Chapter 3

Some said that the design would be beautiful as the subject of a poem-- as the aspiration of a great mind to arrive at an ideal perfection, which could not however be realised until evil itself had ceased to exist. That to attempt to move the Mestua Mountain[1] would be a task not less hopeless: that I might as well endeavour to walk up our great Cataract[2] without being engulfed in the sea of foaming waters! Not one offered encouragement to proceed with the good work.

[Footnote 1: Supposed to be the largest and firmest of mountains, which, since its first upheaving, has resisted the inroads of our mighty seas, as well as the most violent electrical disturbances of our world.]

[Footnote 2: See p. 44.]

Neither their arguments nor their prayers deterred me. I proceeded cautiously, but with a resolution that feared not death.

Aware, however, of the deadly peril besetting me, I selected twelve men, remarkable for wisdom in council and energy in action, on each of whom in succession the authority should devolve if I were cut off. I initiated them into my plans, and thus hoped that one devoted man would always be ready to advance the good work.

Whilst providing for my death, I took measures for protecting my life against any sudden outburst of fury. I turned my palace into a fortress, that I might not be cut off in a moment of sudden unreasoning wrath, that myself and my adherents might not be scoffed at as madmen, and my plans for the good of all retarded, if not wholly frustrated. These motives I proclaimed to the people.

The opposing obstacles were stupendous. I braved death in every shape. I passed one mighty peril only to meet another more formidable, but fearlessly stood every trial, and did not hesitate to act where danger was greatest. Nothing appalled me. I never faltered from my resolves, and after years of mighty struggles, my triumph was complete. I was blessed and adored by all the people, small and great, and my name will live in Montalluyah through all generations.

I gave Laws, and indicated the precautions to be taken to secure their observance. I initiated discoveries. Inexhaustible stores of abundance were called into existence, enriching the poor and making the rich happy in their possessions. And the eventual result of the organization I completed was the removal of the incentives to war, strife, avarice and other evils, the triumph of good, and the moral and material well-being of the community.

Amongst the many subjects to which I successfully devoted my attention were:

The care and protection of Woman, the development of her capabilities and graces, the preservation and increase of her beauty, Marriage and its incidents.

The birth, growth, and education of the future Man and of the Mother of Men; the enlarging and ennobling the moral and intellectual powers.

Preservation of health--prevention and cure of disease--prolongation of Life, and augmentation of the faculties of appreciation and enjoyment.

The increase of our flocks and herds, and of other sources of supply for the food of man. The discovery and creation of new means of sustenance and the amelioration of the old.

The discovery of the properties of birds, beasts, fishes, insects, reptiles, and creeping things, and their application to the service of man.

The invention of new instruments, the enlargement of the powers of those already known, the development of electrical and mechanical powers, and the subjecting the workings of nature to the uses of man.

The care and protection in health and in sickness of the lower orders, and of those whom nature had not qualified to take care of themselves.

Occupation for all, each according to his capabilities and the bent of his genius, as ascertained and developed by education.

The government of the country; the enlargement and improvement of the cities with a view to the health, comfort, and progressive elevation of the community.

IV.

LIGHT FROM DARKNESS.

"Let the mighty works of God stimulate all to industry."

My task at first seemed never-ending; but good is ever fruitful, and each conquest aided every subsequent effort.

I was greatly assisted in my progress by the knowledge of powers in nature of wondrous value, but permanently effective for good only; secrets to be entrusted to those alone whose goodness, discipline, and self-knowledge enable them to stand firmly against the varied attacks of temptation, and rise above the motives by which men are ordinarily ruled, the chosen High Priests of the Science who would never use for evil purposes the secrets imparted.

Similar powers have been exercised for good in different ages of your planet, but the mighty trust having become known to weak minds was sadly abused, the charm was thus broken and the secret lost; for, when the knowledge of man exceeds certain limits, his power, like that of good angels, can exist only while linked with noble aspirations.

The false prophets who used the dying embers of occult science for vile purposes have been properly looked upon with horror as delegates of evil; for the death-struggle of the expiring secret had wrought great mischief on the earth.

The power which had been entrusted to me was exercised for the good of my planet, and aided me in consummating my plans without bloodshed; those who were deaf to words yielded to influences whose depths could not be fathomed by ordinary vision.

In the system I founded, every one--his natural powers disciplined to that end--is occupied in the pursuit adapted to his genius and inclination, ascertained by ever vigilant and scrutinising observation, and tests ofttimes repeated during his early and later career.

These tests are applied in a variety of forms, and by different examiners, at different times; and there are so many checks and counterchecks, that the boy is effectually protected against the now scarcely possible ignorance or favouritism of "the knowledge testers," and even against himself.

