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Title of Story
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A Courtship of the Future. A Provision of A. D. 2876.
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Attributed Author
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Stevens, J. Brunton
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Year For Sorting
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1875
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Future Year Set
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2876
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Story Summary
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A satirical love poem
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Critical Introduction
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This satirical love poem set in the far future, where relationships are cemented through the mutual transfusion of blood, while not exactly the kind of text relevant to this research, has the distinction of featuring the first use (so far discovered) of the term 'alien life' to mean something other than human, although it later confirms it is human, though not the human that the poet expected to be feeling within his blood.
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Science
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Immunohematology
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Inventions
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A machine that mutually transfuses blood between lovers.
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Science Fiction Subgenres
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Space Opera
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Similar Science Fiction
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2018 X-Files Episode Nothing Lasts Forever where people were surgically attaching themselves to each other to share blood and stay young.
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How this Story was Identified
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Searching for the term "alien life" in Trove to find evidence for the theory that Bernard Cronin was the first to use "alien life" to mean extraterrestrial life in a science fiction story in 1928.
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KeyClouds
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alien life
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Date Details Added to IA
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April 2026
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Single or Serialised
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Single
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First Published Date of Last Installment
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1875-12-30
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Date Range
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1875-12-30-1875-12-30
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Number of Installments
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One
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Complete or Supplemented
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Complete
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Estimated Word Count
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500
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Length
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Poetry
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Newspaper Name Location Years
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Melbourne Punch (VIC. 1855-1900)
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Location Town City
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Melbourne
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Location State Territory
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Victoria
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Provincial or Metro
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Metro
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First Republished on InfiniteAnthologies.com
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Yes
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Language
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English
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Content Advisory
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These items are historical texts digitised from their original publication, and reflects the social attitudes, cultural values, and language of the time in which they were created. Some content may include depictions or references that are racist, sexist, ableist, colonialist, or otherwise offensive by contemporary standards. This material is presented uncensored for scholarly, archival, and educational purposes. It serves as a record of past cultural attitudes and is preserved here to support critical engagement, historical reflection, and the advancement of inclusive scholarship. Reader discretion is advised.
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OCR from TBC and Trove
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THE COURTSHIP OF THE FUTURE.
A PREVISION OF A.D. 2876.
BY J. BRUNTON STEPHENS.
HE.
"WHAT was a kiss?"—Why, long ago, When pairs (as we) a-wooing sat, They used to put their four lips—so, And make a chirping noise, like—that. And, strange to say, the fools were pleased; A little went a long way then; A cheek lip-grazed, a finger squeezed, Was rapture to those ancient men. Ah, not for us the timid course Of those old-fashioned bill-and-cooers! One unit of our psychic force Had squelched a thousand antique wooers. For us the god his chalice dips In fountains fiercer, deeper, dearer, Than purling confluence of lips, That meet, but bring the souls no nearer. Well, 'twas but poverty at worst; Poor beggars, how could they be choosers? Not yet upon the world had burst Our patent Mutual Blood-Transfusers. Not yet had science caught the clue To joy self-doubling, -squaring, -cubing; Nor learnt to draw the whole soul through A yard of gutta-percha tubing. Come, Lulu, bare the pearly arm;— Now where the subtle blue shows keenest I hang the duplex snake-like charm, (The latest by a new machinist); And see, in turn, above my wrist I fix the blood-compelling conduits, Ah, this is what the old world missed, For all the lore of all its pundits. I turn the tap, I touch the spring— Hush, Lulu, hush, our lives are blending. (This Painless Puncture's quite the thing, And very well worth recommending). Oh, circuit of commingling bliss! Oh, joy of mutual circulation!
True love alone can merge like this In one continuous pulsation! Your swift life thrills me through and through : I would not call the Queen my mother. Now you are I, and I am you, And each of us is one another. Reciprocally influent The wedded love-tide flows between us: Ah, this is what th' old fables meant— For surely, love, our love is venous! Now, now, your inmost life I know, How nobler far than mine and grander; For through my breast your feelings flow, And through my brain your thoughts meander. I feel a rush of high desires With sweet domestic uses blending, As now I think of angel choirs And now of stockings heaped for mending. And, lo! myself! in light enshrined, An aureole my hat replacing! Then amorous yearnings half-defined, With prudish scruples interlacing. Now dreamlike floats a snowy veil; And—heavens above us! what a trousseau! Come, Lulu, read me tale for tale; I'll keep transfusing till you do so. SHE. Oh, love, this never can be you! The stream flows turbid, melancholic; And heavy vapours dull me through, Dashed with a something alcoholic. The elective forces shrink apart; No answering raptures thrill and quicken; Strange feelings curdle at my heart, And in my brain vile memories thicken. I feel an alien life in mine! It isn't I! It isn't you, sir! This is the mood of Caroline! Oh, don't tell me! I know the brew, sir! Nay, nay; it isn't "the machine." This isn't you! This isn't I, sir! It's the old story—you have been Transfusing elsewhere on the sly, sir.
