Page:Melbourne and Mars.djvu/85

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THE EARTHBORN'S CLUB.
83

own planet in its early days. He discovered that there had been a time when tribe fought against tribe, and later a time when nation fought against nation in the history of our own world, and he thought that the Earth was developing and growing and only going through the experiences that belonged to its period of evolution.

'I can trust the records I find here,' said the youth, 'for they are fresh, and are corroborated by many observers. Look at the common place journal, in which each earth man, who is conscious on the earth side, records the principal events of his day. One says that a German statesman, Bismarck, and the present emperor of Germany, are trying to ameliorate the condition of the working classes; that the statesman is devising a plan to prevent the artisans from falling into poverty. Read entries made by other Europeans of our Club and you find that they all allude to it. No less than three Americans tell us that a millionaire, Carnegie, of Pittsburg, says that his class ought to invest their millions for the public good during life, and above all things not to leave wealth to their children. He would make the State heir of half his wealth. This is a step towards making the State sole heir as with us. And now, for the last ten days, we have been receiving accounts, from some hundred or more of a great revolt of laborers in London, and of the sympathy their revolt has excited in all parts of the British Empire. One of our recorders, writing of your city of Melbourne, says that the little colony, having in it only about twice as many people as the strikers and their families, has sent twenty-two thousands of pounds to the relief of the sufferers by the strike. Look at the significance of those three events. They all tell of the growth of altruism both in the Christian Church, where it is supposed specially to reside, and in the larger world of men, who are begining to recognise the tie which binds each man to all his fellow men. In a thousand years hence these records of Earth history will be invaluable, and we can rely on their truth, because if false they would be contradicted now.'

I was almost startled by this outburst from so young a man, and began to think his company worth more than I at first supposed, and I therefore exchanged cards with him. 'George Foster' was on his card. I asked him if he knew his earth name. He answered that he did, and he mentioned a name known as that of a Statesman, a Scholar, and a Historian all the Earth over. I no longer wondered. I knew that such a shining soul must attain to greatness even in Mars.

This day I spent the evening at Grayson's. His wife is a sweet voiced gentle matron, with hair as white as his own. Their family of three children are all married; the younger daughter and her husband live with the old people and keep the house alive. Mother Grayson treats me with the utmost kindness. She tries to make her house a home for me; she has a place for my books, and has a comfortable corner of her sittingroom, with chair and table, set apart for me. This evening Grayson asked me if I was willing to