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 r]ONSTANT, day after day Cycling is 
 almost impossible without the «?* «^ 
 
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 Shows pom- 
 mel saddle. 
 MiuU'insfv 
 eral shapes 
 and \\ idllis. 
 
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 FLEXIBLE 
 
 Shows line of 
 support, INSIDE 
 the edges, all 
 rouiul 
 
 SADDLE 
 
 1 lieTriiuntili nf Saildle MakuiL;. Sole- leather base, 
 with new lines of support. A lirni seat that yields 
 readily to the form. Descrilied in free Art 
 Catalogue. Address SAGElt, Rochester, X. 'i'. 
 
 WATCH FOR THE SAGER CHAINLESS GEAR. 
 
 IT'S PERFECT.
 
 h 

 
 Why Not Cycle Abroad 
 Yourself ? 
 
 WHAT A BICVCLK TRIP IN EUROPE COSTvS, HOW TO 
 
 TAKE IT, HOW TO ENJOY IT, WITH A 
 
 NARRATIVE OK PERSONAL TOURS, 
 
 II^I<U,STRATIONS AND 
 
 MAPS. 
 
 BY 
 
 CLARENCE STETSON. 
 
 CcM■^•Kl(;HT iSq8. 
 
 Published by F. & E. GRHHNHBAUM, 
 13 Spruce St., New York. 
 
 For Sale by The American News (^ompaii)' 
 
 Paper, jo Cents ; Cloth, 75 Cents and $ r. 
 
 f^
 
 Copyrighted 1898. 
 By Clarence Stetson. All rights reserved.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Pleasures and Cheapness of a Bicycle 
 Tour Abroad. 
 
 ^ 
 
 h 
 
 3!nD OER the tfILL/ AND FAR AWAY 
 
 EeYOMD ™^^^GiL2feC^E DAY 
 Al Li^^rf^ WORLD <WE FOLIOWEO -HIM 
 
 ■?WR: »..»- 
 
 EARS ago Tennyson wrote these 
 lines to describe the perigrinations 
 of a young woman in love. The poet 
 doesn't say how his hero and hero- 
 ine traveled, so they may have 
 taken the railroad train, or voyaged 
 by an ocean steamer, or possibly 
 
 they traveled by balloon, or had a bit of the 
 
 magic carpet mentioned in the "Arabian 
 
 Nights." 
 But if Tennyson were writing of to-day, we 
 
 should have no hesitation in concluding how 
 
 "she" followed him.
 
 What would any sensible nineteenth century 
 up-to-date young woman do nowadays if set- 
 ting out on a journey beyond the night and 
 across the day, to say nothing of going be- 
 yond the furthermost purple rim? Why, nat- 
 urally she would get out her bicycle, read this 
 little book which would tell her all she need to 
 know, and start off throughout the world at an 
 expense which would make her or anyone else 
 think living in a Harlem flat dear by compari- 
 son, considering the returns achieved. 
 
 But seriously, even in this land of bicycles, 
 where grown women would like to tuck their 
 wheels under their pillows at night, just as 
 they used to do with their dolls, in days gone 
 by, are the possibilities of the bicycle fully 
 understood? A change of scene is quite as 
 necessary to health and contentment of mind as 
 change of diet, and it is fair to believe that 
 there are many American cyclists who would 
 like to get away from the beaten track and 
 cycle in Europe if they were not deterred by 
 the lack of knowledge of how much It would 
 cost and the way to do it, besides being over- 
 whelmed at the prospect of wheeling in coun- 
 tries where they could not speak the language. 
 Let me in a single round settle these two buga- 
 boos of cycling abroad. 
 
 As to the expense: Aside from the first cost 
 of the ocean passage a European tour on a 
 bicycle costs no more than, if as much as, an 
 ordinary summer outing at home under the
 
 same conditions and of a like duration. Ttie 
 truth is that the cheapness of a wheeling tour 
 in Europe is really remarkable — if one wishes to 
 make it cheap and knows how. As to languages 
 one has no need of an interpreter. Abroad, as 
 elsewhere, money talks and is the best inter- 
 preter you can possibly have. However, this 
 statement is made with limitation. I have no 
 wish to disparage the worth of linguistic at- 
 tainments, and no one is further from belittling 
 the value of a knowledge of French, for in- 
 stance, with a smattering of as many other 
 languages thrown in as you can conveniently 
 get into your hand bag. Still, one can go as far 
 as to say that with a fair idea, in advance, of 
 what things ought to cost, and with all the in- 
 formation which it is our object to have com- 
 prised in this little volume, one can travel 
 throughout Europe on a bicycle without being 
 subjected either to extortion or petty annoy- 
 ances, and with perfect ease, comfort and 
 safety. I make this statement, too, not from 
 any theoretical point of view. It is based on ac- 
 tual experience in Italy, where, ordinarily, 
 nothing is spoken except the language of the 
 country. There I have often stopped at a cafe to 
 enquire the way to the next town in my 
 choicest Italian, and have been understood to 
 say that I wanted a bottle of their best Chianti. 
 Still, such an experience is so novel, and you 
 and your friends get so much amusement out 
 of it, that it l)ecomes a pleasant incident of the 
 
