CHAPTER X.

OQUA'S VISIT--THE REVELATION--A STORY OF PERFIDY AND WRONG--CASSIE VANNESS--RAPHAEL GANOE--RICHARD SAGE--A DESIGNING GUARDIAN--FALSE CHARGES AGAINST GANOE--A FRAUDULENT MARRIAGE--HOME ABANDONED--ON THE HIGH SEAS--JACK ADAMS--GANOE FOUND--EFFECTS OF A FALSE EDUCATION--LEGAL WRONGS VS. NATURAL JUSTICE--OQUA HOPEFUL.

AS the sun disappeared behind the western edge of the verge, I was reclining upon my sofa awaiting the promised visit to Oqua. I was now as anxious to tell the story of my sorrows to a sympathising friend as I had formerly been to conceal it from all the world. Since my conversation with Oqua, a longing sensation had come over me to confide to her the story of my life. The hour had arrived for my meeting with her, and a minute later she was by my side. Laying her hand on my head, she said:

"Nequa, I have come at the time designated, and in order to be able to assist you, I must not be left to surmise what is the matter. By the very act of telling me your troubles, you will to a certain extent obtain control over your own feelings, and thus take the first step toward finding a remedy."

"Then you shall know all, from my earliest recollection," said I. "My name is Cassie VanNess. I was born and raised near New York City. My mother died when I was an infant, and I was cared for by my devoted old father, James VanNess, and a kind motherly colored woman who had been a servant in the family. My father died when I was fifteen years old, and I went to live with my guardian, Richard Sage, who was also the uncle and guardian of Raphael Ganoe, whom he had taken to raise when an infant. At this time Raphael was eighteen years of age. Our school days, of about five years, were the happiest, nay, I may say the ONLY really happy days of my life. When I was twenty and Raphael twenty-three years of age, he was offered a lucrative position on a ship engaged in the Chinese trade. During our vacations we had crossed the ocean together, and he desired to travel in the Orient. While on this voyage he expected to circumnavigate the globe, stopping at all the leading ports. On his return we were to be married.

"He promised to write to me at every available opportunity, and for the first few months his letters came regularly, always couched in the most affectionate terms and often referring to our coming marriage as the beacon light of all his fondest hopes. Then his letters ceased altogether, and though I wrote repeatedly to him, I never heard from him again.

"As the months rolled by, often at noontime, when the music of birds filled the air, and all was life and light, or at eventide, when the mellow twilight was over hill and dale, and the activities and light of day were giving place to the stillness and shadows of night; when the perfume of the flowers filled the air, or the yellow leaves of autumn fell about my feet, I, the forsaken, and perhaps forgotten, could have been seen seated beneath some broad-spreading tree, where we used to read and converse together. I would sit thus for hours in silent meditation, recalling the tender words and caresses of my absent lover. Then arising sad and disconsolate, I would leave the lonely spot and try to bravely wait and hope for the word that never came.

"My guardian professed great sympathy, and with seemingly the most poignant grief informed me that his nephew had committed some desperate crime in foreign lands for which he had been tried, convicted and sent to prison for a long term of years. Yet, with this black shadow resting upon him, the truth of which was vouched for by his uncle, I continued to write as it had been agreed between us and many were the tear stained missives I addressed to him, hoping that comrades on the ship would see that they reached him. Though he might be a criminal and an out-cast from his kind, my affection for him never wavered for a single moment.

"My guardian, in order to make his deception more complete, pretended to deplore the actions of his nephew, and even his own unthoughtfulness, in telling me of them, and thus causing me so much suffering. He seemed to be aging very fast, and I feared that he, the only friend to whom I had never looked in vain for kindly counsel and advice, was falling into a decline from the crushing weight of what I believed to be our common sorrow, and consequently, my woman's sympathy and pity went out to him in what I regarded his disconsolate lot.

