Ralph L. Goodrich Composition
Ralph Leland Goodrich, younger brother of
Augusta Goodrich, wrote the following composition while a teenager in Tioga
County, New York. It is speculated that the popularity of aeronautical travel in
the mid-nineteenth century sparked the imagination of schoolboys like Ralph who
dared to dream about venturing beyond the earth's atmosphere. This composition
was written eleven years before Jules Verne published his book, From the
Earth to the Moon.
A Visit to the
Moon
Ralph L. Goodrich
November 4, 1854
Many years ago when I was in
the prime of life and health bloomed upon my cheeks, before old age had begun to
silver my head with his cold touch, and had bowed my frame with the weight of
years, and had changed the elastic step of youth into a dull heavy tread, the
love of adventure took possession of my soul. I was not contented with my lot
below; my sleep was troubled with harried and frightful dreams. In this state of
mind, I resolved to explore the unknown regions of the north alone.
In the dreams which nightly
racked my mind was presented a model of an air ship, which could go to any
height whatever, and at any desired speed. I awoke in the morning with the dream
fresh in my mind. I immediately began to build one, though it would take years
to accomplish it for the materials at that time were unknown. At last after the
length of ten long years, my machine was completed and I was ready to explore
the cold regions of the north.
Well do I remember the time
when I launched that singular machine and the thoughts that came into my mind
that made my blood run cold. I took the dead of night, when the moon was shining
with all her brightness for beginning the long journey. I resolved to rise far
up into the air where no obstruction would be presented to my course, but my
machine was not destined to be bound to the earth; it rose up with almost
lightening speed. On! On! it rose into the broad vault of heaven. I cast one
look to the earth but nothing could be seen.
At length I fell insensibly
into the arms of slumber. I was awakened by loud reports – like the thundering
of cannon – and I beheld black clouds around. I looked down but nothing
greeted my gaze but bleak and cold barrenness. My machine slowly descended and
suddenly stopped upon a towering rock. I leaped to the ground but I soon found
to my great horror that the place had not the appearance of the earth. Volcanoes
were blazing all around. Everything appeared dark and dismal. I beheld in the
sky a large body many times larger than the moon. I descended into the valley
and not far from me I beheld coming down a hill a figure which had a head of a
man and the body of a goat. I approached him and he proved to be the king of the
shepperds. From him I learned my whereabouts. I was on the moon.
He gave me the history of the
inhabitants and their manners. He showed me all the great wonders of his
dominion. His dominion extended over one tenth of the moon and there were nine
kings besides him. All were of a different nature, and their subjects too were
of all kinds and species. The names of the different chiefs of his dominion
caused me very much amusement, particularly one whose name was Obadiah
Picklehead Snooks. After going to bed in his palace – or rather his deep cave
– which was continually lighted with lamps that never went out, he took me to
see the curiosities of the palace. Many years before a war had broken out
between him and a neighboring nation. There were eleven in all. At last he
overpowered them and he then began the process of annihilating them. This was
done by covering them with a black substance resembling tar and placing them in
the crater of one of the burning volcanoes, which blew them so far that they
never came back again. The meteoric stones which had fallen to the earth, he
said, were pieces of them. I remember the name of one mountain which was Tychs.
Not a tree was to be seen; nothing but stones and gigantic rocks. Here wild
animals sported of all descriptions. Here might be seen an animal something like
a mouse running up a steep hill with a native upon his back.
After I had seen the wonders,
he took me to a distant relative of his on the other side. Our conveyance was a
stone chariot drawn by a train of animals resembling monkies – so long that I
never got a glimpse of the leaders. The other side was very different from the
first. Instead of blazing volcanoes, mountains and rocks, there were pleasant
vallies and meandering streams. Everything was far more beautiful than the
scenes of earth. It was not lighted by the sun as the other side but the
constant blaze of the volcanoes on the other side shining through openings made
it always light.
Far into the interior was a
vast ocean whose waters were dark as night and were always beating and lashing
the shore. Those who wished for the happy land of Beulah – for that was their
heaven – must first pass through its watery depths. I had always thought that
there was no order in the moon, but in that I was mistaken. They enjoyed a purer
happiness than the people upon the earth. Everyone would go to the land of
peace. There was no hell for them. There was no death. They were translated from
their happy region into a place still more beautiful where joy was endless and
sorrow was unknown. They wished me to stay with them, but friends on the earth
were dear to me, and I wished to return. How long I remained there I do not
know, for time wheeled imperceptibly away. At last I bade them adieu and took my
mysterious machine, which had remained where I had left it, and I soon safely
landed upon the earth.
[When I returned, I found
that] the home of my boyhood days was crumbling to the ground. Though time had
not made visible traces upon the moon, yet it had upon the face of the earth.
All my friends had long since passed away. I learned a lesson which sunk deep
into my heart: wisdom by experience. I wandered from my home and nearly my whole
life was spent in pleasure and frivolity, and now old age is upon me and I must
sink unpitied into the cold tomb – all the result of presumptive folly.
An image from Verne's 1865 book
Space travelers experiencing weightlessness
[click on picture for enlargement]
