Life in a Thousand WorldsHarris, W. S. (William Shuler)
Science
Life in a Thousand Worlds
Harris, W. S. (William Shuler)
Utopias
It chanced that I visited this world at the graduating period of the
greater schools. This gave me privilege to hear an oration on "The Soil
and the Diamond," a synopsis of which I will translate as correctly as I
can. It will be remembered that I must use terms and style suitable to
our language.
"O beautiful soil! Thou art but a type of thy maker invisible. Thou dost
give birth to countless forms and nursest them all from thy own bosom.
From the atom thou bringest the oak, and all its children fall back into
thy arms for succor. From thy own heart spring the infinite types of
vegetable beauty, all painted and frescoed by thy own exquisite
touches.
"O mysterious soil! Wrapped in thy bosom lie a thousand secrets which,
if I could but read, I might interpret and thus learn anew of my
Creator. Thou holdest the ashes of the millions slain, and the dust of
all our forefathers.
"O silent soil! How thou workest without the flying shuttle, or the hum
of the busy bees. Thou doest thy greatest deeds without the sounding of
a trumpet. Silently thy atoms take their places to serve in higher
forms. O teach me thy mute language that I may live and sacrifice for
others without my crying and my sighing.
"O humble soil! Thy elements, when formed into man, or fruit, or any
kind of food, return again without complaint when touched by death. May
I, like thee, take all my condescension in the spirit of humility.
"O modest soil! Thou are not gaudy like the diamond, sparkling and
dazzling in a brilliant show and living for nothing higher than display.
But thou dost lay aside thy feathery tips, leaving the sun of heaven do
the shining. Thou permittest water crystals to give the rainbow hues,
whilst thou in thy own modest way, continuest to yield sustenance for
man and bird and beast.
"O instructive soil! Wilt thou not, in thy own wise way, speak to the
thoughtless man who feels content to grovel with the miserable diamond,
who takes his lessons from the dead, dead rock, and feeds his soul upon
such flinty food. Open his ears to hear thy words of life and light, and
may he see in thee the brighter mirror reflecting the God of all."
This one oration condensed is a fair sample of the others. I listened to
the whole program and then proceeded once more to view the diamond
splendors before I left this world where I was well paid for my
tarrying.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Triumphant Feat of Orion.
As I continued ranging among the planets of the constellation of Orion,
I felt an indescribable desire to pause at a very small orb which
revolves around Saiph, a star of the third magnitude.
Here I found, to my surprise, a gem of a world which I will call Holen.
It is five hundred miles in diameter, and inhabited by a refined race of
human beings, radically different from us in physical contour, but
remarkably similar to us in their mental aspirations.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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