Part 8

But these men expected all sorts of strange experiences, and so this did not frighten them, and the nearer they came to the moon, the more effect her gravity had upon them, and as the projectile gradually turned its heaviest end towards the moon its inmates gradually recovered their weight, and sat and stood like common people.

After journeying still further they had another very strange experience.

As they gradually neared the moon they found that they were also revolving around it. This was very unfortunate. If this motion continued, the result of their journey would be that their projectile would become a lunar satellite—a moon’s moon. They would go around and around forever, and never reach the moon or be able to get back to the earth.

After a while they got around to the shadow side of the moon, so that she was between them and the earth.

Then they were in total darkness excepting when they lighted their gas-burner, and they could not keep the gas burning all the time, as their supply was getting rather low.

But the darkness was not their chief trouble. It began to be very cold. And then it got colder and still colder, until they thought they should freeze into solid lumps. Their breath congealed so that it fell in the form of snow about them, and the poor dog, shivering under a cloak, lay upon the floor as cold as if he had been dropped into a deep hole in an ice-berg.

They thought it must be still colder outside, and so they lowered a thermometer through a small trap-door in the floor, and when they drew it in the mercury stood at 218 degrees below zero!

That was a very fine thermometer, and it is a Frenchman who tells this story.

At last they passed around the moon, and again found themselves upon its sunny side. Then they were happy. Light and heat, after the dreadful darkness and cold through which they had passed were enough to make men happy, especially men so far away from home and all the comforts and conveniences of civilized society.

As they passed around the moon they had a fine opportunity of observing the lunar landscapes. They were not so far away but that with their glasses they could see the mountains and plains, and all sorts of curious caves, and wonderful formations like forts and castles, but which they knew to be nothing but great masses of the moon’s surface, thrown up in these strange shapes by volcanic action. It is probable that what is described in this story is very like what the real surface of the moon must be.

After they had revolved some time they found that they were getting farther and farther away from the moon, and this made them suppose that they were moving in an elliptical orbit. They were much discouraged by this idea, for they thought, and very justly too, that there was now no chance of the moon’s drawing them towards itself, so that they would fall upon its surface.

This they had hoped to do, and they did not expect to suffer from the fall, for the attraction of the moon is so much less than that of the earth that they thought they would descend rather gently on the moon’s surface. But now there seemed to be no chance of their getting there at all.

At last, however, they found that they were passing entirely out of the line of the moon’s attraction, and after that they perceived plainly that they were falling.

But not upon the moon. They were falling towards the earth!

This was dreadful. A fall of 240,000 miles! But they could not help it, and down they went.

Out in the Pacific ocean there was a United States steamship, taking soundings. The captain was astonished to find at the place where they were sailing, about two hundred miles from the coast of California, that the water was so deep that the longest sounding lines would scarcely reach the bottom.

As he and his officers were discussing this matter, a distant hissing sound was heard, like the escape of steam from a steam-pipe. But it sounded as if it were high up in the air. It came nearer and nearer and grew louder and louder, and as all eyes were turned upwards towards the point from which the hissing seemed to come, they saw what they thought was a great meteor, rapidly approaching them from the sky.

It seemed to be coming directly towards the ship. In a moment more they saw plainly that it was coming straight down on the ship!

Before they had time to do anything, or even to give warning to those who were below, it dashed into the sea just before the vessel, carrying away the bowsprit in its furious descent.

Fortunately that was all the damage it did. Had the vessel been a few yards farther in advance it would have been instantly sunk.

It was a most narrow escape, and everybody felt wonderfully relieved when this great object, which looked like a ball of fire as it came so rapidly through the air, sank hissing into the sea.

But the officers guessed what it was, when it had disappeared. They had heard of the wonderful trip to the moon that had been undertaken by the three adventurers, and they very sensibly supposed that this must be the projectile that had fallen back upon the earth.

When they had made up their minds about the matter, and this did not take them long, they began to think what they should do. The unfortunate men in the projectile might be yet alive, and measures should instantly be taken to rescue them, if they were living, and in any case, to raise the projectile and discover their fate.

But the vessel had no machinery by which this ponderous mass could be drawn up from the bottom of the sea, especially as the sea was at this spot about four miles deep.

So they determined to return as rapidly as possible to San Francisco and obtain the necessary machinery for the work. Fortunately they had been sounding and had a line out. So they fastened a buoy to this line to mark the place, and steamed away at the best speed of their vessel, for San Francisco.

When they reached this port the news was telegraphed to the proper authorities, and, indeed, all over the country, and of course it created a great excitement.

