A CURIOUS PLEASURE EXCURSION. 307 



comet for as many persons as will honor us with their patronage, and make an 

 extended excursion among the heavenly bodies. We shall prepare 1,000,000 state 

 rooms in the tail of the comet (with hot and cold water, gas, looking glass, 

 parachute, umbrella, etc., in each), and shall construct more if we meet with a 

 suflSciently generous encouragement. We shall have billiard rooms, card rooms, 

 music rooms, bowling alleys and many spacious theatres and free libraries; and on 

 the main deck we propose to have a driving park, with upwards of 10,000 miles of 

 roadway in it. We shall publish daily newspapers also. 



DEPARTURE OF THE COMET. 



The comet will leave New York at ten P. M. on the 20th inst., and therefore it 

 will be desirable that the passengers be on board by eight at the latest, to avoid 

 confusion in getting under way. It is not known whether passports will be necessary 

 or not, but it is deemed best that passengers provide them, and so guard against 

 all contingencies. No dogs will be allowed on board. This rule has been made 

 in deference to the existing state of feeling regarding these animals and will be 

 strictly adhered to. The safety of the passengers will in all ways be jealously 

 looked to. A substantial iron railing will be put up all around the comet, and no 

 one will be allowed to go to the edge and look over unless accompanied by either 

 my partner or myself. 



THE POSTAL SERVICE 



will be of the completest character. Of course the telegraph, and the telegraph 

 only, will be employed, consequently, friends occupying state-rooms, 20,000,000 

 and even 30,000,000 miles apart, will be able to send a message and receive a reply 

 inside of eleven days. Night messages will be half rate. The whole of this vast 

 postal system will be under the personal superintendence of Mr. Hale, of Maine. 

 Meals served at all hours. Meals served in staterooms charged extra. 



Hostility is not apprehended from any great planet, but we have thought it best 

 to err on the safe side, and therefore have provided a proper number of mortars, 

 siege guns and boarding pikes. History shows that small, isolated communities, 

 such as the people of remote islands, are prone to be hostile to strangers, and so 

 the same may be the case with 



THE INHABITANTS OF STARS 



of the tenth or twentieth magnitude. We shall in no case wantonly offend the 



