by Jules Verne
CHAPTER XXIV.
FAREWELL TO THE BALTIMORE GUN CLUB.
The intense interest of our extraordinary but most veracious historyhaving reached its culmination at the end of the last chapter, ourabsorbing chronicle might with every propriety have been then and thereconcluded; but we can't part from our gracious and most indulgent readerbefore giving him a few more details which may be instructive perhaps,if not amusing.
No doubt he kindly remembers the world-wide sympathy with which ourthree famous travellers had started on their memorable trip to the Moon.If so, he may be able to form some idea of the enthusiasm universallyexcited by the news of their safe return. Would not the millions ofspectators that had thronged Florida to witness their departure, nowrush to the other extremity of the Union to welcome them back? Couldthose innumerable Europeans, Africans and Asiatics, who had visited theUnited States simply to have a look at M'Nicholl, Ardan and Barbican,ever think of quitting the country without having seen those wonderfulmen again? Certainly not! Nay, more--the reception and the welcome thatthose heroes would everywhere be greeted with, should be on a scalefully commensurate with the grandeur of their own gigantic enterprise.The Sons of Earth who had fearlessly quitted this terrestrial globe andwho had succeeded in returning after accomplishing a journeyinconceivably wonderful, well deserved to be received with everyextremity of pride, pomp and glorious circumstance that the world iscapable of displaying.
To catch a glimpse of these demi-gods, to hear the sound of theirvoices, perhaps even to touch their hands--these were the only emotionswith which the great heart of the country at large was now throbbing.
To gratify this natural yearning of humanity, to afford not only toevery foreigner but to every native in the land an opportunity ofbeholding the three heroes who had reflected such indelible glory on theAmerican name, and to do it all in a manner eminently worthy of thegreat American Nation, instantly became the desire of the AmericanPeople.
To desire a thing, and to have it, are synonymous terms with the greatpeople of the American Republic.
A little thinking simplified the matter considerably: as all the peoplecould not go to the heroes, the heroes should go to all the people.
So decided, so done.
It was nearly two months before Barbican and his friends could get backto Baltimore. The winter travelling over the Rocky Mountains had beenvery difficult on account of the heavy snows, and, even when they foundthemselves in the level country, though they tried to travel asprivately as possible, and for the present positively declined allpublic receptions, they were compelled to spend some time in the housesof the warm friends near whom they passed in the course of their longjourney.
The rough notes of their Moon adventures--the only ones that they couldfurnish just then--circulating like wild fire and devoured withuniversal avidity, only imparted a keener whet to the public desire tofeast their eyes on such men. These notes were telegraphed free to everynewspaper in the country, but the longest and best account of the"_Journey to the Moon_" appeared in the columns of the _New YorkHerald_, owing to the fact that Watkins the reporter had had theadventurers all to himself during the whole of the three days' trip ofthe _Susquehanna_ back to San Francisco. In a week after their return,every man, woman, and child in the United States knew by heart some ofthe main facts and incidents in the famous journey; but, of course, itis needless to say that they knew nothing at all about the finer pointsand the highly interesting minor details of the astounding story. Theseare now all laid before the highly favored reader for the first time. Ipresume it is unnecessary to add that they are worthy of his mostimplicit confidence, having been industriously and conscientiouslycompiled from the daily journals of the three travellers, revised,corrected, and digested very carefully by Barbican himself.
It was, of course, too early at this period for the critics to pass adecided opinion on the nature of the information furnished by ourtravellers. Besides, the Moon is an exceedingly difficult subject. Veryfew newspaper men in the country are capable of offering a singleopinion regarding her that is worth reading. This is probably also thereason why half-scientists talk so much dogmatic nonsense about her.
