Air Wonder Stories, July 1929 — page 77: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

MEN WITH WINGS 15 For the adults there were their own friendships, their mates, their amusements. A man had a right to take the woman he loved to mate, but he was not compelled to take her for life. True many a man or woman took upon themselves a single mate for their life-time and they were happy in each other’s love and lived their full happy days knowing that with the end of the days they would have each other again. And there was the pure blue sky and the bright sun above into which one could plunge or climb to the dizzy heights, race with the birds and look abotit and survey the world as far as the eye could see. He could know that he is the happiest of all creatures on Earth because he possessed the medium to express his soul’s desire... wings... to climb with the eagle . .., to sing with the lark! Amusements they had, too, There were races run in the clearings, tournaments held in the air, pageants enacted, plays performed. There were sing-songs, games, competitive drills. There ‘were five holidays in the Mentorian calendar. One marked the birthday of Howard Mentor, their common ancestor} one for the day on which the Scotch ship had put to sea; one for the arrival in Brazil; one for the settlement of present Mentor; one for the birthday of the reigning Patriarch. On these days there were opening prayers and no work was done except such chores as were absolutely necessary. Could life be more complete anywhere else on the the globe? CHAPTER SEVEN Ready For Work OR a week I was given the freedom of the F city, J wandered down one corridor and up another; into chamber after chamber, up the steps to the jungle or down to the lower levels where were the workshops. Here men.and women worked alike, making cloth, skinning birds, pluck- ing and sorting feathers, tanning the skins, and manufacturing all kinds of necessities that were not purchased from the Outside. There were furniture shops, mechanical shops, a sugar refinery that treated the raw sugar as it came from the plan- tation. Throughout the city were many small swimming pools distributed on the third level, and here I spent a great deal of time in the cool water that was brought underground from the rivers hereabouts. The winged people were not yery good swimmers, in fact, they never went into the water to swim but rather to bathe. To wet their wings meant many hours to be spent in drying them. They kept the feathers clean with oil baths, and there were a number of chambers devoted to their care just as there were the tonsorial parlors to keep their hair and beards neatly trimmed. I visited the hospital often for Wormley was still confined and Miss Lois was usually about. She and I had become fast friends. She, I had learned, was a cousin of the Patriarch and she was a head nurse in the hospital directing the work of the nurses under her. There were a good number of doctors whom Doctor Morris trained; conducting a school for their benefit. He was kept rather busy traveling from one hospital to another in the settlements supervising the work and taking charge of the most serious cases. I learned that Mentor was equipped with the telephone system so that all the cities were linked together and there was also a radio hook-up! The Patriarch had a giant receiving set in his own quarters and often we were given musical concerts from all over the world. Almost every day new recruits were arriving in the Detention Camp some twenty-five miles beyond Mentor. I could only wonder what this would eventually bring. It seemed as if the hour had al- most struck for Mentor to announce herself to the wo In the meantime I knew that my time was grow- ing short. The usual procedure with the newcomers was to give them a few days of idleness in which to learn all they could about the nation of Mentor; then they were required to state their preference for the type of work they should like to do best, and more than a week of idleness would not be tolerated. In fact, I was anxious to be up and doing, for the enforced idleness was becoming unbearable, especially in a world where everyone was busy. It was Wormley who made a suggestion of what type of work I' could accomplish here in the city and I was directed to seek out the Patriarch for his ap- probation. I found him in his quarters which formed the hub of the city. I had to wait in an anteroom until my turn came for an audience. After an hour’s wait I was ushered into the presence. The room in which I found the Patriarch was furnished in Spartan simplicity, a table and three or four chairs were the only pieces of furniture. A grass rug covered the floor and behind the Pa- triarch’s chair was the full length portrait of a man whom I immediately judged to be Howard Mentor, a dark-visaged man with the piercing eyes of one who had spent a life-time in realizing an ambition. He was dressed in the colorful costume of the six: teenth century. The Patriarch merely nodded his head by way of recognition when I entered the chamber and he heard me through, quietly, as I outlined my plan for establishing a newspaper by which Mentor might be informed of all that took place in the various settlements and what news filtered in from the Outside. 1 rapidly explained plans for various departments and for the training of printers, re- porters, et cetera, The gimlet eyes bored me through, but somehow I felt an awe for the handsome man. I think I judged him right, for in him I saw a very human man with a deep sense of humor as well as honor. I had admired him intensely from the start and now I found I had not placed my regard im- properly. Here was a man of power who could take his place in the world among kings. After finished speaking he nodded his head slowly, and his cold hard voice spoke in his rapid emphatic way. “I expected as much from you, James Kennedy. Once a newsman always a news- man, eh?” and his eyes glittered. I grinned, “That will be all,” he shot at me. “Your sug- gestion will be considered and you will be advised as to my decision.” And I was dismissed. comnliclooolks.com