"He fully realized the sincere and all pervading character of my sympathy for him, and took advantage of every opportunity to impress me with the dangerous state of his health. He intimated that the chief cause of his suffering, aside from the grief caused by the wayward and criminal course of his nephew, was the agony that it gave him to leave me all alone in the world, with no one to guard and protect me from the manifold dangers that threatened an inexperienced girl when thrown upon her own resources in this cold and unfeeling world. He did not ask my affection, except as a daughter, but suggested that under the circumstances, I had better become his wife, and then my position in the world, as his widow, would be secure. I would be protected against the intrusion of society and would be alone, as he felt sure I so much desired.

"'You are already in mourning,' he said, 'and yet, your grief is so indefinable that no one will be disposed to respect it as I do. Besides, situated as you now are, with no female companion, you are in some sense at the mercy of the evil-minded who never lose an opportunity to asperse the character of the good and pure, while as my wife, you would be safe, and your position honorable in the eyes of the world. I could then, even more than now, console you, and sympathize with you in your affliction.'

"I told him that I had never thought of my position as being in the least compromising, in the home of my lawful guardian, and if it was so, I would go away at once, but I could not be his wife. He besought me again and again, and I continued to give him the same answer. In the meantime, I was greatly troubled by what he had intimated regarding my compromising position in his house without a female companion. I had all faith and confidence in his unselfish and paternal regard for my welfare. For years, he had treated me with marked kindness and consideration, such as a loved daughter might expect from a kind and loving father. For this, I regarded him with the filial affection of a devoted and trusting nature. To leave him now, when stricken with sorrow and apparently with one foot in the grave, was repugnant to my feelings, as it seemed to me that it would be an act of base ingratitude, and yet, it was brought to my ears that people were beginning to make flippant and disrespectful remarks concerning my position. Yet I felt that I could not be so cruel as to forsake him now. The situation was a most trying one to me, as I never for a moment suspicioned that it had been made up for the occasion to influence my feelings.

"He continued his importunities under the guise of paternal counsel for my own good as a loved daughter. One day he brought me a newspaper clipping which stated that Raphael Ganoe had died in prison. He seemed to be so grief stricken and depressed, that for many days I feared that he would drop off at any moment, and he seemed so entirely dependent upon me that I dared not leave him for a moment, and yet my position was such that I must necessarily often give place to others, who had no such regard for him as I had. If I were his wife in the eyes of the world, I might do much more for him, and believing that my affianced husband was dead, I at last consented to become his legal wife and the ceremony was performed while he lay as I believed, on his dying bed.

"Two hours later, feeling lonely and disconsolate, I had gone into the library and taken a seat in one of the deep windows behind the curtains, where I was hidden from view.

"He seemed to have fallen asleep and my long watch was wearing upon me. I was exhausted and took this opportunity for rest and communion with my own thoughts. I soon fell into a reverie, in which the past came up before me like a panorama, and again the fancy I was with my handsome, happy lover--when suddenly I heard voices in the adjoining room where I had left my guardian asleep. A strange voice asked:

"'Where is your young wife?'

"'Gone to her room to rest,' said my guardian. 'She thinks I am very sick and she has watched by my side, to minister to my pains until she is worn out. I got easy and told her that she might go and rest herself, as I would, now that the pains had ceased for the time, be able to take a long nap. She remained until I was seemingly fast asleep and then she tiptoed out of the room as softly as a cat for fear she would awaken me.'

"'You worked it well,' said the stranger, 'but what shall I write to Ganoe? He has written me a long letter engaging my services as his attorney to find out all about Cassie. What shall I say to him?'

"'Here,' said my guardian, 'are the letters I have written to him in regard to Cassie's change of mind. You can take your cue from these and be governed accordingly.'

"'But,' asked the attorney, 'what if she should suspicion something, and drop a letter to Ganoe into some street box? It might prove to be a serious matter for us if she should learn the truth.'

"'I have provided for that,' said my guardian. 'There is a round million in the deal for us, after all the expenses are paid, and no mail can reach him on the ship, without being inspected by a man who has as much interest as we have in preventing him from hearing from Cassie. If a letter should not be intercepted by my agent in the postoffice, which is not likely, it would be intercepted at the ship. So rest easy in regard to this matter. There is no danger; besides she is now my wife, and I have all the legal rights of a husband. But as we want to avoid everything like friction, it is best to prevent Ganoe from returning to America, which will not be difficult if it is managed well.'

