The record-union., 1894-08-23

Uub Is dllOW00 III SOIIi0 0eEuidH sot1ioo. ~
is opposed because it is charged for IN
the price of the tickets. The tariff Is
scheduled per mile, and the cost OF free
baggage is divided and distributed evenly
over all tickets. So the Germans prefer
no free baggage. They travel light
laden and don't want TO pay for others
luggage. But whether free or charged
for, it is cheap and easy to carry all one
wants. Anything but trunk may oe
put in the compartment, and as it is ham
died by numbered railway servants"
for about . cents lift, the hand luggage
is disposed of. Heavier pieces or bag
gage not needed at any stop-over stations
may be checked to any point on the
route of the ticket and will be held at .
cents DAY for any length OF time. The
check is a paper slip, not brass as with us.
As to the amount of baggage to be
taken, there is no rule, but there IS this
fact of observation: the most inexperi-
enced and the veteran traveller carry the
most; '.the second-trip man" the least.
On the first journey abroad one can
hardly know what will be needed, and
usually carries superfluous things, omit
ting necessary articles. Some bother
with the unnecessary pieces drives
man to the other extreme on the second
trip, and he suffers for the want of many
things. After that he takes all that he
wants, usually great deal; but knowing
what is needed, he has il. Hints are not
possible here, but the silk bat may be
safely left at home, and soap and a bath
tub must not be forgotten. The ",igh
'at' is worn only in Paris and in London;
soap Is provided nowhere on the conti-
nent, and bath tubs are seldom in any
but the very first-class hotels and are rare
in boarding-houses The morning cold
bath is neither wanted nor provided by
any Europeans across the English Chan
mel.
First-class hotels in Germany are pre-
tentious and expensive, irritating and
are not good. They spoil the German
cooking by initiating the French and
English. Thei, notions OF politeneSS and
service are servility and interference, for
again they are trying TO be French. And
the serviceable tipping system is carried
10 multituGlnous extreme, everybody
begging for some petty payment at the
close of a stay and making the depal ting
guest pass through what has been called
'the avenue of palms''-a realistic phrase.
In the second class hotels, if one not
too much frequented by Americans and
Englishmen, is found the best, because
the most natural and characteristic serv-
ice. Usually the last named In the Bal
deker is the most satisfactory for the
traveller who wants to live i'll German
way among Germans. If you read Ger
man the untranslated but equally trust
worthy guide book is better, Tor it gives
the places Germans prefer. They are
usually undamaged by contact with for
eigners. We Americans do spoil the
German inn, chiefly by our liberality.
There is a certain avidity and penny
per-bO spirit in the service received In
the track Of our own countrymen, while
in an unIrequented hotel there is TO be
enjoyed the freshness and sweetness OF
the true German kindhnesS. The trouble
is that when one has enjoyed it the temp
tation arises TO reward it according to our
measure OF appreciation and an excessive
fee prepares the expectation and destroys
the purity Of the service for the next per-
son.
Feeling in Germany is not what it is
with US. In America it is Odious, because
1t Is taken as q matter OF course, is too
high in amount and is not proportIoned
to any service. 1t is compulsory and
costly. Here it has the effect of making
the hosts servants yours. They look 10
you for their payment and strive to de-
serve it, except where foreign stand
ards have been introduced. They seek
to earn the fee, because the Ger
man giver of it spends according
to service. 1t is the rule to give
about ten per cent. of the bill in perqui-
sites. But more is rarely given, and less
to have been not earned. The only per-
sons who complain are the hOtel-keepers,
who, as is now generally known, have
several times organized TO defeat the sys-
tenn by devices which always have failed.
Their objection is that they lose disci-
plinary control over their staffs, and are
unable TO give even an equal service TO
all their patrons; the servants give IA
Vored guests more attention than is neceS-
carV and jlliharol OneS less They
there is no gain for them as competition
keeps prices down, and proprietors who
strive for patronage can reckon expenses
without payment for servants. There is
one other consideration, however, and
that is of the servants themselves. They
are certainly degraded by the system and
must and. as one can see in America, do
lose in self-respect. In New York year
ago, during the walters strike, it came
out very plainly that the strikers hated
the feeling system, and for two reasons
it debased them, they said, and made
their earnings irregular.
This letter is too long for summer and
vacation lnstallment. Though there are
several other little points | wished to
mention, shall refer only to one, and
that is the growing tendency to travel
abroad for other purposes besides the
study of the past in the ruins and rem
nants. German life is of intense interest
and instructive, too. And the Germans
who stay at home are very ditierent from
those who live with US, and they furnish
us other goods. For the rest, the modern
life and aims. governments and problems,
are educative and sometimes deserving
of our sympathy. | believe the tourist
will some day have developed SO far that
he will sympathize even with the desire
of the Venetians to fill up the Grand
Canal, but not yet. lie prefers yet that
the dead past should bury the living. He
has future enough at home.
j. J.. STEFFENs.