Twenty-One Balloons (Puffin Modern Classics)

dish washing and drying machines—the whole house has every imaginable convenience, we believe. I have shown you all of its most spectacular aspects.”

There,” said Mr. F., climbing back through the window out of breath and with a most distressed look on his face. “You can see that this is hardly what one might call an improvement in livingrooms.”

“Why don’t they slow them down a bit?” I asked.

“The scientists who designed these infernal machines insist that they could slow them down. But Mr. and Mrs. M. have had so many sad experiences, such as shocks and bumps, in the room that they refuse to have electric chairs of any sort. M-1 and M-2 are crazy about them, however. The room has been turned over to them and their play-room has been made into a livingroom for Mr. and Mrs.

M. All of the children on the Island spend many hours a day driving the easy chairs around the room, yelling and screaming and bumping into each other. The couch holds about four children and is the fastest in the room. I would hate to predict what will become of this younger, mechanically minded generation.”

I agreed that the electrical age we were entering was indeed frightening.

can see now why Krakatoa was always considered unfit to live on,” said Mr. F.

“I couldn’t be more completely convinced,” I groaned.

“That’s the peculiar thing about nature,” explained Mr. F., “it guards its rarest treasures with greatest care. Every year on other Pacific islands hundreds of natives lose their lives trying to bring up pearls from the floor of the sea. Man pays nature dearly for pearls. This noisy volcano on Krakatoa has frightened men away from the island for centuries. This fickle, dangerous, an