“Then the money consideration enters even into your social pleasures?” asked the Altrurian.
“Very much. Doesn’t it with you?”
He evaded this question, as he evaded all straightforward questions concerning his country: “We have no money consideration, you know. But do I understand that all your social entertainments are paid for by the guests?”
“Oh no, not so bad as that, quite. There are a great many that the host pays for. Even here, in a hotel, the host furnishes the music and the room free to the guests of the house.”
“And none are admitted from the outside?”
“Oh yes, people are welcome from all the other hotels and boarding-houses and the private cottages. The young men are especially welcome; there are not enough young men in the hotel to go round, you see.” In fact, we could see that some of the pretty girls within were dancing with other girls; half-grown boys were dangling from the waists of tall young ladies and waltzing on tiptoe.
“Isn’t that rather droll?” asked the Altrurian.
“It’s grotesque!” I said, and I felt ashamed of it. “But what are you to do? The young men are hard at work in the cities, as many as can get work there, and the rest are out West, growing up with the country. There are twenty young girls for every young man at all the summer resorts in the East.”
“But what would happen if these young farmers—I suppose they are farmers—were invited in to take part in the dance?” asked my friend.
“But that is impossible.”