At length, to my relief, the last of the uncouth mob had gone trooping off the stage, and only the tall figure of Agripides remained. “Members of the Assembly,” resumed the statesman, after all had again become quiet, “you have now had a close view of our typical citizens. Do you not believe them more deeply submerged than if a thousand fathoms of water rolled above them? Or if you are not yet convinced, let me show you these people in their normal occupations.” As though at a prearranged signal, three or four huge instruments, with long segmented oblong belts moving on wheels, were dragged to the center of the stage by half-invisible wires. I recognized these machines as curious forms of treadmills, for on each of the belts a man had been deposited, and each, man was forcing his legs back and forth at tremendous speed, as though running in a desperate hurry. But no matter how furiously they worked, all the men remained in exactly the same place, for the belts slid backward precisely as fast as their feet pressed forward. “Saints in heaven,” opined Stranahan, with a puzzled frown, “they’d get there just as fast if they took their time!” After a minute or two the treadmills were pulled off the stage and Agripides again briefly addressed the audience. “My friends,” said he, “I will now illustrate for you another of the leading occupations of our times.” * * * * * I do not know what rare art of stagecraft was then applied, for as if by magic a bright bed of flowers sprang to life before us, and long-stemmed purple and yellow blossoms resembling tulips and hollyhocks waved above some retiring white-budding plant reminding me of the violet. But I was to be disappointed if I expected anything beautiful to follow. From one side of the stage came a series of oaths, growls, curses, shrieks, hisses, and mutterings, gradually increasing in fierceness and volume; and soon an amorphous mass of squirming, twisting, embattled men writhed into view. I could not tell how many of them there were, except that they were numbered by the dozen; and I could not determine what they looked like, except that they were all soberly attired. But it was as if a storm had been let loose among them; they were literally tumbling over one another, wrestling with the ferocity of lions, snatching violently at one another’s arms, legs and necks, until they seemed little more than a blur of convulsive, wildly agitated trunks and limbs. “Holy Methuselah, it’s a new kind of football!” cried Stranahan, excitedly, as he craned his long neck far forward for a better view of the contest.