Life in a Thousand Worlds by William Shuler Harris

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I will give a small portion of the mental telepathic conversation
between myself and my auditors, although I must relate it as if words
were actually spoken, or it would be totally unintelligible to the
people of my own likeness.

"Let no one be alarmed," I hurriedly addressed them, as a thousand
giant forms were trembling at my appearance. "My mission is one of
peace. I have come to help rather than harm," I continued.

"From what section of our world have you come?" came a hundred thought
flashes in wild confusion.

"I am not from your world, but from another," I answered with closed
mouth as best I could.

Then I learned an important feature of this mind language. A hundred or
more interrogations came flying at me in thick confusion. At once the
chairman or leader of the meeting gave restrictive orders which actually
prohibited my audience from further communication with me, although I
might address them. The chairman bid me commune with him and he
thereafter acted as the spokesman of the whole assembly. It was no more
difficult for these philosophers to keep their minds closed to me than
it is for us to keep our mouths closed in an excitable meeting or
debate.

The chairman, looking with increasing curiosity at my strangely shaped
face and head, interrogated me thus:

"Are you an angel of light, or one of darkness?"

"I am neither."

"What then can you be?"

"I am a created being from a far-off region of space. I was born on a
world which revolves around a star untold millions of miles distant."

"If you are not a spirit, how could you have traveled such incredible
distances?"

"That is yet a mystery to me," I admitted. "The power of my flight is
much like the mode of your communication, for each is alike mysterious
to me."

By this time the excitement was intense. No one attempted to grasp me or
even approach toward me. I saw by the perplexing mental atmosphere of
the chairman that he was being besieged by a host of questions and
suggestions; so I relieved the situation by continuing my words:

"No one need consider my appearance as an evil omen. I am not empowered
to curse or bless your world except by what may flow from my immediate
conversation with you."

In these sentences I thoughtlessly gestured with my arms; this set my
audience wild with mingled merriment and curiosity.

"Are all as small as you whence you came?" queried the chairman.

"They are all after my pattern with some variations."

"Pray, tell me, what are those gummy flabs at the sides of your head?"

"Those are my ears," I said with grinning face. "They grew there for a
purpose."

"And what can that purpose be?" further questioned the puzzled chairman.

"They are for the purpose of hearing," I quickly replied.

Then followed a curious scientific dialogue in which I endeavored to
explain the sense of hearing. From this I described the manner of
conversation in our world, and showed what an important part hearing
played. But all this was beyond the comprehension of my auditors.

After a lengthy and most interesting discussion upon the philosophy of
sound, the next point of interest centered on my mouth and vocal
organs. It was pleasing to consider these subjects because my listeners
were such eager questioners and surprised hearers. No wonder that they
were unable to grasp such a crude system of conversation as ours!

Then the chairman verily begged me to explain the mystery of my mission
and of my unprecedented itinerary. How could I have fully satisfied his
mind, even if I had endeavored to do so!

After all this came the most pleasing communion thus far of all my
journey. I learned much by the interchange of ideas. Nature's vast book
opened to me some new and charming pages.

Toward the close of my stay the affinity between us grew to a marked
degree. Although we were widely apart in physical aspect, yet we were
supping from the same bowl of affection and, with this happy turn, we
talked of our permanent companionship.

"But I cannot abide with you," I reluctantly answered.

"Ah, torment us not with such a thought," affectingly pressed the
chairman.

"I have other worlds to visit, and must hasten away. Touch me not," I
cried as the chairman unconsciously moved toward me in an urgent appeal.

"How soon shall we see you again?"

"No more forever, unless you see me in that widest expanse of life which
in our world we call Heaven. There the pure of all worlds will gather
and commingle in delightsome fellowship forever."

I was then urged beyond all etiquette to tarry a short period and visit
certain parts of their world. But I informed them that I had seen more
of their world than they imagined, and that the object of my visit had
been reached.

CHAPTER XX.

Brief.

