Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-07-13

this summer? No? Well some one eisS
has, and how many of those 10000 who
sailed this last month do you suppose
will be up against 1t within the mex
few months?
Many, many more than you woult
think Through some cause or othel
they will find themselves broke. 1t won
seem funny to them at the moment, bu
the stories which they will tell on theil
return are sure to furnish many laugh
to their friends. At least, 1t has been 81
in the past.
The average amount of ready casf
which ,hey will take with them is about
$500. Some will have return tickets
some will not.
Some will go to London and intend tt
run over to Paris for a few weeks, thef
back to the States. Others are going tC
Paris, thence to Switzerland and down
through Italy, where they will sail fol-
home.
Before you sail it Is very easy to make
the tour on $500. BY the time you sight
the Statue of Liberty on your return
you realize that you are a very poor
mathematician.
You take your pencil and a piece OF
paper and estimate that it's going to
cost you SO much to get TO Paris. Then
Mrs. Jones, who was over last year
gives you the address of a pension where
she was charged only six francs a day
for every thing.
You allow yourself six or ten francs
day just to see things. When you have
done Paris, you figure. you are going to
Lucerne. Venice, Rome, Naples. You
know just exactly how many drinks, &C,
you will allow yourself In each town
and how long you are going to stay
there
That's the way you. who have only
three hundred to spend, look at it, Per-
haps 1t never occurred to you that a man
with half million or even a million dol
lars is liable on the other side to walk the
Corso the Inter den Linden or the
Strand wondering how and where he can
get the price of a drink and thus enjoy
a free lunch.
Why doesn't a man cable? Well, the
cable company is not a charity organiza-
ton. Yes, they can ask a lot of puzzling
questions. but you never know just
what it is until you have tried it,
Just talk to the stewards on any ocean
liner as she lies in dock. and they will
let you know just how things are. They
are the financial barometer of the high
seas
They will tell you that they never
expect so much of a tip on the Western
trip as they do on the Eastern. It's the
same old story.
Sorry" says one man to the steward.
&c ha oh
truth is, i haven't cent left. I'm ex-
pecting letter on the dock, or III have
some friends there when / get in, and
we'll fix things up then
incidentally, let the reader take a hint
and never meet his returning friends at
the pier
OF course, it is not every traveller that
gets down to hard pan, but il GER
tainly surprising how many hard luck
luck stories one hears from persons who
have been on the other side of the
brook. Here is story told by must
clan which proves that the cable failed
TO work for him when he was in Rome
last winter.
There were two of us, a college
friend and l." he explained I'VE
reached Rome from the mountains with
enough funds to last us a week. To
economic. however. while we waited an
answer to a cable, We determined to
rent a room and eat at restaurants.
The cable was sent on Monday. On
Wednesday 1 went to look for the cash.
No answer. We made anxious queries
the next day and hurried off letters
home
by Saturday we found it necessary
to visit monte di peita-a mount of
pity-the very euphemistic name of a
pawnshop. We parted with a watch
and then thought it would be a bit fru-
gal to cook our own meals.
eve visited the office Of the express
company where we expected our money,
but the Italian official shrugged his
shoulders, looked suspicious, and CURLY
said: 'Niente denaro,' an equivalent
of nothing doing
I'm two weeks. after daily calls the
uaiian gave US to understand that he
would let us know when our money had
arrived. He gently suggested that we
must not bother him any more.
''ln desperation we called again at
the monte and left everything but two
suits of clothes. At the end of the
third week we had one pair of trousers
and a coat between us. We took our
daily walks alone. Our diet consisted
of bread and onions, with the OCCASION
al luxury of a piece of cheese.
FINALLY, at the end of four weeks.
while fighting with the pangs of hung
er, we wavered between the rash
thought of another visit to the express
company and call upon the American
consul. and decided in favor of the |
company. The reception which the Of |
fetal gave me couldn't be called warm,
81 turned away in despair and on the |
way out l stopped in front of the pay
ing teller's desk. Suddenly in a fit of |
desperation I grabbed up a bundle of |
cablegrams and, despite the excited |
jabbering of the clerk, ran hastily |
through them. There to my joy, |
found cable which read: Pay to the
order of - - the sum of $780,
First I was so mad, when 1 noticed |
that the cablegram was nearly four
weesk old. that I couldn't demand AMI
weeks old, that I couldn't demand an
in emphatic English.
"He attempted to explain. wouldn't