"The idea in Zelania, my children, is to have no lords and no paupers--that all men shall be producers, and not vagrants; tax-payers, and not tax-eaters--and that every citizen shall become a sturdy democrat, who will honorably strive as a stock-holder in a paying concern. "Joint encouragement is given," said he, "and that may be called socialistic; but individual action is demanded, and that is democratic. "Many persons in Zelania think that the government train is rushing ahead too rapidly, but these should observe the tendencies of the times, and realise the advantages of the general prosperity. Many others think the train moves too slowly, but these should realise the conservatism of wealth, the dangers of exploring uncharted seas, and they should remember that to-day, in all the essentials of human progress, they are by far the most advanced of all peoples. "Of course, there are occasional failures in Zelania, enough to furnish healthy examples; for while any man who will hustle may thrive, the Almighty does not line up the jerseys for every lout that likes cream in his chocolate. Even in Zelania, the man who claims that this world owes him a living must make some effort to collect that little bill. "As a fact, in Zelania they furnish a fellow with about everything but brains. This, doubtless, they would willingly do, but as there are a few things in which Nature seems to practice economy, so far there has appeared no surplus of brains--no, not even in Zelania." Here I cluster some of Mr. Oseba's graphic conclusions into my own "chaste" language:-- Having become familiar with the serene security of the man of acres in other lands, it is curiously interesting to observe that people in Zelania--common and no account as they are in most countries--are held in considerable respect, regardless of their bank accounts, or the social position of their father-in-law. In most countries, on Oliffa, the people are "moved on" to make room for animals, and, in most countries on Oliffa, the larger the "estate," the more easily can it be made larger; but in Zelania, when too many people are "out in the cold," some fellow with a big paddock is requested to "set a price," and the stray "sheep" are soon comfortably quartered and employed. Under the old system such "estates" were always held "sacred," but in Zelania, among the most "sacred" of all recognised rights is the "sacred right" of "man to live"; and it has been discovered that to talk of the "sacred right" of a man to live, without an opportunity to earn something upon which to live, is an insult to God's noblest creatures; and the graduated land tax has so conciliated the lordly inheritors, that the "blessed" who "hunger and thirst" are not asked to wait for the platter of "charity," but they are "filled" from the products of their own strong hands. Here I quote:--