One of the medium sized worlds that revolve around Alcyone sustains the
shortest lived human beings of our universe. It is seldom that any of
the creatures reach more than four years of age according to our
standards of time. They are nearly as large as we and relatively much
lighter in weight. All the periods of physical growth are
correspondingly decreased. Children walk four or five weeks after birth,
and are capable of receiving regular instruction at the age of five
months.

Strange as it may seem, this sphere, which for convenience we will call
Brief, revolves very slowly on its axis, so that our world makes fifteen
times as many revolutions as this planet.

It requires but little arithmetic to figure out that the people of Brief
do not see the sun rise very often. When it does appear in the morning
sky, all the public signals blow and the people appear in one or
another of their places of worship. This beautiful custom has been in
practice for over three thousand years. The worship is not sun worship,
but a genuine service of thanksgiving to Him who ruleth over the sun and
supplies it with fuel to burn. It appears that on all worlds everything
is regulated in accordance with the length of human life. On this world,
of Brief all vegetables mature in periods so short that one marvels when
he hears it. Think of cereals reaching maturity in seven or eight of our
days, or during one day of Brief. Early in the morning certain crops are
planted and are harvested at night. Two or more days are required for
maturing other crops. Actually the people of Brief raise their crops
with less labor than is required amongst us.

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

Furrows of care and trouble begin to deepen on the faces of these
Briefites as they approach an age of what we would call three years, and
if by lease of strength they pass on toward an age of four years, it is
but an evidence of their exceptional vitality. It seems to be true that
the experiences of a long life of sixty or eighty years is crowded into
a narrow compass of four years by a miracle of spheres not comprehended
by finite minds.

No doubt a detailed description of this whirling and dashing life would
be of interest to us slow, deliberate creatures. But I can give only a
passing glimpse.

JOURNALISM.

Things happen in such quick succession that the news is hustled out at
all hours of the day and night; not on sheets of paper, but through
automatic news-receivers, machines somewhat akin to our telegraph
instruments.

The state supplies each home with an automatic news-receiver. Thus a
record is kept in each home of all messages received so that they can
be read at leisure. To speak in a manner more easily understood, I will
say that the news is telegraphed to each home as soon as possible after
the events transpire. But compared to our customs, the news is very
scarce. There being no competition, no time or space is required for
sensational trash. Thus, if nothing of importance occurs, nothing need
be transmitted. The official news-censors decide as to the relative
importance of occurrences. There need not be a certain amount of news
telegraphed each hour. The government verifies, as much as possible, all
reports before they are transmitted. There are indeed some advantages in
the government being in constant touch with each home under its care.
The advertising department pays nearly all expenses of this whole system
of journalism. Announcements for private gain are paid at a regular
rate. It costs more to advertise at certain periods than at other times,
all regulated by the customs of the people.

Under these regulations everybody receives the news, and only the
essential news, except advertisements which must come in batches at
certain intervals. Of course, people take their choice as to reading
advertisements.

[Illustration: Sunrise Signal in Brief.]

THEIR FOOTWEAR.

The soles of the feet of these Briefites are composed of a substance
most nearly resembling hoof material. They never think of covering the
feet under any change of climate. If one of the Briefites were to step
upon the shores of our rugged Earth and see the cotton or wool and
leather that lies around our feet, it would appear to him as the most
ridiculous thing imaginable, and no doubt his shapely feet of ivory cast
would be of more than passing interest to us.

THEIR RAIMENT.

Their raiment is altogether after new models. Neither the men, women,
nor children seem to seek this means for self-beautifying. They seem to
think that beauty of character has a radiance more to be desired than
the flash of opals or the luster of silks. Their garments partake of the
loose flowing order. For instance, a strong fabric of chosen shade is
fastened at the neck, hip, knee and ankle, and lies carelessly over the
parts between. The females never graduated to the corset degree, and
while they do not cut a scientific figure, yet they surely develop a
more ruddy waist after the model intended by the Designor of the body.

TRANSPORTATION.

