“Our cooking is all of first-class order; none but expert cooks of the community make cooking their profession. The tables are loaded, winter and summer, with the finest soups, vegetables, fruits both cooked and raw, and all kinds of nuts. Some of the eatables are shipped in from tropical countries and some are raised during the winter months in our large conservatories and green-houses, of which I shall tell you hereafter. Our baking is of endless variety, and of the finest quality the genius of man can produce. “All meals are served promptly on time, and no provisions are made for any one who is not on time for his meals. Every one is supposed to eat at whatever big-house he happens to be during meal-time, for he can buy a meal as cheap in any big-house where he may be, as he can at his own table. “The victuals at each table are served in common dishes, which are passed, and each helps himself the same as you generally do in your family home. We have no hotels, because we have no use for any. A traveler, while he is traveling, eats in the dining car; and when he gets off he stops at a ‘big-house,’ for they are the only stopping places we have, and when there he can either eat a regular meal in the dining-hall, or he can at any time order anything he wants in the restaurant. “Every single meal is paid for, and each one pays for his own meal, whether he be a man, woman or child, whether a visitor or a member of the same family. After every meal, each individual deposits the price of the meal into his pay-dish--a little dish which is kept at each plate for that special purpose. After meal-time, the waiters, who, like the cooks, do nothing else but waiting on the tables, take charge of the pay which is deposited in the pay-dishes. The pay-dishes automatically register every meal deposited, and at the close of the year, or at any other time, we can tell by the common register just how many meals have been eaten in the dining-hall during the year.” “You said, Mr. Midith, that every man, woman and child pays for his own meal. But how can a little child that has no money pay for its own meals?” asked Roland. “That is very easily done when you understand how it is worked. You see our financial world is altogether different from yours, which I will explain to you when we get to our system of money or medium of exchange.