Symzonia: Voyage of Discovery

In the centre, on a large convex platform, the Best Man has a seat, fixed upon a pivot, which permits him to turn with ease to every part of the Auditory. Over this platform an orchestra supported on pillars accommodates five hundred musicians, whose melody, reverberated by the vaulted roof, fills this tremendous and unbroken space. In this edifice all the Worthies assemble once a day, for religious services, during the preparation month. The exercises are always commenced with music, to dispose the soul to heavenly contemplation. After the music, they all kneel and pray in silence. Speakers designated by the Best Man then ascend the platform by turns and deliver their sentiments on subjects worthy the attention of so enlightened and devout an assembly. The whole is closed with music, that all may depart in harmony of thought and feeling. Three hours are thus devoted every day for a month, that the hearts and minds of the members may be improved, and that they may be prepared to deliberate upon the affairs of state in perfect fellowship and good will. When the committee of the Grand Council, or the ordinary council of the Best Man, meet for the despatch of business, they take their seats in compact order upon one side of the platform, leaving the area below for spectators; and as the most important matters are fully discussed in conversation during the preparation month, and as all the Worthies have good sense enough to know that their own happiness will be most certainly promoted by a faithful and pure devotion to the true interests of their fellow-men, the Best Man is not subjected to the inconvenience of listening for six hours together to a speech, calculated only to render a clear subject obscure and doubtful; nor is he who offers the fruits of his experience, or of his studies, insulted by the spectacle of an audience writing letters, reading newspapers, or sealing packets, to mark their contempt for his opinions.