"'All right,' said the lawyer, 'provided you deal squarely with me. I am the only one who could defeat the plan and of course I will not lose a million to do that.'

"'Of course not,' said my guardian, 'and you know that I have even more to lose than you have--a life long reputation for integrity and purity of character, which to a man in my position is worth more than money. It would cut off my income as a favorite administrator on large estates.'

"'Well, we are both in the same boat,' laughed the lawyer, 'and we can well afford to trust each other. I guess that now you have recovered from your very serious illness we may expect to hold our conferences at the proper place.'

"'Oh certainly,' laughed my guardian, 'and my lovely bride will not object to my being away, as she is in widow's weeds, mourning the untimely death of her first and only love. So, good day. I must rest and take a long and very refreshing nap to account for my unexpected recovery.'

"'Just so,' laughed the lawyer, and I heard the door close behind him.

"The conversation that I had overheard froze the very blood in my veins. I learned that I had been deliberately deceived and not only robbed of a large fortune, but had been robbed of my affianced husband. Worse than this, I had been induced to take a step that made me false to him and at the same time precluded the possibility of our ever consummating our plighted faith without violating the marriage laws, as under the law I was his aunt and marriage with him would have been a crime, for which under the law I could be imprisoned for a long term of years.

"My whole nature arose in revolt against the iniquity that had been perpetrated against me. I determined to find Raphael and explain the whole matter to him. I hastily wrote a note to my guardian and left it where he would be sure to find it, denouncing his treachery and informing him that under no circumstances would I ever enter his door again.

"I made my way into the city and disguising myself in male attire I succeeded in finding a position as cabin boy on a steamer bound for Liverpool. I was determined to find Raphael. I kept up the search for nearly fifteen long years, visiting almost every part of the known world, and at last found him at San Francisco, on the eve of starting on an expedition to the north polar regions. Before revealing myself to him I wanted to ascertain beyond any doubt whatever, from his own lips, in just what light he would regard my marriage to his uncle and my subsequent long career on the high seas in male attire. So I applied for a place on the Ice King and succeeded in getting the position of scientist. I cultivated the acquaintance of the Captain, secured his confidence so far that he related to me the story of his life, which gave the opportunity I wanted to draw him out, and soon learned, what I had come to dread, that the prejudices engendered by social usages were stronger than his sense of natural justice, and I heard my own conduct denounced as perfidious and vile. But for the sudden sounding of the alarm I must have fallen at his feet and thus have in all probability revealed my identity.

"But I was saved that bitter humiliation and now, after a long and perilous voyage, locked up with him on the same ship, I am at last permitted to pour my tale of woe into sympathetic ears, far away from the land where legal wrongs are honored while natural rights are regarded as disreputable."

Oqua had listened to my story without a single interruption, and with a sympathetic interest which drew me closer to her than ever. When I ceased speaking, she looked at me with a puzzled curiosity, which I shall never forget as she remarked:

"Your guardian certainly committed a great wrong against you, and under the operation of an awakened conscience, I can well understand that his remorse would be most excruciatingly painful, but you have not committed any wrong, and I do not understand what it is that you are feeling so badly about. The blame all rested with your guardian and the fact that you discovered his perfidy so soon, and at the same time discovered that the man to whom you were the betrothed wife, only awaiting the time set for the consummation, was still living, ought, it seems to me, to have been a source of rejoicing. While the deception practiced upon you was painful to contemplate, it brought with it a certain measure of compensation. Had you failed to make this discovery, you might have unwittingly violated the most sacred obligation, that to your betrothed husband. The wrong might have been much worse."

"You have mistaken my meaning," I said. "I was not under that obligation to Raphael that you seem to think. I had only promised to become his wife but I was actually married to another man. Under the circumstances I do not see how the wrong could have been worse, and I, as its innocent victim, was certainly excusable for feeling badly about it. The wonder is how I could bear it at all."

