Life in a Thousand WorldsHarris, W. S. (William Shuler)
Science
Life in a Thousand Worlds
Harris, W. S. (William Shuler)
Utopias
Woman's beauty on Saturn is surpassing. It reaches a higher degree of
perfection than any of the myriad types of beauty on this enchanting
world. When I first opened my eyes on these scenes, I imagined that I
had reached Heaven, but, to my chagrin, I soon found the black marks of
sin that stain the whole planet.
The illustrious inventors of Saturn, living and dead, make a long list,
which is headed by the name of Veorda, a woman of marvelous intellect.
She looked into the mysteries of nature with a shrewd, wizard eye, but,
unfortunately, lost her life early in a bold experiment with explosives.
However, before she reached her much-lamented end, she had won enough
honor to outshine all inventors in the whole history of Saturn.
She was the sole inventor of all explosives, and she had learned how to
operate them without making any noise or smoke. This proved a valuable
aid to factories and quarries, and particularly in the handling of fire
arms, of which Saturn has a very strange collection.
Before Veorda was born the flying machine had been invented and used.
But aerial travel was soon abandoned owing to some terrible accidents
that had occurred. During the earlier part of her career Veorda labored
assiduously until she overcame a few difficulties and thereby perfected
the flying machine.
[Illustration: An Air Ship on Saturn.]
It was a day of international rejoicing when her perfected machine
sailed over the governments of Saturn. The invention stood every test
and at once air traffic was resumed and maintained. When this woman died
the governments erected to her memory the finest and costliest monument
that now stands on the whole world of Saturn. Of course, I went to see
it. As I stood studying the poetry of the pillars, I looked overhead and
saw one of the immense aerial ships carrying a pleasure party to a
distant point. I cannot describe my feelings as I lingered in the
presence of the sleeping dust and saw the imperishable influence of her
thoughts still working for her, in a carnal sense, "a more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory."
Yet with all this homage paid to Veorda, I cannot believe that she is
more illustrious than the present living wizard of our world, the
notable Edison.
Veorda lived and died a devoted worshipper of "The Great Influence," or
God, and it is delightful to think that we shall associate with such
great minds in our eternal abode in that Broader Life where the pure of
all spheres gather. Will I do wrong if I quote that sublime beatitude,
making it applicable to all worlds? "Blessed are the pure in heart, for
they shall see God."
The written language of Saturn resembles the Chinese character language,
only it is much more smooth and more complete.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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