46 chapters
16 hour read
Selected Chapters
46 chapters
PREFACE.
PREFACE.
O N the afternoon of May 14, 1881, the good ship “City of Richmond,” steamed out of New York harbor with a varied assortment of passengers on board, all intent upon seeing Europe. Among these was the writer of the pages that follow. Six of the passengers having contracted a sort of liking for each other, made a tour of six months together, that is, together most of the time. This book is the record of their experiences, as they appeared originally in the columns of the Toledo Blade . It is not i
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER I. THE DEPARTURE, VOYAGE, AND LANDING.
CHAPTER I. THE DEPARTURE, VOYAGE, AND LANDING.
“C AST O FF !” There was a bustle, a movement of fifty men, a rush of people to the gangways; hurried good-bys were said; another rush, assisted by the fifty men, the enormous gangways were lifted, there was a throb of steam, a mighty jar of machinery, a tremor along the line of the vast body of wood and iron, and the good ship “City of Richmond” was out at sea. THE DEPARTURE. I am not going to inflict upon the reader a description of the harbor of New York, or anything of the kind. The whole wo
30 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER II. LONDON, AND THINGS PERTAINING.
CHAPTER II. LONDON, AND THINGS PERTAINING.
T HE largest city of the world! The most monstrous aggregation of men, women, children; the center of financial, military, mental, and moral power! The controlling city of the world! This is London! There may be in the effete East larger aggregations of what, by courtesy, may be called humanity, for in those countries the limits of cities are not properly defined, nor is the census taken with any accuracy. But these cities exercise no especial influence upon the world; they control nothing outsi
35 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER III. THE DERBY RACES, WITH SOME OTHER THINGS.
CHAPTER III. THE DERBY RACES, WITH SOME OTHER THINGS.
H ORSE-RACING in America is not considered the most exciting, or, for that matter, the most reputable business in the world. A horsey man, except in New York, is not looked upon with much favor, being, as a rule, and I suppose justly, regarded as a modified and somewhat toned down black-leg. I never ventured money upon but one race. I shall never forget it, for it was my first and last experience. It was many years ago, ere time had whitened my locks, and had set the seal of age in my face in th
28 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IV. WHAT THE LONDONERS QUENCH THEIR THIRST WITH.
CHAPTER IV. WHAT THE LONDONERS QUENCH THEIR THIRST WITH.
S PEAKING within bounds, I should say that one-half of England is engaged in manufacturing beer for the other half. Possibly it takes two-thirds of the entire population to make beer enough for the other third, but I think an equal division would be about the thing. The British public is very drouthy. One is astounded at the amount of drinking that is done here. Go where you will, turn whichever way you choose, the inevitable “public,” or the “pub” as they say between drinks, stares you in the f
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER V. HOW LONDON IS AMUSED.
CHAPTER V. HOW LONDON IS AMUSED.
T O pass from rum to amusement is a very easy and natural transition, for unfortunately the people who drink are, as a rule, those who need and will have amusement. Having done with liquor forever, I am glad to get to a subject not quite so disagreeable. London supports forty theaters proper; that is, forty theaters devoted entirely to dramatic or operatic representations, and several hundred places of amusement of all kinds, which may be classed as variety shows. The regular theaters are a long
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VI. MADAME TUSSAUD.
CHAPTER VI. MADAME TUSSAUD.
O NE of the stock sights in London which every foreigner as well as every man, woman and child from the country who goes to London, does with great regularity, is Madame Tussaud’s Museum. It is known the world over and is as regular a thing to see as the Tower. A great many years ago, some time since the flood, a Swiss woman named Tussaud, who had studied art in Paris, took the brilliant notion into her wise head that money was better than fame, and instead of spoiling marble she commenced doing
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VII. THE LONDON LAWYER.
CHAPTER VII. THE LONDON LAWYER.
L ONDON is probably the most expensive place to do business in the world. Its business men are conservative, so conservative that they would not for the world part their hair in any way differing from their fathers, nor would they adopt a modern convenience unless it were absolutely necessary to the maintenance of English supremacy, and they would sigh as they parted with an old nuisance for a modern delight. Their professions have all got into ruts from which you can no more move them than you
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VIII. SOME NOTES AS TO THE INVESTMENT OF ENGLISH CAPITAL, AND ALSO BRITISH PATENT MEDICINES.
