zora, I was led into the belief that I had
arrived at a female seminary, because the dining and sleeping
accommodations for the stateswoman were all in the Capitol building. I
observed that the State Capitols were similarly accommodated. In Mizora
the home is the heart of all joy, and wherever a Mizora woman goes, she
endeavors to surround herself with its comforts and pleasures. That was
the reason that the splendid Capitol building had its home-like
appointments, was a Nation of women exclusively--at least as far as I
had as yet been able to discover.

Another reason for the homes of all officials of the Government being
within the public buildings, was because all the personal expenses,
excepting clothing, were paid by the Government. The salaries of
Government positions were not large, compared with those of the
sciences; but as their social and political dues were paid out of the
public treasury, the salaries might be considered as net profit. This
custom had originated many centuries in the past. In those early days,
when a penurious character became an incumbent of public office, the
social obligations belonging to it were often but niggardly requited.
Sometimes business embarrassments and real necessity demanded economy;
so, at last, the Government assumed all the expenses contingent upon
every office, from the highest to the lowest. By this means the occupant
of a Government office was freed from every care but those of state.

The number and style of all social entertainments that were obligatory
of the occupant of a public office, were regulated by law. As the people
of Mizora believed in enjoyment, the entertainments provided by the
Government as the necessary social dues of its officers, were not few,
nor scantily furnished.

CHAPTER XII.

The artificial light in Mizora puzzled me longest to understand. When I
first noticed it, it appeared to me to have no apparent source. At the
touch of a delicate hand, it blazed forth like a star in the center of
the ceiling. It diffused a soft and pleasing brilliancy that lent a
charm to everything it revealed. It was a dreamy daylight, and was
produced by electricity.

In large halls, like a theatre or opera house, the light fell in a soft
and penetrating radiance from the center of the dome. Its source was not
visible to either audience or actresses, and, in consequence, occasioned
no discomfort to the eyes. The light that illuminated the stage was
simil