude to watch destruction work its will.

One building had already, amid an exploding fusil-
lade of flame, collapsed ; and its neighbor seemed soon
to follow.

Then, rising high above the tumult of the conflagra-
tion, a roar that was not the voice of the fire fiend,
swelled up from the horrified spectators.

Far up at the fifth story window of the comer
building appeared the bloodless face of an old man of
may-be eighty. His long white beard, his terror
stricken eyes; — the multitude held their breath.

AFTBR THE CATACLYSM

caught sigS^ tLti- /rL'''Lr?J "!?

wide red war *,«-. u- i , ™* officer. A

caused i;" Xt '1*17''' '"'^S "" '="*'•'
«ight he had brS two cW^ri^t' *"'*
upper window; the one TmeZZrt^/'T T
upon his shoulder "pi^ey-back " thf^?? *"'"''^
haired sister, wrapped^ndefthl fir ''•' ^'**'"
ann. Then the man retu^ed and heCd H '^""""^
safety the mother of the little on' s ' ''°"" *°

hooks into the sSPof' the w.'h'^""^''* *'"' '°"«
der by ,a, J. t' Slii^rs't; eth^U'?' l'**'

:^a^Se^s?:^r^?Sr9^

tSte^r rf.r ^^--^ - -."Seran'i

bern'/en-a^rtrrralZ^^^^^^^ ^ h^ "'"^^"^"^
out a hand to assist acrossTh. ^' '"^/«^**="«=^ PUts
ledge the old man. theHrthe X-S VT^

"I daie not!"
"Come, hurry!"

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

"No, not on that little ladder, it will not hold us."

" Come, I will carry you- "

So the crowd interpret the move and gesture on
that dizzy stage.

The old man looks behind him at the smoke already
enveloping him, looks down into the street so far be-
low, and shuddering draws back again.

The impatient fireman says something, and reaches
out as if to seize and take the faithless old man by
force ; but the long white beard evades him and steps
back, as crash I the burning floors give way, and a life
goes out in the fire-unquenchable of that roaring
abyss.

At the same instant, the attention of the horrified
crowd is arrested by a nearer peril that threatens their
own safety. Panic stricken the closer ones surge
back as they see the front wall, weakened by the
collapsed interior, slowly sway and stagger, and, buck-
ling at a little above mid-height, crumble and fall into
the ruins, while the overhanging top and coping hurls
itself resistlessly to the pavement below. The inter-
vening network of electric wires are sent flying in
every direction. That one of the arc light cables,
spluttering its vicious fire at every fellow wire it
touched, swished past my face and flashed upon me
one unearthly blaze of deadly light, I know; of all
thereafter, I know nothing.

CHAPTER II.

ti«d, what dicir the oirr""r ^"^ '^^•"''-

With a great blank -^ thir/J7"^'" ^""'"^ •»«*•
would tfx his Zl 'il . ^ °*''' y"" '" ""y We. it

time,"which liLe the "^^ '"'"""^" '"' " """^ °f
in har Jn"r a d to kJo '"? .°' -"^ecutive fifths
stage setting ''" °"* °^ *''« «"' principles of

stn^c?;t:':hi^^;;' a?d7er:he"^ " ^°"«- '"-^"
grapple with the fact's a" hi best'^caT '"" ''^""^^^'^

^uifLXz«7btrrd^r^^^^^ ^*-'''^<' -

cept as to my eves mn. .t . '*** •=0'»pletely. cx-
inches of damp Sy ' *"' "°""'^' ^"t" ^ ^^w

kindTy1t'rer„trtJo°°f ^ ^^^^ »* ^ -"'^
interested in whS rnoearrH ^k'""' ^"'"■"g'y "uch
in which I offidaS/rrSe unw'' '" '^Periment. and
" We were ricrh? "nwitting subject,

vvc were nght in our conjectures " „k» ^ .
elder, and then added 'To v ' /''Served the

mantle. " ' ^°' ^"''' »nd bring me a

In a few minutes the woman addressed returned
10 '

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

fetching a large woolen shawl or rug, and then, at a
si ,'n from the man who had first spoken, she retired.

The man stood watching me for a few minutes,
placed his hand on my nostrils, and then as if satis-
fied, began slowly to remove the clay that covered
me.

Having released me, he wrapped the rug about my
nude thin body ; and with a strength that surprised me,
lifted me as one would a child, and gently carried me
to a divan, pillowed beneath the shelter of what
seemed a large summer-house or verandah.

I gave little thought to my surroundings. When
the burden of clay lay on me, my cold body had nei-
ther inclination nor ability to breathe, but as a wel-
come warmth commenced to suffuse my numb mus-
cles, my chest began to expand in response to the
desire for air. At the beginning, the inspiration filled
my lungs without much discomfort, but it was mainly
from a want of sensation, for, as soon as the heat
and vitality increased, each inhalation of even that
luxuriously soft atmosphere gave me intense pain.

The man who had been watching over me put water
to my lips and I drank eagerly of the refreshing fluid
to appease my now burning thirst. I tried to thank
him, but the unanswering muscles failed to produce
a sound.

He brought and threw over me a second coverlet,
and as my eyes followed his retreating form, my mind
wandered off into the land of forgetfulness.

It was apparently noon-day when I awoke from a
11

^FTER THE CATACLYSM

•ound and refreshing sleep. I f-it hi,.
come out of the lone sleeo th,f . °"* *''° ''"
a fever; weak, anSyet stfe^tth T, *"* ""*'" °^
my faculties restored '*'*"8^''*««' • ^"ble. but all
The girl, whom I had seen first in n..

Forty-eight or fifty hours. »
out where is this?"

fir"'"*"' """™"' " " •»■* .ubi„„ w.„

cat. " *"' ''""g you something to

As she disappeared around a vin- -„
her picture still lingered with me ""*-=°""«'' *«"«>

ure fa?;i;°[J, .'':?rair''r' ^ "*»'' -« '" «tat-

%"re had Just^lX t mtcul" '^T^- " ""
8:'ve her an easy grace L^ • development to

masculine or flelhfb^t vet '°T°"' '*^*"^''' "°t
feeoleness or frailty A d^ ; . /° «"ggestio„ of
'ent to her comp,e2o„ a ttf ofheSrhT l' ."^"'"^
vivacity of blue-ffrav ev« I"^""*"' *« which the
mouth gave willing verf£io " tT'""^ «^*"«='-°«
such rare faces and CrThlr u"^ '"*" ^ ^*^

-thing Of simpiicitn5^s;s,*!::SiiSc:

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

about her expression, that my mind confessed to me
as new.

Her dress, though charmingly in harmony with its
wearer, was slightly startling.

I recalled in a hazy way pieces of Grecian statuary
I had seen. The material, a kind of jersey cloth of a
silky fleeciness like finest wool, soft, and yet with sub-
stance, draped the undulating figure to the feet. The
left arm was fairly covered, yet not encumbered,
with the abundant cloth, but the right arm and shoul-
der were bare and free. In color, a creamy white,
the tint of the robe made a gently pleasing contrast
to the darker shade of her abundant hair.

But not very long did the subject of my meditation
leave me to pursue my mental observations.

With an expression of mock solemnity upon her
laughing mouth, she held her finger up impressively
and delivered her message :

" My father says you are to have nothing to eat, "
and as she paused amused at the woeful effect her
words produced upon my falling countenance, she
added, " but that I may give you a little of this to
dnnk, " and, suiting the action to the word, she on
one knee beside me, raised my head and held a temp-
ting goblet to my lips.

As the welcome vitalizing fluid, of a body like a

syrup, yet with a decidedly fruit-like flavor, reached

my grateful throat, a peculiar smile that I could not

repress prompted the girl to ask its reason.

It seemed so absurd, and yet that taste had carried

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

me back to my boyhood. The teacher's interrogation
as to what was meant by the nectar of the Gods, re-
curred to me, and my perfectly earnest answer, that
nectar was probably made from the juice of cherry
preserves mixed with honey.

When I related the incident then to Vera, she
aoberly remarked. " Who knows, perhaps you were
nght.

When I all too soon drained the wax-like goblet, I
noticed perhaps in grim contrast with the fair arm
near me, that my own skin was still coated with
scales of mud. The girl at the sar.,e time read my
thought, and as if in apology said:

" Yes, you are muddy, but my father did not think
It wise to disturb your rest. But now, if you think
you can walk, we will try to see what a bath can do. "
The under-robe still wrapped around me, was pre-
canous covering. However, desperately clutching my
garment I managed with assistance to get upon my
feet and with Vera's helping arm around r^, ,^1
gered, rather then walked forward

JLtT*J "^-^t •'■* '•P*'* ^'"^ *"^«*y of some
gutter-painted inebriate in the embrace of the gentle

f next I met His Honor's greeting of: "Four dol-
lars, or twenty days. Next ! "

,Zf ""^ *'°"^ *•"" stone-paved floor, and through
some airy apartments, we came to a small room
stone-paved hke the others, and wit., two little bTs'
or square cisterns cut in the floor. The water entered
14

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

at the left into the first recess, then into the second
pool, and then disappeared.

It was a charming little place, more like a natural
grotto than a work of art. Large uncut stones piled
on each other, formed the walls, and in the interstices,
vines and flowers grew unrestrained. A rustic, but
yet weather-proof roof, closed out the sky.

Vera seemed amused at my dismayed survey of
the clinging clay that festooned my bony arms, and
as she went out, she turned to caution me not to
stand still too long, or I might begin to throw out
roots and grow.

It did not take me long to give the second pool a
color like my own. Then on my transfer to the upper
bath, I managed finally, after much prospecting, to
pre-empt myself. It was only a slight exertion ; yet,
tired but clean, it was a pleasure to sit down on the
basin edge to rest.

Just as I had gone through the process of an " at-
mospheric dry, " I heard Vera's light step approach-
ing. The door opened. Then around its corner the
hand and arm of the undisclosed owner appeared ; and,
with a quick throw, a clean soft robe dropped to the
floor beside me, and again the door closed.

It was a matter of some study to me to decide how
to put the thing on.

As I held it up, the garment seemed to be made of
a large square of goods, folded comerwise. The diag-
onal was about a yard longer than my height. The
matched edges on one side were sewn together to
15

y^t arm .„d .ho„ der th J u **"' "^ ^ead .„d
o' point fell „«„r,ii„ Z h! 1 7 ' ""* *°P «ten.ion

extended to a little above th/L ^™"*' ">« »e«ni

ou. draper, «-.mewh.t e„fX" h ' ?" *"' ^°'"™' "

but th«*r;a?;; rhji^tr '"'""^ ''"««';

"'in style, ,„d so, well. wh.J Z '"""' '* »"""<' «<»
. I Muntered out in mv h^, , * mattered?
«"«•» .. . decided "tSessn ""'■ "•'" " """^h JW
•P'te of my bravado S;„/;""'"*.'' "•" '««4. ^n
comings. P"'"'""y conscious of my short-

Vera and her fath-
randah.^^ "" /.the. were waiting fo, ^^ o„ the ve-
Oh. " she said " r /_

^Pter the cataclysm

I. ?Tfu '**' *•*' •'^°' *•'•*='' *" velvet-like, uid
had .ii 5,!: **° T' ']"'•"«"«'<= «>"»iiieM. the fruit
M? Wh ? ?!, " '^J?' '"" «PPe.r.nce; .nd when
Mr. White asked me if I recognized it, I quoted in the
clMiic Italian of the festive D«go: «« "» «e

" He-le-a. He-Ie-a, le lipe pin Bananio. "
It need not be denied that I was very curious to
Jeam my position and surroundings; but to all mv
q estionings, both Mr. White and Vera smiled a polite
rehisal. though with the implied promise of a byrand

CHAPTER III.

A WEEK of sleep and quiet lounging, interspersed
with meals and happy chatter, that seemed to do me
equal good, passed by.

The delightful spring-like air, the steady sunny
weather, with only heavy mid-night dew to give the
needed moisture, sent into my bones new energy and
vigor.

" You have been wondering, as I would judge by
your so far unanswered questions, what i; the ex-
planation of your peculiar position? That it is pecu-
liar, cannot be denied. "

I nodded, but my silence spoke the eagerness with
which I looked for the answer. Mr. White without
waiting proceeded :

" You may be surprised to know that this is the
month of January in the year of Our Lord (as perhaps
you were accustomed to designate it) nineteen hun-
dred ar.i. thirty-four. I do not know what the date
was when you ceased consciousness. "

" Nineteen hundred and one. "

" Yes, I supposed about then. Last week when my
daughter was working in her garden, the earth sud-
denly subsided under her feet, making a hollow on
the surface that at once arrested our attention. It
18

AFTER THE CATACLYSM
was more a matter of curiosity than any expectation
of advantage that prompted me to investigate. At
my daughter's earnest solicitation (here Vera nodded
at me her corroboration) I dug away the earth.
About a foot below the surface, we came upon some
bits of rotten board; and to shorten the story, we
found that the coffin in which you had seemingly been
buried, had, except where the glass over the face had
partly preserved the wood, so decayed as to let the
earth fall in upon your body.

" We were amazed to find that although the clothing
had rotted and disappeared, your body was in perfect
preservation- There was no re?,;iration. Was it life,
— or death ? Yet if the first, — how was consciousness
to be restored?

" To the mystery, the innumerable reddish blue spots
on your face, which still give you probably some
discomfort, suggested a solution. In any event the
experiment was worth trying. On the presumption
that you had been shocked by a heavy discharge of
mechanical electricity — "

" Yes, it was from a broken arc light wire, I expect."

" Exactly. On that presumption we knew that, pro-
vided the nerve system had not been actually burned
out, the reception by the body of a heavy electric dis-
charge would induce unconsciousness, to continue
until the magnetic influences of the fluid were with-
drawn. At the same time, a suspension of all motion,
including an arrest of disintegration, would be created ;
in that every organic atom would be held in magnetic
19

AFTER THE CATACLYSM
tension so long as the corporeal battery continued
charged It remained to so withdraw the influence
gradually that the tissues would naturally rebound
and assume their normal muscular pulsations in re-
action from the molecular rigi,?icy. Acting upon this
reasonmg, .t was but the work of a few minutes to
loosen some surface clay, place your body on it, and
except for your nostrils, cover you with a few inches
of damp earth. This treatment, in many instances
when people were injured in using the unrefined fluid,
has succeeded.

"You will comprehend that, although you had been
under ground many years, not until the coflin had
broken and the soil caved in on you that day. had the
clay come m direct contact with your body, and direct
actual contact is essential. If. when the earth fell in
no acfon had been taken, the electricity holding your
v.tahty m suspension would soon have been dissfpated.
and then, without recovering consciousness, you would
have been repulsated. next, suffocated, and finally in
the fullest sense dead, upon which, of course, putre-
faction would undoubtedly have ensued.

For about twenty-four hours, though keeping a
close watch over you, we left you in your damply
application, and were at last rewarded by your re^
gaining consciousness, and becoming as you now are
our ven. welcome guest. Perhaps I have^old yl aj
much at present as your renascent mind can easily

Mr. White stopped, and although my curiosity was
20

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

far from satisfied, I restrained with some effort further
questionings. But I could not resist asking if, where
we were, was not the outskirts of Rochester.

" Yes, it is plainly apparent that our garden covers
part of wh; • was the Suburban Cemetery of that city.
Out there is probably the very spot where you were
originally interred, unless— but never mind, we will
discuss that again."

CHAPTER IV.

been outside the sS In kT'""'' ^ '''''' "«ver
host. I .ay in^r t^LTtf ""'" °^ "^
«y time, even of the d.v ^ ^'■*'^* P«" of

defence of this iL „ess U Tan T"* '■:. ^''"P' ""*' '"

.™wi. b„i,o„/ :■ i:'t,i, ;? ,r '"°'' .'■" '■«'•
»",, . w... ,: ";Vw";v°™ '""""^ •«■"-

--«---^.u';.s::;;:Vb:;c„»iL«

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

exceed in area the ground-floor of a large sized man-
sion.

Except for a mass of brilliant bloom on a high slop-
ing bank in the left foreground, nothing at all corres-
ponded to the type of landscape gardening with which
I was familiar.

The delicate beauty of the picture was in part se-
cured by a certain ruggedness of groundwork and a
subdued brown of rock and leaf which formed the
undertint, over which was draped and contrasted
daintiest palms and ferns and creepers, offset again
with powerful begonia-like foliage and strong color.
The garden as a whole, was conceived as a painter
would design a picture,— to be viewed to best advan-
tage from a certain standpoint and in a certain light.
But in the comparison, this little paradise had much
the superiority, in that, not from one point of view, but
from some twenty different spots, the alternating situ-
ations unfolded each its own surpassing panorama.

I must admit an unpoetical temperament and an
mchnation to look at things from what we are pleased
to call the practical. That the cobweb on an angel's
statue may hide from us the entrancing loveliness of
the marble is sad to contemplate, yet if we are so
constituted, what else can we do? This explanation
IS but precedent to my further admission that, as I
lingered admiring this charminj retreat, the thought
of the immense labor of weeding such a place sug-
gested itself to my mind. When, in such contempla-
tion, Vera told me that half an hour a day was all the
23

AFTER THE CATACLYSM
time she found necessary to spend upon her garden,
and further, that no other hand but hers had touched
a plant or leaf, I naturally asked: "But how do you
keep down the weeds ? "

"Weeds? We make no distinction between one
class of plant and another."
" Then you grow weeds and all ? "
" Yes."

control*? "°"'* ^^^ ^'"''^ spread and pass beyond your

"No But I see what you mean. I remember the
books tell us that in your time certain plants had seeds
to which were attached little downy wings or some
such adjuncts that carried the seeds vety often great
distances Nearly all of these plants were what you
call weeds, and I can easily imagine the trouble one
wou d have .n following these airy atoms flying with

hL^T^\ ^°^' """ '"^" "° "**•" ^ eroJ. We
have the plants, but their seeds are as if the little
wmg had been clipped off, and when the seed ripens it
falls to the ground at the foot of the plant. In conse-
quence, we are not troubled with that redundant fe-
cundity of which you complained.

