This Story gives the Life and Adventures of a Man who lived for Millions of Years, and explored three Planets Saturn, Venus and Earth. Although it is the Author’s first effort, it will be found to Amuse, Instruct and Please the Reader from the first to the last Page in the Book.
Very Respectfully Yours.
PY OF CONGO
Introduction
Perhaps the statements I shall herein make to you, by others will be deemed the fanciful and visionary imaginations of a deranged and disordered mind. But I feel assured that you, who have known me so long, will consider them in a reasonable and natural light, and will discern the truthfulness of them by your former long acquaintance with me, and the simple and straight forward way in which I shall narrate them. There are many reasons why I choose you as the medium through which I shall address myself to the public, and among them is this: My thorough knowledge of your disposition, knowing how little you care for the opposition which must always arise against any one who shall dare to throw a different light on any subject that has once been accepted by the masses. Another reason is that from your infancy up to the present time you have refrained from having your mind influenced by church or state questions, and do not fear that by writing my biography you will call down upon yourself the superstitious vengeance of the one, or the indignation of the other. There are other reasons why you are chosen for this work, but there is little use in giving them here. It is sufficient that you are willing to perform the task I have called upon you to perform, and it pleases me well that you will conform to my wishes; therefore meet me at your office every evening at 9pm., and I will give to the world a true and faithful account of my existence on this comparatively small and mysteriously constructed world, known to us as the earth; so now good night my young friend, and fail not to meet me at the time and place appointed, and bring with you pen, ink and paper, also an attentive ear and patient mind. Good night!
A Strange and Startling Story.
Chapter 1: My Childhood and Nativity.
READER, YOU MAY WELL, IMAGINE with what impatience I viewed the slow descending sun of the next day, for I had known the old man from my childhood, and had often wished to hear an account of his journey through life; for inwardly I felt his to be a life filled with mystery and strange adventure. In calling back my long acquaintance with him I could not remember to have seen him eat, drink, or sleep. In dress he seemed to keep pace with the rest of mankind, and would be taken as a man of moderate income, neither wealthy or poor. In height he was at least six feet, three inches, with broad, square shoulders, and limbs well proportioned. His quick, elastic step bespoke him a man of iron constitution and of untiring endurance. His long, iron grey beard gave him the appearance of having passed the meridian of life, but you could see at once by his straight form, mild blue eyes, and fair complexion, that he had not plunged deep into the pools of vice and folly in his younger days, which ever make old age creep with feeble step and tottering gait down the shady side of life. Another peculiarity which distinguished him from the rest of mankind, was his occupation, with a powerful telescope he seemed ever searching out into space for some trace of a distant planet; the result of his investigations was regularly recorded in a large and curiously bound book of very ancient date.
His manner of conversation impressed one with a belief in whatsoever he chose to confide to them, and his way of stating it seemed ever to hold one’s mind to the subject upon which he was speaking; but still there seemed something about him which reminded you of a man, travelling, who had, by mistake, boarded the wrong train, and realized the mishap too late to remedy the error, but too much of a gentleman to blame others for his own carelessness.
I was prompt to be on hand; and just as the clock tolled the hour of nine I heard his well-known step on the stair, and the next moment he entered the office. He seated himself, and after the salutations of the evening were over he began the history of his life.
I belong, said he, to a race of the human family that inhabits the world known here as the planet Saturn; how I came on this earth you shall know as my narrative proceeds. In that huge world, which would make many such as this, I first saw the light of day, but the time has been so long ago the brain of man cannot grasp the countless number of years. In my native land I was known by the name of Willmoth The Wanderer; a name applied to me in the earlier period of my life, because of my love of wandering from place to place. The true name of Saturn is Gyran, and signifies the Home of Plenty and Peace. Sorrow and death are not known to my people on that planet, and what may seem to you still more strange—all who are soon to become mothers have to go beneath the sea and reside there until the offspring is one year old, which is as twenty-nine years and four months of the years of this earth. This is no law laid down by rulers or tyrants, but is a law of nature, and is essential to the development of life by a nursing mother; it is not known to us. No female can give birth to more than one child in twenty-five years of Saturn’s time, which equals more than seven hundred and thirty-three years of earth’s time. Death is not known to us, for when we are born, or, as the saying is, “Come out of the sea,” we must exist until the utter dissolution of the planet itself, which is said to occur at stated intervals of about one hundred and fifty million years, according to the closest calculations of our most eminent astronomers. In fact since I have resided here on this earth I have witnessed some great and sudden changes in my beloved birth place, which has lead me to believe that she was passing through one of those periods of ruin and death.
