The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1890-10-30
ENGLis II RAILR OApschRs.
The Inconveniences and st .fll,ess OF the sss;on,
partments'' IN Them.

$ i
partments' IN Them.
Those Americans who 90 abroad 10
discover the shortcomings of Europe
and exaggerate their own satisfaction
with everything American, are ALWAYS
happiest wheD they are describing an
English, French or German RAILROAD.
They are half wrong, us bigots usu-
ally are; but then, again they are half
r.ght The truest com parison and fair
est statement of the facts concerning
English and American railroads is that
il they had our cars and we had their
roads both countries would. enjoy rail
loading in perfection.
In order to present the completest
picture to the American reader, let him
or her imagine q summer horse cal.
with the sides boarded up one Of those
horse cars we New Workers ride upon
Third avenue in. with cross seats fac.
ing one another in pairs Let him i'm
aglne the back of every alternate seat
carried up to the ceiling. Taat would
divide the car into three or-four boxes
Then put widow at the end. of each
seat. and door at each end, of each
passage. The windows must be tight
and immovable, but there must be a
sliding window in every door, to hoist
up and down by m cans of a, ibroad
leather strap. worn black and soft by
handling. Now mark s.Third G. ass,
on the boxes that re ov.r h,wheel,
az either end of The car, a. d, pa n.
First Class on the Ioxes between.
Inc wheels in the midd of The r..
cushion the first-clas, seat, a d pad
their backs as high as ones head: then
carpet the third-class seats and nail
carpet on their backs, and YOU have.
turned an open horse-car in o an Eng
llsh railway carriage.
There is a narrow board on each
side of the horse-car fer tie c,u--
ductor to walk upon and that is there
also on the English car; but the Eng.
fish railroad car is boar led up at
either end, whereas the Am .rican
horse-car is glazed.
Now let the American thi k of All
the comforts and conveniences there
are in our railroad CO &c les-the toilet
stand the closet. the he ting appara-
tus, the drinking-water cylinder Not
one OF these is liz an English railroad
car-not one. All those tn ngs are at
4 - =.
English cars there is an Intellectual
and tlmid light, half concealed above
thick convex glass in the roof of
each compartment, and there is a
rack over each seat. This is the fact
whether you ride frst-clas5 or second
class. In some Of the cars there is a
map of the railroad over one bench,
and an advertisement of the railroads
hotels facing it, in each compartment.
The map strikes me as a most excel
lent idea There is also posted in
each compartment staten mt Of the
number of persons 1t is designed to
accommodate. This compartment is
for ten persons" was always posted in
the thlrd-class aud second-class com
partments; in the frst-class ones the
seats are divided by padded arms to
accommodate three persons each, or
six to the compartment. That is Il
European custom. Even on shipboard
on your way to Europe you will notice,
cast in the iron door frame of every
room aboard the vessel. a statement
of the number of sailors or passengers
or stewards or stokers that may
inhabit each compartment