Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-13
RIDING IN A TUNNEL.
Nurat Halstead Tries L0ndon's Un-
derground Electric Road.
DANGER ONLY IN IMAGINATION
Nose Blowing in Europe Is as Disgusting
IS Our Tobacco Splitting.
FACTS ABOUT THE FOGs OF LONDON
! WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPATcH.I

| I have inspected with the keenest interest
the electrical railway in London, which ha,
been recommended strenuously to large
American cities, especially New York, a,
the solution of the rapid transit difficulty.
You enter solid structure marked "Elec.
trical Railway" purchase ticket, pass an
on the wall to hold SO persons As you en-.
ter mysterious stairways by which descents
to regions unknown are made, are revealed.
After few minutes servant of the com
pany in uniform appears, closes the gates,
that are of the prison pattern, and turns q
lever. The alleged lift descends ponder
ously about two good stories, the gates are
opened with clink, and 10! here is tube
of white glazed brick or tile, with track
at the bottom, and train of low, narrow
cars scoots along, is stopped abruptly, and
sweet and neat, and even glistening, and
the sounds are hollow, and there is sharp
suggestion of unreslity.
In moment away you go; and you know
by the map that you are passing under the
Thames, though it is clear you couldn't say
anything about 1t to the purpose if you
should find yourself in q balloon on the
way to the moon, or engaged in an e1cur-
sion, like that told of by Jules Verne, to
the center of the earth. About half the
| passengers in the car seem to be there from
motives Of curiosity, and in a state Of nerv-
! Gus agitation. The motion Of the train is
! an unpleasant swaying, severe rocking,
and the noise is that shrill, savage shrieking
of wheels that the walls of tunnel echo
with SO much effect. The stoppsge is quiet
People rush in and out, There is railroad
movement. The ascent to the street may
be made by stairways or by the lift, and
you emerge at an incredible distance from
the place of entrance.
It'll Very Good System.
The structure of the road is as firm az it
can be made of the best materials. The in
tention is msnifestly to secure permanency,
to provide against all accidents and win the
the investment must be excessive. There
is nothing alarming about this mode of
travel, and the nervous shuddering at the
noise of the literally lightning expresses is
in part the result of the indulgence of the
Imagination. Such roads may answer many
purposes, and the effect of personal ex-
animation is to dispel prejudices against the
system.
Repeatedly, in my run through Europe,
have been surprised by the developments of
electricity in common use. The most strik-
ing example of the utilization of the tele-
phone was in the Ade1phi Hotel, Liverpool
Each room has telephone, with printed
instructions that you must send all orders
through the Office. This includes fires; water,
hot and cold; calls for the porter or chamber
maid. You touch the button, and unlock
the ear and mouthpiece-a very solid and
neat combination-and give your directions
1t is q surprising help. The servant who
answers the call Is the right one, with what
you want IT you have friends in the house,
you can talk with them from your room by
connecting through the office; or you can
talk all over town, without leaving your
room. I am not aware of it, if there is the
equivalent of this convenience in America.
Within the last quarter of a century the
Americans have invaded Europe with many
of their notions, and there are some traces.
of their conquests. They have not done
many things more remarkable than the tri-
umphant introduction of ice water The
American is no longer regarded as an idiot
and treated with derision when he wants a
pitcher of ice water to cool his stomach
withal when he goes to bed, and even in the
most benighted lands the American idea
that water is sometimes good to quench the
thirst of men as well as horses makes way.
=. The Habit OF Blowing the Nose.
There is consolation occasionally for the
consciousness of some American bad habits
in observing that Europeans are not in a
considerate always. I admit, with COM
Function and horror, the American habit of |
expectoration-the fearful splitting, the |
frightful cuspidors, the scattering tobacco |
juice-and yet there are public nuisances |
along the best streets in French and Italian |
towns that surpass all the spattered spit |
toons have seen in the marble halls and on |
the stairs of the National Capitol, and to-
bacco juice is not quite as difusiye IS the
rank odors Of the continental cigar OF the
British pipe; and grow dizzy with sense
of responsibility when say that American
splitting does not exceed, in aggregate ca
blowing the nose, especially dueing the
prevalence of the plague of influenza
Once upon time, year or two ago, there
was crusade in the most scintillant of our
New York newspapers against the Ameri-
can hog-the human animal who infests our
country and in public places makes dis
play Of brutal greed and selfish vulgarity
The displays most noticed were those in
railway cars. The European hogs are as
VOfaclOuS OI space anu privileges as tnOSe
Of our own continent. One OF the highest
examples in our country is that of a man
occupying in crowded train twice the
room he has paid for. have seen a pair
of them in Europe remove the property of
others placed to secure seats and take as
much space as sufficed for four other per-
sons, doing. it with cold-blooded impudence
md ostentatious indifference to the con-
Venience of ladies, and the pair of hogs had
. lunch basket, from which they stuffed
themselves, using the whole compartment
Is if it were their exclusive dining room.
Next to his clubs, 'shawl-strapped to rugs,
he English traveller has foot bag, that he
oils up and secures with two buckles I
,eheld British statesman get into his foot
bag. 1t was lined with coonskins and COW
,red his hips. This, with an overcoat that
vas capped and fur-collared, made him proof
Igainst the grim blasts Of January.
Fogs Worse Than Pittsburg Knows.
London has suffered from togs this winter
n such degree that they may be said to be
burning question. That is, at last there
S 80 much smoke in the air that there is a | .
.reat deal of fire in the public purpose.
There is no help except revolution as to
Tres. Instead OF burning raw coal, the coal [
must be converted to gas and brought to the
metropolis in pipes; and that would be to
bolish one of the greatest luxuries of the
open, abundant, glowing {
Tres. In winter time, certainly those fires ,
re worth the cost of a marrow and smoky