Life in a Thousand Worlds | Page 3

people we are, and in describing the human achievements of certain other worlds we are led to see how short a distance we have traveled in the path of human glory and civilization.
We have also endeavored to set forth in this humble volume the common relation of all rational creatures of all worlds to one Infinite Creator. We do not question the truth of this fact, and those who ask for proof must wait to find it.
We hope that this book will be inspiring to every thoughtful mind who loves to learn more and more of the great system of intelligent life of which the human creatures of this world form one link in the chain. If the reading of this volume should open to your mind numberless suggestions and compel you to ask a host of questions, perhaps you will do as we have done,--spend a long time in training your wings to be swift enough to take the journey yourself. If you will not do this, you must patiently wait until the clods of clay are shaken off, so that your free spirit may go out to live the life more vast in other worlds.
We pray that the highest kind of good may result from the truths here advanced. If this shall be accomplished, we shall have our best reward for having given this book to the printing press.
Truly yours,
THE AUTHOR.
December, 1904.

INTRODUCTION.
It may seem like great exaggeration to say that this is one of the most interesting and profitable books that has been placed upon the American book market for many years. It follows no old rut; it has found a new path, and the reader is permitted to walk in regions which he never saw and of which he never read before. It is indeed a triumph of literary genius to give a picture of intelligent life in other worlds upon a scientific and philosophical basis. Other writers have attempted to give a description of conditions on the Moon, Mars, or some other single planet, but no one has succeeded in picturing the mysteries of life in a number of star worlds with such a fascination as is here found.
Some one may say that the book is only a work of imagination, but we challenge any one to produce a book that gives more timely thrusts at the evils of our present day life. By showing how the people of other worlds have fallen into their sad conditions the author sounds a note of warning to the people of this world, and by giving a glimpse of the manner in which other worlds have reached their great triumphs, he gives to the people of our world a spur to loftier ideals, to greater inventions, and to a purer life.
The publisher of this volume is proud to put upon the market a book of such high value and dignity. It is quite unusual for the subscription book market to see such a princely book come into its midst. Here we have ten dollars worth of new ideas, packed into cream form, all for one dollar, and we positively assert that nothing like it can be found anywhere in literature. Great books have no companions.
The illustrations are from the masterly hands of an artist of special merit for this class of work. He happily places himself into the midst of other worlds in order to draw the beautiful pictures that illustrate and adorn this volume. The illustrations are well worth careful examination and when studied in connection with the reading matter they are seen in their greatest beauty and value. The Publishers
[Illustration: Looking Towards a Thousand Worlds.]
CHAPTER I.
Are There More Worlds Than One?
Our world is large enough to excite our interest and invite our study until we close our eyes in death. Yet there are countless other orbs scattered through the solar system and throughout the vast stretches of the starry heavens. Some of these worlds are smaller than ours, but the majority of them are hundreds or thousands of times larger.
Looking away from our solar system, we find that each star is a sun, in most instances the center of a group of worlds. So, for the lack of a better phrase, we shall say that there are millions of solar systems distributed through limitless space, each one serving its part in the great universal plan.
For what purpose are all these immense worlds shining and swinging in the depths of immensity? Could it be possible that they are nothing more than vast pieces of dead machinery, barren of all vegetable growth and intelligent life, whereon desolation and solitude forever prevail?
Our own Earth is inhabited by a large variety of living forms ranging from the microscopic bacteria and animalcula to the glorious form of man with all his superior