Enough, however, had appeared in the notes to warrant the generalopinion that Barbican's explorations had set at rest forever several pettheories lately started regarding the nature of our satellite. He andhis friends had seen her with their own eyes, and under such favorablecircumstances as to be altogether exceptional. Regarding her formation,her origin, her inhabitability, they could easily tell what system_should_ be rejected and what _might_ be admitted. Her past, herpresent, and her future, had been alike laid bare before their eyes. Howcan you object to the positive assertion of a conscientious man who haspassed within a few hundred miles of _Tycho_, the culminating point inthe strangest of all the strange systems of lunar oreography? What replycan you make to a man who has sounded the dark abysses of the _Plato_crater? How can you dare to contradict those men whom the vicissitudesof their daring journey had swept over the dark, Invisible Face of theMoon, never before revealed to human eye? It was now confessedly theprivilege and the right of these men to set limits to that selenographicscience which had till now been making itself so very busy inreconstructing the lunar world. They could now say, authoritatively,like Cuvier lecturing over a fossil skeleton: "Once the Moon was this, ahabitable world, and inhabitable long before our Earth! And now the Moonis that, an uninhabitable world, and uninhabitable ages and ages ago!"
We must not even dream of undertaking a description of the grand _fete_by which the return of the illustrious members of the Gun Club was to beadequately celebrated, and the natural curiosity of their countrymen tosee them was to be reasonably gratified. It was one worthy in every wayof its recipients, worthy of the Gun Club, worthy of the Great Republic,and, best of all, every man, woman, and child in the United States couldtake part in it. It required at least three months to prepare it: butthis was not to be regretted as its leading idea could not be properlycarried out during the severe colds of winter.
All the great railroads of the Union had been closely united bytemporary rails, a uniform gauge had been everywhere adopted, and everyother necessary arrangement had been made to enable a splendid palacecar, expressly manufactured for the occasion by Pullman himself, tovisit every chief point in the United States without ever breakingconnection. Through the principal street in each city, or streets if onewas not large enough, rails had been laid so as to admit the passage ofthe triumphal car. In many cities, as a precaution against unfavorableweather, these streets had been arched over with glass, thus becominggrand arcades, many of which have been allowed to remain so to thepresent day. The houses lining these streets, hung with tapestry,decorated with flowers, waving with banners, were all to be illuminatedat night time in a style at once both the most brilliant and the mosttasteful. On the sidewalks, tables had been laid, often miles and mileslong, at the public expense; these were to be covered with every kind ofeatables, exquisitely cooked, in the greatest profusion, and free toeveryone for twelve hours before the arrival of the illustrious guestsand also for twelve hours after their departure. The idea mainly aimedat was that, at the grand national banquet about to take place, everyinhabitant of the United States, without exception, could considerBarbican and his companions as his own particular guests for the timebeing, thus giving them a welcome the heartiest and most unanimous thatthe world has ever yet witnessed.
Evergreens were to deck the lamp-posts; triumphal arches to span thestreets; fountains, squirting _eau de cologne_, to perfume and cool theair; bands, stationed at proper intervals, to play the most inspiringmusic; and boys and girls from public and private schools, dressed inpicturesque attire, to sing songs of joy and glory. The people, seatedat the banquetting tables, were to rise and cheer and toast the heroesas they passed; the military companies, in splendid uniforms, were tosalute them with presented arms; while the bells pealed from the churchtowers, the great guns roared from the armories, _feux de jo
ie_resounded from the ships in the harbor, until the day's wildest whirl ofexcitement was continued far into the night by a general illuminationand a surpassing display of fireworks. Right in the very heart of thecity, the slowly moving triumphal car was always to halt long enough toallow the Club men to join the cheering citizens at their meal, whichwas to be breakfast, dinner or supper according to that part of the dayat which the halt was made.
The number of champagne bottles drunk on these occasions, or of thespeeches made, or of the jokes told, or of the toasts offered, or of thehands shaken, of course, I cannot now weary my kind reader by detailing,though I have the whole account lying before me in black and white,written out day by day in Barbican's own bold hand. Yet I should like togive a few extracts from this wonderful journal. It is a perfect modelof accuracy and system. Whether detailing his own doings or those of theinnumerable people he met, Caesar himself never wrote anything morelucid or more pointed. But nothing sets the extraordinary nature of thisgreat man in a better light than the firm, commanding, masterlycharacter of the handwriting in which these records are made. Theelegant penmanship all through might easily pass for copper plateengraving--except on one page, dated "_Boston, after dinner_," where,candor compels me to acknowledge, the "Solid Men" appear to havesucceeded in rendering his iron nerves the least bit wabbly.