The officers of the Society which had been the means of sending off these three men on their hazardous journey, went immediately to work, and in a few days the steamer, supplied with diving machinery and grappling irons, set out to return to the scene of the disaster.

There everybody worked rapidly and manfully. Diving bells were lowered and everything that could be done was done, but although they labored day and night, for several days no trace of the great projectile could be found on the bottom of the ocean, after searching carefully for a mile or two on every side of the buoy that had been left when they returned to San Francisco.

At last they became convinced that further search was useless, and much to the disappointment of everybody, and the intense grief of the friends of the unfortunate men who had come out on the vessel when it started on its errand of rescue, the Captain ordered the steamer to return to San Francisco.

When they had been sailing homeward for an hour or so, a sailor discovered, about a mile from the vessel, what seemed to be a large buoy, floating on the surface of the sea.

In an instant every glass in the vessel was directed towards this object. It was like a buoy, but it had a flag floating from the top of it!

The steamer immediately headed for it, and when they came near enough everybody saw what it was.

It was the great projectile quietly floating on the waves!

The air which it contained had made it so buoyant that although it probably sank to the bottom of the ocean in its rapid descent, it had risen again, and was now riding on the surface of the ocean like a corked bottle.

But were the men alive? This must be settled instantly.

In a very few minutes two boats were launched and were soon speeding towards the floating projectile as fast as strong arms could pull them.

When the first boat reached the great hollow iron cannon-shot they saw that one of its windows, which was some distance above the water, was open.

Two of the boat’s crew stood up and looked in.

Our three moon-travelers were quietly sitting inside playing dominoes!

The great depth of the ocean had broken their fall, and they were all safe and uninjured. They knew some one would come for them, and they were making themselves as comfortable as they could.

Of course they were speedily taken out of their iron house, in which they had lived for nearly a month, and in which they had met with such strange adventures and such narrow escapes.

Then with our three friends on board, the steamer started back for San Francisco, where our adventurers were received with the wildest enthusiasm, which indeed attended them during all their journey to their homes in the Atlantic States.

And so ended this trip to the moon.

It was a very wonderful thing for any one to even imagine such a journey as this, and I do not believe that any one but a Frenchman would have imagined it.

TARTAR HORSES AND HORSEMEN.

The people of Toorkistan, or Independent Tartary, are splendid riders. They have fine horses, of which they take the greatest care. But their way of taking care of horses is very different from ours.

The saddles are never taken off, night or day; and many Tartars will not allow their horses to lie down at all because they say the corn settles in their legs, and makes them lame! They are walked about a great part of the time they are not on the road, sometimes for four or five hours after coming in. At the beginning of the day’s march they are allowed a full drink of water, but none during the day, while the sun is hot. On first coming in from a journey, they are walked up and down a long time, after which without being unsaddled, the bit is taken out, and they are tied up, and covered from head to tail with thick horse cloths, even in hot weather. Then they are fed with barley, and Indian corn, and a very little grass.

We would think it cruel to keep a horse saddled and tied up in this way, but the Tartar horses seem to thrive on this treatment. Their saddles are more comfortable for the horse than ours, being well raised above the back bone. These saddles are of wood, with a high peak in front; and the rich Tartars cover them with embroidered cloths, and silver mountings.

The horses are kept beautifully clean, and their coats are as smooth and glossy as satin. In order to test whether his horse has been properly groomed, the owner will wet the white sleeve of his shirt, and rub it upon the horse’s coat. If there is not the least mark on the sleeve he is satisfied.

The Tartars hunt birds on horseback, with great success. In the case of partridges they gallop after the birds until they run them down, and tire them out, when they can catch them alive.

They have several games which they play on horseback. In one of them the riders all try to get possession of each other’s turbans! This seems rather childish, but it is no child’s sport to accomplish this, and the players perform most surprising feats of horsemanship.

They also have wrestling matches on horseback, trying to dislodge one another from the saddle, while the horses are galloping furiously and jumping ditches.

I suppose it would be almost an impossibility for a horse to throw a Tartar rider.

TWO HAPPY MEN.

When we have our minds set upon some pursuit in which we are resolved to excel, we are likely to forget any little disagreeable thing that troubles us at other times, and we are happy in our work. What pleasure a boy takes in fashioning his kite! What delight is it to a girl to put together ends of silks, ribbons and laces into a pretty bonnet for her doll! There is even pleasure in learning a Latin lesson, or in working out a difficult problem when we are interested, and are determined to do it well. The reason why so many grown persons are unhappy is because they have no occupation at all, or because they are engaged in some business which they do not like.

