September 24, 2025 • 24 mins
Praised by io9 as the first lesbian science fiction novel, *An Anglo-American Alliance* is a whimsical exploration of love, transformation, and geopolitics set in the imaginative year of 1960. In this world, the Anglo-American Alliance reigns as a global government, heralding a new era of technological and social progress. Yet, even in this seemingly utopian time, the love that dare not speak its name remains taboo. The narrative centers on the secret romance blossoming between two women, Margaret MacDonald and Aurora Cunningham, at a ladies seminary in Cornwall. As they navigate their hidden desires, they also learn to harness the powers of science and technology to turn their dreams into reality. Please note While the novel offers progressive insights on sexuality and gender identity, it also reflects the prejudices of its era, containing instances of ethnocentrism, antisemitism, and casual racism that may be uncomfortable for some listeners. - Summary by ChuckW
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter six of The Anglo American Alliance. This is a
LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
Recording by Chuck Williamson, The Anglo American Alliance by Gregory Kasparian,
(00:24):
Chapter six, Historical Events of the twentieth Century concluded. A
subdued applause greeted the Professor the next day when he
entered the lecture room to conclude his review of events
of the twentieth century. Many floral bouquets were tossed to
him by his fair admirers, who were augmented from the
(00:47):
other classes. On account of the full detail of his
encounter with don Seville having been spread throughout the seminary.
The Professor, despite some discolouration on his benign visage, flushed
Crimson like a bashful child, and bowed his acknowledgments as
(01:08):
he began his discourse. Thus, nineteen twenty seven Colonization of
Central Africa, a system of general colonization on a large scale,
was during this year undertaken by the British government by
a new homestead law embodying liberal inducements. A vast army
(01:33):
of colonists from all over the British dominions were transported
to Central Africa. Thousands upon thousands of persons from congested
districts of London, Glasgow, Liverpool and other large cities were
persuaded to leave their limited surroundings and uncongenial atmosphere and
(01:57):
go to the promising new land teeming with the boundless opportunities.
Almost the entire inhabitants of the isolated islands of the
Shetlands and Orkneys, who led an indolent life and eked
a meager existence by fisheries, joined this grand trek to
Central Africa. Many thousands from the Canadian provinces and from
(02:21):
the United States of America joined the exodus, as did
also thousands from the East Indies. The thorough and admirable
manner in which this laudable movement was handled mitigated the
hardships of transportation, and thus within a few years more
than five million, poor, homeless and indolent people were given
(02:44):
homesteads of their own, awakening them into energy and thrift.
Within a decade, the population of Central Africa reached the
grand total of twenty five million industrious, loyal citizens, forming
a flourishing dependency, enjoying home rule in liberty under the
(03:05):
protection of the British Laws in Arms. Nineteen twenty eight
the conflagration of the Atlantic Ocean. One of the most
wonderful and at the same time awful conflagrations of its
kind on record in the history of the world, was
that of the apparent burning of the Atlantic Ocean, covering
(03:29):
an area one hundred and fifty miles wide. It started
in the Gulf of Mexico, and, like a prairie fire,
only a thousand times more furious, this floating furnace consumed
scores of vessels that came into its fiery path. A
few weeks previous to this awful holocaust, the petroleum wells
(03:53):
in Texas, New Mexico, and Louisiana had run dry on
account of severe earthquakes. It was argued by scientists that
by some subterranean convulsions, the oil well fissures had shifted
their course into the waters of the gulf, and the
vast accumulation of the inflammable fluid floating on the ocean
(04:17):
had been ignited, either by an electric spark during a
thunderstorm or by some combustible being thrown from a sailing craft.
Nineteen twenty nine. The Court of Labour in this year
was completed and dedicated the Court of Labor at Washington.
