Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-06-26

possessed only the power Of Independent
muscular action while the stem remained
| attached to the parent plant later a brain
developed in the fruit, so that, hanging
there by their long stems, they thought and
moved as individuals.
Then, with the development of percep-
tions, came n comparison of them judg-
ments were reached and compared, and
thus reason and the power to reason were
born upon BarsOOm
Ages passed, Many forms of life came
and went upon the tree of life, but stll all
were attached to the parent plant by stems
of varying lengths.
AT length the fruit upon the tree con-
sisted In tiny plant men such as we now
see reproduced in such huge dimensions
In the Valley Dor but stlll hanging to the
limbs and branches of the tree by the stems
which grew from the tops of their heads.
THE buds from which the plant men
blossomed resembled large nuts about a
foot in diameter divided by double partition
walls into four sections. In one section
grew the plant man, in another a 16-legged
worm In the third the progentor of the
white ape. and in the fourth the primeval
black man of Barsoom
when tho bud burst tho plant man re-
mained dangling at the end of his STEM
but the three other sections fell to the
ground, where the efforts Of their lmpris-
oned occupants TO escape sent them hop
ping about in all directions.
Thus as time went on all Barsoom was
covered with these imprisoned creatures.
For countless ages they lived their long
lives within their hard shells. hopping and
skipping about the broad planet; falling
into rivers. lakes and seas, to be still fur
ther spread about the surface of the new
world.
Countless billions died before the FIRST
black man broke through his prison walls
Into the light of day. Prompted by curlos-
ity he broke open the other shells, and the
people Of Barsoom commenced
'"The pure strain of the blood Of this
first black man has remained untaInted by
admlxture with other creatures in the race
OF which I am n member; but from the
16-lcgged worm tho frut white ape and
renegade black men has sprung every other
form Of animal life upon Barsoom.
THE therns''-and he smiled malclousiy
as he spoke-''are but the result of ages
of evolution from the pure white ape OF an
tlquity. They are of lower order still.
There is now but one race of true and
immortal humans on Barsoom. 1t Is the
race of black men.
The tree of life Is dead. but before It
died the plant men learned to detach them
selves from 1t and roam the face of Bar
SOON with the other children of the first
parent
Now their bisexualty permits them to
reproduce themselves after the manner of
true plants, but otherwise they have
progressed but little in all the ages of their
existence.
Their actions and movements are large
ly matters of instinct and not guided to
any great extent by reason, since the brain
of plant man Is but trihe larger than
the end of your smallest finger. They live
upon vegetation and the blood of animals,
and their brain is just large enough to
direct their movements in the direction of
food. and to translate the food sensations
which are carried to It from their eyes and
ears.
They have no sense of self-preserva-
tlon. and are entirely without fear in
the face Of danger That is why they are
such terrible antagonists in combat"
| wondered why the black man took such
pains to discourse thus at length to enc
mics upon the genesis of life Barsoomian
1t seemed a strangely inopportune moment
for proud member of proud race to