The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1879-10-02
Italian Railway Enterprise.

Feeling sure that / should never climb
another mountain, had brought from
Cortlna-as trophy to hang under my
Mosel oar-the a alpenstock with which |
struggled up Tofana: value, twenty-five
cents. For convenience | would send it
as freight to Havre TO allow for the
slownes5 of the clerks, we assigned an
extra three-quarters of an hour for the
business of getting it off our hands, be-
sides half hour for buying tickets and
registering the baggage. In frort of the
station stands Il little guard-house, with
the deluding legend, Expedizione.
Might | send this stick to Havrc?"
/" Sicuro''
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 i, weigh?''
"I don't know. Weigh it''
The expcditor hung it to the hook of Il
steelyard which another man held up;
"One kilo' (two pounds. Then after
Il calculation: "Two francs.''
"Very well; l will stand two francs
No matter about the receipt. Here is
the money. Mark it Paid and send it
as soon as possible
But they manage these things better in
Italy. | must go back and see what
Z" Expedizionen really means. | must
give the details very clearly, and the
official must make out the papers. /
might 90 and get my tickets and fight
my baggage through, and then come
back. | came back, at the end of half
hour and of all my patience, and found
him still writing. There were three
freight letters each rs long and intri-
cate as Il policy of insurance, and two
long declarations for the custom
house-giying 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
a wrong pigeon-hole.) Then we went
to the freight clerk, and he signed some
thing, and signed something (sanded),
and the d" EXpedizionc" man demanded
| three francs and half. | referred to
the contract for two francs.
All. liittlS. tlIc -ENpctlHloHC CoStS al
frame and half
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 cur porter
shrugged his shoulders.
"But what does it mean?"
"Troppo tardi!"
SIT is only ten minutes past nine, and
the train leaves at a quarter past"
"The doors are closed five minutes
before the train starts
"Thcn why in-!" But no, the mar
did not understand English, and no poor
words of mine could do justice to tn,
situation Jane thought otherwise, bu
then her words are never poor, and OF
this occasion she showed an approach tt
genius. As a piece of sketchy charac
terization, the estimate she expressed o
Italian executive ability was worthy o
permanent record; but she is overfas
tidious in such matters, and prefers tha
her achievement should be permitted tt
remain our private possession.-Cot
Geo. E. Waviag, Jr., IN Haaper's TO
| fl,faIr1r