Scene XII

(The courtyard of a Phalanstery, built in the shape of a V. In the corridor to the right, a number of laborers are busy with machinery, all in motion. In the corridor to the left a savant is at work amidst a mass of mechanical and astronomical appliances and a chemical laboratory. All persons in the Phalanstery wear a uniform. Adam and Lucifer rise suddenly from the earth in the centre of the courtyard.)

ADAM.
Where are we now? What people's this, what land?

LUCIFER.
Land, people, are conceptions obsolete.
Was it not small to speak of fatherland?
Was it not with blind prejudice replete?
And did not narrow minds keep it alive?
All of the wide world through which we roam
Henceforth, forever, is all mankind's home,
In one great work all men associate,
One great thought in all minds reverberate,
And o'er the order which throughout obtains,
Science, honored, strict scrutiny maintains.

ADAM.
My soul's ideals then have form assumed;
The fashions of the past are then entombed,
But I regret that the conception home
Exists no more; it should have stood, the dome
Of Heaven's not safer, and could have stood
E'en in the order new of things, and good
Had been its influence. The human mind
Fears what is infinite and seeks to find
Restricting barriers and without doubt
In inner worth doth lose, when spreading out,
To past and future jealousy it clings.
I fear, that for the world at large, it brings
No such enthusiasm, as the grave
Where buried are, the loved ones who gave
It life. He, who doth willing sacrifice
His life for those who by the sacred ties
Of blood and birth to him are near and dear,
Has for the friend a sympathetic tear.

LUCIFER.
In thy ideals thou find'st flaws, I ween,
Before thou hast them e'en embodied seen.

ADAM.
Indeed not ! but I am curious to know
Just what idea 'tis to which we owe
The unity of all the world, the fire
Enthusiasm, which their hearts inspire
Kindled before by ev'ry small affair.
Achieving petty victories, — to care
But for the highest aims of life. Tell me
However, first where we are now? I see
A place and people I ne'er saw before,
Then lead me to those joys which are in store
For me, whose soul will find reward for all
The woe from which it suffered, war and cabal.

LUCIFER.
This is one of many phalansteries,
Of modern man ; the modern home it is.
ADAM.
Come, then!

LUCIFER.
No, wait!
Before we go we must

Put on some new disguise. This ancient crust
Cast off. They'd not believe in us ; to learn
'Bout us, these savants would put us in turn,
In chemical retorts.

ADAM.
Again thou art
But playing the teasing, mocking devil's part.
LUCIFER.
But in the spirit world it is quite true.

ADAM.
Do as thou wilt; and do it quickly too!
(Lucifer transforms l)oth of them, attiring them
similarly to the occupants of the phalanstery.)

LUCIFER.
Here, take this cloak, and hide thy curly lock
Of hair. We're ready now.

ADAM.
Then let us knock
There at the door of the great scientist.
LUCIFER.
Savant, I give thee greeting heartiest.

THE SAVANT.
Important is my work ; don't bother me,
I can not take the time to chat, you see.

LUCIFER.
I do regret that you can not allow
Two candidates for learning, who just now
Thus far, from the thousandth phalanstery came,
As pupils, hither drawn by thy great fame,
One moment of thy precious time.

SAVANT.
My friends,
Your most praiseworthy zeal to learn commends
Itself to me. My work can wait, if not
E'en one degree, the heat in yonder pot
May be cooled off, and if then matter yield
As I expect — when it appears, congealed.

LUCIFER.
Then I made no mistake, there did remain
With you, after you did all nature drain.
Humanity pass through a refining sieve:
The old time vanity.

SAVANT.
I now receive
You both with welcome, but tell me, sir,
Which of the sciences do you prefer?

ADAM.
Our thirst for learning never has been bound
To one branch only, but have pleasure found
The whole field to view we long for all.

SAVANT.
Right here you err. The great within the small
E'en lies concealed. Our life is short, take heed,
We have no time all things to learn and read.

ADAM.
True ; well I know, there must be those who raise
The stone or carry mortar to the place ;
No structure can be built without their aid,
But no conception have of what they've made.
It is conceived by the architect alone,
Who planes no board and cannot hew a stone,
Yet he creates a work just like a God.
So does the man who really knows, but trod
In paths of learning great.

LUCIFER.
We come to thee,
That thou, great man, teach us this path to see.

SAVANT.
And you did well, I can admire your zeal.
The mighty twigs of sciences conceal
Beauties of organism manifold;
When viewed together, we their charm behold.

LUCIFER.
Just as with women fair.
SAVANT.
Chemistry though.

