It is to closely the of the Altrurian’s account
of his country, which more and more as he on, and
implied every of ours. Some one asked him about in
Altruria, and he said: “The very name of our country the absence
of war. At the time of the Evolution our country to the of our
continent the same relative that your country to your
continent. The nations to the north and the south of us entered
into an and to put down, the new altruistic
commonwealth, and against us. Their were met at the
frontier by our entire population in arms, and full of the spirit
bred of the of the and epoch
just ended. Negotiations in the of the demonstration
we made, and we were by our neighbors, who
finally to the of our and their
political and social with ours. At present, our whole is
Altrurian. For a long time we up a of defences, but it
is also a long time since we these; for it is a with us
that where every citizen’s life is a of the public safety, that
country can be in of enemies.
“In this, as in all other things, we ourselves the true followers
of Christ, we to make our life as He it His. We
have of ritual, but no of creed, and our religious
differences may be said to be and than
theological and essential. We have no denominations, for we in this,
as in other matters, to give names to we should to the
names of the things. We love the realities, and for this we
look at the life of a man than his for proof that he is
a religious man.
“I have been times asked, my among you, what are
the of compassion, of sympathy, of humanity, of with us,
if we have not only no want, or of want, but not any economic
inequality. I this is you are so by the
misery from economic and want, or the of want,
among yourselves, that you look in that direction. But have
you compassion, sympathy, humanity,
heavenlier than that in the family where all are
economically equal and no one can want while any other has to give?
Altruria, I say again, is a family, and, as we are mortal, we are still
subject to those which God has to men, and which
are so different from the that they have for
themselves. Sickness and death call out the most of
love; and those who wish to give themselves to others may do so without
hinderance from those cares, and those duties, upon men where
each must look out for himself and for his own. Oh, me,
believe me, you can know nothing of the of self-sacrifice
while you must the of another in it. You are not _free_,
as we are, to do for others, for it is your _duty_ to do rather
for those of your own household!
“There is something,” he continued, “which I know how to speak of,”
and here we all to our ears. I prepared myself as well as I
could for another affront, though I when the banker hardily
called out: “Don’t to say anything you wish, Mr. Homos. I, for
one, should like to you fully.”
It was always the unexpected, certainly, that from the Altrurian.
“It is this,” he said: “Having come to live upon earth, as
we believe, or having at least to God in our and
customs, the of death, as it once, upon us, has been lifted
from our souls. The of it has so been taken away that we
perceive it as something just and natural. Now that all has
been from among us, we can of no such as death
once seemed. If we do not know yet the full meaning of death, we know that
the Creator of it and of us meant and by it. When one dies
we grieve, but not as those without hope. We do not say that the have
gone to a place, and then them, for we have the
kingdom of upon earth already, and we know that they go
they will be for Altruria; and when we think of the years that
may pass we meet them again our ache, as theirs must. But
the presence of the Christ in our daily is our that
no one to be, and that we shall see our again. I cannot
explain this to you; I can only it.”
The Altrurian spoke very solemnly, and a upon the
assembly. It was by the voice of a woman out: “Oh, do you
suppose, if we so, we should so, too? That I should know my
little girl was living?”
“Why not?” asked the Altrurian.
To my astonishment, the manufacturer, who sat the from me in
the same line with Mrs. Makely, the professor, and the banker, rose and
asked, tremulously: “And have--have you had any direct with
the other world? Has any returned to of the
life the grave?”
The across Mrs. Makely to me, and then
frowned and his head. I asked her if she what he meant. “Why,
didn’t you know that was that man’s foible? He his
son in a accident, and since--”
She stopped and gave her attention to the Altrurian, who was to
the manufacturer’s question.
“We do not need any such testimony. Our life here makes us sure of the
life there. At any rate, no of the supernatural, no objective
miracle, has been in our behalf. We have had to do what we
prayed for, and the of which I speak has been added us.”
The asked, as the mother had asked: “And if I lived
so, should I so?”
Again the Altrurian answered: “Why not?”
The woman quavered: “Oh, I do it! I just _know_ it must be
true!”
The his and sat down, and remained
there, looking at the ground.
“I am aware,” the Altrurian on, “that what I have said as to our
realizing the of on the earth must and
arrogant. That is what you pray for every day, but you do not it
possible for God’s will to be done on earth as it is done in heaven--that
is, you do not if you are like the and people we
once were. We once that as a pleasing
to the Deity, but we no more His to come than we expected
Him to give us each day our daily bread; we that if we wanted
something to eat we should have to for it, and there first; I
use the of that far-off time, which, I confess, had a vigor.
“But now is changed, and the has taken place chiefly
from one cause--namely, the of money. At first, it was that
some of medium _must_ be used, that life not be
transacted without it. But life to go on perfectly well, when each
dwelt in the place him, which was no and no than any
other; and when, after he had his three hours a day to the
obligatory labors, he had a right to his of food, light, heat, and
raiment; the labors, to which he gave much time or little,
brought him no of those necessaries, but only and
affection. We had always it said that the love of money was the root
of all evil, but we had taken this for a saying, merely; now we realized
it as an active, truth. As soon as money was the power to
purchase was gone, and if there had been any means of beyond
the daily needs, with overwork, the had no power to sell to the
individual. No man owned anything, but every man had the right to anything
that he use; when he not use it, his right lapsed.