The best cure for this is to take up some business, and make up your mind you _will_ like it, and try to do your very best.

When a man’s business is in any branch of what we call Art he is, perhaps, happier than he could be at anything else; for, besides the satisfaction of doing the work, it is a pleasure to see beautiful things grow under our hands.

I am going to tell you about two very happy men, who both lived in the same place—a small city in Peru. One was an artist, who spent all his time painting pictures. Let me introduce you into his home, that you may see in what kind of place this happy mortal passed his days.

The room in which he painted—his studio—was below the level of the ground. To reach it from the street you went down three broken stone steps. Pretty much all the light the artist had came from the ever-open doorway. The floor was covered with straw, and scraps of vegetables, among which chickens and guinea-pigs picked up a living. His two best friends, a dog and a cat, usually shared the room with him. The cat had lost its ears and its tail, but was not the less liked by her master on that account. She was very fond of getting on his shoulder as he bent over his work, and sometimes would take a quite comfortable nap there.

Certainly it was not a beautiful home that made the artist happy.

He had the misfortune to be married to a woman who would have made most men miserable. She scolded from morning to night. The artist never could please her. No matter what he did, it was sure to be wrong in her eyes. She would stop while stirring the pot, and rail at him, shaking her greasy spoon to give emphasis to what she was saying. But the artist answered her never a word. He was so absorbed in his work that it is probable he did not hear her, half the time.

And so it was not pleasant companionship, and loving words that made him happy.

He could not even procure the proper materials for the work he loved so much. There were no shops in all that region where such things were sold. In our cities there are shops in which an artist can buy everything he needs. But our happy man could only pick up a few colors from the apothecary—the others he got himself from earths and stones he found among the mountains. From the grocer he obtained oil. The smoke of his candle furnished him with black, and his brushes he manufactured himself from the hair of the dogs killed in the city. Instead of canvas he used white cotton cloth, which he prepared in some sort of fashion; and then stretched, and tacked to a board.

With these materials, and under such disadvantages did our artist work. And he painted very good pictures too. Some of them were taken to Europe, and to the United States, and sold for twenty times more than was paid to our artist for them. But he did not know this; and the small sums he received sufficed for his simple wants.

He was always happy because his painting was to him a perpetual delight. His business was his pleasure.

The other happy man was also an artist. He was a sculptor. His statues were very singular-looking; and to our eyes, very ugly. But the people in that Peruvian town admired them greatly, and the sculptor himself thought them beautiful, and so it was all the same, as far as he was concerned, as if they really had been beautiful.

Clothed in rags and tatters, he worked faithfully in his studio, piecing together legs, and arms, and bodies, and heads, until he had an image of a man, woman, or child, that satisfied him. His room was a little better than the painter’s, but the walls were of rough stone; and, as for furniture, he would have laughed at the idea of having any.

He had such strongly marked Indian features that his face was not pleasant at first sight, but he was always in such a good humor that one soon forgot he was not handsome.

This sculptor worked in plaster. He moulded different parts of the body, and hung them up on his walls. The legs, arms, &c. were provided with wooden pegs, so that they could be properly fastened together. When he wanted to make an image he would take down the different members he required, and put them together. If they did not fit properly he would cut out blocks of plaster, and patch them up.

These statues were all colored, and the sculptor had as much difficulty in getting his colors as the painter, only he did not require so many.

One of the queer things about his statues was that they all had glass eyes! And this is the way he made them. He put fragments of window glass, cut in the shape of eyes, into a frying pan pierced with holes about an inch in diameter. As soon as the heat softened the glass sufficiently he would press the pieces down into the holes with a metal stick, and thus they would be rounded like eyes.

He procured his tools how and where he could. Old nails, old brushes, worn-out knife blades, and even sheep bones, furnished him materials.

But he took great pleasure in making these images that he thought so lovely, and which charmed his neighbors. And, occupied in this fascinating business, he had no time to think of his poverty, and troubles. He was as happy as the day is long.

THE WONDERFUL ASH TREE.

The people who used to live in the northern parts of Europe were not very pleasant people, if we are to believe all the blood-thirsty stories we have heard about them, but they had a religion, although it was rather a queer one. There is one thing, however, to be said of their gods and goddesses, which is very much in their favor. They were generally honest, and tolerably strong-minded, which is much more than we can say about some of the gods of ancient Greece and Rome. Mercury, you know, was a great thief, and even Jupiter was none too good.