Every one having the occupation most congenial to him, all worked cheerfully in their pursuits; and I was soon aided by a never-ending phalanx of great men. The progress of science was marvellous, for as soon as the impeding obstacles were removed, and we allowed her to be wooed by the lovers of her predilection, Nature seemed to lend herself eagerly to the advances of her votaries.

The precept exhorting all to industry stood at the head of this portion of my laws, but the lesson was no longer needed.

I was indeed ofttimes obliged to exhort to recreations and amusements, and to turn many--particularly men of genius--from the too incessant pursuit of their labours of love.

I set an example in my own person, for I was a frequent attendant at the public games and diversions.

One discovery was pregnant with another; invention followed invention almost in geometrical progression; the secrets of nature were disclosed; and power, being wielded only by men intent on good, disease and crime were soon reduced to almost imperceptible proportions. Wisdom and joy ruled where before folly and misery prevailed, and towards the end of my reign the happiness of Montalluyah was more like the joys of a celestial star than of a planet inhabited by mortal beings.

When the causes of affliction themselves could not be removed, they were often made to contribute to my world's well-being.

The myriads of insects that formerly ravaged our fields are now intercepted in their work of destruction,[1] their properties having been discovered and applied to purposes redundant with good.

[Footnote 1: See p. 76.]

The hippopotami, who in earlier ages were looked upon as the incarnate enemy of mankind, formerly overran the country, trampling down vegetation, and attacking man and beast. These creatures are now dominated, and their breed is encouraged, for they have become the most valuable of our wild beasts, the hide, fat, and nearly every part of the carcase being applied to very many purposes of the highest utility to my people.[1]

[Footnote 1: See p. 279.]

The advent of "the fever wind," which formerly blew disease amongst the people, now conduces to the healthfulness of those it would otherwise lay low.

The lightning, formerly destructive, impelled--as was told in our legendary lore--by the anger of the Fire God, is rendered innocuous, and collected for use.[2]

[Footnote 2: See Electricity, p. 54.]

The sun's scorching force is compelled to minister to our delights, to assist in our arts and manufactures, to supply a power which cannot otherwise be obtained, and even to protect us from the sometimes too dangerous influence of his own rays.

The sunlight is powerful in our world beyond anything in your Indian or African climates; even the shades are not black, but of a reddish hue.

The sun, going down, leaves a red light, so that, except when at night this is completely shut out from the houses, there is ordinarily no darkness in your sense of the word.

At certain times, however, Montalluyah, both by day and night, is overspread with thick darkness. Formerly, during this visitation, no man could see his neighbour; fear seized the people. They believed it to be the reign of bad spirits, and so it seemed; few dared venture from their houses even to obtain food, and numbers died from terror and exhaustion.

Light is now made to displace darkness, and joyfulness to take the place of mourning.

My scientific men discovered a means by which the causes that produced the darkness are now used to remedy its inconveniences.

The City is made gloriously radiant. Forms of trees, birds, vases of flowers and fruit, fountains, and other designs of many tints and great beauty are transparent with light, rendered more beautiful by combination with a peculiar electricity emitted by the earth--an electricity which, be it observed, is the cause of the darkness.

The very birds by their warbling seem to greet the change, and the trees and flowers emit a more delicious perfume.

There is music and rejoicing everywhere in the City. Many of the electrical amusements provided appear grander from the contrast with the darkness they are made to displace--a contrast scarcely greater than that depicted by our "Nature Delineators" when, in allegory, they paint the present contrasted with past times; the later years of my reign contrasted with the beginning.

V.

CHARACTER-DIVERS.

EDUCATION.

"Let none but skilful workmen elaborate precious material."

Think not that the truly great Vyora was but little honoured by being appointed to an office connected with little children.[1]

[Footnote 1: _Ante_, p. 8.]

The character-divers were entrusted by me with grave duties, on the proper discharge of which depended the enduring success of my polity.

The education of the young of both sexes engaged from the first my deepest study, for I had early convinced myself that the many evils to be eradicated had their stronghold in the mode in which education had been conducted, and soon after the commencement of my reign I put into execution a portion of my laws for making education a powerful lever in the regeneration of my world.

Men of genius had been compelled by ignorance or driven by necessity to follow occupations for which they were not fitted, and which they, indeed, often loathed; the really valuable tendencies of these men, bent in an opposite direction, were allowed to run to waste, or perhaps be used to the injury and destruction of others.