"Why this present difference I cannot explain. Pos-
sibly ,t IS only a reversion to primitive nature. It
rji' *, ' '^''*" '^^ ^'°''*'^ ^"rf«« began to cool,
n^l?!i, ""^"* vegetation of the coal formation
period thereupon experienced, in the increasing chill

rlTf '.f- "°r,^'="°"« «t^"rele for existence, the

latent faculties of the seed therein originally implanted

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

by the Creator were called into action, and these
downy attachments and such added auxiliaries took
form; and so the plant in the presence of increasing
natural difficulties may have developed these hereto-
fore dormant aids to propagate and multiply.

" Now with our equable temperature, and a cHmate
comfortably warm the whole year round, the necessity
which in your time existed has ceased; and so with
the necessity has ceased those expanded faculties
which that necessity demanded.

" A native of the Tropics carried quickly to the
Arctic regions would by his innate reason be impelled,
for his own comfort and preservation, to cover himself
with warm clothing, which again he would remove
upon his return to his southern home. The lower
animals, insects and even vegetable growths will often,
by a slow process, change and assume another color
or even contour, as a protection to their existence.
This not by intelligent reason, but by an inherent
propensity inferior even to instinct. How can we
deny that the Creator in giving life and a means of
propagating life to the humblest plant creation, could
not therewith give, (just as in more generous measure
He gave to man himself), a latent ability to that
plant to adapt itself in preservation of its species to
a changing environment.

" It may be true that, with the cultivation of the

ground, man found this seed fecundity, so necessary

in the wilderness, superabundant and a menace and

burden to him. But while a continuous warfare with

AFTER THE CATACLYSM
nature was entailed, which showed man in his conflict
out of harmony with the creation, these provisions
superabundant in his eyes, may yet have been neces-
sary to the plant in its struggle, not with man in his
plowed field, but with wild nature for the preservation
of its existence. With nature now a less formidable
antagonist, the seed has laid down some of its habila-
ments of war."

Stopping to admire a flower, or passing to where
some new and charming vista unfolded itself, we un-
consciously had come, at the extremity of one of those
winding bays which I have mentioned, to a mound of
newly dug earth.

Vera turned away as if to draw me elsewhere, but
the very action confirmed in my mind the surmise
that this was the scene of my first introduction to
this hospitable family. Yet, the memory of the event
still carried with it a certain uncanny repugnance to
the place, a feeling Vera seemed to share. At the
same time, this suggestion of my past projected be-
fore me the question of my future. What my next
move would be, where I would go, now that my health
and strength had fully returned, pressed with a
puzzling interrogation upon me. I frankly mentioned
to Vera my perplexity.

" But you must remember that it is not for you
to decide; you belong now to me."
"How so?"

"You will not deny that yonder hole and mound
of earth are m my garden— my very own garden?"
26

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

" No; that is admitted. "

"According to tJie fundamental rules that now
govern title, or private ownership, the right or prop-
erty and possession exists in whatever is made by the
labor of our hands or raised by us from the ground
by our own exertions."

" But then," I objected, "you merely dug me up
upon my first disclosing myself to you, at my own
instance, by means of ray earth subsidence. It was
as if you had released a prisoner confined in a house
you had acquired after his incarceration."

" Oh, no. Had you been a mine discovered, a min-
eral dug up, you would belong to the Community, sub-
ject to a recompense for the exertion expended in
prospecting for you. Had you been a shrub growing
in the unkept field or forest, you would belong entirely
to the Community; but, should any one transplant
you, as he would have full right, you would belong,
upon being replanted in his private garden to the one
who appropriated or potted you."

" Then as a human mineral, I belong to the Com-
munity. "

" Have you forgotten that when you, as you claim,
discovered yourself, my father at my instance dug
you up, and that then we replanted you under a gentler
covering of clay, a little distance from your first
location ?

" You will understand that the original putting you
in the earth long ago in your so-called burial, consti-
tuted a virtual abandonment of you, not only by your-
27

AFTER THE CATACLYSM
Mlf. but aUo by your community. You will alao
notice that under the bouted laws of the nineteenth
century the thirty years in which the soil of my garden
ft«d you m possession, adverse to yourself, lost you
under your twenty-year statute of limitations any
claim to yourself, even upon the stretched presump-
tion that your person had ceased to become personal
property and had become real esUte. You will not
deny that the soil held adverse possession of you. in
tftat, dunng the tenun;, you could enjoy no use or
se.mce o yourself, and it was only with the consent

IH'I^' ''''" "'^ •*' "*"*' ■''• '" demagnetixing
you, that you came to yourself.

I '/?.*''' ■*"■*' °^ '=°""*' *•"»» accretions to the
land ultimately revert to the final owner, and so we
might conclude, that as I am the owner, I take with the
soil also the appurtenances. This should give me title
under your own law. But even under ours, you re-
member as I have already stated, that I dug you up.
and transplanted you to another place. That esub-
lishes appropriation which gives us now a full claim,
especially after a previous abandonment. Perhaps
you are unaware that, after replanting you, as the
earth covering of my new found orchid lost its mois-
ture, I watered you and tended you as I would a

3 ?1-f°"';- ^''"'' ""'" y°« ^«- -d bfos!

somed into life and vigor, and I plucked my anemone

and have you here beside me now full blown, am I not

right in saying:— you are mine?"

The assumed seriousness of her expression as she

AFTER THE CATACLYSM
finished her unanswerable argument melted away at
sight of my blank lack of comprehension, and, as a
sympathetic smile enfu.ed her face, in more than
pardon and atonen.ent for the perplexity she had so
wilfully caused me. she gently threw her arm about
my neck and playfully kissed my cheek.

CHAPTER V.

It was a Monday afternoon.

fivr^crk.'" *"* "'" *"**™ "''^ •''°*''* *°"' *"

Mr. White and I had. with our outward eye. each
intent upon his own unspoken thoughts, been follow-
ing the birds as they flitted from twig to twig, or gaz-
ing may be far away into the fleecy clouds that slowly
fJltM wt" T"' '" *•'* ""'* «P»"« "bove. At
tfons '" "'~" *''* *"*"" °' °"' '««"-

things that seem somewhat out of the order of your
previous existence?"

I explained my great difficulty to be, that although
so srort a penod as only thirty years had elapsed it
was hard for me to identify anything of t> pres;nt
in any way as a projection or elaboration of the civili-
zation of my own times ; in fact, it seemed to me more
like a beautiful past than even an Arcadian future.

yes, I agree with you, there is some foundation
for your impression, how much you yourself will be

i'n thl°hl f ?'" ^ '^" '" " ''" '''^*°""' '"<=id«nts
..,,... "^ y^""" ""conscious existence.

When your faculties failed you, in the opening
3Q

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

r„*«.f ♦»•'•'*«'"«»»• century, certain nebulous phan-
tom, long threatening the social stability of the world
began to materialize. Protective tariffs but hastened
the .nevitable The hand looms and small indiS

L.m ted Liability Companies, which in turn by com-

Slder mo" T"**'"." ""• ""'«'•* »"«' '"'*«"•
.?t T? *'*'«-»P'«d corporate control.
To fight these Trusts, laws were enacted to pre-
vent co-related, establishments from pooling their
profits or adopting interpreferential rat^or^ariff
The unlooked for but not illogical result was "ha
two or three superlatively wealthy financial ma^iltes

mJJest fn tllTh' """"^ ''~"^''* -* ^ ~"SS
dvS [, -^'"*'" P™''"«='"» enterprises of th!
civilized worid. Once the smaller corporations had
aggregated the scattered crumbs of indu^ry, i tTd not

rate Zs" T ^""' ^^^"^^ *° '"--^"e glom-
erate mass. For a time the people were arhast at th.

portion and threatening p^ssfbiJes fin,;* J

ong centuries to servile submission to the laws thev

found themselves tied hand and foot by tL ^e^

"Nationalization became the popular cry Had it
been adopted years before, and an efficient Ln"ng in
self-management inculcated into the people this mfei^
have afforded a remedy. Unfortunatelv a cau" is
oftener judged by its promoters than by hs ^eHt
The emptiest absurdity draped in the Sus^-dS
31

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

mantle of a reverent antiquity will masquerade for
generations as profoundest wisdom, if vouched for by
a venerable defender.

" So, too, when socialists and cranks at strife with
things that be, by chance held by its hottest end some
burning truth, waving its blazing beacon light above
the pirate flag of anarchy; timid and ignorant
humanity looked fearfully at these unbalanced
sponsors for the truth, and in their fright denounced
the truth as lies. Not 'that the world were wise to
follow the blatant ravings of the demagogue, but only
that the diamond in the gutter is a diamond still.

" When thoughful but influential voices urged
radical measures to crush or even hold in check the
Trusts ; those in the Legislature, still clinging to their
shreds of vanishing authority, opposed the step. It
would be spoliation, it would be robbery to expropri-
ate the national heritage without compensation, and as
the Syndicate already owned all, the people had noth-
ing with which to repurchase their birthright.

" Many good men, actuated doubtless by the best
and most honorable of motives, argued from the
altruistic level. These were seconded by the ablest
intellects that could be subsidized by the Syndicate.

" The common people, denied the comfort and sup-
port which the active or even passive sympathies of
their statesmen and men of literature might have
afforded, became desperate, morose and bitter. To be
told that they were but fleeing from the shadowy phan-
tasmagoria of a redundantly fertile imagination was
32

AFTER THE CATACLYSM
small assistance. Th :> looked f , r relief, not rhetoric.
i.2l ! ""^°"'^ *^'-' '•■'' ""'^ i" the Syndicate

a Bit'th ^'''^^"'^"^^ -^ y«t -net them facet
tace. But the menace of a threatening fact was there •
and labor without liberty of choice wfs slavey "'
This state of affairs was not confined to the Conti-
nent of America. All Christendom was in the grj p

to curta^r^rnfTr'" ^*'^^'"^"'' *''°"^''' '^ ^'i-'
«^JZ . ^^ P°^" °f the Syndicate was

mainly commercial and financial.

tar7tnH^"'°''"'" ^"^""""^"ts. so far as their mili-
tary and agrarian predominance surmounted the

dressed for money, the smaller States such as
Spain, Portugal, Greece and even Italy, so d out fo
ca h sueh unattached provinces and islands as I ^e
not of vital importance to them, parting with Ten
he sovereignty therein, and at th; same tLTbes o"
ihf pur^chS"" "'"^" ''' tn-'ti-millionaire who 11

off'f?*'^' r"''' *° *•"* *=''''8:rin of Russia, had traded
oe to some Jewish bankers the whole of Palestine for

wi hffrTrr,"; ""? *° ^"^'-"'' ConSi^o ^'
"f Great Br^tTiiV'"''' """^^ *''* *^«=«*y P^°t*<=tion
^aftak n^ f and Germany, an Israelitish Republic
was taking form and substance in the Holy Land.

One of those comparatively small events in
histor, ,, ,, British-Boer'war. about ht last

t?on;t:;;trr*'erntThrt''^'' " ^ '''''°'--

J s cater extent than its importance would
33

AFTER THE CATACLYSM
suggest, aflFected the military systems of the world.
Its teaching was to arm the whole population as
civilians, not as soldiers. The nations wise in their
generation, quickly put the lesson into practice, and
soon their vast standing armies, like huge billows
towering over all Europe, subsided into the great
sullen sea of labor, only to add to the plethora of in-
dustrial production. The human engines of war
were not destroyed; they were only dismounted.

"Each group of artisans in Europe and America
was in disguise, a squad of soldiers. The sergeant
and subaltern were fellow workers at the bench- Only
the National Guards required to hold the cowering
populace in check, and the absolutely necessary regi-
mental units retained their uniforms. So thoroughly
were the plans laid out, that, on a trial mobilization,
at headquarters, an electric button pressed, and six
million Germans, ere the second sun had set, stood
fully armed and accoutred to defend the Fatheriand
So, too, in the United States, in Canada, in Mexico,
each able-bodied man within twelve hours could reach
his rifle.

" With the same mathematical precision, taught by
the same masters, the different trades had each their
unions, their centres, and their Federal and National
Organization, with a Grand Council that formed a
copestone uniting practically all the manual laborers
in Chnstendom. So were affairs at the beginning of
the second decade of this century.

" Surely the fuel was well arranged to invite the
34

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

conflagration. The carefully laid trains from maga-
zine to magazine, were now complete. The explosion
quickly followed. F'"»ion

rJiu^ 'V^^ ""''" ""'"" ''^ ^" "^''y Nevada, the
little spark was struck. On that certain memorable

h„ K '™^" *>•*?"*« "°se between a workman and

Jl r^ 7 ' "'" '" ^°'"^ ^^-^ the mine to the
dump had forgotten his shovel, or else expected to find
one waiting for him. The boss, angered at the care-
essness. threatened to dock his pay for the half hour's
iTilt^ '? ^°T^ ^"" ^"'^ ^^"'"^ '^' implement.

Tn tft J '?'"'* '^'" *''"* t*" *•'<"« g>ng struck.
To take their places, the owners brought fn a new lot
of men. mainly starving creatures and negroes who
were not in any Union. To meet this, the e^n^ers
and hands on the spur that joined the mine wSh th^
tnmk road all went oflF. In consequence, the owners
closed down indefinitely both mine and branch l"«
In revenge, the crews on the trunk road struck a^d
when the concern endeavored to keep their traffic
moving the railway was boycotted anS In mwl
placed by the National Union on its coal supply "^
Naturally enough, one of the neighboring mines
for under the Syndicate all their interests were m" ^a '
disregarded the embargo and sent in coal. Th^r^ol
lowed a strike of the mines. Blame was not whoSy

Pride of' uJ^T,"""' °' '^°'--« opposed the

pnde of wealth. If avarice and power impelled thl

Syndicate to despotism, the selfish intoIeZ" of the

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

Unions even toward their fellows outside the Brother-
hood, rendered the workmen tyrannical. They felt
their power, they knew that upon equal terms they
were resistless. The skill, the finesse, the dexterity
of the intellects that fettered them they discerned.
They were like giants smashing blindly with their
club against a rapier. They were enmeshed with silk,
not iron chains; and, as they felt the web now tightly
spun about them, they hurled themselves with insolent
defiance upon those whom they chose to call their op-
pressors. How often does selfish inconsideration
brmg striio. often calamity. A little coolness and
reason might perhaps have made hiotory otherwise,
but that was not to be.

" For a time, both sides stood firm, but when hun-
ger joined in alliance with the Syndicate, desperation
urger desperate measures.

" After the mines struck, the owners endeavored to
put in other laborers. The result was a riot. The few
police failed to restore order, and the Syndicate made
«ie fatal mistake of requisitioning the National Guard.
The Government dimly foreseeing the danger, and yet
powerless in the hands of the Syndicate, could not
refuse.

" To evidence their sympathy with the local miners
out, Headquarters gave the signal, and every Union
miner in America laid down his pick. When the
European producer began to relieve the pressure bv
shipping to the States the needed fuel, the Brotherhood
of Man compelled the transatlantic miners to come to
36

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

the rescue, and they too struck. With the stoppage of
the coal supply, factories had to close their doors.

"The crisis had come, and it was the Syndicate
against the People.

" The Syndicate now determined, by the aid of
negroes and large importations of Chinese under mili-
tary guard, to open the mines of Pennsylvania. They
sent two regiments of Nationals down to the collieries.
The strikers showed violence- When the women and
children pelted the soldiers with sods, the order was
given to fire, and at the first volley a swath of starving
humanity was mown down.

" 'To the arsenals I ' arose the cry ; and, ere the
authorities could intervene, fifty thousand rifles in the
hands of the maddened miners rushed to wreak ven-
geance on the National Guards. In the conflict that
followed, in which every man was trained to his
weapon, no mercy was shown. The Nationals brought
mto antagonism to the people through many such
jobs of terrorism, at the instance of the Syndicate,
had become by this time as hated by the citizens as
once were the mercenaries of the decaying Roman
Empire.

" When the news of the battle at the collieries was
flashed over the Continent and across to Europe, a
panic ensued. The armories were plundered, ammuni-
tion seized, and each man armed himself as best he
could. Barricades were thro^vn up, trenches and de-
fences everywhere appeared, and all Christendom be-
came a battle ground. Plundering for provisions the
37

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

well-armed mobs attached the great Syndicate pro-
perties; and the National Guards, and such troops as
obeyed the summons were thrown into the defence.
Ij I The issue was not for long in doubt. The mercen-

I anes were driven back, overpowered, and, when

j i "*'*•'«'■ ™an, nor woman, nor child were spared, anni-

jl !; hilated.

'' ! " ^s the people tasted blood, their thirst for blood

mcreased. An awful fear, a sense that each man's
hand was against his ^ neighbor, a panic of terror com-
pelled the stroke to anticipate the expected thrust.
With the last semblance of authority vanished, lawless-
ness went mad. If here and there some few would
counsel moderation, the demon of destruction dashed
them down; lest, in a retributive justice once estab-
lished, the murderous excesses should meet punish-
ment. They had gone so far that no one dared turn
back.

"At the first great call to arms, the farm and work-
shop both had been deserted. When approaching
Autumn chilled the fevered blood, cold and starva-
tion threatened. How the miseries of that winter
were met and endured is not to be told. Robbery and
arson filled up the quota famine lacked. Many a
starving family would wake in the gray morning to
find their little treasured fuel or food stolen while
they slept. During that single year, a third of
Europe and America perished from the bullet, or just
as deadly cold and hunger.
" In the Spring, many with such of their families
38

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

as survived, fled to the forests and the wilderness.
Here, planting such little seed crops as they could,
they struggled through the summer, living on such
wild berries and roots as nature provided. Yet, even
here, marauders sought them out, and despoiled and
often murdered them.

" During the first year of this widespread reign of
terror, the only European country that had any fair
measure of escape was Russia. Shut in from much
communication with the rest of civilization, her popu-
lation mainly on the soil, the virus did not thoroughly
permeate the masses. Her army mobilized on the first
warning of trouble, such of the people as showed rest-
lessness were handled without mercy.

