The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1873-02-28
A NERVOUS TRAVELLER.

A NERVOUS TRAVELLER.
Those of you who have had the pleas
ure of living in the country four years
ago know how remarkably hot the
weather was. Flies and wasps, bees and
spiders, struggled for their lives i'll an
ocean of tepid cream, tea kettles boiling
without being pnt on the fire, haystacks
burning of their own accord-these were
some of the horrors which characterized
the summer of 1868.
But if England was hot Russia was
hotter. The temperature was often so
high that India was left, speaking liter
ally, in the shade. 1t was dangerous to
venture ont. in the sun i'll the middle OF
the day it was spontaneous hquefac-
ton to put one foot before another.
When you tried to put your boots on
you found them full of beetles which
had gone III there for the sake Of little
shelter When you had got them on
you called with all the little voice you
had left for two men and bootjack to
pull them off again. vi the world stood
still, or sat still, or lay still, and gave
itself up to its fate. You had not the
energy to abuse even the mosquito
which perched itself on the end of your
celestial nose. II You brushed it away
it returned in a moment or two with
several lively friends, who converted
your face into battlefield, and dug
trenches, soon to be filled with human
gore and their shattered remains. And
50 you may imagine that | found it no
pleasant prospect, in the midst
of these annoyances, TO contem-
plate a railway journey from st. Peters
burg to Berlin. Moreover, as l was
only just recovering from severe i'll
ness-brought on by drinking incau-
tiously some of the detestable river
water-I was not in the most charming
temper or in the highest spirits. Be-
hold me, however, seated on four
wheeled drosky, without springs, with a
large trunk behind me and small hat
box, speeding toward the railway sta
ton: the strong, wiry little Russian
hones pulling with will, in spite of
the fierce glare of the sun the diver
emitting oaths, mingled with a strong
odor OF onions, Russian leather, sheep
skin and stale tobacco; the passenger
holding on for his life, OF which he had
not much left At last the station is
reached pOrters rush forward; away
goes the drosky on its return passage,
the driver suspecting that change will
be asked for.
There being only two trains during
the day that run through to Berlin, YOU
may imagine that they were usually well
filed with passengers After taking my
ticket | took survey of the compart-
ments. They were all occupied Just
as | had decided upon going into one of
them, which held four persons, / was
asked in French, by man evidentlyex-
cited and hurried whether this was the
tram for the continent. | replied in the
Affirmative, and he, friend of his, and
myself took our seats. The whistle
sounds, and we start. Let me explain
to you the construction of the carriages,
which differ from those of both England
and America. a door opens in the mid
die of the side of the carriage. On en-
tering this door you go straight forward
for about yard; to the right and left of
you are two passages, at the end of each
of them being a door. The doors open
into compartments extending the whole
width of the carriage, and capable of
seating about eight persons each. Fa-
cling the main entrance is a small coupe
to hold four people. You will under
stand then that, supposing the middle
compartment to be empty, persons occu-
pylng the two end compartments are
separated from one another by two doors
and long passage-this renders it inn
possible to overhear what is said or done
i'll either place. If you will keep this in
mind you will readily understand what
| am abOut to relate to Won I ayam-
ined my two companions over the top of
newspaper One was fair, tall,
strongly-built man, with mustache
and beard; the other dark, with rather
the air of Frenchman about him. Both
were well, yet plainly dressed, but with
an amazing profusion of rings on their
fingers, set with diamonds, evidently
of great value, or else of no value
at all.
The survey was, on the whole, then
satisfactory, and i buried myself in my
paper once more, when, To my astonish-
ment, i heard the dark man say to his
friend, in plain, unmistakable English,
at ia fortunate that we have secured a
compartment with so much room III it. "
i cannot tell You how much pleased /
was to have the opportunity once more
of speaking little English, and l soon
joined IN the conversation. They seem
ed at first affable, but soon, no doubt,
felt the natural distrust which is so
characteristic of John Bull on his trav-
els. However, it turned out that al
though they spoke English, it was here
and there interlarded with ARENAS
Wardisms. They both belonged to the