"If I was mistaken," said Oqua, "in regard to your relations to Raphael Ganoe, I fear that your explanation of the situation only makes the matter more difficult to understand. I certainly understood you to say that you loved Ganoe and that he loved you, and that you had both agreed to go through life as husband and wife. This you had a perfect right to do, and this agreement constitutes a marriage bond that cannot be set aside without sufficient cause, as long as you both live, and hence you could not become the wife of another man, without violating the most sacred of all obligations. And if by misrepresentation you were induced to enter into any such relation while Ganoe was living and true to you, such relation would be on the face of it, null and void."

"But I was married to my guardian," I said. "Actually married. The clerk of the court had issued the license which was a legal permit for us to marry, and the minister pronounced us man and wife according to the solemn rites of the church. My guardian took an obligation to love, cherish and protect and I, an obligation to love, honor and obey; and then the minister invoked the blessing of heaven upon our union and pronounced the solemn warning to all who might object: 'Whom God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.' Yes, I was actually married to Richard Sage, according to law and the sacred rites of the church."

"The more you explain, my dear Nequa, the more incomprehensible your ideas of marriage become. You say that you were actually married to Richard Sage. That God joined you together, but before He could do so, a permit had to be granted by the clerk of the court. Yet, in your own soul you repudiated this fraudulent marriage, and for nearly fifteen years you searched for your betrothed husband, to whom you felt bound by the laws which God had implanted in your own soul. To me it seems that this first engagement to Raphael Ganoe was the only true marriage, in which God had joined you together and that the court and the minister united to put you asunder. Your own inner consciousness, the spark of divinity that is in you, forced you to take this view of the transaction. From all the facts, just as you relate them, I must still insist that you were not married to Richard Sage. That the ceremony was a fraud and could not annul your obligations to Raphael Ganoe. Your actions demonstrate, that your own true self, took the same view of the matter, and that when you found your betrothed husband you loyally stood by his side in the hazardous effort to reach the pole, and now you are here with him in this inner world where we regard it as our first duty to accept the true and discard the false in all of our relations to each other, and to the universal system of which we form a part."

"I agree with you," I replied, "that my marriage to Richard Sage was false, and that in order to be true to myself and my higher convictions of duty to my absent lover, when I learned that he was still living, I was forced to rend these legal bonds regardless of the consequences; but still, in the eyes of the law, of society and the church, I was the wife of my guardian, the uncle of Raphael Ganoe, and hence his aunt, and as such could never become his wife. Yet I realized that I was united to Raphael in bonds of affection that never could and never should be broken. But all the powers of law, religion, and society were united to hold me to a union secured by deception, which I loathed and abhorred. It was the environments established by this world wide power that held me incarcerated, as it were, in a prison, from which there was no escape but the grave."

"Thank you," said Oqua, "for the light which you have thrown on the present state of your outer world civilization. It seems almost incomprehensible that the laws and usages of any people would seek to make right wrong and wrong right, but I can readily turn to a corresponding period in our own history and trace the evolutionary forces which must now be at work among your people. The old institutional life is ever striving to preserve its forms and ceremonies while the advancing spirit of freedom is continually protesting. At first the advocates of the old order, persecute all who protest against its dictum, and this protest in the name of liberty, often only means license. Both extremes are essentially wrong. But the friction between these two elements, in the end will lead to the discovery of the truth upon which both extremes can unite, and this truth will make them indeed free. The manifest progress of the race is in the direction of the truth, and its logical culmination must be the establishment of altruistic conditions in all the relations which exist between individual members of the human family."

