Daily Kennebec journal., 1884-04-25

loss to the revenue from the act of an oc-
casional ill-conditioned passenger. Moth
ing would more effectually serve to hasten
the conversion of our American cousins to
the doctrine and practice of free trade
than to welcome them to British soil with
out having to undergo the forbidding or
deal they have at present to encounter on
landing on their own shores.
! respectfully submit the suggestion to
the consideration of the Chancellor of the
Exchequer.
But the most remarkable contrast was
reserved for my return to Scotland Trav
cling down by night train, | was half fro
zen with cold till arrival at Carlisle,
where we were detained an hour and a
half for the London train, and where the
fire in the waiting room merely served to
remind one how cold and comfortless the
place was. Sleep was out of the
question, and landed at The
Princes street station stiff and almost
numb with cold. At the hotel close by
repaired nv reduced "morale" with hot
bath and good Scotch breakfast. But why
should one be thus tortured with cold and
rendered miserable in Difference to an an
cient "use and want" that is now becom-
ing obsolete among all civilized people !?
In America. if detained. you do not warm
your toes at the fire, but sit in comforta-
bly, warmed room, and you finish a Jour-
ney of thousand miles as fresh and COM
Portable as when YOU started
The climax of my home experiences
was reached at the Waverly station. to
which drove from the hotel, directing
the cabman to drive as near the Fife train
platform as possible; and the porter who
came up to take charge of my baggage
was told to take it to the Fife train. Hav-
ing no loose change in nv pocket. / asked
the cabman to wait till 1 got my ticket.
On my return, about five minutes after
ward. neither cab nor porter was visible
anywhere and failing to find the latter on
the platform or any sign of my baggage.
one of the officials and myself explored
the station. as far as time would permit,
but without success. Having written that
| would be home by that train. and leav-
ing the cab fare with the official already
referred to. l came away without nv bag
gage, which only reached me two DAYS
afterwards. Had this contretemps oc-
CURED when on nv way to embark at
Liverpool for America, it would not only
have occasioned serious Inconvenience and
delav. but possibly the forfeiture of my
passage money.
1t is qui.e unnecessary to describe the
American check system, with which all
the travelling world is now familiar.
first became acquainted with it as a boy
thirty-five years ago. since when | have
been three times in the country, and have
had on each occasion the more to admire
this simple and admirable system, which
saves one from the worst worries of trav-
cling here.
Americans cannot understand how we
quietly submit to travel in carriages in
which We are half frozen in winter, which
are very, very stuffy in summer. and in
which murder and other outrages may be
committed with impunity. while our bag
gage system they regard as simply bar
barrie.
1t is because agree with my American
friends that have noted down these re-
Elections, in the hope that they may con-
tribute. in however small degree, to rouse
our railway directors to a recognition of
the disgracefully uncomfortable and in
convenient accommodations afforded by
them to the travelling public,-Cor. Edin-
boro Scotsman.