The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1912-10-10

l lowing very luISl coIlLS 1oe'0A -
Mrs. w. G. Jetfries, formerly OF this
city, who has been at Vienna, Aus
tria, the past year with her husband,
DR.. Jeffries, who was taking advanc-
ed postgraduate courses in the
famous medical schools OF Vienna
In the letter was a beautiful Edel-
weise flower, picked by Mrs. Jeffries
in the Alps. The letter states that
on account of labor troubles in Lon
don, their boat will not sail from
Liverpool until Oct. 18th, at which
time they will start for their home
in American
Vienna, Austria,
Sept. 10, 1912.
Editor Reporter and friends:-As
we only recently returned from a
trip through Austria I thought per-
haps you would like to hear OF some
of the beauties of this country. l
believe as a rule very few tourists
think of Austria as place OF inter-
est, vet we have found here some, in
fact a great many places of such rare
beauty and historical interest as to
merit great deal of praise and at
tention. But first let me tell you
how we happened to take this
journey.
The Canadian Pacific Railway Co..
have a branch office here in Vienna,
and as you all doubtless know, they
nave a number of great ocean liners
which make trips between London
and Montreal, as we'll as steamships
which land at some of the U. 5.
ports.
When we bought our passage for
our return home we decided to come
by way of the Canadian Pacific. We
found the manager OF the Office here
in Vienna a very genial man who
told us that the c. P. R. R. Co. were
preparing to put a number OF obser-
walton cars on the government rail-
roads which would run through the
most interesting parts of Austria
and the most picturesque routes OF
the Austrian Alps. He also stated
that on the Inaugural Run of the OBJ
servation car service they were go
ing to have number of guests and
invited the DR.. and myself to accom-
pany them. AS the doctor had been
working all summer he decided to
take vacation and at the same time
accept the invitation of the c. P. R..
r. Co. and see what Austria was
like.
Accordingly on a bright Sunday
morning we found ourselves at one
of the big railway stations in Vienna
ready to board the train which was
to carry $50 guests of the C. P. r..
r. Co. on a most delightful journey
extending over four days. The train
consisted of eight day coaches, three
observation cars and a dining car.
The observation cars, which were
accessible to all the guests were
equipped with all the latest appli-
ances for comfort and convenience,
while the day coaches were comfort
able, clean and roomy with large
windows enabling us to see the
granduer of the country through
which we passed.
1t was evident by the curiosity OF
the people in the country through
which we travelled that such a train
had seldom if ever passed their way.
The newspapers gave glowing &C
counts of the journey and always
referred to it as 1.-THE Americans
Travelling through the Austrian
Alps" Following is an article from
one of the Vienna dailies which l
have most laboriously translated into
English. If the sentences sometimes
seem little twisted don't notice 1t
as that is a characteristic Of this
German language and sometimes it's
hard to place them in the right posi-
ton after they are translated.
'"The American is democratic
through and through. This shows
itSelf not only in political life and
election speeches but in the daily
tra1hc, on the streets, on the street
carS and above all on the railways.
Here the democratic principle rules
with absolute power; the little by
the great, the poor by the rich. 1t
(the railway has only one class
not three as with us. There sits the
farmer from the far west by the rich
banker, the government officials by
the clerks. They all enjoy the same
comforts characteristic of the Ameri-
can trains. And what sort of COM
fort is that? Long elegant parlor
cars without compartments with
wide comfortable arm chairs, read
ing rooms, smoking rooms, in short
all that the AucIlCdu udS at AbohAC
and wishes on his journey not to
miss. How wretched we must APP
pear compared to this. In these mar
row compartments in which we can
neither sit nor stand and which
make travelling true torment. On
the other hand is travelling pleas
ure. America, you have it really
better!"
And now shall we get a reflex
of all these beautiful things and
learn to know what pleasure travel
ing is. This, with us on the CONT
nent until now, have only the great
est and richest known. BY those,
who by the virtue of their birth,
Office or wealth have been permitted
to enter the paradise of the parlor
car such as: the nobility, officers,
general managers of railways and
possibly rich manufacturers. All
others were general passengers only
good enough to occupy a place IN a
compartment. Now this shall all be
changed. The democratic principle
has taken it's way across the Great
-