few more or less?_
_Here and Nowhere plus_
_Whence and Why makes Thus._
_Let these things be._
_There's room in the world for them and us._

_Nothing is,_
_Out in the vast immensities_
_Where these things flit,_
_Irrequisite_
_In a minor key_
_To the tune of the sempiternal It._

SPIRIT IRONIC.

_The curious thing about them is that some_
_Have lesser parasites adherent to them--_
_Bipedular and quadrupedular_
_Infinitesimals. On close survey_
_You see these movesome. Do you not recall,_
_We once went in a party and beheld_
_All manner of absurd things happening_
_On one of those same--planets, don't you call them?_

SPIRIT OF THE YEARS (screwing up his eyes at the Solar System).

_One of that very swarm it was, if I mistake not._
_It had a parasite that called itself_
_Napoleon. And lately, I believe,_
_Another parasite has had the impudence_
_To publish an elaborate account_
_Of our (for so we deemed it) private visit._

SPIRIT SINISTER.

_His name?_

RECORDING ANGEL.

_One moment._

(Turns over leaves.)

_Hardy, Mr. Thomas,_
_Novelist. Author of "The Woodlanders,"_
_"Far from the Madding Crowd," "The Trumpet Major,"_
_"Tess of the D'Urbervilles," etcetera,_
_Etcetera. In 1895_
_"Jude the Obscure" was published, and a few_
_Hasty reviewers, having to supply_
_A column for the day of publication,_
_Filled out their space by saying that there were_
_Several passages that might have been_
_Omitted with advantage. Mr. Hardy_
_Saw that if that was so, well then, of course,_
_Obviously the only thing to do_
_Was to write no more novels, and forthwith_
_Applied himself to drama, and to Us._

SPIRIT IRONIC.

_Let us hear what he said about Us._

THE OTHER SPIRITS.

_Let's._

RECORDING ANGEL (raising receiver of aerial telephone).

_3 oh 4 oh oh 3 5, Space.... Hulloa._
_Is that the Superstellar Library?_
_I'm the Recording Angel. Kindly send me_
_By Spirit-Messenger a copy of_
_"The Dynasts" by T. Hardy. Thank you._

A pause. Enter Spirit-Messenger, with copy of "The Dynasts."

_Thanks._

Exit Spirit-Messenger. The Recording Angel reads "The Dynasts"
aloud.

Just as the reading draws to a close, enter the Spirit of Mr.
Clement Shorter and Chorus of Subtershorters. They are visible
as small grey transparencies swiftly inte