CHAPTER VIII. SOME NOTES AS TO THE INVESTMENT OF ENGLISH CAPITAL, AND ALSO BRITISH PATENT MEDICINES.
I T is a very common remark that Americans love to be humbugged. Perhaps they do, but their English cousins can give them points in this desire. The ease with which adventurers and bogus schemers get their claws into English moneybags, is something astounding. Perhaps it is because the nation has so much money that it don’t know what to do with it, or possibly because the Englishman is naturally credulous, but it is a fact that London is the paradise of the sharper, and the pleasant pasture for
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IX. PETTICOAT LANE.
CHAPTER IX. PETTICOAT LANE.
T HERE is no Petticoat Lane any more, some finnicky board having very foolishly changed the good old name to Middlesex street. There was something suggestive in the name “Petticoat Lane,” for it indicated with great accuracy the business carried on there, but there is nothing suggestive about Middlesex street. It might as well have been called Wellington street, or Wesley street, or Washington street. I hate these changes. A street is a street, and calling it an avenue don’t make it so. Why not
18 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER X. THE TOWER.
CHAPTER X. THE TOWER.
T O visit the Tower is to draw aside the curtain that separates the past from the present. It is to go back a thousand years, and commune with those who have long ages been dust, and of whom only a memory remains. Once in the Tower, one seems to be with them, to see them, and to feel their influence as though they were living, moving beings, and not historical ghosts. The vast structure, now in the heart of the great city, though once on its borders, is as much out of place in this day and age o
27 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XI. TWO ENGLISH NUISANCES—DRESS AND TIPS.
CHAPTER XI. TWO ENGLISH NUISANCES—DRESS AND TIPS.
W ITH that propensity for lying on the part of traveled men and women to which I have had occasion to refer, the intending tourist is warned by all who have crossed the water to take as little clothing as possible, for the reason that “you can get any clothes you want in London at half the money, and then you have the style, you know.” What infernal spirit seizes traveled people and compels such terrible falsification, I cannot conceive. Quality considered, clothing is no cheaper in London than
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XII. PORTSMOUTH.
CHAPTER XII. PORTSMOUTH.
W AY down upon the Southern coast of England is an old town of more than ordinary interest. Everybody is familiar with that great depot for England’s naval and military forces—Portsmouth. The run down from London is one of delight, that is it would be were it not for the fact that the stolid Briton will not keep pace with the times, and introduce upon his railroads modern carriages, in which a traveler may ride with some degree of comfort. He refuses to abandon the ancient compartment carriage,
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIII. WESTMINSTER ABBEY.
CHAPTER XIII. WESTMINSTER ABBEY.
S OMETIME in the sixth century a Saxon King, named Sebert, founded an Abbey, where Westminster now stands. It is another of the regular show places of London, and possibly the most interesting, unless it be the Tower. It has been rebuilt a dozen or more times, and is really the most beautiful building in London of its class. EXTERIOR OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY. The Abbey is three hundred and seventy-five feet in length, by two hundred in width, and its height from the pavement to the foot of the lante
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIV. SOME ACCOUNT OF AN AMERICAN SHOWMAN, WITH A LITTLE INSIGHT INTO THE SHOW BUSINESS.
CHAPTER XIV. SOME ACCOUNT OF AN AMERICAN SHOWMAN, WITH A LITTLE INSIGHT INTO THE SHOW BUSINESS.
R IGHT in the heart of London—if London may be said to have any heart—is a tavern kept by an American, which is the headquarters of American “professionals,” as showmen delight to call themselves. You can never go there without meeting managers, nigger minstrels, song-and-dance-men, unappreciated actors, and all sorts of people who prefer living from hand to mouth and wearing no shirts, in this way, than to making a fortune in any regular business. I go there frequently from sheer loneliness, an
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XV. RICHMOND.
CHAPTER XV. RICHMOND.
