Unveiling a Parallel: A Romance

hangeth, giving

ils himself

nny

in longer in her presence without pain to myself; and, to tell the truth, I dreaded lest her astounding lack of the moral sense-which should be t

at they were still anticipating my coming, with-they were so k

n, in many ways; she was beautiful, rich, and talented, and she had wielded an influence in public and social affairs. Immediately, the various periodicals in Thursia, and in neighboring cities, flaunted lengthy eulogistic obituaries headed with more or less well executed portraits of the deceased. It seemed as if the authors of these effusions must have run through dictionaries of complimentary terms, which they culled lavishly and inserted among the acts and facts of her life with a kind of journalistic

lay in state; with incense burning and innumerable candles casting their pallid light upon the bier. I observed as we

were elaborate and impressive. The dirge which followed, and during which the members of the Order formed in procession and began a slow march, was so unutterably and profoundly sad that I could not keep back the tears. A little sobbing voice directl

h the ceremonies. The sight of her beautiful face, with its subdued but lofty expression, was more than I could bear. I lean

y last day

eflecting that I might better begin my homeward flight from so

hich I think will be of value to them, as I shall make a complete map of the heavens as they appear to us. Then we shall be e

face upon me, and for the first time gave me her hand. I had coveted it a hundred times as it lay lissome and white in her lap. I clasped it, palm to palm. It was as smooth as satin, and not moist,-I dislike a moist hand. I felt that up to that moment I had always undervalued the sense of tou

iles, though not in time,

ya and Eurydice. I learned that nearly all Caskians are named after the planetoids o

children the moment my ey

g to know that in these lovely forms there lurked no germs of evil, over their sweet heads there hung no Adam's curse! They were seated in a pretty pony carriage, with a white canopy top lined with blue silk. Freya held the lines. It appeare

in a country where the buoyant air makes walking a luxury!" I cried, stretchi

Paleveria, but here I had the same sensations

not much more than knee-high Freya, ready to relinquish the

aw our friend up the hill, he i

ittle man, all t

fruit trees, every branch and twig was loaded with eager buds crowding upon each other as the heads of children crowd at a cottage window when one goes by. Every thicket was full of bird life and music. I heard the roar of a waterfall in the distance, and Calypso told me that a mighty river

listen,-the c

f our life up here," she said; "we note all its moods, which are many. Sometimes it is drowsy, and purrs and murmurs; again it is merry, and sings

, you could look through them down into her soul. I likened them in

ive; they seemed to know just where to fit their little questions and remarks into the talk. It was quite wonderful. I understood, of course, that the children had been brought down to meet me in order that I might make their acquaintance immediately and establish my relations with them, since I was to be for some time a member of the household. They had their small interests apart from their elders-carefully gu

rney I had deliberately steeped myself in sweet and bitter memories of my life there, to the exclusion of much that might have been interesting and instructive to me on the way,-a foolish and childish thing to have done. And now, suddenly, Paleveria dropped from me l

city, which quite filled the valley and c

h grass and flowers and shrubbery grew, and often trees. Each such space bore

not a single darksome alley or lurking place for vice, no huddling toge

have spread ourselves out. We have plenty of ground for our population, enough to

Each of these spots was an ideal resting place, and I saw many elderly people enjoying them,-people whom I took to be from sixty to seventy years of age, but who, I was astonished to learn, were all upwards of a hundred. P

general beauty and elegance

the fine quart

turned Calypso, "it is a

then you must all

n others. We have tried, several times in the history of our race, to equalize the wea

en here?"

you mean?