"Well, I am glad that you have at last penetrated my meaning," I said. "The misunderstanding grew out of my inability to formulate my own thought, so as to adapt it to your Altruistic conceptions. I like the word altruism, but the thought that it expresses is so little understood in the outer world, that the word is, as far as I know, generally excluded from our common school dictionaries, while in this country I find that it forms a necessary part of your every day vocabulary. I realize that all of my troubles grew out of environments which were the legitimate product of the false premises from which we drew our conclusions. In speaking of myself as actually the wife of my guardian I only used the popular phraseology to express the conceptions of the people among whom I was raised. They regarded the license and the ceremony as the actual marriage without reference to the plighted troth of devoted lovers. I only used their language to express their conceptions, while my own were expressed by my actions."

"Thank you," said Oqua. "I surmised that you spoke the language of your environments rather than your honest convictions, but I wanted you to say it yourself. You know that I insisted that you should say just what you mean and leave nothing for me to surmise. In all that you have to say, I want you to draw the line clearly between the true and the false, in thought and action, just as you understand the terms, and then we can ascertain where the trouble is and take steps to remove it. You are now in a country where truth alone is recognized as a standard for the regulation of human conduct, and it seems that there ought to be much in the way of mutual explanations between you and Captain Ganoe, and then all will be well."

"I dare not risk it," I said. "I thought just as you do when I secured a position on the Ice King, but I deemed it advisable to conceal my identity until I had ascertained in just what light he would regard the course I had taken. The opportunity came as I have already told you and as yet I have discovered no indications that he has in any way modified his views in regard to such matters. I have ascertained beyond a doubt from two years' association with him, that in him all the prejudices of the popular education of the outer world, its laws, usages and religious notions have crystallized. If he knew that I had spent years, associated with men, in the character of Jack Adams, the sailor, his sense of propriety would be shocked, and I should forfeit his respect, which would be something that I could not bear."

"I cannot see," said Oqua, "how he could cease to respect you. I know that as the scientist of the Ice King, he entertains the most exalted opinion of your ability, courage and refinement of character."

"Yes, Oqua, I doubt not that he respects me as Jack Adams, the sailor. He has given me numerous proofs of that. But as Cassie VanNess in that garb he would regard me as unwomanly and immodest, much below the standard of propriety and respectability of the women of the outer world, with whom he would be willing to associate on terms of equality. Remember that his education, like my own was as far removed as possible from the spirit of altruism. When I left my guardian's home I was penniless, except for an allowance known as 'pin money.' By the marriage ceremony, my fortune had been transferred to Richard Sage. As a woman, I stood no show of being able to acquire a competency, besides I was liable to pursuit and arrest. I had no legal grounds for divorce, and if I had been discovered as the absconding wife of Richard Sage, the multi-millionaire, the courts would have declared me insane, and I would have been incarcerated, most likely for life, in some lunatic asylum. Hence it was from necessity, rather than choice, that I donned male attire and sought employment as a cabin boy. My education, tact and close attention to business led to more lucrative positions which required ability as well as a strict integrity and close application. By rigid economy, I succeeded in accumulating a moderate competence. As a woman I could not have even procured a comfortable subsistence; but I was in male attire, associated with men in all my relations to society, and hence in the eyes of the world my womanly character was under a cloud. For this reason I did not care to reveal my identity to Captain Ganoe until I knew that he would approve the course I had taken. As for myself I was prepared for altruistic principles. My association with the working classes gave me a knowledge of their condition, and I familiarized myself with the best thought of their leaders. But Captain Ganoe had been differently situated. He had continued to move in the narrow circle in which he was born. I had hoped that experience with the world had broadened his views. But I found that I was mistaken. I have studied his feelings and hence have resolved never to give him the opportunity to reproach me for my unwomanly disguise and associations."

"How could he reproach you, Nequa, when he realized that it was all for love of him?"

"You cannot, my dear Oqua, educated as you were in the most advanced thought of this altruistic civilization, realize the almost irresistible power of prejudices when they have been incorporated into the education of a people for thousands of years. They constitute a race belief, the correctness of which the people seldom, if ever, heard questioned. When I assumed male attire and associated myself with men in the ranks of labor, I knew that I invited not only social ostracism, but laid myself liable to arrest and imprisonment, if my disguise was discovered. And Captain Ganoe as a high spirited gentleman of the old school, could not unite his destinies with such a social out-cast."