F OUR weeks in London! Twenty-eight days of incessant sight-seeing. A series of continual surprises day after day, from early in the morning until late at night; a constant succession of new things of interest crowded and forced upon one, until at length the senses weary, the mind refuses to take in any more, and imperatively cries out for a change, for rest. The body is exhausted. The dull, dense atmosphere is enervating. A night’s sleep gives no refreshment. One rises in the morning by sheer f
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVI. FROM LONDON TO PARIS.
CHAPTER XVI. FROM LONDON TO PARIS.
G OOD-BYE for the present to London. Good-bye to its smoke, its fogs, its predatory hackmen, its bad water, its worse beer, its still worse gin. Good-bye to its eternal rains, its never-ending badly dressed men and worse dressed women. Good-bye to very bad bread. Good-bye to the greatest collection of shams and realities, goodness and cruelty in the world. Seven weeks in London and its environs is all that an American can endure, who ever expects to get back to his own country. Were fate to have
27 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVII. A SCATTERING VIEW OF PARIS.
CHAPTER XVII. A SCATTERING VIEW OF PARIS.
W HEN an enlightened public sentiment drove the pirates from the high seas, and compelled them to seek other methods of supplying themselves with means for the enjoyment of luxury, I am convinced that every one of them came to Europe, and went into the hotel business. A few of them might have got hotels in America, but the vast majority came here. I did come across one at the Gorge de Triente, in Switzerland, who might not have been a pirate, or, if he was, he was either a mild one, or, being no
33 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVIII. SOMETHING ABOUT PARIS AND THE PARISIANS.
CHAPTER XVIII. SOMETHING ABOUT PARIS AND THE PARISIANS.
P ARIS covers an area of thirty square miles, has five hundred and thirty miles of public streets, and has a resident population of nearly two millions, all engaged in trading in articles of luxury for the rest of the world. It supports about one hundred and fifteen thousand paupers. Its religion is a very mild form of Catholicism tinged with infidelity, or infidelity flavored with Catholicism, as you choose. Which flavor predominates in the average Parisian I have not been able to determine. I
25 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIX. THE PARISIAN GAMIN.
CHAPTER XIX. THE PARISIAN GAMIN.
P ARIS has one institution possessed by no other city in the world—the genuine street Arab. London has, heaven knows, enough homeless waifs, born the Lord only knows where, and brought up the Lord only knows how; but the London article is no more like the Parisian than chalk is like cheese. The New York street boy comes nearer it—New York is more like Paris than any other city—but even the New York Arab is not to be compared with the Parisian. He stands alone, a miracle of impudence, good nature
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XX. HOW PARIS AMUSES ITSELF.
CHAPTER XX. HOW PARIS AMUSES ITSELF.
T HE average Parisian thinks of but two things—how to get the wherewith to amuse himself, and how to get the most amusement out of that wherewith. I doubt if he ever thinks of any hereafter beyond to-night. His religion is admirably adapted to his nature. He is either a Catholic or an infidel. If a Catholic, a few minutes at the end suffices to fix him for the next world; if an infidel, death is annihilation, and therefore he proposes to have as much enjoyment as possible out of the present. Par
29 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXI. THE LOUVRE.
CHAPTER XXI. THE LOUVRE.
P ARIS , the magnificent, has thousands of structures that are worth a voyage across the Atlantic to see, but there is in all that wonderful city no one that is so utterly bewildering in its magnificence as the massive pile, the Louvre, one of the largest as well as grandest places in the world. Its long galleries and beautiful salons, with hundreds of winds and turns, form a labyrinth in which, without a guide, one may almost be lost. It required a great deal of time to build the Louvre, as its
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXII. THE PALAIS-ROYAL.
CHAPTER XXII. THE PALAIS-ROYAL.
T HE Palais-Royal is the Parisian Mecca for all Americans. Its brilliant shops, glittering with diamonds and precious stones, are so many shrines at which Americans are most devout worshipers. They go there day after day, admiring the bewildering display, and the admiration excited by the wily shopkeeper by his skill in arranging his costly wares leads to purchases that would not otherwise have been made. There is a fascination about a shop window literally filled with diamonds, arranged by a Fr
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIII. FRENCH DRINKING.