But to return again to my narrative; we, the people of Saturn, as I shall continue to call my native land, are absolute vegetarians, and never think of using animal flesh for food. As there are about twenty females to one male, polygamy is practiced to a great extent throughout the civilized portions of the country, few men having less than eight to fifteen wives. Every man is free to do whatever he thinks best for him to do; society is classed in degree, and each society rules and governs itself. None can meditate mischief on another, for by some strong and unaccountable affinity between mind and matter, the thoughts are immediately portrayed upon the face, so that others may readily see what is passing in the mind; therefore no one can form any plans injurious to another without the object being known and prevented. The highest crime that can be committed there is to think of anything evil, and the only punishment for that is to be banished from the society to which the party formerly belonged, and be kept apart until they have banished all evil from their mind. They are then admitted back to their former standing in society, and few there be who offend the second time. Children are trained at an early age in all that pertains to astronomy and natural science. They are taught that they are created to fill the highest scale of animal life; that nature has endowed them with intellect sufficient to lead them to a life of enjoyment and happiness, if they will only direct their minds in the channel of morality and progression; and that the highest form of happiness consists in making your fellow creatures happy.
The city in which my boyhood days were passed was called Eathman. It lay along the shore of a great ocean called Ivan, which signifies “Good Mother.” The city is on a gently sloping plain, and covered a space of about three hundred and seventy-five miles long, and fifty wide; the streets were one hundred and fifty feet wide, with pavements on each side twenty feet wide, and made of a stone called leighteth, which is very much like the gold of thy earth. The streets were macadamized with a hard flinty stone called prith, somewhat the colour of brick, but very durable. Shade trees of every variety were set in between street and pavement on each side, and their dark bluish green leaves formed a pleasing contrast with the stone below. In the centre of each street was a smooth broad track, over which passed at intervals of every ten minutes a public conveyance called helpers—a kind of car drawn by an engine, at the farther end of the street. The engine was of a very fine pattern, and was equal to fifty of your largest railroad engines of the present day, and was self-propelling, or rather was governed by the law of perpetual motion. Each car or helper was so arranged that any passenger could stop or start it at will; as the cars were low, and guards arranged on them, it was impossible for any one to get injured in getting on or off, or in crossing from one side of the street to the other. The houses were all built of large stones of different shades and colours, and formed a beautiful contrast. Every house was surmounted with a tower of observation, and supplied with astronomical instruments.
But the most beautiful of all the buildings was the city observatory, built on an artificial mound in the centre of the city. The building was of octagon shape; its base covered one square mile, and its total height was thirteen thousand seven hundred and forty-five feet. A veranda, of dressed stone of all shades and colours encircled the entire building. Telescopes with the most powerful lenses were arranged at every angle of the building, and on each veranda, and elevators were distributed throughout the whole edifice for the easy ascent or descent of visitors, or astronomers. The elevators were kept in motion by powerful machinery in the base of the building. This was run by the law of perpetual motion. On top of the building was placed a gigantic telescope, five hundred feet long, and this huge instrument was arranged on a pivot, with so much precision, that a child could sweep the while vault of space. With the aid of that powerful glass we could look at the other worlds and see their ever changing surface, caused by volcanic eruptions, together with heavy storms and tornadoes. But, as I shall have more to say of this observatory as my narrative proceeds, I will give a description of other public places in that famous old city of Eathman.