I felt that to do justice to all and effect good incalculable, evil tendencies must be destroyed in their birth, the germs of the imperfections and crimes of the man, detected and eradicated in the child; whilst valuable qualities and good tendencies must be searched out, and effective means devised for their healthful development.

The most ordinary men, those even who would otherwise be swayed by gross passions, would become contented workmen in the cause of good when occupied with pursuits for which nature and education had fitted them; whilst the power and works of men of genius would be many times increased and multiplied if their education were adapted to strengthen and develop their talents, eradicate their faults, and generate auxiliary excellencies.

But how could all this be effected if the first step to so desirable an end were wanting?

In my visits to the schools I had been struck with the fact that little account was taken of the characters of children,--their qualifications and natural tendencies physical or mental: the attempt was to force the boy to the system, not to adapt the system to the boy.

One routine existed for all pupils, whether for the inculcation of the love of study or for the correction of faults. The earnest and passionate nature was treated in the same way as the cold and phlegmatic; the boy of genius or talent, as the dullard; the one who loved, as he who disliked, or had a tendency to dislike, study; the weakly, as the strong. They were all driven together like a flock of sheep, with scarcely any regard to individual capabilities, bent of genius, or physical constitution, which indeed little effort, and that ill-directed, had been made to discover.

I had observed, also, boys with the germs of great genius, who, for want of some minor quality, were rejected and perhaps placed in some lower division, humiliated and discouraged, although with care the deficient quality could have been supplied. The want of this perhaps would make the boy a recruit to the ranks of evil, or at least unfit him, when a man, for the real business of life. It was the small bolt wanting to enable the machine to do its work properly.

I saw the sad consequences of all this mismanagement.

Many precepts, beautiful indeed in intention, were crammed into the pupil, the process being repeated until they often became irksome, and he was expected to become moral and religious. I saw that precepts were of little use unless those whom they were meant to benefit were educated, fortified, and disciplined in the practical means of observing them.

It was at that time painful to see children, with many good natural tendencies, leave school with bad habits, and vices so marked and developed, that even the exertions of the most skilful physicians, the discourses of the most learned of our clergy, failed to effect a cure.

The first thing necessary was to devise effective--it may be said unerring--means to search out the characters and dispositions of children.

I created the office of "character-divers," and selected for the discharge of its duties eminent men of great sagacity and gentleness, skilled in the knowledge of the mind and heart, their sole occupation being to discover the qualities, tendencies, and incipient faults of children, and act accordingly; to dive, as it were, into the secret imaginings of the child; to detect the early germ of evil, and note the presence of good; to indicate measures for eradicating the one and developing the other.

These character--divers, called in our language "Djarke," are distinct from the masters, called "Zicche," or fathers of knowledge, able men, who have charge of the boys' studies.

The qualities which enable a preceptor to impart literary and scientific knowledge differ widely from those fitted for searching out, discriminating and correcting faults of character, interpreting the real qualities that nature has implanted in the youthful aspirant, and devising the measures to be taken for correction or development.

Even if the necessary qualities for both duties were united in one master, there would be many objections to the duties being entrusted to the same person.

The character-divers are as it were moral physicians, skilled in the detection and cure of the hidden germs of mental maladies; for, as you will see hereafter, I was not content to wait till a disease, whether of the mind or body, had developed itself, spreading contagious poison through the veins and arteries of society, and propagating evil without end; the germ was destroyed before it had acquired force to injure.

In our planet neither the faults nor the good qualities of children show themselves in the same way; the indications vary in each child according to his temperament and the circumstances in which he may be placed. Faults and qualities are often of a kind seemingly opposed to what they actually demonstrate to the character-diver--particularly in children endowed with genius.

Fair and even beautiful outcroppings are sometimes indications of noxious weeds hidden below the surface. Weeds are not unfrequently born from the very richness and exuberance of the soil, whilst many a dark and seemingly sterile stem conceals the embryo of fruit and flowers which a genial sunshine will call into life and beauty.

These and other considerations demand great--almost constant--attention on the part of the Djarke.

Another reason for separating the two offices of fathers of knowledge and character-divers is that the child's peculiarities are generally shown out of school-hours. Hence, for the purpose of detecting or tracing their real cause, and suggesting the remedy, the character-diver is often obliged to enter into terms of intimacy with the children, particularly those of tender age, to obtain their confidence, perhaps to be their playmate and friend, that the little ones may be at their ease, conceal nothing, and almost look upon him as they would upon some tame animal.

The younger children with us require more watchfulness and skill in their treatment than those of maturer age. The defects of the young, like incipient disease, are less obvious, and their intelligence is less developed.

VI.

CORRECTION OF FAULTS.

CHARACTER-DIVERS--_continued_.

