“Just my idea exactly,” chimed in Mr. World. “The churches along the King’s Highway are stubbornly fighting these modern improvements. They are very slow in catching up with the spirit of the age. Does that not seem true, Miss Church-Member?” “I must confess I see it more clearly now than ever. Nature is run by unerring, unchangeable law; why should not all spiritual operations come under the same principle? Formality, after all, is the highest point to be reached.” “Your mind easily grasps the truth, I perceive,” responded the manager. “What can bring things into better form than to get as much machinery as possible into church worship? In this building a thousand experts are constantly employed in devising and perfecting mechanical arrangements to facilitate the services of the church. Perhaps you would be pleased to see some of the results of our work by passing through some of the sub-departments?” “For my part,” replied Miss Church-Member, “I am more than passingly interested in these things, and if Mr. World does not object to accompany us, I will be grateful to improve this opportunity to look upon your work.” After completing preliminary arrangements I saw the manager conduct his two visitors on the easy running elevator to the floor which was devoted especially to singing. “As it is your wish,” said the manager “to see the latest, we will not tarry at these lesser rooms, but proceed immediately to the corner of the chief experts where I will be pleased to show to you the best novelty on the floor.” They walked down the long room, passing on each side of the aisle one set of busy workers after another. They stopped at one of the far corners and beheld, in advance, the latest novelty to be used for singing in church service. It was an artificial woman, neatly attired and filled with a complicated mechanism so constructed that when certain electric keys were touched by the unseen operator, articulate sounds like unto a human voice issued forth, while the expression of the whole face, and the natural-like heaving of the breast, all moved in harmony with the artificial sounds. The invention so much resembled a living creature of beauty that Miss Church-Member at first thought it was really human. Mr. World was so well pleased with the novelty that he unconsciously seated himself upon a couch and looked on in amazement. The beauty of the female form attracted his attention as much as the voice that pealed forth bewitchingly from the lips. “The greatest thing in the world!” he said after a period of ecstatic silence. “The church that gets such a singer into its choir will have a packed house at every service.” “I never so much as dreamed of such a thing before. Have any of the churches yet tried the experiment?” wonderingly asked Miss Church-Member.