" In the first calm, after Winter had somewhat
checked the raging madness, such as still had property
began to count up their few remaining assets. Invest-
ments outside the great cyclonic circle were partially
intact. The unprecedented exodus of Jews from
Russia into Palestine withdrew from the former
country much of its ready money. On the loss of all
confidence in paper accommodation, the totally in-
adequate coinage threw gold up to an immense prem-
ium. The Palistinean Israelites began a wholesale
foreclosure of the claims they still held on their many
needy Russian debtors. So great was the aggravation
and misery that overwhelmed the thriftless Muscovites,
that at last they called for help and protection to their
Government and nobility. The response was as ready
as it was surprising. With a cry for vengeance on
39

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

dient army into m^l . *" ''*"'• P"* his obe-

tun,cd toT,;d Je^aier "'• ^'^^ *"''' ^«~

for assistance G?~T'' ?"*"'" ""<" Germany,
land, tliough in sore straits never fl^^^ ' ^"8^"

transports as were obtaf„,W?.^"*- °" '"^^^ ^^^
ried forward This smaH **'"" ''°°P' *"« ^ur-

into Palestine. lL^^ T^rtV'""" ^^ ^"'^^
marched North, the fleot u!- :'*"*'*"« "am column
protecting thefr left flani''T7.''.'''-««* °' *""" '»"''
inland to garrison Jetsalem '™" "" ^«P"*^h«=<'

ta4ttSr^S^ J- •>eing collected and
had traversed ASaMrl; ^^ '"^"^''' °^ «"«■»
In the mounta^rofl^^^er the""; """'"^ «^"-
the opposing forces met Tihlv T" ^"''^''^ °'
the host of Musco"tes and Hun"'"'''*' '°"*''*'»'<1'
filling the broad plain of £,1^ '"^""^ '''^'^"d,
less squadrons. ThTs JtS rM°"u^'*'' ^"''^ ~"«t-
J^th their naturaltSriuMtetaTh'TV^"*^
There, m very open order. th% atliJS tf it:!;!:
40

AFTER TH". CATACLYSM

ing morning to begin the attack. In long parallel

aSsTir/ ""'*' ""' '*'"*''' *"« '^o confuting
arm es .aid down to rest and gather strength for the

theThfllsTh: f "*^'n- ''° ^^"•'^ ''^ ^" " P-«t>
the shells that dunng the afternoon had been thrown

SriSrr. 'T *"' "'''^^ ^""•«" batterierth^
Bnt sh had placed their encampments on the we;t or
sheltered slopes of the steep hillsides. In such array

of he North at sunset of the twentieth of Tune 1914
But I must now go back a little in my story!^ p;rhaps
though, I am wearing you?" remaps

I assured him I was never more interested in my
life, and on no account to stop.

Just then Vera came in with a tray of fruit and the
conversation was interrupted.

CHAi^TER VI.

Mr. White resumed his story.
" I must begin at the spring of 1914. As soon as
winter loosened its grasp of the starving frozen popu-
lace, new rioting began In the United States, the
vestige that remained oi the Grand Council of the
Brotherhood met and appointed a committee of ten
to assume the government of the Republic. The same
organization in Britain when it learned of this move,
assembled as many of its members as could be col-
lected to discuss the question of similar action. A
good deal of bitter debate ensued, some vehemently de-
manding republican institutions, others, with the sen-
timents of the old monarchy still lingering in their
breasts, opposing.

" It had been a cruel year for royalty. Of Windsor
Castle, only the old Norman Tower had escaped the
vandalism of the mob. The King, with a few faithful
fnends lived, or rather, existed, in the shelter of the
ruins. What vestiges of government remained within
the Empire were only to be found in the far away
provinces and minor colonies.
" In the midst of the stormy deliberations of the as-
42

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

lembled Brotherhood, to their attoniahment a mes-
senger entered with the statement that the King was
at the door and requested admission.

" After a short but tempestuous debate, the request
was granted. Up between the rows of delegates King
Edward walked, emaciated and old before his time,
but with a steady step.

"When he had reached the chair, he turned and
spoke. In clear, brief sentences he pointed out to the
assembly his position. He made no laws, he enforced
no laws ; that was the function of the people. He was
but the centre of a circle, the Empire was bounded by
the circumference. His dignity was all in the reflected
glory of his Country. As it was exalted so was he,
as it became base, so he became ignoble. Did they
seek the welfare of the people, then he was their
fellow ; did they design the destruction of their breth-
ren, he stood before them a victim ready as the willing
sacrifice. In Britain, to destroy the Crown was to
destroy the last vestige and emblem of authority. So
far as he could see, the people were without represen-
tatives. The nearest approach to a representative
body was the assembly before him. He recognized
that fact, and, as their King, he had taken them into
his councils. Was he right?

" Amid a vociferous applause and cries of ' Long
live the King, ' he proceeded. Under the authority in
him vested, he called and created the assemblage there
present before him his Parliament of Great Britain.
In their hands he now deposited the welfare and the
43

■ M

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

responsibility for the security of their common
country.

" As he turned to depart he stopped and added fur-
ther, that when, after these disturbances ceased, it
pleased the people of Great Britain to elect a Parlia-
ment by vote, he would dissolve the present assembly,
and furthermore if it was the will of the people of his
Empire to demand from him the Crown, he would
comply, but otherwise he would keep his trust invio-
late till death.

" Turning again, he gravely saluled the chair and
departed-

" In Europe, the thrones of all but Russia had been
swept away in blood, and blind anarchy was in high
power. Murder and robbery were everywhere; and
gorged with crime, the weary populace sought in de-
spair for the help that never seemed more distant.

" Pre-occupied with all things else, few took any
notice of the unusual tides occurring upon and after
the middle of June, nor marked the heavy meteoric
shower of the nineteenth of that month. Were it not
for an enormous star, mellow like a twin moon that
blazed out in the Zenith of the midnight heavens, no
comment would have been aroused. That some lone
astronomer in less evil times would have cabled
around the universe his warning, might have been
but now his voice remained unheeded or unheard'
Yet, ere the sun had set on the succeeding evening a
terrified commotion filled the earth.
" Tidings of fearful portent from the Far East had
44

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

hurried westward on the wire. A clash of worlds im-
pended. From far out in space, on our planetary
plane, an immensity of matter, probably by internal
explosion, had abandoned its orbit and was rushing
with resistless speed toward the sun.

" Directly between it and its destination interposed
our globe, and, with the crash would come destruction.
No wonder then the peoples of the Earth, warned by
the wire, stood still in terror. But what a little object
in the infinite of the expanse this world of ours is, was
quickly to be demonstrat<;d.

"At midnight, Greenwxh time, the ending of
June the twentieth, the great threatening mass went
flying by, avoiding us by going directly south or
below our globe.

"The imminent collision we had been spared, but
only by the narrow margin of a hundred thousand
miles.

" None the less, the terrestial influences were enor-
mous.

" Sweeping across the ocean, vast mountains of
water were piled up in gigantic tidal waves.

" One immense deluge, gathering in the antarctic re-
gions and rounding the Cape, swung north and west
across the Atlantic, and, with its crest a thousand feet
in height, submerged the whole eastern coast of Amer-
ica. Then in its equal reaction it recoiled and again
with more than railway speed recrossed the ocean,
and laid for miles inland the low shores of Europe
under its devastating waters.
45

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

"In the Pacific, a counter-balancing tidal distur-
bance brought similar destruction upon the populous
seaports of China and Japan.

" In the Indian Ocean, a burden of foaming waters
hurried by a northwest course across the equator, and
dashed in fury on the Arabian and Abyssinian coast.
"^ Truly, the cities of the Nations fell.
" The attraction exerted by the huge mass of stellar
matter, as it rushed in such close proximity past our
globe, was stupendous. The whole surface of our
worid was shaken with earthquakes. The mountains
parted and great islands emerged from the sea.

" The Mediterranean joined its blue waters to those
of the Persian Gulf.

" The Geographical configuration of our earth sur-
face was radically altered. In the seismic disturb-
ances, our inland cities fell in ruins.

"Thousands whom the mob madness spared, the
water and the earthquake overwhelmed.

" On the mountains of Israel upon that memorable
evening, all communication with the trembling worid
outside cut oflF, the portents of the sky and excessive
atmospheric disturbances at first found little notice
The shrieking shells, the dropping of rock rending
explosives from the few airships undestroyed, gave
plenty reason for the unusual color of the dying sun
But ere the evening bugles called to sleep, the hos-
tile camps discerned that warfare of the elements
more terrible, more awful than their own impended.
At last the tempest broke upon them.
46

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

" With tornado speed, a mass of inky blackness,
borne on the wings of the hurricane, swept in from
the Persian Sea.

" The stars were wiped away as with a cloth. It was
darkness that could be felt. Drawn by some enor-
mous pressure from behind, the atmosphere from a
sv/eltering humidity turned suddenly chill coW. In
shuddering silence the puny millions cowered as the
heavens set in array to join the battle; but not for
long.

" As as a signal given, the sky burst into fire. The
blazing lightning dashed its thousand glittering spean
to the heart of quivering earth. Peal upon peal the
echoing thunder rolled and laughed to mock the pigmy
cannon of the angry nations.

" Men clutched the rocks in fear and trenibling.

" Then with an equal suddenness the tempest ceased.

" OS through the mountains of Carmel it rolled its
chariot wheels, while its yet fierce reverberations told
of the rearguard action still in progress.

"The stars shone out again.

" But this was not the end. As after some crashing
overture silence follows, and then the curtain rises on
the play, so only for a moment shone the stars, then
darkness.

" Close in the wake of the thunder, rushed the cy-
clone. From the south and east it drove, resistless in
its frenzy. The water laden clouds had turned to ice,
and the tornado, with its devastating hand curled its
huge hailstones relentlessly and with the energy of
47

AFTER THE CATACLYSM
cannon balls against the stormswept writhing earth.
The slaughter wrought by the omnipotent artillery of
the elements was terrible.

•' The unfortunate Russians, exposed upon the open
plain, met the full fury of the icy cannonade; and
when the hour of destruction had elapsed, not twenty
in a thousand survived.

" More providential was the shelter of the Israelitish
armies from the storm. The almost horizontal torrent
of frozen death, withstood and warded off bv the op-
posing mountains behind which they had crouched to
escape the Russian shell, passed over them. But for
the casualties from flying debris, the people were un-
harmed.

"On the morrow, in the hearts of the surviving
antagonists, remained no further zeal for slaughter.
In the horror of the event, aghast they sheathed their
puny swords. Fearful and shuddering, the erstwhile
enemies turned homeward and away from that moun-
tain of decision, leaving to the fast gathering vultures
their unburied dead.

CHAPTER VII.

As the red-handed slayer of his fellow creature, the
lust of murder sated, the choking fire of passion turned
to ashes, the evil spirit fled, surveys in trembling
horror his butchered victim ; even so man's inhumanity
to man had reached its climax, and, in the presence of
the great CATACLYSM, the shuddering world be-
held itself aright, and realized the truth.

On that twenty-second day of June, a new era of
the ages dawned.

To the unscientific, the gradually shortening day-
light seemed but the usual concomitant of the ap-
proaching autumnal season; but to the astronomer a
strange confusion of stellar phenomena presented itself.

After laborious calculation it was in fact established
beyond question that the polar obliquity of the globe
was slowly diminishing, and that the earth was grad-
ually assuming a polarity rectangular to the plane of
its orbit.

At the time of the winter solstice, the equator had
almost paralleled the planetary horizon. Scientists
with grave apprehensions watched for and awaited
developments.

The winter was unusual in its mildness. It might
49

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

almost be said that a continuing autumn passed into a
long spring with no intervening coldness.

In the Northern States no snow fell.

As the anniversary of the g^eat tidal disturbances
approached, the world had reached a high tension of
apprehension. It was not a scientific conundrum, it
was a question of life and death, — of the future habit-
ability of the globe.

Would the earth continue its slow gyration, or
would it stop? ,

All precedent suggested the first dread possibility,
and then within five years a completed quarter term
would bring an arctic climate to the equator. From
whence would come the enormous friction brake es-
sential to check the once active and continuing energy ?

It was apparent that when, eleven months previ-
ously, the enormous meteor close below the earth in
its mad race to the sun had just grazed our globe, the
mid-summer suspension of our sphere had presented
the south pole in its furthest position of obliquity
from the sun. Just as a billiard ball, swiftly passing
will, almost without contact, give to its stationary
fellow a spinning motion, so the rushing stellar mass,
crossing at right angles the line of the earth's orbit
had, by molecular or mag^netic attraction, communi-
cated to the south polar surface of our globe a gentle
but positive rotation in the line of the meteor's course.
This motion once established would in nature continue
indefinitely, and, in the particular position of the
earth, at the season of the summer solstice, such ant-
50

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

arctic motion sunward would tend to perpendicularize
the polar line.

As the date of June twenty-second approached, it
had been demonstrated that the enormous friction de-
veloped by the gradual subsidence of the great tidal
waves induced by the passing of the stranger months
before, had noticeably diminished the already very
slow meridi-n rotation.

About the sixteenth, the watching astronomers were
thrown into a state of perplexity on discovering that
the tidal disturbances of the previous June were
threatening a repetition of their actions.

Forewarned, the people fled from the sea shores and
waited in ill-concealed alarm the outcome.

As the fated day began to dawn, the whole sky
throughout the northern hemisphere poured down a
continuous deluge of celestial fire. The meteoric
debris, following in the wake of its huge ^" )rerunner
was speeding by on its journey to the all consuming

The explosion of the hapless planet had apparently
shattered its northern hemisphere into myriad par-
ticles, while its southern half had remained almost in-
tact.

This latter portion, its forward orbital motion ar-
rested, had, owing to its greater size, first felt the
solar attrection.

In the long procession, each part arranged in strict
accordance with its size, the fragments journeyed sun-
ward.

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

The primary unheaval had given these bits a
northern inclination. Though, after the lapse of a
twelvemonth, the meshes in the sieve of time were
small, the quantity looked undiminished.

Close underneath, our earth seemed almost to stoop
as It passed below the empyrean torrent. The mete-
onc dust that struck our arctic atmosphere burst
mto flame. All day and night the fiery ashes fell. In
the morning the delicate instruments of the trained
watchers told the people that their cause of dread
had ceased.
The earth had regained its equilibrium.
The combined influence of the myriad passing
particles exerted in a direction opposite to that of the
precedent portion of the lost planet had just sufficed
to restore stability.

A consequent as well as welcome result of the polar
perpendicularity effected by the astronomic phenom-
ena related, was that summer and winter had ceased
to be. Day and night in equal measure came in suc-
cession. Life was an eternal spring. From the same
hmb depended the bright blossom and the full ripe
fruit. A continuous mild climate with neither kill-
ing frost nor torrid heat gave ample scope for the
scientific development of all the tropical and temperate
fruits and flowers. A hitherto unknown luxuriance
crowned vegetation. With food in plenty growing to
the hand, the willing work of life became a pleasure
and needful exertion ceased to be a task- Such is the
earthly and material environment of this present age.
52

CHAPTER VIII.

About the middle of the forenoon of the next day
as I was enjoying myself in a quiet stroll through the
garden, Vera joined me.

"Ah, I have found you at last. Are you getting
tired of your usual morning nap?"

I answered that I was feeling so strong and vigorous
that I was contemplating a constitutional to the Rocky
Mountains and back before dinner for an appetizer.
" Then you are really feeling strong again? "
"Strong! I never in my life, to my recollection, felt
such a vitality and energy in my body; I feel as if I
had eaten* a whole ox, and had assimilated both his
muscle and his structure."

" I am doubly glad to hear it. What say you to
postponing for a few days your trip to the Rockies
and coming instead for a walk down to the Lake
bhore ?

" Charmed to. When ? "

" Now. Come along."

We passed through the gateless enclosure, turned
to the left on reaching the smooth green highway, and
set out at a brisk walk.

There was an exhilaration in the air that made my
tendons vibrate with the nervous tension of a well
53

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

strung violin, and, ere my manners checked me, the
old time habit overcame me, and one of Sousa's long
lost melodies came carolling from my whistling lips.

" Go on," she said.

I had stopped. It flasi ed over me, — that same two-
step, — that fated night on the echoing concrete of
old Rochester. When thirty years ago I had dropped
the tune, mechanically at the very note I had now
picked it up again.

The uncanny coincidence startled me, I remarked
the odd circumstance to Vera.

" Then finish it."

When the last strain was ended, I paused for the
applause-

" I never heard it before. It is beautiful, it is life
and real motion. Let me hear another."

So whistling or maybe singing, we went our merry
way, like children on a summer holiday.

I had become by this time fairly reconciled to my
costume, though I had, until I saw the contrary, pre-
sumed that my companion's mantle was merely do-
mestic apparel.

Yet after all, it is by comparison we judge. The
beach and the ball-room have their own several stand-
ards, and it is not so much in what the garments are,
but how they surpass in circumstance their own
standard that they shock us.

So it was more with a self-conscious satisfaction
with my own superlative redundancy of raiment than
with consternation at what others lacked, that I
54

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

observed the youths and maidens whom we met.
These both were as a rule clad in a sleeveless tunic,
caught in with a cord or belt, that fluttered to their
knees like kilts, and waved a highland greeting to
the sandals far below.

It was a simple outfit, and allowed completest free-
dom to the agile graceful bodies which it draped. Yet
though it gave exposure to an abundance of fair olive
skin, nothing immodest or objectionable seemed to
have the faintest abode in either the costume or the
demeanor of the wearers.

Another costume, in some respects even more
simple than the former, in that it needed no shaping
or cutting was simply a long, broad scarf, or strip of
cloth several yards long. This was first thrown over
the left shoulder and hung down the back to the knees.
The front end was passed under the right arm, and
around the hips and continuing several turns and then
the end, carried down inside the windings fell to
about the knees in front. Two or three buttons or
toggles on each thigh caught the edges of material to-
gether to form a very primitive skirt. The cloth
was a woolen, very finely woven substance, and
seemed to me to be a knit, rather than a woven manu-
facture, but as fine a texture as could be desired. It
was the yielding, compressible consistency that en-
abled one to bunch it over the shoulder without un-
sightliness, and, on the other hand to stretch it to its
full width without undue diaphanousness. Only the
caprice of the owner gave limit to the color, which
55

AFTER THE CATACLYSM.
might vary from ivory white to the darkest purple
maroon or olive. It required quite an art to robe
oneself with such a simple drapery and to bring the
ends out even. And yet. after a little practice it
seemed as easy as knotting a necktie. There was in
the costume that they wore, no distinction either of
sex or age. Mr. White's inclination was toward the
tunic; Vera and I preferred the scarf drapery

As this one and another passed us, singing as they
went alo.-ig and merely pausing for a salutation, I
asked my companion the names.