"Let the remedies employed be adapted to the complaint and to the constitution of the patient, and be careful that in curing one disease you do not sow the seeds of another more dangerous."

One of the duties of the character-divers is to suggest, and often to carry out, the measures for curing the child, for in our planet the mode of correcting faults is a matter of great solicitude, lest the means adopted, instead of checking and eradicating, tend to confirm and develop the evil tendency, or, it may be, implant other evils more fatal than those eradicated.

The remedies employed for curing the boy's faults vary with his temperament and general characteristics. The same fault would be treated very differently in the stupid and in the intelligent boy. Where there was difficulty of impression, the labour would be like working on stone, whilst the lightest touch and mildest measures will often suffice with the intelligent.

The remedies vary again with the kind, degree, and cause of the fault: take for instance the ordinary fault of laziness. This would be treated very differently when it arose from mental defects--from a tendency to love other things, great or grovelling, or from a sluggish or overactive digestion.

I may here mention that a general feature in the correction of faults is the absence of violent punishment. We wish to raise and not degrade our children, and perhaps implant the seeds of cruelty. We do not correct even our animals by blows. Horses, for instance, are never struck. Whips, with a small thong at the ends, are used only to flourish and to make sounds which the horse knows, but they are not used to strike the animal. Other modes are employed for curing viciousness, each according to the nature of the vice. In the case of a kicking horse, he is placed in a machine which is closed on him, the machine being so constructed that when shut it effectually prevents the animal moving, and he is kept there in the same position for hours. If, when taken out, he again kicks he is placed back again immediately. The process is repeated when necessary over and over again, until the very sight of the machine will completely cow the animal, and he is effectually cured.

The laws are very severe against those who would ill-treat an animal, but there is now no need to put them in force.

We never punish by the imposition of tasks, our aim being to inculcate the love of study, and encourage the child to regard his work as a favour and a privilege. On the contrary we now punish the student rather by taking away the old than by imposing new school work; and this is so effected that the boy, though at first delighted, soon thirsts to resume his studies.

In many cases the pupil is not allowed even to know that he is punished,--_i.e._, why the discipline is changed,--lest he should become attached to a fault for which he has suffered and, as it were, paid dearly; lest, too, the excitement of eluding detection should make it pleasurable to transgress when the immediate pressure is removed, and he should thus become schooled in untruthfulness and deceit.

The character-divers generally effect the child's correction by gentleness, and eventually bringing him to loathe the bad and love the good. Time, labour, and attention are bestowed unsparingly, and, however small the germ, the evil tendency is never left until, when this is possible, it is completely eradicated. In certain cases, where the footprint of nature is too firmly impressed, the efforts are continued until other and opposing qualities have been developed, and the moral patient has acquired such control over himself as to be able, in moments of temptation and impulse, to dominate the disturbing propensity.

Even after the fault seems to have been eradicated, the patient is for some time subjected to various tests and temptations before he is pronounced cured. We do not trust to superficial appearances.

Similar precautions were taken in the cure of adult offenders against the laws, but as soon as my plans had time to operate, offences by adults were of rare occurrence.

When a child gives evidence of remarkable genius, he is watched with more than jealous care, with a view to his superior refinement, and other qualities which we like to see in harmony. We do not like to see, as it were, a garment made partly of rich brocade and partly of common material.

The character-divers, too, are greatly assisted in their observations by an establishment attached to each school called "The Amusement Gallery," in which after a certain time the bent of the child, his versatility, capriciousness, constancy of purpose, and other qualities and defects are shown in his selection and continued or interrupted pursuit of any particular occupation or amusement.

It is scarcely possible to overrate the importance of acting with judgment towards children.

From the smallest beginnings, incurable defects of mind and permanent disease of body will gather strength, grow and obtain the mastery, till they carry off the sufferer, or implant vices that, like evil spirits, will torture the victim during his life's career.

Nothing is spared in the education of the future man and mother of men. In the child is seen the parent of other generations, one who, as he is well or ill-directed, will strengthen or weaken the great work of human happiness, bearing with him a blessing or a curse for the community. Therefore whatever may be the pains or expenditure required in the cure of incipient faults, as of incipient disease, we know that society will be repaid more than a thousand-fold in the happiness of its members, in evil prevented and good propagated, in the numbers of men of talent and genius whose works, teeming with great results, will be thus saved to the State.

But for the character-divers the services of numbers of men of extraordinary genius would have been lost to the State, and our world's progress in science, inventions, and happiness retarded for centuries. Nay, perhaps the then comparative civilization would have been thrown back into barbarism, through the destructive play of bad passions and disappointed hopes.