CHAPTER XXIII. FRENCH DRINKING.
T HE French are the most temperate people on the globe. Why this is so is not easily explained, for it would be naturally supposed that so excitable a people ought, in the very nature of things, to be intemperate. They have no fixed code of morals, as the Saxon people have, and they make no pretense of anything of the kind. They are intemperate enough, heaven knows, in their politics, and apparently so, to a stranger who does not understand French, in their conversation; but in the matter of dri
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIV. PARISIAN LIVING.
CHAPTER XXIV. PARISIAN LIVING.
T HE Parisian family, unless it be one of the bloated aristocrats and pampered children of luxury, do not occupy separate houses, as families do in American cities. Rents are somewhat too high to permit that luxury, and besides they never were used to it, and it wouldn’t suit them at all. They have been accustomed to living up stairs for so many generations that I doubt if a genuine Parisian of the middle classes could be happy on or near the ground floor. The first floor, and, for that matter,
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXV. IRELAND.
CHAPTER XXV. IRELAND.
From France the gay, France the prosperous, France the delightful, to Ireland the sad, Ireland the poor, Ireland the oppressed, is a tremendous jump. Contrasts are necessary, and my readers are going to have all they want of them. CORK HARBOR. Cork is a lovely city; that is, it would be a lovely city were it a city at all. Nature intended Cork for a great city, but man stepped in and thwarted Nature. It is situated on the most magnificent site for a city there is in all Europe. A wonderfully bea
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXVI. BANTRY.
CHAPTER XXVI. BANTRY.
T HE village of Bantry, in County Cork, some forty miles from Cork, is owned and controlled by My Lord Bantry, who is, or, at least, ought to be, one of the richest men in Ireland. Whether he is or not depends entirely upon how expensively he lives in Paris, and how much extravagance he commits there and in London. He certainly screws enough money out of the unfortunates born upon the land stolen from them by English Kings and given to him, to make him a richer man than Rothschild, if he has tak
25 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXVII. AN IRISH MASS MEETING.
CHAPTER XXVII. AN IRISH MASS MEETING.
M R . C HARLES S TEWART P ARNELL , lately in Kilmainhaim Jail for the crime of lifting up his voice in behalf of an oppressed people, represents Cork in the British Parliament, and his constituents determined to give him a reception. In Catholic countries political demonstrations take place on Sunday, always, the Catholic having attended services in the morning, devoting the rest of the day to recreation and public business. And besides this reason for Sunday demonstrations in any country under
18 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXVIII. SOME LITTLE HISTORY.
CHAPTER XXVIII. SOME LITTLE HISTORY.
I T is very difficult to make an American understand the Irish question, for the simple reason we have nothing parallel to it in our own country; for which every American should thank his Heavenly Father, who cast his lines in such pleasant places. Whenever you speak to an American about the woes and wrongs of Ireland he at once says, “Why does the Irish farmer sign a lease which he knows he cannot live to?” “If he don’t like the country and the laws, why don’t he get out of it?” “Why is it, the
26 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIX. ENGLAND, IRELAND, SCOTLAND—ROYALTY AND NOBILITY.
CHAPTER XXIX. ENGLAND, IRELAND, SCOTLAND—ROYALTY AND NOBILITY.
T HIS will be found to be a mixed chapter, but I respectfully desire every American to read it very carefully, and to give it some thought after reading it. In America, where one man is as good as another, we have so much that is good that we do not appreciate the blessings we enjoy; we do not realize how much a free government is worth. I am going to put upon paper some few governmental facts, to the end of showing my countrymen what a good government is worth to them, and what a bad government
32 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXX. PARIS TO GENEVA
CHAPTER XXX. PARIS TO GENEVA
F ROM Ireland with its woes, Ireland with its oppressions, through England, the world’s oppressor, to Paris, and from Paris to Switzerland—that was the route our party took; not so much because it was consecutive or in order, but because the whim so to do seized us. We were out to see, and to us all countries that were to be seen were alike of interest. We spent a few more days in Paris—everybody wants to spend a few more days in Paris—and then turned our reluctant faces southward. A dismal, glo
26 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXI.
CHAPTER XXXI.
