ulous performance of
filling the mouth with smoke merely to blow it out again, is another
dangerous obstacle thrown in the path of good health. It seems strange
that the Apeman cannot open his eyes wide enough to see the danger as
well as the absurdity of these silly customs which sap his strength and
leave him in a state of abject weakness. What a pity he cannot exert
enough will power to overcome these stupid and harmful practices.

"If you want to use your faculties when you are old, exercise them
properly when you are young. Improve yourself and you make better the
world."

CHAPTER XX

"Sageland, previous to the catastrophe," resumed Arletta, "was a small
oblong continent surrounded by what are now known as the Indian and
South Atlantic Oceans. It ran from north-east to southwest. Its extreme
length was nine hundred and twenty-eight miles and its greatest width
was three hundred and ninety-six miles. There were a little over thirty
million inhabitants in the land.

"Unlike the different countries of the present time, there were no large
cities in Sageland. The population was scattered over the entire surface
of the country at intervals and was domiciled in two distinct ways,
namely: the rural form of dwelling, in which a single family occupied a
separate house for its own private use, and the borough settlements,
whereby several thousand persons lived together under one roof.

"The great structures known as borough buildings covered about a square
mile of land each, and were from fifty to eighty stories in height. They
were very artistically designed, most luxuriously furnished and the
sanitary arrangements absolutely perfect. They contained, besides a
private room for each individual, public reception rooms, libraries,
music halls, theatres, gymnasiums, baths, etc. No person was allowed
more than one room for private use, but a family could have a suite of
apartments in proportion to its own number. The reception rooms, music
halls, theatres, libraries, gymnasiums, baths, etc., were entirely
public and all persons were at liberty to come or go as they pleased.
The room in which you are now seated was my own private apartment in a
borough building which was occupied by seven thousand people.

"I have already explained the method whereby we received our sustenance,
the different aeriform substances being piped directly from the
laboratories to the consumers' personal apartments, thus obviating the
necessity fo