a long time before I could believe it quite real, "that I shall approach
it so much more intelligently with a little instruction from you. You say
that your social divisions are voluntary. But do I understand that those
who serve among you do not wish to do so?"

"Well, I don't suppose they would serve if they could help it," I replied.

"Surely," said the Altrurian, with a look of horror, "you don't mean that
they are slaves."

"Oh no! oh no!" I said; "the war put an end to that. We are all free now,
black and white."

"But if they do not wish to serve, and are not held in peculiar honor for
serving--"

"I see that my word 'voluntary' has misled you," I put in. "It isn't the
word exactly. The divisions among us are rather a process of natural
selection. You will see, as you get better acquainted with the workings of
our institutions, that there are no arbitrary distinctions here but the
fitness of the work for the man and the man for the work determines the
social rank that each one holds."

"Ah, that is fine!" cried the Altrurian, with a glow of enthusiasm. "Then
I suppose that these intelligent young people who teach school in winter
and serve at table in the summer are in a sort of provisional state,
waiting for the process of natural selection to determine whether they
shall finally be teachers or waiters."

"Yes, it might be stated in some such terms," I assented, though I was not