" Oh, I don't know."

" They spoke to you ? "

th J'be'fol'^""' "" ' '""'* *"""' *"- ' -- --
The impression that the people gave me was of the
country side in happiest humor on their way to see
the circus. Perhaps through association, the thought
was suggested to me by our meeting two huge dogs.
I actually supposed, even when quite near them, that
hey were the ordinary brown bear native long ago to
the locality, and was only undeceived when I^aw

yrZ?" ' V"'"^ '^''' ^"""y ''"'^«- They sniffed
around me rather suspiciously, I must confess, and I
did not enjoy the dubious twinkle of their little beady
eyes but at a word fror Vera they walked away
satisfied apparently in their opinion of me

fhHH^T.u"'" -^"f ''^^ *•"= '"""^ ^^« cultivated to

Jn.1,? '* "^°^"^ " ""='' ^^^^h °f °^<=hard and

shrubbery, among which flowers were not forbidden

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

I do not recall any plowed fields or any large expanse
of gram. "^

.J!'T "^"^ "° ^'""'' •""* ^™™ *•''« 't did not follow
that there were no definite boundaries between neigh-
Dors Yet no demarkation line of weeds or unsightly

tion of good will and friendliness.
With my knowledge of the climate, and the absence

Tt,?!., T"*' u^''°"' °' ''""Sr* that once accentu-
ated the atmosphenc changes and shifting seasons of
the past, I could now understand how the frail sum-

to';rdLand.''"'''"" *'" ^"'^"""' - -'--

,„!?" ^r "^ '°.°' '""'' '"'■'ounded each dwelling;
and while many homes showed evidences of excellent

Ws^iTti: ZdJse.'^"'' ^•'°"^'' -"' ^PP--"''*'

The ruins of the old city had been abandoned.
cfTh!!" ^"^,*!"-»''bery held undisturbed possession
to^J^ "^ ''°"' ^''"'^ *•«'* "'"''«d the devasta"
of Stl s! ^T "■^'^'l"^'^- The castellated splendor

bort,^^nftI "", "° "°"' '"* ^"^ "''gnificent lawns
bordering the ample avenue were still, in their present
occupation a scene of beauty. '^

Keeping to the westward, and skirting the city we
contmued toward the lake.

Charlotte and its desolate harbor had, under the
hand of nature, taken on a guise that seni a touch oj
S7

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

sadness over me. The place resembled one vast
ancient cemetery.

It was not strange that the absence of all industry,
or rather of toil, should suggest a subject of conversa-
tion.
I remarked upon the lack of vehicles.
"You must remember,," said Vera, "that not
twenty years have elapsed since the cataclysm. The
energy and strife, the boundless ambition of the rich,
the ceaseless struggle for existence of the poor, there
reached a climax, and when the morning of another
era dawned, it was not further labor, it was rest that
came.

How much of all the industry of your day tended
to happiness? What purpose did all those mammoth
productions serve? Then, those that had wealth built
costly palaces, and filled them with ostentatious orna-
ment. As shelter for the winter's cold and summer
tempest, dwellings must necessarily be substantial.
None the less, pride and emulation urged on the weary
workers to gather about them v^anities that often had
their only value in their cost.

Even apart from the luxuries, so called, of the past,
the struggle for their daily bread and for a shelter
from the weather compelled continual labor. In how
much of all this was real happiness? The railroads
and ships carried from place to placr the food, the
fuel, and clothing of the worid, the calls of business
gave urgency to travelers.
Some favored ones, in search of pleasure or excite-
58

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

ment, wandered about the globe, seeing and being
seen. True, much of this was in pursuit of proper
knowledge and in ministering to a worthy enjoyment
of nature. But much was only to find new flavors for
an appetite sated with all luxuries that wealth could
buy. To them the value was the money cost. Com-
pare the beauty of the lily with the glory of great
Solomon ; and then, against the dainty flower of the
field, set up the barbarous gold and ornament which
gratify the great, partly, perhaps, in that they dazzle
the envious poor.

If the dictum of the Teacher is correct, how false
must be the eye that sees nothing to be desired but
in the sparkle of the lapidary's art. Yet it requires
an unperverted taste and judgment to give to the gems
of Paradise, that deck the verdant bosom of our
Mother Earth, the rose and violet, a higher honor than
to the flashing diamond. The verdict differs in that
wisdom and vanity have contrary standards.
Eliminate pride and necessity, and, what is left?
Given a constant climate such as now, food from
the trees, provided by nature, and always waiting
to be plucked, and free to all that choose to take it
garments which serve rather to cover than to protect'
then see how little is left. '

The occupation of the merchantman, the carrier of
gram and coal is gone. When consumption ceases,
the factories must close.

With all this land about us, we choose a plot of
ground, we build a little shelter from the infrequent
59

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

rain, because we occupy it we possess it. That is our
title."

We were sitting on a wooded slope that commanded
a fair view of the blue waters of Ontario. The cloud-
less azure overhead, the steady and slow pulsing of the
sleeping sea beyond, the fluttering bees and butterflies
that danced in the fragrant sunshine, seemed like a
dream of an enchanted Italy. Here might the wander-
ing Grecians rest as amid the palms and lotus, ne'er to
return to Argos or the Islands of the iEgean.

From the branches swinging over us, offering their
unforbidden fruit, we accepted our midday meal, eat-
ing and chatting, at least for me, in thorough con-
tentment with the present.

Merely to rest and indolently gaze upon the picture
spread before us was happiness. No morrow at the
desk or workshop thrust its unwelcome visage in be-
tween us and the comfort of the moment. There was
a luxury in such quiet contemplation of this peaceful
harmony unmarred by any jarring note. Simply to
be, to breathe that balmy air whose every inhalation
seemed like a vitalizing fluid, was exquisite enjoyment.
The careless abandon of my companion, reclining on
her elbow there beside me, laughing into my eyes as
some remark of mine maybe amused her, or lazily toss-
ing a little tuft of grass or flowers at her pretty toes
or dimpled knee, suggested to me in a hazy way as
from the distant past, a hint of impropriety in the
situation.

Yet I must do myself the justice of admitting that
60

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

«y a strange perversity of mind, it almost iarred mv

Do you want to hurt my feelings? "
Far from it." *

" VT. l°A "^"^ T ""^ *''*"• What is it? "
out here »n r"' r"*''" ''""^ ^* ^^^'^ ^"""g away
XhtTet?a";iTf" ''' '^ ""^— '^ tHat w^

fo^e'efem!;;^- ' *°'' '""' "°^ *° ^P- - back be-

sion^ije this by themseLs. JuS fhem^l V^'^"''

^^ uidn t you m your time? "

" Well, toward the verv late «•„. . .

our wheels and go into^l'^l^^^'^J^^f Jf «
but the old folks found it hard n o-T ^''^."''"'
modem ways." ° ^''^ reconciled tc

'•And what did you yourselves think?"
That depends. Not every one is fitted for liberty
61

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

P !i I

But then again, not every one is controlled by re-
straint."

" Ah, now I am beginning to understand you. No,
you have not hurt my feelings even a little bit. Per-
haps, in its subtlest form your underlying motive is a
rare compliment. But, do you know, you have posi-
tively contributed to my happiness."

"How so?"

" Has it occurred to you that you are to us as much
a subject of curiosity, .or, let me say interest, as prob-
ably this new environment is to yourself. You are a
being of a past century projected into the New Age.

" When you awoke to consciousness only a week or
so ago, you had not in the interim divested yourself
of your past personality. To meet you was as if I had
taken a long step backward over those intervening
thirty years and been introduced to you in some
parlor of old Rochester. Yes, I can somewhat com-
prehend just how the young men I might there meet
would stare at me. This simple drapery, — I remem-
ber how you looked at me when you awoke from your
two days' slumber, how you clutched at your own
disordered covering, and may I beg your pardon when
I tell you it was the first real sadness I have felt since
long ago. I thought, as soon as I said it, you would
misjudge my seeming flippancy about your sandals,
and yet, the very words you thought might pain me
have given me more pleasure than you may imagfine."

"Truly I am glad to hear it, but how?"

" Well, candidly, suppose we take the step back-
62

AFTER THE CATACLYSM
ward into, let us say 1899. On such a little excursion
as this you meet some simple, pretty country girl,
and. or rather this is what I mean, do you not see a
different mental attitude to^ay in you from what
you would expect in 1899? Why those proprieties
that crcumscnbed the actions and intercourse of those
times except as restraints to hold in check the weak-
nesses of nature?"

" But then some of us "

■' No, no! I find no fault with individuals as such.
The pine .s readily shaped, is soft and yielding, will
break beneath a trifling strain. But it is not t the
mouth of the oak to boast itself in its greater hard-
ness and endurance. Each is as nature made them
and subject to the variations of environment. Per-
haps this will not in full apply to man as in his fallen

Tw.^c'^T'^"^'^^ ^'' wickedness and weakness
to h s Creator, but at all events, it is not for us who

\Z!r ^™'" *''"P.t''«on to stand in judgment over
those surrounded with evil allurements. No, my heart
would sooner go out in pity and compassion fo^
groaning humanity groping in blindness for the lisht
![, rr'""^ '" '^1"' *°"y *° ^ "^^PP-^s that is but
s^elfilTs':^- ^''^"' ^^•=" ^ ""'^ ^^"^ '•^^ -- oi
"A child! there you have struck the keynote. Did

that as I look at you. as I look at myself, us two I

more faultlessly angelic than the abandon of a perfect
63

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

innocence? V/hat purer than the nakedness of in-
fancy? But there the fact comes in that puzzles me.
If what I have come through had been a resurrection,
and a body just awakened from the sleep of death, I
could comprehend the possibihty of a different nature."

" No, it certainly is not the Resurrection, though it
seems strangely like it. You have waked up, too, out
of a long sleep, but that does not reach the diflSculty.
When you awoke you were even as when you first
lost consciousness. But since the awakening have you
not progressed? There is where the answer to the
riddle that interrogated myself when you first awoke
is found. The people of the past thirty years went
through the chastening of a bitter darkness before
their new and better morning dawned. For you,
that experience was eliminated. Would we in you
find a being out of harmony with ourselves, or would
you become conformed to our situation? That is
the enigma, and to-day the solution is confirmed. But
in justice to myself, don't accuse me of precipitating
this to your peculiar, but to me perfectly proper situ-
ation, in order to force or anticipate its mystery, and
so gratify an impatient curiosity."

" Still, to me the mystery remains."

" When you recall your infancy and compare it with
your manhood, what constitutes the difference in
moral state? You have acquired a knowledge of evil ;
unfortiinately, you have also developed a tendency lo
evil. The inherent weakness as well as wrickedness
of the flesh conspire with the temptations from the
64

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

Wicked One directly or through your companions, to
compel you to acts of evil. And yet your truer self,
the remnant of that Lost Inheritance, even then has
for some fleeting moments revolted against the bur-
den of false allurement that weighed you down. You
recalled that assertion of the better nature, conscience.
And when you did evil, has not that better nature
sometimes afterward lashed you for your folly; and
yet, in spite of all, you turned to it again? "

" In the past, a few, whom probably you mocked as
enthusiasts or fanatics, toiled to stem the tide, but
with such small success as you remember. Right-
eousness, bleeding and crushed, would lie unburied
m your streets, while vice rejoiced. So much was
that a common thing, the unnatural in a good crea-
tion the usual, that, when the order of the universe
1- now restored, you account these rather than the
disjomted times, the miracle.

" You remember as my father has told you, when
the day dawned after that last shudder of a final
earthquake, the people had found truth. Evil was
then grasped and held by the Almighty with a strong
hand, and the Eternal Pity wrought compassionately.
If now, m the Restoration, we wish to walk aright the
highway is prepared and the stones are gathered' up
The temptation to do evil, the false allurements are
destroyed. Given the desire for good, the having is
secure. Don't suppose but that there are some, a min-
ority, remaining who still are bad. Fome, perhaps,
may never mend; but, however they may be at
65

11: I*:-

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

liberty to injure themselves, they can do no harm to
their fellows. With ail other evil, they are under the
restraint, and when with fullest time and opportunity
they persist in evil, their sure end will be utter de-
struction. Even the wild beasts of the forests are
under the same control. But as to those who will be
awakened out of the sleep of death, the same yet
changed to what fundamentally now are we, what of
their progression? Your problem is in a measure
theirs ; can the abundance of present good absorb their
residuum of evil; or of you, who awoke but from
a trance, escaping the chastening of the great Tribu-
lation, and in a measure their prototype, what stripes
were in store for you ; how could we help or lead you,
how would you adjust yourself to this new environ-
ment? I was afraid, — I did not know, — but as I, with
some trembling I confess, watched you and noted
your changing differences; Oh, I am so glad! so
glad!"

And then we started on our homeward journey.

Like little children, or like some elder brother from
the war just home, there with an only sister, hand in
hand we retraced our steps. The shadow of a g^eat
mist had lifted from off me, and in the brighter sun-
shine of a loftier light, music as from the morning
songbirds filled my unburdened heart.

(36

CHAPTER IX.

I WAS surprised to notice that although our walk
had covered twenty miles, I did not feel the least bit
weary on my return shortly before tea-time.
Mr. White met us as we came up the lawn.
" You have been seeing the country? "
" Yes, looking over the landmarks."
"I think," pursued Mr. White, "you expressed
some curiosity regarding our present flying machines.
If you have nothing better in hand, would you care
to come down to the post office and we probably will
catch the evening aero delivering the mail?"

Of course, I would be only too glad to go. Vera
excused herself as I thanked her for her good com-
pany, and we, Mr. White and I, started up the road in
the direction opposite to that his daughter and I had
taken m the morning.

We reached our destination, a little country post
office much on the old familiar type, with a good ten
mmutes to spare.

" You will understand, my friend, that during the

past few years of the regeneration we have had many

thmgs to do. The tangled confusion of aflFairs called

for the first attention. As there were no masters,

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

there were no servants. With no approaching winter
demanding haste, each one took things leisurely.

" The food problem had been solved by the spontan-
eous and abundant provision of Nature. The devas-
tation was so widespread that little choice of locality
remained. Of course, for grain crops a level field
would be in demand, but with an orchard, or for
vines or bushes, a hillside was as good as meadow.

" Each one took wl^at he felt he needed, and so laid
out his lot as not to interfere with his neighbor's
rights. There was land in abundance for all. No
one appropriated more than personallyhe could reason-
ably use. He could not hire men to work his land, for
when there were no needy ones, wages had no attrac-
tions. What would money buy? Food? Food could be
had for the plucking. Raiment? This the community
had early taken in hand, and what was needed could
be procured for the asking, or by the few days' labor at
the common looms, and with our simple garments that
was a simple want. A dwelling? Any little booth
would serve the purpose, and the erection of a larger
house was but the pleasurable labor that gives exercise
and lends interest to living.

" The Public Services were not re-organized for fully
five years after the CatacHsm. In fact, each individ-
ual was so intent upon the home affairs that touched
himself and family, or little group of neighbors, that
no one seemed to realize the want of any National
establishments. Even now, the postal service has

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

small patronage, the mere carriage of correspondence
between relatives and friends."

Just then, skimming over a low hill-top about a mile
away, and perhaps an hundred and fifty feet above the
ground, Mr. White pointed out to me the mail courier.
I had been looking with some expectation away up
in the clouds, trying in vain to resolve an imaginary
dot or distant bird into a flying-machine- So I was a
good deal surprised to see the reality in the direction
indicated.

It was not what I expected. I had fancied I might
see a huge elongated balloon someway or other pro-
pelled, or maybe a great expanse of horizontal canvas,
a big aeroplane, perhaps a double or a triple decker
slicing the clouds as it swooped down from the
heavens.

Instead, as this dragon-fly thing approached, de-
cidedly with swiftness, the view from front showed
the line of an isosceles triangle inverted, its apex a
very obtuse angle. Its spread was about twenty feet,
and from this base or cross-tie to the lower angle was
I should judge, six feet. In the mathematical centre
of this triangle was a spindle, on the forward tip of
which two tandem fans or propellers whirled in op-
posite directions.

Suspended below was a light, square-framed cage in
which the driver sat.

I had no time for further observation before the
machine, keeping its speed close to the ground, was
almost on us, and then I saw the driver with some

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

effort strongly pros the lever down. The result was
that r level sail or plane hinged at its front edge to
the upper cross-tie, took an angle of some thirty de-
grees out of the horizontal, pointing forwa.d and up,
and the machine with a little tilt and rise, diecked it-
self quickly, and gracefully settled to the ground. The
wide rimmed wheels at the extremity of four elastic
shafts pointing forward and aft like the extended
legs of a galloping horse, took up the small remaining
motion, and, the propellers stopped, the thing was at
a standstill within twenty feet of the spot where it
had alighted.

I now had a very welcome opportunity for exam-
ining the affair.

The driver, an intelligent and agreeable young fel-
low of about twenty, while he waited the postmaster's
pleasure, undertook to explain to me the mechanical
construction of the machine.

Built above the narrow oblong cage intended for the
driver were a succession of light metal triangles shaped
as I described, and stayed with cross-wires. Their
lower angles were in a line so as to form a prismatic
framework, its ends inverted isosceles triangles and
its three sides rectangles about ten feet long. The
under surface of the sides (except a strip about two
feet wide adjacent the central bottom edge) was
covered with a thin hard material like cellt'loid, and,
over against this veneering, the inner sides of the ribs,
to avoid unnecessary friction, were sealed with oiled
cotton or silk. The first triangle frames graduated
70

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

larger and their lower angle more acute, with the re-
sult that the upper forward points had a very jaunty
little upward tilt. A stiflFened sail or mat about ten
feet square occupied the middle of the rectangular
level or top of the prism.

