The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-01-19
TRAVELLING AT SMALL EXPENSE

Around the World on Sixty Dollars
is Robert Meredith's account of extensive
travel for little money. The title is rather
misleading, however, as some 1925 was
spent on the trip, "all but about $50" of
which the traveller earned on the road at
common labor. The time consumed was
a year and six days. Four months and
half was spent in work on the Sandwich
Islands and in the Holy Land at wages
ranging from 40 cents to 81 so day, the
rest of the time being devoted to travel
and sightseeing. The distance covered
was $4,000 miles.
The princip al thing to be learned from
the book is this: If Qike Mr.. Incredibly
man is willing to suffer discomforts with
out number, live on rations til at would
not satisfy the average Chinaman, mingle
with the lowest classes everywhere as
rule, sleep in the worst novels or In the
open air, affect direst poverty and let 20
chance of alms-getting slip by, then he
may see the world without the expenditure
OF much money.
There are very few men who will care to
emulate Mr.. Meredith's example. When
| he started out he had three objects in view,
| so he states: First, to prove that an
American can live on as poor rations and
endure as many hardships as any other
human being; second, that he can earn
| his living in any country; and third, that
a poor man need not be deprived of the
! pleasures of travel and of seeing and en-
! joying more than the rich.
The second proposition was never very
much IN doubt with the genuine Yankee,
but it is hard to reconcile the first and
third. The average poor man would
hardly find pleasure in seeing how
| wretched he might become or much
| n ira in hoc or 81
one short meal a day. From a close
scrutiny of the book one is led to the
conclusion that Mr.. Merediths COLLECTS"
were after-c considerations OF his tramp
and that they were formulated simply IN
order to furnish the emblance OF a pur-
pose for the publication.
! Here is the way the writer adapted him
self to the manners and customs" of the
! people OF the various countries: ~ would
eat poi with my fingers with the Kanakas,
eat rice with the chopsticks of the China
man, dip bread in the same sop with the
Bedouln,, OF the desert and practice swal-
! lowing the long, Shiny sticks of macaroni
with the descendants of the Cesars.'
Mr.. Meredith started from Kansas City,
and journeyed toward the sunset. He
thinks California wonderful State in
| every respect, and declares that "when the
| people there, like the people in Iowa, learn
that no SOLID wealth ever comes except by
the slow process of hard knocks and dill
gent labor, they viii have one of the best
States in the Union"
Had Mr.. Meredith remained longer in
! California, or had he travelled half as much
| in our valleys as he did in the valleys near
Jerusalem, he would have discovered that
solid wealth is abundant here; that it
comes by quicker process than Iowans are
J able to realize, and that comfort and good
living are obtained here with fewer hard
knocks" than in any other part of the
globe. Why, California plays second
/ fiddle to no State in the Union for re-
sources. advantages and opportunities. 1t
! is only the innate modesty of our people
tnat keeps back the boast which conscious
States. is to-day unqualifedly 1.-The best"
A hard saving man is Mr. Meredith. Ar
irving in San Francisco he put aside $50
for travelling expenses and cut him
self down to one meal a day. This single
meal and bed cost him so cents. AS he
| sought the commonest fare he might have
/ gotten three or four meals and a room for
that 80 cents if he had not been too hasty
in selecting boarding-place.
Working his way to the Hawaiian Isl
ands Mr.. Meredith Obtained work on one
of the sugar plantations. There in keep
ing bachelors hall he outrivaled the
! Chinese in the cheapness of his fare, and
he makes it apparent that the Celestias
were more particular than he in their
! mode of living.
! have made money, Mr.. Meredith was the
victim of cold frost and he left on the
! first vessel bound for England, via the
! Suez canal. The Holy Land interested him