Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1897-05-24
CHAPTER TX.

L nave related my hrSt two days adj
ventures on the planet very fully, partly
because they were strongly impressed
upon my mind by the novelty of my DO
sltion, and partly because [ thought they
would be the most interesting to read
about. | must now, however, hurry on
a little faster.
The name of my host was Kafin, and,
according to the Marsian custom, the
| names of the other members of his fam
lily were formed from by this by the ad-
dition Of suff1xes. Thus his wife was
Kalintee, his eldest son Kafintoh, his
second son Kafinsoh. and his daughter
Kafiinree. But Familiarity at home the
wife, sons and daughter were simply
called for shortness sake by their re-
spective suf1xes, Tee, Toh, Sob and Rec;
while Kaf1in himself was shortened into
KAT. l got accustomed to use the con-
fractions before [ learnt that they were
not the real names, and the habit, thus
acquired, was continued after. The
kindness which I received at the hands
of each and all of these will forever re-
main engraven on my memory. A room
was fitted up for me to sleep in, but
only passed my nights there; during the
day and in the evenings | was always a
welcome guest in the general sitting
room Of the family.
l soon learnt to accommodate my mus
cular efforts to the Marsian attraction
and thus got out of my jerky, odd style
of walking; but the singularity of my
dress still attracted crowds when
walked out, so one day [ made my host
| understand that | should like to adopt
the MarSian costume. He seemed pleased
at this, and got his wife to make me a
red maillot at once. The curiosity which
excited was now much diminished; but
still people would occasionally stop in the
1 CIV DO &INrY 10
because of my compilations; the whiteness
of my face arms and legs contrasting
strangely with the pale blueness of
theirs. | had not been many days on the
planet, however, before [ found my own
complexion changing into this pale blue
tint, and SO rapidly, indeed that in a few
weeks it was not to be distinguished
from that of the Marsians themselves. i
think this must have been owing to the
food which we all ate on this planet;, at
all events, | can think of no other cause
1t cannot have been due to the direct
rays of the sun, for the portions of my
body covered by the red maillot. though
of much lighter color than the parts
| exposed, were still of a pale BLUSH tint.
Barefooted and bareheaded, with my
pale blue complexion and red maillot
was now scarcely distinguishable from
the natives; for, as [ have already said,
their features were like those of Euro
peans, except that they were generally
much handsomer. Indeed. the only thing
different about me was the color of my
eyes, which were gray. Strange to say,
even this difference did not last; my
eyes, too, gradually changed their color,
and i'll four or five months became like
those of the other inhabitants
[ applied myself diligently to the study
| of the Marsian language, and to such pur-
pose that in three months | could con-
verse fairly well, and in six months flu
emily. All the members of the Kafiin
family interested themselves zealously in
my education; and many pleasant
laugh we had in the evening over my
frequent blunders. The pronunciation I
| never properly mastered; but, in other
respects | got to speak pretty well in
time.
But though [ had learnt to speak the
Marsian language in few months, it
took me much longer to learn to read it.
AS [ have already shown, it printed it.
self automatically in their curious pho
nographic machines, and | found it diff
cult to connect these printed characters
with the sounds which they represented.
Books, l found, were scarce; for though
they could be printed rapidly-as rapidly
in fact, as one could speak-yet only one
copy could be printed at a time These
books were bound pretty much as ours
are; but the arrangement of the charac-
tiers was different, the lines running from
| bottom to top, so that they had to hold
their books sideways to read. The leaves
were of a substance resembling paper in
color and fexibility; but it had more than
the tenacity of parchment; it was almost
impossible to tear it.
When I had sufficiently mastered the
Marsian language to be able to talk east.
ly and fiuently, [ one evening got into
conversation with my host on the gov
eminent and institutions of his people,
and on their past history / found to my
surprise that they now lived very happily
under form of socialism; but socialism
very different from what we hear advo-