The palace car had been so constructed that, by turning a few cranks andpulling out a few bolts, it was transformed at once into a highlydecorated and extremely comfortable open barouche. Marston took the seatusually occupied by the driver: Ardan and M'Nicholl sat immediatelyunder him, face to face with Barbican, who, in order that everyone mightbe able to distinguish him, was to keep all the back seat for himself,the post of honor.
On Monday morning, the fifth of May, a month generally the pleasantestin the United States, the grand national banquet commenced in Baltimore,and lasted twenty-four hours. The Gun Club insisted on paying all theexpenses of the day, and the city compromised by being allowed tocelebrate in whatever way it pleased the reception of the Club men ontheir return.
They started on their trip that same day in the midst of one of thegrandest ovations possible to conceive. They stopped for a little whileat Wilmington, but they took dinner in Philadelphia, where the splendorof Broad Street (at present the finest boulevard in the world, being 113feet wide and five miles long) can be more easily alluded to than evenpartially described.
The house fronts glittered with flowers, flags, pictures, tapestries,and other decorations; the chimneys and roofs swarmed with men and boyscheerfully risking their necks every moment to get one glance at the"Moon men"; every window was a brilliant bouquet of beautiful ladieswaving their scented handkerchiefs and showering their sweetest smiles;the elevated tables on the sidewalks, groaning with an abundance ofexcellent and varied food, were lined with men, women, and children,who, however occupied in eating and drinking, never forgot to salute theheroes, cheering them lustily as they slowly moved along; the spaciousstreet itself, just paved from end to end with smooth Belgian blocks,was a living moving panorama of soldiers, temperance men, free masons,and other societies, radiant in gorgeous uniforms, brilliant in flashingbanners, and simply perfect in the rhythmic cadence of their tread,wings of delicious music seeming to bear them onward in their proud andstately march.
A vast awning, spanning the street from ridge to ridge, had been soprepared and arranged that, in case of rain or too strong a glare fromthe summer sun, it could be opened out wholly or partially in the spaceof a very few minutes. There was not, however, the slightest occasionfor using it, the weather being exceedingly fine, almost paradisiacal,as Marston loved to phrase it.
THEIR ARRIVAL WAS WELCOMED WITH EQUAL _FURORE_.]
The "Moon men" supped and spent the night in New York, where they werereceived with even greater enthusiasm than at Philadelphia. But nodetailed description can be given of their majestic progress from cityto city through all portions of the mighty Republic. It is enough to saythat they visited every important town from Portland to San Francisco,from Salt Lake City to New Orleans, from Mobile to Charleston, and fromSaint Louis to Baltimore; that, in every section of the great country,preparations for their reception were equally as enthusiastic, theirarrival was welcomed with equal _furore_, and their departureaccompanied with an equal amount of affectionate and touching sympathy.
The _New York Herald_ reporter, Mr. Watkins, followed them closelyeverywhere in a palace car of his own, and kept the public fullyenlightened regarding every incident worth regarding along the route,almost as soon as it happened. He was enabled to do this by means of aportable telegraphic machine of new and most ingenious construction.Though its motive power was electricity, it could dispense with theordinary instruments and even with wires altogether, yet it managed totransmit messages to most parts of the world with an accuracy that,considering how seldom it failed, is almost miraculous. The principleactuating it, though guessed at by many shrewd scientists, is still aprofound secret and will probably remain so for some time longer, the_Herald_ having purchased the right to its sole and exclusive use forfifteen years, at an enormous cost.
Who shall say that the apotheosis of our three heroes was not worthy ofthem, or that, had they lived in the old prehistoric times, they wouldnot have taken the loftiest places among the demi-gods?
As the tremendous whirl of excitement began slowly to die away, themore thoughtful heads of the Great Republic began asking each other afew questions:
Can this wonderful journey, unprecedented in the annals of wonderfuljourneys, ever lead to any practical result?
Shall we ever live to see direct communication established with theMoon?
Will any Air Line of space navigation ever undertake to start a systemof locomotion between the different members of the solar system?
Have we any reasonable grounds for ever expecting to see trains runningbetween planet and planet, as from Mars to Jupiter and, possiblyafterwards, from star to star, as from Polaris to Sirius?
