Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1889-04-12

: u! HdS7dStt NiiCil, as L nave salN
before, consisted Of solitary valise.
After accccsting about dozen
ofiicious personages, who seemed 10
have nothing particular TO do, and
who were very condesCendiug, but
could give no information, or az least,
would not. l finally approached
meek looking individual, who was
persPiring profusely, and muttering
lncoherent sentences as he pasted a
card, with an illegible address writ
ten thereon, on each of the trunks
which surrounded him, and timidly
asked if he would perform the
same service for me. lie stopped
muttering, Strengthened up, the
meek look vanished, AMI he relieved
himself Of the wrath, which had
been accumulating in his breast all
day, by directing a glance at NE,
which, had been in delicate state
of health, would have Immediately
been the means of closing my
earthly career. But seeing that
looks alone would not prove fatal in
this case, he contented himself with
resumng his former position, NUT
terlngs, ard FASTING on of cards, and
left me standing in mute astonish-
ment vainly cndeavoring to find a
cause for this curious treatment.
When he had finished labelling all
the trunks, he turned to me, grasped
my valise, and after looking at my
ticket once more, went through the
performance of muttering and past
ing on a card with an unintelligible
address written thereon, and as there
were no more trunks visible to be
treated in the same way, he looked
at his watch, heaved a sigh and
shouted call aboard" 1t was then
two minutes to six, and these two
magic words had an instantaneous
effect, for no sooner had they been
said than found myself in the CEN
ire of struggling mass of humanity,
| each of whom was bent on securing
all the room possible. BY super
human effort | succeeded in extricat-
ing myself and getting into one of
the many compartments which com
pose a continental car, and, in my
hurry, sat on a corpulent gentle
mans lap, who notified me of the
fact by asking, in voice of mingled
thunder and rage, what l meant by
taking him for a reclining chair.
assured him that it was uninten-
tlonal and explained the cause Of
my precipitancy, whereupon he
became very affable and insisted on
my accepting cigar as mark of
his esteem and forgiveness.
had no sooner lighted the cigar
and seated myself when a gentle
motion of the train warned me that
was leaving Berlin, perhaps for
ever. This in itself was not a mat
ter of regret, but a person in bidding
adieu to a place, invariably sees
advantages, or thinks he does,
which had he continued to reside
there, would never have suggested
themselves to his mind, and I, not
being an expection to the rule, sud
denly,remembered that | had not seen
as much Of Berlin as l had intended
to. This reflection gradually pass
ed away however, and ] spent the
next two hours discussing the
beauties of the country, through
which we were passing, with my
corpulent friend. We were SO
deeply engaged in an argument as
to the respective merits of the
scenery of Germany and Italy, that
we had not noticed the gradual
slowing up of the train, and only
became aware that we had stopped
when the door was thrown open and
a man gruflly informed us that if we
had any baggage, to go forward
and have it examined. This is al
ways a cheering announcement to
hear, and informs the poor traveller
that he has crossed the boundary
line and must submit to have his
personal effects investigated so that
he may not in any way injure home
industries by importing an article
which costs less in another country,
and which must be taxed before it can
pass the lynx eyed customs officer.
Such is the way of the world, and
it is no wonder trusts and such
like combinations are formed among
individuals, when the all wise gov
ernments set the example. The of.
ficpr was very oblioinp and did NOT