This room reminded me strongly of real life in my day, as seen by an innocent and pure-minded man, the gems representing the good people of the earth, while the varied effects produced on them by the ever varying lights reminded me of the great joys and sorrows, the sunshine and the shadows that passed over us in those days, days that to me now began to look strange and dim. The Recorder's voice broke in on my reverie, saying:—
"My son, your thoughts are far, far away, and now that I have shown you the uncorrupted beauty of the precious metals and the precious stones of the ancients, I would like also to show you the record of some few of the crimes committed by man to satisfy their abominable craze for their possession. It was not that they loved them for their beauty; no, their love for them consisted in a selfish desire that they might possess something that they could flaunt in the eyes of their fellows, and look at them with an eye that said, 'I possess that which you would like to have but cannot get.' Women