LUCIFER.
Its center is and makes all grow and glow.
SAVANT.
Well said.

LUCIFER.
But the mathematician said howe'er
The same thing of his own branch, so there
It is.

SAVANT.
In their conceit 'tis their own sphere
They think the centrum is. They are sincere,
But vain.

LUCIFER.
In chemistry though you chose well.

SAVANT.
Yes, I feel safe, safer than I can tell.
Let me you now through this museum lead.
All of the world can not as yet succeed
In showing better. The extinct animal
Of ancient times, here you can find them all,
All well preserved. Thousands of them were then
On earth, and fought and struggled here with men,
Who our forefathers were, a savage race, —
For the supremacy in dwelling place.
Of them full many a wondrous tale is told.
As locomotive this one served of old.

ADAM.
The horse! Not even one of a good race.
Ah, Al-Borak! that was a horse to praise.

SAVANT.
From this 'tis said, that man began to learn
To love him as a friend, it did not earn
A livelihood by work assigned. A friend
It was, that's all, that it could comprehend
Man's thought, and faithfully it would obey
The man's command. Nay, more, it knew man's

greed
For property, stood guard o'er it; did bleed
In its defense. If true, I do not say,
I state what I have heard and read ; I know
Howe'er, that in the days of long ago,
Man did some insane notions entertain ;
These stories are the remnants of the reign
Of ancient times.

ADAM.
The dog! and I tell you
All that which you have read and heard, is true.
LUCIFER.
Adam, take heed! Thou wilt thyself betray.

SAVANT.
In this, you can the poor man's slave survey.
ADAM.
As poor men oxen for the rich have been.

SAVANT.
The deserts' mighty king can here be seen.

ADAM.
The lion! here, the tiger; there, the doe!
What animals still live, I'd like to know?

SAVANT.
What a question! Is't with you otherwise?
The animals still live, which science in no wise
Could ever substitute. The hog and the sheep,
For instance ; but e'en they're no longer cheap,
Poor specimens of what our broken down
Old nature could produce ; on these we frown.
Our hogs are living fat, and meat and wool
Our sheep. In each we recognize a tool
For our ends used, like the retort, by rule
And regulation, laid down by our school.
It seems, howe'er you know our animals,
So let me show you now our minerals.
Look at this mighty block! it's known as coal,
It used to be of industry the soul;
And mighty mountains were filled with the stuff,
So from the bowels of earth, with care enough,
Man could obtain, what we with minute care
With scientific methods, gain from air,
And this was iron, and ere the earth's supply
Gave out, to take its place, man did not try
To dig aluminum. This ore is gold
'Twas once the curse of man ; in days of old
A valuable, yet a worthless thing;
While man in his blind faith was worshipping
Beings he called supreme, and even thought
Controled his fate, with all his might he sought
To gain this ore. He really thought that this
Caused greatest happiness and purest bliss
To own a deal of it. Welfare and law
And all that's sacred, men would sacrifice
For it; for many thousand years, men saw
A bloody strife to gain what we despise,
And yet, by which, it's wondrous to relate
He could buy everything, e'en what he ate.

ADAM.
I know all this; for something new I wait.

SAVANT.
Indeed, stranger, your learning must be great
This will then interest you, I suppose;
This is a unique plant; the last, last rose
That ever grew on earth, a useless plant.
Moved by some fancy, man, extravagant,
To millions of its sisters then would yield
The richest and most useful of his field.
To grown up children 'twas a favorite toy.
We, nowadays, cannot conceive the joy
It gave. The very scent and bud it seems,
Filled men with fancies and poetic dreams,
With songs of love and deep religious thought.
This weed, then, his best efforts brought to naught.
Here we preserve, as rarities most great
Two of such works of man of ancient date.
One, the first poem, and the author's name, —
Men thought in their conceit then but of fame, —
Was Homer, and on wildest fancy's wings
Us to a most phantastic world it brings —
He Hades calls. To-day, we full well know
There is no place like that, and long ago
We did disprove each line of it. And here
I'll show you something else ; did'st ever hear
Of Tacitus, who wrote Agricola?
This is the manuscript. No man e'er saw
A more ridiculous, but in the main
More pitiful description of the reign
Of the barbaric race of long ago.

ADAM.
These pages were then after all, preserved
— As a testament, — bequeathing to to-day
The ancient spirit. Do you not fear they may
Inspire the age which seems to be enerved
In higher aims? And when it has done so,
Will give your artful world a deathly blow?

SAVANT.
Correct. The observation dawned on us
Quite long ago. We know 'tis dangerous,
The poison they contain. We therefore hold,
A man must be at least three score years old,
And must himself to science dedicate
Before these volumes he can penetrate.