(04:37):
This was an imposing building in which all the momentous
labor problems were discussed before a tribunal of disinterested justices
through the able representatives of each faction, without resorting to
disastrous strikes, lockouts, and disturbances of public comfort. One of
(04:58):
the most remarkable features of this Court of arbitration was
the colossal group erected between the two grand entrances to
the building. This was not a semi nude female figure
with bandaged eyes, holding in her hand the conventional pair
of scales, but a herculean figure of Uncle Sam with
his starry hat and glorious chin whiskers, having three faces,
(05:24):
three eyes, and three arms. Before him were a group
of three figures which represented respectively capital, consumer and labor,
and each figure were his eyes wide open and alert,
bent with searching scrutiny upon the person in front, to
whom he dispensed the just share of each from a
(05:47):
huge cornicopeia at his feet. Nineteen thirty Landlordism in America
One of the most scandalous evils which had crept gradually
in las United States and eventually became a source of
grave anxiety to the government, was a system of landlordism
(06:07):
amongst the very rich. While the general public were slumbering
in blissful ignorance. This coterie of avaricious syndicates and multi
millionaires had mysteriously become possessors of vast tracts of lands
in every state of the Union. Some of these holdings
(06:28):
comprised hundreds and thousands of square miles in extent, miles
and miles of shorefronts, immense areas of forests, whole mountains
and lakes. Through the conniving corrupt state and county officials
had passed into the hands of private individuals, who in
(06:49):
return had become extremely arrogant in their treatment of the
public by unreasonable restriction. There seemed to be a mocking
sarcasm in the fact when common people saying the national
anthem America celebrating its hills and rills, while at every
turn at the road, at every shore front, lake, hill
(07:11):
and valley, mountain and forests, the forbidding sign no trespassing
under penalty met their eyes or the repulsive muzzle of
the Winchester was thrust into their faces by private watchmen.
This state of affairs had reached such desperate straits that
(07:31):
the public suddenly awakened on the subject. It started first
by the protest of the rougher element in the mountain districts,
who defied the highered authorities with an organized force. The
people committed acts of violence and incendiarism, it is true,
but by their overt acts they awakened the dormant public
(07:53):
to realize the enormity of this scandalous condition of geedling
away to millionaires without the consent of the commonwealth the
common and inalienable heritage of its citizens. By a unanimous
uprising and public mandate, the federal and state authorities were
compelled to condemn and confiscate these stolen public lands. New
(08:18):
laws were then enacted by which the acquiring of extensive
lands was limited except for agricultural purposes. Nineteen thirty one
the discovery of the North Pole. The North Pole, that
mysterious geographical locality which for centuries had baffled scientists and explorers,
(08:44):
was located and verified by the combined efforts of American
and British governments. The expedition was on a gigantic scale,
the force of the explorers being in round numbers two thousand,
five hundred persons, who, by a system of depots and
rendezvous for supplies, formed almost a continuous chain. All the
(09:09):
latest devices, in the form of dynamo vans and motor
sleds with balloon attachments were employed in the undertaking. Strange
to say, the casualties did not exceed more than ten
percent of the expeditionary force. It was discovered, to the
great surprise of scientists that the locality was nothing more
(09:33):
than a plateau studded with cones of ice. Nineteen thirty
two Cure for laziness. The discovery by an American of
a germicide for indolence was announced during this year by
which lethargic persons were regenerated into acute activity. It was
(09:57):
a concentrated double extract of pitch blends containing the radioactive element,
and when applied to certain parts of the body, it
instantaneously transformed the feeling of laziness and on we into
one of hustling energy and alertness. The Negroes of the
(10:17):
Southern States, the natives of tropical countries and also officials
in the police departments of large cities were the ones
benefited by this golden medical discovery. Nineteen thirty three Capital punishment.
The abolishment of capital punishment in many states of the
(10:41):
Union through the impulsive sentimentality of a minority, had given
birth to an old time evil, that of feudalism. It
was well for people preaching mercy for murderers when somebody
else was the victim, but when the crime was perpetrated
against one of their LIFs homes, their feelings were entirely changed.
(11:04):
The increase of indebta was the result, and it occurred
with such a lamentable degree of frequency that the old,
uncontrovertible mosaic law blood for blood and life for life
was re established. Nineteen thirty four. Abolition of hereditary titles
(11:27):
in England. The agitation for the abolition of hereditary titles
in England caused a crisis in the political and social
world of Great Britain. The degeneracy of hereditary nobles, their
utter incapability adequately to fill the positions left by their
(11:48):
illustrious ancestors, to the detriment and retrogression of the British
government was the main cause of bringing about this bloodless
internecine revolution. Despite the most strenuous opposition by the friends
of the nobles, a new law was added to the
revised Magna Carta by an overwhelming public demand. With few exceptions.
