Waco evening news. (Waco, Tex.) 1888-1889, 1888-12-15
THE PLANET MARS.

Mars, promise to become not only OF
deep interest from scientific point Of
view, but also to be Of practical i'm
portance. The planet which may now
be seen at eight o'clock at night, due
south, and known by its fiery red color
is evidently older than the earth. 1t
is naturally to be supposed that 1t is
older being farther from the sun and
from revelations Of the telescope, its
people have had many thousands Of
years more time in which to develop
systems Of life, political and social,
and modes of living and to develop the
best that is in the race. The most
remarkable thing about the inhabi-
tants Of Mars, is, that they are, or seem
to be, of uniform height, the women
triAe taller than the men. The clos.
est and most delicate measurements Of
shadows give the height Of the men at
six feet six inches, and that Of the
women at six feet seven. This uni
form height has given rise to the sus.
picion that the people Of Mars are
more concerned about the physical
than the spiritual nature, unless they
have for their motto what we have
adopted in theory but Nave never put
in practice, the, sans mems in sano
corpore.. They seem to have beaten
the Greeks in rearing race Of ath.
letes and warriors and to have paid as
much attention to breeding men and
women as we do to Jerseys and Lang
shans. 1t is certain that they have
made great proficiency in the science
of dietetics and hygiene and most GER
tainly do not feed on hot biscuit, salt
pork or mincc pie while the absence
Of alcoholic drinks is perhaps wholly
unknown. The superior height of the
women is the most puzzling thing
about the people of Mars and must re-
main puzzle till the next great new
telescope Is finished. The fair sex
here, who may feel chagrin over the
ia ct that they are excluded from the
polls while the most ignorant negro is
legal king maker and law maker,
may also take comfort in the certainty
that there is one world in this great
system Of ours where woman is fully
the equal of man, if in fact, not a lit.
tie moro than equal. The houses, the
cities, the rivers, the coasts of the
seas in Mars all show high culture in
political economy. From the symme-
try of the cities it seems that they lay
out the streets first and build the
houses to them, contrary to
our practice in Waco, and from the
directions Of the stupendous
system of canals it is evident that they
have adopted the adage that q straight
line is the shortest distance between
two points. Great seaports exist at
almost equal distance on the shores
of the two great continents Of the pla-
net and the canals of a section run to
the nearest seaport and not across the
continent to the furthest one. There
is no San Antonio within hundred
miles Of the ocean which carries its
goods two thousand miles across the
continent to another port on the same
ocean, on the planet Mars. They are
prodigious workers and when nature
has not provided port they go to
work and dig one. The characteris-
tics Of the people Of Mars seems to be
uniformity and unaniminity. They
are all of the same height and every
thing is drawn in straight lines, viii lie
the buildings have remarkable same
ness. At stated times there is great
gatherings of hundreds Of thousands
of people, men and women. They are
quiet, grave, straight as arrows, no
shouting and at some given signal
they form themselves into lines facing
each other. Then through the tele-
sope, men and women, one in front of
each line, goes down the line holding
box, into which something is dropp-
ed, and SO rapidly and systematically
is this done that in less than an hour
the object Of the meeting is finished.
These are believed to be meetings in
which affairs of state are settled, and
the forming Of lines and collecting, as