," I responded, "I really think
that the complete absence of chimneys and their smoke is the detail
that first impressed me."

"Ah!" ejaculated my companion with an air of much interest, "I had
forgotten the chimneys, it is so long since they went out of use. It
is nearly a century since the crude method of combustion on which you
depended for heat became obsolete."

"In general," I said, "what impresses me most about the city is the
material prosperity on the part of the people which its magnificence
implies."

"I would give a great deal for just one glimpse of the Boston of your
day," replied Dr. Leete. "No doubt, as you imply, the cities of that
period were rather shabby affairs. If you had the taste to make them
splendid, which I would not be so rude as to question, the general
poverty resulting from your extraordinary industrial system would not
have given you the means. Moreover, the excessive individualism which
then prevailed was inconsistent with much public spirit. What little
wealth you had seems almost wholly to have been lavished in private
luxury. Nowadays, on the contrary, there is no destination of the
surplus wealth so popular as the adornment of the city, which all
enjoy in equal degree."

The sun had been setting as we returned to the house-top, and as we
talked night descended upon the city.

"It is growing dark," said Dr. Leete. "Let us descend into the house;
I want to introduce my wife and daughter to you."

His words recalled to me the feminine voices which I had heard
whispering about me as I was coming back to conscious life; and, most
curious to learn what the ladies of the year 2000 were like, I
assented with alacrity to the proposition. The apartment in which we
found the wife and daughter of my host, as well as the entire interior
of the house, was filled with a mellow light, which I knew must be
artificial, although I could not discover the source from which it was
diffused. Mrs. Leete was an exceptionally fine looking and well
preserved woman of about her husband's age, while the daughter, who
was in the first blush of womanhood, was the most beautiful girl I had
ever seen. Her face was as bewitching as deep blue eyes, delicately
tinted complexion, and perfect features could make it, but even had
her countenance lacked special charms, the faultless luxuriance of her
figure would have given her place as a beauty among the women of the
nineteenth century. Feminine softness and delic