ained to a most perfect state of development

ess eliminates individu

aughingl

ect to find us all exactly al

fact, the farther we advance, the greater, and the grander, appears the excellence to which we have not yet attained. Though it would be false modesty-and a

moment h

ame in all life, not only physical, but intellectual, moral, spiritual. Cultivation, though it s

e, and after my perceptions had become more delicate and acute,-or when a ki

. Observe now the chromatic variety and beauty produced by intelligent horticulture! A group of commonplace people-moderately disciplined by culture-might be co

ving was never so satisfied-and at the same time so thoroughly stimulated-as

ition produced harmony. I never knew a single instance in which the social atmosphere was disagreeably jarred,-a common

full of it. There were minerals and precious stones, and metals in great abundance; and all the ores were manufact

e to ask the fa

had explained about our difficulties in that line. And then he informed me that

, "is reduced to the minimum; machi

iving, I suppose?" I rejoined, taking it for granted that the small

may devote his energies to the service of other than merely physical needs." He smiled as he went on, "This labor problem the Creator

now, and waited

for the sake of supplying the wants of the body, and nothing more, is, I think, an inconceivable hardship. A

profited by it," I

t seemed to me, machinery-which has been such a boon to the laborers here-has been utilized simply and solely to i

ou manage it other

Mars was rich enough to maintain all his children in comfort and even luxury,-that none need hunger, or thirst, or go naked or houseless, and that more than this was vanity and vain-glory. And just as they, with intense assiduity, sought out and cul

dd, "Severnius told me that you recognize the trinity in human nature. Well, we do, too, upon the Earth,

highly intellectual people,"

shamed of. And," I added, remembering some felicitous sensations of my own, "there

h a great love-a love willing to share equally with others the f

on which my friends' house stood; it was like a

spacious observatory, in which was mounted a very fine telescope that must have cost a fortune,-though my friends were not enormously rich, as I had learned from Severnius. But these people do not regard the expenditure of even very large sums of money for the means of the best instruction and the best pleasures as extravagance, if no one suffer

at best loosely construed; nor is it a mere sentiment preached from pulpits and glorified in literature,-a beautiful but i

w. I may add that in all the time I spent in Caskia, I never saw a man, woman, or child, but whose delight in any possession would have been marred by the knowledge that his, or her, gratification

oods of feeling, for they were always up to their highest level,-I mean in the matter of kindness and sympathy and love. Moreover, their intellectual perceptions were so clear, and the mysteries of nature were unrolled before their understanding in such orderly sequence, that although their increase of knowledge was a continuous source of delight, it never came in shocks of surprise or excited childish wonderment. I cannot hope to give you m

ments. A balcony encircled it on the outside, and here we often sat of evenings, especially if the sky was clear and the stars and

tars were hidden, and look down upon the city all brilliantly alight, and listen t

in snow-capped mountains, the highest of which was called the Spear, s

f the house and greeted the children, who had much important news to relate concerning their drive; and a last year's bird-nest to show her, which they took pains to explain was quite useless to t

an house servants," I asked; "do you have pe

ssion. Her answer, coming from any one l

egard any wo

are distasteful, to sa

she returned. "A mother does not consider

id I; "that is simpl

nly the germ of love. It is narrow,-on

uestion of service?" I asked. "I am not

ll work. We believe in work; it means strength to the body and relief to the mind. No one permits himself to be served by an

e servants at

ot intrust my little ones to the care of a mere paid nurse who thought only of her wages. Nor could she work simply for wages. The money consideration is the smallest item in the arrangement. My husband superintends some steel works in which he has some shares. The man he is talking with now-who is attending to the grape vines-has also a large interest in the steel works, but he has no tas

eemed to be on the part of each employe a distinct preference and liking for the kind of work he or she had undertaken to do; second, a fitness and careful preparatio

o be permitted to cook the m

t only with dignity but lovingness. She had some younger women to assist her, whom she was instructing in the science and the art of cooking, and who would by-and-by take responsible positions themselves. These women, or girls, assisted also in the housekeeping, which was the most perfect system in point of cleanliness, order and beauty that it is possible to conceive of in a home; because skill, honesty and conscientiousness enter into every detail of the life of these people. The body is held in honor, and its needs are respected. Life is sacred, and physical sins,-neglect or infringement of the laws of health,-are classed in the same category with moral transgressions. In fact, the same principles and the same mathematical rules apply in the Three Natures of Man,-refined of course to correspond with the ascending scale from the lowest to the highest, from the physical to the spiritual. But so closely are the Three allied that there are no dividing lines,-there is no point where the Mind may say, "Here my responsibility ends," or where the Body may