The One Woman: A Story of Modern UtopiaDixon, Thomas, Jr.
General
The One Woman: A Story of Modern Utopia
Dixon, Thomas, Jr.
Utopian fiction; Utopias -- Fiction
"No, thank you," he quickly replied. "I'm just beginning to feel
at home with you. I am content."
The opening of the Temple was an event which commanded the attention
of the world. Leaders of Socialism from every quarter of the globe
poured into New York.
The building was one of imposing grandeur. The auditorium filled
the entire space of the first-four stories. It seated five thousand
people within easy reach of the speaker's voice. The line of its
ceiling was marked outside by the serried capitals of Greek columns
springing from their massive bases on the ground. The grand stairway
was of polished marble, its wainscoting and walls of onyx.
Resting on the capitals of the columns, the outer walls of rough
marble rose twenty stories to the first offset. Dropping back
fifty feet, another structure, crowned by Greek facades, sprang ten
stories higher, forming the base of the central dome. From each
corner rose a tower of bronze supporting the figures of Faith, Hope,
Love and Truth, while scores of minarets flamed upward, flying the
flags of every nation.
From the centre of this pile of marble, the huge dome, finished in
gold, solemnly loomed among the clouds, higher than its model in
Washington, dominating the city from every point of the compass.
The magnificent sweep of Jefferson Avenue, stretching through miles
of palatial homes, terminating at its base, seemed a tiny pathway
leading through its grand arched and pillared entrance.
The dome was crowned by a statue of Liberty holding aloft a steel
staff, from which flew the solid red battle-flag of Socialism,
flinging into the heavens its challenge to civilisation, rising,
falling, waving, fluttering, quivering, rippling in the wind, a
scarlet blaze sweeping a hundred feet across the sky far above the
cross on the Cathedral spire.
The cost of the building had exceeded the estimate, and it had been
finished by a loan of two million dollars secured by a mortgage held
by the banking house of Overman & Company. It could have commanded
a larger loan, as the entire structure, except the two stories
below ground and the auditorium, was devoted to business offices
occupied by the best class of tenants. The auditorium was for rent
at a nominal sum during the week, and was designed to be the forum
of free thought for the nation.
The dedication programme began on Monday, lasting through an entire
week, day and night, and culminated on Sunday with Gordon's address
at eleven o'clock. The elaborate ceremonials and speeches had worn
out Kate's body by Saturday, and the praise of pygmies had long
before worn out her soul.
Ruth had read with interest the accounts of these meetings, and
Morris King tried in vain to dissuade her from attending the Sunday
exercises at which Gordon was to speak.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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