Life in a Thousand Worlds

by W. S. Harris

4. Any man through negligence failing to support his family is put to the government penitentiary service, and his family is thereafter supported from the public treasury.

5. A widow or orphan is cared for by regular authorities. The by-laws of this fifth article regulate the work of women.

6. No credit is allowed except on a government credit-slip signed by the local representative of the state. If the bill is not paid by the one making the debt, the amount of which is always stipulated, the government will pay it and proceed to collect it in one of three ways. The last resort is according to article four.

There are several other sections governing private ownership of property, land and business. These new laws have had a very good effect. The number of persons getting immensely wealthy gradually decreased, and the average wealth of the laborers increased. The government has the power at any time to form a trust or combination of any line of business by paying liberally to those already engaged in it. This assists the government in carrying its heavy financial burdens, and every family is assured of support if the soil produces enough to feed the people.

And now if I knew how to describe elements that have no resemblance to anything in our world, I would proceed to tell a story of interest to chemists. These Zikites have formed gases and solids unknown to us, and naturally they are capable of performing experiments more wonderful than anything ever known in our world. When I saw their wizard-like performances I thought that the marvelous feats of the Orient were being performed on a scale more mysterious and magnificent.

To see a man play with red hot irons and dance in a seething furnace, makes one believe that his eyes are deceiving him.

I saw a man draw the birds from heaven and dormant reptiles from the soil, but ask me not to tell how. A few of these Zikites have discovered some wonderful secrets of nature and will not disclose them except to certain ones of their own lineage. One of these secrets is the art of embalming the dead so perfectly that human features are retained forever unless destroyed by fire or human effort. The embalming fluid contains some of the elements not found in our world, but this is not the total secret. The body must lie in an air-tight receptacle into which a secret gas is pumped. The dead body, lying in this receptacle for two hours, absorbs certain parts of the gas which enters the pores and touches those parts of the dead body not reached by the injected fluid. By this process no part of the body is subject to putrefaction and the muscles all retain their rigidity, so that one hundred years after burial the features are full, although discolored.

Not many of the common people are thus embalmed. But the bodies of prominent men and women are thus treated at government expense and unborn generations can look upon the full contour of their faces.

Another secret held by these experts is the art of maintaining youthful vigor in old age. This is a very expensive method and the government prohibits any one securing this treatment who has not won special honor in one or another particular channel. One of the highest distinctions bestowed upon any citizen of Zik is to grant him the "Angel's Honor," which entitles him to receive the Vigor Treatment during the balance of his natural life. This one thing, more than any other, is the secret of Zik having so long a list of illustrious characters. It is the ambition of each boy or girl to make progress and some day win the "Angel's Honor."

The religious life of these Zikites is unusually intense. Their language is much more cumbersome than ours. They have a small book which contains a list of great truths whose authors claim to have been influenced by the All-Powerful, or the same as our God. This book has had a remarkable history, and has moulded the life and character of millions. Every person is left to his own notions in religion, and we see here the same picture that confronts us on our own planet, the very good and the very bad in the same house and neighborhood. They build but few churches, but here and there a home of a believer is the center of a worshiping company. On special occasions the worshipers rent or secure large public buildings and have an enthusiastic time.