ADAM.
What of the fairy stories of the nurse?
Must not those tales the youthful souls immerse
In fancy's dream?

SAVANT.
Our nurses therefore sing
No song which baby's fancy e'er could bring
Into the realm of dreams. They sing and speak
Of rules in mathematics and physic.

ADAM (Aside.)
The murd'rous band! to rob the youthful heart
Of all those things which to it bliss impart!

SAVANT.
Let us proceed. Look at these instruments,
Used, we believe, in certain tournaments.
A cannon's this, its use unknown to us;
The inscription on it is mysterious:
" Ultima ratio regum." With this sword
Men killed their fellow men; common accord
Howe'er, made him who killed, no murderer.
This instrument, to which I now refer,
Was made by the hand of man. A whole life long
He toiled with iron will and courage strong.
To finish it. He did not know, the sun
Could just as well be used for what is done
For this his work ; and while he, with intent,
A most misleading fancy, freely spent
On it, our own is excellent, though plain.

ADAM (Aside.)
But still, without a soul, it doth remain.

SAVANT.
These things, by hundred, are so childish, look!
A flower on this cup, a painted brook
On that; a thousand arabesques adorn
This armchair's back. Must we not ask in scorn
When we these things, all made by man, behold,
Does man in such a chair, sit with more ease?
Doth this cup more refreshing water hold?
But now, with our machines, we make all these,
In their most simple form, and are made well,
Each working man in his branch doth excel,
His skill to the most high perfection bring,
They always work upon the selfsame thing.

ADAM.
Therefore, there is no life, and this you see
Destroys all individuality,
Which ever strives, the master to excel,
What scope, where force and spirit could combine,
To manifest their origin divine?
When man aspires to fight, and looks around,
But a sedate and measured life is found,
Not e'en the bliss of peril, can he feel,
There are no beasts of prey to hunt with zeal.
In science too, from which I hoped to gain
The greatest bliss, I am deceived again.
Instead of happiness, I was a fool,
I find an ordinary children's school.

SAVANT.
Does not fraternity prevail all o'er?
Is not material weal here evermore
Secure? For your opinion my dear friend,
You, with full justice we could reprehend.

ADAM.
What is the ideal then, pray tell it me,
Which into such a race breathes unity,
To work together for the common good?

SAVANT.
Our one idea is, a livelihood.
When man first came to earth, ages ago,
A well filled larder he found here below,
He had but to reach out his hand, and all
Was his and was within his beckon's call,
He could afford to live in thoughtless ease,
Just as the skipper lives within the cheese;
Had time, adventurous hypotheses
To build up and therein to find the spice
Of life and poetry too, as its prize.
But we must frugal be because we fear
That to our final crumb we're coming near.
And soon our cheese devoured, what follows then?
To starve must be the lot of thoughtless men?
In just four thousand years, it is foretold
The sun will have cooled off, the earth not hold
Life animate and naught on it will grow.
Four thousand years are ours, so much we know.
We'll learn it yet, I have but little doubt
To make a sun anew and live without
The present orb. To heat with water is
Adaptable, it will inflame with ease
When made its oxygen all to release.
Our organism's secret too I trow
Soon by our patient research we shall know.
'Tis well our talk has brought this subject up,
I had almost forgot retort and cup.

LUCIFER.
Decrepit, man must be, when to create
Retorts .must use. But granting that you can
At last the lifeless matter animate
With life imbue, what sort of soulless man
What monstrous, frightful thing will you have
brought

To life? What can he be? Unspoken thought,
Yearning for love, without an object e'en
To love. A love, just think, built by machine !
A being, which by nature is denied.
Opposing none, to no one is allied.
And whence shall this abnormal thing, tell me,
Receiving its individuality?
And how, of man, the character and trait
Who's born in glass retort on chemist's grate?

SAVANT.
Behold the boiling mass in the retort!
Already here and there, a certain sort
Of living objects seem to move within
The glass. Affinity, repugnant force,
I have well calculated, and of course,
Matter will yield, the victory be mine.

LUCIFER.
Savant, I can admire; but please define
That which I comprehend not. Can you tell
Me how antitheses may not repel,
Affinities attract?

SAVANT.
Unnatural
Is what you here suggest. I tell you all
Of matters, subjected to a law I see.

LUCIFER.
Upon what basis built howe'er, tell me!

SAVANT.
What basis built? It is the law ! we know
What all our past experience does show.
LUCIFER.
You have the coal, and nature does the rest.

