CHAPTER IV.
To facilitate my progress in the language of Mizora I was sent to theirNational College. It was the greatest favor they could have conferredupon me, as it opened to me a wide field of knowledge. Their educationalsystem was a peculiar one, and, as it was the chief interest of thecountry. I shall describe it before proceeding farther with thisnarrative.
All institutions for instruction were public, as were, also, the booksand other accessories. The State was the beneficent mother who furnishedeverything, and required of her children only their time andapplication. Each pupil was compelled to attain a certain degree ofexcellence that I thought unreasonably high, after which she selectedthe science or vocation she felt most competent to master, and to thatshe then devoted herself.
The salaries of teachers were larger than those of any other publicposition. The Principal of the National College had an income thatexceeded any royal one I had ever heard of; but, as education was theparamount interest of Mizora, I was not surprised at it. Their desirewas to secure the finest talent for educational purposes, and as thehighest honors and emoluments belonged to such a position, it could notbe otherwise. To be a teacher in Mizora was to be a person ofconsequence. They were its aristocracy.
Every State had a free college provided for out of the State funds. Inthese colleges every department of Science, Art, or Mechanics wasfurnished with all the facilities for thorough instruction. All theexpenses of a pupil, including board, clothing, and the necessarytraveling fares, were defrayed by the State. I may here remark that allrailroads are owned and controlled by the General Government. The ratesof transportation were fixed by law, and were uniform throughout thecountry.
The National College which I entered belonged to the GeneralGovernment. Here was taught the highest attainments in the arts andsciences, and all industries practised in Mizora. It contained the verycream of learning. There the scientist, the philosopher and inventorfound the means and appliances for study and investigation. There theartist and sculptor had their finest work, and often their studios. Theprincipals and subordinate teachers and assistants were elected bypopular vote. The State Colleges were free to those of another State whomight desire to enter them, for Mizora was like one vast family. It wasregarded as the duty of every citizen to lend all the aid andencouragement in her power to further the enlightenment of others,wisely knowing the benefits of such would accrue to her own and thegeneral good. The National College was open to all applicants,irrespective of age, the only requirements being a previous training toenter upon so high a plane of mental culture. Every allurement was heldout to the people to come and drink at the public fountain where the cupwas inviting and the waters sweet. "For," said one of the leadinginstructors to me, "education is the foundation of our moral elevation,our government, our happiness. Let us relax our efforts, or curtail themeans and inducements to become educated, and we relax into ignorance,and end in demoralization. We know the value of free education. It isfrequently the case that the greatest minds are of slow development, andmanifest in the primary schools no marked ability. They often leave theschools unnoticed; and when time has awakened them to their mentalneeds, all they have to do is to apply to the college, pass anexamination, and be admitted. If not prepared to enter the college, theycould again attend the common schools. We realize in its broadest sensethe ennobling influence of universal education. The higher the cultureof a people, the more secure is their government and happiness. Aprosperous people is always an educated one; and the freer theeducation, the wealthier they become."
The Preceptress of the National College was the leading scientist of thecountry. Her position was more exalted than any that wealth could havegiven her. In fact, while wealth had acknowledged advantages, it held asubordinate place in the estimation of the people. I never heard theexpression "very wealthy," used as a recommendation of a person. It wasalways: "_She_ is a fine scholar, or mechanic, or artist, or musician._She_ excels in landscape gardening, or domestic work. _She_ is afirst-class chemist." But never "_She_ is rich."
The idea of a Government assuming the responsibility of education, likea parent securing the interest of its children, was all so new to me;and yet, I confessed to myself, the system might prove beneficial toother countries than Mizora. In that world, from whence I had somysteriously emigrated, education was the privilege only of the rich.And in no country, however enlightened, was there a system of educationthat would reach all. Charitable institutions were restricted, andbenefited only a few. My heart beat with enthusiasm when I thought ofthe mission before me. And then I reflected that the philosophers of myworld were but as children in progress compared to these. Stilltraveling in grooves that had been worn and fixed for posterity bybygone ages of ignorance and narrow-mindedness, it would require courageand resolution, and more eloquence than I possessed, to persuade themout of these trodden paths. To be considered the privileged class was anactive characteristic of human nature. Wealth, and the powerful gripupon the people which the organizations of society and governments gave,made it hereditary. Yet in this country, nothing was hereditary but theprosperity and happiness of the whole people.
It was not a surprise to me that astronomy was an unknown science inMizora, as neither sun, moon, nor stars were visible there. "The moon'spale beams" never afford material for a blank line in poetry; neither doscientific discussions rage on the formation of Saturn's rings, or thespots on the sun. They knew they occupied a hollow sphere, bounded Northand South by impassible oceans. Light was a property of the atmosphere.A circle of burning mist shot forth long streamers of light from theNorth, and a similar phenomena occurred in the South.
The recitation of my geography lesson would have astonished a pupil fromthe outer world. They taught that a powerful current of electricityexisted in the upper regions of the atmosphere. It was the origin oftheir atmospheric heat and light, and their change of seasons. Thelatter appeared to me to coincide with those of the Arctic zone, in oneparticular. The light of the sun during the Arctic summer is reflectedby the atmosphere, and produces that mellow, golden, rapturous lightthat hangs like a veil of enchantment over the land of Mizora for sixmonths in the year. It was followed by six months of the shiftingiridescence of the Aurora Borealis.
As the display of the Aurora Borealis originated, and was most brilliantat what appeared to me to be the terminus of the pole, I believed it wascaused by the meeting at that point of the two great electric currentsof the earth, the one on its surface, and the one known to theinhabitants of Mizora. The heat produced by the meeting of two suchpowerful currents of electricity is, undoubtedly, the cause of the openPolar Sea. As the point of meeting is below the vision of theinhabitants of the Arctic regions, they see only the reflection of theAurora. Its gorgeous, brilliant, indescribable splendor is known only tothe inhabitants of Mizora.
At the National College, where it is taught as a regular science, Iwitnessed the chemical production of bread and a preparation resemblingmeat. Agriculture in this wonderful land, was a lost art. No one that Iquestioned had any knowledge of it. It had vanished in the dim past oftheir barbarism. With the exception of vegetables and fruit, which wereraised in luscious perfection, their food came from the elements. Afamine among such enlightened people was impossible, and scarcity wasunknown. Food for the body and food for the mind were without price. Itwas owing to this that poverty was unknown to them, as well as disease.The absolute purity of all that they ate preserved an activity of vitalpower long exceeding our span of life. The length of their year,measured by the two seasons, was the same as ours, but the women who hadmarked a hundred of them in their lifetime, looked younger and fresher,and were more supple of limb than myself, yet I had barely passed mytwenty-second year.
I wrote out a careful description of the processes by which theyconverted food out of the valueless elements--valueless because of theirabundance--and put it carefully away for use in my own country. Theredrouth, or excessive rainfalls, produced scarcity, and sometimes famine.The stru
ggle of the poor was for food, to the exclusion of all otherinterests. Many of them knew not what proper and health-givingnourishment was. But here in Mizora, the daintiest morsels came from thechemists laboratory, cheap as the earth under her feet.
I now began to enjoy the advantages of conversation, which added greatlyto my happiness and acquirements. I formed an intimate companionshipwith the daughter of the Preceptress of the National College, and to herwas addressed the questions I asked about things that impressed me. Shewas one of the most beautiful beings that it had been my lot to behold.Her eyes were dark, almost the purplish blue of a pansy, and her hairhad a darker tinge than is common in Mizora, as if it had stolen thegolden edge of a ripe chestnut. Her beauty was a constant charm to me.
The National College contained a large and well filled gallery. Itspictures and statuary were varied, not confined to historical portraitsand busts as was the one at the College of Experimental Science. Yet itpossessed a number of portraits of women exclusively of the blonde type.Many of them were ideal in loveliness. This gallery also contained themasterpieces of their most celebrated sculptors. They were all studiesof the female form. I am a connoisseur in art, and nothing that I hadever seen before could compare with these matchless marbles, bewitchingin every delicate contour, alluring in softness, but grand and majesticin pose and expression.
But I haunted this gallery for other reasons than its artisticattractions. I was searching for the portrait of a man, or somethingsuggesting his presence. I searched in vain. Many of the paintings wereon a peculiar transparent substance that gave to the subject astartlingly vivid effect. I afterward learned that they wereimperishable, the material being a translucent adamant of their ownmanufacture. After a picture was painted upon it, another piece ofadamant was cemented over it.
Each day, as my acquaintance with the peculiar institutions andcharacter of the inhabitants of Mizora increased, my perplexity and acertain air of mystery about them increased with it. It was impossiblefor me not to feel for them a high degree of respect, admiration, andaffection. They were ever gentle, tender, and kind to solicitude. Toaccuse them of mystery were a paradox; and yet they _were_ a mystery. Inconversation, manners and habits, they were frank to singularity. It wasjust as common an occurrence for a poem to be read and commented on byits author, as to hear it done by another. I have heard a poetess callattention to the beauties of her own production, and receive praise oradverse criticism with the same charming urbanity.
