Mattoon High School - Riddle Yearbook (Mattoon, IL)

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THE RIDDLE 31 where we had landed, but we realized that dark would soon be upon us and that we should make preparations for the night. We had to protect ourselves against any marauding tribes that might live around here and become too curious. Everyone was glad to feel the earth and anxious to sleep on firm ground again, but our captain, Lawrence Guthrie thought it would be best to sleep inside the machine for that one night. We retired earlyg but before doing so, we look- ed out in the heavens at the stars and saw them in many new posftions and wondered which one was our Earth. Early next morning we arose, rested with sleep and eager to explore, but our curi- osity was changed to fear when we saw inhabit- ants of the planet coming towards us. They were the tallest men of any we had ever seen, most of them being from seven and one-half to eight feet tall, and we felt as if we were pygrnies against giants. But they seemed friendly so we advanced to talk to them and to find from their expressions that they had been as afraid of us, whizzing down upon them in our giant machine, as we were of them. We could not understand their talk, but we understood their smiles and knew that they meant to be friendly. By gestures they asked us where we had come from, and we replied by pointing to the heavens. They showed amazement and then subjection, as if they thought we might be some kind of gods descended upon th-em. They took us to their town not far offg and from it's appearance we guessed that they were people of mighty stature, but few brains. They fed us on strange food, sheltered us in queer houses, and even protected us from others who were over- curious. They taught us their language which was strange and difficult, and it was two years be- fore we could really converse with them. But we had not been idle in those two yearsg we had selected a site for a city, had made plans for its government and industries, and had all the problems of establishing a new community worked out before we had really begun work on itg so that when we could understand the natives, we asked their permission to build ourselves a city. The natives had been very kind and generous and had appeared to stand in awe of us, but they disliked the idea of giving up their land entirely. They did promise, however, that we might build a city on the condition that we establish as perfect a com- monwealth as possible. We promised, although there was a little doubt in our minds Whether or not we could do this, now that it is all com- pleted, we know of no detail that could make a city more perfect than ours. After this radio message had been trans- mitted to the world, Mr. Clark talked privately to his friends on the planet. He started asking about this and that one and what part they had to do on the planet when Wm. Grant, at the other end of the communication, stopped him and suggested that Harry come to the planet and see everything for himself, also to remain there with them. He was greatly pleased and set about mak- ing plans for the trip. His radio was accepted and taken charge of by the government, which paid him a large price for his wonderful inven- tion. He was now a world-famous man belong- ing to a world-famous class An immense crowd was gathered to see the plane return, and for the three days it was on Earth, it was on exhibition to all who came from far and near to see it. And then it flew away again, this time taking from the earth all the members of the Class of '25. As the plane began to settle down to Utopia, Harry looked out of the windows and saw what looked like a great white wheel. They came closer, and Harry could see that this was their city laid out in that shape. He was anxious, having asked questions all the way upg but those who had came after him would not tell him much about the cityg they wanted him to see it all first. The plane lowered, and many beautiful buildings came into sight. Harry had not expected such a large city, for its streets stretched out in all directions. They landed in a large field at the edge of the city and were met by a party of four, formally introduced as the Governor and his assistants, but better known to Harry as Donald Weston, Fayma Bence, Ruth Peterson and Bertram Hamby. After a brief welcome, they left the large ship there to be put into its im- mence hanger, and transferred to a smaller aeroplane. Mr. Weston explained that there were twelve of these planes which had been built up there. They were used for trans- portation purposes instead of roadway vehicles , J

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30 THE RIDDLE aluminum run through a chemical process in- vented by our great chemist, Eloise Herron. This changed it into a substance which was very light, but hard. The propellers being light .made it possible for the engines to turn them over at a very high speed, thus making it pos- sible to attain a speed of 800 to 1200 miles per hour. The rest of the space of the airplane was taken up by the stores, oxygen tanks, cooking apartments, rest room, dining room, the sleep- ing quarters and the recreation parlor. On the top of the plane was a passage between the two side engines, and on the bottom was a passage from one end of the ship to the other. After we had all been taken on board and the engines warmed up, the captain, Lawrence Guthrie, gave the order for the gas to be turned into the gas compartments. Slowly the ship began to riseg then as the engines were turned on, it began to move forward and upward. After reaching a very high altitude, all the doors were closed making the inside air-tight. This was done to see if the oxygen would furnish air in which to breath when we got to the very light atmosphere which was supposed to be about fifty miles above the earth's sur- face. So successful was the experiment that it was decided to go up very high to try the ship to its greatest endurance. Accordingly the nose was pointed upward at a sharp angle, and all the power turned on. Upward we went at 965 miles an hour. In no time we were at the altitude at which there was sup- posed to be no air, but we could feel no dis- comfort whatever. Our success was very great indeed, just to think we had shattered all other records and in such a short time! As we could feel no discomfort at such a high altitude, we thought we might as well go farther, so the nose of the ship was again pointed upward and the ship put to its full speed. We flew this way for a while until we knew we were so far above the earth that if what we believed about the atmos- phere were true we could not exist. The man at the atmospheric gauge noticed that the pressure which had been changing all along had stopped. Then after flying this way for quite a while the gauge read a slight raise, and we knew that we were leaving space and entering the region of atmosphere again. This gave us hopes to go on, so after flying a short time the gauge showed a still greater rais-eg and the speed of the plane was getting faster and faster. After flying a while longer, the speed of the plane became so terrific that the captain de- cided to shut down the engines a little, but the speed kept increasing just the same. Some- thing must have gone wrongg for when the engines were completely stopped, the airplane kept going faster and faster. The captain be- gan to get excited, and the steel walls to get warm from such speed. He ordered the nose to be pointed down to a level angleg and at once the speed decreased somewhat, although the plane still went at a tremendous rate. The man at the observation window perceived through his powerful glasses an object which they were approaching very fast. After wait- ing several minutes, he could make out moun- tains, then a wide expanse of water. As the plane was coming to the land very rapidly, something had to be done to check the speed at which it was going, and the captain ordered more gas to be put into the gas compartments. This helped a great deal, but still the ship went at a speed of 100 miles per hour, so the captain next ordered the main engine to be started and the ncse pointed downward. Running the en- gine half open he found the ship came to a stop, and very slowly he allowed it to approach the land. The captain next ordered the doors of the ship to be opened and the oxygen turned off. But as soon as the doors were opened, the plane began to rise from the earth, the engine was then turned off, but still the plane rose. The gas was let out of the compartments until the ship began to fall once more to the earth. It was early evening when we landed, and we could not tell by looking around where we were. We were not even sure that we were on the earthg in fact, we doubted that very much, for we had never heard of a part of our world which had the description of such a place as this. There was semi-tropical vege- tation with beautiful flowers and trees of which we had never before heard. The sun, which was sinking in what we supposed was the west, gave a beautiful color to all the surroundings. It was time for supper, but no one wanted to eat. Everyone was full of adventure and anxious to go beyond the clear level place

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32 THE RIDDLE and differed from ordinary aeroplanes by being able to rise and lower immediately without needing a large space. All around the field there were hang-ers and small houses to lodge the aviators and mechanics. They flew from the landing field to a small one in the center of town. In this center, which formed the axis of the wheel after which the town was modeled, were located all the government buildings. The Capital was the main oneg it was made of pure white marble with a broad expanse of steps and crowned with a beautiful dome. From here, one could see the whole town and the surrounding country. A powerful telescope, also here, en- abled one to look at the Earth so many millions of miles away. Another room of the dome was used as the radio room, and it was here that William Grant had built the instruments through which he had broadcasted to the Earth. Harry saw that these instruments were similar to those which he had invented, and naturally, interested him most of all. But Mr. Grant was not there at that time, and Harry was told he might return later to compare the two sets. The offices of the executives were beautifully furnished, and Harry ,was taken around to meet all his friends. He found here the other three assistants: Suzanna Harry, Mary Creviston and Nellie Hyteng and in their offices he met Lucille Evans, Bonnie Brummet and Lucille Cook as secretaries to the officials. Close to the Capital was the Mint, which was adjoined to the Bank. Harry was not very surprised to see William Grant here, who took him into the vault and showed the store of gold money which the mint had ccine:l and the precious ores and stones which were mined, then stored at the bank until they could be disposed of. Another thing Mr. Grant showed Harry was the new kind of lock which had been put on the door of the vault and explained, that although they did not think any one would ever steal any thing, they had Delbert Ames employed and kept at the bank as a detective. Among the tellers here, Harry recognized Bertha Welch and Freda Dallas. The grounds around the buildings were very beautiful, and Harry was told that Florence Waddell was chief Landscape Gardener, assisted by Cathe- rine Lewellen as Park Commissioner. Everyone was glad to see Harry, and all those who had business were to be found wait- ing there to show him what they had done on this planet. Another building close by the Capital was the Post Office, and it, too, was thoroughly inspected with the aid- of its post- mistress, Mame Armstrong. All mail service was done by areoplane so that a small landing place was behind the building, as was charac- teristic of all the places of business. The city was very clean due to the ex- cellent work of the City Health Board, of which Lucille Manley was in charge. The business houses were placed around the circle, and Harry could not keep from admiring the beauty of the buildings and their designs. He asked who was responsible for them and was told that Florence McCoskey was chief architect, and Ralph Walden the most noted contractor. The buildings were numbered around the circle, beginning with the one next to a boulevard. The first of these stores was the Green and Gold Tea Room combined with a candy shop. Here Helen Jenkins allowed Harry to sample all of the kinds of confections that he cared tco, and some of them were very new and different from any he had eaten before, being made with native grown nuts which he had never before tasted. Strains of music came from building next door, where Harry was next taken. Here he found he could get all the latest pieces and instru- ments sold on the planet, some of them beirg different from any he had ever heard of. One was a wind instrument which blew out two tones at once, bcth the soprano and the alto of the piece being very clear, a duet was thus played with one horn. A jewelry store owned by Helen Littletcn stood near by, and in the window was a block of native metal which resembled platinum in color. On the top of it, many times enlarged, was cut the pattern of the 1925 Class Ring. Inside the shop, she showed them some of the stones and other ores of the planet, which Harry thought more beautiful than any found on the earth. Next came the shoe shop, where he found many strange styles of shoes, one of them being a high walking shoe which laced up the back. Mary Elizabeth Mallory, the owner and saleswoman, explained to Harry how shoes laced this way were better than those laced in front. She said that they better protected the ankles from turning, and