I Confess I Have Always Taken A Delight In
Seeing These Beds Made Up, And Consider That The Operations Of The
Change Are Generally As Well Executed As The Manoeuvres Of Any
Pantomime At Drury Lane.
The work is usually done by negroes or
colored men, and the domestic negroes of America are always light-
handed and adroit.
The nature of an American car is no doubt known
to all men. It looks as far removed from all bed-room
accommodation as the baker's barrow does from the steam engine into
which it is to be converted by Harlequin's wand. But the negro
goes to work much more quietly than the Harlequin; and for every
four seats in the railway car he builds up four beds almost as
quickly as the hero of the pantomime goes through his performance.
The great glory of the Americans is in their wondrous contrivances -
in their patent remedies for the usually troublous operations of
life. In their huge hotels all the bell ropes of each house ring
on one bell only; but a patent indicator discloses a number, and
the whereabouts of the ringer is shown. One fire heats every room,
passage, hall, and cupboard, and does it so effectually that the
inhabitants are all but stifled. Soda-water bottles open
themselves without any trouble of wire or strings. Men and women
go up and down stairs without motive power of their own. Hot and
cold water are laid on to all the chambers; though it sometimes
happens that the water from both taps is boiling, and that, when
once turned on, it cannot be turned off again by any human energy.
Everything is done by a new and wonderful patent contrivance; and
of all their wonderful contrivances, that of their railroad beds is
by no means the least.
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