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Harris, W. S. (William Shuler), 1865-

"A twentieth century allegory"

" They walked down the long room, passing on each
side of the aisle one set of busy workers after another. They stopped
at one of the far corners and beheld, in advance, the latest novelty
to be used for singing in church service.
It was an artificial woman, neatly attired and filled with a complicated
mechanism so constructed that when certain electric keys were touched
by the unseen operator, articulate sounds like unto a human voice
issued forth, while the expression of the whole face, and the
natural-like heaving of the breast, all moved in harmony with the
artificial sounds. The invention so much resembled a living creature
of beauty that Miss Church-Member at first thought it was really human.
Mr. World was so well pleased with the novelty that he unconsciously
seated himself upon a couch and looked on in amazement. The beauty of
the female form attracted his attention as much as the voice that
pealed forth bewitchingly from the lips.
"The greatest thing in the world!" he said after a period of ecstatic
silence. "The church that gets such a singer into its choir will have
a packed house at every service."
"I never so much as dreamed of such a thing before.


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