The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1879-11-21
OUR EUROPEAN LETTER.


QUEENSTOWN, NOV. 4, 1917.
In the course of a week fourteen
transatlantic steamships touch at
Queenstown and deliver or receive their
contingent of passengers. Figures nre
barren in giving an idea of that min
iature edition of the world which o
great transatlantic steamship properly
represents. AS she turns the corner of
Rochc's Point, and steams into harbor,
the little tender at the quay whistles de-
| family, and emigrants and saloon pas
sengers hurry on her deck. All the
cars and all the porters in the town are
engaged i'll transporting luggage from
the train to the boat, and as You can
tell persons character from his COM
pany, so you can guess the nationality
of these travellers from their trunks and
their boxes. Here are the enormous
valises of the American ladies, so large
that they might almost be inhabited,
and so strong that they might defy the
burglarious exploits of even q Belgian
ship porter. American luggage is al
ways admirable in structure and con-
trivance, and always distinctive. 1t
has the strength of English workman
ship, without its clumsiness, and the
internal arrangements are as perfect as
those of the big ship in which it is
found. And side by side with this
most civilized of modern impedimentS
come the bundles in which the emf
grants carry their bedding, their drink
ing utensils and the scanty bundles
which hold the few clothes which they
carry from poor country to rich one.
The town wakens up when the train ar
rives with theAmerican mail, and busi-
ness is brisk with backthorns, Limerick
lace, grapes, shamrocks, and donkeys.
For it is curious thing that the Amer
leans have recently developed o great
taste for asses. The demand has dimin-
ished the supply, and the price within
recent years has gone up considerably.
Thursday and Friday are the great
American days in Queenstown. AS
the ship is sighted out at sea she is tel
egraphed, and as soon as the telegram
comes in the agent runs up q flag, and
the tender will be found putting and
snorting at the quay. 1t is an exciting
scene to witness the leave-takings and
the partings. Rich Americans to whom
the voyage Is the last item in the pro-
gramme of their summer tour, and
poor country emigrants for whom it
has been the great event looked for
ward to for years, hurry on board the
tender and steam off to where the ship
lies at anchor between the forts. 1t is
a scene of very contrasted interest
when these two ranks of voyagers pass
over the gangway of the Inman, Cunard
or White Star steamship, and seek the
quarters they are to occupy. The Amer
leans are sure to find old friends on
board, and there is great comparing
of notes, and exchange of gossip. The |
ship, indeed, resembles a hotel, and if |
the weather could only be relied on
the eight or nine days of the voyage |
might count as picnic. We live in a
world of changes, but no change has |
been greater than that which has gov
crncd the course and history of trans
Atlantic commerce.
The demand for American butter on
this side of the water is growing every |
day, and the trade seems likely to as
sumo very large proportions. The New
\ ork butter dealers connected with the
export trade say that larger number
of tubs or packages of butter have
changed hands in the market lately than
have ever been sold before, the amount
paid to American shippers of the article
in one week being about $500, 900. This
butter is bought by agents for dealers
in England and on the continent. The
reasons given by butter dealers for the
magnitude of the traffic were two
first, butter has not been shipped from
the United States to Europe and Great
Britain SO steadily this summer as last
summer. Therefore dealers in New
York have had to enlarge their storing
capacity, and some dealers have had
$4,000 or G0,OO0 packages Of butter on
hand at one time. The second reason
why the sales OF late are so enormously
large is that domesticbutter in England,
that is, the butter produced mainly in
Ireland and Scotland, has been thrust
upon the English markets in way un-
precedented. ALPHA.