 5
 
 trip. Besides, it really isn't a serious matter 
 if you get to your destination perhaps a bit 
 later than you expected. You may be sure that 
 the extra time will not have been without pleas- 
 ure and profit. 
 
 In Holland, too, cyclists find that they might 
 as well be deaf mutes as far as holding ex- 
 tended communication with the inhabitants 
 goes. The fact is, that with good maps which 
 can be obtained anywhere in Europe and 
 which are made specially for the use cyclists, 
 one doesn't need to do much talking, particu- 
 larly if the route has been carefully studied 
 beforehand. Still, one will find it very con- 
 venient to have in one's pocket one of Nutt's 
 dictionaries, which are only about three or four 
 inches long by two or three wide, and give you 
 an astonishingly complete list of English words 
 with the foreign equivalent in the language of 
 whatever country you may find yourself in. 
 These useful little volumes unite, too, the quali- 
 ties of a dictionary and a conversational hand- 
 book, besides "containing much general infor- 
 mation in foot notes. With such able assist- 
 ance and a map the most timid traveler will 
 feel himself at home anywhere in Europe. 
 
 So much for any linguistic difficulties 
 Now we'll get down to the solid facts of what 
 is necessary to the successful accomplishment 
 of a bicycle trip in Europe and the attendant 
 expenses of the journey from the time you 
 leave New York until the return trip is made.
 
 Books, almost beyond number, have been 
 written of ordinary trips to every corner o? 
 Europe, and Baedelter supplies every want of 
 the ordinary tourist. Therefore, all informa- 
 tion other than that of use to cyclists, and all 
 incidents not of peculiar interest to them, will 
 find no place in the following chapters. 
 
 Of course the bicycle, like the baby — I be- 
 lieve in families where expense is an item and 
 they can't have both, they generally choose the 
 former— is the first thing to be considered. 
 
 In the matter of the transportation of your 
 wheel you have no reason for speculation as to 
 the cost. All the steamship lines, no matter 
 what may be the cost of a first cabin passage, 
 have "pooled" their issues and have agreed 
 upon a uniform rate of $2.50 for each wheel. 
 It is required that your bicycle should be 
 crated in some manner or other. In France, 
 basket frames, which can be had for $.5, are 
 much in vogue, but a bicycle can readily be 
 nailed up with light boards at a very moderate 
 cost and in such a way as to answer every pur- 
 pose; or any bicycle dealer will crate your 
 wheel for you. 
 
 The initial expense of the ocean trip depends 
 largely upon your tastes, inclinations and the 
 place in Europe at which you wish to begin your 
 actual wheeling. The rates on all steamships 
 are about twenty per cent, higher between the 
 last of April and the last of October than dur- 
 ing the rest of the year. To give some basis of
 
 just named— from $85 to $1U7 as Ciie lowest sin- 
 gle first-class ticket through from New York to 
 London; to Paris, $90 to $110; $75 to $100 to 
 Southampton, Liverpool, Plymouth or Havre; 
 $90 to $110 to Bremen or Hamburg. 
 During the winter season these rates 
 are reduced to the basis of about $80 to 
 London. For outside staterooms, and those on 
 the upper or promenade deck higher rates are 
 charged. If you are willing to go second class, 
 where often the accommodations are very good 
 and the table excellent, you can travel at about 
 65 per cent, of these figures. Besides crossing 
 on the great and best known lines there are 
 other and extremely comfortable ways of get- 
 ting across the Atlantic, if you are willing to 
 spend a little more time at it. All the first 
 class line steamers cross in about seven days. 
 If you are willing to devote ten days to it you 
 can go to London in the summer season, first 
 class, on the Atlantic Transport or Leyland 
 lines for $50 to $70. These steamers have "bilge 
 keels" — an arrangement which practically pre- 
 vents rolling — and while they carry cattle the 
 cattle are all below decks, and out of sight, 
 and are no source of annoyance. Many persons 
 prefer these steamers because of their great 
 steadiness. Their table has been highly com- 
 mended. 
 
