The oddest thing of all was the big room in the middle.

It had padded walls and a soft, thick carpet, and all the chairs and tables were padded.

There wasn't a single thing in it that anyone could hurt itself with.
'What ever's this for ?--lunatics ?' asked Cyril.
The lady looked very shocked.
'No! It's for the children, of course,' she said.

'Don't tell me that in your country there are no children's rooms.' 'There are nurseries,' said Anthea doubtfully, 'but the furniture's all cornery and hard, like other rooms.' 'How shocking!' said the lady;'you must be VERY much behind the times in your country! Why, the children are more than half of the people; it's not much to have one room where they can have a good time and not hurt themselves.' 'But there's no fireplace,' said Anthea.
'Hot-air pipes, of course,' said the lady.

'Why, how could you have a fire in a nursery?
A child might get burned.' 'In our country,' said Robert suddenly, 'more than 3,000 children are burned to death every year.