The New Atlantis: A Vision. By S. W. Hibbert.
Far is the time, remote from human sight, When war and discord on the earth shall cease: Yet every prayer for universal Peace Avails the blessed time to expedite.—H. COLERIDGE.
We were sitting on the deck of one of our great liners in mid-ocean, revelling in the beauty of a calm moonlit night at sea. The "we" consisted of three people—the Poet, the Musician, and (for want of a better title) the Appreciator — myself.
"How peaceful the scene is," I exclaimed, " the very sea would seem asleep!"
"Peace beginning to be" —quoted the Poet—
"Deep as the sleep of the sea
When the stars their faces glass
In its blue tranquillity; Hearts of all upon Earth, From the First to the Second Birth, To rest as the wild waters rest, With colours of Heaven on their breast."
The words were new to me; I was eagerly asking the names of the author and poem, and did not at first notice that the Musician had slipped away.
"Ah!" said the Poet, "he has an inspiration; let us follow him"; and we hastened after him into the saloon. There, seated at the piano, our gifted friend was soon setting the lines just quoted, with their lilt and haunting cadence, to exquisite music; a fairy air, dainty in the extreme, to a sweet, rippling accompaniment.
At his request the Poet quoted the second verse: —
"Love, which is sunlight of Peace, Age by age to increase, Till Anger and Hate are dead, And Sorrow and Death shall cease. ' Peace on Earth and Goodwill! ' Souls that are gentle and still Hear the first music of this Far-off infinite bliss!"
As I retired to rest the refrain rang in my ears. What marvel that the moonlit sea, the Poet's words, and their beautiful setting should weave a spell? I dreamt most wondrously. For lo! methought we drew near to our journey's end and gazed eagerly towards a great roadstead which gradually grew more distinct. It was full of vessels, and, as we glided amongst them, one thing astonished us— there were no men-of-war. On every hand were merchantmen, very fine vessels one and all, with the flags of nearly every nation fluttering at their mast-heads. Then we noticed that although this was evidently an important seaport and a great city, of exposed position, there were no fortifications or guns to be seen! Moreover it was strikingly beautiful, viewed as it was to great advantage from the sea, for everywhere we saw trees and greenery; it looked indeed a "Garden City"; each house, great or small, was surrounded by open ground, almost to the water's edge.
As we stepped on shore a silence fell upon the three of us, a strange and unaccountable hesitation; we did not even know the name of the land upon which we stood. At this moment a kind voice on my right greeted us with, "Good afternoon, gentlemen, I see you have just landed, and are perhaps strangers here." We turned, and saw in the speaker a gentleman of about forty years of age, with a face as kindly as the voice, and we immediately assured him that we were in the position he surmised. He continued, "My name is Alexis, at your service ; I have only been here long enough myself to be able cordially to recommend my hotel. Will you come and see it?" He summoned the hotel—I had almost said "busman"—motordriver or chauffeur would be more correct, and we were soon speeding with all the smoothness of electricity along the broad promenade to a fine building standing back from the roadway in its own grounds. Here everything was on a grand scale, the entrance-hall and reception rooms, and we feared the scale of charges would be equally magnificent
A clear statement of these in every room set our minds at rest, and after we had completed our arrangements and taken some light refreshment, we gladly accepted our new friend's offer to guide us round the city.
"This is my first visit to New Salamis," Mr. Alexis remarked, "it has long been my desire to see it. We Bostonians pride ourselves on being more interested in associations literary and historical than the majority of our New England brothers, and we sent many settlers here at one time."
"The city bears a famous name," I remarked; "you will think it strange, but I do not know what country this is."
He disguised any astonishment and said, " New Salamis was the name given to the capital of the island of Atlantis ; it is so truly sea-born Salamis 1 "
"Atlantis!" we exclaimed with one voice, "I thought Atlantis was a myth! "