SAVANT.
But I its boundless limits here arrest,
And it from mystic darkness forth I call.
LUCIFER.
Of life I see not any sign at all.

SAVANT.
It can not fail to come. I have espied
The secrets which in our organism hide,
A hundred lives dissected.

ADAM.
Corpses, dead,
And you looked for life's secrets, with life fled.
Science will drag itself with limping gait
After experience, illuminate
It. as the bard, in service of the king,
Will of his master's deeds great paeans sing,
But ne'er foretell them.

SAVANT.
Why thus jeer at me?
One spark I need, and life will come, you see.
ADAM.
Oh, yes, one spark, but whence will that be won?

SAVANT.
One only step, that's all! and all is done.

ADAM.
But who this only step has not yet made,
Has made no step at all. He still doth wade
In ignorance. Courtyard and portico
Are often trod. Into the sanctum though
No man has entered, who knows who e'er will?
(During this the vapor and smoke above the retort grow denser and a thundrous noise is heard.)

VOICE OF THE EARTH SPIRIT.
Ne'er! nobody! however great his skill,
Too great and yet too small for me's this glass.
Adam ! thou knowest me ; though of my class
They have not even thought.

ADAM.
Proud man! You've heard
That spirit voice, and have you seen what stirred
Within that little cloud? And do you mean
To conquer it with this poor frail machine?

SAVANT.
Insanity's attack ! I fear your mind
Has been upset.

(Retort breaks, earth spirit disappears.)

Alas! What I designed
Is broken now, I must begin anew.
Just when we with our work are almost through
And we about to reap our efforts' due,
A blind and stupid accident occurs.
And we are blocked.

LUCIFER.
In former days adverse
Fate it was called; by its destructive force
'Twas less humiliating then, of course,
To be defeated, than by accident.

(Bell rings.)

What by the ringing of these bells is meant,
Tell us great man?

SAVANT.
The daily work is done,
Now come the hours of rest, and one by one
Come out the men from factory and field
To hear the reprimand of those who shield,
Or plan or do some wrong, and now we too,
The women and the children give their due,
I, too, am busy there; come, both of you.
(In long lines come the men, and in other lines the)

women, among these Eve with a child.)
(They all form a semicircle in the courtyard. A hoary man stands in the centre. Adam, Lucifer and the Savant stand to the front, near the museum.)

OLD MAN.
Let number thirty come.
LUTHER (Stepping from the line.)
Here!

OLD MAN.
You again!

'Tis charged that you yourself can not restrain,
And make in spite of warnings, such a fire
Beneath the boilers, that results most dire
To our phalanster's feared.

LUTHER.
Who can withstand
The charm of this, the power to command
The fierce and sparkling, shrieking element
When it with a thousand tongues licks nourishment,
Upon devouring all and you is bent ;
To bravely stand and yet the flames foment;
To fan and nurse, and know within your soul
You can subject it to your full control.
The magic charm of fire he knoweth not,
Who's seen it only neath a boiling pot.

OLD MAN.
For this you'll go to-day without your meal.
LUTHER (Stepping back.)
To-morrow fan it I'll with still more zeal.

ADAM.
I know that man ! why, his features reveal
That Luther once was he.
OLD MAN.
Two hundred and nine!

CASSIUS.
Here. (Steps forth.)

OLD MAN.
Now the third time you've here been sent,
Because without good cause, you strife foment.

CASSIUS.
Without good cause? Because I don't complain?
No coward I, and therefore I disdain
To yell for help while I can strike a blow
Why did he not defend himself, my foe?

(Steps back.)
OLD MAN.

Do not dispute! Not e'en your splendid head
From which the noblest impulses I've read,
Your deeds excuse. Your blood is hot and wild,
But they will cure you, and you will be mild.

ADAM.
Ah, Cassius, could'st thou remember me!
How at Philippi once I fought with thee!
Have beastly rule and have cold theories
Brought such a state of things that such a mind
As thine, can not due recognition find?

OLD MAN.
Number four hundred!
PLATO (Steps forth.)
Here, what do you want?

OLD MAN.
To my regret, complaints are made upon 't
That you again in your day dreams are lost,
Three oxen which to you we did entrust
Let go astray. That you awake, you must
On dried peas kneel.

PLATO.
But even when I kneel,
I cogitate, and happiness I feel.

(Steps lack.)

ADAM.
Ah, Plato! what a rôle 't is thou must play
In the society thou didst essay
To regulate.

OLD MAN.
Number seventy!
MICHAEL ANGELO.
Here! (Steps forth.)

OLD MAN.
Thy workshop's in disorder left, I hear.

