A few years ago a border of nasturtiums exhibited no more than a single color tone, the pumpkin yellow; and a bed of pansies resembled a patch of purple heather. Observe now the chromatic variety and beauty produced by intelligent horticulture! A group of commonplace people—moderately disciplined by culture—might be compared to the pansies and nasturtiums of our early recollection, and a group of these highly refined Caskians to the delicious flowers abloom in modern gardens.
We crave variety in people, as we crave condiments in food. For me, this craving was never so satisfied—and at the same time so thoroughly stimulated—as in Caskian society, which had a spiciness of flavor impossible to describe.
Formality was disarmed by perfect breeding, there was nothing that you could call “manner.” The delicate faculty of intuition produced harmony. I never knew a single instance in which the social atmosphere was disagreeably jarred,—a common enough occurrence where we depend upon the machinery of social order rather than upon the vital principle of good conduct.
I inquired of Calypso, as we walked along, the sources of the people’s wealth. He replied that the mountains were full of it. There were minerals and precious stones, and metals in great abundance; and all the ores were manufactured in the vicinity of the mines before being shipped to the lower countries and exchanged for vegetable products.
This prompted me to ask the familiar question:
“And how do you manage the labor problem?” He did not understand me until after I had explained about our difficulties in that line. And then he informed me that most of the people who worked in mines and factories had vested interests in them.
“Physical labor, however,” he added, “is reduced to the minimum; machinery has taken the place of muscle.”
“And thrown an army of workers out of employment and the means of living, I suppose?” I rejoined, taking it for granted that the small share-holders had been squeezed out, as well as the small operators.
“O, no, indeed,” he returned, in surprise. “It has simply given them more leisure. Everybody now enjoys the luxury of spare time, and may devote his energies to the service of other than merely physical needs.” He smiled as he went on, “This labor problem the Creator gave us was a knotty one, wasn’t it? But what a tremendous satisfaction there is in the thought—and in the fact—that we have solved it.”
I was in the dark now, and waited for him to go on.