The herald., 1898-02-06
'"rhis will be a fine spectacle. Woul<
you like to watch it ?'
"CertainlyS y. r,liad


! Certainly" +, piled.
The Ship of Space was inmedda te,v
at our disposal. think I have not vet
mentioned the fact that the inventors
control over the electrical generator
} carried in the car was SO perfect that
by varying the potential or changing
the polarity he could cause 1t slow.
ly or swiftly, as might be desired. To
approach or recede from any object
The only practical difficulty was pre-
sented when the polarity Of the cleo
trcal charge upon an object dn the
neighborhood of the car was unknown
10 those In the car, and happened to be
opposite to that of the charges which
the car, at that particular moment was
pe''aHhs. In such a case, of course the
car would f1y toward the object, what
ever IL might be. like "a pith ball or a
ie~oher' attracted to the knob, of an
eiectrcai machine. In this way. con-
sideraole danger was occasionally en-
countered, and a few accidents could
not De avoided. Fortunately. howevar
sucti cases We're rare. 1t was only now
ana then that. owing to some locai
cause electrical polarities unknown "a
OF unexpected by the navigators. en-
uahgereu the safety of the car. AS T
shaii diaVe occasion to relate, however,
III tne course OF the narrative, this dam
SCI SCI oeeailie more acute and assumed at
Units d. MOST formidable phase when
we had Ventured outside the sphere OF
the earth and were moving throuph +ha
unexplored regions beyond.
On this occasion, having o,,,s,,,.,,,
we rose rapldiy to a height of some
thousands of feet and directaa o,,s
course over the Atlantic. When haie
way TO Ireland. we beheld. In 10 a dia
tance. steaming westward. the srnoL.
of several fleets. AS we drew go.
marvellous spectacle unfo1ded itsaIe
to our eyes. From the northeast thoi,
great guns flashing in the sunlight ara
their huge tunnels belching black vol
umes that rested like thunder clouds
upon the sea, came the mighty war
Snlps OF England, with her meteor fac
streaming red in the breeze while the
royal insignia, indicating the presence
OF the ruler of the British Empire was
conspicuously displayed upon the fiap-
ship of the squadron.
Following course more direct,v
westward, appeared. under another
plack cloud of smoke, the hulls and
guns ana burSeons OF another great
1leet. carrying the tri-color of France
ana bearing in it's midst the head NJ
the magnificent republic of western
Europe.
further south. beating up against
the northerly Winds came a third fleet
with the gold and red of Spain flutter
ing from its masthead. This. too. was
carrying its King westward. where
now. indeed. the star of empire had
taken it's way.
Kissing n little higher, so as to ex-
tend our horizon, We saw coming down
the English channel, behind the British
fleet. the black ships of Russia. Side
by side. or following one another's lead.
these war fleets were on a peaceful
voyage that belied their threatening
appearance. There had been no thought
or danger to or from the forts and ports
of rival nations which they had passed.
There was no enmity, and no fear be-
tween them when the throats of their
ponderous guns yawned at one another
across the waves. They were now. in
spirit. all one fleet having one object
bearing against one enemy, ready to
defend but one country. and that coun-
try was the entire earth.
1t was some time before we cAuyht
sight of the Emperor Williams fleet. It
seems that the Kaiser. although at
first consenting to the arrangement by
which Washington had been selected
as the assembling place for the ma
tions, afterward objected to 1t.
II ought to do this thing myself" he
had said. "My glorious ancestors
would never have consented to allow
these upstart Republicans to lead in a
warlike enterprise of this kind. What
\ L
suspect that it is some scheme aimed
at the divine rights of kings"
But the good sense of the German
people would not suffer their ruler to
place them in a position so false and
their enthusiasm the Kaiser had at last
consented to embark on his flagship
at Kiel. and now he was following the
other fleets on their great mission to
the Western Continent.
Why did they bring their warships
when their intentions Were peaceable,
do you ask? Well. it vas partly the
effect of ancient habit, and partly due
to the fact that such multitudes of Off
cials and members of ruling families
wished to embark for Washington
that the ordinary means of ocean conn
munication would have been utterly in
adequate to convey them.
After We had feasted our eyes on this
strange sight. Mr.. Edison suddenly ex-
claimed: 'Now let us see the fellows
from the risinf- sum-"
The car was Immediately directed to-
ward the west. We rapidly approached
the American coast, and as we sailed
over the Allegheny mountains and the
broad plains of the Ohio and the Mis-
sissippi, we saw crawling beneath US
from the west south and north, an
endless succession of railway trains
bearing their multitudes to Washing
ton. with marvellous speed we rushed
westward. rising high to skim over the
snow-topped peaks of the Rocky
Mountains and then the glittering rim
of the Pacific was before us. Half way
between the American coast and Ha-
waii we met the fleets coming from
China and Japan. Side by side they
were ploughing the main, having for
gotten, or laid aside, all the animosities
of their former wars.
I we'll remember how my heart was
stirred at this impressive exhibition OF
the boundless influence which my coun-
try had come to exercise over all the
people of the world, and I turned to
look at the man to whose genius this