Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 October 1875 — Traveling. [ARTICLE]

Traveling.

The great mistake which most people make about traveling is that they travel without any object except that of doing As other people do.; They think they must follow certain routes, adhere to a certain j routine and see certain things, even if they do not interest them in the least Those who never care to look at a picture at home spend days in? wearily dragging themselves through interminable picturegalleries. They may be seen standing bored to death before the masterpieces of ; Tintoret and Veronese. Those who do not know whether their own parish church is Norman or' Tudor, and moreover do not care a straw, spend weeks in rushing from one cathedral town to another, vainly trying to remember which had a campanile and which a baptistery, so that they may have some new- dinner talk when they return from abroad. Those who can barely distinguish a manuscript from a printed book will take the greatest trouble to obtain introductions to all the principal librarians in Europe, who will be expected to waste valuable time in showing them treasures which they- can neither appreciate nor understand. All this is very foolish, and a useless waste of time and money. Almost every one has some taste, and is capable of enjoying something Which traveling can procure for him. If a man is fond of his garden at home, but does not know a Titian from a Greuze, why does he pretend to look at pictures when he goes abroad, instead of trying to see sqme fine gardens, and to find out what new plants he could acclimatize ? He will always be able to get hints, even from those who may not know so much as he does himself, and, what he will find still more pleasant, he may air his favorite theories before an audience who have not heard them at every public dinner and every magistrates’ meeting in his county for twenty years. If a country gentleman likes turnips and mangolcl-wurtzel, and is great upon the fattening of pigs, there is nothing to be ashamed of in so useful a taste; and when he travels let him stop at country places, and see how the inhabitants farm, and find out what different breeds of cattle are kept in different provinces. There is no occasion tor him to stare at early stained glass until his eyes aclie, or spend hours in the catacombs listening to a lecture on the primitive Christians, when he would rather he in a pig-sty. One man takes an interest in social questions, such as pauperism and compulsory education, hut does not in the least care what particular ornament was discovered on the vases last dug up at Pompeii. Why should he pretend to do so ? He can easily get introductions to native reformers, who will show him how the poor are housed and take him to as many schools and prisons as he likes to inspect. Another may care more for a beetle or a butterfly than for the most hardened criminal or the most illiterate peasant; but he, too, by tlie operation of the same law, will probably confine his attention to early Italian reliefs aud Etruscan inscriptions. When a large party intend' to travel together it will save much trouble and fatigue if a couple of the most capable are told off, one to see after the engaging of rooms, the other to order the" food required. When a hungry party arrive late at an hotel cold and tired, or hot and tired, as the case may be, it is distressing to see how long they often take to make up their minds what they will have for supper. Tire weakest and most starving have to wait for the rest. But see a pair of Frenchmen in a similar case. 1 hey order provisionally at once the inevitable omelette. A fncandeau cold from the tabk-d'hote helps them on. Cheese, salad, fruit and some biscuits finish a very sufficient repast before their English l'ellowtravelers have spelled out half the carte. We may wonder how foreigners can be content.to live under “ such a government,” hut they may well wonder how we can continue to exist without finding out how to feed ourselves.— Loudon Saturday Review.