ot overload your stomach." This admonition caused me to feel like a
child once more, and I was uncertain whether I ought to laugh or become
indignant over the remark. Still I fully realized the necessity of this
warning; not only for myself alone, but for the entire human race from
which I sprung. How many beings are there in the world today who would
not profit by following this advice? How many are there with sense
enough to heed it? I cannot recall to memory any person I have ever met
who had absolute control of his appetite.

"We take pleasure in living, but do not live for pleasure," continued
Arletta, as she touched an invisible spring concealed within a dainty
flower and graciously invited me to eat--or rather to breathe. And as I
inhaled the delicious fumes it seemed that the very breath of life
itself was injected into every pore of my body.

"That is enough of the soup," commented Arletta mirthfully, "now try the
roast; now the entree; and here, perhaps, a little dessert will not hurt
you; there, that is plenty; a little is strengthening but too much is
poisonous.

"You see, this process of living is very simple indeed; our chemists
merely extracted the vital parts of vegetables, herbs, cereals, fruits,
nuts, flowers, etc., and reduced them to aeriform. These artificial
flowers are arranged to conceal small tubes from which the nutriment
flows. By operating these automatic springs the substance is allowed to
escape in such quantities as is required for meals. Very simple, is it
not? Much cleaner and better than munching a piece of fat pork, don't
you think? And there are no cooks needed to prepare it, no waiters to
serve it, nor any dishes to wash afterward. Our food was arranged ready
for consumption at the great national laboratories and piped directly to
the people, to use as they pleased."

"It is all very wonderful," exclaimed I, looking up to Arletta as if she
were the goddess of life itself, "but there is one thing in particular I
am anxious to know and that is: what causes daylight here when darkness
prevails on the outside of this building?"

"Very simple," explained she, "about a thousand years before the great
catastrophe our scientists discovered a method whereby they could store
up the rays of the sun for light, heat and power, and after much
experimenting they found that they could mix these rays with other
ingredients into solid substances. The light you observed in the hallway
before enter