Page:Meda - a tale of the future.djvu/237

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A TALE OF THE FUTURE.
233

your day, the mechanical engineer had to make money by his profession, and therefore a beautiful science was defiled by a desire for gain. Now, we study mechanics, because we love the science itself, and not its financial results."

Having inspected the aerial ship, in which I was greatly interested, the Recorder now said he would next take me to the docks in order to allow me to inspect the naval vessels. I was all expectation to know what the docks of the present day were like. "Here at least," I said to myself, "there will be some resemblance to what I had known in my previous life." During our journey to the docks, I taxed my imagination, and tried to compare things as I had known them with the things I now expected to see. I said to myself:—"These docks won't be clean—I never saw a dock that was clean. There is sure to be a strong smell of pitch and tar—there always is in docks. There will be ropes, planks and chains to tumble over—such things are always about docks. There will be lots of bales of goods under sheds, and sailors