Chapter 4.
ELODIA.
"If to her lot some female errors fall, Look to her face and you'll forget them all." --POPE.
My contempt for Elodia vanished at the first intimation of herpresence. I had expected to meet her with an air of cold superiority,but when she entered the dining-room that evening with her usualcareless aplomb, the glance with which she favored me reduced me to mycustomary attitude toward her,--that of unquestioning admiration. Ourphysical nature is weak, and this woman dominated my sensescompletely, with her beauty, with her melodious voice, her singularmagnetic attraction, and every casual expression of her face.
On that particular evening, her dress was more than ordinarilybecoming, I thought. She had left off some of the draperies sheusually wore about her shoulders, and her round, perfect waist wasmore fully disclosed in outline. She was somewhat pale, and her eyesseemed larger and darker than their wont, and had deeper shadows. Anda certain air of languor that hung about her was an added grace. Shehad, however, recovered sufficiently from the dissipations of the daybefore to make herself uncommonly agreeable, and I never felt in agreater degree the charm and stimulus of her presence andconversation.
After dinner she preceded us into the parlor,--which was unusual, forshe was always too sparing of her society, and the most we saw of herwas at dinner or luncheon time,--and crossed over to an alcove wherestood a large and costly harp whose strings she knew well how tothrum.
"Elodia, you have never sung for our friend," said Severnius.
She shook her head, and letting her eyes rest upon mehalf-unconsciously--almost as if I were not there in fact, for she hada peculiar way of looking at you without actually seeing you,--shewent on picking out the air she had started to play. I subjoined abeseeching look to her brother's suggestive remark, but was not sureshe noted it. But presently she began to sing and I dropped into achair and sat spell-bound. Her voice was sweet, with a quality thatstirred unwonted feelings; but it was not that alone. As she stoodthere in the majesty of her gracious womanhood, her exquisite figureshowing at its best, her eyes uplifted and a something that meantpower radiating from her whole being, I felt that, do what she might,she was still the grandest creature in that world to me!
Soon after she had finished her song, while I was still in the thrallof it, a servant entered the room with a packet for Severnius, whoopened and read it with evident surprise and delight.
"Elodia!" he cried, "those friends of mine, those Caskians fromLunismar, are coming to make us a visit."
"Indeed!" she answered, without much enthusiasm, and Severnius turnedto me.
"It is on your account, my friend, that I am to be indebted to themfor this great pleasure," he explained.
"On my account?" said I.
"Yes, they have heard about you, and are extremely anxious to makeyour acquaintance?"
"They must be," said Elodia, "to care to travel a thousand miles or soin order to do it."
"Who are they, pray?" I asked.
"They are a people so extraordinarily good," she said with a laugh,"so refined and sublimated, that they cast no shadow in the sun."
Severnius gave her a look of mild protest.
"They are a race exactly like ourselves, outwardly," he said, "whoinhabit a mountainous and very picturesque country called Caskia, inthe northern part of this continent."
"O, that is where the Perfect Pair came from," I rejoined, rememberingwhat he had told me about Man's origin on Mars.
Elodia smiled. "Has Severnius been entertaining you with our religiousfables?" she asked. I glanced at him and saw that he had not heard;he was finishing his letter.
"You will be interested in these Caskians," he said to me animatedlyas he folded it up; "I was. I spent some months in Lunismar, theircapital, once, studying. They have rare facilities for reading theheavens there,--I mean of their own contrivance,--beside their naturaladvantages; their high altitude and the clearness of the air."
"And they name themselves after the planetoids and other heavenlybodies," interjected Elodia, "because they live so near the stars.What is the name of the superlative creature you were so charmed with,Severnius?"
"I suppose you mean my friend Calypso's wife, Clytia," returned he.
"O, yes, I remember,--Clytia. Is she to favor us?"
"Yes, and her husband and several others."
"Any other women?"
"One or two, I think."
"And how are we to conduct ourselves during the visitation?"
"As we always do; you will not find that they will put any constraintupon you."
"No, hardly," said Elodia, with a slight curl of the lip.
I was eager to hear more about these singular people,--the more eager,perhaps, because the thought of them seemed to arouse Elodia to anunwonted degree of feeling and interest. Her eyes glowed intensely,and the color flamed brightly in her cheeks.
I pressed a question or two upon Severnius, and he responded:
"According to the traditions and annals of the Caskians, they beganmany thousands of years ago to train themselves toward the highestculture and most perfect development of which mankind is capable.Their aim was nothing short of the Ideal, and they believed that theideal was possible. It took many centuries to counteract and finallyto eradicate hereditary evils, but their courage and perseverance didnot give way, and they triumphed. They have dropped the baser naturalpropensities--"
"As, in the course of evolution, it is said, certain species ofanimals dropped their tails to become Man," interrupted Elodia.