The methods of traveling are so contrary to our conceptions and
practices that I almost forbear to attempt any description. Yet I was
entertained and instructed as I witnessed the moving of humanity along a
street of a busy city. Have you ever noticed how quarters of beef are
carried from a car to an elevator or refrigerator on steel rods
connected with wheels running in a groove or on a specially prepared
track? In a city of Brief, overhead tracks after such an order run along
all business streets and certain residence streets. Spare me a detailed
description of this peculiar traveling system. Suffice it to say that a
person, in lightning rapidity of motion, rushes from a store, springs
upon a passing seat and is hurled away by the power of an overhead
cable system. When an exchange of seats is necessary, it is all done so
easily and so quickly that you would wonder why we tolerate trolley
cars.

In traveling from city to city, a system is in use that I will call the
Toboggan Slide System, although the cars run on wheels. The car is
raised in a shaft about one hundred feet and then by gravity it dashes
two or more miles according to the lay of the land traversed. Then
another rise more or less than one hundred feet is experienced, and then
another wild dash. I have no words of praise for this system, although
the Briefites can cover considerable territory in an hour. They look
upon this gravity system as a wonderful achievement, for it has not been
in operation for more than three hundred years.

The power of steam has never been utilized. No genius of all this active
world of Brief ever conceived the idea that almost unlimited power lies
wrapped up in thin vapory water. But they have discovered what we would
call gaseous oil, and have learned to put it to work, so that it is the
main force employed in hoisting and all other purposes where power is
required.

Nothing like a traveling locomotive has ever been made, although I
learned that a bright wizard was experimenting and that he prophesied
great changes when his gas-propelled vehicle was perfected.

Think of how much value an ordinary citizen of our world would be to
these Briefites, if he could step upon their world and communicate with
them concerning the magic wonders of steam and the manner of
constructing stationary and movable engines, to say nothing of the
hidden wonders of electricity. Quadrupeds that take the place of our
horses are used for drayage, although nothing except the two-wheeled
class of vehicles was ever used until some eighty-seven years ago.

PUBLIC HIGHWAYS.

These interesting people excel us in their style and manner of
home-building, fencing and making public highways. We are heathenish in
our progress along the line of road making especially. In all my vast
journey among the worlds I found only a few, comparatively, whereon the
roads were inferior to ours.

In the world of Brief the state prescribes the manner of public highways
and each citizen must contribute his share to their creation and
maintenance.

These Briefites excel us in more than a score of ways. They are much
purer in morals, more refined in manner, more harmonious in government,
and unusually bright in mathematics. Very intricate and elaborate
problems are solved by these people of a few years. They are inferior to
us in a hundred ways. In the broad fields of manufacture and invention
they lag a long distance in the rear. This is principally due to their
lack of time.

RELIGIOUS LIFE.

The religious life of the people of Brief is, on an average, of a higher
type than is found in our world. Their belief in immortality has run
parallel with their existence as a people, and their devotion to their
Creator is marked with unusual fervor.

Their Redeemer is worshiped quite separately from God, and with
distinctive adorations. The name of their Redeemer, phonetically
rendered, is Kerm-Cher. The most faithful translation of this word into
our language would be God-affluence.

Kerm-Cher, or God-breath, appeared upon Brief full grown, and pronounced
his benediction on the race, declaring his origin, and the purpose of
his coming. Similar to Christ, he confirmed his identity by unanswerable
miracles.

Many, however, disbelieved in Kerm-Cher, and held to the old axiomatic
truths. Thus creeds were prevalent and they remain until now, only there
is much less variety than is found amongst us.

Kerm-Cher set up a new reign, and accepted a temporal throne for a
season. He finally announced that his ambassadorship would soon cease
and that his followers would lose the throne of civil power, that they
would be tested for a season in the valley of humiliation and by the
fires of terrible persecution, and that they who would endure unto the
end would be glorified.

These religious features are remarkably similar to the system under
which the Christian religion of our globe is fostered.

