 room when I occupied it illumined the familiar walls
and furnishings. By my bedside, with the glass of sherry in his hand which Dr.
Pillsbury prescribed on first rousing from a mesmeric sleep, by way of awakening
the torpid physical functions, stood Sawyer.
    »Better take this right off, sir,« he said, as I stared blankly at him. »You
look kind of flushed like, sir, and you need it.«
    I tossed off the liquor and began to realize what had happened to me. It
was, of course, very plain. All that about the twentieth century had been a
dream. I had but dreamed of that enlightened and care-free race of men and their
ingeniously simple institutions, of the glorious new Boston with its domes and
pinnacles, its gardens and fountains, and its universal reign of comfort. The
amiable family which I had learned to know so well, my genial host and Mentor,
Dr. Leete, his wife, and their daughter, the second and more beauteous Edith, my
betrothed, - these, too, had been but figments of a vision.
 
For a considerable time I remained in the attitude in which this conviction had
come over me, sitting up in bed gazing at vacancy, absorbed in recalling the
scenes and incidents of my fantastic experience. Sawyer, alarmed at my looks,
was meanwhile anxiously inquiring what was the matter with me. Roused at length
by his importunities to a recognition of my surroundings, I pulled myself
together with an effort and assured the faithful fellow that I was all right. »I
have had an extraordinary dream, that's all, Sawyer,« I said, »a
most-ex-traor-dinary-dream.«
 
I dressed in a mechanical way, feeling light-headed and oddly uncertain of
myself, and sat down to the coffee and rolls which Sawyer was in the habit of
providing for my refreshment before I left the house. The morning newspaper lay
by the plate. I took it up, and my eye fell on the date, May 31, 1887. I had
known, of course, from the moment I opened my eyes, that my long and detailed
experience in another century had been a dream, and yet it was startling to have
it so conclusively demonstrated that the world was but a few hours older than
when I had lain down to sleep.
 
Glancing at the table of contents at the head of the paper, which reviewed the
news of the morning, I read the following summary: -
 
        »Foreign Affairs. - The impending war between France and Germany