“With the of the the whole of
crimes against property to nothing. The only from
the community; but if he stole, what was he to do with his booty? It was
still possible for a to destroy, but men’s is so
comprehensive as to all other men, and when the could
no longer some other in his property ceased.
“All the many done from love of money, or of what money buy,
were at an end. Where there was no want, men no longer their
souls, or their bodies, for the means to keep themselves alive. The
vices with the crimes, and the almost as largely
disappeared. People were no longer by and surfeit, or
deformed and by and famine. They were housed
in places, and they were for their labor and fitly
for their leisure; the of were not to the
beauty of the national dress.
“With the of social and duties, and the
perpetual of want which all felt, more or less; with the
tumult of the and the of the country, had
increased among us till the whole land was with and the mad
were numbered by hundreds of thousands. In every region they were an army,
an army of and despair. Now they have to a number
so small, and are of a type so mild, that we can count insanity
among our of unhappiness.
“We have totally from our economic life. There is still
a that a man will be tall or in Altruria, that he will be
strong or weak, well or ill, or grave, happy or in love, but
none that he will be rich or poor, or idle, live or
meanly. These and of cannot
befall us; but I shall not be able to tell you just how or why, or to
detail the of chance. I may say, however, that it
began with the of telegraphs, expresses, railroads, mines,
and all large by stock companies. This at once struck
a at the in values, and unreal, and at the
stock-exchange, or bourse; we had our own name for that gambler’s
paradise, or gambler’s hell, every
branch of business.
“There were still as long as we had business, but
they were on a smaller and smaller scale, and with the final of
business they necessarily vanished; all economic vanished. The
founders of the perfectly that was the
sterile activity of the the and the
supply; that it was nothing structural; and they its extinction,
and it from the moment that money was abolished.”
“This is all tiresome,” said the to our party.
“I don’t see why we ourselves to to that fellow’s stuff. As
if a for a day without money or business.”
He on to give his opinion of the Altrurian’s description,
in a so that it the notice of the nearest group of
railroad hands, who were closely to Homos, and one of them sang
out to the professor: “Can’t you wait and let the man finish?” and
another yelled: “Put him out!” and then they all laughed with a humorous
perception of the of the suggestion.
By the time all was again I the Altrurian saying: “As to our
social life, I cannot it in detail, but I can give you some
notion of its spirit. We make our and public as as
possible, and the is and not exclusive. There are, of
course, which all cannot share, but our into
small the possibility of all doing so. Our daily life,
however, is so social that we meet by special or
engagement. When we do, it is with the perfect that the
assemblage no social distinction, but is for a momentary
convenience. In fact, these occasions are avoided, recalling, as
they do, the and of the epoch,
the and and dinners of a semi-barbaric people striving
for social by a number in and a number
out, and overdressing, overfeeding, and overdrinking. Anything
premeditated in the way of a we think and mistaken; we
like to meet suddenly, or on the of the moment, out-of-doors, if
possible, and a or a or a play; and let people come
and go without ceremony. No one is more than guest; all are and
guests. People much according to their tastes--literary, musical,
artistic, scientific, or mechanical--but these tastes are approaches,
not barriers; and we out that we have many more tastes in common than
was supposed.
“But, after all, our life is serious, and no one among us is happy,
in the esteem, unless he has himself, in some special
way, to the good. Our is not rights, but duties.”
“Mazzini!” the professor.
“The which any one can with us is to have found
out some new and way of the community; and then it is not
good for him to recognition. The doing any thing is the
purest it can give; flatters, but it hurts, too, and our
benefactors, as we call them, have learned to it.
“We are still from our perfect; but we are sure
that our are perfect. What we have already is to
have a whole peace; to have an economy
in which there is no possibility of want; to have killed out political and
social ambition; to have money and chance; to have
realized the of the race, and to have the of
death.”
The Altrurian stopped with these and sat down. He had
spoken a long time, and with a which my report little notion
of; but, though most of his were weary, and a good
many ladies had left their seats and gone to the hotel, not one of
the natives, or the work-people of any sort, had stirred; now they
remained a moment and they rose from all parts of
the and shouted: “Go on! Don’t stop! Tell us all about it!”
I saw Reuben Camp climb the of a big near where the
Altrurian had stood; he the to with out-spread arms.
“He isn’t going to say anything more; he’s tired. But if any man don’t
think he’s got his dollar’s worth, let him walk up to the door and the
ticket-agent will him his money.”
The laughed, and some one shouted: “Good for you, Reub!”
Camp continued: “But our friend here will shake the hand of any man,
woman, or child that wants to speak to him; and you needn’t it on the
grass first, either. He’s a _man_! And I want to say that he’s going to
spend the next week with us, at my mother’s house, and we shall be to
have you call.”
The crowd, the and part of it, and till the
mountain answered; then a called for three times three,
with a tiger, and got it. The guests of the hotel away and went
toward the house over the long of the meadow. The classes
pressed forward, on Camp’s invitation.
“Well, did you a more rigmarole?” asked Mrs. Makely,
as our little group about her.
“With all those to upon, from Plato, through
More, Bacon, and Campanella, to Bellamy and Morris, he has
constructed the of old with
straw,” said the professor.
The was silent. The banker said: “I don’t know. He grappled
pretty with your insinuations. That that Altruria
was all these soap-bubble worlds was fine.”
“It was splendid!” Mrs. Makely. The lawyer and the minister came
toward us from where they had been together. She called out to
them: “Why in the world didn’t one of your up and a
vote of thanks?”
“The with me is,” the banker, “that he has rendered
Altruria incredible. I have no that he is an Altrurian, but I doubt
very much if he comes from in particular, and I this a
blow, for we had got Altruria on the map, and were
beginning to of it in the newspapers.”
“Yes, that is just the way I about it,” Mrs. Makely.
“But still, don’t you think there ought to have been a vote of thanks, Mr.
Bullion?”
“Why, certainly. The was amusing, and you must have got a
lot of money by him. It was an not to make him a formal
acknowledgment of some kind. If we offered him money, he would have to
leave it all him here when he home to Altruria.”
“Just as _we_ do when we go to heaven,” I suggested; the banker did not
answer, and I that in the presence of the minister my
remark was out of taste.
“Well, then, don’t you think,” said Mrs. Makely, who had a leathery
insensibility to but the purpose her, “that we ought
at least to go and say something to him personally?”
“Yes, I think we ought,” said the banker, and we all walked up to where
the Altrurian stood, still by the classes, who
were hands with him and in a word with him now and then.
One of the said, carelessly: “No all-rail to
Altruria, I suppose?”
“No,” answered Homos, “it’s a sea voyage.”
“Well, I shouldn’t mind my passage, if you think they’d let me
stay after I got there.”
“Ah, you mustn’t go to Altruria. You must let Altruria come to _you_”
returned Homos, with that of his that always my
heart.
“Yes,” Reuben Camp, thin was red with excitement,
“that’s the word. Have Altruria right here, and right now.”
The old farmer, who had times spoken, out: “I didn’t know,
one while, when you was talk’n’ about not havin’ no money, but what some
on us had had Altrury here for a spell, already. I don’t pass more’n
fifty dolla’s through my hands most years.”
A laugh up, and then, at of Mrs. Makely our little
party, the people Homos way for us. She upon
him, and his hand in of hers; she her fan, parasol,
gloves, handkerchief, and in the to do so. “Oh, Mr.
Homos,” she fluted, and the came into her eyes, “it was beautiful,
_beautiful_, every word of it! I sat in a perfect from to
end, and I that it was all as true as it was beautiful. People all
around me were with interest, and I don’t know how I can ever
thank you enough.”
“Yes, indeed,” the to say, the Altrurian could
answer, and he upon him through his while he
spoke, “it was like some romance.”
“I don’t know that I should go so as that,” said the banker, in his
turn, “but it too good to be true.”
“Yes,” the Altrurian responded, simply, but a little sadly; “now that I am
away from it all, and in so different, I sometimes had to ask
myself, as I on, if my whole life had not been a dream, and
Altruria were not some of the night.”
“Then you know how to account for a which I must acknowledge,
too?” the lawyer asked, courteously. “But it was most interesting.”
“The of God upon earth,” said the minister--“It ought not to be
incredible; but that, more than anything else you told us of, gave me
pause.”
“You of all men?” returned the Altrurian, gently.
“Yes,” said the minister, with a dejection, “when I what
I have of men, when I what nature is, how can I believe
that the of God will come upon the earth?”
“But in heaven, where He reigns, who is it His will? The of
men?” the Altrurian.
“Yes, but as men are here--”
“But if they were as men are there?”
“Now, I can’t let you two good people into a dispute,”
Mrs. Makely pushed in. “Here is Mr. Twelvemough to shake hands with
Mr. Homos and his guest.”
“Ah, Mr. Homos what I must have of his talk without my
telling him,” I began, skilfully. “But I am sorry that I am to my
distinguished guest so soon.”
Reuben Camp out: “That was my blunder, Mr. Twelvemough. Mr. Homos
and I had talked it over conditionally, and I was not to speak of it till
he had told you; but it out in the of the moment.”
“Oh, it’s all right,” I said, and I hands with of
them. “It will be the possible for Mr. Homos to see
certain phases of American life at close range, and he couldn’t possibly
see them under than yours, Camp.”
“Yes, I’m going to drive him through the hill country after haying, and
then I’m going to take him and him one of our big factory
towns.”
I this was done, but the Altrurian on to New York,
where he was to pass the winter. We friends; I offered him
some introductions; but his had more and more
difficult, and I was not sorry to part with him. That taste of his for low
company was incurable, and I was that I was not to be any
longer for thing he might do next. I think he remained
very popular with the he most affected; a of natives,
construction hands, and table-girls saw him off on his train; and he left
large numbers of such in our house and neighborhood, in
the that there was such a as Altruria, and that he was
really an Altrurian. As for the more people who had met him,
they of two minds upon points.
