ed were they that it became an amusement.
Looking into the chaos of snow flakes, driven hither and thither by
fierce winds, the pedestrians in the street presented no painful
contrast to the luxury of your own room, with its balmy breath and
cheerful flowers. You saw none but what were thoroughly clad, and you
knew that they were hurrying to homes that were bright and attractive,
if not as elegant as yours; where loving welcomes were sure to greet
them and happiness would sit with them at the feast; for the heart that
is pure has always a kingly guest for its company.

A wonderful discovery that the people of Mizora had made was the power
to annihilate space as an impediment to conversation. They claimed that
the atmosphere had regular currents of electricity that were accurately
known to them. They talked to them by means of simply constructed
instruments, and the voice would be as audible and as easily recognized
at three thousand miles distant as at only three feet. Stations were
built similar to our telegraph offices, but on high elevations. I
understood that they could not be used upon the surface. Every private
and public house, however, had communication with the general office,
and could converse with friends at a distance whenever desirable. Public
speakers made constant use of it, but in connection with another
extraordinary apparatus which I regret my inability to perfectly
describe.

I saw it first from the dress circle of a theater. It occupied the whole
rear of the stage, and from where I sat, looked like a solid wall of
polished metal. But it had a wonderful function, for immediately in
front of it, moving, speaking and gesturing, was the figure of a popular
public lecturer, so life-like in appearance that I could scarcely be
convinced that it was only a reflection. Yet such it was, and the
original was addressing an audience in person more than a thousand miles
distant.

It was no common thing for a lecturer to address a dozen or more
audiences at the same time, scattered over an area of thousands of
miles, and every one listening to and observing what appeared to be the
real speaker. In fact, public speakers in Mizora never traveled on pure
professional business. It was not necessary. They prepared a room in
their own dwelling with the needful apparatus, and at the time specified
delivered a lecture in twenty different cities.

I was so interested in this very remarkable invention that I made
vigor