Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-08-04
THIRD CLASS TICKETS.
INCIDENTS NOTED BY THREE LADY
TRAVELLERS IN ITALY.
The Interior of Continental Third
Class Carriage - Chat OF the Passen-
gers-Some Amusing Remarks g. Good
Nature and Primitive Politeness.

Class Carriage - Chat Of the Passen-
gers-Some Amusing Remarks - Good
Nature and Primitive Politeness.
Like all continental third-elass carriages,
surs was open from end to end, with bare
wooden seats ranged from side to side The
carriage was divided into two sections, with
doors at each side but an active person Cand
many of our persons were active) would
EASILY pass from one section to another simply
by climbing over the backs OF the seats, which
backs were the height Of a sitting mans
shoulders. We sat, as in all European car
riages upon seats face to face, so that our
linsey-woolsey knees almost touched the jean
and corduroy knees in front of Us
As happened oftener than not, our carriage
was very sparely filled Hence we three
were able to ride with faces toward the en-
J gine and TO have our whole seven-man power
of seat 10 ourselves. Although our train was
j omnibus as all troisiemes are, and shame
! lessly addicted to dawdling wherever inn or
| pothouse pretended to be town, we felt
secure against interruption, for the night was
| drawing on, Us many voyagers were likely to
I descend from our carriage rs to enter it, and
/ in European travel as in American the same
Z unformulated law abides that no sleeping or
1 comfortably ensconced person is TO be dis
! turbed by new comers so long as a vacant
| place remains. So we made ourselves at ease
| by spreading shawls upon the hard seats, ar
ranging sachels for pillows, and stretching
ourselves out like half drawn accorriions.
For there is certainly this advantage in third
class travel over all other, that the third
classer can oftener stretch himself at full
length, even although only upon hard boards,
and thus rest AS he never can in the elegant
perpendicuiarity of armed and cushioned
ssats.
TOWARD THE ALPINE WALLS
Rumble, rumble, rumble! How almost un-
bearable became that wooden, springless
rumble we pounded on toward the Alpine
walls between France and Italy. Those bare
seats ceased TO be wood, and became cruel
a,iamant We writhed and twisted and
found no rest for our weary anatomies. As
morn broke, however, came one relief to our
misery-the swine-fold noises ceased, and
with the opening Of windows came celestial
breaths TO cleanse that horrible atmosphere
OF barnyardsodden cowhide, reeking oordu-
roy, clay pipes and vigorous garlic and
cheese. Then through the long, rumbling
day came the small excitement Of seeing our
companions constantly changing, the dread
their mother get out and their places be filed
with loud Laughing soldiers, the pleasure of
seeing women predominate in the long car
rage the dis9uiet of masculine gain, and
the chagrin that all the soiled innod0hts and
their ,acteal mammas gravitated to our own
particular section just because we were there
and pleasanter to sit with than sour priests,
merry conscripts and broad-beamed peasants.
We made our foreign speech to each other as
inconspicuous rs we could, yet COO and hum
il as we might, it did not fail to attract atten-
ton
Sometimes, near noon, at the different sta
tons of the famous wine land we were crawl
ing through, parties of kinds clamored into
our wagon" evidently fresh from copiously
wined midday meal. Then we had wild dis
courses on politics, heated controversies On
various subjects very little understood by the
controversialists, intermingled with rough
but never unclean jokes At times there was
heavy horse riay when young conscripts pre-
dominated among Us, and in distant sections
we saw wrestlings and tumblings that looked
very much more serious than they were. As
a rule, however, quietness and propriety
reigned, and our own section was little dis
turbed save for the yells and kicks Of our
wooden-shod, soiled innocents. At one station
came a formidable addition TO our section,
which addition, added to our obese nun, and,
ike her, counting but one, made US realize
how much better adapted TO continental third
class travel are the proportions of Byzantine
Magdalen to those of Rubens' Venus. This
woman's costume was so supremely somber as
to make our nuns seem almost coquettish be
side it What she wore under that heavy,
black pail we could not make out. All that
we could see was this exterior garment, hiding
her almost as completely as the hearse hides
its dumb burden.
TELLING THEIR BEADS
As dusk grew on that day we noticed lull
upon our chattering section. Glancing curl
ously about to know the cause Of this sudden
peace, we saw almost every lip about US NOV
ing without sound, while one or two Of our
fell -sectioners-Mme Jura among them
were telling their beads. From scattered
hamlets clustered around quaint and gray
towers came the musical sound OF the
"Angelusn 1t seemed a tender, poetic idea
to us, this turning to prayerful silence at the
voice of those silvery bells floating out upon
the deepening dusk, and it reminded us Of the
poetic atmosphere which for US always hung
around the muezzin call to prayer. Just then
we were crossing bridge, and beneath that
bridge marched a company Of soldiers re-
turning from drill In an instant every
head, save our own, gathered close TO or was
thrust out tho window, gazing with intent
and excited interest upon the military spec
tacie. Yet not one lip ceased prayerful move
ments or hand its prayerful Office.
In all that third-class journey we never had
reason to complain of want of good nature
and primitive politeness on the part of our
co-voyagers. Windows were politely opened
for us when we struggled with refractory
ones, and no man refused to move his ped
dler's pack or unlovely impediments wrapped
in coarse blankets or oil cloth, when it pressed
too closely upon u.s. One evidently rustic
shopman and thus perhaps fancying himself
of better aspects than his clay-pipe neighbor,
courteously offered us a cigarette after asking
if We objected TO his smoking in our presence.
They talked freely about US whenever they
had heard our own foreign tongue, evidently
under conviction that no human being un-
derstood two languages, and thus theirs to US
was an unknown tongue. By means Of this
naivete one OF US had the pleasure Of hearing
herself distinguished as the old one, another
as sulky, while the third was the little one
with the turned-up nose.
On our part we were not behindhand in
characterizing our neighbors. A brisk,
bright youth Of l6, who popped in and out Of
cur Wagon" at every station, was Ariel A
fat drover, with Roman and imperial profile,
was viteliius, while a third, perhaps gar
con de cafe, was of such unwholesome, post
mortem countenance, that him we named
Lazarus for he seemed three days dead, and
behold he-was not perfumed--Cor Chicago
Zines.
Maintaining Appearances.