eculiar in their social
ideas, I essayed to repress my indignation at the time, but later I
unburdened myself to Wauna who, with her usual sweetness and
gentleness, explained to me that her occupation was a mere matter of
choice with her.

"She is one of the most distinguished chemists of this nation. She
solved the problem of making bread out of limestone of a much finer
quality than had been in use before."

"Don't tell me that you gave me a stone when I asked for bread!" I
exclaimed.

"We have not done that," replied Wauna; "but we have given you what you
took for bread, but which is manufactured out of limestone and the
refuse of the marble quarries."

I looked at her in such inane astonishment that she hastened to add:

"I will take you to one of the large factories some day. They are always
in the mountains where the stone is abundant. You can there see loaves
by the thousands packed in great glass tanks for shipment to the
different markets. And they do not cost the manufacturer above one
centime per hundred."

"And what royalty does the discoverer get for this wonder of chemistry?"

"None. Whenever anything of that kind is discovered in our country, it
is purchased outright by the government, and then made public for the
benefit of all. The competition among manufacturers consists in the care
and exactness with which they combine the necessary elements. There is
quite a difference in the taste and quality of our bread as it comes
from different factories."

"Why doesn't such a talented person quit working in another woman's
kitchen and keep herself like a lady?" I inquired, all the prejudice of
indolent wealth against labor coming up in my thoughts.

"She has a taste for that kind of work," replied Wauna, "instead of for
making dresses, or carving gems, or painting. She often says she could
not make a straight line if she tried, yet she can put together with
such nicety and chemical skill the elements that form an omelette or a
custard, that she has become famous. She teaches all who desire to
learn, but none seem to equal her. She was born with a genius for
cooking and nothing else. Haven't you seen her with a long glass tube
testing the vessels of vegetables and fruit that were cooking?"

"Yes," I answered. "It was from that that I supposed her occupation
menial."

"Visitors from other cities," continued Wauna, "nearly always inquire
for her first."

Perceiving the mistake that I had made, I ve