New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-05-21
TRAVEL-TALK.
BEING CASUAL NOTES BY THE WAY FROM
SOUTHAMPTON TO BREMERIIAFEN.

American Line, 80 called, that the Southwestern
Railway had reformed itself under its new man
ager. Ii was no longer to be 4 byworu ior
dilatoriness and unpunctuality. The extent an"
measure of this reform became evident last lues
day. when ! left London by the O'Clock cN-
press for Southampton, due at Z, ana actuaiy
arriving at s. There was an excuse. ITO oouo'
The engine broke down five minutes OUT OF
Waterloo station. That is the excuse. III IL had
not been that, it would have been something
else. Not with IMMUNITY is new wine put into
old bottles, or a rev manager IN chhrge Oh
nm old railway with worn-out rong-stock. The
ucw wine bursts the old bottles and the new
MANAGER carries more steam than the old engine
tubcs can stand The effort toward punctuality
ends in q collapse. The American influences are
probably confined to the service in connection
with the American Line, so called. and as was
Going TO Join German steamer the influences that
prevailed werc-no, l will not say German. for
the German railways, though slow, are extremely
exact. However. we did get to Southampton-and
which is more surprising 80 did our baggage
in time 10 dine at o'clock, and to hear that
there was no news of the Travc
As this letter is written in Berlin. and as there
il some political excitement in Berlin. may say
that I did not in search of Crisis, ana
slal leave the dissolution and the coming elections
20 take care OF themselves; at least for the
present don't wish TO attract, or to repel read
, crs by protesting to deal with these high mat
tcrs / had no particular motive in leaving
London, except to leave London; which inc
stranger, who becomes dwelier within the gates
of that gatelcss city, will, if he cares TO ENJOY
IL 70 the utmost, leave pretty often just so o'en
will he have the pleasure of returning TO H. ana
A. is climate which cannot be DraVed w"'i
IMMUNITY for many weeks together. The human
lungs do not seem disposed-at least, American
lungs do MOTTO absorb more than a given amount
~ SCOT and of all the assortment Of impurities
which compose the atmosphere of London. 1heS
demand. after al while. to be rinsed ont, and to
no suppljed with q less complicated sort OF air.
A day or two of change and rest is often enough
sometimes il has to he week or two. and you
mood 10 got out of England as well as out OF
London The wise doctor, even if he be English
with English prejudices will advise you 10 90
this. Nv doctor, like Mr.. Gladstone is pure
Scotchman," and has no English preJudices ana
administers what Mr.. Gladstone calls discipline
20 his patients, with an impartial mlnd' NO
politics. therefore, at present only the most trivial
topics; it, indeed, there he anything more trivial
than politics
The Traye consulted the convenience OF her
passengers by arriving at midday or WEDNESDAY.
She brought three days mails from New-iork ana
IN London the same evening. As the Britisi'
nostooice has in times past taken ten or twelve.
or fifteen hours to accomplish the two hours
tourney this acceleratjon Of the service deserves
notice A champion Of the office once excusen II
IN the plea that from Hurst Castle, whence the
Incoming ships are timed, to Southampton COCKS
was a matter Of five hours. il this enthusiast
would 20 and see for himself he would nhu IL
considerably less The tender which meets tho
steamer leaves the wharf ir Southampton when
the steamer is teegraphed from Hurst Castle.
Il left last Wednesday at IL 80 a. m. We were
alongside the Trave just after H. The passengers
and luggage and mails for Bremen Were shlpp0d
und the arriving passengers and luggage anu
mails from New-York for Southampton were
transferred to the tender, and the Irave was
again under way just after o'clock. The tender
returned at once and her malls were landcd not
much after 80 D. m-that is to say, in two
hours or a trile over, from the passing Of Hurst
Castle. II these details be wearisome to the
general reader, they may be of interest to the
New-York Postmaster, or Of use 10 the American
Postmaster General, in corresponding with bis
British colleague. 1t is announced that special
mail train from Southampton to London is run
in connection with the American Line. Whether
the postonice does much for the German Line
don't know. 1t useI not to- The mailo lay
patiently on the dock till luggage ard passengers
had been landed and passed through the Custom
House. That might well have made, and proba-
bly, did make, the difference between the two
hours from Hurst Castle to Southampton AID tie
five hours which the imaginative champion of the
British postofIice allowed for that journey.
The little voyage from Southampton to Bremen
is just as delightful it was last year, but as
described it then 1 cannot well describe il over
again. 1t was one more proof that the English
Chxnnel and tine German Ocean dc not always
deserve their evil reputation. They were both as
smooth as the provcrbial millpond, and as blue as
tho Mediterranean in June. The Trave gave us
every opportunity Of enjoying all this by steaming
at three-quarters speed all the way not. imagine,
because Of the native leisurelness of the German
mind. but because the tide in the Weser would not
take her to her wharf till six o'clock on Thursday
afternoon There is also limitation on the
phrase every opportunity" of seeing things. The
DECKS Of these ships are too much shut in
The boats, and the canvas from the deck to the
rail, shut out the view of the sea and sky. On
the newer ships the boats are swung higher, as we
saw on the Spree lying at Bremerhafen wharf
where after we had come into berth, the Spree,
the 1rave, and the Saale al lay comfortably in a
line close alongside the long wharf. What is the
canvas for? No sea comes aboard the upper decks
except in weather which keeps passengers below
IL 1t to keep out the draft?
Perhaps one would take the risk Of drafts If
one were permitted clear view of the noble coast
line of Albion. and the white cliffs lighted up by
an afternoon sun cloudless day, and all the
delicate beauty of the sea, and the ever changing
multitude of ships and yachts and steamers and
every kind of craft in which men go down to the
sea, amid which the big German liner steered her
way. She is, il not creation of yesterday, fine
ship. and If not a record-maker or recordbreaker,
has quite speed enough for those who like an
Atlantic voyage for its own sake. She had come
from New-York to Southampton in less than eight
days. in bad weather. Some of her North German
consorts can do it in less. But why such haste
70 have done with journey every hour Of which
Is delightful. il only the voyage is on good ship
and in aood comnany 2 And the Trave Like all her