When the aero was in motion, this latter plane had
sustaining power, but its special use was to check the
forward motion of the n/xhine, and give it ease in
alighting.

In its flight I had not observed the, to me, extra-
ordinary length of what I have called the spindle
which ran from front to rear through the mathematical
middle of the triangular framework. This spindle
was fully sixty feet long, three-quarters of it abaft and
one-quarter of it forward the centre of the aeroplanes.
On the stem, as before mentioned, were propellers.
On the tail end were four thin surfaces about five feet
long and about two feet wide, two horirontal and two
perpendicular, set like the feathers of an arrow. These
planes were further extended, but were flexible and
moved sideways or up and down as a double rudder
according to the desire of the steersman.

Probably to prevent vibration, as well as for further
strength, this spindle was trussed with wire, and also
was firmly affixed by braces to the prismic aeroplanes.
That part of the spindle inside the prism was swollen
like a bulb, or of torpedo shape, and at its largest
diameter measured about two feet through.

I could not see into it, but the driver told me that
it was cellular inside like a honeycomb, and contained
71

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

compreued air at a preasure of about four hundred
pounds.

Thi« compressed air could be supplied either from
the power houses, or as an auxiliary, a small cylinder
of liquid air could be clamped on and utilized.

The driving machinery was very simple. The for-
ward propeller was on a solid shaft that ran right
through this bulb from end to end. For about eight
feet of its length, inside the bulb, some fifty sets of
little flat metal chisel teeth, two inches long, pro-
jected like successive rows of spokes from a hub, but
all like small propeller blades, turned on a certain
angle in one direction. Toward the stem, these blades
were a little longer and had a shade less pitch than at
the bow. They were in sets, and between each
annular set was a clear space of about an inch.

The spindle of the other driving fan (this was a
little larger and went somewhat slower than its fellow
about two feet further forward) revolved on the same
centre as the other, but its shaft was a tube which
fitted closely on the shaft of the other. When this
outer shaft or tube reached the interior of the bulb,
it expanded into a larger diameter, forming a cylinder
six inches through. From the inside of this' cylinder,
like spokes from a wheel rim, when the hub is re-
moved, projected a multitude of these thin chisel
blades, but with a pitch counter to those bristling from
the inner shaft, and in sets to occupy the vacant rings.
Collars and flanges on these two shafts took up all
lateral motion, but allowed them both to revolve
72

AFTER THE CATACLYSM
freely. To start the power it wu only necessary to
open a throttle valve, and let the expanding air
through the forward box into the front end of the
contra-toothed cylinder. As this air ,a !er pressure
forced Its way to the external openlM^ r t»,e r,.,:,„
end, U drove the intervening little pr. k .I; -, to ie; c r
nght and sent the both shafts .,. „u.,g :, opn.;,i,
directions.

As the compressed air in its re ctvoi, „ou!d u.nmt
somewhat exhausted, the throu.e valw would be
opened wider to compensate.

The little mail bag had now arrived . .,i was nut
with the other trifling freight in a canvas saddle or
jacket slung around the bulb.
We waited to see the machine start.
The driver (who also was captain, engineer, purser,
postman and the crew) first gave the rear of the uppe^
honzontal hinged plane a tilt of about ten degrees
downward. Then his tiller turned the rudder tM to
an opposite, but even more decided slant.

The spectators seemed to understand the comin?
manoeuvres and gave a clear right of way

As the throttle opened, slowly the fan propellers
began to sw.ri, then swifter, while the aero gently
started forward acquiring speed at every yard untH
at last from a slight elevation in the roZdway it dis-

oJ tstrtt.tr""''' '"''"''' " "'''*' ^'"^"^ '"■'«' -th
outstre ched pmions on its native element, soared aloft
and quickly floated far away from sight
The first fact that occurred to me, and which I re-
73

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

marked to Mr. White as we were walking homeward,
was that, taking the machine all for all, there was not
a single mechanical principle nor motive force that
was not perfectly familiar to our inventors years be-
fore the beginning of the century.
" That is so."

" Well, how comes it that the flying machine then
was not in use long before 1912?"

" There are two reasons. Leaving aside any theory
to the effect that inventions, like other inspirations,
are only given to mankind when on the Almighty's
calender the time is ripe, and that the Ruler of the
Universe removes the scales from someone's eyes and
discloses, as its hour arrives, some combination maybe
of simple principles common to the race for perhaps a
thousand years, and which theory has been at.aaced
to explain why two inventors, continents apart,
honestly and without collusion discover or uncover the
same idea at the same moment; leaving this theory
aside, you will notice that, while machinists had the
mechanical principles, they had not perfected in union
the arts of balancing. I say, in union, because the
several and separate ideas were well understood. The
scientific possibilities of the aeroplane were thoroughly
comprehended. The metal-pointed, feather-tipped
arrow had made us, Saxons victors in the far days of
Cr6cy. When mechanics properly combined the
arrow and the aero-plane, there was the flying machine.
For years, it is true, the wings had been perfected,
they forgot entirely the tail. Without the latter, the
74

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

aeroplane dived here and there— was uncontrollable.
" It was folly to attempt a canter through the
clouds on such an unbroken Pegasus. Even with the
weighted wings, the further mistake was made of sus-
pending the burden and driving power like a keel in-
stead -f centering it.

" By putting the main weight and propellers in the
middle between the planes, the air resistance or sur-
face friction on the planes was always balanced on
the centre of impact and propulsion.

" A very light pendulum would serve to keep the air-
ship on an even keel.

" Instead, with the balance not respected, an eddying
gust or varying wind would continually increase or
diminish the friction on the light aeroplanes, while
the energy or inertia of the heavier parts suspended
would not feel a corresponding start or stoppage, and
the top-heavy, or rather top-light affair would lose its
equilibrium. But, with the arrow centered within
its sustaining wings, the solution was found.

" None the less, you might hand a perfect bicycle to
a skilled mechanic; it would be one thing to under-
stand its subtle principles, an altogether different
thing to ride and master it.

" So with the air-cycle, only that with the latter a
tumble or an accident meant death.

"Experiment thus was circumscribed. However,

with the wireless telegraphy, a steering gear witn

valves like a pneumatic organ under compressed air

was easily constructed. By his corresponding tiller

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

safely fixed on mother earth the manager through his
conjoining electric force could steer his model air-ship
high above.

"After many failures, and much delicate material
smashed to atoms, ultimately the proper proportions
and right methods were discovered, and then, with
heart of oak and triple brass, the first bold captain on
the Ethereal Sea launched out, and the motor airship
was in being."

" I notice, Mr. White, that you have not yet replaced
the telegraph wires. Have you so little need for dis-
patch in these days of leisure, that you can dispense
with an electric service? I don't think that I have
noticed a single line anywhere? "

" Your mistake, my friend, is in supposing we need
wires now at all. That is one of the few instances
where an advance in invention decidedly favored the
government. Marconi discovered that by diffusing
the electric vibration into the atmosphere a sensitive
instrument could be influenced many miles away. *

The Roentgen ray revealed a co-relation between
light and electricity, whereby the motion of light rays
could be so intensified by electric power as to cause
the actinic influence of light to penetrate several inches
of opaque matter.

" It was not long until the reverse of this principle
was worked out, namely, that electricity could be so
intermeshed with the more subtle light waves as to

• Note. This chapter was written in 1900, just after Marconi's
hrst unimproved wireless invention.

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

assume certain properties belonging to light. Among
these was reflection of the electric rays. Reflection
comprehended also the ability to focus or concentrate
electric radiation by curved deflectors or lenses.

" It was found that the reason why Marconi's signal-
ing from balloons or very high towers gave better re-
sults than from a lower level, wa" cot so much be-
cause the magnetic influence travelled easier in the
upper ether, as that the rotundity of the globe in-
truded between the terminal points, cutting the
straight line of electric direction unless the transmit-
ting and receiving points were sufficiently high.

" The next step was to perfect relay instruments at
proper distances apart, to take up, augment by batter-
ies, and automatically pass along as received, the
travelling message."

" Possibly that tall mast at the Post Oflice has some-
thing to do with the afl?air? "

" Yes, if you examine those four black square boxes
at the top, you may perhaps conclude that they are
ordinary locomotive headlights, only that in place of
the flame is a bristling copper, shaped like the spike
flower of the Scotch thistle. Then the reflecting sides
are made of highly polished vulcanized rubber, backed
with pure zinc.

These are 'senders" and they are turned, just as
a search-light would be aimed, in the exact direction
of the next oflice or relay instrument.

Above these reflectors and so out of their influence,
you may have noticed trumpet-shaped "receivers" of
77

Ill

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

similar rubber, pointed horizontally in the course from
which their ray is coming. Inside this bell mouth, at
the far end, is a thin disc of flat copper.

The parabolic curve of the transmitter governs the
concentration of the electric emanation. Concentra-
tion tends to economy of the force, but it is not always
desirable to confine the rays too much. Several
offices need to be served by the one diffusion, some in
the same line, others a little to the right or left. The
focus is accordingly made to suit, and embrace in its
angle of influence all the interested offices.

At first a difficulty existed to individualize the tele-
grams so that each might get its own and no other
message. But this trouble was finally surmounted.

Each office had its own musical tone, which, how-
ever, must not be in harmony with any other. Nor
must the pitches be multiples or over-tones of each
other. For instance, the pitch of M's office is 643
vibrations, that of Q is 710, and that of Z i« 6S7.

Set in the virire between the receiver and the
recorder is the vibrator. In the sender's office, in the
wire between the transmitter and the radiator, is a
vibrator which can be tuned quickly to any desired
pitch. This the sender first adjusts to the exact note
of the intended receiving office- Then putting his
vibrator, as set, in motion, he opens his key and a long
preliminary dash causes its prime or similarly pitched
vibrator in the other office also to agitate. On this
like oscillation a sufficiency of continuous current is
given for a satisfactory telegraphy. The message, too,
78

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

is practically secret, as to steal it one must erect his
instrument in. the line of direction and also must know
before hand to a vibration the arbitrary pitch. To tap
a wire in the olden days was a much simpler job.

It was about 1904, when this system was perfected.
The Telegraph Monopoly saw the peril to themselves
of the invention, and as the saccessive patents were
granted, bought them in order to prevent competition.
Our Post-master General had also been awake, and
had set his heart on making the telegraph system
national, in common with the mail service. He took
the Secretary of War into his confidence, and between
them they concocted their plans of action.

It happened that the inventor of a successful field
gun had sold his rights to the French Government, and
the French, to prevent the other governments from
using them had impudently patented them in Ger-
many, England and the United States. Of course, on
the ground of not putting the article on the market,
the patent could be attacked, but all the same it af-
forded the desired excuse.

Our Secretary of War, on the pretence that he was
after this foreign ordinance, got a measure through
Congress to the effect that whenever the holder of any
patent or an invention in the United States failed or
neglected to put the patented article in the market,
and give the general public an opportunity to purchase
the same at fair prices, then the United States could at
its option confiscate the patent, and itself manufacture
as it chose the article, and develop the invention for
79

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

tfc« benefit of the people, or for the advantage of the
public services.

The Telegraph Monopoly was caught napping. Our
government appropriated the wireless telegraphy
pateats.

As fast as the Post Office Department could manu-
facture the machines, system after system was in-
stalled, and the public were given a "twenty-five
words for a nickef'service. Of course, big lawsuits
followed and the Telegraph Combine did its best by
competition and other methods not mentionable to
hold their monopoly, but, for once, the government
triumphed. The main reason for the victory was that
the government intended and desired to win. And so
it came about that their thousands of miles of wire
were reduced to scrap and were left to rust in the
ocean of watered stock of the great Telegraph Mon-
opoly.

CHAPTER X.

Vera and Mr. White were both engaged in the after-
noon of next day, and so I started out by myself to
see what I could discover.

The general locality I fairly understood but I felt
that the present roads were new to me, the oM land-
marks lost, and the possibility of losing myself w«s
certainly existant. I announced my intention to Vera,
and at the same time cautioned her not to lock me <mt
if I failed to return before dark. As there was noth-
ing stronger than a curtain to close any doorway in
the house, my absolute and forcible exclusion was not
very probable, but if I were delayed, my friends might
be disturbed at my absence.

" No, I hope to be in by supper-time, but possibly
I may go astray, so don't worry about me."

"That will be all right! we won't worry. If you
miss your way and night overtakes you, step in at any
house near you, tell them you need the kindness of
their hospitality, and, I assure you, they will consider
it a real pleasure to shelter you as long as you may
care to stay. Don't for a moment deem yourself an
intruder, you will be sincerely welcomed. If you are
hungry, pick from the trees by the roadside what you
wish, it is yours. If you are not home by nightfall,
81

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

if you go astray, if anything that entertains you keeps
you, don't let any supposition of our anxiety mar your
pleasure, you will be back to-morrow."

When I first thought tc ' o for a stroll, I had not the
least intention of going very *«r, and it was only super-
lative caution that led me tc ... ntion to Vera the pos-
sibility of my, being bebV: : But, as I sauntered up
the road and past the Pc st Office, the idea began to
grow on me that it might be interesting to put into
execution Vera's unintended suggestion, and investi-
gate Rochester suburbs by starlight.

All the same as it was not yet three o'clock, there
were still some hours of daylight, and plenty of time
for repentance and to rescind the resolution should I
think better of it.

I had learned enough in my walk with Vera, to
return the greetings of the strangers I met.

In fact, I so far had grown up and through the clay-
cold conventionalities of the old civilization as to look
upon a formal introduction as totally unnecessary, and
to take for granted a willingness to reciprocate in
kindness. It was thus without hesitation that I ap-
plied for any desired information to any one I chanced
to accost.

The uniform courtesy and consideration I exper-
ienced, I still recall with distinct pleasure.

Sometimes I would overtake or be overtaken by a
fellow traveller, but though I was a perfect stranger,
I was treated with cordiality and in a manner totally
lacking offishness or suspicion.
82

AFTER THE CATACLYSM
To a few whom I met, my history was to some ex-
tent famihar and these manifested a great interest in
me. Still, they showed no disposition to be curious
or mquisitive. and their few and polite questions were
so expressed as to be neither distasteful nor unwar-
ranted by the dictates of best breeding. But it was
not so much their politeness as their hearty concern
for my own com.rrt, that impressed me.

I must have traveled nine or ten miles from home,
and was balancing in my mind the question of a return
or a continuance of my journey, when three young
Iad.es overtook me. I was going to speak of them as
girls, for they had the vigor and freshness, the buoy-
ancy and spirit of a lass of sixteen, yet their growth
and figure betokened over twenty. All three were
decdedly handsome, and with a grace and style that
would demand more than a passing look in the swellest
ball-room of old Rochester.

I suppose that their absolute unconsciousness of my
emharrasanent at the situation, (for in spite of my
boastmg. I was decidedly taken aback at this wind-
tall of loveliness) carried us all with surprising ease
across the delicate first steps of acquaintanceship.
But so ,t was for ere we had gone many yards to-
gether, we had become like old companions.

Their way had a sort of cousinly comraderie about
t a natural and to be expected fellowship that robbed
their pleasing sociability of any grating undertone in-
duced by forwardness and ill-manners
It is of no interest, the many things of which we
83

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

talked, mainly of those trifles that pave the way to
better acquaintanceship. But even concerning these
to them commonplaces, I was so ignorant, and had in
so many ways to guard and check myself to avoid
some ridiculous mistake, that at least in sheer justice
to my intelligence I made a clear confession of my in-
ability to follow rationally some of their remarks, and
told the whole reason.

" Then you are indeed a stranger."

" But you won't go back to Mr. White's this even-
ing?"

" No, I don't think I will return till morning. This
air is so pleasant, I will lie down later on, and sleep
under some bush for the night."

" Bush I Nothing of the sort, you will sleep with
us."

" Yes, come along, we are going just over yonder to
the Archibalds to tea, and they will be glad to have
the stranger from Mars."

" Can you dance? "

" Dance? " I replied, and certainly it was to me the
most amusing question of all the many strange inter-
rogations I had heard that day. " Why, I thought you
were all good now, surely yor don't dance ? "

" But who said dancing was not good? "

"Is it good now?"

" Certainly, we all dance"

" Polkas, lancers, waltzes?"

" Yes."

"Then I am glad I came."
84

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

"Their momentary serioutnest simmered into •
■mile. I was their willing prisoner. And so, as we
went along we improved our acquaintanceship.

1 had been on the point of relating a few of the
ancient prejudices and objections urged in my day
by many worthy people upon the inadvisability of
dancing, but something restrained me.
We had now reached our destination.
The Archibald property was a little larger than the
ordinary and more than usually wooded.

As we entered the grounds, we heard proceeding
from a shed on our left, some hammering which might
indicate that carpenters were at work.

The young ladies decided that it was a fit matter
for investigation, and, with an air of familiarity which
showed them perfectly at home on the premises, they
followed up the sound until they discovered the
authors.

The creators of the commotion were found to be
the two young men of the family, amateur mechanics
both, and busily intent upon the work before them.

When I was formally introduced, the lads began
enthusiastically to describe and explain the merits and
purposes of their invention. That they were ingenious
was evident, but that they were not thoroughly ac-
quainted with all the contrivances in use in my time
(it was a convenient phrase) was also apparent.

It did not at all hurt their feelings when I pointed
out such of their ideas as had been anticipated, though
It was only at their direct request that I did so and
85

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(ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2)

APPLIED IN/MGE In

1653 East Uo!n Strati
RochMt«r, N««r York 14609 US*
(716) 482 - 0300 - Phon, ^^

(716) 288- 5989 -Fg.

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

explained the features of similarity. It was enough
to them that the discovery was, on their part, original,
and had their next neighbor forestalled them in every
particular by inventions upon the same lines, I doubt
if they would have bestowed on him worse than con-
gratulations.

This entire absence of envy I exceedingly admired
in the fellows, and when on a still severer test of
friendliness, I pointed out, under persuasion, some
further improvements somewhat diminishing the value
of their own ideas, th^ accepted it all in good part,
assuredly exhibiting a spirit that certified them of the
brotherhood.

