by electric wires with the kitchen of the hotel, and if I would
observe the numbers attached to any articles in the bill of fare
which I desired, and would touch the corresponding numbers of the
knobs before me, my dinner would be ordered on a similar mirror in
the kitchen, and speedily served. I did as he directed. In a little
while an electric bell near me rang; the bill of fare disappeared
from the mirror; there was a slight clicking sound; the table parted
in front of me, the electric knobs moving aside; and up through the
opening rose my dinner carefully arranged, as upon a table, which
exactly filled the gap caused by the recession of that part of the
original table which contained the electric buttons. I need not say I
was astonished. I commenced to eat, and immediately the same bell,
which had announced the disappearance of the bill of fare, rang
again. I looked up, and the mirror now contained the name of every
state in the Republic, from Hudson's Bay to the Isthmus of Darien;
and the names of all the nations of the world; each name being
numbered. My attendant, perceiving my perplexity, called my attention
to the fact that the sides of the table which had brought up my
dinner contained another set of electric buttons, corresponding with
the numbers on the mirror; and he explained to me that if I would
select any state or country and touch the corresponding button the
news of the day, from that state or country, would appear in the
mirror. He called my attention to, the fact that every guest in the
room had in front of him a similar mirror, and many of them were
reading the news of the day as they ate. I touched the knob
corresponding with the name of the new state of Uganda, in Africa,
and immediately there appeared in the mirror all the doings of the
people of that state--its crimes, its accidents, its business, the
output of its mines, the markets, the sayings and doings of its
prominent men; in fact, the whole life of the community was unrolled