Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 July 1895 — AMERICAN TOURISTS IN EUROPE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

AMERICAN TOURISTS IN EUROPE

They Usually Travel in Parties and Are Considered Liberal Spender*. The summer exodus has become so completely a part of city life that, like the spring cleaning and the circus and the winter variety show and the voice of the huckster, it is taken for granted, and nobody, except those immediately interested, pays much attention to It So far as the population of a great city is concerned, it may be loosely divided Into two classes; those who form a part of the summer exodus and those who stay at home. The latter are by far, of course, the more numerous, and, by the way, are by no means less respectable ttikir the minority who depart with the first warm wave, for the number of wanderers would not be missed from the busy crowd that fills the streets in summer, as in winter. But in “society” going away is an in-

dlspensablllty in the summer season, for everybody who is anybody goes, and what everybody does is manifestly the proper thing to do. Among the summer birds are those who prefer the lakes and those who like the seashore, but both these classes, while estimable in their way, are not to be compared for a moment to those who are able to spend their summers abroad; that is to say, who are willing, for the sake of the name of the thing, to be swindled and cheated from one end of Europe to the other just to be able to say that they have been abroad Americans generally contribute liberally to the enjoyment of life by Europeans, and in more ways than one. All classes of people who live on travelers find Amercicans their best game, and although they may indulge In a covert sneer at our ways they yet treat the American tourist with profound respect. But the respect that is shown to him in England is nothing to the reverence that is exhibited for him on the continent, for every untraveled Frenchman, German and Italian has an idea, somewhat ill-defined, but nevertheless an idea, that all Americans either have a gold mine or a cotton plantation, and so are able to scatter dollars like handfuls of grain. The porters bow down to the earth, and the guides take off their hats, and the hotel people put their heads in the dust, and they all have reason to do so, for one wealthy American will spend more money in Paris or London than two German princes and not be particularly extravagant, either, for an American. With reason, therefore, do the hotel people show their reverence, for every year over 100,000 Americans cross the watei to leave money and bring back experience. They take with them at least ar average of .SI,OOO, and when the aggregate expenditure is figured out the innkeepers, and steamboat owners, and railroad magnates, and .ither people of that kind, get a goodly share of it, and the storekeepers and curio dealers get most of the balance. For, besides his experience, every American must bring home something, and if he can smuggle

what he brings through the custom house in New York, so much the better does he appreciate it And he is richer, if he brings only experience, for so different are the Europeans in most respects from ourselves, so greatly do they vary from us in many important details, in short so much Is there to be seen that we have not, that a summer spent on the other side is of Itself a liberal education.

PLANNING THE ROUTE.

THE PACKING.