What of a harmless,necessary moth or two,or even a few fleas?"

"That might be all very well as far as furniture and carpets and curtains are concerned,"I said,"but surely you wouldn't apply it to pictures and objects of art?"

"I would apply it to them first of all and above all,"rejoined my friend,hardily."Among all the people who buy and own such things there is not one in a thousand who has any real taste or feeling for them,and the objects they choose are generally such as can only deprave and degrade them further.The pictures,statues,and vases supplied by the Standard Household-Effect Company would be selected by agents with a real sense of art,and a knowledge of it.When the house-letting and house-furnishing finally passed into the hands of the state,these things would be lent from the public galleries,or from immense municipal stores for the purpose."

"And I suppose you would have ancestral portraits supplied along with the other pictures?"I sneered.

"Ancestral portraits,of course,"said my friend,with unruffled temper.