The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1891-09-12
THE CRAZE FOR TRAVEL.

a 1901 5 DdrdQlSc, anu III VIII 81 edScII
enter the false Elysium are to be consid-
cred as belonging to that class, then
surely the whole race of mankind is de-
generating into a state of mental imbe-
cility, since not to do sc is not to live in
this fast age Of steam and electricity.
Everybody travels noW-the high and
the low, the young and the old, the rich
and the poor, regardless of race, color or.
distinction.
Men and women of means, finding time
hang heavily on their hands, travel for
"p~leasure," and after INDUCING in every
species of injurious dissipation and en-
during every conceivable discomfort, re.
turn home sallow and jaded, and tell their
less fortunate friends with a ~patroniZing
smile of the delightful times they have
had at such and such places. Others, and
a large number, travel in quest of health,
which, like an ignis ~fatuus, leads them
from place to place, and at last, like the
four-leaved clover in the German tale, is
found by their own door stills. Others
still, of ambitious natures and small
purses, with an unquenchable longing 20
"see the world,' engage in public enter
prises or accept agencies for something
which necessitates their being much upon
the road. Ifasked their reason for choos-
ing so arduous a life of toll and hardship
they will tell you "mental Improvement"
and under this delusion they wear out
mind and body in a few feverishly active
years, and close their short careers by
keeping up the public cemeteries. The
number of professional travellers, whose
homes are upon the road in the capacity
Of Commercial tourists" and agents Of
various kinds, is a revelation to the unini-
tiate and the salvation Of i~mpecunious
hotelists, whose countenances brighten or
elongate proportionately with the num-
Der of "drummers' whose names appear
daily upon their registers.
There are two classes Of traVe1ers-the
quiet ~observant and the noisy unobser-
want. The former say little and see every
thing the latter are SO enveloped in the
mantle Of egotism that they fail to pene-
trate beyond its folds. The student, the
invalid, and above all, the irrepressible
newspaper correspondent, are of the first
mentioned class, and little that is worthy
of remark escapes their mental dissecting
knife. They cut deep into the tissues of
society, among the nerves and arteries of
| hu a motive. To them indeed, "the
| worlds a stage and men and women the
actors" They are philosophers without
knowing it, and find in the study of their
fellows and surroundings the keenest
pleasure and most lasting enjoyment.
The professional drummer and the
chronic-pleasure seeker are usually of
the latter. To the travelling salesman a
town is beautiful or unsightly in proper
tion to the amount of business done in |
his particular line, and the people es-
teemed according to his success. There
are to him but two subjects of local in
terest, those of railroads and hotels. He
can tell you just how much behind the
train is likely to be for a week hence and
is thoroughly acquainted with the COM
forts and the discOmforts Of every hotel
in his allotted territory. If he is so for
tunate as to fall into comfortable quar-
tiers, where the food is palatable and the
rooms pleasant, he forms a favorable i'm
preston of the town; he regards it as an
oasis in the desert; it forms a green spot
in his memory; he never tires singing
its praises, and if he passes that way
again, he will make it convenient to
stop. If, on the contrary, the biscuit are
sObby and the steak tough, if his room is
in the vicinity of a squalling infant or a
s~ecoud-class theatrical troupe, the doom
Of that town is sealed. What are historic
associations, social culture, intellectual
advancement to him! He shakes off the
dust Of his feet on that Inflated burg and
avoids it thereafter as though cursed
with the Egyptian plague.
The chronic pleasure seeker is equally
alive to the wants of the inner man, and
seldom sees beyond the walls of his own
apartments and the giddy crowd of which
he is the central figure. 4 young lady,
on suddenly inheriting a fortune, was
taken abroad to "do Europe" as a ticket
Of admission into the "best society" On
reaching Rome, she wrote, in a letter to
a friend, that she did not see what there
was in Italy to rave about that she had
not seen anything since she had been
there but sand and feas."
eliminating Achievement of 18th Census.
IGlobe-Democrat.1
From r. P. POrter's Bulletin No. I03.
ASSES.