[Illustration: EDWARD BELLAMY.]
by
Edward Bellamy
Author ofLooking Backward, Dr. Heidenhoff's Process, Miss Ludington's Sister, etc.
Second Edition
Looking Backward was a small book, and I was not able to get into it allI wished to say on the subject. Since it was published what was left outof it has loomed up as so much more important than what it contained thatI have been constrained to write another book. I have taken the date ofLooking Backward, the year 2000, as that of Equality, and have utilizedthe framework of the former story as a starting point for this which Inow offer. In order that those who have not read Looking Backward may beat no disadvantage, an outline of the essential features of that story issubjoined:
In the year 1887 Julian West was a rich young man living in Boston. Hewas soon to be married to a young lady of wealthy family named EdithBartlett, and meanwhile lived alone with his man-servant Sawyer in thefamily mansion. Being a sufferer from insomnia, he had caused a chamberto be built of stone beneath the foundation of the house, which he usedfor a sleeping room. When even the silence and seclusion of this retreatfailed to bring slumber, he sometimes called in a professional mesmerizerto put him into a hypnotic sleep, from which Sawyer knew how to arousehim at a fixed time. This habit, as well as the existence of theunderground chamber, were secrets known only to Sawyer and the hypnotistwho rendered his services. On the night of May 30, 1887, West sent forthe latter, and was put to sleep as usual. The hypnotist had previouslyinformed his patron that he was intending to leave the city permanentlythe same evening, and referred him to other practitioners. That night thehouse of Julian West took fire and was wholly destroyed. Remainsidentified as those of Sawyer were found and, though no vestige of Westappeared, it was assumed that he of course had also perished.
One hundred and thirteen years later, in September, A. D. 2000, Dr.Leete, a physician of Boston, on the retired list, was conductingexcavations in his garden for the foundations of a private laboratory,when the workers came on a mass of masonry covered with ashes andcharcoal. On opening it, a vault, luxuriously fitted up in the style of anineteenth-century bedchamber, was found, and on the bed the body of ayoung man looking as if he had just lain down to sleep. Although greattrees had been growing above the vault, the unaccountable preservation ofthe youth's body tempted Dr. Leete to attempt resuscitation, and to hisown astonishment his efforts proved successful. The sleeper returned tolife, and after a short time to the full vigor of youth which hisappearance had indicated. His shock on learning what had befallen him wasso great as to have endangered his sanity but for the medical skill ofDr. Leete, and the not less sympathetic ministrations of the othermembers of the household, the doctor's wife, and Edith the beautifuldaughter. Presently, however, the young man forgot to wonder at what hadhappened to himself in his astonishment on learning of the socialtransformation through which the world had passed while he lay sleeping.Step by step, almost as to a child, his hosts explained to him, who hadknown no other way of living except the struggle for existence, what werethe simple principles of national co-operation for the promotion of thegeneral welfare on which the new civilization rested. He learned thatthere were no longer any who were or could be richer or poorer thanothers, but that all were economic equals. He learned that no one anylonger worked for another, either by compulsion or for hire, but that