Two Are Supposed To Be Below, On The Level Of The
Ordinary Four Seats, And Two Up Above On Shelves Which Are Let Down
From The Roof.
Mattresses slip out from one nook and pillows from
another.
Blankets are added, and the bed is ready. Any over-
particular individual - an islander, for instance, who hugs his
chains - will generally prefer to pay the dollar for the double
accommodation. Looking at the bed in the light of a bed - taking,
as it were, an abstract view of it - or comparing it with some other
bed or beds with which the occupant may have acquaintance, I cannot
say that it is in all respects perfect. But distances are long in
America; and he who declines to travel by night will lose very much
time. He who does so travel will find the railway bed a great
relief. I must confess that the feeling of dirt, on the following
morning, is rather oppressive.
From Windsor, on the Canada side, we passed over to Detroit, in the
State of Michigan, by a steam ferry. But ferries in England and
ferries in America are very different. Here, on this Detroit
ferry, some hundred of passengers, who were going forward from the
other side without delay, at once sat down to breakfast. I may as
well explain the way in which disposition is made of one's luggage
as one takes these long journeys. The traveler, when he starts,
has his baggage checked. He abandons his trunk - generally a box,
studded with nails, as long as a coffin and as high as a linen
chest - and, in return for this, he receives an iron ticket with a
number on it. As he approaches the end of his first installment of
travel and while the engine is still working its hardest, a man
comes up to him, bearing with him, suspended on a circular bar, an
infinite variety of other checks. The traveler confides to this
man his wishes, and, if he be going farther without delay,
surrenders his check and receives a counter-check in return. Then,
while the train is still in motion, the new destiny of the trunk is
imparted to it. But another man, with another set of checks, also
comes the way, walking leisurely through the train as he performs
his work. This is the minister of the hotel-omnibus institution.
His business is with those who do not travel beyond the next
terminus. To him, if such be your intention, you make your
confidence, giving up your tallies, and taking other tallies by way
of receipt; and your luggage is afterward found by you in the hall
of your hotel. There is undoubtedly very much of comfort in this;
and the mind of the traveler is lost in amazement as he thinks of
the futile efforts with which he would struggle to regain his
luggage were there no such arrangement. Enormous piles of boxes
are disclosed on the platform at all the larger stations, the
numbers of which are roared forth with quick voice by some two or
three railway denizens at once. A modest English voyager, with six
or seven small packages, would stand no chance of getting anything
if he were left to his own devices. As it is, I am bound to say
that the thing is well done. I have had my desk with all my money
in it lost for a day, and my black leather bag was on one occasion
sent back over the line. They, however, were recovered; and, on
the whole, I feel grateful to the check system of the American
railways. And then, too, one never hears of extra luggage. Of
weight they are quite regardless. On two or three occasions an
overwrought official has muttered between his teeth that ten
packages were a great many, and that some of those "light fixings"
might have been made up into one. And when I came to understand
that the number of every check was entered in a book, and re-
entered at every change, I did whisper to my wife that she ought to
do without a bonnet box. The ten, however, went on, and were
always duly protected. I must add, however, that articles
requiring tender treatment will sometimes reappear a little the
worse from the hardships of their journey.
I have not much to say of Detroit - not much, that is, beyond what I
have to say of all the North. It is a large, well-built, half-
finished city lying on a convenient waterway, and spreading itself
out with promises of a wide and still wider prosperity. It has
about it perhaps as little of intrinsic interest as any of those
large Western towns which I visited. It is not so pleasant as
Milwaukee, nor so picturesque as St. Paul, nor so grand as Chicago,
nor so civilized as Cleveland, nor so busy as Buffalo. Indeed,
Detroit is neither pleasant nor picturesque at all. I will not say
that it is uncivilized; but it has a harsh, crude, unprepossessing
appearance. It has some 70,000 inhabitants, and good accommodation
for shipping. It was doing an enormous business before the war
began, and, when these troublous times are over, will no doubt
again go ahead. I do not, however, think it well to recommend any
Englishman to make a special visit to Detroit who may be wholly
uncommercial in his views, and travel in search of that which is
either beautiful or interesting.
From Detroit we continued our course westward across the State of
Michigan, through a country that was absolutely wild till the
railway pierced it, Very much of it is still absolutely wild. For
miles upon miles the road passes the untouched forest, showing that
even in Michigan the great work of civilization has hardly more
than been commenced. One thinks of the all but countless
population which is, before long, to be fed from these regions - of
the cities which will grow here, and of the amount of government
which in due time will be required - one can hardly fail to feel
that the division of the United States into separate nationalities
is merely a part of the ordained work of creation as arranged for
the well-being of mankind.
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