CHAPTER XXI.

The Life on Wings.

As I darted from world to world, I was not then fully conscious of the
vast stretches of space that I had covered. No mortal nor angel tongue
can even commence to describe the vastness of created things and the
trackless oceans of space in which the ponderous suns and planets
revolve.

According to the classification of our astronomers I next found myself
in the constellation of Perseus, and was again convinced of the weakness
of our most powerful telescopes, for I now saw thousands of immense
stars, hitherto invisible to me. Not one of these stars is within a
trillion miles of any other.

In this distant system of our universe I saw that the same plan of
creation obtained. Around a majority of the stars a group of various
sized worlds revolves. On many of these worlds human life abounds in
endless degrees of development and in a countless variety of
manifestations. I marveled anew as I saw the endlessness of the Infinite
Mind, supporting not only the conscious life of this whole
constellation, but also of all the constellations of our universe, and
of all the universes scattered at large throughout the unending depths
of space.

I paused at a star of variable magnitude in the Milky Way, but took only
a passing glance at the physical wonders of this great sun, compared
with which our own Sun is a mere pigmy. Onward I hastened to one of the
larger worlds of this solar system which, for my convenience, I will
call Swift.

Here new wonders opened wide to my view. Human beings, charmingly
beautiful, moved over the face of the planet or on wings through the air
at pleasure and with great ease. These creatures are about three-fourths
of our size, and are most gracefully formed. Their whole physical
appearance is more similar to a bird than to a human being of our Earth.
They are relatively much lighter than we, and are covered with nothing
akin to feathers.

If you were to see them standing in their erect posture and walking
with man-like dignity, you would at once feel that they are the lords of
the creation on their world, and so indeed they are.

These ethereal creatures have the loveliest eyes of any human beings I
ever beheld in any world. They sparkle with the brilliancy of a diamond
and move with the quickness of electricity. The head is small but
symmetrical and all physical proportions are most harmoniously adapted
even to a nicety that would be pleasing to the most refined tastes of
our world.

At first I could not understand how these people of Swift could travel
so conveniently in the air, for their wings are very small and the
exertion when flying is very limited. But the lightness of the body, the
heaviness of the air, and the unusual strength of the Swiftites, each
conduces its share to the fortunate result.

In my thoughtlessness I envied these gifted people and wished that when
I would return to my world, I could enjoy such privileges of flight. I
soon checked this rising covetousness, and again contentment flung over
me its white mantle.

The bodies of these Swiftites are covered by nature with a clean growth
of soft, silken hair. They change their garments with the seasons, but
at all times dress very sparingly and neatly. They are so easily clothed
that all their apparel occasions them no more trouble than the more
seasonable covering of the head gives to our women.

The average length of life is nearly four hundred years of our time.
There are very few worlds in space where the general health of its
inhabitants is as perfect as is found on this beautiful planet. There
are but few doctors because there is but little demand for them. Those
who are engaged are under government service, and all persons who are
unfortunate enough to become ill receive at least all medicine and
professional attention free.

We are quite an exceptional world in our medical system. In all my
journey I saw comparatively only a few worlds that have the private
system of medical treatment. Have we not noted the laboring husband
bending at his toil for eight or ten hours to pay the physician who
calls for a few minutes? In some cases this program is continued for
weeks, until the honest toiler finds himself confronted with a doctor's
bill and medicine bill to haunt him until the debt is either forgiven or
paid at great sacrifice.

On the world of Swift and in the vast majority of civilized worlds in
space, the community or government furnishes a salaried physician within
reasonable reach of every home. The doctors of Swift are not expected to
work night and day. They have shifts to divide the toil equally.

In architecture this distant planet excels us by far. I improved the
opportunity and went to witness a magnificent temple of worship which
has been in process of erection for over two hundred years. Any conceit
that I previously had on account of the large structures of my own world
quickly vanished at the sight of this imposing edifice. During my visit
the winged workers were laboring on the upper stories and I watched them
with great wonderment as they descended from the clouds to carry
materials to the higher stories. Can you imagine the picture of workmen
flying in all directions with tools, each one busily employed? It is
promised that the present generation of employees will live to see the
completion of this notable structure.

