New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-10-10
FROM PARIS TO GENEVA.
RAILWAY TRAVELLING IN EUROPE.

SHORT OF uGHTNING-AN IMPOSING DocO-
MENT-PERPLgXITIEs OF TnK INEXPERIENCED
TOURIST FROM MiNNFsoTA-ls COOK ihL
GUARDIAN ANGEL OF CONTINENTAL TRAVELLERS.
IFRoN THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE IliBONr'l
GENEVA, Sept. S.--We parted company, thhk'
at Rouen, with view of the cathedral IN the dls-
lance and in the middle of desultory remarks about
Mr. Cook and his tourists. have since spent some
days ia Paris and the place from which this letter
is dated is not exactly next door to Rouen. But
may say once for all that such letters as may
chance to write while wandering about, have
neither plan nor purpose beyond that OF amusing
myself in writing them ana not wcarylng Tue
readers of them beyond measure. Moreover u Is
not likely that | shln quit the most haekhc'c"
highway of travel. or that shall have adventures
to narrate OF discoveries to impart to the world 1
not only have no plan for writing, but have none
for my journey, if journey il can oe called' "o
hours before / started for Geneva thought l
should 90 TO Basel. When arrived IN GENEVA
thought | should GO away next day. mat was
three DAVIS ago. and the most have done is to
change my hotel migrating from house that mas
ceased TO he good clean. to one that strikes
me as better than ever: albeit much freQuented by
Americans who are-l say il with all rcspect-the
least exacting of travellers and the least likely 10
keep q sluggish landlord up 10 the mark III you
choose to print such epistles rs may happen 10 get
written in these irregular circumstances. 1T is only
fair TO warn your public that the epistles VIII De us
irregular as the circumstances, and devoid OF all
those virtues such order, sequence, proportion
iudicions choice of topics, and the rest upon which
correspondent with well regulated mnd ana
high sense Of duty ought TO pride himself
! suppose il is permissible TO amuse myself with
,he details of travedetails of the most prac-
tical and utterly prosaic kind. They do at times
a,nuse me- don't know that they amus- anybody
else But | have always had-I say this IN con-
fiuence and not to be repeated-a conviction that
have missed my true vocation IN life. lought 10
have been courier. With proDer encouragement
/ might yet become one. l have once or twice
served in that capacity with success though Win
ont pecuniary profit 10 myself Some day shall
perhaps ask you to print my testimonials ana
recommend me 10 the public. In that way may
look forward TO a useful old age commencing. let
MS saw twenty or thirty wears hence. mere Is
reason to think the profession looking up in the
world. When the leading journal of England
which no longer leads anybody, bnt is still SO
called from force of habit-prints columns Of cor
respondencc on the American method of checking
baggage and itself discourses upon the same topic
at length and with gravity, what may not he hoped
for by persons concerned in that business' The
bargare-master may yet be the equal of a milk-ped-
ding Duke.
SPENDING TIME on THE RAIL.
Not fec wears of my vagabOnd life have spent
in hotels and steamers and railway carriages. III
man who travels much will compute the hours and
days and weeks he passes IN mere locomouon' he
will find the total very considerable one. If he is
n man of affairs. he Will probably call it time
wasted: in which he will Ne partly wrong But
whether for business or pleasure he will like to get
over the ground with as little friction as possible;
aud the more he makes mis- wishes known the more
RAPIDLY will the corporations who are his masters
and ought TO he his servants, approach their true
posTion In a letter published Yesterday III PARIS
paper from Clermont where they have been setti z
ND a statue to Pascal, he writer remarks that he
has accomplished in nine hours the journey from
PARIS TO Clermont which took Pascal nine days.
The contrast is dramatic, bnt nine hours Is none
the less an unreasonaby long time for a railway
tourney of $50 miles 1t is certain that IN much
less than another two hundred years the time viii
he reduced by half And it viii be reduced, not
bv any good will OF the Paris and Lyons Railway
directors but i'm obedience to steady pressure from
the outsjde The Continental tratiic-managers. or
most of them. have yet to learn how much can be
done to quicken their trains They are lar behind
+he English; they are not even much ahead OF the
Americans: yet to the Americans the French may
well 60 TO school We. fancy. do orr best with
very imperfectly built roads. The French lines are
solidly constructed and their engines are fast. IT
is on their managing boards that they need more
steam
ENGLISH INNOVATIONS
The Engiishman has done not little toward
modifying and in general improving the railway
service of the Continent. For twenty years past IN
season and out of season, he has cried aloud for
faster trains. intmating also at times in his defer
eutial way that he would like TO be allowed the
choice bet ween making his Journey by day ana
making it uy night. He is gradually, very gradn-
allv carrying some of his points; eXtorting one
concession after another from reluctant railway
di,cetors. who recognize in him a customer whom
they cannot afford to offend beyond certain
point: whom, nevertheless, they cordially agree IN
cousgning privately tons les d IbieS. No rei0rmer
Is loved by those whom he reforms. 1t is some
years since have iourneyed from Paris to Geneva
ana took for granted that the fastest train was
still. as of old, night train and still,
aa or OLE consumed fifteen hours or thercahonts on
the ionruey But when told my landlord that l
was going to Geneva by the night express. he an
swcred-f0r the excellent man. although me pro-
prietor of his hotel and probably able to buy up
most of his guests, is not above giving them good
advice-answered ] say. in his nolite inteToea,lve
manner: Why not 20 in the morning by tue
.Gclar'r' And on further inquiry IT appeared mat
there are now three classes OF trains from rams 10
Geneva: lst the r. pde. so cail'u p''""Ho IL ~
The slowest of the three ID the express the
night express a. Of old doing the G2j kilometres III
fourteen hours and 3D. the 6claI, or lightning ex-
press which dsposes of them in eleven hours forty
seven minutes. This last il is which has been put
on TO satisfy the impatient Brton. The managers
OF the Paris and Lyons road seem 10 look nDon the
performance as prodigy OF speed. absolutely re-
curing the application Of a new name; for which
they drew upon their imaginations accordingly.
From Paris TO Geneva. however, the distance is
much the same as from London to Edinburgh ;
which last the Flying ScOtchman" covers twice
n day when he does not chance to run violently
down steep bank in nine hours, or three hours
less than can be d one by French lightning; and
Al. S.o4.bu,ar himself does so fast : his