"But surely," said Oqua, "he will not entertain such mistaken conceptions of honor when he learns that the people of this inner world without an exception, would honor you for your heroic devotion to your bridal troth and regard Captain Ganoe as the most fortunate of men in having such a companion."

"That may indeed be true, sometime," I said, "but before I reveal myself to him, I must hear from his own lips such expressions of opinion as will demonstrate that he would not regard the career of Jack Adams, under the circumstances, as unworthy, immodest and unwomanly. There is a deep seated prejudice in the outer world against 'mannish women,' and the donning of male attire is prohibited by law, and what is even worse, it is regarded as positively disgraceful. Hence I must know that he of his own option has abandoned all these prejudices, before I will consent to be known to him as Cassie VanNess."

"I believe," said Oqua, "that his association with Altrurians will certainly give him a higher regard for truth and correspondingly weaken the influence of time honored errors. We can very easily ascertain his views and if we should find them adverse, do not be discouraged, for the atmosphere of truth which surrounds him is creative in its influence and will surely establish itself in his mind. An error is powerless to hold anyone in thrall very long where truth is cultivated and free to express itself in thought and action. Truth is eternal and cannot be destroyed, while error is transitory and disappears with the ignorance on which it is based."

"I will leave this matter to you," I said, "with this understanding, that to Captain Ganoe I must remain simply Jack Adams, or Nequa, until I know that he approves and appreciates the sacrifices made by Cassie VanNess. I love him too well to be willing to face his disapproval, but knowing the purity of my own purposes, I will never put myself in a position that will imply even in the remotest degree that I was wrong. My self respect forbids this. My heart tells me that I was right and I will never apologize to any human being for the course I have taken, and least of all to Captain Ganoe, for love of whom I have braved the danger of social ostracism as well as the dangers incident to the life of a sailor, from the blistering heat of the tropics to the intense cold of the frigid zones. I certainly could never ask him to forgive me for loving him so well."

Oqua threw her arms around my neck and kissed me most affectionately, saying:

"My dear Nequa, I knew that I was not mistaken in the estimate that I had placed on your mental and spiritual character. You have a great work to do, not only in the education of our people, but a work for your own people. Intercourse between the inner and outer worlds must be re-opened. In this work much depends upon the crew of the Ice King, as you are the only people among us from the educated classes who have ever penetrated the frozen regions which surround the verges. Our people will of course assist in every way possible. But my dear Nequa, a still greater work depends upon you, more than upon any of the others, in which we can be of but little assistance."

"And what is that greater work?" I asked. "And how could I get along without assistance? No matter what I undertake I want you as a tutor. To me it seems, that in this inner world, I have everything to learn, and I must have a teacher at every step."

"And I, too," said Oqua, "have much to learn from you. All that I have learned of the outer world came from MacNair and the few books which he saved from the sinking ship. With the Ice King comes a well selected library of standard works and three scholarly, well read people, and from this, I anticipate a most valuable addition to our knowledge, especially of a scientific, geographical and historical character, which has been hidden from the people of the inner world. We have, it seems, made more progress along lines of a social, economic and ethical nature and in mechanical inventions. So while we need that knowledge which can be more readily acquired in the outer world, your people need the lessons taught by our progress along other lines. Our libraries are filled with these lessons and the work evidently marked out for you is to gather this knowledge for the benefit of your own people. In this you will have the cordial co-operation of the scholars of the inner world."

"This," I said, "is certainly a work in which I am most anxious to engage, just as soon as I can qualify myself for the task, and I shall certainly need all the help I can get. I do indeed want the people of America, the great republic of the outer world, to learn that the highest ideals of their revolutionary sires, are not mere 'glittering generalities,' but realities, and have been carried out to their logical culmination in this country with the most beneficent results to humanity. To this end, that they should not only learn this most significant fact, but that they should have laid before them a clear and concise statement of the methods that have been used so successfully to produce these results and evolve this wonderful Altrurian civilization. I most keenly realize that it is my duty to accomplish this work for humanity, but when I think of the vast libraries, written in a strange tongue, that must not only be read but studied, in order to trace the operation of the evolutionary forces which have produced these grand results, I am overwhelmed at the contemplation of the magnitude of the task set before me."