The Scandinavians believed that Ymer was the very first god of all, and he made his appearance in the following manner. Before the world was created heavy mists filled all the dark space. This space must have been have been very cold, for the frosty air condensed the mists, and out of this compressed fog, the god Ymer came into existence.

But his brain does not seem to have been at all foggy; for, after a short time, becoming tired of being alone, he set his wits to work to find out how he could have the company of other beings like himself. He made a very good guess as to how he had taken shape; and, gathering the mists around him into foggy masses, he shaped them into forms like his own; and then waited to see what would happen. Soon the cold winds came and congealed the mists, and behold! a number of gigantic companions for the lonely god! He took good care, however, to make them smaller than himself; for, although they were twice the height of the tallest mountains on our earth, yet Ymer himself, when he laid down (if he ever did lie down) required about half the world for his bed.

Ymer was so much pleased with his success that he concluded he would make some more things out of the mists. He spread some of it out in great smooth surfaces, some he collected in small piles, and some he heaped up in great masses of many curious shapes. And that is the way the valleys, mountains, and hills were created.

The foggy material that was left fell down to an immense depth, and became the ocean.

Ymer made nothing more, for he did not know how to work in anything but mists, and they were all gone.

What he and his companions did in the way of employment or amusement I cannot say. Let us hope they took comfort in striding around the world—a walk of an hour or so—and in talking with each other. They could not see anything except by occasional gleams of lightning, for there was no light anywhere.

Monstrous creatures, such as dragons, hydras, griffins, and the like, now made their appearance in the world, but there is no account of their creation, and they must have come of their own accord.

One day a marvelous thing happened. Ymer and his giants saw a pink flush spreading over the black sky. This grew brighter, and brighter, until the whole firmament was a brilliant flame color. And, while they were wondering what this could mean, whizz! came in sight a great ball of fire! This was nothing less than a new god, named Odin. Where he came from nobody knew, but there he was. He descended upon the mountains, and took possession of Ymer’s world.

He brought with him the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars. He told the Sun to light up the world, and to warm up things generally, and to be sure to melt the ice that covered a great part of the earth. The Moon and the Stars were to take care of the earth during the night.

Odin brought with him also, a large number of followers; and, according to the invariable rule of all discoverers of new countries, he proceeded to kill all the original inhabitants; beginning with great Ymer himself, and ending with the land and sea monsters. That is, he intended to kill them all, and he thought he had. But one of the giants escaped, and also a wolf, named Fenris (a terrible creature that made nothing of crushing a mountain with his teeth). And the great sea-serpent Iormungandur was not slain.

The warmth of the sun soon called into life the grasses, the flowers, and the trees; springs welled up in the woods; and brooks and rivers flowed through the plains to the sea; and a great variety of animals took possession of the world, now so beautiful.

Odin was charmed with all this, but not quite satisfied. He wanted some beings on the earth that should be less than gods, and yet of a finer intelligence than the beasts. Thinking about this one day, as he walked by the sea-shore, his eyes chanced to fall upon a large branch that had blown off a tree into the water. This put a bright idea into his mind. He drew the wood towards him; and, splitting it in two, made a man and a woman out of the two parts. From this couple, according to the Scandinavian legends, all the people in the world are descended.

People increased so fast, and were so rude and savage, and quarrelled and fought so much, that Odin found he had his hands too full of business, and he thought it was about time for his lazy followers to help him. So he set them all to work.

Forseti was to make peace among men. Vali was to teach them the use of the bow, not for the purpose of killing each other, but for slaughtering game for food. Uller was to teach skating. The goddess Gefione taught men to labor, and how to break up the earth for seed, and to raise crops. I think you will agree with me that she was one of the very best of all the Scandinavian gods, and goddesses.

Egir was a very important god. He showed men how to build ships, and how to manage the sails, and the rudder. And not only did he do this, but, he very obligingly, blew the vessels along with his powerful breath, so that men were not afraid to trust themselves on the rivers in these frail-looking crafts, but even boldly launched out upon the ocean.

Widar taught people a most excellent thing—when to hold their tongues. This he did by his example, for he was dumb, and could not talk at all.

Balder was called the Bright God. He was the most beloved of them all. He put good thoughts into the hearts of men, and encouraged them to be loving and patient with each other. A beautiful silvery light always shone around him.

Now, where do you suppose all these gods lived? You would probably answer that they dwelt up in the sky, or on the tops of high mountains. No. They lived in an ash tree!