The times., 1901-06-23

and nine mep the register list of another
| of the same line. The cattle ships are
especial favorites with the girl vacation
! takers, and about half of the girls take
| their wheels with them. These excursion
| lists go armed with list OF modest farm
| houses and retired hamlets on the other
| side, where wayfarers known TO them
/ have found accommodations, or have
heard that lodgings can be got, and they
| intend to extend this list by investigations
of their own.
There is a freedom and touch Of vaga-
bondism about this chance way of travel
1 ing that gives zest to it, said bright
student who was with such woman's
party last summer, and who related her
experiences to the New York Sun" I'VE
! journeyed for weeks in England and Scot
! land without knowing each morning where
we would rest our heads that night. and
we had a great deal of fun and very little
| discomfort. We did not ike TO run the
| risk of getting addresses haphazard in a
| city, but it was perfectly safe in the lit
| tie hamlets and villages and We had no
single disagreeable experience Another
| party we knew of did just as we did, ex-
cept that instead of wheeling they were
taking coaching trips. On the coaching
trips they were compelled to take their
luncheon at the regular stopping places,
which luncheon invariably cost more and
was not as nice as our pickup meals. We
were gone fifteen weeks and only spent
$3.50 each. We saw every point of interest
in England and Scotland, and such a trip
taken in the usual way would certainly
have cost see at the least.
I'VE wore shirt waists and skirts calcu-
lated to show as little soil as possible
and had Our baggage, which had been
planned with the utmost economy as to
weight, sent on from point to pOist TO
meet u.s. Often we did not see our things
for ten days or more But. in spite OF
the queer way of managing baggage over
there we lost nothing. We patroniZed
hotels and licensed lodging places only
when driven to- and eschewed all regular
tourists routes on arrival at a town
we would go to the pOstoffice and enquire
for the address of some reliable woman
who would be willing to accommodate our
partv There were four of us We re-
| quired Two rooms. Occasionally we would
| have to go TO two or three houses before
we found lodgings, but almost lnVarlaoIy
/ the postOffice people could direct US at
| once to a good place The Keeper or a
| poStoffice in a small village Is generally
] well up on everybody auairs rouhu
| about. We knew that from experience
] in our own country and guessed correctly
| enough, as it proved, that the Englsn
| post master or mistress was a slmilar
source of information we stayed When
possible with some farmers family, or II
in a city at some simple lodging place or
at one of the temperance hotels that are
common.
our room for each night seldom cost
US over shilling each. The Enghsn
working people are very neat Nearly
all of them live in nice plain little cot
tages that have a best room or spare
chamber and are only too willing TO
crowd up and let that and an additional
room at reasonable rates for a night or So
"On such occasions our breakfast cost
us just l6 cents each The landlady made
us our coffee. and if she was approach
able, we got her 10 let us scramble eggs
a kitchen
dishes, and we bought fruit and rolls or
bread at the bakery For luncheon we
pursued the same plan, buying for our
selves. and the landlady doing the cook
ing. When we stopped at the farmhouses
to get a drink of milk We were supplied
literally for whatever we chose to pay.
Sometimes they refused TO take anything,
and We would give the children of the
family pennies. Our board at the temper
ance hotels in the large towns never cost
us more than the equivalent or 81 or S1Z9
a day. 1t was good, wholesome fare, and
l think our appetites were so lively from
constant exercise and open air that we
were not inclined to be critical.
Il shall never forget the room we had
at Oxford 1t was the room of one of the
students who lodged outside of the col
lege halls. one Of the poorer students,
suppose. He was away on his vacation,
his landlady gave us his room. IL was
fitted up with much originality. All of his
books and pictures Were there, and most
of the books were marked so We could
form very good idea of his character
ana tastes. 1t was a CHEEKY, hOmel1ke
room, with open fire at night which
we much enjoyed.
AT the Isle of Wight we lodged with a
washerwoman. who was particularly in
high feather because she was doing some
extra washing for the Prince of Wales
yacht. She was a friend of one of the
yacht stewards and he had got the work
for her. She showed us the towels on
which the Prince dried his royal hands and
the napkins with which he wiped his royal
lips, and the sheets he slept on, all marked
Wu=fN II h.a
n time that her unusually honored task
would prevent our getting much attention
but she treated us remarkably well and
made us quite comfortable
I'm London we lodged for 4 week for 81
apiece in a street just off of Russell
Square, and got along very nicely. We
had to so to London to get fresh clothes
to come home in We naturally did not
come in direct contact with the people
there as we did in our country excur-
sions. but we raw the main sights and
enjoyed verifying ali we had learned from
books and travellers about LOndon's as
sociatiOnS.
The young woman teacher of a domestic
science class has got together some chumS
to wheel through England. Normandy. and
Brittany this summer. The tour is 10 oc-
cupy seventy days, and will cost each
wheelwoman from the time of eUnbarking
York $500 This trip has Paris for an objec-
tive point, and includes excursions by
wheel and boat to various towns and re-
sorts that could not well be reached by
wheel alone. The itinerary covers most
of the towns and places north of the Loire
and the upper part of France