Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 January 1876 — Bailway Traveling in Germany. [ARTICLE]

Bailway Traveling in Germany.

The German railways are not intended for through travelers. The railway lines laid upon the map look like a lace pattern—there are no straight lines. You are always going round to call at some town or another, which is uninteresting for a stranger who has no friends in the towns. Not more than one express train a day seems to go in any direction, and all the others are as slow as a New England deacon’s horse on Sunday. However, I don’t mean to complain of German railways; they are safe and (Comfortable; if you want speed and damages you Americans know where to go. A compartment of the second-class, holding eight persons, in a German carriage, is a snug place for a winter ride. It is so well upholstered that you can ride on the seats without fatigue, and sleep at your ease. The compartment of the first-class is in the same carriage, and differs only in a little more luxurious upholstering. For winter travel, when there is nothing to see, these compartments are very nice; for summer I prefer an American palacecar. But when the wind raves over a desolate country there is a feeling of snugness in these little apartments. The windows are all closed, everybody lights his cigar, the lady, if one happens to be present, does not ever think of saying that she likes smoke—that is taken for granted—and soon the air is so thick that you might imagine yourself jn a beer-hall, enjoying yourself to the utmost. Not that you are obliged to ride in smoke; on probably all the trains there are compartments distinctly set apart for the not-smoking, and generally there is a separate compartment for ladies.—Cor. Hartford Courant.