This vast building is the national religious center of the Swiftites.
Each government has such a central station, and from it all temples of
worship are controlled. Here the church and the state are yet married,
and the state maintains its religious departments with careful scrutiny.
The chief ambition of each government has always been to outshine the
others in the glory and magnificence of its central temple which, of
course, is fire proof and almost time proof.

One may wonder as he gazes upon this extensive structure why there are
seventy thousand sleeping rooms and dining halls built after such
extensive plans as to entertain, at one time, twenty-five thousand
guests. All this is to accommodate the vast throngs that take their
sacred pilgrimage once in a year under an arrangement by which one tenth
of the able-bodied go each thirty-nine days, which corresponds to our
month.

The most notable feature of this central temple is the main service
room, built at fabulous cost and capable of accommodating one hundred
thousand pilgrims at one time. The most costly sections of this one room
are guarded night and day by armed government soldiers.

The religion of these Swiftites is of a very pure kind. The ministers of
this national church are fully equipped before entering upon their
office. The training schools for ministers attracted my closest
attention. Fortunately, these people have no language complications as
we have, so that a prospective minister can spend some of his time
studying the Book of God's Revelation instead of spending a great
portion of his training period in learning the languages in which the
book had once been written.

A minister's training consists as much in voice culture and the many
branches of elocution as it does in acquiring a correct knowledge of
God. But in illustrative teaching Swift leads us by far. I was
profitably entertained in the main temple as I listened to one of the
famous orators discoursing to an audience of eighty thousand. Not only
did his canary-like voice penetrate to all parts of the large room, but
his objective illustrations clinched the truth remarkably well.

A series of special services is held at the close of each month. The
most wonderful of all these exercises, or renditions, is called "The
Mediator Service." This is one of the most spectacular and impressive
exercises outside of Heaven. Even the famous Passion Play of
Oberammergau (our world) with the less glorious exhibitions at Horitz
and Selzach, all dwindle into insignificance compared with "The Mediator
Service" on the world of Swift.

During my visit I witnessed the full program of this sublime rendition.
The music was inexpressibly grand as rendered by the vested Mediator
Choir. Naturally the Swiftites have sweet, bird-like voices. Can you
conceive the effect of a triple choir of these human warblers all
trained in perfect harmony and unison?

When you consider that nearly the whole population witnesses these
special exhibitions at least once a year, you can the better understand
why the spiritual condition of the people has reached a high very level.

I investigated the many interesting features of this inviting world and
found that in some respects we are inferior to these human bird
creatures, although in many other respects we are superior. Electricity
is known in their world, but they have not yet harnessed it; hence they
are ignorant of telegraphy and a long list of similar inventions which
we enjoy.

In agriculture the Swiftites are ahead of us. They raise their crops
with less labor relatively than we. All things considered it is easier
to live on Swift than here.

Knowing that my time was limited, I decided to secure some nuggets of
truth by a personal interview; so I concluded to appear to the wisest
person on the planet, who was a woman of wonderful mental acquirements.
In addition to her superior intellect she was also bewitchingly
beautiful.

I waited for the best opportunity and came near to her as she was about
to spread her wings for a morning flight from the beautiful summit
near her summer home. Not wishing to cause her undue alarm, I at first
spoke softly, remaining invisible and watching her rare eyes send their
glances toward the palmy trees around me, as her wings were relaxing
quietly at her side. She was positive of having heard a voice, and as
she still further scanned the immediate surroundings I saw that
perplexity was furrowing marks upon her face.

[Illustration: Beautiful Plume on the World of Swift.]

"Hast thou time to spend with a friend from another world?" I calmly
inquired as I was still unseen by her.

She was nervously agitated, but being of strong fibre she quickly
rallied with her answer, "Where art thou and who art thou?"

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