On being introduced to John Saville’s home, I found a great deal more of simple solid comfort than I had expected, and such an air of domesticity as my own residence in the college had led me to suppose altogether absent from New Amazonian dwellings. At my own request, my visit was of the most informal kind, and not another stranger was there here to disturb the cosiness of the quiet chat which I wished to enjoy.
Mrs. Saville was possessed of the bright brown hair, clear rosy skin, and deep grey eyes, so indicative of pure Irish descent, coupled with a grace and charm of manner I had never seen equalled by an Englishwoman of similar age. Mr. Saville also struck me as just a likely sort of man to be the father of such a clever, popular son. It was clear that they both doted upon him, and just as clear that he would have been sorry to do anything likely to cause them grief.
But they did not treat me to a long category of each other’s virtues, preferring to let me form my own opinion of them as individuals, while they did their best to initiate me into the ways of New Amazonian domestic life. Their house consisted of a suite of rooms in a large block of buildings in one of the best parts of Andersonia, and was fitted with even convenience which would conduce to ease and comfort.
The furniture was ideally suitable, good, and elegant, but the pictures on the walls, like many others which I had seen lately, amused me not a little. It seemed to me at first that they were all out of perspective, and that neither walking biped, running quadruped, nor flying bird was painted aright. By-and-bye, however, I got more used to these pictorial oddities, and caught myself thinking that when I got home again, I should be wanting to introduce some of these Muybridgeian notions into my own rooms.
The fire cast a comfortable glow on all around, making it difficult to believe that the problem of fuel for the future was now definitely settled, and that electricity could now and henceforth be made to supply the necessary fuel for warming, lighting, cooking, and manufacturing purposes. No dirt or dust from ashes, and no discoloration as the result of burning gas was here felt, for neither the one nor the other were now in use. Both had served humanity well in their day. Both were now superseded by a much more efficient, cleanly, and convenient agent.
After our very appetising evening meal had been despatched; I was taken on a tour of inspection round the building, or, rather, round such parts of it as were public to all the tenants. The basement consisted entirely of shops, which were connected by means of telephones with every suite in the block, and could, with the aid of electric lifts, supply anything ordered per telephone at a moment’s notice. Nor was there any fear of extortionate charges, or a poor sample of goods, since everything had to be priced according to the day’s Government scale, and the daily visits of Government inspectors ensured the withdrawal of inferior or unwholesome articles.
While conversing on telephonic subjects, I mentioned that even in my benighted country we had made good use of this valuable invention. “There are even telephones attached to churches and theatres,” I said, “by means of which a sermon or a song may be heard at great distances from the places in which they are delivered. But of course you have even improved upon these notions?”
“I think we have,” smiled Mrs. Saville. “Some hundreds of years ago there was hardly a building in New Amazonia which was not a perfect network of telephones and patent lifts, and our people began to give the Mother considerable anxiety, for they showed rapid signs of deterioration. On looking round for the causes of this unfortunate falling back, it was found to be produced by the mania for saving labour and exercise of every possible sort, and drastic measures were speedily introduced.
“Many of the lifts were abolished, and substantial staircases erected in their stead, up and down which the people were expected to walk when going in or out. The goods lifts were, however, not considered too provocative of laziness and inactivity, and still remain very useful adjuncts to civilization.
“The telephone system, though disapproved of by the Mother, did not require quite such stringent measures to make it almost a thing of the past, so far as mere amusement is concerned.