xtinct, and that women still wish to bear children----"

"Of course we wish to bear children!" cried Castalia, impatiently. Jane
rapped the table.

"That is the very point we are met to consider," she said. "For five
years we have been trying to find out whether we are justified in
continuing the human race. Castalia has anticipated our decision. But it
remains for the rest of us to make up our minds."

Here one after another of our messengers rose and delivered their
reports. The marvels of civilisation far exceeded our expectations, and,
as we learnt for the first time how man flies in the air, talks across
space, penetrates to the heart of an atom, and embraces the universe in
his speculations, a murmur of admiration burst from our lips.

"We are proud," we cried, "that our mothers sacrificed their youth in
such a cause as this!" Castalia, who had been listening intently, looked
prouder than all the rest. Then Jane reminded us that we had still much
to learn, and Castalia begged us to make haste. On we went through a
vast tangle of statistics. We learnt that England has a population of
so many millions, and that such and such a proportion of them is
constantly hungry and in prison; that the average size of a working
man's family is such, and that so great a percentage of women die from
maladies incident to childbirth. Reports were read of visits to
factories, shops, slums, and dockyards. Descriptions were given of the
Stock Exchange, of a gigantic house of business in the City, and of a
Government Office. The British Colonies were now discussed, and some
account was given of our rule in India, Africa and Ireland. I was
sitting by Castalia and I noticed her uneasiness.

"We shall never come to any conclusion at all at this rate," she said.
"As it appears that civilisation is so much more complex than we had any
notion, would it not be better to confine ourselves to our original
enquiry? We agreed that it was the object of life to produce good people
and good books. All this time we have been talking of aeroplanes,
factories, and money. Let us talk about men themselves and their arts,
for that is the heart of the matter."

So the diners out stepped forward with long slips of paper containing
answers to their questions. These had been framed after much
consideration. A good man, we had agreed, must at any rate be honest,
passionate, and unworldly. But whether or not a particular man possessed
those qualities could