VI

BEFORE NOON WE REACH THE VIADUCT OF TINDLE

Continuing our journey we spend a night lodging at a Solar Cart Inn adjacent to the highway. We are much disturbed by traffic noise in addition to which the fragility of the walls allowing my room to be filled with the snores of other travellers. Having taken an early break-of-fast we rejoin our northward route but suffer much delay, sections of The Solar Cart Way, many leagues in length, holed and impassable due to works of reconstruction. Just before noon we reach The Viaduct of Tindle.

THE TRAVELLER. Midway across the great viaduct spanning the Valley of Tindle, Albert halted our Solar Cart on the shoulder of the highway. Alighting and looking over the parapet he thrust his nose into the teeth of the wind and breathing deeply filled his lungs with the crystal air.

ALBERT. “Time was you could scent the noxious fumes belching upwards and drifting from this place more than twenty leagues or more before you reached it. Now no finer ozone could be found even atop a high mountain pass. I bid you Sir, that yourself alight and looking over both sides of this bridge tell me what you do observe?”

THE TRAVELLER. I followed his instructions and looking down to the left and to the right saw level open spaces reaching so far as the eye could discern. Patches of wild flowers lending colour amongst heaps of broken stones. A scattering of domestic dwelling places along the outer edge of the valley. In the greater space to the middle, rough patches of ground hinted that buildings might have stood there in some time past. The remnants of large stone structures could be perceived, foundation walls showing a course or two of masonry above the mass of natural vegetation. What remained of an overlapping network of cobbled roads could be sighted in outline though much overgrown with weeds and grasses.

ALBERT. “Had we a machine that could travel back through time, we could have looked from this very vantage point and have been hard put to see the sky. Great clouds of smoke belching out from hundreds of chimney-stacks. Red-stained vapours exhaled from the lungs of manufacture rising upwards like the pathways trod by demons. Ever present crash and racket of forge and workshop. Great Solar Carts constructed from iron and steel trundling between the high-sided mills. Men grimed with the residue of toil. Everything covered with layer upon layer of grease and soot. You will recall my mention that it was considered expedient to alter the nature of industry and direct the enterprise of the people to a different mode of employment. On this spot manufacture touched finger tips with nemesis. Tis a true saying that all things contain the seeds of their own destruction. The Great Serpents of Prehistory. The Empire of the Romans. The Tartar Rule of the Asian Plains. Was but a trifle to plant an aggressive germ of putrefaction in amongst the multifarious activities this valley concerned itself with and by this means assist on to greater haste what is in truth a natural process. There were those who would have attempted to stem the inevitable tides of change. Deviation from the ordained order of things comes hard to some. There are always those who would resist alteration and have things continue long after obvious redundancy has become apparent to all men of good sense. Tis not advantageous to assist that which is doomed.”

Only the weak succour the weak.

The Minikin Blue Book. Saw VIII

THE TRAVELLER. Digesting this sober thought we clambered back aboard our transport. Albert started the Solar Cart into motion and directed the steering-bar towards a by-road that led directly through the valley head and thence to the town beyond.

There was little if any other wheeled traffic except a few people pushing wretched home-made wheelbarrows piled high with scraps and rags and small pieces of sea-coal. By the roadside, unmetalled pedestrian-ways, broken with at intervals with grimy water filled puddles, were overflowing with of that class of persons I had observed during my first day in Herttach. Multitudes carrying small canvas bags, moving sombrely between Hurry Stations. Men and women spanning ages from youth to decrepitude. One might of inferred that perhaps almost the entire population of this wretched town was in forced motion, forming lines, waiting silently to collect their tokens.

Much of the outer reaches of the city were given over to small houses grouped close together drab and neglected, set on land open to the elements, their rude brick, multi-storied construction unsoftened by trees or gardens. A decrepit gate swung in the bitter wind. Some meagre lines of threadbare washing flapped disconsolately in the wind.

Presently we reached the centre of the town and rolled down the main thoroughfare. Fragments of rag and paper blew over the cobbles. Shops there were, but all appeared forlorn. Former places of trade and commerce were abandoned, their shutters closed with an air of permanence. Here and there a woman in shabby-dress, with whicker baskets in their hands, trudged the pavements. Others with a small child or two dawdling behind in the manner of infants everywhere. On one corner a knot of young boys stood exchanging subdued conversation sharing a single stick of tobacco. Of able-bodied men of working age I saw but few. Most I assumed would be out collecting the set of coloured tokens needed for that day so to receive their bread. I was overcome by a sense that in this place, hope, was a scarce commodity.

ALBERT. Seemingly impervious to the scene was about him, but perhaps feeling the vibrating-chord of mine own reaction, remarked “Transition is a natural though sometime painful process. Just as the skies above change from grey to blue. The days to night. The Stars flare and die. Gentle winds become gales. Mankind’s activities find no excuse to be sheltered from the natural order of change, decay, and improving resurgence.”

THE TRAVELLER. “Where is the necessity!” I burst out with an anger in my voice I was unable to conceal “Once, by your own admission, this town was a place of productive industry. Why not now? Surely the world will always be in need of the products of forge and furnace?”

ALBERT. “Then let others in the world provision that need,” He answered. “Within Herttach swe have skill and expertise in all manner of fiscal transactions. Our Capital for centuries past a trading centre for coin, previous metals and stones, and all manner of precious inorganic commodities. Our daily bread can be earned by means of commissions. The insuring of risk. The handling of Bills of Exchange. Letters of Credit. That multiplicity of other financial instruments and unseen trading.”

THE TRAVELLER. This I well understood in principle. But wondered aloud how could such activity employ all citizens of working age. Could a former blacksmith be put to work in a counting house? A carpenter transformed into a clerk?

