Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-11-15
The Grent DIaerehce between EnsIIsh

The Great Difference between English
.- and French Railways. be- aHi9
VIM. Beaumont in his '"Tour in France"
No two things can be more unlike than
the details Of railway management in En-
gland and France. The difference is ant
index to the character of the two nations.
In England every man looks after himself.
In France every man must be looked after.
In England traveller is in time If he arrive
at the station one minute before the train
departs. He books himself, slows his lug
gage away either under his seat OF in the
van, takes his place, the engine whistles, and
he is off. At the end of his journey he coll
lects his luggage, and in two minutes he Is
away to his home or his hotel.
There Is nothing like this in France.
There O traveller with luggage and a traveller
without must be at the station, the former q
quarter of an hour, and the latter five minutes
before the time fixed for the departure of the
train. When the traveller with luggage has
obtained the ticket for his person, he has to
deliver it and his luggage to the register of
baggage, who is as particular in entering it
as the old parliaments of Paris were in regis
tering the kings DEGREES. When the entry
is made, the traveller receives q billet, speci-
flying the number of articles and their place
of destination. He is then conducted to the
waiting-room of his class, where he remains
locked up until his train is announced, when
a door, which opens on the platform, is
thrown back, and he is invited to take his
seat. -. .. ..aJ .a. .. -,.i... a.....
AT the end of his journey, however late
the hour, he passes into another waiting
room, and there waits until the luggage OF
all the passengers who haye alighted with
him at the same station is brought in and ar
ranged upon long counter, and there, after
the train has gone on, and not till then
| very generally ten minutes or more-he is
| invited to claim his own. At the end of a
| quarter of an hour or so, he is generally in a
| situation to set off in search of his hotel
| These continually recurring delays at the be-
| ginning and end of every Journey, were an
| annoyance to us, and more than once lost us
the opportunity of seeing objects we should
otherwise have SEEM At every principal
station there is buffet, orrefreshment-room,
and q buUette or drinking-counter,p purposely
| so arranged that no access can be had Ia
them but from the platform; and as the plat
form is not accessible till you have procured
your ticket, and not then untilthe moment
the train is leaving, visitors, like ourselves
who stop frequently for the purpose ofseeinl
objects Of interest, find. themselves debarreC
from using these places of refreshment a
often as they would wish.
Thanks to French politeness, and in con
sideration that we were foreigners, we NOR
than once obtained a relaxation of this rule
and arriving at the station before the tim
for booking, were admitted to the refresh
ment-room as favor. At Dion, where W,
had again occasion to request this favor, W,
sent one of our party to procure the tickets
while we besought admission to the bufel
"Where are your tiokets2' the keeper asked
to which we were obliged to reply that W
had none. "Then where are you going2n h
again asked; and to this we were obliged t
reply that we did not knowl Upon whic
he burst into hearty laugh, and good
naturedIy bade us pass through the wicket
This word, BUFFET which they use for re
freshmentroom, is an instance of the chang
in the meaning of the words. Henry V, Il
his speech to Katherine, uses buffet for
blow, and we call buffet footstool, on tn
ground, suppose, that itahas some connec
tion with rough usage. A buffet, in Henr
Wits time, meant a cupboard for plate an
valuables, and it is thought that the Frenc
buffet has the same origin, and that beei
eater is q corruption from buffeter, the pei
son who had charge of the buffet. -.