SWITZERLAND—SOMETHING MORE ABOUT GENEVA AND THE SWISS OF THAT ILK—THE LAKE AND RIVER. Some one remarked to the Rev. Mr. Henry Ward Beecher, before he had the little difference with Mr. Theodore Tilton, and was editing the Independent , “Mr. Beecher, I like your paper. You had a religious article in the last number. Now I think it is the correct thing for a church paper to have, occasionally, a religious article.” So, in a record of travels, I think it entirely proper to say something, occasional
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXII. CHILLON AND OTHER POINTS.
CHAPTER XXXII. CHILLON AND OTHER POINTS.
O N a clear bright day, the hot air tempered by a gentle breeze wafted down from the ice-covered mountains, with others we left Geneva, to cross the mountains and visit Mont Blanc, that patriarch of the Alps. The blue waters of Lake Geneva danced and sparkled in the sunlight as our steamer sped along towards Nyon. At last we were skimming over the surface of that wonderful body of water whose peans have for hundreds of years been sung by the poets, in prose and verse, of all countries. Rosseau,
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXIII. FROM GENEVA OVER THE ALPS.
CHAPTER XXXIII. FROM GENEVA OVER THE ALPS.
A SHORT drive over one of those wonderfully hard, smooth roads that make carriage traveling in Switzerland so delightful, and we are at the hotel at the Gorge du Trient, whence, early in the morning, we are to begin the ascent of the mountains. The time before dinner is occupied in an exploration of the wildly picturesque gorge, with its winding foot-bridge built alongside the cliffs, over yawning chasms, around jutting bowlders that rise to such a height that the sky seems like a strip of blue
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXIV. OVER THE ALPS—THE PASS TÊTE NOIRE.
CHAPTER XXXIV. OVER THE ALPS—THE PASS TÊTE NOIRE.
I T is just in the midst of the hay harvest, and men, women and children are all cutting, raking and carrying from the mountain side to the vale below. All this work is done by hand. There can be no such thing as a team on these mountains—one would as soon think of driving a team up the side of a wall. The Swiss woman takes an active part in the duties of the field, and an immense amount of work she is capable of. While the men are cutting the grass, she fills a huge sheet with that which has dr
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXV. GOING UP THE MOUNTAIN.
CHAPTER XXXV. GOING UP THE MOUNTAIN.
I CANNOT see why any one should desire to ascend Mt. Blanc. It is a trip of great danger, is very fatiguing, and, it is said, even when the summit is reached the view is unsatisfactory, on account of the great distance from all objects save the jagged peaks of the big mountain. Yet there are quite a number of ascents made every year. THE PRESUMED CHAMOIS HUNTER. Why? Because the innocents who do it dearly love to start out, the males with their knee breeches and horrible spiked shoes, and the fe
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXVI. IN SWITZERLAND.
CHAPTER XXXVI. IN SWITZERLAND.
T HE scenery from Chamonix to Geneva, by the way of Sallanches, St. Martin, Cluses and Bonneville is magnificent. Leaving Chamonix the road winds down the beautiful valley with the Glacier des Bossons, overshadowed by Mont Blanc, on the right, while on the left are the pretty hamlets and fruitful farms that relieve the barren, rugged mountains on either side. The road, which is a marvel of smoothness, as are all the roads in Switzerland, crosses and recrosses the river Arve, until, after passing
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXVII. LAKE THUN AND BEYOND.
CHAPTER XXXVII. LAKE THUN AND BEYOND.
F ROM Berne to Thun the scenery is less bold and rugged, although the horizon is always filled with great peaks that are to be seen from every quarter. At Thun we take steamer across Lake Thun, one of the most beautiful of all the Swiss lakes. It is not so large as Lake Geneva, and is not fringed with such enormous mountain chains, but it abounds with unexpected views of rare beauty, resembling very much our own picturesque Lake George. As the steamer skirts the north bank of the lake, which is
18 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXVIII. LUCERNE AND THE RIGI.
CHAPTER XXXVIII. LUCERNE AND THE RIGI.