Ambition of the most intense earnestness was a natural characteristic,but was guided by a stern and inflexible justice. Envy and malice wereunknown to them. It was, doubtless, owing to their elevated moralcharacter that courts and legal proceedings had become unnecessary. If adiscussion arose between parties involving a question of law, theyrepaired to the Public Library, where the statute books were kept, andlooked up the matter themselves, and settled it as the law directed.Should they fail to interpret the law alike, a third party was selectedas referee, but accepted no pay.
Indolence was as much a disgrace to them as is the lack of virtue to thewomen of my country, hence every citizen, no matter how wealthy, hadsome regular trade, business or profession. I found those occupations weare accustomed to see accepted by the people of inferior birth andbreeding, were there filled by women of the highest social rank, refinedin manner and frequently of notable intellectual acquirements. It grew,or was the result of the custom of selecting whatever vocation they feltthemselves competent to most worthily fill, and as no social favor orignominy rested on any kind of labor, the whole community of Mizora wasone immense family of sisters who knew no distinction of birth orposition among themselves.
There were no paupers and no charities, either public or private, to befound in the country. The absence of poverty such as I knew existed inall civilized nations upon the face of the earth, was largely owing tothe cheapness of food. But there was one other consideration that borevitally upon it. The dignity and necessity of labor was early anddiligently impressed upon the mind. The Preceptress said to me:
"Mizora is a land of industry. Nature has taught us the duty of work.Had some of us been born with minds fully matured, or did knowledge cometo some as old age comes to all, we might think that a portion wasintended to live without effort. But we are all born equal, and labor isassigned to all; and the one who seeks labor is wiser than the one wholets labor seek her."
Citizens, I learned, were not restrained from accumulating vast wealthhad they the desire and ability to do so, but custom imposed upon themthe most honorable processes. If a citizen should be found guilty ofquestionable business transactions, she suffered banishment to a lonelyisland and the confiscation of her entire estate, both hereditary andacquired. The property confiscated went to the public schools in thetown or city where she resided; but never was permitted to augmentsalaries. I discovered this in the statute books, but not in the memoryof any one living had it been found necessary to inflict such apunishment.
"Our laws," said Wauna, "are simply established legal advice. No law canbe so constructed as to fit every case so exactly that a criminal mindcould not warp it into a dishonest use. But in a country like ours,where civilization has reached that state of enlightenment that needs nolaws, we are simply guided by custom."
The love of splendor and ornament was a pronounced characteristic ofthese strange people. But where gorgeous colors were used, they werealways of rich quality. The humblest homes were exquisitely ornamented,and often displayed a luxury that, with us, would have been consideredan evidence of wealth.
They took the greatest delight in their beauty, and were exceedinglycareful of it. A lovely face and delicate complexion, they averred,added to one's refinement. The art of applying an artificial bloom andfairness to the skin, which I had often seen practiced in my owncountry, appeared to be unknown to them. But everything savoring ofdeception was universally condemned. They made no concealment of thepractice they resorted to for preserving their complexions, and souniversal and effectual were they, that women who, I was informed, hadpassed the age allotted to the grandmothers in my country, had thesmooth brow and pink bloom of cheek that belongs to a more youthfulperiod of life. There was, however, a distinction between youth and oldage. The hair was permitted to whiten, but the delicate complexion ofold age, with its exquisite coloring, excited in my mind as muchadmiration as astonishment.
I cannot explain why I hesitated to press my first inquiry as to wherethe men were. I had put the question to Wauna one day, but she professednever to have heard of such beings. It silenced me--for a time.
"Perhaps it is some extinct animal," she added, naively. "We have somany new things to study and investigate, that we pay but littleattention to ancient history."
I bided my time and put the query in another form.
"Where is your other parent?"
She regarded me with innocent surprise. "You talk strangely. I have butone parent. How could I have any more?"
"You ought to have two."
She laughed merrily. "You have a queer way of jesting. I have but onemother, one adorable mother. How could I have two?" and she laughedagain.
I saw that there was some mystery I could not unravel at present, andfearing to involve myself in some trouble, refrained from furtherquestioning on the subject. I nevertheless kept a close observance ofall that passed, and seized every opportunity to investigate a mysterythat began to harass me with its strangeness.
Soon after my conversation with Wauna, I attended an entertainment atwhich a great number of guests were present. It was a literary festivaland, after the intellectual delicacies were disposed of, a banquetfollowed of more than royal munificence. Toasts were drank, succeeded bymusic and dancing and all the gayeties of a festive occasion, yet nonebut the fairest of fair women graced the scene. Is it strange,therefore, that I should have regarded with increasing astonishment anduneasiness a country in all respects alluring to the desires of man--yetfound him not there in lordly possession?
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p; Beauty and intellect, wealth and industry, splendor and careful economy,natures lofty and generous, gentle and loving--why has not Man claimedthis for himself?