MICHAEL ANGELO.
I made and made naught else but feet of chairs
The plainest of the kind at that, these wares
I asked to be allowed to carve and make
More ornamental ; asked leave to forsake
The iron rules, eternally the same,
To make things beautiful was my one aim
I importuned and begged, but all in vain ;
Monotony made me almost insane,
I left my shop, just as it was, my brain
In a whirl.

(Steps lack.)
OLD MAN.
This breach must punished be.
Go to your room to-day you shall not see
The glorious sun.

ADAM.
Oh! Michael Angelo!
What tempests must within thy bosom blow
When forced to dull routine, can'st not create.
I see around here friends, I know the fate
Of all, I know that what they represent
Is force and genius magnificent.
One fought with me, one died a martyr's death,
For one the limits of the world's too small,
And what my eye now here encountereth
By its eternal sameness doth appall.
All that was heretofore great and sublime
To dwarfish nothingness reduced by time.
Come Lucifer! I can't endure the sight.

OLD MAN.
Two children were brought here, so that we might
Now they their mothers' care no longer need,
And for the common good, we must proceed
To care for them, decide their future fate.
(Eve and another woman step forth, each leading her child.)

ADAM.
How beautiful! a sight to captivate
The most exacting eye! has e'en this state,
Cold and exacting, rays which warm the heart?
True Poetry!

LUCIFER.
Adam! shall we depart?
ADAM.
No, Sir, we shall remain.

OLD MAN.
Wise man, proceed,

From the formation of their skull to read,
To see into what groove their minds shall turn,
What specialties they shall be made to learn.
(The Savant examines the children's heads.)

EVE.
What is to come to me?
ADAM.
That voice!

LUCIFER.
What is
To thee, this woman, who Semiramis
Hast held in warm embrace?

ADAM.
Ah! Lucifer,
I did not know this one then; why refer
To bygone days?

LUCIFER.
This is the good old song
Of lovers e'er on earth, who all along
Will claim that they are the discoverers
Of love, and each of them, pouting, demurs,
When told that love is, since the universe
Exists, all mankind's curse.

SAVANT.
This one shall a physician be in time,
This one in pastures roam and trees shall climb.

OLD MAN.
Take them away.
(The children are to be taken away, Eve interferes.)

EVE.
I earnestly protest!
Who dares to tear my child thus from my breast!
OLD MAN.
Take them away! who dares to disobey?

EVE.
My darling child, I nursed thee night and day
With my heart's blood. Where is the brutal heart
Those sacred ties would rend, and dear ones part
Forever. To thee then must I say good-bye.
Lost in the crowd, thee nevermore espy?

ADAM.
If of all holy feeling not bereft,
Then with its mother let this child be left.

EVE.
Ah! yes, 'tis so, thou stranger bless'd!
Induce these men to yield to my request.

OLD MAN.
A daring game thou play'st. If we again
The prejudice of family entertain!
The structure holy science built with care
Is quickly overthrown; therefore beware!

EVE.
What do I care for what chill science says?
But sacred 's that, the mother's voice betrays.
OLD MAN.
Well, move!

ADAM.
Don't dare to touch it. I'll command
This good old sword I have here in my hand.

LUCIFER.
Dream picture animate, stand still!
(Puts his hand on Adam, who as if by a shock, stands motionless.)
I'll show
That with one touch thy will I overthrow.

EVE.
My child!
(Faints.)
OLD MAN.

No mates have those two women there;
Let those report, to have them who would care.
ADAM (Goes to Eve.)
This one I claim.

OLD MAN.
Wise man, what do you think?

SAVANT.
Excitable is he, and nervous she,
Their offspring but a dwarfish race would be.
ADAM.
If she desire me, from here I shall not move.

EVE.
Most noble stranger, thee alone I love.
ADAM.
I love thee with all the fervor of my heart.

EVE.
I'm thine forevermore! Naught shall us part.

SAVANT.
This is insanity! We here behold,
The ghastly spectres of the days of old,
In our enlightened age, what does it mean?

ADAM.
A ray of Eden, therein may be seen.
OLD MAN.
I pity you, poor man.

ADAM.
Don't pity me
Although my lot may be insanity,
All that's sublime, is born of insane thought
Like unto ours, which your stern modes have sought
To limit. A spirit voice doth come to us
From nobler spheres, sweetly harmonious
To prove the kinship of our souls, we see
The path to higher spheres, which makes us free.

(Embraces Eve.)

OLD MAN.
Let him into the hospital be cast!
LUCIFER.
A quick resolve! Adam, we'll travel fast.

(Adam and Lucifer suddenly disappear.)