St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-12-05

and as train passes station, the sta
tiOn master, or mistress, as the case may
be, for many of the employees are wo-
men, is seen standing with baton at
'present arms" There he or she stands
as a statue until the whole
train wheels by. At the large stations
everything goes like clock work, and
with such show of ''red
tape" that the American traveller who
is accustomed to do things pretty much
in his own way at home, is not infre-
quently disgusted. But of many of the
petty annoyances of European travel,
and even of the actual differences of
different classes Of railway carriages
and fares, our party had reason to know
but little, since we were in charge of
conductors" who relieved us of all
ordinary cares and responsibilities.
HOW WE TRAVEL.
And this reminds me that in an early
letter l promised to tell something
about our mode of travelling, and to
explain how the TOurjee excursions
differ from ordinary European trips.
AS this is as good place as any, l will
attempt to redeem my promise. As ex-
planned in a previous letter, our party
of nearly three hundred, was divided
at London into different sections, 1t
will therefore be seen that we did not
move about in great droves. With
each division were two conductors.
With our own, the Second Section, were
two accomplished gentlemen, Mr.. E.
Mcqueen Gray. as chief conductor, and
Mr.. L. G.. Mill, as assistant. Mr.. Gray,
though young man, is an old and ex-
perienced traveller, being familiar with
every city and every route of travel in
Europe. He is graduate of Heidel-
berg University and cultured gentle
man as well us genial and thoroughly
delightful travelling companion. By
Messrs. Gray and Mill we are relieved
of all cares and responsibilities, even OF
bearing railway ticket or of paying
our bills. The price already paid in
America covers all expense of travelling
by sea and on land, all hotel bills, fees
of all ordinary kinds, and an hundred
and one incidentals which it would take
too much space to enumerate. Our
travelling is invariably by ''first-class'
cOnveyances. Our eaIs are in almost
every instance reserved for us, and on
our arrival at the station we have only
to quietly take our places while other
passengers are visiting the booking
office, the luggage department and then
perchance vainly looking for comfort
able place. Our luggage is looked after
by Mr.. Mill, and nothing whatever have
the owners to do in regard to its trans
portatiOn or porterage. When we ar
rive in the next city it finds its way to
our hotel, and to our very rooms with
out our agency. And these rooms, too,
have been assigned to us previous to
our coming SO that there need be no
delay when we arrive. Then again
meals are arranged to suit our con-
venience, and this can be done well
enough in view of the numbers of the
party. On the railways, too, we fare
better than individual travellers. 1t
often occurs that while they are COM
PEELED to change cars, we are put to no
such Inconvenience as Mr.. Gray has
arranged to have our cars go through.
In the cities, programmes are laid ont
embracing all the principal sights, the
visits to the various places being so ar
ranged as to make the best possible use
of the time at disposal, and this matter,
too, it must be borne in mind, is ar
ranged in accordance with what there
is to see, days visit serving for some
places and a longer time being required
for Others. An intelligently led party
of this kind can accomplish far more
than ordinary travellers in given time,
and yet be quite as thorough in their
sightseeing. Palaces, picture galleries
and old castles have frequently been
thrown open to us out of exhibition
hours, when individual travellers would
have had to wait until another day.
AS to following the programmes laid
out for us, each member of the party
uses his or her own preference, with
the knowledge, however, that when
sightseeing is done under direction of
the conductor, all fees are paid by that
official. AS there is no care or trouble
about securing hotel accommodations
any more than in travelling from place
to place, the members of the party have
the use of their whole time. Both time
and money are thus economical. AS to
our hotels, they are the best that are to
be found in the cities visited, as Europe
an travellers who have read these let
tiers could readily detect in the names
of the houses mentioned.
L should explain further that our
movements are made wholly under the
of the firm of Messrs. Henry
Gaze & Son, of London, the well known
tourist agents, into whose hands DR..
TouJee committed all the details of
the trip.
STUTTGART.
But to resume our sightseeing round.
Stuttgart is beautiful city, and one of
the great art centres of Europe. am
told that more Americans are residing