swerve not for any human wish.
They outraged them by the admixture of kindred blood, and degeneracy was
often the result. A people should always have for their chief ruler the
highest and noblest intellect among them, but in those dark ages they
were too often compelled to submit to the lowest, simply because it had
been _born_ to the position. But," she added, with a sweet smile,
"_that_ time lies many centuries behind us, and I sometimes think we had
better forget it entirely."

My first meeting with the domestics of my friend's house impressed me
with their high mental culture, refinement and elegance. Certainly no
"grande dame" of my own country but would have been proud of their
beauty and graceful dignity.

Prejudice, however deeply ingrained, could not resist the custom of a
whole country, and especially such a one as Mizora, so I soon found
myself on a familiar footing with my friend's "artist"--for the name by
which they were designated as a class had very nearly the same meaning.

Cooking was an art, and one which the people of Mizora had cultivated to
the highest excellence. It is not strange, when their enlightenment is
understood, that they should attach as much honor to it as the people of
my country do to sculpture, painting and literature. The Preceptress
told me that such would be the case with my people when education became
universal and the poor could start in life with the same intellectual
culture as the rich. The chemistry of food and its importance in
preserving a youthful vigor and preventing disease, would then be
understood and appreciated by all classes, and would receive the
deference it deserved.

"You will never realize," said the Preceptress earnestly, "the
incalculable benefit that will accrue to your people from educating your
poor. Urge that Government to try it for just twenty years, long enough
for a generation to be born and mature. The bright and eager intellects
of poverty will turn to Chemistry to solve the problems of cheap Light,
cheap Fuel and cheap Food. When you can clothe yourselves from the
fibre of the trees, and warm and light your dwellings from the water of
your rivers, and eat of the stones of the earth, Poverty and Disease
will be as unknown to your people as it is to mine."

"If I should preach that to them, they would call me a maniac."

"None but the ignorant will do so. From your description of the great
thinkers of your country, I am inclined to believe th