It seems I am never to admit that I was not born on Earth, for, like all provincials, the humans pride themselves on disbelieving everything beyond their own experience, and if they understood they would be certain to resent intrusions from another planet. I'm sure I don't blame them altogether when I recall those patronizing Jupitans.--And I'm told they are awfully jealous and distrustful even of one another, herding together for protection and governed by so many funny little tribal codes that what is right on one side of an imaginary boundary may be wrong on the other.--Ooma considers this survival of the group-soul most interesting, and intends to make it the subject of a paper. I mention it only to explain why we call our Settlement a Boarding-House. A Boarding-House, you must know, is fundamentally a hunting pack which one can affiliate with or separate from at will.--Rather a pale yellow idea, isn't it? Ooma thinks it necessary to conform to it in order to be considered respectable, which is the one thing on Earth most desired.--What, dear?--Oh, I don't know what it means to be respectable any more than you do.--One thing more. You'll have to draw on your imagination! Ooma is called here Mrs. Bloomer.--Her own name was just a little too unearthly. Mrs. signifies that a woman is married.--What?--Oh, no, no, no, nothing of the sort.--But I shall have to leave that for another time. I'm not at all sure how it is myself. By the way, if _any one_ should ask you where I am, just say I've left the planet, and you don't know when I shall be back.--Yes, you know who I mean.--And, dear, perhaps you might drop a hint that I detest all foreigners, especially Jupitans.--Please don't laugh so hard; you'll get the atmospheric molecules all woozy.--Indeed, there's not the slightest danger here. Just fancy, if you please, beings who don't know when they are hungry without consulting a wretched little mechanism, and who measure their radius of conception by the length of their own feet.--Of course I shall be on hand for the Solstice! I wouldn't miss that for an asteroid!--Oh, did I really promise that? Well, I'll tell you about him another time. THE SECOND RECORD--THOUGH PROBABLY THIRD COMMUNICATION --I really must not waste so much gray matter, dear, over unimportant details. But I simply had to tell you all about my struggles with the clothes. When Ooma came back, just as I had mastered them with the aid of her diagrams, the dear thing was so much pleased she actually hugged me, and I must confess the effect made me forget my discomfort. Really, an Earth girl is not so much to be pitied if she has becoming dresses to wear. As you may be sure I was anxious to compare myself with others, I was glad enough to hear Ooma suggest going out. "Come on," she said, executively, "I have only a half-hour to devote to your first walk. Keep close beside me, and remember on no account to either dance or sing."