T HE road from Brienz to Lucerne, over the Brünig Pass, follows the valley of Meiringen for a long distance, and gives some very pretty views of Lake Brienz, the River Aare, and a number of cascades in the mountains across the valley. As the ascent of the pass begins the road is frequently overshadowed by hanging rocks, which seem about to topple over every minute. As we wind around the mountains occasional glimpses are obtained of the valley far below, and then, after having gone over the summi
24 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXIX. ZURICH AND STRASBURG.
CHAPTER XXXIX. ZURICH AND STRASBURG.
L EAVING Lucerne, Mont Pilatus and the Rigi behind us, we speed rapidly on through pleasant valleys and fragrant meadows. The country loses its high, mountainous nature, and becomes a level, well-farmed district, extremely pleasant after three weeks of nothing but huge mountains, steep passes and rugged hills. Mountain scenery is all very well in its way, but one can have too much of it. A little is quite sufficient. Zurich is a beautiful city, lying around the head of the lake of the same name.
26 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XL. BADEN-BADEN AND THINGS THEREIN.
CHAPTER XL. BADEN-BADEN AND THINGS THEREIN.
A T one time Baden-Baden was one of the most famous gambling places in the world, but it is now simply a fashionable watering place, very like Saratoga. It is beautifully situated in the valley of the Oos, at the entrance to the Black Forest. During the time the gambling rooms flourished, great pains were taken to make it as attractive as possible. Long, wide avenues were laid out and planted with beautiful trees, picturesque drives were made, and all the natural advantages were improved a thous
19 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XLI. HEIDELBERG.
CHAPTER XLI. HEIDELBERG.
T HERE is hardly a man, woman or child in the world who has not heard of Heidelberg, and who does not know something of this famous little city of students, wine, beer, castle and casks. It is a place better known, probably, than any in Europe of its size and non-political importance, and it entertains more sight-seers than any other. It is well worth the attention given it. Heidelberg is beautifully situated on the River Neckar, about twelve miles from its junction with the Rhine, and a more de
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XLII. AN INLAND GERMAN CITY—MANNHEIM.
CHAPTER XLII. AN INLAND GERMAN CITY—MANNHEIM.
I T was comfort to get out of the beaten routes of tourists, and find yourself in a city where you do not hear English, and where the sight-seer with the inevitable guide book and field-glass, does not display himself. It was a relief to get into a city that had not been half Anglicised and Americanized by the constant stream of tourists that pour over Europe every Summer, where you could see Germany and the Germans, pure and simple. Such a place is Mannheim, at the confluence of the Rhine and N
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XLIII. FROM MANNHEIM TO FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAINE.
CHAPTER XLIII. FROM MANNHEIM TO FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAINE.
ESCHENHEIM TOWER. RÖMER. LUTHER’S HOUSE. We had a great deal of trouble to get out of Mannheim. All German railroad officials are in uniform, and the regulations are about as strict in the railroad service as in the military. The train we were compelled to take left at six o’clock in the morning, and we were at the station promptly. That is, we had four of five minutes in which to get our tickets, see to our baggage and go on. We hurried to the little window in the ticket-office, but it was down
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XLIV. DOWN THE RHINE.
CHAPTER XLIV. DOWN THE RHINE.
W HAT a flood of anticipations came trooping through the mind at the mere thought of a sail “Down the Rhine.” Down that famous old river, every mile the scene of a legend; the river in whose praise poets have sung for ages; whose every turn reveals a castle or fortress that has figured for centuries in story and song! What visions of wooded banks, vine-clad hills, and ivy-covered ruins! What pure, unalloyed pleasure a trip “Down the Rhine” must be! And it is. Poets may have written what seemed t
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XLV. COLOGNE, ITS CATHEDRAL AND OTHER THINGS.
CHAPTER XLV. COLOGNE, ITS CATHEDRAL AND OTHER THINGS.
T HERE may be altogether too much of even cathedrals. After going through those in London, then tackling those in Northern France and wandering through those in Paris, going out of your way to see a dozen more or less in Southern France, then taking by the way the big and little ones in Switzerland, one gets, as it were, somewhat tired of cathedrals, and wishes the necessities of travel did not compel him to see more of them. To a certain extent they are all alike. It is true they are all built
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter