“Wherever he lives the country suffers, and the rare and beautiful birds and creatures fly from him as from a pestilence. Take the present era, for example. Where are all the beautiful birds and beasts our forefathers wrote about, and all the insects that used to keep the air sweet and fresh? Man has frightened them away. He kills every insect in the ground by electricity, and then finds that worms, moles, and other such creatures aërate the ground and make it healthy, and he gets the land to stink with rottenness ere he decides to see it, when he could have seen it before with half an eye had he not been blind; then he goes to the other extreme and, finding that worms are healthy and good for the land, he kills every blessed bird lest a single worm should be destroyed. By that time he gets a little overdone in worms and wants his birds back. Then the constant use of his electrical appliances and forces so upset the atmosphere that the moving life in it has to go higher into purer air, and the airships passing and repassing at enormous speeds drive the birds still further away and higher, gradually altering their habits, so that now it is a very rare thing to see them flying, or even coming down to rest. They do rest, of course, but only in the forests where people seldom enter, for every one has a ship of some sort and is always in the air, as if this glorious grass, this beautiful water, and these shady, magnificent trees were not good enough for man to enjoy, but he must needs go tearing round the whole world on every half-holiday. I call it a sin!” “What an excellent mood you’re in this afternoon!” remarked Gilbert, as he made a pellet of his napkin and threw it at a darting fish. “I have finished my meal, and have enjoyed it so much that I am inclined to look on the world as it is now as being very beautiful, and on the science of to-day as being the most useful in the world’s history. It is true the climate of the whole earth has changed, and with it manners and customs, perforce; but now, every man works at the trade for which he is best fitted, physically and mentally, and receives guaranteed Government wages on fixed scale for the work he does. If by learning and application he can do more intellectual work, he receives the higher pay, and every one can have his fair trial and none are oppressed. All shops are under the control of the Government, and no one can undersell, or buy to better advantage than his neighbour, nor can there be undue competition, and if any licensed manufacturer supplies an inferior article, like my first egg, he must return its equivalent on proof, and he is a loser.