said, away from the stomach to the head. Our forefathers were
expected to shine in conversation, and be wise and witty while
gulping their food between brilliant passages. I sat down at a table
to which I was marshaled by a grave and reverend seignior in an
imposing uniform. As I took my seat my weight set some machinery in
motion. A few feet in front of me suddenly rose out of the table a
large upright mirror, or such I took it to be; but instantly there
appeared on its surface a grand bill of fare, each article being
numbered. The whole world had been ransacked to produce the viands
named in it; neither the frozen recesses of the north nor the
sweltering regions of the south had been spared: every form of food,
animal and vegetable, bird, beast, reptile, fish; the foot of an
elephant, the hump of a buffalo, the edible bird-nests of China;
snails, spiders, shell-fish, the strange and luscious creatures
lately found in the extreme depths of the ocean and fished for with
dynamite; in fact, every form of food pleasant to the palate of man
was there. For, as you know, there are men who make fortunes now by
preserving and breeding the game animals, like the deer, the moose,
the elk, the buffalo, the antelope, the mountain sheep and goat, and
many others, which but for their care would long since have become
extinct. They select barren regions in mild climates, not fit for
agriculture, and enclosing large tracts with wire fences, they raise
great quantities of these valuable game animals, which they sell to
the wealthy gourmands of the great cities, at very high prices.

I was perplexed, and, turning to the great man who stood near me, I
began to name a few of the articles I wanted. He smiled complacently
at my country ignorance, and called my attention to the fact that the
table immediately before me contained hundreds of little knobs or
buttons, each one numbered; and he told me that these were connected