She rose from the divan on which she had gracefully disposed herselfwhen she quit playing, and glided from the room, sweeping a bow to usas she vanished, before Severnius or I could interpose an objection toher leaving us. Although there was never any appearance of haste inher manner, she had a swift celerity of movement which made itimpossible to anticipate her intention.
Severnius, however, did not care to interpose an objection, I think.He felt somewhat hurt by her sarcastic comments upon his friends, andhe expanded more after she had gone.
"You must certainly visit Lunismar before you leave Mars," he said."You will feel well repaid for the trouble. It is a beautiful city,wonderful in its cleanness, in its dearth of poverty and squalor, andin the purity and elevation of its social tone. I think you will wishyou might live there always."
There seemed to be a regret in his voice, and I asked:
"Why did not you remain there?"
"Because of my sister," he answered.
"But she will marry, doubtless." For some occult reason I hung uponhis reply to this. He shook his head.
"I do not think she will," he said. "And she and I are all that areleft of our family."
"She does not like,--or she does not believe in these Caskians?" Ihoped he would contradict me, and he did. I had come to found myjudgments of people and of things upon Elodia's, even against thetestimony of my reason. If she disapproved of her brother'sextraordinary friends and thought them an impossible people, why,then, I knew I should have misgivings of them, too; and I wanted tobelieve in them, not only on Severnius' account, but because theypresented a curious study in psychology.
"O, yes, she does," he said. "She thinks that their principles andtheir lives are all right for themselves, but would not be for her--orfor us; and our adoption of them would be simply apish. She isgenuine, and she detests imitation. She accepts herself--as she putsit--as she found herself. God, who made all things, created her upon acertain plane of life, and with certain tastes, faculties, passionsand propensities, and that it is not her office to disturb or distortthe order of His economy."
"She does not argue thus in earnest," I deprecated.
"It is difficult to tell when Elodia is in earnest," he replied. "Shethinks my sanctuary in the top story of the house here, is a kind ofweakness, because I brought the idea from Lunismar."
"O, then, it is not common here in Thursia for people to have thingsof that sort in the
ir homes!" I said in surprise.
"Yes, it has gotten to be rather common," he replied.
"Since you put in yours?"
He admitted that to be the case.
"You must think that you have done your country a great good," I beganenthusiastically, "in introducing so beautiful an innovation, and--"
"You are mistaken," he interrupted, "I think the contrary; because ourrich people, and some who are not rich but only ambitious, took it upas a fad, and I believe it has really worked evil. It is consideredaristocratic to have one's own private shrine, and not to go to churchat all except in condescension, to patronize the masses. Elodia sawclearly just how it would be, before I began to carry out my plan. Shehas a logical mind, and her thought travels from one sequence to thenext with unfailing accuracy. I recall her saying that one cannotsuperinduce the customs and habits of one society upon another of adifferent order, without affectation; and that you cannot put on a newreligion, like a new garment, and feel yourself free in it."
"Does she not believe, then, in progress, development?"
"Only along the familiar lines. She thinks you can reach outward andupward from your natural environment, but you must not tear yourselfout of it with violence. However, she admitted that my sanctuary waswell enough for me, because of my having lived among the Caskians andstudied their sublime ethics until I grew into the meanings of them.But no person can take them second-hand from me, because I could notbring away with me the inexpressible something which holds thosepeople together in a perfect Unit. I can go to Caskia and catch thespirit of their religion, but I cannot bring Caskia here. It was amistake in so far as my neighbors are concerned, since they only seein it, as I have said, a new fashion, a new diversion for theirennuied thoughts."
"What is there peculiar about the religion of those people?" I asked.
"The most peculiar thing about it is that they live it, rather thanprofess it," he replied.
"I don't think I understand," said I, and after a moment'sconsideration of the matter in his own mind, he tried to make hismeaning clear to me.
"Do you often hear an upright man professing his honesty? It is a partof himself. He is so free of the law which enjoins honesty that henever gives it a thought. So with the man who is truly religious, hehas flung off the harness and no longer needs to guide himself by bitand rein, or measure his conduct by the written code. My friends, theCaskians, have emancipated themselves from the thraldom of the law byabsorbing its principles into themselves. It was like seed sown in theground, the germs burst from the husk and shot upward; they areenjoying the flower and the fruit. That which all nations and peoples,and all individuals, prize and desire above everything else in life,is liberty. But I have seen few here in Paleveria who have anyconception of the vast spiritual meanings of the word. We limit it tothe physical; we say 'personal' liberty, as though that were all. Youadmire the man of high courage, because in that one thing he is free.So with all the virtues, named and unnamable; he is greatest who hasloosed himself the most, who weighs anchor and sails away triumphantand free. But this is but a general picture of the Caskians; let meparticularize: we are forbidden to steal, by both our civil andreligious canons,--the coarseness of such a command would offend themas much as a direct charge of theft would offend you or myself, soexquisite is their sense of the rights of others, not only in thematter of property but in a thousand subtle ways. Robbery in any formis impossible with them. They would think it a crying sin for one totake the slightest advantage of another,--nay, to neglect anopportunity to assist another in the accomplishment of his rightfulpurpose would be criminal. We, here on Mars, and you upon the Earth,have discovered very sensitive elements in nature; they havediscovered the same in their own souls. Their perceptions aresingularly acute, their touch upon each other's lives finely delicate.In this respect we compare with them as the rude blacksmith compareswith the worker in precious metals."
"But do they also concern themselves with science?" I asked.
"Assuredly," he answered. "Their inventions are remarkable, theirmethods infinitely superior to ours. They believe in the triplenature,--the spiritual, the intellectual, and the physical,--and takeequal pains in the development and culture of all."
"How wonderful!" I said, remembering that upon the Earth we have wavesof culture breaking over the land from time to time, spasmodic, andnever the same; to-day it may be physical, to-morrow intellectual, andby-and-by a superfine spiritual bloom. But, whichever it is, itsacrifices the other two and makes itself supreme.
Severnius went on. As he proceeded, I was struck by the fact that theprinciples of our Christian civilization formed the basis ofPaleverian law.
"I wanted to give you some other instances," he said, "of the'peculiarities' of the Caskians, as we started out with calling them.There is a law with us against bearing false witness; they hold eachother in such honor and in such tenderness, that the command is anidle breath. There is nothing mawkish or sentimental about this,however; they, in fact, make no virtue of it, any more than you or Imake a virtue of the things we do habitually--perhaps from unanalyzedmotives of policy. You would not strike a man if you knew he would hitback and hurt you worse than he himself was hurt; well, these peoplehave sensibilities so finely developed, that a wrong done to anotherreacts upon themselves with exquisite suffering. The law and itspenalties are both unseen forces, operating on an internal not anexternal plane. With us, the authority which declares, 'Thou shalt notcommit adultery,' becomes powerless at the threshold of marriage. Likeother such laws which hold us together in an outward appearance ofdecency and good order, it is a dead letter to them up to the pointwhere we drop and trample upon it; here they take it up and carry itinto their inmost lives and thoughts in a way almost too fine for usto comprehend. Because we have never so much as dreamed of catchingthe spirit of that law."
"What do you mean?" I demanded, with a wide stare.
"Why, that marriage does not sanction lust. The Caskians hold that theexercise of the procreative faculty is a divine function, and shouldnever be debased to mere animal indulgence. It has been said uponDivine Authority--as we believe--that if a man look upon a woman tolust after her, he has committed adultery in his heart. The Caskiansinterpret that to mean a man's wife, the same as any other woman,because--they hold--one who owes his being to lust and passionnaturally inherits the evil and the curse, just as surely as thoughwedlock had not concealed the crime. Their children are conceived inimmaculate purity."
My look of prolonged amazement called out the usual question:
"Have you no such class in any of your highly civilized countries?"
"No, I think not. With us, children do not come in answer to anintelligent desire for their existence, but are too often simply theresult of indulgence, and so unwelcome that their pre-natal life isovershadowed by sorrow and crime."
"Well," said he, "it is the same here; our people believe thatconception without lust is an impossibility in nature, and thatinstances of it are supernatural. And certainly it is incredibleunless your mind can grasp the problem, or rather the great fact, ofa people engaged for centuries in eliminating the purely animalinstincts from their consciousness."
After a moment he added:
"In Caskia it would be considered shocking if a pair contemplatingmarriage were to provide themselves with only one suite of rooms, tobe shared together day and night. Even the humblest people have theirrespective apartments; they think such separateness is absolutelyessential to the perfect development of the individual,--for in themain we each must stand alone,--and to the preservation of moraldignity, and the fine sentiment and mutual respect which are almostcertain to be lost in the lawlessness of undue familiarity. Therelation between my friend Calypso and his wife is the finest thing Iever saw; they are lovers on the highest plane. It would be animpossibility for either of them to say or do a coarse or improperthing in the other's presence, or to presume, in any of theinnumerable ways you and I are familiar with in our observations ofhusbands
and wives, upon the marriage bond existing between them.This matter of animal passion," he went on, after a little pause, "hasbeen at the bottom of untold crimes, and unnumbered miseries, in ourland. I doubt if any other one thing has been prolific of more orgreater evils,--even the greed of wealth. Men, and women, too, havesacrificed kingdoms for it, have bartered their souls for it.Countless homes have been desolated because of it, countless lives andhearts have been laid on its guilty altar. We ostracize the bastard;he is no more impure than the offspring of legalized licentiousness,and the law which protects the one and despises the other, cannotdiscriminate in the matter of after effects, cannot annul or enforcethe curse of heredity. With these people the law of chastity is gravenin the inmost heart, and in this matter, as in all others, eachgeneration acknowledges its obligation to the next."