ALBERT. “Tis our expectation Sir that those persons to whom you refer will in due course all be gainfully employed in rendering service in all kinds of tasks. Tending the wants of people in need of assistance, travellers such as yourself, who in ever increasing numbers visit our shores. Providing services to other citizens, who in turn, also provide services to yet other citizens. Services, the substance of which you shall very soon have the opportunity to observe.”

THE TRAVELLER. Near to the centre of the town we halted outside of a high gaunt building that was devoid of pleasing features. To the front, a yard protected by a high wall. Uncleaned window-panes uneasily supported by decaying and unpainted window-frames admitted some light to the interior of the building. There was no sight of any plant or living growth whose green and cheerful colours might perhaps have gone some way to mitigate the unbroken gloom of aspect. Albert indicated that we should alight and walk across the cobbled-yard where we were received by a man, who though short in stature, was broad in smile. He shook our respective hands with vigour. Albert introduced him to me as the official responsible for implanting new skills within the members of the local population. Born in the South of Herttach, I discovered Albert and he had been school fellows. They reminisced a while about personal matters to which I was not privy, Emblazoned upon the wall above us:

Put down thy hammer and take up brush and napkin. Fulfilment comes from serving others.

The Mnikin Blue Book. Saw VIII

Leading us down a maze of grimy corridors, which I could not but help comparing in the eye-of-my-mind with those we had trod during our recent visit to The Great School we eventually came upon a stout door which was wrenched open and we entered a bleak lecture theatre where a great congregation of men, who formerly employed in the business of the smelting of metals, were now being instructed in the art of waiting on the tables of public dining-rooms, the making of beds, the scouring of pots and pans. Taking me aside, I was assured by our guide that in due time it was hoped most would find employment at stopping-places and inns. Hurrying on to elsewhere in the building we looked in on another room this one filled with former blacksmiths, they being adept, were now learning the art of assembling small gifts and trifles. Plaster Windmills. Wishing Wells. Pleasing animals modelled with clay and inscribed with the legend A Gift from Herttach these being in demand, I was informed, to sell in the great cities of Herttach. Craftsmen who after long apprenticeship had mastered the art of wheel making for Solar Carts, were now being instructed in the modes of guarding private property. Former millwrights laboured to develop the skills required to iron fine-linen shirt collars. Men who had in previous employ been lead smiths, made paper flowers for use at carnivals. Men, beneath the skin of whose knuckles was lodged the dust of coal, giving witness to having spent long hours in dank mine shafts, rolled dough on large wooden tables to assist the endeavours of pastry cooks. How, I asked The Controller, for that was official title, were these new modes of employment considered by those receiving such instruction?”

THE CONTROLLER. Taking me aside and thus speaking out of earshot of those of his charges gathered nearby. “I confess a stubborn face can be seen on some of those here assembled,” he explained with frankness. “Often do we demonstrate to them the singular advantages of these new forms of employment, both for the individual and the general good. Make pertinent observation as to rise and fall of all things and the necessity to adapt to circumstance, so they might gain some understanding of the mechanisms that precipitate such fluctuations.”

THE TRAVELLER. Cognizant that monetary reward is not the sole reason why men work, nevertheless, for those who do toil for wages it is of paramount consideration. I was therefore anxious to learn how the application of these new skills compared in terms of remuneration when compared with previous occupations?”

ALBERT. Suggested obliquely that given time some kind of parity might be achieved, and then deflecting the question added brightly “This is the first institute in this locality founded to impart new skills and as such is the model for a host of others, even now being established, to emulate.”

THE TRAVELLER. I inquired what number of people could accommodate at one time.

THE CONTROLLER. Consulting a small notebook he carried “More than seven hundred persons are inducted here at this time. Though it is our intent and that of authority to provide room for many more.”

THE TRAVELLER. If it were the case that there was no place for a man to attend should he desire to do so, in what circumstances would he find himself. The Institute was large, but surely admitting the entire population of the town during one period of time must be an impossibility.

THE CONTROLLER. Replied almost as an afterthought Hurry Stations will usefully fill time until they are called to attend.”

THE TRAVELLER. My travels had lead me to the opinion that of all the gifts that can be bestowed on man, the freedom to choose was of singular importance. Choice, the option to accept, or reject, is a quality, the exercise of which, raises men above the beasts of the field. What of choice. Was there the freedom to choose.?

THE CONTROLLER. “Choice. Look above you and read the text taken from The Minikin Blue Book hanging proudly on that near wall, inscribed on parchment and mounted in a frame, the expense of had been defrayed by popular subscription.

Choice is the prerogative of those with means.

The Mnikin Blue Book. Saw IX

THE TRAVELLER. To this I could not answer. Much distressed by what I had witnessed in this place, I could only state frankly what was in my thoughts, that men who in previous employment had exercised skills hard won from their earliest years, must see dignity jettisoned along with the secrets of crafts whose utilization was now devoid of gainful application.

ALBERT. “Dignity Sir.”

Dignity bestows in direct proportion to the size of pocket-book.

The Mnikin Blue Book. Saw VIIII

THE TRAVELLER. Feeling an urgent need to leave this place, I was relieved when at last The Controller, after proudly showing other instruction rooms, devoted, in my opinion at least, to the degradation of previously proud and skilful men, led us back to the main entrance-hall, where he bade us adieu with a lightness of manner that appeared misaligned to his surroundings. We made our departure, The Controller returning to continue to oversee the instruction of those within. Albert and myself crossed the yard, mounted our Solar Cart and driving off detoured the town to reach the main highway, a route along which I attempted to avert my gaze from the sad lines waiting outside of Hurry Stations, not out of consideration for myself, but for their plight.