ke more interest in than the perfection of the
catering and cooking done for them, and I admit that we are a little
vain of the success that has been attained by this branch of the
service. Ah, my dear Mr. West, though other aspects of your
civilization were more tragical, I can imagine that none could have
been more depressing than the poor dinners you had to eat, that is, all
of you who had not great wealth."

"You would have found none of us disposed to disagree with you on that
point," I said.

The waiter, a fine-looking young fellow, wearing a slightly distinctive
uniform, now made his appearance. I observed him closely, as it was the
first time I had been able to study particularly the bearing of one of
the enlisted members of the industrial army. This young man, I knew
from what I had been told, must be highly educated, and the equal,
socially and in all respects, of those he served. But it was perfectly
evident that to neither side was the situation in the slightest degree
embarrassing. Dr. Leete addressed the young man in a tone devoid, of
course, as any gentleman's would be, of superciliousness, but at the
same time not in any way deprecatory, while the manner of the young man
was simply that of a person intent on discharging correctly the task he
was engaged in, equally without familiarity or obsequiousness. It was,
in fact, the manner of a soldier on duty, but without the military
stiffness. As the youth left the room, I said, "I cannot get over my
wonder at seeing a young man like that serving so contentedly in a
menial position."

"What is that word 'menial'? I never heard it," said Edith.

"It is obsolete now," remarked her father. "If I understand it rightly,
it applied to persons who performed particularly disagreeable and
unpleasant tasks for others, and carried with it an implication of
contempt. Was it not so, Mr. West?"

"That is about it," I said. "Personal service, such as waiting on
tables, was considered menial, and held in such contempt, in my day,
that persons of culture and refinement would suffer hardship before
condescending to it."

"What a strangely artificial idea," exclaimed Mrs. Leete wonderingly.

"And yet these services had to be rendered," said Edith.

"Of course," I replied. "But we imposed them on the poor, and those who
had no alternative but starvation."

"And increased the burden you imposed on them by adding your contempt,"
remarked Dr. Leete.

"I don't think I cl