The Portland daily press., 1865-09-15


all things in Switzerland, which you know,
like Italy, you know, just hves on 1ne Engllsh
cold we snend there, you know. He took the
man to task and reproYed him, and, which
was ever So mncfi more llnbearable, interro-
GATED hin, in regard to his criminal Negligence
|. oftha preceding year. The stout, civil, worthy
man bore the bad German and the imperti-
-uence.. as long as subordinate Swiss official
flesh and blood could bear il, but at last lost
patience, and found this answer 2 Man and
bow. Sir, have lived in Berne over forty years
and SO far as my observation had gone. had
remarked that Englishmen were plenty
eneugh, but bears arc growing scarce.HJ
This tickled the Major immensely. I think
he has trifle OF prejudice against "the Eng
slish7 generally owing to a.smaIl party of them
not having taken the great POPULAR mass
and the best OF the great popular leaders did
Tsyhatever was right onnour-the Majors
riSht-side IN the late war; And hence from
Berne there has been an Unlocking English
party whom we have met in the Swiss
mountain passes, or at the table d'hote, orhad
our knees grazed past by in railway wagon
that the M Major has not grumbled out, gbear
meat !'t@ - - = C4-l~ = 10 u Ill H.
We found the Bernese Oberland in its usual
high condition, except that the glaciers at
Grindiewaid and Rosenlain were melted back
further than ordinary, owing to the dry, warm
season. i thought, too, that the hoFn-blowers,
echo-wakers, fower-sellers, gate-openers, SOM
ersauiters and the rest Of the small begging
brigands who infest those parts, were not out
in as great force as had found them in form
er years. The ascending and descending cur
rents of travellers were copious-G German,
French, Bear-meat and Americans, male and
female. The younger ones generally burden
ed, for the sake of "local color" with an Al
spenstock, as long and as heavy as a rakestail,
and as little needed for crossing the Sheldeck
as for crossing Broadway. The guides, you OBJ
serve, my young friends, never use them on
these beaten mountain paths. A single stout
waking-sticlS is better. L 8 essl 7oesi
4 We came from Luzerno to Baden Baden oy-s
er two Swiss and one German railroad, all ex-
cellently administered for the convenience of
riders. They are admirably built to begin
with; in that the irritating, fatigueing, jiggery
movement is obyiated. In this respect this
Rhenish and some other German roads, have
been on, are superior to the FIench--whie the
second-elass cars are as comfortable as the
French first class. The ministering helps. not
to say servants (in all cases let as keep from
calling these worthy men employees,) on all
continental roads have ever travelled proper
ly civil and serviceable. Those of Switzerland
have indeed sometimes little republican sur
face roughnessi of manner, those of France are
oftenest polite, but these good German. cor
ductors and ticket men are just heartily kind.
Furthermore, on these German roads they
don't levy toll of life and limb ON passengers,
they don't fail to connect, or neglect the
Switches or leave the ydrawbridges open, or
run into the down and up trains, or use worn
out rails and broken machinery, or in general
commit murder and proper precautions res
pectively. The proportion of mortal and grave
accidents on Prussian railways is to those ON
French railways as one TO nine; that Of these
last to those with us is also about one to nine
While these good Germans are careful not to
destroy the lives of wayfarers, the fare they
furnish to sustain lite is equally commendable:
the best OF bread and other healthy dry Fvie-,i
tuai, good wine and beer, all at reasonable
prices mo pies, and coffee not muddy. e
by the way it is fit to SO back a little here
to speak OF a most noteworthy dinner we ate
along the road from Troyes in France to Null
house. Sometime about O'clock one of the
helps of the train put his head through our
wagon window and asked II we would take
dinner, handing us at the same time card on
which was printed in two languages the fol-
lowing Interesting legend: @Tile> express and
mail trains not stopping long at Vesoul. trav-
elers who wish to breakfast OF dine are in.
formed that they will find att the buffet hot
meals IN baskets for twoSand 4 half francs-
These meals are composed of three dishes, half
bottle of wine, bread and dessert Tray-
'elers have 80 minutes to take their meals in
their wagons. ~ AT the next station our man
telegraphed on to Vesoul the number of dim
ners ordered, and when we reached that place
an hour later, waiter placed in the car his
cylinder-shaped baskets in open wicker-work |
like bird cages, almost two feet high and d foot
in diameter On the top of the basket, which
was surrounded with raised rim OF an inch
or so in height was half bottle of wine set
in ahole for steadinees, with a tumbler, great !
piece Of bread and snowy napkin. Now one
side of the basket opened like door, and 4
within it was traversed by three shelves; on
tine topmost shelf was. a good outlet, on the
next a juicy bit Of steak cult a point, on the
third plate of vegetables, and on the bottom
plate with cheese and fruit; the top served as
table.
Now, apart from the comfort of eating at di- 4
gestible ease when one is toyaging by express
train, there were other incidental edjoyments
in this long repast-it lasted some fifteen miles
of which there are to be mentioned: the nov
city Of it, exquisite cleanliness oft, unique
convenience Of It in regard to the free and easy
disposal Of bones, fruir-pits, cheese-rinds and
other debris, by throwing them out of the
window, as you must not in town restaurants.
At the next station beyond Vessoul an official
came and removed the service, we lit our Sc
garS and were happy. -