This incident accentuated a fact I had both before
and after this occasion noticed, namely, that among all
the people I met, I found, whether in work, games, or
play, an utter and entire absence of rivalry, competi-
tion, envy, or striving for a selfish precedence.

As it was about tea-time, and as our intrusion upon
the haunts of industry had called a halt to laborious
deeds, we adjourned our chatter to the dwelling where
I met the household assembled.

The elders, others of the family and a few neigh-
bors made in all with ourselves, about fifteen at tea.
It was a merry meal, myself in just as happy a mood
as any of them.

It took the young ladies an exceptionally short time
to dress for the ball. A re-adjustment of their hair,
some magnificent roses, and a broad braided belt or

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

girdle constituted about all the features additional to
their afternoon toilet.

It was quite dark at half past seven, when we left
the house.

I had such a hazy idea of the prospective entertain-
ment, that I discreetly held my tongue, willing that
the future should unfold its own programme.

We had gone down the road about half a mile, when,
to our right, the liphts glowing and the merry voices
and echoing laughter clearly disclosed that yonder,
amid a grove of second growth hardwood neatly kept.'
was the place we sought.

There was no show of gaudy paint, no turrets, nor
Turkish towers, nor minarets obtruded themselves;
no fluttering flags.

A perfect floor, about two hundred feet in length
by one hundred broad, unbroken by a single pillar
but covered by a many gabled roof combining the
Norwegian sharpness with the curving Swiss was
there before us. Its unafTected simplicity was com-
pletely in taste with its sylvan setting.

The trussed interior was interlaced with a woven
network of rustic arches, which quite concealed the
massiveness of the necessary framing.

The side walls, between the upholding posts, were
open to the air, with only a rustic railing to mark the
margin. Delicate vines, and flowers of every hue had
found their way above the railing, and hung in
testooned splendor even from the topmost roof.
Suspended in profusion throughout the building, and
87

1^^

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

scattered here and there among the trees, were dainty
opal lights that gave to the conjoint panorama a
brightness and a glow of fairy beauty.

There is something about a stranger that always
marks him out as such, however large the gathering.
But the only recognition I had of my singularity was
that my friends left me neither lime nor opportunity
to ijalize the fact.

The short interval before the music struck up we
spent in walking about and admiring the grounds iH
in making acquaintances.

My partner and guide, one of the three I had met a
few hours before, and to be still more specific, the
blackeyed damsel who had asked me if I could dance,
undertook to do the honors for me, and gave to those
to whom I was presented not so much a formal in-
troduction as a little bit of brief biography. Of
course, these were to but a few out of all those two
hundred present, but, as naturally and without vanity,
I may say I was to some extent an object of interest
and conversation, I found afterward the basis of
acquaintanceship already established when, without
further ceremony I chanced to speak to others.

I must confess I was at first disappointed with the
music.

That enchanting grove, where, from the boughs
hung pearly star fruit pendants, or through which the
lights like giant glow-worms lay in ambush for the
shadows, that flower-doomed roof with floor beneath

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

like amber-glass, I had thought to hear a kingly
orchestra and truly royal music.

I showed my ill-manners by remarking my disap-
pointment.

There was a touch of sadness in my companion's
face as she replied : —

" Vou forget we are only beginning yet."
" Ah."

And then I remembered that the professional, like
other things of the former days, had passed away, that
those who labored, worked for love and not for pay.

For amateurs the music certainly was fair. It
lacked a certain finish in execution, but then it showed
an intensity and movement that certified the players
enamored of their art.

"I have done my entertainers an injustice artd I
want you to forget what I have said."

" You see," she continued, " they are just ourselves.
The few who have learned to play, have brought such
instruments as they possess. Some play while others
danc-. They take turn about. One of 'our carpen-
ters, I thmk, is playing with them now."

" Yes, I forgot. It seems but yesterday I had lis-
tened to our swell theatre orchestras, and in this lovely
place, I thought nothing but Sousa's Band would fit
the occasion."

" I know, I know, you didn't understand; but never
mind, and yet, tell me, how would you improve it?"
"Do you want me to criticise it?"
" Criticism as a help is a favor."
89

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

" Well then, in the first place, there is too much
string in it. That solo violinist is certainly a very fine
player, he is music to the heart's core, and, in a smaller
room, he would be good, but this open place gives him
a disadvantage. Nothing but reeds and brass will fill
this space. It is practically outdoors with the sur-
rounding trees to strengthen and hold up the smaller
instruments. Playing from that central raised plat-
form, and with all those vines about, the music has
nothing behind to throw it, and much is lost too in the
leafy roof above."
" Then you have played yourself? "
" Yes, I have done a little. I have played in and
led a military band in the militia, once upon a time;
still, of course, I suppose things are different now.
But that music makes me wish I had my cornet back
again."
" Was that what you played in the L>and ? "
" Yes, they were once so foolish as to give me solo
cornet."
" You never playsd a violin ? "
" No, though I did a little on the flute."
" And if you had your comet back again — ? "
" I would try to coax the fellows to let me join the
band."
"Wouldn't you rather dance?"
" No. Oh, well, turn about, but say, have you the
entree to the orchestra balcony?"
" Now you want to run away from me."
" No. Now it's you that is cruel. I only want just
90

^FTER THE CATACLYSM

to look in, not that I suppose that they would take me
on the strength."

" Well, come recruit."

This was between the dances.

About the centre of the building, on the north side,
we found among the vines a narrow stair which led to
the balcony above.

As we reached the upper step, we met a young man
about to come down.

" Oh, Charlie," said my pilot, "we just wanted you
Are you busy?"

" Never."

" I have brought you an old bandsman of the last
century— do you remember Vera White's friend?"

" Very glad to meet you. Won't you both come in
and see us ? "

" Do you know he has been criticising your music? "

"See how my sins have found me out. But, in
revealing my ignorance, I have already endured my
punishment."

"I am sure there are many things in our music
that will justify criticism— and what did he say?"

" He said he wanted to join."

" Then join he shall."

" But Charlie, after he criticised your music ; "

"Just the man we want," and without further ado,
he reached out a hand to each of us and drew us into
the gallery square.

" A bandsman of the last century."

" A bandmaster of the year '94," added my indorser.
91

PI I

> 'Mi '

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

" I certainly was given a cordial welcome, and be-
iore the next number struck up, was sworn a true
and trusty kinsman of the order.

There was no instrument there that I could play.
A violin or 'cello was not in my line, and, in any event
not a scrap of music was visible.

It was time by now to warm the wax again, and I
wanted to see them start.

They could all play by note, I understood, but, fol-
lowing the solo, each one took his part, and picked
the harmony by ear.

It was a thing impossible to do with absolute cor-
rectness, to preserve the balance of the chords, and
not to trespass upon another's note. I marvelled at
the ear that they displayed, the almost intuition with
which they judged the harmonies and musical pro-
gression all seemed alike to anticipate.

It is one thing to throw in a "second " to a familiar
melody, a totally dififerent task to create a score to
embrace an orchestration of ten different instruments.
Given such innate talent, training and the proper in-
struments and music would make a band to beat the
world.

" Come, let us go down and finish this waltz."

" With pleasure."

The narrow stair descended, away we drifted on that
glittering surface, borne on the pinions of the dreamy
melody, away and among that multitude of joyous
faces, eddies of happiness upon a sea of purest pleas-
ure.

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

I must have been preoccupied, rudely so, for when
we stopped a moment, I was rallied on my silence-
" I was thinking."

" Does it always affect you that way? "
" No, but I have a little scheme on hand."
" Open your palm then and let us see."
" I will think it over a little first, where will I see
you and Charlie in the morning?"

" Yoti will see me at breakfast if you will come home
with me this evening and honor our roof with your
company over night."
" I will be delighted to see you home, but—"
" There is no ' but,' and surely you would not leave
me at the door step. Of course, you will stay with
us, and my mother and sisters— to be sure you will.
My mother would, I know, like to meet you, and then
your scheme,- we will have that in the morning, and
Charlie is less than a mile away. There is still a
little of this waltz left, and I like your step. Do you
notice how ours is a lit'Je longer and more sideways? "
" Yes, we used to call that the 'English glide.' My
own has a touch of the shorter curved movement of the
■ Boston' in it."

I met some very fine dancers on the floor that even-
ing; they were all good dancers. They seemed to
have an instinct of rhythmic motion in them that
made their every movement responsive to the music.
It was not so much that they knew the step. Simply
they floated on the melody. When here it hovered as
m hesitation, the indecision held them balanced with
93

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

an equal pause, or, else again, it caught them with a
stronger grasp, and swung in swifter circles the puls-
ing feet that swept the floor. In truth, it was not
that they walked or hopped, as books would teach the
step, they danced,— as a bird soars in the sky, as a
salmon in the stream, as creatures in their native ele-
ments, strong, lithesome, graceful, it was the acme of
terrestrial motion-
Some of the figures and steps were new to me.
They had abandoned the fancy additions to the lan-
ders, and had returned to the old original.

One very pretty thing was a square with at least
sixteen couples. It needed plenty of room, went to
schottische music and was danced with the two move-
ments of the militaire. It was so new to me that I
failed to follow it fully. One figure somewhat re-
sembled the 'grand square,' though it was m double
couples instead of partners dividing. The ' half right
and left across' with all joined hands and preserving
their proper spaces and alignment was pretty to watch,
but surprisingly difficult to execute.

The third figure, with a similarity to the old 'cart
wheel,' was perhaps the most attractive, as the radia-
ting couples instead of completing the circumference
took the ' kick ' step all circling to right two steps,
then to left the same, twice ; and then in 'partners to
places' shot out from the centre in straight lines like
the explosion of a rocket.

Another figure, somewhat the reverse of the third, I
felt like naming the ' Union Jack ' was danced from
94

AFTER THE CATACLYSM
the eight points, all crossing at the centre by '>'l coup-
les together. There was a suggestion of ' ladie^ -hain '
in the way approaching couples passed each other, the
disengaged left hand o. the gentlemen high in air,
touching as they swung.

The neat execution of these spectacular dances
would have done credit to Barnum and Bailey's
Nero;" and evidenced intellijjence and inspiration,
and incidentally, a good deal of practice.

I must admit that, attractive though the floor was,
I spent fully a quarter of my time up with my friends
in the orchestra. The view, too, from the balconv was
very engaging.

Although the simplicity of the costume gave only a
single color to each dancer, yet the various tints from
purest dazzling white to deep maroon and purple, from
the daintiest shades of cream and lavender to royal
b ue and gorgeous crimson made, as they intermin-
gled, a kaleidoscopic panorama of eastern splendor

I had just got back to my partner of the first dance,
my chaperon and pilot, and we had just finished a
swinging ' deux temps. '
Those couples strolling about the grounds came in.
Mow all were silent.
" This is the end, " said my partner.
One note, the herald of a heavy chord, and as each
voice took up the sound, with a grandeur that held
me spell-bound, two hundred throats i„ song rang
forth that wondrous music of the "Anthem of the
Ages. Only an eight line verse; but while I may
95 '

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

describe the thrill, the effect, it had upon me, there is
nothing in nineteenth century harmony to serve as
parallel. The energy of the Russian Hymn, the sweet-
ness of Schubert ;-but it is impossible. We know the
heat and brightness of the Sun, but who can paint
His glory. So, too, there are things that, should we
strive to drape them in our language, only consume
our words, as molten iron turns to ashes the feeble
cloth laid on to cover it.

'il!

CHAPTER XI.

It was many momenta before Jean Blair and I walk-
ing home together broke the silence.

What her thoughts were I cannot divine; but the
feeling that subdued my spirit was not so much an
oppressive awe, such as some solemn music or event
may produce as of a happiness that in its greatness
seemed almost a burden.

As if a simple child had received some gift that
over-spanned its every expectation or imagination, and
stands spell-bound, dumb to the very thanks it owes
the donor; so the pleasure of the evening culminating
in that ecstatic song to the Great Giver of all Good
rhings, left me oblivious to all but my meritless con-
dition, even to contain the overflowing measure of
His Bounty.

A sound and dreamless sleep, and I awoke in the
morning refreshed and without a bodily suggestion of
my long walk or of my exertions of the evening

Jean followed me out and joined me just after
breakfast.

"And now. Sir Knight, has that plan sufficiently
matured to warrant its disclosure?"
" How far is it from here to Mr. White's?"
" Homesick so soon ? "

AFTER THE CATACLYSM
" No, but they will expect me this morning, and I
do not want them to be put to any anxiety on my
account. "
" Ten miles. "

" Then I will make my apologies just now to your
mother, walk down and report, and return shortly. "
" You can telegraph 'all well.' "
" I have no money. "

" Money? it does not need money to telegraph. "
"No? But I must find out first from Mr. White
some things. " '

" Perhaps we can obtain the information for you
without so much trouble- "

" I'm afraid not. I would like though first to see
Charlie. "

" And you are leaving me out of the secret?
" Wail till I cook my cake. If it turns out all right
you shall have a frosted slice. "

" Very well ; but I will have the satisfaction of help-
ing to cook it by finding Chariie for you. Will we go
now?"

" I am yours to obey. "

It was not long till success rewarded our search.
I talked over my little plan with Chariie for some
moments, while Miss Jean, with a well simulated
pout, pretended to cool her dignity at a distance.
" Ready? "

"Coming; all through."

She heard Charlie's last words:— "I don't know
where you can get them, but perhaps Mr. White can
96

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

help us. But, if you can manage it, old fellow, count
on all of us. "
" Thanks ; I knew you would come into it ! "
" And can't I come into it too? "
" If you're good. "
" Are you off so soon? "

"Yes; I must go now to see Mr. White. May I
have the pleasure of walking home first with you, Miss
Jean?"
" Delighted. "

Just as we went out of the yard, Charlie called out;—
" Why not get a ride down on the Aero? It stops
just beyond Jean's house in about a half hour, and
will alight you right at home. "
" Is that another of the things that cost nothing? "
" Nothing costs anything. If any of the services
can oblige you they count it a pleasure- They exist
to contribute to people's happiness. "
" Will you be back this evening? " asked Jean
" I hardly know. "
" Bring Vera with you. "

"Shall I? Thank you; if she can make it conven-
ient; after I see Mr. White you will hear from us. "
We soon arrived at the Aero landing.
" How many passengers will it carry; Miss Jean?"
" About four, not including the driver. "
When the Aero alighted, the driver proved to be
the young man whose acquaintance I had made a few
days previously. He was alone and seemed pleased
to have company.

i!iiii{ ; ii

AFTER THE CATACLYSM
The seat assigned me was just in front of his own.
It was explained to me that not more than two could
ride in the lower cage. Additional weights or passen-
gers were placed above, around the bulb or air cham-
ber.

As the fans started to whirr, Jean called out to

hold on tight.

I dared not let go to wave a parting salute and I am
sure my desperate grip and set expression must have
afforded some amusement to the bystanders.

As we gathered speed and took the leap into empty
air, I held my breath and looked dizzily down through
the grated flooring at the fields and bushes whizzing

past.

However, my terror was but momentary.

The seasick, undulating motion I had anticipated
was pleasantly absent. Instead, the feeling was that
of riding in a well cushioned Pullman over a new steel
rail on a perfect track- There was no sensation of a
perilous suspension over some bottomless abyss. Per-
haps it might recall crossing in a railway car a deep
valley spanned by some lofty trestle; but the im-
pression was that an invisible solid bore the Aero up
and gave its transparent track as a safe and perfect
surface along and upon which our vehicle sped for-
ward.

The only disagreeable sensation was when we
alighted ; that lit'le tilt and settling before we touched
the ground; a feeling like in a quickly descending
elevator.

100

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

As we gathered headway, the wind began to whistle
past us like a hurricane ; and for my comfort the driver
pulled down the side panels of celluloid, or whatever
the transparent material was, and also the panel be-
hind us. This gave a clear view in front and pro-
tected us from the breeze. It also, resultantly, as the
rear panel went into place, gave the Aero a slight
dip downward; but this was quickly compensated by
a movement of the horizontal rudder.

The journey lasted only about five minutes.

Thanking the driver for his kindness, I was soon
at home again.

101

CHAPTER XII.

It was yet early in the forenoon 'vhen I reached

home.

I soon found Mr. White, reading and comfortably
seated in a big arm-chair in his usual retreat.

His back was to nie as I entered, and so interested
j 1 in the enjoyable book was he, that he did not notice

my approach.

I had the ill manners to glance over his shoulder
and see the subject of his study. The open page was
at the last chapter of the Prophet Isaiah.

As I spoke he looked up.

" So you have brought the old Book through the

fire?"
"Yes; history repeats itself: — nee lamen cotuume-

batur." . .

" Well ; I am glad to see it ; and yet I must admit
I was a poor student. As for the Old Testament, it
was to me dryest of the dry. "

" I believe you, my friend, that such was your feel-
ing. But, did you ever see one of those 'lightning
sketch ' chalk drawings, made by some able character-
artist? Here and there are lines, those short and zig-
zag, others great swelling sweeps that cover the board
from end to end.

102

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

" The audience puzzles to anticipate the coming pic-
ture ; the design is one vast hieroglyphic ; when, pres-
to! a mouth line here, and there, above, an eye, and
behold, the portrait clear and understandable, com-
plete. So with the Prophesies and, to some extent,
the whole Book.

" But, since your day, many deep lines have been
burnt into the page of history. Now, the wise begin
to understand. With different mind we look differ-
ently into the things written. The 'eye' has been
added, and soon, very soon, will come the 'mouth '
the Word which will explain to the world this mighty
portrait of Man. Perhaps, my friend, -; our leisure
we will read the Book together; and maybe if will
interest you, — now."

" I really think it will, Mr. White ; and I will ap-
preciate the privilege. Are many copies to be had? "

"They can be got; and, no doubt, a great many
thousands are to be obtained for the searching in the
abandoned dwc:;ngs of the old towns and cities now
forsaken. "

"But they would belong to the owners?"

" Not necessarily. A thing abandoned voluntarily,
with intention to .please it, may be appropriated by
the first one who chooses to convert it to his own use.
The shops, warehouses and libraries over yonder are
full of goods without an owner. They are as free
to the taker as are the shells on the seashore. Much
once worth hundreds of dollars has now no value
sufficient to warrant the carrying away and the bur-
103

;■ i

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

Nil : ■ !