Even to-day these are exceedingly puzzling questions, and, with all ourmuch vaunted scientific progress, such as "no fellow can make out." Butif we only reflect a moment on the audacious go-a-headiveness of theYankee branch of the Anglo Saxon race, we shall easily conclude that theAmerican people will never rest quietly until they have pushed to itslast result and to every logical consequence the astounding step sodaringly conceived and so wonderfully carried out by their greatcountryman Barbican.
In fact, within a very few months after the return of the Club men fromthe Continental Banquet, as it was called in the papers, the country wasflooded by a number of little books, like Insurance pamphlets, thrustinto every letter box and pushed under every door, announcing theformation of a new company called _The Grand Interstellar CommunicationSociety_. The Capital was to be 100 million dollars, at a thousanddollars a share: J.P. BARBICAN, ESQ., P.G.C. was to be President;Colonel JOSHUA D. M'NICHOLL, Vice-President; Hon. J.T. MARSTON,Secretary; Chevalier MICHAEL ARDAN, General Manager; JOHN MURPHY, ESQ.,Chief Engineer; H. PHILLIPS COLEMAN, ESQ. (Philadelphia lawyer), LegalAdviser; and the Astrological Adviser was to be Professor HENRY ofWashington. (Belfast's blunder had injured him so much in publicestimation, his former partisans having become his most mercilessrevilers, that it was considered advisable to omit his name altogethereven in the list of the Directors.)
From the very beginning, the moneyed public looked on the G.I.C.S, withdecided favor, and its shares were bought up pretty freely. Conducted onstrictly honorable principles, keeping carefully aloof from all suchdamaging connection as the _Credit Mobilier_, and having its booksalways thrown open for public inspection, its reputation even to-day isexcellent and continually improving in the popular estimation. Holdingout no utopian inducements to catch the unwary, and making no wheedlingpromises to blind the guileless, it states its great objects with alltheir great advantages, without at the same time suppressing itsenormous and perhaps insuperable difficulties. People know exactly whatto think of it, and
, whether it ever meets with perfect success orproves a complete failure, no one in the country will ever think ofcasting a slur on the bright name of its peerless President, J.P.Barbican.
For a few years this great man devoted every faculty of his mind to thefurthering of the Company's objects. But in the midst of his labors, therapid approach of the CENTENNIAL surprised him. After a long and carefulconsultation on the subject, the Directors and Stockholders of theG.I.C.S. advised him to suspend all further labors in their behalf for afew years, in order that he might be freer to devote the full energiesof his giant intellect towards celebrating the first hundredthanniversary of his country's Independence--as all true Americans wouldwish to see it celebrated--in a manner every way worthy of the GREATREPUBLIC OF THE WEST!
Obeying orders instantly and with the single-idea'd, unselfishenthusiasm of his nature, he threw himself at once heart and soul intothe great enterprise. Though possessing no official prominence--this heabsolutely insists upon--he is well known to be the great fountain headwhence emanate all the life, order, dispatch, simplicity, economy, andwonderful harmony which, so far, have so eminently characterized themagnificent project. With all operations for raising the necessaryfunds--further than by giving some sound practical advice--he positivelyrefused to connect himself (this may be the reason why subscriptions tothe Centennial stock are so slow in coming in), but in the properapportionment of expenses and the strict surveillance of the mechanical,engineering, and architectural departments, his services have provedinvaluable. His experience in the vast operations at Stony Hill hasgiven him great skill in the difficult art of managing men. His voice isseldom heard at the meetings, but when it is, people seem to take apleasure in readily submitting to its dictates.
In wet weather or dry, in hot weather or cold, he may still be seenevery day at Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, leisurely strolling frombuilding to building, picking his steps quietly through the bustlingcrowds of busy workmen, never speaking a word, not even to Marston hisfaithful shadow, often pencilling something in his pocket book, stoppingoccasionally to look apparently nowhere, but never, you may be sure,allowing a single detail in the restless panorama around him to escapethe piercing shaft of his eagle glance.
He is evidently determined on rendering the great CENTENNIAL of hiscountry a still greater and more wonderful success than even his ownworld-famous and never to be forgotten JOURNEY through the boundlessfields of ether, and ALL AROUND THE MOON!
END.