New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-08-10
TRAVELLING EPISODES.
GETTING THE BEST OF A FOREIGN LAM
GUAGE.
ryKsx STAFF CORRESPONDENT o. rHrrRnusx.,
Weesen. Switzerland. July II

the Dry, solid, steady land, with immense salts
faction. He has been literally cabined and con.
fined for number Of days-it took us eleven to
90 from New-York to Bouloenc-sur-mer-and be
greets his alma mater tmcaning terra frma) softly
whispering TO himself. while his wife Is exhorting
him to look after the trunks,
No peutup Utica contracts our powers
For the whole boundiess Continent Is ours:
sak past the per,ls Of the ocean wild,
9. Mother Esrta, s%brses Thy loving child
When starts the next train Tor tres iole Paris
Or words to that effect You can get all you
want of Boulogoe-sur-mer in a day. 1t is a
good port TO land at for an American going to
Europe for the first time, since it does so much 10
convince him that he is q stranger In Q strange
land. And that is what he especially craves-a
realizing sense that he Is In the Old World and
not In the New. lie does not want to feel per-
fectly az home but rather to feel perfectly abroad
Antwerp Bremen, Havre, Rotterdam, will render
him like service But let him disembark at Lon.
don. Liverpool, Glasgow, Southampton, and 1t h
different These places are not radically dissmilar
in the first impression which they produce upon
one of our countrymen from the cities with which
he is familiar on our own side OF the Atlantic.
The difference between London and NewYork-I
am speaking merely of first impressions-s one Of
degree rather than kind; Glasgow may be called
the big brother Of Pittsburg; Liverpool, owing 10
circumstances not under its own control, fails to
he an American CITY, But on the other hand. IL
possesses few distinctively un.American features,
being as modern in It's general appearance AZ Buf-
falo As for Southampton, musician mlshs 90
fine il as New Bedford written in another key. !
am not going to describe Boulogne-seyerai excel
lent encyclopedias and guide-books have antaci'
pated me-but will content myself with saying
that the flavor of antiquity is strong In its stree"
and that its no more suggests any place In Tho
limited States than Ben Butler suggests one OF
Raphaels cherubs Those bare-legged fishing girls
carving outlandish nets and making their bids
for share of the public patronage in the shrilest
of tones seemed to have slipped out of one OF Jules
Bretous pictures. l remarked TO one of them
with apologies to Tennyson) as she was making
change for customer:
Thy dark eyes opened not,
Nor frst revealed themselves to New-York ar'
For there Is nothing there, .. .>
Which from the outward TO the inwaN orousR
Moulded thy baby thought.
The girl 10 whom this apostrophe was addressed
would seem to have failed TO catch it's meaning
For when quit my elocution she went on crying
fish as though nothing had happened Just an
other word about Boulogne. There Is monumenb
there which Is practical Joke, humor In stone.
refer to the Colonne de Ia Grand Armee, Napo-
lions column II was begun to commemorate the
tremendous little eofporars expedition against Eng
land. and was continued to commemorate tns
restoration of the Bourbons Now, as Napoleens
expedition came 10 naught, and as the Bouroons
were restored only to be superseded, why the monu-
mentp With about as much propriety LORD Corn
wallis might have marked with towering shats
the SPOT upon which he stood when he made his
celebrated sword presentation 70 General Wash
ington Methnks that some good Boulogne hume
h~ar x.riyr ril
monument.
They manage some things better In France, but
not the transportation Of ones luggage. IL was
impossible for me to get my Trunks booked for
Paris from Boulogne until shortly before the
train started The comfort which NEWCOMER
at home experiences who can have his luggage
checked at his house the tra~enes In France
Knows not Of Are the passenger-cars on tne
| French railways, which correspond to those OF
England and Germany, as satisfactory as our own
| IT, is n good subject for the debating socleues'
| The seats in these foreign cars are easier 'nhn
ours their backs being intelligently shaped 30 az
70 accommodate themselves TO the average spine
| and neck-something which too many OF those on
| American lines stubbornly refuse to DO but Oh
| the other hand, is not the arrangement OF 'hs
| seats in our American cars an improvement upon
the foreign system? Opinions diner on TINS pon'
| heard the subject discussed this morning py an
American and his wife. TheInlan decidedly dis
liked the foreign cars while the woman STOOD
I'D for them II hate q car said he, winch
hasn't an aisle running through it from one emu
! 10 the other. l hate car which Is divided up
into q series Of small compartments which 10
NOT connect with one another. hate car WHOSE
seats are so arranged that onehalf the passengers
are compelled to face the other half. and ride
backward. Give me the cars OF the oDi.eu
States every time, Then the wife Clipped in:
| 1T never struck me that the aisle OF one OF
our cars At home added to the comfort OF pas
sengers Indeed, / have wished hundred times
as neople have come and gone past seat In which
was sitting, threatening to dslocatc my shoulder
with their bundles, that the aisle might ne
abolished. and that the entrance to each seat
might be through door at the side Of the car, OF
that passengers might be dropped into their places
| tbrougb holes in the roof. Nor do l object 10
| the division of cars into small compartments
| That arrangement, / think, makes for the com
| fort of passengers There is less going In ana
out of small compartments, less banging OF doors
| and windows than there is In one OF wha' migh'
be called our free and indivisible American cars
As to your objection that the seats IN the com.
| partments are so arranged that the occupants VI
| one of the two seats have to sit facing those on
the other, what does it amount TOP"
1T amounts TO a good deol.' replied the hus
| hand "Of course on one of our American can
you may be compelled to sit next 10 dlsagreeaoe
fellow-creature, but it would be worse inhiction
10 have him directly opposite to you. wouldn
il? A nuisance by your side cannot conveniently
hold YOU with his eye, while nuisance opposi'e
| can indulge in that recreation with ease and ap
| parent innocence. Now a sensitive girl
II guess you're quite right, John, broke In ~
| wife. AT all events. il you're going TO make
plea for sensitive girls whom some fiend may
hold with his eyes-they call it hypnotizing. now.
adays you know. why I'm with you-heart ana
soul in favor of reforming the arrangements o.
seats in foreign cars With these few remarks
| submit the question in all its phases for 'ne
debating societies of our common country