What

dening of the acquisitor with the accumulation,
once was of value may now be worthless.

"Those very shells, yesterday the home, the life
protection, of their molusk tenanU, to-morrow may
be empty and of no avail to anyone. "

" Then, if one should now find use for any of those
things, even as one finds use sometimes for shells, he
may help himself? "

" Assuredly ; if a book, a piece of machinery or tool,
a plant or a piano ; take it There s no reason to sup-
pose that you will cumber yourself with things around
you which you cannot' use ; and, if you use the thing,
you cause it to serve its purpose. "

" I understand. Do you know where Vera is, Mr.
White?"

" I think she is at the further end of her garden. "

It did not take me long to find the young lady ; a
rose among the lilies.

"Welcome back. And where have you been,
truant? Did you get lost, or were you stolen? "

I laughed.

" Ah 1 stolen ; and Jean Blair is the cri ninal. "

" How do you know? "

" Confess then ; it is so? "

" Yes, it is so, at least to the extent that I am in-
debted to Jean Blair, principally, for an extremely
pleasant excursion. But how do you know?"

" Jean telegraphed to me last evening that she had
persuaded you to stay over night. Didn't you like
her? And you had a good time? "
104

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

" Perfect ; and so that explains your sorcery. Let
me see you palm ;— no, the other one. "

Vera laughed as I scrutinized her outstretched open
hand.

" You are going on a journey. Yes, we might as
well sit down. Toward water. It will be about a
day from now. You have three companions. One is
a young man about twenty. I see also a dark young
woman with handsome black eyes; also a fair man
tall, lightly built ; and of an age that oscillates between
th.rty-five and seventy. This journey that I see is in
the nature of a picnic and lasts about a day. It seems
also like a search or prospecting party, but there is
nothmg to indicate the results achieved. "

The expression on Vera's face was so comically cu-
nous, that I had to laugh. It was apparent that all
this ngamarole of mine was wasted on the desert air.

Of the mysteries and occult sciences she was com-
pletely ignorant. My crude imitation of the chicro-
mancer conveyed no suggestion to her of the genuine
counterfeited.

Of course, she had heard of fortune-telling and palm-
istry as she had beard of the oracle of Delphi, but the
method and procedure was a new experience. She
recognized the fact that I was endeavoring to mimic
the soothsayer or forecast the coming event, and to
that extent my act amused and was intelligible The
book of life, as written on the hand, I had once studied
with some diligence; and, to find topic for conversa-
tion in that smooth and finely traced palm outstretched
105

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

in mine, struck me as a rather clever conceit on that
bright forenoon.

" And now, " she said, " let us bar the mystic, and
explain this journey. "

"What say you to a picnic, if convenient, 'to-
morrow?'"

" I would like very much to explore parts of the
city ; possibly among the debris I could find my way.
With Jean Blair and Charlie Silverthom, we would
make a party of four; and I would like very much to
have Charlie with us. ".

" It would be splendid. Have you arranged with
them about it?"

" No ; I could not till I saw you- Now I must either
go down to see them, or possibly we could send a mes-
sage- " ., .

" A letter could be sent by the noon -nail, and an

answer might be expected in the evening. "

" It seems to me that the Blair's place is over yon-
der, in which event, the city and here give us the
other points of an equilateral triangle. We and they
are about equally distant from the city. It might be
more convenient for us all to meet there. What land-
mark could we decide upon for a rendezvous? "

"No trouble about that. Their road and ours join
just outside the cit^. "

" Can we all get there by eleven in the forenoon?"

"Easily."

" Then f the others can make it convenient, it is

106

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

settled. Will you write Jean to come and bring
Charlie along with her?"

" Very well. "

By the evening mail came the reply that tl»y would
be delighted to join us at the place appoii](ed, at the
hour mentioned.

107

IIP

Hinii II

t! I

CHAPTER XIII.

On the morrow we set out, Vera and I, to meet, at
the hour appointed, our friends at the rendezvous just
outside old Rochester.

The short fragrant grass, all of a single dwarf spe-
cies that made the highway one vast lawn, was like a
velvet carpet undemeith our sandals. The road-bed,
so I understood, had been graded and then seeded
down with this special grass; and once there rooted
nothing else would invade the sod. With no wheeled
vehicles to rut the track nor heavy rains to wash or
gully, the perfect foot path was practically indestructi-
ble, for now very little rain fell ; only the heavy mid-
night dew, with slight nightly showers at intervals
of about a fortnight, when the moon was about half
full, gave needed moisture to the plant growth.

Naturally our conversation drifted to the dance I
had lately had the pleasure of attending. I recalled
how in my day many people, good people, had object 1
strongly to such gatherings- Now, among even bet-
ter people, not only was there no objection raised, but
the pervading happiness of heart seemed to find nat-
ural and fitting outlet in what was once termed frivol-
ity. I myself recognized the justice of some of the
old time objections to certain amusements ; that occa-
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AFTER THE CATACLYSM
sion was offered for questionable actions; and that
nghtly discountenanced. After all. was it not in us.
rather than in the amusement that the evil existed?

I led up to the matter in indirect fashion,
under certain circumstances these mixed ntherinn
were associated with improprieties, and so were
Uo you remember telling me. Vera, that the differ-
ence between now and the last century was that then
•n my time as we will say, to do evil, (I don't mean
the great sms of murder and the like, but I mean
those many everyday things that may be simply dubi-
ous) had n, ,t a certain pleasure and spice of enjoy-
ment, while on the contrary true goodness was a con-
stant striving and a toilsome fight; whereas now good
has ,n Itself an essential happiness, while misery dogs
the steps of wickedness? Why this reversal of the
nature of humanity?"

"I think my father would answer you in this wise.
CrZ% r^" '" ^T *'•""• ^''^ *''« Kingdom of
Roml?^'^ °' ^'^"''' °^ ^*"'''' °' ^'"«' °f

" Perished. "

" The mere fact of some monarch reigning now over
these self-same territories, over subjects the lineal de-
scendants of those old citizens of Nineveh or Mace-
donia does not of necessity work a continuation of the
Empire of Cyrus or Alexander. A kingdom may be
destroyed without the deslruction of the people. The
overturning of the ruler is what makes the difference.
Were the whole world under one Prince; and he be
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over-thrown and a new dynwty e»Ubli»hed, but over
the self-same subjects, we might yet call it a new
world, especially if the new power brought liberty In-
stead of unhappiness to the citzens. Once long ago
this old earth, which « are told "endureth forever,
was visited by a Flood which destroyed all govern-
ment, yes, and all the people, except those eight whom
the Ark carried over. That was the first Age or
Aeon, what the Apostle Peter called " the Old Worid
or " the world that then was. "

" True, in the destruction of the first world at the
flood all but eight of the antediluvians perished. Then
came the "second heaven" when the world was
heaved up or lifted up out of the waters and a mw
order of the ages began. During this period God left
man largely to his own devices. The Prir.ce of this
Age was Satan. Christ would not buy, through doing
homage to its Prince, the rulership of this worid. In-
deed he told Pilate his kingdom was not of this Age.
But having redeemed the Worid from sin, which sin
rendered it subservient to Satan the author of sin,
the usurping Prince of this Worid was in due vime
cast out, and a people as joint heirs to rule with Christ
having been by him gathered out of the World, the
ovcrcomers who in his strength ame through great
tribulations and trials; that Woild or Age the king-
ship of which Christ disclaimed came to an end in the
great purging fires and fervent heat of the great Cata-
clysm of a few years ago, the very elements of author-
ity and society being melted by the flames of anarchy
110

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

•nd trouble, and now is ushered in the "World to
Come. "

" This is the World in which we now are, the Sab-
bt.t.i after the long week of toil and groaning; the
period of which the year of Jubilee was but a type;
the day of rest and gladness ; in this the morning of
which all nature and humanity is moving forward to
the final development of perfection.
" Then our actions are attuned to our environment. "
" How do you mean? "

" What we once did in the time past might in itself
be perfectly right and devoid of evil, provided we and
our companions v .-re devoid of evil ; whereas, if the
contrary condition existed, these actions might be
means of temptation or bear the appearance of evil. "
" Undoubtedly. For instance, in your day, among
those that countenanced and indulged in dancing, cer-
tain restrictions were rightly observed. The better
the people, the less artificial checks necessary. To the
absolutely pure (who unfortunately did not then exist)
all things would be pure.

" But as evil to a greater or less extent was every-
where present, every action was circumscribed by
conditions. For instance, nothing in itself may be
purer than a I- is. It may be defined as a manifesta-
tion of aflFection. And yet this method of salutation
was restricted absolutely to those whose ties of rela-
tionship or prospective interest precluded the pre-
sumption of improper sentiment. In the general es-
timation a kiss otherwise was counted at best merely

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AFTER THE CATACLYSM

the butterfly condition of an ugly grub. Now, it is an
expression of that pure brotherly love, of that aflfec-
tion enjoined upon us as members of one great family,
children of one Father.

" Then, too, purity as well maybe as shame, would
compel the mn or woman to hide from each other's
eyes that most beautiful of all of God's creation, the
humen body. But now Shame has departed with her
sister Sin. Now, this necessity of dress no longer
governs, and though as a tribute to the weakness of
the past, and for the sake of some few who have not
yet progressed as far as could be desired, we still give
our forms certain indifferent coverings; it may be that
some day clothing will become a mere matter of
adornment; but now we have not reached that stage.
In fact, as I have told you, we are all of us develop-

ing. "

" Then you think the future of this Age will be dif-
ferent from what is now ? "

" Decidedly. We are only yet on the threshold of
the present and advancing era. Each year witnesses
an advance both in us and in nature. Even we can-
not anticipate the possibilities twenty years from

now."

" During the first few years of the new Order of
Things, (I was only an infant then) an invisible yet
more or less recognizable compulsion took hold of
surviving humanity.

" This power has since g-adually relaxed ; until now,
among most of us, it is almost unfelt, giving place to
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AFTER THE CATACLYSM

an inward and inherent desire on our own part to pur-
sue an altruistic course."

" Yes, " I answered, " I think I can myself testify to
this same sweet compulsion, the mental and the moral
uplift of my true inward spirit. "

113

CHAPTER XIV.

!:| ': liHlll

!:i ? illii

We had now reached our rendezvous and I looked
about expecting to see Jean and Charlie.

Instead, a stranger »PP-''«^*'^V' 'H^dWrnTo con-
that our friends had wired him and wished him to con
vey the message, that Jean would be detained for ab^ut
three hours on "Duties for the Community which
she had not anticipated; and would we call her up.

This we did, and arranged that as it was then no
later than eleven in the forenoon, she and Charlie
should meet us at the self-same spot at two in the
Sternoon, and that in the meantime Vera and I would
do a litle preliminary exploring on our own account
Accordingly, with definite intention, I ^t-red °ur
course over the rubbish and obstructions and really
Tngerous tumuli till we reached what I thought was

ntdty ::?': heap of debris. No attempt appar
ently had been made to clear away the wreck. The
earthquake followed presumably in some d-tncts by
fire, had utterly overthrown man's work; and the un-
checked upgrowth of trees and vegetation had made
the ruins almost unrecognizable.

From our point of vantage on a precanous heap
of rusTy iron and concrete. I was able at last to find
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AFTER THE CATACLYSM

such certain semblance in spots to the street's tracery
of the Rochester of yore as to feel satisfied as to my
position. The narrow harbor of Charlotte was choked
to a succession of ponds; and I thought I could outline
the railway up from the Port to the City. To the south-
ward was possibly State Street with a row of tall trees
bordering level grounds, the latter dotted here and
there with shapeless mounds, the sole remains, of what
were once magnificent mar ons.

We ourselves apparently were now standing beside
Main Street.

" Do you see that depression over yonder, a line
running in that direction? "

Vera followed the direction of my pointing finger.

" Over by those three elms? "

" Yes. I think that is West Avenue. My home
was there. No. 480. Follow that line a little, and
then southward from those same elms ; there, over to
where that clear patch of grass is. I believe that is
where the fire was— my last act in the grand finale
of "the World that Was. "

For perhaps an hour we followed our lesson in an-
cient geography; I, for a wonder, the teacher, not the
pupil.

To Vera the recital seemed full of interest. It was
as if some palet :\. : cave dweller re-incarnated, had
sat down upon sonie prehistoric tumulus and told of
how his stone axe brethren had fought the mammoth
pelegasauros or hunted the cave bear in the dense
fern-growth forests.

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AFTER THE CATACLYSM
Finally we determined to explore the ruin on which
we were standing. It was decidedly a dangerous
thing to do ; as, covered by the thinnest carpet of green
growth, cavernous depths might yawn below.

Tracing out protruding girders and joists of .ron we
finally concluded that the debris about us was that
of a moderately lofty but yet narrow "skyscraper.
It had fallen side ways, breaking in two in Us descent;
and so rested as a gothic arch over the top of an older
fashioned brick building under it. The result was to
form an excessively strong truss roof braced around
the more modest shop once its neighbor, preservmg
it to a certain extent against the convulsive forces of
the earthquake.

Through an upper window we let ourselves down
into the third floor. The fourth and other higher
stories were crushed out of shape; but from the third
flight down, the place was in fair condition except for
fallen plaster and a wreck of over-thrown merchandise.
In the dim light, one had the feeling a burglar or
other interloper might entertain when he stealthily
meanders through some silent mansion. At any mo-
ment, it seemed, the owner's challenge should rudely
check our marauding fingers. ^

But it was " no man's land " in which we wandered.
Co-tiy pianos, instruments of wood and brass (for it
seemed to be as I had planned and expected, a whole-
sale music store we were exploring) whole orchestras
in fact, were ours for the taking; and what we left
was no one's-

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AFTER THE CATACLYSM

The law of abandonment worked a complete relin-
quishment; the law of personal and utilizing appro-
priation gave title.

I left Vera on the second floor examining with some
interest the intricate mechanism of a smashed grand
piano; while after a hurried search of what that flat
contained 1 hurried down to the main shop.
There was method in my madness.
Rooting through the broken glass and dust and cob-
webs in a shattered showcase, ray search was at last
rewarded.

With a cry of joy I drew from out the accumulated
rubbish, a flute, a perfect silver flute, full keyed on the
most up to date Albert System as I recalled it.

Imagine my supreme delight. In a delirium of joy
(for was not now the one thing I longed for mine) I
shook oflF the clinging dust, and with trembling fin-
gers raised the precious instrument to my lips. Just
as a thrilling A vibrated in the air there came a crash.
The precarious ceiling almost over my head was
breaking; and, through the parting woodwork feet
foremost shot the lithe body of my companion. As
she fell, the sash-like end of her drapery caught in the
splintered joist and held; and, unwinding, spun her
white glistening body around like a top, her left arm
helc' aloft grasping in her hand the dependent end of
her raiment, and just one extended tip-toe resting on a
massive table below.
It was, I say it in all modesty, a beautiful picture
Unconsciously, or rather unwittingly, she had as-
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S to he calamity and UiU the baser thought. Or
yet again, there is a height of heart affecUon. an ex
pulsive love that leaves no room for ev.l

I admit that I was startled when she fell. She was
not huTt; that I realized almost in the same ms ant
sti 1 as sLe stood there naked yet so serene. I reahzed
hat I should be shocked ; yes scandalized, most blush-
Sy embarrassed. Yet, candidly I was not. Vy un-
quaMed admiration was provoking y akm to amuse
1 T ronfess it And then again recurred to me

*i,..«. "vae are but little children.

''na7gh". in part encouraged by my friend's calm

countenance that showed in itsel a trace o h"mo.

What would, in the days of old. have been a httle
tragedy, a something within our memory to cover wnth
a veil a something that again from t.me to time
Uld'send the unbidden color to - cheek, was th.s
and now, strange, as grotesquely small as .f
showed a dangling shoe lace.

In the olden time, thus in black and white to relate
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AFTER THE CATACLYSM

such an embarrassing incident, even to hoard up the
memory of it among one's secret mental records,
woul '. be treason to true friendship. The only possi-
bility would be absolutely to forget what could not be;
forgotten ; to treat as a trifle of nothingness what alas
was a huge disaster. And yet, now, here we stood,
both of us laughing, not as two hardened criminals,
but as it were two little children upon whom the
ignorance of evil had not even impressed the first
iesson of guilty silence.

It would appear that when the first ripples of my
new found flute had startled Vera, she had stepped
quickly backward, perhaps to hear the more distinctly ;
and, not noticing, or perhaps not realizing the fraility
of the laths under the broken floor, the woodwork had
given way beneath her, and she had crashed through,
and got a fall of maybe fifteen feet. That she was not
hurt was a wonder. Possibly the fact of her drapery
catching as it did had saved her from a broken limb
or worse. As I was congratulating her on her fortu-
nate escape, I chanced to notice, about at her shoulder
blade, a stain which seemed alarmingly like blood.

" You have hurt yourself after all. There surely
is blood on your scarf (it wasn't much more) at your
shoulder. "

" O ! that is nothing, it is only a trifle."

On my insisting, she allowed me to turn back the

edge of her mantle to examine the scratch, and to my

horror, there disclosed was a clear cut or tear fully

three inches long and almost to the bone. It was

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gaping open and dripping a few drops of blood, but
otherwise the gushed sides were almost dry.

To my persuasion that we hurry home or to some
surgeon to get the wound properly dressed, she only
laughed and persisted that it was a mere trifle. There
was nothing I could do. A roll of passe-partout
which I found in a drawer in the stenographer's table,
I first thought could be utilized as sticking plaster;
but on examination it turned out that the sticker on it
was valueless.

" Never mind, it does not pain me at all. What s
that you have there? Was it on that you were play-
ing?"

" Do you remember my flute of which I have often

told you? This is one like it only better. "

"Then play it. Play for me- "

Nothing loath, I raised the somewhat tarnished and
yet perfect instrument to my lips. A little fragment
of "Martha;" then the thrilling vivacity of the
" Mocking Bird ;" one bit of melody after another fol-
lowed. I was back again in my old " den " on West
Avenue with the last glow of sunset fading into night.
Songs of the twilight came again to me, and then as
the last dying notes of " Home, Sweet Home " still
lingered, I looked up at my companion.

