Smyrna times., 1880-08-25
Van Veltman's Dream.
y CoMsToCKER UP AMONG TIE LITTLE STARS
SAILING ROUND THE MOON

| night" said Van Fetman yesterday morn. |
ing, as he seated himself III broad bar |
room chair, after swallowing his matutinal |
cocktail. never had any such dream be- |
| fore. Every thing seemed plain and reason |
| able enough in the dream, but now | can't |
| separate the sense from the nonsense"
| Receiving some encouragement, Mr. |
| Feltman proceeded to relate his vision, as
| follows:
! 81 dreamed died and went to heaven, |
or to what should have been somewhere in |
that ueighbOrhood. | got there all alone
away up among the stars, which seemed a |
mighty distance apart. All was cold and
| strange and uncomfortable. Presently
saw the new moon, which looked some
| what home-lko and familiar; so | went
over to it and seated myself in the curve of
it, where there was a comfortable resting
| place for my back, thinking Id take things
easy and look about for n time.
Il had hardly got comfortably fixed be-
fore rather brsk-looking parsonage, with
a paper cap on his head, wearing leather
apron and carrying a monkey-wrench in
his hand, appeared before me.
go Just arrived?' said he, quite briskly.
"'Just this minnie landed said l.
=" WELL said the man, who looked like
| an engineer or some kind of machinst,
this is no place for idIers; you must 90 to
work.
80 To work = said I, feobly. Am I not
in heaven?'
"' Heaven! 81 don't know what your
ideas of heaven may be, but can tell you
that you are in the great Workshop Of the
Universe. No idlers here, | can assure
you
col thought had como here to rest,
stammered l.
REST! You have come to the wrong
, place if you are looking for rest You see
here are the aXles Of all these worlds to
grease, fires to be kept mp in ell the suns,
and oceans OF nebulous matter to be looked
after and worked into asteroids and things.
Lots Of work to do, and Just now we are
very shorthandcd-been extending our reg
ular works out into space
"J Just then ] was startled at the sight of
an immense fiery ball that came rushing
along with a terrible roaring sound. and
whieh left behind a tremendous trail OF
sparks. licavcnsv cried |, what is that
;; "A comet .
"' A comet, said the parsonage before
) me, believe it is what you have been
taught to call a comet, but you'll find out
exactly what it is before you've hecn here
=, long. However, ! may as we'll tell you
! 1 what you see IS the special car of one of the
II,
; who 90 about in int2r.stclIar space INSPECT,
ing things--Inilions OF them, and to me
; they seem to be passing every five minutes,
: but where you came trom they seem to be
: visible only at long intervals"
= "' Where is the biggest boss of all Does
he, too, have his car? asked |.
Il GO No, yoU fool, DO you want me to
knock you Of the horn OF that moon? No
one here has eyer yet seen the Great Head
p Center.
!, 90 But isn't this Heaven ?
u "' Why do YOU keep asking this qu ;,
It ton? Haven't told you that you are now
c in tho big Workshop OF the Univcrse7 1t
G was Heaven where you came from, but you
i did not know it. You'll have no such good
p times here, can tell you. You'll not be
o allowed to loaf about up here and do as you
g please. There you had u body and u
D. feeling to tell you when anything hurt
g yOu-to tell you when you was tired, and
II so on. Down there you have nothing to do
but to make yourself happy-to enjoy your
l. selves-but like a pack of fools you all 90 to
70 piling up money, or trying to, and worry
q yourselves about getting things that are OF
n little use to you, considering the time you
p have stay. You have been up here hun.
20 dreds of times before, but you don't know
l. it yet, and will not remember it till you
have been here million of years, and have
y passed through place you have yet to see
e You we're only sent down to the earth for q
n space, as | may say of fifteen minutes for
rest and refreshment. Now you've got tc
le get to work. I've just been sent over here
le by one of the bosses to tell you so. Up
y here you won't have IL lubberly body tha
As you must care for
a. "' But said |, we have shape, as
'e see.'
1t -" Yes,' said the being before me, 'ut
a here you have body and you don't have
I'd one-you feel and are hurt, but not dam
le aged. You know how it was down there
lie on your earth with man who had lost
~ leg, an arm or had had any part of hin
OF come on before his main hulk-you know
abont the feeling he had in a thing tha
had departed from him Z?
lg g" Yes
IS "Yes? Well, you might have taker
warning from that-might have GUESSED
in something as to what would presently b.
10 the condition of your whole body. Tha
within you which never dies feels as keenl,
We through the whole as through part. Yol
it, are now all leg--all arm--all any part yol
IT will. But time flies and l must set you a
I'd work. Where are you from?'
or GO From Virginia City, said |, turning Of
toward where little black star about tel
i'd feet in diameter was waltzing round tn
IL moon, while others still smaller wer
at whizzing round in various directions.
"Whatl From the Comstock, hey2' en-,
on the parsonage began to scowl. From tn
Comstock-why I've q notion to send you
ut right out to shoveling comet dust into tn
he SUM-.
ht 9" Pray do not, said l., for though In
from the Comstock | never worked in tn
as lower levels
tn "t What, then, do you feel like doing
up what kind of job would you like?'
mt " Well if there is vacancy | think II
like the place of watchman on one of tn
,ut moons Of Jupiter
go Yes, you'd like nice cool place, ell
"'Tdprefer such place to start in on
ed =" Well, I'll fix you. | shall give you
his nice cool job down near your late home
"'Thank you sir.
,es " Yes, I'll set you to work down at you
ia earth--at the North Pole. Nothing to d
- there but to chop the ice off the big guC
'he geon and keep it we'll creased. Come riGh
along now and get to work. ..'a - =
ais "Saturn has eight moons, said /, an
d" there might be vaoancy--' ......
ur. g, I" Yes, and also lot of big fy.wheels-
.a! what you'd call rings. can't trust yo
led there. You'll chop ice awhile-a millio
.he years or 80 then I'll seeif can find
vacancy somewhere and put you in
- watchman. Come along and here
ans snatehed me off the moon, and | felt m
~, self falling, falling, falling, falling for weel
on and months, till at last ! landed on b
cake of ice. '.s ..s ~ e'i "...4
q A O..ko 80 lN.I Nl1 kwt.k 10