"Do not be alarmed," said Oqua, "at the multitudinous array of ponderous volumes. These records are only preserved for reference. The scholars of every age have been over them, with the special object in view of condensing and simplifying their lessons, for the benefit of students who could not afford to neglect other studies of the most pressing importance, in order to familiarize themselves with the details of so many thousands of years of history. Hence the lessons of permanent value, such for instance as relate to the social, economic and ethical progress of the people, have been carefully arranged in the form of attractive condensations, with marginal references to the authorities. With these lessons from History, designed for the use of the pupils in our schools, the students can rapidly trace every step in our progress, from the original half-civilized condition down to the present time, and if there is any matter which they wish to examine more closely, the marginal references will direct them to volume and page. So, my dear Nequa, you will find that the greater part of your work which looks so overwhelming, is ready made for you, in our School Concordances. Another thing will help you; these lessons of progress have all been treated in the shape of allegories and historical romances, in order to make them attractive. Perhaps you could not transmit them to your own people in a better shape, than by translating some of the works that bear directly upon what they need to understand. These works trace in a most attractive form the operation of every evolutionary force which has contributed to our Altrurian civilization as you find it to-day."

"This, indeed, my dear Oqua, relieves my mind of a load of doubt and apprehension, which amounted almost to a dread, whenever I thought of reading so many ponderous volumes in order to get a clear idea of the forces which have contributed to your present ideal conditions. It also explains to me how it is, that your entire people have such a clear understanding of every economic, social and ethical problem. These things are taught to the children in your primary schools."

"Yes," said Oqua, "the blessings of a high state of civilization can only be preserved by educating the children of a country into a comprehensive understanding of the laws of progress, by which these blessings are secured. While a very few can set the machinery in motion by which the masses may be relieved of any burdens that can be imposed upon them, yet unless the children are universally educated in regard to these matters, a few will be able to re-enslave them. These so-called 'great problems' which you inform me are puzzling the brains of your statesmen, ought to be thoroughly understood by the children. Hence we teach these things to children while the mind is the most receptive and the most capable of acquiring knowledge rapidly."

"But," I remarked, "it sounds so strange to hear you speak of children thoroughly understanding these questions of world-wide importance, with which the great statesmen of the outer world have grappled for ages, without finding a solution."

"Nothing strange about it," said Oqua. "The mind of the child is plastic and is remarkable for the facility with which it receives and retains impressions. When it reaches the adult stage these impressions become crystallized and are hard to change. Hence the importance of starting the child rightly, with correct habits of thought on these vital matters, upon which its future weal, and that of every other human being depends. If the impressions on the mind of the child are erroneous, they are liable to crystallize and be retained through life, no matter how absurd they may be. As an apt illustration of this tendency, I have only to refer to some of the notions which were popular in this country at the time when the old economic system had run its course and was producing widespread poverty and suffering among the people. At that period all of the exchanges among the people were on a money basis, and the few had control of the money while the many were not able to utilize their labor to produce the wealth they needed because they could not get the money to effect the necessary exchanges. The reformers of that time were loud in the demand for more money, while the controlling minds among the majority insisted that the one thing needed was less money so that the money they had would purchase more; and others were equally sure that more tax on products of foreign countries was just the thing to relieve the industrial depression by holding the home market for the products of our own labor. Keep foreign products out by a high tariff and protect home industry, was the doctrine. But we cannot help smiling as we read that these same people who wanted to exclude foreign products from our markets in order to protect our own labor, expected to get revenues from a tax on foreign goods to run the government. It is difficult to imagine at this time that any sane people ever entertained such absurd and self contradictory opinions, but it is nevertheless a fact, as demonstrated by the history of that time. These absurd notions could not have found lodgement in the human mind, if as children, the people had been trained to correct habits of reasoning."