Her eyes were moist and she caught her breath in
the stillness.

" It was beautiful. That last melody, what is it?
There is something pathetic in its sadness. Tell me

about it. "

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AFTER THE CATACLYSM
Again on solid ground, returning to our rendezvous,

I told her the story of the man without a home who

sang its sweet praises.
" It is only the heart that moves the heart, " was all

her comment.

121

CHAPTER XV.

We had so timed ourselves that on reaching our

place of meeting, Jean and Charlie had just arrived.

First 'Tom the trees near by we gathered sufficient

food for our mid-day lunch; and then, lolling on the

grass, I began to unfold my plans.

It was, after all, nothing very excitingly important ;
but the idea had grown on me as an inspiration
from the dance.

I wanted to organize a full brass and reed orchestra,
something on the basis of the big institutions of my
own day.

Talent, time, and taste were available, the only thing
I had thought impossible was the obtaining of in-
struments and music But this latter problem the
morning's prospecting had served ; and so I explained
it all in full to my companions.
As I hoped, they were enthusiastic.
The decision was to return to our music store at
once and see if we could get a complete or at least
sufficient outfit. We soon retraced our steps, and
carefully crept into the building Vera and I had ex-
plored only an hour before.

It had once in my childhood been a matter of de-
light and surprise to me that the old castaway Crusoe,
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AFTER THE CATACLYSM

the Swiu family Robinson, and the like, when in dire
extremity always found the thing so necessary in a
chest or wreck opportunely cast up by the sea after
some very accommodating tempest.

Such also was our own good fortune.

In the Shipping Room, for so it seemed to be, were
about a dozen cases, all addressed to a Rio Janeiro
Band, and the freight boss' invoice on top of one of
the boxes.

The outfit included some sixty-four pieces. With
the exception of one instrument, the names were all
familiar to me. It was a "clarion." The name was
in a fashion old; and yet I adjudged it was really a
new instrument.

My curiosity impelled me to open the box the in-
voice indicated. By a comparison of the instruments
on the list I could see that this novelty must likely
take a leading part, as otherwise the others named
did not show sufficient solo. Further, it must take a
cornet score.

This on investigation I found correct reasoning.

The instrument had the valves and bell of a cornet,
but the brass of the bell had a covering of what re-
sembled vulcanized rubber nearly half an inch thick,
right back to the valve; and the mouth piece had a
small reed peculiarly attached. This reed was much
smaller than that of a clarionet.

As I was well acquainted with both the cornet and
clarionet, I found very little trouble in getting a fair
sound out of the instrument. My notes were crude
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AFTER THE CATACLYSM

indeed, but accidently I got a few tones fairly correct,
somewhat resembling a comet, but with more of the
mellowness of the low notes of a clarionet or saxa-
phone.

There were shelves upon shelves of what seemed
like excellent band music, but we decided to take
chances in the meantime on the assortment of music
included in this intended Brazilian consignment

Now that the instrument question was solved, it was
determined to organize our orchestra, and then come
over in mass to our grand " Crusoe's chest " and
outfit.

It took but a few days to gather together our or-
chestra.

A nucleus already existed in the little band of musi-
cians whom I had met at the dance. With sufficient
added young men and women to make the full com-
plement, we organized, distributed parts, and set out
to collect the instruments.

The humdrum detail of practice and instruction is
of no interest. Suffice to say the drudgery and repe-
tition of scale and exercise which every musician must
undergo to attain skill, technique and general effi-
ciency were ours. No royal road to learning had yet
been discovered. None the less, all the advantage that
high intelligence, willingness, and marvellous memory
give was ours. One thing though was noticeable, and
this was that repetition of a theme did not nauseate;
nor did music admittedly agreeable when new be-
came stale and monotonous.
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AFTER THE CATACLYSM

This fact so struck me, that one day 1 remarked it
to Mr. White. I discovered it in the others, I realized
it in myself.

Once when some operatic air or fetching song
caught the popular ear, it was for a week or two on
jveryone's lips, sung or whistled; the newsboys had it,
then the hurdy-gurdies; and at last every one wanted
to consign it to the place of burning; until finally to
hum a bar of it was to invite sudden death or grievous
bodily harm.

" Yes, " said Mr. White, " I agree with you as to
the past and also with your statement of present con-
dition. One main difference between music and noise
is that the former, unlike the latter, is an orderly se-
quence of sound vibrations having a certain arithmet-
ical co-relation. I have a supposition that if we could
in ?o-ne waj efficiently plot out these relations, joining
them with lines, the result would be figures and curves
which as tracery, would also be pleasing to the eye.
" In music, the movement and undulations of the
melody, and also the mental anticipation of the coming
and pleasingly expected chord to follow are two phases
of enjoyment.

" But to pulsate in certain nerve cells a definite suc-
cession of sound curves, and then again and again to
indent the same nerve with identical traceries, finally
caused such a laceration as to become absolutely pain-
ful ; unless (and here is where our present superiority
lies), that nerve has such instantly recuperative
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AFTER THE CATACLYSM
powers as to oflEer to each successive repetition what
iTpractically a new or unscarified nerve surface.

"You will remember when Vera got home that even-
ing from your reconnaissance of Rochester, and threw
off a portion of her drapery, your surprise in finding
that the tear in her shoulder was absolutely healed,
merely a white scar left, and that in the mormng
even the scar was gone.

" Similar expedition in reconstructing nerve tissue
eives opportunity for repetition of mental impression
on unwearied, because on renovated sensatory con-
volutions; and so what is to-day pleasing or engaging
to the eye, the ear; the taste, continues to be so irre-
spective of recurrence.

" In other words-physical and mental perfection
continuously so, means continuously perfect enjoy-
ment of the once enjoyable; and contra, what is not
primarily and positively disagreeable never becomes
so by monotonous repetition.

Given as we had to hand, ability equivalent to the
genius of a born musician, in every one of our bands-
men, it is not surprising that in the course of a short
time our big orchestra of sixty-four pieces was able
to render high class music with magnificent eflfect.

Our first public performance had apparently been
well advertised. At least a couple of thousand people
gathered on a beautiful afternoon of one of those glo-
rious days of perpetual June in a little grass carpeted
hollow enclosed by a circle of forest; a perfect amphi-
theatre.

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AFTER THE CATACLYSM

Until nearly sunset we played from our well chosen
repertoire (thanks to some able musician of ; i..st days
who had made selections) receiving enthusiastic cl
cores in some cases of especially pleasir -^ ..'ndition',.
It was interesting to me to note the ta=tt. tho dis-
crimination, the judgment of our audience.

The music that appealed to them was either an ex-
ceedingly simple theme of a sad or pathetic nature,
some sweet love song or plantation melody; or else
heavy involved harmony.

There seemed to be no middle ground.

Wagner's "Pilgrims' Chorus" and his wedding
march in Lohengrin each got several repeats " by re-
quest. "

At last the audience dispersed ; the unanimous ver-
dict pronouncing the Rochester Philharmonic a grand
success.

The bandsmen, leaving their instruments stacked
in a circle, disappeared among the assemblage to greet
friends and acquaintances.

I was left to walk home with Mr. White who spoke
very enthusiastically as well as flatteringly of our
music.

I felt and acknowledged that there were among the
rank and file many who were greatly my superiors in
musical genius and real ability. My sole pre-eminence
was practical experience. When they attained to that,
I must take a very lowly place in the chorus ; unless!
as I inwardly hoped, I should myself progress and con-
tinue to develop. Not that I coveted the leadership;
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AFTER THE CATACLYSM

for we had almost come to a state when we might dis-
pense with the leader; mutual intention and mter-
mental cognition being sufficient to preserve unity of

'"'iT was about ten o'clock in the evening when I lay
down to sleep. I was pleased with the work accom-

''' The'^kindly expressed congratulations I had received
from so many friends as well as strangers had warmed
my heart with happiness. Neither vanity nor pride
found place, but rather a great content that I could
be of even small service in giving others pleasure
and that their words had helped me realize their ap-
preciation of my effort. ^ , j r „i,.„
As I rested myself there on the border land of sleep,
music, the music of the afternoon came back to me as
if from dreamland. But yet not so. for nearer and
nearer it came; and wide awake I listened.
It seemed to be away up overhead.
\t last in the moonlight I made out a large speck
in'the sky slowly descending. There, at an altitude of
about five hundred feet was a huge aerodrome slow y
circling around me as a centre, and in 't, '^PP-'ntly
to serenade their beyond his ment appreciated band-
master were the now famous Rochester Orchestra.

A w^y" playing with them, in the centre of the m-
stn;ments, I haJ actually never before really heard

'^Zi this was their music. Suspended there in the
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AFTER THE CATACLYSM

heavens above me; floating out on the still night air
it seemed celestial.

Then as they slowly sailed away, the strains of Sa-
bastian Davids' " Night in the Tropics " from "Chris-
tophe Columbe " orchestrated by Ripley with its lux-
uriously golden melody dying away in the distance, I
fell asleep, and the dream-palms and lotus of the en-
chanted Land of Forgetfulness embowered me.

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W'' '^'

CHAPTER XVI.

It was well planned and beautifully executed, the
appreciated serenade of last evening that my fellow
bandsmen had so kindly given me.

The big aerodrome that had brought some of our
audience to the Musical Festival (but which I had not
been permitted to see) aiver returning .ts Passeng^f;
had been requisitioned by the Orchestra w>th mtent
to give me this agreeable surprise. Shortly afterwards
I had the opportunity to inspect the huge machme.

In appearance, it was primarily three huge gas bags
shaped like fish; sharp at both ends; not round, but
oval shaped in cross section ; and with the fish back a
straight horizontal line, but the belly below sagged to
extend like a fin keel.

In profile it was thus roughly an obtuse angled
isosceles triangle with inverted apex.

This gas holder was not a yielding bag enclosed m
a net; but was a tightly stretched skin covenng an in-
terior multiple trussed framing. Not only so but this
trussed interior was a honey comb of aeroplane cells
so constructed that in case of accident to the gas bal-
loons whereby their sustaining power was gone, a
quick pull of reefing lines would strip off the skm in
130

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

sections and bind it in horizontal layers to the main
structure ; by the aid of which and the material assis-
tance of the aeroplanes practically composing horizon-
tal surfaces filling the interior trusses, the huge aero-
drome would soar easily to the ground.

As already stated ; there were three balloons or gas
holders to each machine. Two of these were a little
above the main cabin deck about eighty feet apart ; and
one was in the centre about thirty feet below the
cross line of the upper pair.

These dromes, driven by powerful propellers, made
an average speed of about forty miles per hour. A
simple machine generating the lifting gas, a com-
pound much more efficient than hydrogen, was placed
in ihe interior of each balloon and operated by a slow
combustion of certain conflicting chemicals.

Unfortunately my scientific education was so limited
as to prevent me from understanding the detailed ex-
planation as to the ingredients ; sufficient to me from
the practical standpoint that they were obtained with
little trouble and in ample quantities.

The whole framework of these dromes was so sub-
stantially built, cross-stayed and trussed as to be rea-
sonably rigid.

In ascending, it rose perpendicularly as a balloon,
though the machine at rest on the earth had a fraction
below the specific gravity of atmosphere. The actual
uplift was accomplished by several heliocoptic propel-
lers, properly distributed, whirling in a horizontal
plane, and needing very little force to overcome the
131

AFTER THE CATACLYSM
trifling preponderance of weight remaining after ailow-
init for the powerful effort of the gas containers.

Some of these airships had several aeroplane sur-
faces which, as soon as a fair speed was attamed came
SS ;.Uy and allowed the horizonUl heliocopter to be

'Tlughiing. the forward motion was as near as
possible checked, and the machine settled qu.etiy
down to the ground, head to the wmd and rested on
twelve spirally f;<:xible legs terminating with smaU
broad tired wheels.

Ill

till

illSSIti

132

CHAPTER XVII.

It was a beautiful summer afternoon ; but then the
afternoons were all beautiful, and it was always sum-
mer. I had been idly lying on my elbow examining
one by one and enjoying the many tints and colors of
a bed of pansies in a far away comer of Vera's garden.
Perhaps it was because I was softly whistling a scrap
of old time opera, or perhaps because the velvet-like
carpet of grass deadened her footfall, or both, for I
was not aware of the owner's approach until she bent
over me and kissed me. Then, seating herself oppo-
site me on the turf, she asked me in what I was so in-
terested.

" No ; but it seemed to me that here with everything
in nature so favorable, they might be grown much
larger."

" The pansies are perfect in color and with all the
fragrance of the violets. Still, I have seen in the gar-
dens long ago, right here in Rochester, pansies as large
and as pretty. "

" Did you ever see any that were larger' " she
asked-

" That would appear to be reasonable ; but why was
it that the old Rochester florists reached and could
not pass a certain limit? I will tell you."
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AFTER THE CATACLYSM

" We have come to the conclusion that each thing
in nature has a certain *ta"d»^^ of perfection m sue
as well as in other respects. W.th man, there is a
fixed dimension to perfect excellence, i" .*»""«. '"
„i„d. and in power. There have been .n all ages
' freaks' that in one dimension perhaps went beyond
the sundard, but they were the result not of surpas-
sing ability but of an abnormal growth. In some
other relation they sho^yed a corresponding weakness
In the lower kingdom and with animals that man had
bred or trained, when the summit hne was reached
there came a decline. So far shalt thou go and no
further, was the law.

" Yes " I interrupted. "I have seen that. 1 re
member particularly, when we speak of Pl^"*^; °J J^*
beautiful Lillium Auratum, the queen of the l.Ues.
Florists produced it in a magnificent wax-like expan-
sion of flower with golden yellow stamens But as
they pushed it to still grander expansion, such a weak-
ness of root and plant was developed that it finally
succumbed to disease, and any hopes of further ad-
vance had to be abandoned. I remember the same
thing in regard to a famous herd of Jersey cattle. The
stock was bred, and fed, and pampered until t^^ir at-
tainments were almost beyond belief, they sdd for a
fabulous price; and then.-they all succumbed to tu-
berculosis. That was the end of the Jersey. So too
in our last century also with man. They crowded
into the cities. Some accomplished wonderful mental
work; their achievements rank with anything the
134

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

world ever accomplished ; but their brains burned out
their bodies, and in a generation or two the family was
extinct. "

" On the other hand though," said Vera, "you do
not allow for the imperfection then of humanity-
What you call surpassing excellence was only perfect
development; and the other attributes being much
below perfection failed to give the support that an all
round perfection would contribute. Now, we are tend-
ing toward that perfection under which every faculty
will reach the limit of the standard coupled with a lack
of weariness, as you know, that tends to a continuous
enjoyment of that faculty to its ultimate. "

" Then when you say tending toward, you consider
you have not yet reached that limit, irrespective, I
mean of such constant accretion of knowledge as
comes from experience ? "

" Oh, by no means. Why, we are merely beginning.
We are in a transition stage as yet. In the first place,
we are scattered and few. How many people think
you are there now living on this earth? Not more
than forty million ; and at least half of those are and
were English speaking. This globe as now consti-
tuted, and with its prodigality of food-growth, could
sustain and lavish comfort on thousands of millions;
in fact more than all that ever breathed since Crea-
tion. No, we are yet in a state of transition of de-
velopment, toward perfection under invisible inward
laws that practically compel advancement. My father
told me yesterday that at the Conference of the Sen-
135

AFTER THE CATACLYSM
ators, of which Senate he i» a member, it wa« felt Uiat
8<jme new crisis is near at hand; but that, instead of
being sudden and all concluding as has all a|ong been
supposed, it was now decided that the coming fulfi -
ment would be gradual and in stages. This was all
that he volunteered as I was passing through the
room; and, seeing that he was engaged in earnest de-
bate with three friends who had come quite a distance
to discuss the question, I did not think it becoming
for me to interrupt them. However, he wi't be glad to
explain it all to us in detail this evenirg. ^nd now,
to go back to the pansies, what else about them?
"Shall I tell you?"

"Why not." .^, ^

" I can easily see why not. Is it impossible to un-
burden ourselves of things and desires impossible of
fulfilment, or is it hope that hopes against hope that in
some way the impossible can be accomplished? It l
am unhappy, why should I not be silent? And then,
why might I not speak out and be done of it? it is
this. In spite of the knowledge of how welcome I am
here, you know I am yet after all in one sense only a
stranger; except to the extent, as you kindly msist,
that you have adopted me. I am like a wandering
star away from its natural orbit. I am lonesome. No,
I don't want you to think for a moment that you are
not kind to me; you, all I meet are the perfection of
kindness to me. I know what I would like, and yet
somehow I feel convinced it cannot be. "
" But possibly it can. Tell me. "
136

AFTER THE CATACLYSM

" Yes, I will tell you, only to be the more convinced
that I am not mistaken. I will speak as iil were back
again among my comrades of the olden days. If then,
and with this environment and with these conditions,
I would wish a little garden plot like this for my very
own ; and in it I would build my little cottage home,
and ask you Vera to come and share it as my wife.
Stop, for I know it can not be, the last at least ; and,
in a way, I feel it should not be, for Vera dear, you
seem as if you were my sister, and even thus it can
not be. And yet more, so much this sisterly relation
seems now unchangeably established, I cannot even
think ourselves in any other condition. "

" True my dear brother, and my own heart acknow-
ledges you my brother. As to your garden, which I
know has but small part in what you say, take this, let
half of mine be yours, which part your choice; and,
if we wish to add, beyond is ours for the taking. And
even so you will not go away ; you are too dear to me
that you should leave me; and if I judge you right,
your heart tells you to stay;" and, as with misty eye
and yet bravely — smiling, she bent over me and kissed
my cheek, she added —

"BUT THEY WHICH SHALL BE AC-
COUNTED WORTHY TO OBTAIN THAT
WORLD • • ♦ • NEITHER MARRY, NOR
ARE GIVEN IN MARRIAGE ♦ * * * BUT
ARE AS THE ANGELS OF GOD IN THE HEAV-
ENS. "