The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-09-25
Italian Railway Enterprise.

Feeling sure that | should never climb
another mountain, had brought from
Cortina-as a trophy to hang under my
Mosel oar-the alpenstock with which |
struggled up Tofana value, twenty-five
cents. For convenience l would send ii
as freight to Havre. To allow for the
slowness of the clerks, we assigned an
extra three-quarters of an hour for the
business of getting it off our hands, be-
sides a half hour for buying tickets and
registering the baggage. In front of the
station stands little guard-house, with
the deluding legend, " EXpediziOne.
Might | send this stick to Havre?''
sSicuro. -
"How much will it cost?''
We must ask. The eXpeditOr goes
with us to the freight clerk, who an
swers, ''Mort than it is worth"
Probably, but how much?"
"How much does il weigh ?''
81 don't know. Weigh it,
The expeditor hung it to the hook of a
steelyard which another man held up;
&" One kilo" 1.-TWO pounds. Then after
a calculation "Two francs.n
Every well; viii stand two francs.
No matter about the receipt. Here is
the money. Mark it Paid, and send il
as soon as possible"
But they manage these things better in
Italy. l must go back and see what
Expedizionen really means. l must
give the details very clearly, and the
official must make out the papers. ]
might go and get my tickets and fight
my baggage through, and then come
back / came back, at the end of hall
hour and of all my patience, and found
him still writing. There were three
g freight letters,n each as long and intri-
cate as a policy of insurance, and two
long declarations" for the custom
house-giving description, value, ETC.,
etc. (All concerning twenty-five cents
worth of wood and iron, which had not
reached Havre twenty-eight days later,
and probably never will reach there.
One of those freight letters has got into
wrong pigeon-hole.) Then we went
10 the freight clerk, and he signed some
thing, and signed something (sanded)
and the " Expedizioner man demanded
three francs and half. [ referred to
the contract for two francs.
''Ah! mais! the 'Expedizione' costs a
frame and half" H..
AT last | was free Every thing was
attended to, and we had still seven min
uteS to get our seats. separated Jane
from poodle with which, and with
whose mistress, of course, she had made
friends, gathered up my bags and bun
dies, and started gayly for the train.
As we turned into the corridor we saw
the great doors swing to, and our porter
shrugged his shoulders.
"But what does it mean?"
"Troppo tardi!''
"It is only ten minutes past nine, and
the train leaves at a quarter past"
"The doors are closed five minutes
before the train starts.
"Then why in-!" But no, the man
did not understand English, and no poor
words of mine could do justice to the
situation. Jane thought otherwise, but
then her words are never poor, and on
this occasion she showed an approach to
genius. As piece of Sketchy charac-
terization, the estimate she expressed OF
Italian executive ability was worthy OF
permanent record; but she is Overfas-
tidious in such matters, and prefers that
her achievement should be permitted to
remain our private possessiOn.-COl.
Geo. E. WarIng, Jr., IN Harper'S for
October.