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BY THE SAME AUTHOR
The Summer School of Philosophy at Mt. Desert
The Romance of the Moon
The Last American
"Life's" Fairy Tales
Amos Judd
That First Affair
Dr. Thorne's Idea
The Pines of Lory
The Villa Claudia
The Silent War
Pandora's Box
"A FANTASTIC, SOLEMN REGION"—Page 208
DROWSY
By
John Ames Mitchell
Author of "The Last American," "Amos Judd,"
"Pines of Lory," "Pandora's Box," etc.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
ANGUS MACDONALL AND THE AUTHOR
NEW YORK
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1917, by
John Ames Mitchell
All rights reserved, including that of translation
into foreign languages
To the Reader
This is not a fairy tale.
The wonders of to-day, we are told by scientists,will be to-morrow the common things of daily life.
Wireless telegraphy, it appears, is but the crudebeginning to a deeper knowledge of the mysteriesthat surround us. Waves of thought, like waves oflight, obedient to our will, may supplant the spokenword and the written message.
And we learn that Space, the borderless abyssthrough which we move, is vibrant with electric life.But still unsolved is the mystery of the force thatholds the moon, for instance, to its orbit around theearth. And it holds it with a mightier power thanbars of steel.
If it be true that the human voice goes out intospace, on and forever, as other waves, why shouldnot a lover on a nearby planet receive the messagefrom an earthly maiden? If waves of thought keeppace with waves of light, the call of a human heartwould surely reach him.
This tale of Drowsy is the somewhat romantic narrativeof a woman and a reckless lover. An unusuallover, to be sure, with a singular inheritance; but veryhuman—and with a full equipment of human faults[vi]and virtues. While his achievements may seem to usincredible, the coming generation may regard them ascommonplace events.