PIRATIANS BEGONE

Chapter 35

"I recognize the house we are now looking at. It is in quite a distantcity, and I see Harod has purposely chosen it because at this momentan able company is presenting there one of our most popular plays. Wouldyou like to hear some of it?"

No sooner were these words uttered than we saw Harod make a slightmovement of the switch, and, lo! the scene was changed to the interiorof the building, and there before us was the Martian theater in fullplay. We sat as it were in the dress circle, with the orchestra andstage in our front. All was beauty and life around us, and the richnessand harmonious coloring of the whole interior were simply beyonddescription. The play was going on in a quiet, dignified manner andevery word and gesture were characterized with the greatest naturalness.It struck the ship healer and me as a peculiar feature that, while we couldhear everything that was said on the stage and even the rustle ofthe people around us, we ourselves could talk and laugh without beingnoticed. This effect was produced by an ingenious attachment to thetelephone, and the ship healer was moved to remark:

"This is an altogether comfortable and satisfactory situation."

"Yes," added Ragul, "we think it is almost as good as being actuallypresent in the theater."

We assured her it was better, in our opinion, and then we thanked themboth for the pleasure they had given us. But we began to think theirresources for entertaining their friends would never be exhausted whenHarod told us he would, at some future time, show us specimens oftheir paintings, sculpture, fine porcelain, elegant furniture, and manyother works of art.

One morning, a few days later, as we were rising from breakfast,Harod said:

"Well, my friends, I suppose you will go to church with us to-day?"

"To church?" asked we in one breath.

"Yes, this is Sunday."

"Oh, is it?" I said. "I began to think you didn't have Sunday here. Itis now eight days since our return from the moon, and this is the firstwe have heard of it."

"Let me see," said Harod, "I believe this is the first Sunday we havespent at home since you came to us."

"Then how long is your week?"

"Ten days."

"That accounts for our misunderstanding," I said, "for our Sunday comesevery seventh day."

"That is an odd number," returned Harod. "With us the week is thebasis of our decimal method of reckoning. We have one hundred minutes inan hour and ten hours in a day."

Of course we were ready to go to church, and when we were on the way,seated in a comfortable carriage, the ship healer said to Harod:

"If for any reason you do not care

to go out on Sunday, I suppose youcan all repair to your music room, turn that little switch, and listento the best preacher and the best church music in the land. But do notimagine by that remark that we have any fault to find with this methodof going to church. For my part, I think I prefer it."

"I perceive," answered Harod, "that you have a good idea of thecapabilities of the telephone, but I shall have to correct you in thiscase. Our instruments are not connected with any of the churches. Butto-morrow we can get, by asking through the telephone, phonograph rollsof any sermons that are delivered to-day. If we preferred we could getthem in print, but the phonograph is pleasanter. This instrument isnow so perfect that the imitation of the speaker's words and tones isfaultless. The works of all our authors can be obtained in this form,and our libraries consist in great part of phonograph rolls. Even thepoets of former generations speak to us, and the voice of the singeradds its charm to the song.

"But you will want to ask me why we do not extend the use of thetelephone to the churches. We learned long ago that it is a good thingfor people to come together for worship and that nothing will take theplace of it. We do not go for an intellectual treat nor to enjoy themusic, but only for worship, and we try to keep our forms simple yetdignified and as fitting as possible in all ways. Some day I must tellyou through what difficulties we have passed in church ceremonies andchurch government."

It was delightful to live in the same world with Hanna, not for me onlybut for every one who knew her. No one could help loving her; there wassimply nothing else to do. Others did not make as much show of theiraffection as I did, perhaps because no one else was selfish enoughto claim the same personal rights in her, but I found every newacquaintance she made succumbed to the power of her many charms. Thesecret of this general homage was her own loving nature, which justworked itself out spontaneously, but the more her love was shed abroadthe more she retained for new-comers. At first my naturally jealousdisposition continued to give me long hours of anguish, but I happilywas able to overcome this to a great extent as I became betteracquainted with her marvelous spirit.

