Page:Carroll - Sylvie and Bruno Concluded.djvu/204

166 knowing that, whether drowned or not, they are all lighter than water. We have not yet reached the standard of making people lighter than air: but we are aiming at it; and, in another thousand years or so"

"What doos oo do wiz the peoples that's too heavy?" Bruno solemnly enquired.

"We have applied the same process," Mein Herr continued, not noticing Bruno's question, "to many other purposes. We have gone on selecting walking-sticksalways keeping those that walked besttill we have obtained some, that can walk by themselves! We have gone on selecting cotton-wool, till we have got some lighter than air! You've no idea what a useful material it is! We call it 'Imponderal.

"What do you use it for?"

"Well, chiefly for packing articles, to go by Parcel-Post. It makes them weigh less than nothing, you know."

"And how do the Post-Office people know what you have to pay?"

"That's the beauty of the new system!" Mein Herr cried exultingly. "They pay us: