ugh the floor. For Mr.
Smith, being above all a practical man; has reduced the problem of
existence to its simplest terms. For him, instead of the endless suites
of apartments of the olden time, one room fitted with ingenious
mechanical contrivances is enough. Here he sleeps, takes his meals, in
short, lives.

He seats himself. In the mirror of the phonotelephote is seen the same
chamber at Paris which appeared in it this morning. A table furnished
forth is likewise in readiness here, for notwithstanding the difference
of hours, Mr. Smith and his wife have arranged to take their meals
simultaneously. It is delightful thus to take breakfast _tete-a-tete_
with one who is 3000 miles or so away. Just now, Mrs. Smith's chamber
has no occupant.

"She is late! Woman's punctuality! Progress everywhere except there!"
muttered Mr. Smith as he turned the tap for the first dish. For like all
wealthy folk in our day, Mr. Smith has done away with the domestic
kitchen and is a subscriber to the Grand Alimentation Company, which
sends through a great network of tubes to subscribers' residences all
sorts of dishes, as a varied assortment is always in readiness. A
subscription costs money, to be sure, but the _cuisine_ is of the best,
and the system has this advantage, that it, does away with the pestering
race of the _cordons-bleus_. Mr. Smith received and ate, all alone, the
_hors-d'oeuvre, entrees, roti_ and _legumes_ that constituted the
repast. He was just finishing the dessert when Mrs. Smith appeared in
the mirror of the telephote.

"Why, where have you been?" asked Mr. Smith through the telephone.

"What! You are already at the dessert? Then I am late," she exclaimed,
with a winsome _naivete_. "Where have I been, you ask? Why, at my
dress-maker's. The hats are just lovely this season! I suppose I forgot
to note the time, and so am a little late."

"Yes, a little," growled Mr. Smith; "so little that I have already
quite finished breakfast. Excuse me if I leave you now, but I must be
going."

"O certainly, my dear; good-by till evening."

Smith stepped into his air-coach, which was in waiting for him at a
window. "Where do you wish to go, sir?" inquired the coachman.

"Let me see; I have three hours," Mr. Smith mused. "Jack, take me to my
accumulator works at Niagara."

For Mr. Smith has obtained a lease of the great falls of Niagara. For
ages the energy developed by the falls went unutilized. Smith, applying
Jackson's