and, the indispensable being raised to the ear, the phonograph would
deliver its message, which at any subsequent time might be called up and
repeated. To all persons charged with weighty responsibilities depending
upon accuracy of memory for their correct discharge, this feature of
the indispensable rendered it, according to Hamage, and indeed quite
obviously, an indispensable truly. To the railroad engineer it served
the purpose not only of a time-piece, for the works of the indispensable
include a watch, but to its ever vigilant alarm he could intrust his
running orders, and, while his mind was wholly concentrated upon present
duties, rest secure that he would be reminded at just the proper time
of trains which he must avoid and switches he must make. To the
indispensable of the business man the reminder attachment was not
less necessary. Provided with that, his notes need never go to protest
through carelessness, nor, however absorbed, was he in danger of
forgetting an appointment.

Thanks to these portable memories it was, moreover, now possible for
a wife to intrust to her husband the most complex messages to the
dressmaker. All she had to do was to whisper the communication into her
husband's indispensable while he was at breakfast, and set the alarm at
an hour when he would be in the city.

"And in like manner, I suppose," suggested I, "if she wishes him to
return at a certain hour from the club or the lodge, she can depend on
his indispensable to remind him of his domestic duties at the proper
moment, and in terms and tones which will make the total repudiation
of connubial allegiance the only alternative of obedience. It is a very
clever invention, and I don't wonder that it is popular with the ladies;
but does it not occur to you that the inventor, if a man, was slightly
inconsiderate? The rule of the American wife has hitherto been a
despotism which could be tempered by a bad memory. Apparently, it is to
be no longer tempered at all."

Hamage laughed, but his mirth was evidently a little forced, and I
inferred that the reflection I had suggested had called up certain
reminiscences not wholly exhilarating. Being fortunate, however, in
the possession of a mercurial temperament, he presently rallied,
and continued his praises of the artificial memory provided by the
indispensable. In spite of the criticism which I had made upon it, I
confess I was not a little moved by his description of its advantages
to a