There was a certain ore taken from the mountainside just back of the city. The name of it was helt. This ore was something like copper, but differed in respect to its influence on the air—for by taking a rod of helt and driving one end into the ground, the electric current, at the upper end of the rod, produced a very brilliant light very much like the electric light of recent invention, here on this earth. Near the centre of the city a large post of helt was sunk in the ground, and from the top of this were placed conducting rods, which were bent over in a circle and entered the ground at a distance of about ten feet; in this way light was distributed to every part of the city. The conductors were passed from house to house under the ground, just as gas pipes are here. The labour was all superintended by the leaders of each society, who were generally men of large experience, and qualified by nature to conduct the force of perpetual motion from one degree to another, which was done by mechanical instruments, according to the amount of force needed in executing any certain thing.
Vegetable food, the only food ever eaten, is so prepared that all life giving principles in it are abstracted before it is eaten; the rest is thrown away. This is placed in a dark room, in large jars, and never exposed to light. It is only necessary for a person to eat about one found every sixth week. This must be eaten after sundown, as the effect of light on food when it is being placed in the mouth is to make the person sick at the stomach. No person offers food to another, for it is understood that all who desire any can go to the eating room and help themselves. There is no such thing as rich or poor people, except as to their knowledge. Theatres are distributed throughout the city, and stand in place of churches. The art of acting is practiced to perfection; comedy and tragedy are both very popular. There are neither preachers or priests of any kind. Judges and lawyers are unknown; every difficulty arising from differences of opinion is settled by the law of demonstration. Few disputes ever arise on any subject, other than science, and they are soon settled by test. Everything is governed by love, and good will, and although I lived in the city of Eathman for over a thousand years, I never saw either man or woman angry; in fact, hatred and strife are not known within the limits of that city, as a thought of anger could be detected, and was instantly subdued by the force of will power.
The greatest pleasure experienced by the older classes, was to train the children up according to the way they should devote their lives, so as to render most good to their friends and companions and to help develop their minds on every branch of science they should take most delight in following. My parents placed me at an early age under the care and training of an old and highly respected astronomer and inventor, by the name of Elwer. This man at once assumed the duties of a father, instructor and friend, and it is partly through him I am an inhabitant of this earth at the present time. Hereafter I shall always refer to him and myself as “we,” for we were never separated from each other, only at short intervals, for thousands of years afterwards, and would have been together yet if a fearful mishap had not occurred, of which I shall speak in the course of my narrative. The first instructions given me by Elwer were in the art of using all the instruments of astronomy, which I soon accomplished. The next were those of governing perpetual motion; these were very easy when once understood. Night after night have we sat on the top of the city observatory and gazed at the different planets as they rolled on in space.
One night when we were seated in our favourite place of observation, gazing on other worlds, my old tutor said to me, “Willmoth, how would you like to travel with me throughout the length and breadth of our own world, before studying too much of other and more distant planets?” I quickly I answered that I should like it very much; and, as but very few had ever seen beyond the limits of our own nation, which did not cover one millionth part of the planet, I was very anxious to start immediately, so as to be called on my return a great traveller, and also to satisfy a growing desire to see other lands and their inhabitants. My teacher had for years been working on a machine which he had that morning completed. This machine was intended for transporting heavy bodies through the air. In appearance it resembled a large armchair, with two large rubber tubes on each side. Underneath the chair was arranged a large iron box which contained heated air. The air was heated by a small wheel which was kept in motion by the pressure of the foot on a spring in front of the chair. This wheel in its rapid revolution came in contact with a friction composed of sand and glue. The rubber tubes were arranged so as to supply the air box with cold air and let the hot air out; hence, any one could work the air chamber so as to raise or lower the chair at will. The more hot air the higher the chair would rise, and the cooler the air, the lower. To guide the chair a large fan was attached, which swung out behind, perpendicular with the lever in easy reach of the band. A compass was attached to the chair arm on the left, so as to enable one to tell in what direction to go. With this machine a person could travel about forty-five or fifty miles per day, and have plenty of time to see the country over which he was travelling. By attaching the progressive wheel underneath the air chamber one could increase the rate of speed to about eight hundred miles in twenty-four hours. So, early one morning, after bidding our friends and relatives adieu, we seated ourselves in our flying chair, supplied with all necessary instruments for taking observations, and measuring distance, both in height and surface.