"And such," I said, "are the notions which predominate at this time in my own country and the result is, that a few are very rich while the many are hard pressed and poor. The few who protest against this system are denounced as cranks, agitators and dangerous characters."

"This is just what might be expected," said Oqua. "Like causes produce like effects. The masses of mankind are always prone to deride and persecute isolated individuals who know more than the mass, which is physically so much more powerful. This is the protest of brute force against mental, moral and spiritual superiority. This was why your Jesus was crucified and this is why your reformers of the present day are denounced as cranks, agitators and dangerous characters. It is an invariable trait of human nature in a certain stage of development."

"I have long entertained these same views," I replied, "but the object lessons which can be drawn from your history will cover all these questions and they ought to reach our people with the first announcement of the discovery of this inner world where all the great problems of human development have been solved. I have found your language remarkably easy to learn and from what you say, I expect to find lessons from your history equally easy, but still I need your assistance. I want to make the very best possible use of my opportunities, and to that end, I want the benefit of your experience, observation and knowledge of Altrurian civilization as it is to-day."

"Then, to begin," said Oqua, "my work as counsellor, I would advise you to complete your account of the expedition which brought you into this inner world; a brief description of your reception; the civilization you found as it appeared to you at first sight, and the information that you gathered from intercourse with the people in regard to the progressive development of the country from the semi-barbarous conditions which existed in early times. This ought to be sent to the people of the outer world just as soon as possible. It will make an excellent introduction to a series of works consisting of your own observations in regard to the existing educational system, customs of the people and business methods, together with translations from our literature that will be of use to your people. In the preparation of the account of your expedition and your discoveries, you will need no assistance and when it comes to translations from our libraries and travel over the five grand divisions, you will have the help of ripe scholars wherever you go."

"Concerning the work here in this inner world," I said, "among such a people, I have no doubt that it will be well done, but how are we to transmit the information across the ice barriers at the verge? I at first had great hopes from your airships, but I find that while they are all right in this serene climate, they would be worse than useless in the stormy atmosphere of the outer world and as at present constructed the occupants could not live an hour in the intense cold of the Frigid Zones."

"I do not," said Oqua, "apprehend any insurmountable difficulty from this source. The inventors of the airship know nothing about storms and cold and hence made no provisions for guarding against them. The case is different with arctic explorers. Our inventors have learned how to navigate the atmosphere, with ease and safety. This is the main point. Now you people of the outer world can take up the work where our inventors left off, and construct ships which can ride the storm. I have learned since my return from the Minerva congress, that Captain Battell is working on this problem with good prospects of success. I do not believe that there is anything impossible to the human mind when it acts in harmony with nature's laws. The airship factory at lake Byblis is at your service, with every facility of material, machinery and mechanical skill. All that is needed is a comprehensive understanding of outer world atmospheric conditions, and you brought that knowledge with you. This is all that our inventors needed in order to enable them to construct an airship that would be equal to every emergency."

"You give me great encouragement," I said. "Captain Battell has asked me to assist in this work by making experimental voyages to the verges, in order to test the proposed improvements and make observations."

"Then all seems to be going well," said Oqua, "but there is no time to lose. You must be gathering materials for your first volume as rapidly as possible for I feel that it will soon be needed. To this end, I want you and Captain Ganoe to go with me to-morrow to Orbitello, to see how business is carried on. What do you think of it?"

"Think of it!" I said. "I have been very anxious to take this trip and have only been awaiting your return so that we might have company, who could assist us in our observations."

"Then," said Oqua, "we will start early, and I will telephone Polaris and Dione to meet us and bring Battell and Huston. I know that Norrena will be most happy to meet you. He is a walking encyclopedia of knowledge and I know that you will enjoy his acquaintance. But," she added after a moment's hesitation, "you need rest and I will go. Be of good cheer. All is well, and do not forget that there is a wonderful power in truth when it is left free, to remove errors from the pathway of human progress,"--and kissing me good-night, she was gone.