which contained a large collection of articles of
manufacture and art from the last days of the machine period to that day; and he
went over them with us, and explained them with great care. They also were very
interesting, showing the transition from the makeshift work of the machines
(which was at about its worst a little after the Civil War before told of) into
the first years of the new handicraft period. Of course, there was much
overlapping of the periods: and at first the new handwork came in very slowly.
    »You must remember,« said the old antiquary, »that the handicraft was not
the result of what used to be called material necessity: on the contrary, by
that time the machines had been so much improved that almost all necessary work
might have been done by them: and indeed many people at that time, and before
it, used to think that machinery would entirely supersede handicraft; which
certainly, on the face of it, seemed more than likely. But there was another
opinion, far less logical, prevalent amongst the rich people before the days of
freedom, which did not die out at once after that epoch had begun. This opinion,
which from all I can learn seemed as natural then, as it seems absurd now, was,
that while the ordinary daily work of the world would be done entirely by
automatic machinery, the energies of the more intelligent part of mankind would
be set free to follow the higher forms of the arts, as well as science and the
study of history. It was strange, was it not, that they should thus ignore that
aspiration after complete equality which we now recognise as the bond of all
happy human society?«
    I did not answer, but thought the more. Dick looked thoughtful, and said:
    »Strange, neighbour? Well, I don't know. I have often heard my old kinsman
say the one aim of all people before our time was to avoid work, or at least
they thought it was; so of course the work which their daily life forced them to
do, seemed more like work than that which they seemed to choose for themselves.«
    »True enough,« said Morsom. »Anyhow, they soon began to find out their
mistake, and that only slaves and slaveholders could live solely by setting
machines going.«
    Clara broke in here, flushing a little as she spoke: »Was not their mistake
once more bred of the life of slavery that they had been living? - a life which
was always looking upon everything, except mankind, animate and