“I understand, then, that the old tendencies toward the illogical and the unnecessary have not been entirely conquered?” I asked.
“No, no!” said David emphatically. “Private apartments, for instance, instead of the phalanstery. And then the tabloid floods! The human stomach still demands bulk as well as nutriment. Still, it is claimed that with education—”
“Do you remember the legend of the man who educated his ass to live on a single straw a day?” asked Elizabeth.
We laughed; but I was still conscious of the restraint.
“Then, of course, people are too lazy, when hungry, to weigh their food and calculate it in calories,” David continued. “Doctor Sanson is fighting the abuse of protein. He claims that its decrease will set free more workers to apply themselves to more productive labor instead of food-raising, and will also lengthen the productive life of the individual. But we are still protein gluttons.”
“The chicken—” interposed Elizabeth.
It seemed to me that the girl had some serious purpose in her interruptions. I was beginning to realize that she still feared me; I wondered why.
“And you may have observed that the eternal feminine has baffled Doctor Sanson’s desire to abolish the skirt,” continued David. “In fact, human nature seems to flow on in much the same old way beneath the surface of civilization. I am inclined to think that our economic changes have not seriously amended it.”
“Father, if you are going to talk like a heretic, I shall leave you!” exclaimed Elizabeth, rising.
She left the room, and David followed her. Presently he came back alone.