The times., 1899-07-23
EUROPE FOR FIFTY CENTS
New York Actors Discover a Way
of Enjoying the Trip Cheap
The Period Consumed In the Jour
ncy Much shorter Than Hitherto
and the Benefits Derived From
Taking 1t Not Less Than Those Sc
cured at Many Times the Rate.

New York. July 22-If some friend had
/ come to you five minutes ago and asked
for how small sum you thought he might
go abroad what would have been the an
sNer Fouchsafed him? IN about to suffer
no dificuity in guessing for Il the same
question had been put to me five DAYS
since my reply would have been like your
] own. l should have told him that sunary
cranks had written certain books which
related that the jaunt might be made for
sSVl-the odd dollar being the price of each
OF the aforesaid books-that Tourist Cook
would probably estimate the total at abo,:t
S4Ve, but that If he was lucky and prac-
ticed refusing tip-beggars for a month be-
fore leaving, he could wander through
England and France for $500 and costs.
Then l should have added Joke about the
bad walking and gone my way in peace.
So would have you. And both Of US wou!d
have been wrong
The trip to Europe may be made for so
cents.
This bit of information. illustrative OF
the genius of the age, came 10 me only
last Tuesday and it startled me. | had
spent the afternoon wandering about
Broadway in search of some OF the mar
velous theatrical happenings about which
one reads now in the Newspapers when I
met an actor friend of mine of whose
1ourneying to Liverpool / had read
only fortnight since My surprise
was SO great that / took every pre-
caution against his escaping me and final
" succeeded in getting him cornered al a
table in the Mirror Cafe. Then l said to
MIN. Il thought you went to England2"
The supposed absentee reached across
the board for a match, and calmly re-
marked. I did
Well, said l. somewhat aghast at this
announced rapidity of travel. how did
you enjoy the trip back?"
"Trip backr' he repeated.
"Trip back"
"oh-h-h,' he exclaimed. understanding
iy. Il haven't come back yet"
But you went"
To London; incidentally to Paris and
Berlin and Vienna. and any other old town
described in the handbooks." / gasped.
You see, he continued, I'm strict con-
hcence-I haven't been hundred miles
away Last summer the foreign travel
vas greater than ii has ever been, and
more far-reaching. Stars. comedians. sou
brettes, supers. and elevator boys all went
over, and | awoke suddenly TO the fact
that not to have seen the Continent was
10 plead bad season and worse credit
with your pawnbroker. Personally. IL
Great Britain and all the rest of creation
mad been towed fifty miles up the Hudson
and left there. my financial straits would
eaye made 1t probable that I should have
died in Ignorance of the whole affair. And
yet l must either go abroad or stop run
away horse. or be robbed, or lose caste I
went to my hotel and thought the matter
M ANTa4 -~aHr
an idea into shape.
The next day l had an interview with
friend OF mine who has the agency of a
miserable line of barnacled towboats He
wanted advertising for his company and
wanted advertising for myself so that we
mad no difficulty in reaching an agreement
whereby my name was put on the passeu-
ger list of an outgoing steamer Then I
sauntered about the newspaper offices say
ing goodby 10 my chums and promising to
write. Finally l found the captain OF a
twenty-fOot yawl who was about to cruise
out TO little town in Rhode Island and
was willing to take me with him for
half dollar. The offer was a good one
and we shook hands on IL without de ay
Our sail took about three days and I
had all the benefits of an ocean voyage,
including cramped quarters and the worst
case of ssa-sickness you ever saw outside
OF heeley establishment The village
proved to be a stupid place, but there was
plenty of fishing. parson with Z eoakney
dialect and board was So week. There
was no hot weather. either, and not a
theater in miles. 1 remained in the place
two months and then went back to New
York 10 finish reading my guide books and
apologize to my friends for not having
written to them.
But the story was too good to keep and
gradually so many acquaintances have got
into it that We now have over forty people
at my mansion on the Thames and 1 get
my board free in consequence. Every one
of the individuals with me has had his
name in the papers and on the passenger
list and every one Will talk as gIihIy about
MS trip next winter as though all his tray-
cling had not been done with lead PEN
ell and Humboldt map OF the Continent.
We have called that little Rhode Island
town New Europe, allude to the natives
as foreigners. and to ourselves as the
American colony. have appointed a consul
general, and fly the Stars and Stripes
IN defiance of the cockney minister We
have put up another pole in market
place and every time we visit a nation
down in the guide book we haul up the
flag OF the honored country. This the in
habitants of the town take as mild form
of insanity, and. except when some idiot
Grated placidly.
But we haven't stopped there. No cns
could see the use of going abroad without
noting the places of interest and as the
only place of interest in the village was
a tree that had been struck by lightning
we proceeded to invent some. We have
called the church in which the cockney
breaches and which boasts OF a steeple.
the tower. and a fence whereon Barnum
& RAJ tad q, ~.
Galleries. The British Museum Is the
table to which We have chained our atlas
and other lore. dilapidated pump is the
Munich Brau Haus. and a dirty stream
OF water with the tow-path adjoining ia
the Champs Elysees and the
Grand Canal of Venice. Then we selected
the Doctors home to be Inter den Linden.
in the erroneous idea that Linden meant
lint. until we discovered our mistake and
an apple orchard. When we
are thirsty we go TO tiny spring we have
designated as Carlsbad. when we want style
We allude to our rookery as the Hotel
Cecil, and when We desire TO be especially
reckless we spend the evening by q wind
mill We have christened the Moulin Rouge.
Briefly. we are all seeing Europe with
the eyes of Christian Scientists. and are
finding that the fashion has advantages.
The return trip costs just 81, and the total
expenditures for a month abroad do not
reach S15. unless one completes the Hlu-
sion by tipping his waiter. in which case
be runs the risk of seeing the waiter drop
dead with surprise. There is no stiffness
or other discomfort, although for society
we'll, we have one man who has Starred in
drama. two leading women. and
q dozen actors whose names you'd recog-
nize in a minute II / gave them to you
The public thinks them all safely on this
other side and so the advertising gotten
is bona fiie and worth the money"
| asked my friend what he was doing