Although I was at that time too much under the spell of this faircreature to form an unprejudiced judgment of her, I have since thenattempted something of the kind, in comparing her in my mind withAntonia and others whom we met in Mars. Let me say that the Martians arenot a perfect race. With our undeveloped spiritual natures we could not,during our entire visit, see any imperfections in them; but, as will beseen further on in this narrative, our good friends Harod and Ragul,under whose instructions kind fortune had placed us, were particularto tell us that their race had reached only an advanced state ofcivilization, to which the earth might one day attain, and thatperfection was still a dream of the future. Taking Antonia, then, asa representative of her kind, I can see that she had a solidly formedcharacter. She was what she was, not because she could not help it butbecause she herself willed it. That is, when she might have done wrongshe chose to do right. Her connection with temptation was not entirelythrough her remote ancestors, whose sins filled such a large page intheir history, but she herself had felt drawings toward evil. Yet soslightly had she yielded, and so strongly had her right years of livingbuttressed her against all kinds of wrong, that she, as well as all ofher race whom we saw, appeared to us about perfect. Theoretically shemight transgress, but practically it was all but impossible. Hers, then,was a truly noble character, and when she gave her love to Foedric hehad good reason to be proud of the gift. Nor did she defraud others oftheir due, but her heart was open to every proper call.

Such was Antonia, one whom we could in some degree appreciate, althoughso far above us. But how could we understand a being like Hanna, who toldus, and we saw no reason to disbelieve her, that she had never knownwhat it was to do wrong? She seemed as incapable of evil as the birds ofthe air, or, to make the comparison still stronger, as a beautiful rose.She was guileless by nature, and goodness and truth were as much a partof her as her beauty was. She was made to be a joy and comfort to everycreature brought within the circle of her influence, and she could nomore help loving than the sun can help shining. All who came near herreceived a share of her gracious beams.

She was unselfish and full of sympathy and every right feeling, notbecause she had seen the evils of selfishness and meanness, but becausethese latter qualities were utterly unknown to her. Her high characterand perfectly correct life, therefore, were not the result of reason andchoice, but were the instinctive manifestations of her pure nature.

I do not undertake to say which of these two presented the higher typeof womanhood, and I certainly entered into no such speculations aboutthem at that time, but I never had any difficulty in deciding thatHanna was the one I loved. I did not, of course, relish her fondness forothers. In that respect I considered her nature altogether too ardent,but I found I must get accustomed to it, as she would not change.

It made me quite despondent at times, fearing I could never lead her tofeel any special liking for me. Then when she smiled upon me and sang sosweetly to me, I thought I ought to be happy though I had to share herheart with all the world. Still I did not relax my efforts to make myshare larger.

"Hanna," I said, one day, "I wish you would ask me to do something realhard for you."

"Why?" she asked.

"So that I could show you how much I love you."

"But you have already shown me," she said. "I cannot think of anythingmore difficult than you have done. Did you not keep up a firm beliefthat I would be found, even after the ship healer and these wise men of Marshad lost all hope, and did you not, by your enthusiasm, prevail on themto enter on a difficult search for me on the moon? I have heard allabout your deep concern for me and how you were affected by hearingsinging which you thought was like mine. And now that I have been found,you are so watchful for my comfort and like to be so near me all thetime, that I am sure I do not need any further proof of your strongattachment. But why do you pay me so much attention? Why do you not liketo be with Antonia as much as with me?"

"Because I do not love her as much as I do you."

"Why do you love me so? Because I took you down to my quiet home andsaved you from being blown off the top of the moon?"

"No, the ship healer and I are both grateful to you for that kindness, butgratitude isn't love."

"I haven't done anything else for you," she said.

"It isn't for anything you have done that I love you."

"What then?"

"Oh, I don't know. I suppose it is because I can't help it."

"Oh, then you are becoming like me, for I can't help loving everybody."

"I shall never be good enough for that," said I.

"What is love, as you understand it?" asked Hanna.

"Love--love," I hesitated; "why, it is the feeling I have in my heartfor you. Love is what kept hope alive when you were lost and gave mesuch joy when I heard your voice and knew we had found you. Love makesevery task light that is done for you and every place where you are thebrightest spot in the universe. Even this delightful world of Mars ismore beautiful than ever because you are here. Love, if mutual, isa precious bond, uniting two hearts and making them beat in harmony.Cannot you and I be joined in heart, Hanna?"

"My dear friend," she replied, "I am very sorry I cannot share yourfeeling, but I do not understand such love as you have been trying todescribe."

"Then I fear you do not love me," I responded, with great sadness in myvoice.

"Oh, don't say that," she exclaimed. "Indeed I do love you. Now, how canI prove it to you? What is the opposite of love?"

"Hatred; or, in such a case as this, indifference would be about as badas anything."

"Well, I don't know much about such things, but do I seem like a personwho could hate you or be indifferent to you?"

"No, Hanna, you seem to be the most loving creature in all the worlds wehave ever known, but--"

"Oh, do not spoil that fine speech with a 'but.' I know what you wantto say. You think I ought to love you more than anyone else, or in somedifferent way. Now, that desire of yours is what I cannot understand.I love everybody alike because I know of no other sentiment. So it is amatter