The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-04
ny CHARLES BArrELL LOOMS.

will not admit that our ways are vastly
prcferable to their own and our nation a
tremendous advance on England.
MIST of us who live in OF near New York
are ~erfectly willing TO admit that New York
ppre.ents the quintessenoe OF civilization;
that # a man has the good fortune to be
born in New York there is no need for him
m travel because he never will find any
thing 10 compare with Manhattan-not
Brooklvn or The Bronx or Richmond, mind
YOU, but Just Manhattan-that the West
has been hopelessly distanced and is still
inhabited by a woolly race, and every norm
ing he looks down with new contempt on
all foreigners and provincials and thanks
the Lord that he is not as insular and opin-
ionated as the Englishman always is.
But he has only to travel to find out that
n the West they travel more comfortably
than we do in the East; that they get more
for their money in their train travel han
do Ne and that as they travel more their
IDEAS are broader and less provincial han
' ours.
md anv open winded man is bound to
admit, onca he has travelled in England
that he can do So more comfortably for less
money than he can do it anywhere in the
states-as they still persist in calling our
country.
let me show by two examples and thus
settle the question forever;
We will suppose there are two young
men Of moderate means, the n a New
Yorker who cannot afford Pullman cars,
the other a Londoner who always travels
third class.
The New Yorker wishes to take a little
trip Of a hundred miles out into the country.
What happens?
The night before his contemplated de-
psrture he hunts up ar expressman who
perhaps has an Office a mile or two away
from the young mans house. I want to
he perfectly fair in this statement. He tells
the expressman to call next morning for
his trunk and to carry it to the Grand Central
Station. This the expressman agrees to
do for so cents.
Next morning the expressman ia very
late in coming. and the young man frets
and fumes for fear he has been forgotten.
However, he reflects on how much better
the express system of New York is thar any
English system could be, and it is a great
comfort to him. At last the expressman
m and the trunk is borne away. and
the young man follows on a surface car,
because a cab is ont Of the question on ac-
count Of the expense.
What is the inevitable result7 There is
blockade on the road M the young man
again frets and fumes until he realizes how
much worse it must be in England a
then he gets out and runs, arriving at the
station hot and breathless.
After buying a ticket that costs him two
and a half cents a mile he rushes to the bag
gage room. a long two blocks away in the
great building. hat he may check his trunk
and thus relieve his mind Of all thought OF
4. Has it Gomez Oh, no, it has not come.
VIII it come soon1 The baggage man
lnows as little as he cares.
He frets and fumes until it happens to
come into his mind that he has read that
N England they nave no checking system.
and pity for the b~enighteG Englishman
c1oke~ every other emotion and ne is en-
ahled TO wait calmly until five minute
lefo-e train time. when the trunk comes 4,
Is almost demolished before his eyes by the
careless expressman and upon his giving
ti" baggage man a quarter tip he is as
cured that the bit Of baggage will 90 out
10y mis- train and arrive with him.
We pui, tho check into his pocket and
'nrinting to the train gets the only seat
loft e.idc a gdrlicky Italian who has been
drinking instead of bathing.
lust in front Of him is a screaming ard
dirty baby who in the intervals between
her parovysms calls him papa, and behind
him Is a small hoy who ia questioning his
mother necessarily on subjects in which
our traveller IL not interested.
Arrived az last at his destination, hot and
dusty and gvOaa and ,inJarxy uybawa - tbo
trunk that was checked through Way
down in the Grand Central Station, far,
far away.
They took the tip and gave the check,
but they didn't run the trunk out. 1T will
do on the next train is what they think
down there.
Our friend is visiting people who are a
little up in the world, just a little up in the
world, and they nave oome for him and his
trunk that contains his dress suit, but IL
will be the next morning before he gets
II and he will need his dress suit Just as soon
~ It 10 time to dress for dinner.
There let US leave him. We are not
concerned with his further troubles.
Let us now follow the experience Of our
young Londoner Who'll going away for a
week end.
DOcb Io hpPnu Ine evening DeIOre his de-
parture hunting up an expressman? No,
because they don't have expressmen in
London.
You can 90 to the luggage in advance
mar and have your trunk forwarded, but il
VIII never occur to our English friend to do
shat. He goes to the theatre and whites
away his evening and next morning he
chips his egg calmly and eats his bacon with
vest and swallows his coffee leisurely at
O'Clock. having made up his mind TO take
the 50. Pancras train at 0 O'Clock to a place
q hundred miles out.
Breakfast over. he goes 10 the front door
~ his lodging house and halls one Of the
boys who are always passing houses in Lon
don. Him he sends to the nearest standing
N get q hanson cab.
The tip to the boy Is a penny. and ne exc
outes his commission with promptness. and
toon from the railin - Of the little park de-
parts a London cabby and rattles up TO the
hon-e Of the young man in no time. his
horse clicking of the distance at a rate Of
speed he is prepared TO keep up by the hour