Page:Alerielorvoyaget00lach.djvu/168

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146
A Voyage to Other Worlds.

was one round of endless toil. Then the rich and the strong made the poor and weak labour for them; but since we have reached our present state, we have been able to adjust labour wisely, to give all their fair share of work and fair share of healthy recreation, and to get our efforts aided by the forces of nature subdued to our will through the master force of electricity."

"You have done wisely," I said. "Perhaps in time man may do the same, when he had advanced further in knowledge."

"How do you divide the day in your communes?" I asked.

"One-third is given to work, if required (which it rarely is), one-third to amusement and refreshment, one-third to sleep. That is on our working-days. On all feast-days there is no work, but only recreation and devotion to God's service. On working-days an hour out of the working time is ever given to prayer and praise."

"What do you understand by recreation?"

"It is left to the individual taste. The Government provides amusement. We have no need now to fritter our means in armaments. In every village, in every town there are bodies of trained musicians, who nightly perform music