us. After Dr. Leete had responded to numerous questions on my
part, as to the ancient landmarks I missed and the new ones which had replaced
them, he asked me what point of the contrast between the new and the old city
struck me most forcibly.
    »To speak of small things before great,« I responded, »I really think that
the complete absence of chimneys and their smoke is the detail that first
impressed me.«
    »Ah!« ejaculated my companion with an air of much interest, »I had forgotten
the chimneys, it is so long since they went out of use. It is nearly a century
since the crude method of combustion on which you depended for heat became
obsolete.«
    »In general,« I said, »what impresses me most about the city is the material
prosperity on the part of the people which its magnificence implies.«
    »I would give a great deal for just one glimpse of the Boston of your day,«
replied Dr. Leete. »No doubt, as you imply, the cities of that period were
rather shabby affairs. If you had the taste to make them splendid, which I would
not be so rude as to question, the general poverty resulting from your
extraordinary industrial system would not have given you the means. Moreover,
the excessive individualism which then prevailed was inconsistent with much
public spirit. What little wealth you had seems almost wholly to have been
lavished in private luxury. Nowadays, on the contrary, there is no destination
of the surplus wealth so popular as the adornment of the city, which all enjoy
in equal degree.«
    The sun had been setting as we returned to the house-top, and as we talked
night descended upon the city.
    »It is growing dark,« said Dr. Leete. »Let us descend into the house; I want
to introduce my wife and daughter to you.«
    His words recalled to me the feminine voices which I had heard whispering
about me as I was coming back to conscious life; and most curious to learn what
the ladies of the year 2000 were like, I assented with alacrity to the
proposition. The apartment in which we found the wife and daughter of my host,
as well as the interior of the house, was filled with a mellow light, which I
knew must be artificial, although I could not discover the source from which it
was diffused. Mrs. Leete was an exceptionally fine looking and well preserved
woman of about her husband's age while the daughter, who was in the first blush
of womanhood, was the