Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-01-06

! lower stoop three electric lights blaze OUT
| aud the nun er Of the house appears IN
| bright relief. The next step sets bell 10
I jingIing, and the third Chrows open tue
/ door and lights the gas IN the nan oy
/ electricity, transmitted By the pressure
OF the foot. inside the ball there Is an
/ odd-lookiuS foot-rest attached 10 the
/ hat-rack, and by pressing button
a pair OF brushes come out and shine your
| shoes. Upstairs, where you remove your
/ wraps, there is bedroom that Woulu %
/ worth a fortune TO a lazy man. by
! touching your head 20 the pillow the gas
| fifteen feet away is eXtlngulsned, ana Dy
pressing a knob at the foot OF the beu IL IS
lit again. outside the door clock-work
attachment sounds a drum at the proper
waking time, and If the occupant does
not get up after fifteen minutes grace the
bed rises on its hind legs and dumps tae
sleeper out on the door.
In the parlOrs the guests who had come
early stood about in little groups. Nobody
sat down, although Ottomans and sofas
and chairs were scattered through the
rooms. Every new conner was cordially
greeted and a chair pushed towards him.
II be sat down--as he usually did-the
chair either doubled up on him or started
for the door with him, or disappeared or
completely exploded. II he sat on sofa he
set banjo to playing on the opposite wall,
and drum to beating; or III he took an
other seat the movement put out the
lights and introduced queer phosphores-
cent figures, No man knew when he was
safe, although there we're few appar-
emily sale seats. In one OF these numor-
list Brown was telling a very funny story.
He had lett electricity far behind, and
! just as he reached the climax pretty
| funnel-shaped Japanese affair, like big
Ounce cap. that Ornamented the ceiling
overhead, dropped quietly down and COW
cred him up, silently eXtinguishing the
| story and the story-teller.
| Somebody proposed music, and half OF
a selection went very nicely on the
/ piano. But just as every one became
/ interested some thing seemed to give way,
aud instead Of strings the keys beat upon a
! horrible jingle OF gOnRs and drums and
| bells, and every kind Of hOise-prOducing
| implement. But the worst came in the
| dining room. Aoout IL O'Clock the twenty
/ guests sat down to a table loaded with
/ the usual delicacies. At the head fig
| ure OF Jupiter presided. Mt a signal the
! great god began to talk photographic
| ally), and made a welcome address. He
wore electric lights for shirt studs, a
| bibulOus red light for a nose, and his
| green eyes had the snap Of lightning in
them, while blue bolts blazed from his
| pocket.
| The table seemed bewitched. Touch a
! knife or fork and it put out the lights and
| introduced queer sights. Put your spoon
! into "a dish Of cream and ii fiared up in
| great columns of green or red flames
many feet high, like a fountain of fire.
Reach for an innOcent-loOking sandwich
and il rang a bell inside, where the meat
! ought TO be. Try to pick up an orange
/ and drum beat inside. Help yourself
| to pudding, and the dish and all slid
! silently into the great unknown. Ask for
| Malaga grapes and ind that an electric
! light flashed from each one as you pulled
| the stem. Pour glass Of lemonade aud
| 1t was incandescent and full of fire as it
| touched your lips. And yet everything
was good to eat, and the coffee was cooked
| by electricity.
And when the little clock tinkled out
| II. ushering in the new year, and the
chimes frem the distant churches came
I softly into the room, paudemOnium seemed
| 10 have changed places with the modest
dining-rOOm. Two big cannon unex-
! pectedly went of with a suddenness that
| rolled every man back from the table, the
| lights disappeared, gOngs under each
chair beat tattoo and two bricks dropped
I of the chimney. For a few minutes
every malignant noise ever invented was
piled on top of one another, and then
silence and the tights came back, and
| egpper was resumed as calmly as If such
a thing as a scare had never been known.
After supper electric fireworks and
| photograph experiments and a luminous
| chamber Of horrors sent the guests home
with a bewildered feeling that somehow
! they had been living half a century ahead
Of the new wear.