Читать книгу The Crystal Button - Chauncey Thomas - Страница 15

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"Mr. Prognosis, before descending to the earth, where you will find we are quite as practical in most matters, if not as prosaic, as the most matter-of-fact mind of the nineteenth century could desire, I hope you will try and take in a general view of the grand panorama of the city and its suburbs that now lies spread before you. Your eyes will soon become accustomed to the distances."

"But I feel too giddy to look down."

"Let us then look afar at first. There to the east glitters the bay; and here you can follow the windings of the rivers that pour into it, each dotted with sailless craft and crossed by a network of bridges, especially the great river to the west. The most famous of the bridges, known as 'The Old Bridge,' is very clearly visible directly to the north. It belongs to the same period as this Peace Tower; and, like it, contains a display of statuary that is certain to give you pleasurable surprise. Just across it you see our two far-famed Pyramids--please don't question about them now, for you shall examine them later. To the northwest the most prominent object is Mount Energy, with its accompaniment of the Solar Steam-Works; and to the north you can see the chief scene of my labors, Meridian Observatory. I know that you bristle with questions, but please be a little patient, and you shall have an opportunity to inspect all these wonder works in detail. In the valley below us, which blazes as if by the reflection of a lake in noon sunshine, is our far-famed Sun Palace--"

"Excuse me, but I must interrupt with just one question! These cloud shadows that now and then pass us, are they clouds, or huge birds, or balloons of some kind?"

"They are air-ships. You shall inspect them too, and make an experimental voyage in one, if you like. But let us first complete our bird's-eye view. I think now that you will be able to look below without discomfort, and perhaps you will prefer to study the nearer aspect of the city without comments from me."

Paul gazed down, and gradually absorbed the more prominent features of the animated picture at his feet. He saw that the eight avenues radiating from the Peace Square were all extremely wide; and he now noticed that, extending along the centre of each, were open archways revealing a subway, in which he could see lines of moving railway cars. At the crossings, the underground streets were covered by the bridge-like structure which evidently composed the surface avenue through its entire length. Each avenue was two-storied.

"What," asked Paul, "is the purpose of the tall masts that I see scattered so thickly through the city? It cannot be that you permit telegraph and other wires to be strung overhead?"

"Certainly not! The subway gives ample and safe accommodation for all wires and pipes. These masts are simply supports for electric suns by which we convert darkness into day, so that midnight and noon are scarcely to be distinguished in Tone. I believe, in your time, that you were just beginning to discover the usefulness of electricity as an illuminator and motive force."

"Yes, but we found it expensive to produce, impossible to store, and, at times, as unmanageable as a young lion."

"We have now domesticated it. It took many centuries to gain a complete knowledge of its laws, but we now look upon these as simple enough, and we handle it with perfect safety. As to expense, we catch it direct from the sun's rays and from the winds and waves. You will easily comprehend the details when you visit Mount Energy, that monster pile to the northwest with a cap of white, like a snow-covered hill."

"Your buildings--how few, yet how vast they are!"

"Yes; each covers an entire square or block."

"And, viewed from this point, each seems to taper like a pyramid."

"That is the form of construction we have adopted as most convenient."

"But it would seem to be wasteful of space."

"Not when you consider that the centre areas are now entirely covered, excepting the necessary air and light shafts. We simply transfer the space you practically wasted as areas, to the facades to our buildings, thereby affording a much larger surface for the play of air and direct sunlight, although the structures themselves are two, three, and four times as high as you thought it safe to pile them. At the same time, the streets are likewise left open to sunshine and air. You will readily understand that, with vertical buildings of such height as these, our streets would otherwise be converted into sunless alleyways. Convenience and safety of entrance are also secured by this method of construction; and, by allowing a little strip of garden along the successive terraces, we convert each building in summer time into a green and blossoming hill. But this is one of the subjects that you will better understand when you come to examine the two great prototypes of this class of buildings, which I pointed out to you as the 'Pyramids.' They were the happy thought of a master-architect who lived many centuries ago, and who designed them with special reference to the needs of mechanics and others having small incomes. Land in the cities had become so valuable that small houses were no longer practicable, even for the comparatively wealthy; and tenement houses became dangerously tall, and unhealthily sunless and ill-ventilated. The change in construction he advocated was so radical that it met with much ridicule, until submitted to practical test on a grand scale in the 'Pyramids'; but the result of that test was strikingly successful in every respect, and proved conclusively that the designer's claim of maximum comfort and health combined with minimum expense for rent and maintenance was as firmly founded as his broad-based structures. Although each one, in its accommodations, represented a good-sized city, both were speedily filled with occupants, and leases have been greatly valued ever since."

"The expense of building must have been vast."

"Yes, the first expense was; but when you remember that they have now stood for many centuries, and are still in perfectly good condition to serve for as many centuries more, you will understand that this investment by the municipality has proved highly advantageous. We learned by your experience that it doesn't pay to build, merely to tear down and build again. The spirit of iconoclasm has been well-nigh rooted out. We build to stand--our legal, as well as our stone-and-mortar structures."

"In spite of this desirable solidity of which you speak, I find a suggestion of singular lightness and cheerfulness in your architecture."

"Yes; and you will find that this is largely produced by the extensive use of glass and of gilded and silvered ornaments. We seek the free distribution of sunlight in every possible manner, and whatever can admit or reflect sunshine is gladly introduced in our buildings. The vines and shrubbery and bay-windows on the terraces also help to break the long cornice lines, and give lightness in effect as well as variety."

"I shall now," said Paul, "be particularly interested in examining your underground world and the construction of those two-story streets; for I was formerly employed by a railway company, and the question of safe passage through thickly populated districts was always a perplexing one."

"Let us then return to the lower world. You see, here we have another moving platform that will speedily transfer us to the street without any exertion on our part. See, the long procession of statues seems to clamber behind us as we make our circling descent; and here we are again, safely deposited in the public square."