The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1892-12-14

starting-point, its weight, its destination,
the number of tickets its owner has bought,
the amount paid upon it, etc. This being
presented at LeipsiC on his arrival, will call
for the delivery of the baggage thus de-
scribed.
Now Mr.. Auslander hopes to move on
without delay, and starts to take his train.
He asks on which of the various tracks in
the station 1t will arrive, and is told, " On
that track, yonder." He is on the point OF
stepping across the intervening tracks,
when one of the numerous men at hand
wearing the uniform of the railroad service
promptly checks him, aud with various
gesticulations which are more Ineligible
than his words, makes him understand that
he is not permitted to risk his life in that
way, but that he must go back, and down a
stairway, and through tunnel, and up
again, when he will find himself beside the
proper track. He follows directions, and
energies from the tunnel right side up, but
wrong side to-" East and west have
changed places during his underground
trip, and he looks in the wrong direction
for the expected train. Soon an electric
bell sounds to notify people that the train is
not far away. A few minutes more, and
the little engine comes into sight; and,
though 1t seems to him not to be headed
towards Leipsic, yet the answers to his
anxious inquiries convince him that this is
the train he wants, and so he springs aboard
est car is for first and second-c class passen-
gers only; but he sees car marked III.
and proceeds to enter one of the five sepa-
rate compartments in that which evidently
is not fully occupied. Here, however, a
burly Teuton at the door protests, besetzt;
so, although he is sure the man lies, he
turns to one of the guards, who ushers him
into another coupe. Entering this, he finds
that three of the occupants are smoking,
and, as he doesn't wish to be smoked pre-
maturely, he gets out without delay, and
appeals to the guard for less dingy quarters
AT last a " nicht-raucher coupe is opened
for him; he enters it, and deposes himself
and his belongings-his valise, his silk
hat, his cane, his umbrella, etc, for
the journey. The door opens, and the
guard calls for his ticket. This being ex-
amined, and punched, our traveller waits for
the train to start. The minute at length
arrives. The station agent looks at the
clock, and scans the platform up and down.
A guard at one end of the train cries
g fertig;" the word is passed along
" fertig," fertig" The station agent
gives a signal: a man standing by big
stationary bell strikes its swinging tongue
against it three times; the conductor sounds
little shrill whistle; the engineer gives a
warning foot, and-all preliminaries being
completed, no one having conceived of any
additional duty that could possibly be
assigned to another official-the train moves
gently out of the station, and Mr.. Auslan-
der is fairly on his way to Leipsc.
All this may not occur every time he
starts on a journey, nor at every station,
but little experience on these imperial
railroads flor this "paternal government I"
controls the railroads in the land) will
prove that this description of the possibili-
ties is not an exaggeration. At the same
time it is no more than fair to say that the
measures taken to prevent accident are so
thorough that loss of life in railway travel
ing is much less frequent here than in the
United States, and also that familiarity
with the mode of doing things in Germany
soon removes much of the perplexity and
vexation which attend the foreigners in
PRODUCTION to its system of railroad man
agement, and his first trip through one of
its multtudinous circumlocution offices.
j. X. W.
Berlin, November %, 1892