Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1897-05-17

This MarSlan gentleman, L SAID, nelu
out his left hand to me, and l, anxious
to conform in all things to the Marsian
customs, grasped it and squeezed it with
nv left. He warmly returned my pres
sure of his hand; then dropping it, and
making signs to me to follow him, he
turned round and disappeared again
through the trap-door. / followed him
at once; first, however, taking the pre-.
caution to attach the Shooting Star to
the roof by strong increase in it's down
ward attraction; so that it would be inn
possible for any one to remove it from
it's place. | also secured the door by
a concealed spring contrivance, which
would render it difficult for any one to
enter but myself.
Through the trap-door and down a
staircase with marble-like steps / fol-
lowed him. We passed through one
room, which, from it's general aspect and
the various strange instruments which
/ saw there, appeared to be a sort of
workshop The walls and floor were
bare, and were of the same shiny
marble-like substance as were the eXterl-
or of all the houses, as well as the
roofs and pavements. There were also
two work-benches, or what [ took to be
such, of the same singular substance.
From the absence of all cracks or signs
of junction in walls, pavements, floor, or
which they were formed must originally
have been soft, and easily nodded into
any shape required, and that it grew
hard afterwards by exposure to the air,
or from some other cause. However this
might be, it was a remarkably elastic
and sonorous substance, and gave forth
sound as [ trod, which was neither
that of wood, stone, nor metal. My
sounding, jerky steps (for | had not yet
learnt to walk properly were in strange
contrast to the noiseless tread of my
barefOOted host, and made me feel aWk
ward and uncomfortable.
We next passed through what was
evidently bedroom. There was one
large, low bed of the same marble-like
substance, with blankets or some kind
of bedclothes of a green color spotted
irregularly with red. There were also
two wooden touches and two wooden
chairs, covered also with red-spotted
green cloth. Everything was beautifully
clean; but there was no attempt any
where at ornament. The bed, the
touches, the chairs were all of a severe
ly simple construction.
Finally we entered the room in which
his wife and children were awaiting us,
still standing. A rapid coup d'oeil, round
the room showed me that this was
| sitting-room, with four wooden touches
| and twelve wooden chairs, covered as in
| the bedroom with red-spotted green
cloth; while in the center of the room
| was a round table, not of wood, but of
| the polished marble-like substance al
ready mentioned. The four couches and
| eight out of the twelve chairs were
ranged round the walls, while the re-
naming four chairs were placed round
| the marble-like table. Two more arti-
| cleS completed the furniture of the room;
one was a round globe, seemingly of
| frosted glass, suspended by a chain from
the ceiling; the other, queer-looking
machine, of form not easy to describe.
| The upper and middle portion was a
| transparent glass-like cylinder, about
| two feet and a half long, and with a
| diameter Of about one foot. The rest
seemed to be of wood 1t had a wheel
| to the left with a handle to turn it,
while an India rubber-like tube, with a
| transparent glass-like ball attached to
It's extremity, issued from the right-hand
side. and reposed in coils on the top.
The moment we entered, the lady
whom I had correctly guessed to be his
wife, stepped forward, and with a
bright, welcoming smile offered me her
| left hand, making some observations
which of course I could not understand.
From habit | was just going to grasp
the offered left hand with my right, but
/ recollected myself at once and gave
her my left instead.
Then the son, a handsome young fell
low of about "a, came forward and
offered me his left hand, as his father
| and mother had done, and with, the same
cordial pleasant smile. With my left
| hand / grasped his hand warmly, meet
| ing with an equally warm pressure in
| return.
Finally, the daughter came forward
timidly, and with blush, which added
~ 10 kIo o%v oiVd
beauty of her pale blue face, offered me
her right hand l was struck by this
departure from what her father, mother
and brother had done; so for one brief
moment / hesitated, not knowing whether
1 ought to give her my right or my left
hand Brief as the delay was, it ap-
peared to trouble her; she cast down
her eyes and was about to draw back
her hand, when / quickly made up my
mind and grasped her extended right
hand with my right. The pale blue hand
rested but moment in mine; yet in that
moment I distinctly felt it tremble. Our
hands had hardly separated, when the
rosy blush vanished from her face, leav-
ing it of paler blue than it had been
before. She lifted her eyes to mine with
a scared, inquiring look; then she quick
ly dropped them, and, turning away has
tily, left the room. This surprised and
troubled me, and my establishment and
anxiety were by no means diminished
when [ saw the mother with her face
flushed leave the room after her daugh-
ter. The father followed a minute or
two after. His sons took a step or two,
as if about to go with him; but on his
turning round and saying something to
them, they stopped. What could it
mean? What had | done? [ looked for
explanation into the faces of the two
who had remained, but l could learn
nothing from them. They had flushed
like their mother, but were now looking
pale and sorrowful. [ thought must
unwittingly have given some mortal of
Tense, but in what way l. could not
imagine. Unable to speak or under
stand a word of their language | found
my position an extremely painful one
could neither ask for explanation nor
give anys
Presently the father came back. TIC
my intense relief he did not appear at
all angry. On the contrary, he came
forward with smile, and, pointing al
ternately to my right hand and to my