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

hall I did my best to accommodate my
style of walking to his, but | found it
extremely difficult l could not prevent
my legs from jerking out in their absurd,
spasmodic manner. By concentrating my
whole mind upon them / could manage
to restrain them for a few steps; but
| as soon as | allowed my attention to be
| drawn to anything interesting in the
street, out they would jerk themselves
again in long, quick strides, forcing my
Marsian friend, who never loosed my
hand. to take a short trot to keep up
with me. Then l would all at once rec
ollect myself, and walk solemnly again.
The crowds in the street stared and
wondered, as we'll they might. My
strange attire, at least as strange to
| their eyes as theirs was to mine; my
complexion, so different from their pale
blue faces; and, above all, my resound-
| ing, irregular, jerky steps, contrasting
with their even, noiseless, barefooted
| tread-these were sufficient of themselves
| to excite an intense curiosity, even if
| they had not seen or heard anything of
| my wonderful exploits with the Shooting
Star.
About five minutes walk brought us to
| the refreshment hall. This was the
| largest building in the whole town, of
which it occupied the center. 1t stood
| by itself, apart from the other houses.
| the center of a square, fat elevated
court, about six feet high, up to which
| four flights of steps led, one on eacn
| side. The hall mad four entrances, one
| opposite each flight of steps. Each side
| had eight windows, two on each side OF
the door below. and the same number
exactly above them. Like all the other
| buildings in the town, it had fiat roof
surrounded by a parapet, and with seats
| all round. In the center of the roof
! rose a tall, slender, cylindrical column,
| from the top of which a flag was waving.
| At each of the four corners of the roof
| there was also a column, but much lower
only about seven feet high-on the top
of which was a globe, similar to those
already mentioned as being above the
doors of all the houses. The four
| globes suspended over the four doors of
| the refreshment hall did not differ from
| the rest in the town, except in being
| larger. The hall, the raised court, the
four flights of steps, all looked as if
| carved out of one huge marble block;
nowhere could / see a trace of a june
| ton, as if separate stones had been
placed upon or fitted into each other.
| We mounted the flight of steps in
| front of us, and walked straight to the
| door to which they led. 1t was shut.
| NV friend pressed a small dark spot to
| the right of the door, whereupon the door
slid noiselessly back into the wall. |
was struck; and now | recollected that
| the doors in my friends house had
| opened in the same strange, noiseless
| manner, as if of themselves, as soon as
| he had touched them; but somehow |
had not noticed that they had thus slid
| back into the WALL though they must
| have done so.
We both entered; and as soon as we
| had done SO, my friend again pressed
| Al lo, 10 10
door shut, sliding back in the same
| noiseless manner as before.
But greater wonders awaited me.
| Seated in a sort of armchair to the left,
/ with his back to window, was an eld-
| erly-looking gentleman, dressed in the
usual red Marsian costume, but with the
addition of green slippers and green
cap of very simple form. There was
| nothing wonderful, Of course, in this;
the wonder consisted in the occupation
| of the old gentleman. In front of him
| was a strengthening machine, exactly
like the one which | had seen at my
friends house. When we entered he was
slowly turning the wheel to the left by
means of the handle attached to it,
while in his right hand, and applied to
| his right ear, he held the hollow glass
like bell which communicated with the
machine by the flexible India-rubber-
like tube to the right. My friend stopped
as soon as we had entered, and |, of
course, stopped with him, SO that l had
time to watch the old gentleman at his
singular occupation. Presently he re-
moved the bell from his ear, and APP
/ plying it to his mouth spoke into it in a
low but still audible voice, turning the
handle all the while. He continued
thus speaking for about three minutes;
then he stopped and stared at vacancy,
as if in deep thought. Ny friend, like
myself, stood and watched, and never
spoke. The old gentleman, after a
brown study of some minutes duration,
recommended his low murmuring into the
bell, which he followed by another
thoughtful silence. Then, as if an idea
had suddenly struck him, he began again
turning the handle very rapidly, but
this time in the reverse direction, look
ing into the machine all the while. Pres
emily he stopped just for an instant,
and then began Immediately to turn the
handle slowly in the. original direction,
bending down over the machine till his
face was close to the transparent cylln-
der, and moving his head slowly from
left to right, and from right to left, as if
reading or examining something with
great attention. Then he heaved deep
| sigh. as of relief threw himself back in
his chair, and began looking about him.
As soon as his eyes lighted upon us, he
stared and stared; whereupon my
friend made low bow, which the other,
with equal politeness, returned. Again
I was struck by the resemblance of the
Marsian customs to our own. My friend
still holding my hand then walked up
with me to where he was sitting, and
spoke to him earnestly for some time,
while he listened with great attention.
Then he spoke a few words in reply,
upon which my friend, after another
low bow, led me away. A staircase led
to the upper story, and on each side of it
there was door which gave entrance
from the ante-room in which we found
ourselves into the great hall on the
ground. Through the nearest of these
doors we passed in, the door sliding into
the wall at my friends touch as before,
: and reshutting after us in the same
manner.
Here there were several rows of tables
loaded with rectangular blocks of some
sort of cake of yellowish-brown color
There were also transparent glass-like
bottles containing a red liquid, with
onhletS of the same material to DOur il