It was a beautiful night on the Styx, and the silvery surface of that
picturesque stream was dotted with gondolas, canoes, and other craft to
an extent that made Charon feel like a highly prosperous savings-bank.
Within the house-boat were gathered a merry party, some of whom were on
mere pleasure bent, others of whom had come to listen to a debate, for
which the entertainment committee had provided, between the venerable
patriarch Noah and the late eminent showman P. T. Barnum. The question
to be debated was upon the resolution passed by the committee, that "The
Animals of the Antediluvian Period were Far More Attractive for Show
Purposes than those of Modern Make," and, singular to relate, the
affirmative was placed in the hands of Mr. Barnum, while to Noah had
fallen the task of upholding the virtues of the modern freak. It is with
the party on mere pleasure bent that we have to do upon this occasion.
The proceedings of the debating-party are as yet in the hands of the
official stenographer, but will be made public as soon as they are ready.

The pleasure-seeking group were gathered in the smoking-room of the club,
which was, indeed, a smoking-room of a novel sort, the invention of an
unknown shade, who had sold all the rights to the club through a third
party, anonymously, preferring, it seemed, to remain in the Elysian
world, as he had been in the mundane sphere, a mute inglorious Edison. It
was a simple enough scheme, and, for a wonder, no one in the world of
substantialities has thought to take it up. The smoke was stored in
reservoirs, just as if it were so much gas or water, and was supplied on
the hot-air furnace principle from a huge furnace in the hold of the
house-boat, into which tobacco was shovelled by the hired man of the club
night and day. The smoke from the furnace, carried through flues to the
smoking-room, was there received and stored in the reservoirs, with each