Equality by Bellamy, Edward, 1850-1898

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CONTENTS.

CHAPTER

I.--A SHARP CROSS-EXAMINER

II.--WHY THE REVOLUTION DID NOT COME EARLIER

III.--I ACQUIRE A STAKE IN THE COUNTRY

IV.--A TWENTIETH-CENTURY BANK PARLOR

V.--I EXPERIENCE A NEW SENSATION

VI.--HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE

VII.--A STRING OF SURPRISES

VIII.--THE GREATEST WONDER YET--FASHION DETHRONED

IX.--SOMETHING THAT HAD NOT CHANGED

X.--A MIDNIGHT PLUNGE

XI.--LIFE THE BASIS OF THE RIGHT OF PROPERTY

XII.--HOW INEQUALITY OF WEALTH DESTROYS LIBERTY

XIII.--PRIVATE CAPITAL STOLEN FROM THE SOCIAL FUND

XIV.--WE LOOK OVER MY COLLECTION OF HARNESSES

XV.--WHAT WE WERE COMING TO BUT FOR THE REVOLUTION

XVI.--AN EXCUSE THAT CONDEMNED

XVII.--THE REVOLUTION SAVES PRIVATE PROPERTY FROM MONOPOLY

XVIII.--AN ECHO OF THE PAST

XIX.--"CAN A MAID FORGET HER ORNAMENTS?"

XX.--WHAT THE REVOLUTION DID FOR WOMEN

XXI.--AT THE GYMNASIUM

XXII.--ECONOMIC SUICIDE OF THE PROFIT SYSTEM

XXIII.--"THE PARABLE OF THE WATER TANK"

XXIV.--I AM SHOWN ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THE EARTH

XXV.--THE STRIKERS

XXVI.--FOREIGN COMMERCE UNDER PROFITS; PROTECTION AND FREE TRADE, OR BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP SEA

XXVII.--HOSTILITY OF A SYSTEM OF VESTED INTERESTS TO IMPROVEMENT

XXVIII.--HOW THE PROFIT SYSTEM NULLIFIED THE BENEFIT OF INVENTIONS

XXIX.--I RECEIVE AN OVATION

XXX.--WHAT UNIVERSAL CULTURE MEANS

XXXI.--"NEITHER IN THIS MOUNTAIN NOR AT JERUSALEM"

XXXII.--ERITIS SICUT DEUS

XXXIII.--SEVERAL IMPORTANT MATTERS OVERLOOKED

XXXIV.--WHAT STARTED THE REVOLUTION

XXXV.--WHY THE REVOLUTION WENT SLOW AT FIRST BUT FAST AT LAST

XXXVI.--THEATER-GOING IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

XXXVII.--THE TRANSITION PERIOD

XXXVIII.--THE BOOK OF THE BLIND

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EQUALITY.

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CHAPTER I.

A SHARP CROSS-EXAMINER.

With many expressions of sympathy and interest Edith listened to the story of my dream. When, finally, I had made an end, she remained musing.

"What are you thinking about?" I said.

"I was thinking," she answered, "how it would have been if your dream had been true."

"True!" I exclaimed. "How could it have been true?"

"I mean," she said, "if it had all been a dream, as you supposed it was in your nightmare, and you had never really seen our Republic of the Golden Rule or me, but had only slept a night and dreamed the whole thing about us. And suppose you had gone forth just as you did in your dream, and had passed up and down telling men of the terrible folly and wickedness of their way of life and how much nobler and happier a way there was. Just think what good you might have done, how you might have helped people in those days when they needed help so much. It seems to me you must be almost sorry you came back to us."

"You look as if you were almost sorry yourself," I said, for her wistful expression seemed susceptible of that interpretation.

"Oh, no," she answered, smiling. "It was only on your own account. As for me, I have very good reasons for being glad that you came back."

"I should say so, indeed. Have you reflected that if I had dreamed it all you would have had no existence save as a figment in the brain of a sleeping man a hundred years ago?"