(12:14):
It nullified the existing title and elevated to peerage only
worthy citizens for life on condition of the good behavior
of the incumbent. This excellent law brought fresh and saving
blood into the political and civic life of England. The
movement precipitated the abandonment of the House of Lords and
(12:37):
created in its stead a body called Senatorium, whose members
were elected by the tax paying citizens. Nineteen thirty five
Blowing the Earth into fragments. The most remarkable sensation of
this year was that of a German scientist and statistician, who,
(13:00):
after a thorough investigation in mathematical calculation, announced his conclusions
that it was in the range of human power, that is,
by the combined aid of labor, time, money in high explosives,
to rend the Earth in twain or into fragments and
thus create new planets in space, producing new climatic conditions,
(13:24):
fauna and life adaptable to their positions. In the solar system.
Nineteen thirty seven an American penal colony. The census of
this year revealed an unprecedented number of evildoers, causing great
anxiety to the government. There were recorded ninety two thousand
(13:48):
criminals in prisons and seventy six thousand paupers in the poorhouses.
This army of public charges cost the state authorities more
than thirty million dollars for their maintenance. At last, by
the stress of popular agitation, the government adopted a policy
(14:09):
of penal colonization, selecting a desirable island in the Philippines.
The federal authorities succeeded in transporting to the island within
three years and with half the cost of their maintenance
at home, one thousand of these unfortunate malefactors. Here they
(14:30):
were given every facility in aid for acquiring and building
of homes, farms, and factories, and within ten years, under
a wise military administration, more than half of that number
were reclaimed, forming a prosperous and loyal community in the
Eastern Hemisphere. Nineteen thirty eight the Great Telescope, with the
(14:58):
munificent contributions to a general fund amounting to two million dollars.
By the English, American and French governments. The greatest telescope
which the world had ever known was constructed in Paris.
Its lenses measured more than two meters in diameter, which
combined with a mammoth revolving camera obscura, brought the moon
(15:22):
in some of the planets within the range of visual observation,
revealing on Venus in Mars the existence of vegetation and
moving objects nineteen thirty nine. The Earth an electric motor
emeal Fulmaron, the worthy grandson of the eminent French astronomer,
(15:47):
demonstrated by an extremely clever mechanical contrivance in Vacuo that
the Earth was merely an electric motor in space nineteen forty.
The trend of religious thought religious thought or spiritual belief
is not an invention of morals. It is an inborn
(16:09):
attribute of the human mind. While man was in his
savage or semi barbarous stage, the ethical and spiritual conceptions
were correspondingly crude, and religious warfare predominated. With the advance
of civilization, its development kept pace with it until at
(16:30):
the dawn of the twentieth century it had undergone by
natural evolution a marked metamorphosis it gradually divested itself of
its legendary mysticism, fantastic dogma, and spectacular schisms with all
intelligent thinkers promulgated a propaganda not of external forms of worship,
(16:55):
but those uncontrovertible basic truths which always will hold. It
is true that in an era of commercial materialism, great
masses of people embraced agnosticism in ethical culture, rejecting that
supernatural conception of a first cause, of which they claimed
(17:17):
their limited intellect had a vague idea and was deeper
than the hazy human comprehension. Yet, the shallow Ingersolian philosophy
of attacking a force which filled millions with hope and
goaded them to self sacrifice, mercy and charity without substituting
(17:38):
something better was repudiated by the intelligent and appealed only
to the abnormal and the foolish. The tendency of materialism
and religion continued unabated until the startling announcement of a
German scientist who claimed it was within human power to
rind the world in Twain, also the marvelous revelation through
(18:01):
the mammoth telescope, by which was discovered moving objects and
vegetation and other planets brought an acute crisis. A tremendous
religious revival swept over all the world. It expanded the
mental horizon of human conceptions. The existence of living organisms
(18:24):
and other spheres came within rational deductions. The possible existence
of beings far superior in intellect to ourselves came within
the limit of legitimate theorizations. And the more men began
to grasp, with the cooperations of science, the infinite vastness
of the universe, with its numberless millions of inhabitable worlds.
(18:50):
The probability of an intelligent force of vast creative power
came within the scope of human understanding. The forceful passage
and the holy writ that God created man in his
own image became more and more lucid. Consequently, the pantheism
of the old Greeks were revived with more clearness, and
(19:14):
the existence of a personal God somewhere in this boundless
universe appealed to multitudes with new zest. Pray, Professor, what
is your opinion of a first cause? Ventured one of
the students. There are so many mysterious forces, answered the
(19:36):
professor that although we cannot see yet, we feel their
power and are conscious of their results. And as our
moral organism cannot conceive a thought which is beyond its
own limitations, the very idea of our thought of a
first cause falls within the range of human conception. When
(19:59):
we gaze an automobile, which is the creation of a creature,
we see a wonderful parallelism. Its requirements to make it
an active energy bears a strong analogy of its inventor.
Yet an automobile, with its requirements for power supplied, is
(20:21):
a worthless mass unless operated and guided by its creator.
Does not this vast universe, with all its wonderful manifestations,
suggest a creative force which governs it, albeit it is
not within my province nor in my power to penetrate
(20:42):
the veil, continued the professor, looking in a pensive mood.
But as the coral protoplasm begins its edifice from the
calcerous mire and the dark recesses of the ocean upwards
through the murky and semi transparent liquid, finally reaches the
(21:03):
pellucid surface, kisses the wave, and sees the light. Methinks, Likewise,
the spiritual perceptions of mankind, which has grown from the
depths of savagery, and through the maze of intolerance, dogmas
and schisms will go onward in its evolution, and perhaps
(21:25):
our prosperity will at last penetrate the mystic veil and
see the light God. Nineteen forty one, the birthday anniversary
of noted centenarians Lithia Bingham, Young Doctor Bray and Sister
(21:45):
Eddie received the homage and congratulations of millions of their
admirers on their one hundred and fiftieth birthday anniversary. The
remarkable longevity of this trio of Methuselah's was attributed, in
the case of the two first mentioned to their own
curial concoctions, and the last to her scientific revelation of
(22:10):
thinking that there is no such thing as pain or death.
In closing this review of historical events, said the professor,
looking around the auditorium, there are a few other important
happenings that bring us to the present decade. The remarkable
(22:31):
decadence of Germany under a socialistic regime, a doctrine that,
although theoretically seems to be so desirably altruistic, convincing, and
in poetry sounds so well, but in practice has proved
to be detrimental to a life of strenuous efforts and
(22:54):
suicidal to individual ambitions, conditions which are eminently a sin
to growing and prosperous communities. The consequent exodus of Teutons
to other parts of the world that promised freedom to
individual action, The political union of Spain and Portugal, the
(23:17):
reconquest of France by Alsace Lorraine. The puerile uprising by
a section of Irish people against England are still fresh
in our memory, and to which most of you have
been eyewitnesses. Are some of the events worthy of record here.
(23:38):
The professor, after a pause, changed his subject to future possibilities,
and presenting to the class, in eloquent words a glowing
optimistic picture of conditions for future generations, brought his discussion
to a close. When he stepped down from the rostrum,
(23:59):
he was at once by the entire class, and was
tendered an impromptu but agreeable reception. End of Chapter six
Chapter six of The Anglo American Alliance. This is a
LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
Recording by Chuck Williamson, The Anglo American Alliance by Gregory Kasparian,
(00:24):
Chapter six, Historical Events of the twentieth Century concluded. A
subdued applause greeted the Professor the next day when he
entered the lecture room to conclude his review of events
of the twentieth century. Many floral bouquets were tossed to
him by his fair admirers, who were augmented from the
(00:47):
other classes. On account of the full detail of his
encounter with don Seville having been spread throughout the seminary.
The Professor, despite some discolouration on his benign visage, flushed
Crimson like a bashful child, and bowed his acknowledgments as
(01:08):
he began his discourse. Thus, nineteen twenty seven Colonization of
Central Africa, a system of general colonization on a large scale,
was during this year undertaken by the British government by
a new homestead law embodying liberal inducements. A vast army
(01:33):
of colonists from all over the British dominions were transported
to Central Africa. Thousands upon thousands of persons from congested
districts of London, Glasgow, Liverpool and other large cities were
persuaded to leave their limited surroundings and uncongenial atmosphere and
(01:57):
go to the promising new land teeming with the boundless opportunities.
Almost the entire inhabitants of the isolated islands of the
Shetlands and Orkneys, who led an indolent life and eked
a meager existence by fisheries, joined this grand trek to
Central Africa. Many thousands from the Canadian provinces and from
(02:21):
the United States of America joined the exodus, as did
also thousands from the East Indies. The thorough and admirable
manner in which this laudable movement was handled mitigated the
hardships of transportation, and thus within a few years more
than five million, poor, homeless and indolent people were given
(02:44):
homesteads of their own, awakening them into energy and thrift.
Within a decade, the population of Central Africa reached the
grand total of twenty five million industrious, loyal citizens, forming
a flourishing dependency, enjoying home rule in liberty under the
(03:05):
protection of the British Laws in Arms. Nineteen twenty eight
the conflagration of the Atlantic Ocean. One of the most
wonderful and at the same time awful conflagrations of its
kind on record in the history of the world, was
that of the apparent burning of the Atlantic Ocean, covering
(03:29):
an area one hundred and fifty miles wide. It started
in the Gulf of Mexico, and, like a prairie fire,
only a thousand times more furious, this floating furnace consumed
scores of vessels that came into its fiery path. A
few weeks previous to this awful holocaust, the petroleum wells
(03:53):
in Texas, New Mexico, and Louisiana had run dry on
account of severe earthquakes. It was argued by scientists that
by some subterranean convulsions, the oil well fissures had shifted
their course into the waters of the gulf, and the
vast accumulation of the inflammable fluid floating on the ocean
(04:17):
had been ignited, either by an electric spark during a
thunderstorm or by some combustible being thrown from a sailing craft.
Nineteen twenty nine. The Court of Labour in this year
was completed and dedicated the Court of Labor at Washington.
(04:37):
This was an imposing building in which all the momentous
labor problems were discussed before a tribunal of disinterested justices
through the able representatives of each faction, without resorting to
disastrous strikes, lockouts, and disturbances of public comfort. One of
(04:58):
the most remarkable features of this Court of arbitration was
the colossal group erected between the two grand entrances to
the building. This was not a semi nude female figure
with bandaged eyes, holding in her hand the conventional pair
of scales, but a herculean figure of Uncle Sam with
his starry hat and glorious chin whiskers, having three faces,
(05:24):
three eyes, and three arms. Before him were a group
of three figures which represented respectively capital, consumer and labor,
and each figure were his eyes wide open and alert,
bent with searching scrutiny upon the person in front, to
whom he dispensed the just share of each from a
(05:47):
huge cornicopeia at his feet. Nineteen thirty Landlordism in America
One of the most scandalous evils which had crept gradually
in las United States and eventually became a source of
grave anxiety to the government, was a system of landlordism
(06:07):
amongst the very rich. While the general public were slumbering
in blissful ignorance. This coterie of avaricious syndicates and multi
millionaires had mysteriously become possessors of vast tracts of lands
in every state of the Union. Some of these holdings
(06:28):
comprised hundreds and thousands of square miles in extent, miles
and miles of shorefronts, immense areas of forests, whole mountains
and lakes. Through the conniving corrupt state and county officials
had passed into the hands of private individuals, who in
(06:49):
return had become extremely arrogant in their treatment of the
public by unreasonable restriction. There seemed to be a mocking
sarcasm in the fact when common people saying the national
anthem America celebrating its hills and rills, while at every
turn at the road, at every shore front, lake, hill
(07:11):
and valley, mountain and forests, the forbidding sign no trespassing
under penalty met their eyes or the repulsive muzzle of
the Winchester was thrust into their faces by private watchmen.
This state of affairs had reached such desperate straits that
(07:31):
the public suddenly awakened on the subject. It started first
by the protest of the rougher element in the mountain districts,
who defied the highered authorities with an organized force. The
people committed acts of violence and incendiarism, it is true,
but by their overt acts they awakened the dormant public
(07:53):
to realize the enormity of this scandalous condition of geedling
away to millionaires without the consent of the commonwealth the
common and inalienable heritage of its citizens. By a unanimous
uprising and public mandate, the federal and state authorities were
compelled to condemn and confiscate these stolen public lands. New
(08:18):
laws were then enacted by which the acquiring of extensive
lands was limited except for agricultural purposes. Nineteen thirty one
the discovery of the North Pole. The North Pole, that
mysterious geographical locality which for centuries had baffled scientists and explorers,
(08:44):
was located and verified by the combined efforts of American
and British governments. The expedition was on a gigantic scale,
the force of the explorers being in round numbers two thousand,
five hundred persons, who, by a system of depots and
rendezvous for supplies, formed almost a continuous chain. All the
(09:09):
latest devices, in the form of dynamo vans and motor
sleds with balloon attachments were employed in the undertaking. Strange
to say, the casualties did not exceed more than ten
percent of the expeditionary force. It was discovered, to the
great surprise of scientists that the locality was nothing more
(09:33):
than a plateau studded with cones of ice. Nineteen thirty
two Cure for laziness. The discovery by an American of
a germicide for indolence was announced during this year by
which lethargic persons were regenerated into acute activity. It was
(09:57):
a concentrated double extract of pitch blends containing the radioactive element,
and when applied to certain parts of the body, it
instantaneously transformed the feeling of laziness and on we into
one of hustling energy and alertness. The Negroes of the
(10:17):
Southern States, the natives of tropical countries and also officials
in the police departments of large cities were the ones
benefited by this golden medical discovery. Nineteen thirty three Capital punishment.
The abolishment of capital punishment in many states of the
(10:41):
Union through the impulsive sentimentality of a minority, had given
birth to an old time evil, that of feudalism. It
was well for people preaching mercy for murderers when somebody
else was the victim, but when the crime was perpetrated
against one of their LIFs homes, their feelings were entirely changed.
(11:04):
The increase of indebta was the result, and it occurred
with such a lamentable degree of frequency that the old,
uncontrovertible mosaic law blood for blood and life for life
was re established. Nineteen thirty four. Abolition of hereditary titles
(11:27):
in England. The agitation for the abolition of hereditary titles
in England caused a crisis in the political and social
world of Great Britain. The degeneracy of hereditary nobles, their
utter incapability adequately to fill the positions left by their
(11:48):
illustrious ancestors, to the detriment and retrogression of the British
government was the main cause of bringing about this bloodless
internecine revolution. Despite the most strenuous opposition by the friends
of the nobles, a new law was added to the
revised Magna Carta by an overwhelming public demand. With few exceptions.
(12:14):
It nullified the existing title and elevated to peerage only
worthy citizens for life on condition of the good behavior
of the incumbent. This excellent law brought fresh and saving
blood into the political and civic life of England. The
movement precipitated the abandonment of the House of Lords and
(12:37):
created in its stead a body called Senatorium, whose members
were elected by the tax paying citizens. Nineteen thirty five
Blowing the Earth into fragments. The most remarkable sensation of
this year was that of a German scientist and statistician, who,
(13:00):
after a thorough investigation in mathematical calculation, announced his conclusions
that it was in the range of human power, that is,
by the combined aid of labor, time, money in high explosives,
to rend the Earth in twain or into fragments and
thus create new planets in space, producing new climatic conditions,
(13:24):
fauna and life adaptable to their positions. In the solar system.
Nineteen thirty seven an American penal colony. The census of
this year revealed an unprecedented number of evildoers, causing great
anxiety to the government. There were recorded ninety two thousand
(13:48):
criminals in prisons and seventy six thousand paupers in the poorhouses.
This army of public charges cost the state authorities more
than thirty million dollars for their maintenance. At last, by
the stress of popular agitation, the government adopted a policy
(14:09):
of penal colonization, selecting a desirable island in the Philippines.
The federal authorities succeeded in transporting to the island within
three years and with half the cost of their maintenance
at home, one thousand of these unfortunate malefactors. Here they
(14:30):
were given every facility in aid for acquiring and building
of homes, farms, and factories, and within ten years, under
a wise military administration, more than half of that number
were reclaimed, forming a prosperous and loyal community in the
Eastern Hemisphere. Nineteen thirty eight the Great Telescope, with the
(14:58):
munificent contributions to a general fund amounting to two million dollars.
By the English, American and French governments. The greatest telescope
which the world had ever known was constructed in Paris.
Its lenses measured more than two meters in diameter, which
combined with a mammoth revolving camera obscura, brought the moon
(15:22):
in some of the planets within the range of visual observation,
revealing on Venus in Mars the existence of vegetation and
moving objects nineteen thirty nine. The Earth an electric motor
emeal Fulmaron, the worthy grandson of the eminent French astronomer,
(15:47):
demonstrated by an extremely clever mechanical contrivance in Vacuo that
the Earth was merely an electric motor in space nineteen forty.
The trend of religious thought religious thought or spiritual belief
is not an invention of morals. It is an inborn
(16:09):
attribute of the human mind. While man was in his
savage or semi barbarous stage, the ethical and spiritual conceptions
were correspondingly crude, and religious warfare predominated. With the advance
of civilization, its development kept pace with it until at
(16:30):
the dawn of the twentieth century it had undergone by
natural evolution a marked metamorphosis it gradually divested itself of
its legendary mysticism, fantastic dogma, and spectacular schisms with all
intelligent thinkers promulgated a propaganda not of external forms of worship,
(16:55):
but those uncontrovertible basic truths which always will hold. It
is true that in an era of commercial materialism, great
masses of people embraced agnosticism in ethical culture, rejecting that
supernatural conception of a first cause, of which they claimed
(17:17):
their limited intellect had a vague idea and was deeper
than the hazy human comprehension. Yet, the shallow Ingersolian philosophy
of attacking a force which filled millions with hope and
goaded them to self sacrifice, mercy and charity without substituting
(17:38):
something better was repudiated by the intelligent and appealed only
to the abnormal and the foolish. The tendency of materialism
and religion continued unabated until the startling announcement of a
German scientist who claimed it was within human power to
rind the world in Twain, also the marvelous revelation through
(18:01):
the mammoth telescope, by which was discovered moving objects and
vegetation and other planets brought an acute crisis. A tremendous
religious revival swept over all the world. It expanded the
mental horizon of human conceptions. The existence of living organisms
(18:24):
and other spheres came within rational deductions. The possible existence
of beings far superior in intellect to ourselves came within
the limit of legitimate theorizations. And the more men began
to grasp, with the cooperations of science, the infinite vastness
of the universe, with its numberless millions of inhabitable worlds.
(18:50):
The probability of an intelligent force of vast creative power
came within the scope of human understanding. The forceful passage
and the holy writ that God created man in his
own image became more and more lucid. Consequently, the pantheism
of the old Greeks were revived with more clearness, and
(19:14):
the existence of a personal God somewhere in this boundless
universe appealed to multitudes with new zest. Pray, Professor, what
is your opinion of a first cause? Ventured one of
the students. There are so many mysterious forces, answered the
(19:36):
professor that although we cannot see yet, we feel their
power and are conscious of their results. And as our
moral organism cannot conceive a thought which is beyond its
own limitations, the very idea of our thought of a
first cause falls within the range of human conception. When
(19:59):
we gaze an automobile, which is the creation of a creature,
we see a wonderful parallelism. Its requirements to make it
an active energy bears a strong analogy of its inventor.
Yet an automobile, with its requirements for power supplied, is
(20:21):
a worthless mass unless operated and guided by its creator.
Does not this vast universe, with all its wonderful manifestations,
suggest a creative force which governs it, albeit it is
not within my province nor in my power to penetrate
(20:42):
the veil, continued the professor, looking in a pensive mood.
But as the coral protoplasm begins its edifice from the
calcerous mire and the dark recesses of the ocean upwards
through the murky and semi transparent liquid, finally reaches the
(21:03):
pellucid surface, kisses the wave, and sees the light. Methinks, Likewise,
the spiritual perceptions of mankind, which has grown from the
depths of savagery, and through the maze of intolerance, dogmas
and schisms will go onward in its evolution, and perhaps
(21:25):
our prosperity will at last penetrate the mystic veil and
see the light God. Nineteen forty one, the birthday anniversary
of noted centenarians Lithia Bingham, Young Doctor Bray and Sister
(21:45):
Eddie received the homage and congratulations of millions of their
admirers on their one hundred and fiftieth birthday anniversary. The
remarkable longevity of this trio of Methuselah's was attributed, in
the case of the two first mentioned to their own
curial concoctions, and the last to her scientific revelation of
(22:10):
thinking that there is no such thing as pain or death.
In closing this review of historical events, said the professor,
looking around the auditorium, there are a few other important
happenings that bring us to the present decade. The remarkable
(22:31):
decadence of Germany under a socialistic regime, a doctrine that,
although theoretically seems to be so desirably altruistic, convincing, and
in poetry sounds so well, but in practice has proved
to be detrimental to a life of strenuous efforts and
(22:54):
suicidal to individual ambitions, conditions which are eminently a sin
to growing and prosperous communities. The consequent exodus of Teutons
to other parts of the world that promised freedom to
individual action, The political union of Spain and Portugal, the
(23:17):
reconquest of France by Alsace Lorraine. The puerile uprising by
a section of Irish people against England are still fresh
in our memory, and to which most of you have
been eyewitnesses. Are some of the events worthy of record here.
(23:38):
The professor, after a pause, changed his subject to future possibilities,
and presenting to the class, in eloquent words a glowing
optimistic picture of conditions for future generations, brought his discussion
to a close. When he stepped down from the rostrum,
(23:59):
he was at once by the entire class, and was
tendered an impromptu but agreeable reception. End of Chapter six
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