Our coming world

by Alfred Charles Michaud

We went into a spacious outside court with trees, and close cut lawns. She led me out of the court through an opening in a beautifully trimmed hedge which she told me surrounded the five or six courts forming their community. Beyond the hedge, running east and west, one hundred fifty feet away, was another hedge. The space between was a street without sidewalks. Along the hedges on both sides were lines of beautifully shaped shade trees, at equal distances from each other, carefully pruned to allow shade as well as sunshine and beauty. There were comfortable benches under them. Parallel to both hedges were two twenty-five foot strips of beautiful green lawns in lieu of sidewalks. Between these strips were two twenty-five foot pathways, paved with a cork or ocean tree lumber surface, easy and resilient to walk on. In the center and between these pathways was a fifty foot wide full length flower bed with passages every 200 feet leading to fountains and statues in the midst of the flower beds. Happy couples, both young and old, strolled arm in arm or sat on the comfortable benches. The sweet scents of beautiful flowers, the freshness of vegetation, and the pleasant chirping of birds were unspoiled by traffic, and industrial noises. At the end of these hedges, we came to a very wide cross street or avenue, lined with pruned and beautifully shaped shade trees. It seemed as if every street had its own style of trees.

I asked Xora, "I noticed from the air the absence of vehicles on your streets, and I see none now; don't you use your streets even for deliveries?"

"No, all our traffic for deliveries and collections is done underground. To avoid accidents, individuals are forbidden to drive vehicles on the streets or to walk in our subways. Nor are children allowed to ride bicycles on the surface as they do on earth. We have no streets, as you call them. We call them parkways, and they are used exclusively for our pedestrians, who can walk, rest, and cross in perfect safety, even in the dark."

"Then you have no street accidents, and even an unattended blind man can safely at any time cross your parkways in any part of your city?"

"Yes," she answered, "providing he knows directions and carries a blind man's feeling compass."

It was a relief to cross safely without trying to find traffic lights, or stopping to look both ways for approaching automobiles. My precautions in crossing remained with me for some time, to the merriment of Martians with whom I happened to be walking. However, back here in New York I have almost been run over several times because of my forgetfulness. I did not see a street policeman there of any kind; a fact which impressed me then, and occurred to me later. What a relief not to have to run across streets dodging automobiles and fire engines! The indescribable pleasure of children playing and the birds twittering added to my feeling. I was in a land of enchantment.

In the center of the crossroads was an attractive pavilion with awnings all around it, and with dainty little umbrella tables outside. Many people were sitting around the tables with refreshments. Xora led me to a vacant one where a courteous attendant seated us and gave us a menu with a list of all kinds of ice creams, drinks, fruits, cakes, and dainty candies. My companion gave the order, after translating the menu for me. Everyone enjoyed these simple refreshments in a happy orderly manner. No barkeepers, with their noisy customers guzzling alcoholic drinks, no disgusting drunkards, no promiscuous petting, no attempt at pick-ups, no vulgarity, and no high class "Cafe Society."

In a very comfortable corner spot, there were about five vacant tables decorated with pennants on top of the umbrella poles. I asked Xora why these tables were vacant. She said they were reserved for the over-aged and high ranking members and their immediate families. So were the best seats in all public assemblies. Others had to take seats according to their rank and grade degree. Her family had to take balcony seats, because neither of her parents had as yet reached higher than the fifth grade.

Bowls of beautiful fresh, conserved, and dried fruits and nuts of many varieties were placed on our table. Xora said they were not the best of their kind. The choicest food from the commissary and the best articles from the general stores were first allotted to the crippled, the disabled, the sick, the aged, and the high ranking members and their families.

Momentarily forgetting what her grandfather had told me, I reached into my pocket for some gold pieces to pay for the refreshments. She started to laugh and said there was no payment.