Produced by Annie McGuire [Illustration] ALICE IN BLUNDERLAND BY THE SAME AUTHOR A House-boat on the Styx Coffee and Repartee Mollie and the Unwiseman Worsted Man; A Musical Play for Amateurs The Enchanted Typewriter Ghosts I Have Met Mrs. Raffles Olympian Nights R. Holmes & Co. And Many Other Short Stories Alice in Blunderland An Iridescent Dream By JOHN KENDRICK BANGS Illustrated by ALBERT LEVERING New York Doubleday, Page & Company 1907 COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY THE MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP PUBLISHING BUREAU COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY PUBLISHED, SEPTEMBER, 1907 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. Off to Blunderland 3 II. The Immovable Trolley 19 III. The Aromatic Gas Plant 37 IV. The City-owned Police 56 V. The Municipaphone 73 VI. The Department of Public Verse 92 VII. The Municipal Ownership of Children 108 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE The Cheshire Cat 5 The March Hare 6 "'Listen here'" 7 The municipal chewery 11 The municipal toothery 13 "Handing her a card" 17 "'Put that fellow off'" 20 "Requested the Hatter to crack a filbert for him" 24 "'Banged into the car ahead'" 27 The Chief Engineer 30 "'It came to me like a flash'" 31 "'Studying the economic theories of Dr. Wack'" 45 "The White Knight interfered" 48 "'In the matter of perfume it was fine'" 50 "'Nobody could be gas-fixturated'" 51 "Wrote on the side of a convenient gas tank" 57 "'I'm the soundest sleeper in town'" 59 "'Tea is served on every corner'" 64 "'We respond immediately to the call'" 67 "Made off with the agility of an antelope" 69 "'You can talk all you please'" 73 "'Fined five dollars'" 84