Page:Diary of a Pilgrimage (1891).pdf/271

Rh their equality when people were allowed to wash themselves. Some people washed three or four times a day, while others never touched soap and water from one year's end to the other, and in consequence there got to be two distinct classes, the Clean and the Dirty. All the old class prejudices began to be revived. The clean despised the dirty, and the dirty hated the clean. So, to end dissension, the State decided to do the washing itself, and each citizen was now washed twice a day by government-appointed officials; and private washing was prohibited.

I noticed that we passed no houses as we went along, only block after block of huge, barrack-like buildings, all of the same size and shape. Occasionally, at a corner, we came across a smaller building, labelled "Museum," "Hospital," "Debating Hall," "Bath," "Gymnasium," "Academy of Sciences," "Exhibition of Industries," "School of Talk," &c., &c.; but never a house.

I said:

"Doesn't anybody live in this town?"

He said:

"You do ask silly questions; upon my word, you do. Where do you think they live?"

I said:

"That's just what I've been trying to think. I don't see any houses anywhere!"

He said:

"We don't need houses—not houses such as you are thinking of. We are socialistic now; we live together in fraternity and equality. We live in these blocks that you see. Each block accommodates one thousand citizens. It contains one thousand beds—one hundred in each room—and bath-rooms and dressing-rooms in proportion, a