 Besides these steamers there are lines, not so 
 well known as the first-class companies, which 
 will carry you in very comfortable steamers to 
 
 8
 
 Amsterdam for $75 to $80, or to Antwerp for 
 $65 to 175. You can also go to Glasgow for 
 from $50 to $80. All these prices are for single 
 first-class tickets in the summer season. Winter 
 rates are at a reduction, but under the new 
 agreement between the steamship companies 
 round trip tickets except on one or two lines 
 are no longer offered at a discount. While 
 winter rates «xci in force one can cross for as 
 little as $45. 
 
 You will find it to your advantage, as soon 
 as you have selected your European destination 
 and the line by which you wish to reach it, to 
 secure your staterooms at the earliest possible 
 moment. The summer rush to Europe is now 
 so heavy that all the rooms on some steamers 
 are taken a month before the vessel sails. 
 
 If you decide to land at an English port — 
 Southampton, Liverpool, or Plymouth, let us 
 say — you will find wheeling thence to London 
 an enjoyable experience. There are no customs 
 duties in England on bicycles, and no irksome 
 regulations governing the introduction of your 
 wheel. The roads are admirable, the scenery, 
 while quiet, is sweet and refreshing, and many 
 of the towns on the way have interesting old 
 churches or places of historical interest, the 
 only drawback being that sometimes the rural 
 inns leave much to be desired. If you land 
 at Southampton you will find much to interest 
 you at Winchester and Aldershot; your road 
 from Plymouth l)rings you through Exeter, 
 
 9
 
 r 
 
 ON TiE WAY TO
 
 Taunton, Bristol and Bath; from Liverpool you 
 can make Manchester, the Peaks of Derby or 
 Oxford, on your way to London. From London 
 you can ride down to Dover through the lovely 
 Kentish hills and Rochester and Canterbury, and 
 take the boat at a small cost for Calais; or you 
 can buy a railroad ticket by New Haven and 
 Dieppe to Paris for $6, and ship your wheel as 
 baggage; or you can get to the Continent in 
 half a dozen other ways, for the most part 
 agreeable and cheap. 
 
 Bicycling in England is so much like bicycl- 
 ing at home, among a people with a common 
 language, and customs, which, though different, 
 are really familiar to us, that no suggestions 
 are needed for the assistance or comfort of the 
 fortunate person who undertakes it. The only 
 essential wherein it differs from bicycling in 
 the United States is that the wheelman must 
 keep to the left of the road instead of to the 
 right. 
 
 If a tour in England is contemplated before 
 going to the continent, I should certainly rec- 
 ommend the tourist to join the Touring Club of 
 England, as that will entitle him to a card of 
 membership, and by showing this he will avoid 
 any question over duties on landing in France. 
 The imposition of duties on tourists' bicycles 
 in France seems to depend upon certain condi- 
 tions. I have known many Americans who on 
 landing have had no difficulty whatsoever in 
 persuading the French Custom House officials 
 
 11
 
 that they were merely tourists, aud have been 
 allowed thereupon to pass their bicycles free 
 of duty. In other instances, however, the duty 
 has been demanded, and no explanations would 
 suffice to make the official change his mind on 
 that point. Perhaps it makes a difference 
 whether you see a French Custom House offi- 
 cial before or after dinner. But after all, this 
 isn't a very serious matter, and if the official 
 insists upon your paying duty on your ma- 
 chine after you have explained to him that you 
 are simply on a pleasure tour, the best thing to 
 do is to pay the money and take a receipt. This 
 receipt you present when you leave France, 
 whether it is on your way back home or in 
 crossing the frontier into some other country, 
 and you receive your money back again. That 
 is, if you take your bicycle outside of France 
 within a year from the time you entered it. 
 The duty anyway is only 25 cents a pound, 
 which means that you are only tying up $5 or 
 $6 during your stay in the country. The absur- 
 dity of taxing bicycles by the pound is easily 
 seen when one stops to think that a most care- 
 fully made machine of extraordinary lightness, 
 which may have cost $200, and may be the 
 property of a millionaire, would pay less duty 
 than the heavy old fashioned machine of some 
 poor laboring man who could afford no better. 
 If you are going to France it is wise to be- 
 come a member of the French Touring Club, 
 because that enables you to take your bicycle 
 
 12
 
 in free of duty and gives you other substantial 
 advantages, as will appear later. It is possible 
 to join the Touring Club de France by apply- 
 ing to Mr. Francis S. Hesseltine, Delegue, Tour- 
 ing Club de France, 10 Tremont street, Boston, 
 Mass. The following is the blank form which 
 has to be filled out. The expense attached is 
 only $1.20, which includes the admission fee 
 and the annuaire which is issued by the Club 
 monthly. 
 
 DEMANDE D'ADMISSION. 
 
 Je demande mon admission au TOURING-CLUB 
 DE FRANCE. 
 
 Ci-joinl: 5 francs, montant de la cotisation de 
 I'annee courante, plus 1 fr. pour recevoir I'ANNU- 
 AIRE franco (*). (Le rachat de la cotisation est 
 admis moyennant le versement d'une somme de 
 Cent fra-ncs; il confere la qualite de Membre a 
 vie). 
 
 Les candidats habitant les Colonies ou I'Etrang-er 
 doivent joindre 1 franc pour le service de la Revue. 
 
 NOTA.— Le volume "Plans de Voyages' et d"Ex- 
 cursions" pour toute la France et pays voisins est 
 joint a renvoi moyennant un franc. 
 
 SIGNATURE: 
 
 Nom 
 
 Prenoms 
 
 Profession 
 
 (Soit I'actuelle, soit I'ancienne.) 
 
 Xationalite 
 
 Decorations et distinctions honoritiques 
 
 (*) Envoyer les mandats ou bons de poste au 
 nom do M. P. Leroy. tresorier du T. C. F. 
 
 But such an application shonhl be made at 
 least six weeks or two months prior to the 
 time fixed for your departure. If this course is 
 pursued all troubb' about enteriug your bicycle 
 
 13
 
 into France is done away with at once. There 
 is another association in Boston which ladies 
 traveling alone may find it to their interest to 
 consult before taking the European trip. It is 
 known as the "Women's Rest Tour Associa- 
 tion." Its object is to furnish to women who 
 travel for rest, study or pleasure, such prac- 
 tical advice and encouragement as shall enable 
 them to travel independently, intelligently and 
 economically. For membership in the Associa- 
 tion and all particulars apply to No. 264 Boyl- 
 ston street, Boston, Mass. 
 
 14
 
 ^H^^ 
 
 CHAPTER II, 
 
 Information and General Advice. 
 
 T HAS already been stated that there 
 
 is no duty on entering your bicycle 
 in England for touring purposes. 
 For information as to joining the 
 Cyclers' Touring Club apply to 
 Mr. Frank W. Weston, United 
 States Chief Consul, Boston. Mr. 
 Weston will furnish information free, but 
 applicants should send stamps for reply. 
 The membership of this English cycling 
 club is an international one, there being be- 
 tween forty and fifty thousand members al- 
 ready enrolled. Circulars of application for 
 membership, information as to hand books, 
 road maps, badges and all like details can be 
 had on applying as above. The annual sub- 
 scription fee is $1.35, while the entrance fee is 
 thirty cents. The advantages of the club arc 
 detailed in their circulars and embody the fol- 
 lowing: 
 
 15
 
 To encourage and facilitate tuuring In all parts of 
 the world. 
 
 To provide riding or touring companions. 
 
 To protect its members against any infringement of 
 the lights and privileges to which they are entitled. 
 and to extend those rights and privileges wherever 
 iiossible. 
 
 To secure special rates and increased privileges, and 
 to appoint hotels and inns for the convenience of its 
 membeis in all countries where cycling is practiced. 
 
 To appoint a consul in every town, who shall render 
 to his fellow-members local information germane to 
 the pastime unobtainable from other sources. 
 
 To similarly appoint oflicial repairers, competent to 
 remedy breakages and defects in machines. 
 
 To publish monthly an official gazette, to be supplied 
 gratis to members only. 
 
 To compile and issue to members at reduced prices, 
 maps and road boolts especially adapted to the require- 
 ments of the cyclist. 
 
 To inculcate and encourage an esprit de corps in the 
 brotherhood of the wheel, and to uphold and pro- 
 mote the true interests of cycling the wide world over. 
 
 The L. A. W. is represented in England by 
 the Foreign Marshal, Joseph Pennell, care J. S. 
 Morgan & Co.. 22 Old Broad Street, London, 
 E. C. 
 
 FRANCK. 
 
 If you have made no other arrangements and 
 have not joined the Touring Club de France, 
 but have simply decided to pay duty on your 
 wheel on landing in France, you will receive, 
 on handing over the twenty-five cents per 
 pound, a receipt for the sum, and the official 
 will also attach a lead seal to your wheel. This 
 is what is Itnown as having your bicycle 
 plombe. The seal is removed when you claim 
 your deposit at any frontier point by which 
 
 16
 
 you may leave France. French citizens pay 
 $2 a year as a tax on their machine. The 
 imposition of this tax on bicycles brings m 
 something like $150,000 in Paris alone, which 
 is about one-fifth of the sum received from the 
 tax throughout the whole of France, In road 
 riding you will notice that the hills are nearly 
 always marked with posts, which warn the 
 rider of their dangers either in the way of 
 steepness or sharp turns. But in France even 
 ladies can easily ride many of the hills marked 
 as dangerous. The edict of the Prefet of Police 
 in Paris says that your machine must bear a 
 bell or gong which can be heard at least fifty 
 yards, and in Paris particularly one must be 
 very certain to have some sort of a light as 
 darkness approaches. Chinese lanterns carried 
 in the hand are in very general use. In streets 
 crowded with pedestrians the rider must dis- 
 mount and push his wheel. Cyclists are not 
 allowed to form in groups so as to obstruct the 
 public ways or cross funerals or military pro- 
 cessions. They are forbidden to cycle on foot- 
 paths reserved for pedestrians except in special 
 instances where the road is impassable, and 
 then they are expected to moderate their speed. 
 The French Minister of Public Works has 
 compelled by decree all railroads to carry 
 cycles as baggage and makes them responsible 
 for any damage. The rules of the road for 
 keeping to the right and other details are the 
 same as in the United States. All citizens of 
 
 17
 
 France who ride bicycles are required to have 
 their names and addresses on their machines, 
 and it is just as well for even a casual visitor to 
 take the same precaution, although he may 
 not be liable to the same regulations, being a 
 non-resident. In fact, I have ridden a bicycle 
 two years in Paris without ever having been 
 asked to show my plaque, or official certificate. 
 Still, if you are not living at a hotel, observation 
 of this provision of the law will probably be 
 demanded. 
 
 The advantages to the members of the Tour- 
 ing Club de France are quite pronounced. One 
 of the chief is the freedom with which you can 
 cross the frontiers of the neighboring coun- 
 tries without being troubled by custom officials 
 for a deposit on your machine, for the club has 
 obtained this concession in behalf of its mem- 
 bers from most of the adjacent nations. Inci- 
 dentally, many hotels give a discount, in most 
 cases of ten per cent, and, moreover, one is 
 assured of courteous treatment and special con- 
 sideration if one displays a badge or card of 
 membership in this club, which now numbers 
 more than sixty thousand members. The club 
 also has a representative in every town and 
 city in France always willing to give you any 
 advice and information possible. The club's 
 headquarters are situated in the Rue Coq- 
 Heron, No. 5, Paris. It is well always to have 
 photograph on your card of identity, a fac 
 simile of which is appended. 
 
 18
 
 ^m m 
 
 ITffl¥i 
 
 SIGNATUREOU TITULAIRE 
 
 'ufjiaHesialion ctejvijil. 
 
 ENSEiGNEMENTS f NATU^t E iaROu 
 OURLAOOUANE I GENRFH0A«r*l 
 
 t,.Ary>^ 
 
 ?^alisation de la Signature de 
 
 ^«^ 
 
 RELGIUM, 
 
 Before making a trip to Belgium, it is 
 well to get a special permit from the head- 
 quarters of the club in the Rue Coq- 
 Heron, as the Belgium authorities are more 
 particular in such matters than those that 
 one finds on almost any other frontier. 
 
 Tourists not members of the Touring 
 Club de France have to make a deposit at 
 the Belgium Custom House of a sum 
 amounting to twelve per cent, ad valorem. 
 This amount is refunded when you take 
 your machine out of the country. The ex- 
 emption allowed to the Touring Club mem- 
 bers is for six months only. There is always 
 less trouble getting your wheel across the 
 
 19
 
 frontier if you are riding it and not travel- 
 ing by train. Persons wlio are going to 
 travel in Europe by rail are advised not 
 to take their wheels with them at all un- 
 less they are going to make a long stay at 
 some given point. You can hire very fair 
 bicycles anywhere in Europe. 
 
 GERMANY. 
 
 The duty on bicycles in Germany amounts 
 to three cents a pound, if the machine is for 
 sale. The tourists pay nothing— no deposit 
 Is required. The foreign consul of the 
 League of American Wheelmen in Germany 
 can always be consulted for advice and in- 
 formation. His address is Friedrich 
 Schleicher, Duren Rheinland, Bonner- 
 strasse, 16, Germany. 
 
 AUSTRIA, 
 
 In Austria, by special decree, you are 
 compelled to swear that your wheel is not 
 for sale and that you are simply a tem- 
 porary visitor in Austria; you then deposit 
 $10 at the Custom House, but this deposit 
 is refunded when you take your wheel out 
 of the country. 
 
 ITAl.V. 
 
 Here you deposit a sum amounting to a 
 little more than $8 as a guarantee that your 
 
 20
 
 wheel is not for sale. Members of the Tour- 
 ing Club de France are exempt on present- 
 ing their card of membership, but you 
 must not forget to declare your wheel, in 
 crossing the frontier again, on your way 
 out of Italy; otherwise your club will be 
 called upon to pay the duty on your ma- 
 chine. If you have made a deposit it is 
 given back to you when you leave the 
 country. 
 
 SWITZERLAND. 
 
 The duty here amounts to six cents a 
 pound, and the conditions are the same as 
 in Italy, members of the Touring Club de 
 France being exempt. On each frontier a 
 lead seal will be attached to your machine 
 and will be removed when you cross it 
 again. 
 
 DENMARK. 
 
 Here you deposit with the Custom House 
 ten per cent, ad valorem with a guarantee 
 you will not sell your wheel. The deposit 
 will only be refunded at the Custom House 
 where the entry was made, unless by spe- 
 cial permit. 
 
 EGVI'T. 
 
 Duty, eight per cent, ad-valorem, of which 
 only seven per cent, will be refunded. Be 
 
 21
 
 particular to get the proper receipt for your 
 money deposited. 
 
 GREECE. 
 
 Cyclists have to pay first an octroi duty 
 of forty cents payable at point of entry. 
 This will be i-eturned. There is still an- 
 other duty of $2, which will be returned 
 to you less $1 for expenses, or with a slight- 
 ly additional charge if you do not leave the 
 country at the same Custom House. 
 
 LUXEMBOURG. 
 
 Duty here is about three cents a pound, 
 the members of tae Touring Club de France 
 being exempt. 
 
 XETHERLANDS. 
 
 Duty is five per cent, ad valorem, but 
 tourists enter without having to make a 
 deposit or pay any duty. 
 
 PORTUGAL. 
 
 Tourists pay a duty of twenty-seven per 
 cent, ad valorem, but can get their money 
 back on leaving the country by any point 
 where there is a custom house. 
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 Here the duty amounts to about six cents 
 a pound, on depositing which you receive 
 
 22
 
 a pass good for six months, for which you 
 pay the sum of twenty cents. In this 
 country there are many petty formalities 
 connected with getting your pass, and if the 
 slightest mistake is made in your declara- 
 tion, or you in any way misunderstand the 
 requirements, you do not get your money 
 back when you leave the country. There- 
 fore it is better here to engage somebody 
 beforehand to arrange the matter for you. 
 
 S^VEDE]V. 
 
 Here a deposit of fifteen per cent, ad 
 valorem is demanded, and in order to have 
 the money refunded you must leave the 
 country by the port of entry. If you re- 
 main in the country more than sixty days 
 your deposit is forfeited. 
 
 TlRIvEY. 
 
 Duty required amounts to eight per cent, 
 ad valorem, of which only seven per cent, is 
 returned to you and you are lucky if you 
 get that. 
 
 RUSSIA. 
 
 The payment of $7.80 on each machine is 
 here required. You can't get this money 
 back unless you go out by the port of entry, 
 except by obtaining a special permit.
 
 KOUMANIA. 
 
 Here you pay $1.55 on each machine, 
 which will be returned to you at the port 
 of entry or elsewhere by special permit. 
 
 Of course I needn't warn any cyclist to be 
 sure and start with his wheel in perfect order. 
 It is also well to take duplicate pieces of all 
 parts of the machine which are liable to break 
 or get out of order. The chain, the nuts and 
 the other parts which you may require for your 
 special machine may not be obtainable in every 
 small town in Europe. Of course some cyclists 
 are born mechanics and can fix their own 
 wheels; such are to be congratulated, as the 
 others may have to put up with bungling work 
 in the way of repairs. But no one will make 
 any mistake in taking as many duplicate parts 
 of his machine along as possible. It is well 
 to remember, too, when you are boxing your 
 machine for the Atlantic trip, to cover all the 
 nickel parts with a little vaseline or whatever 
 may be your favorite preparation for prevent- 
 ing rust. And don't forget to take along a 
 good stick of graphite for the chain. 
 
 Wheeling in the more remote country dis- 
 tricts is much more attractive and picturesque 
 than going over the same ground by railroad, 
 and, in fact, some of the most delightful trips 
 are those furthest from where the railroad runs. 
 Odd little hotels v^ith quaint surroundings are 
 
 24
 
 to be found everywhere, and cheapness of 
 rates and an honest display of hospitality seem 
 to go hand in hand. Besides, and more par- 
 ticularly is it the case if there are ladies in 
 the party, you will find yourself objects of ex- 
 traordinary interest wherever you go. Of 
 course the saving in railroad fares lightens 
 very much the cost of the trip and bicyclists 
 always get the best of rates at the hotels. 
 
 The only uncertainty as to the pleasure of 
 touring on a wheel in Europe, is, of course, due 
 to the weather. But naturally, when it rains, 
 you don't wheel. In such a case if merely 
 caught in a light shower, the gauze rubber capo, 
 weighing only a few ounces, which you should 
 include in the effects which you carry on your 
 machine, would be sufficient to protect you 
 until you arrive at the nearest town or village 
 where there is a railway or a tramway. From 
 there you can make for the largest town or 
 city by rail, and there is sure to be one not 
 many miles away. Once there, the novelty of 
 finding yourself amid new surroundings lessens 
 very much the weariness of waiting for the 
 rain to stop. I remember when it rained for 
 three days, near Verona, while I was riding 
 with a party through Italy, but in spite of the 
 rain that mouldy old city furnished such an 
 array of attractions that we wouldn't have 
 much cared if another flood had come along. 
 Moreover, nearly everywhere in Europe the 
 roads are so constructed that they dry very 
 
 25
 
 yuickly, and one can proceed on one's way al- 
 most immediately after the rain has stopped. 
 
 When you do take a train with your bicycle 
 it is well always to remember the porter liber- 
 ally, bearing in mind that liberality means from 
 six to ten cents, and he will handle your wheel 
 more carefully than he otherwise would. And, 
 in case you have time, it is well to supervise 
 the operation of putting it in the baggage car 
 yourself. There are no "checks" for baggage 
 in Europe, but you can register it at a small 
 expense and the register amounts to much the 
 same thing. 
 
 I presume that I needn't tell anyone that it 
 would be the height of folly to attempt a Euro- 
 pean tour without a brake; they are useful, 
 particularly in cities like Paris, where one 
 finds the most careless drivers in the world, to 
 aid you in stopping quickly on the crowded 
 boulevards as well as on many of the hills in 
 the neighborhood of Paris, to say nothing of 
 being absolutely necessary when touring in 
 Switzerland. Taking a coast down a mountain 
 of say some forty miles with nothing but your 
 shoe for a brake would doubtless prove very 
 bad for the shoe — but probably if you made 
 such an attempt with no other precaution pro- 
 vided you would find yourself where you 
 wouldn't have any need for shoes or bicycles 
 either. Some cyclists say that they have been 
 greatly aided in descending steep and long de- 
 clivities by attaching a fir tree to their saddle 
 
 26
 
 by means of a rope eight or ten feet long. I 
 never saw this tried, but I have seen two deli- 
 cate women ride down the Grimsel and the 
 Simplon Passes with no other aid in holding 
 back their machines than that which they were 
 able to get from back pedalling and the judi- 
 cious use of the brake. One source of much 
 trouble to cyclists in Europe, particularly in the 
 rural districts are the hob nails which drop 
 out of the peasants' shoes. These nails always 
 insist on standing on their heads, and being 
 sharp and oftentimes two inches long, they 
 have no difficulty in giving a pneumatic tire 
 nervous prostration. 
 
 To lessen the chances of picking up tacks or 
 even bits of glass, some French riders use a 
 very simple little device. They attach a little 
 wire across the fork where the wheel turns 
 about a sixteenth of an inch from the tire. 
 Their argument is that the tack does not punc- 
 ture the rubber when the wheel first touches it, 
 but merely picks it up so that on the first half 
 revolution of the wheel after it has touched a 
 tack or bit of glass, the object comes against 
 this wire and is knocked off the tire before it 
 touches the ground again. Those who have 
 tried this device say they have never had a 
 puncture since they fastened the wire just 
 above both wheels. It certainly will cost no 
 wheelman anything to try it. 
 
 27
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 From Havre to Paris. 
 
 ET us now suppose that you have 
 arrived at Havre or some other 
 point on that part of the French 
 coast, and have gotten by the cus- 
 tom house officials, either with 
 your French Touring card, or that of the Eng- 
 lish organization, or, lacliing either of these, 
 have paid duty, or have persuaded the inspector 
 that you are a bona fide tourist, with the re- 
 sult that you are not obliged to make the usual 
 deposit. 
 
 Once off the steamer, the first impulse of the 
 eager cyclist is to mount his wheel, and having 
 seen that his cyclometer is in order, set off 
 for Paris. I should, however, hardly advise all 
 tourists, unless limited to a very brief stay in 
 France, to do this. At the moment, you very 
 likely find yourself unprovided with the proper 
 maps, and immediately after the voyage you are 
 not in a condition to get the full enjoyment out 
 of the bicycle or anything else. On the other 
 hand, Paris is only five hours away by rail and
 
 the ticket costs less than $5. Still, if you want 
 to ride through one of the prettiest parts of the 
 country, and can let Paris wait, there is noth- 
 ing to prevent your setting out on your journey 
 at once. It is an easy matter to ship your bag- 
 gage by train to the Gare St. Lazare at Paris, 
 where you will find it awaiting your arrival in 
 the Consigne, and there you will have to open 
 it for the Octroi or City Customs officials. Bag- 
 gage in Europe doesn't go free as it does in 
 this country, even if you accompany it your- 
 self. Sixty pounds is the limit one is allowed 
 in Europe on a single ticket, and where one 
 sends baggage ahead, there is no reasonable 
 system of transportation similar to our express 
 companies in America. For instance, one can 
 send a trunk from Boston to New York for 
 forty-five cents. But for the same distance in 
 Europe you would pay six or seven cents a 
 pound on the grande vitesse or express train. 
 If you send the baggage by the petite vitesse. 
 or freight train, from almost any given point in 
 Europe to another, it costs about half as much 
 as ])y the express, but you must count on a 
 wait anywhere from a week to ten days for a 
 distance say of three hundred miles. 
 
 The writer recalls, in his own case, that 
 on leaving Milan, Italy, for Nice by the way of 
 Genoa and Ventimiglia he sent his trunks, 
 weighing sixty pounds, to Nice with the stipu- 
 lation that they should bo ])ut on the express 
 train only. The charge anujunted to more than 
 
 29
 
 $5 and riding to Nice on his bicycle he got 
 there two days ahead of his trunks. Therefore 
 it is apparent that one wants to get along with 
 is little baggage as possible. In fact, the ordi- 
 nary mistake that one makes in setting out on 
 such a trip is to take too much. It is astonish- 
 ing how much one can take on the bicycle, and 
 the expense of sending on your baggage is 
 greatly lessened if you carry enough on your 
 wheel so as to be obliged to connect with your 
 trunks only about once in ten days. All the 
 necessities of the toilet, reading and writing 
 materials, changes of underclothing and a rub- 
 ber cape can be carried on the frame of your 
 bicycle without materially increasing the dif- 
 ficulty of its propulsion, if the weight is care- 
 fully distributed. 
 
 Personally, I have never had the patience, 
 after arriving on French soil, to submit to the 
 delay of getting to the most seductive city on 
 earth except by the most rapid means of loco- 
 motion which presented itself. I have made 
 tours in Normandy and Brittany, but have al- 
 .'ays taken Paris as the basis of operations. 
 
 However, for the benefit of those who, after 
 landing, decide to go to Paris on their wheels, 
 I append the following bits of a description of 
 such a trip from the pen of Arthur K. Peck, 
 who took it himself in the summer of 1897, 
 and embodied his impressions in one of a series 
 of letters to the Boston Sunday Herald. Mr. 
 Peck says: 
 
 30
 
 My journey awheel commenced at the Port 
 of Havre, France, and my first day's journey 
 was inward througu a pleasing section of Nor- 
 mandy. Packed in the little case in the frame 
 of my machine, and strapped on the carrier of 
 the handle bar was all my luggage, which in- 
 cluded a rubber suit for protection from the 
 rain, various duplicate parts of a wheel for use 
 in case of a breakage, and a repair kit and tools 
 for tire mending in case of puncture. Across 
 my back I slung a small camera, with the ex- 
 pectation of bringing back to America with me 
 wayside photographs, stray shots of pictur- 
 esque little nooks, odd scenes, the people, their 
 homes — views which are not to be purchased. 
 
 Before starting, I made a most minute inspec- 
 tion of all parts of my bicycle, trying every 
 bolt and adjustment, for, while it is true that 
 the prominent American manufacturers have 
 agents in foreign cities, and they are supposed 
 to be well supplied with duplicate parts, not 
 infrequently they are "just out of that particu- 
 lar part." It behooves one, therefore, to exer- 
 cise a close guardianship over one's bicycle 
 from the moment of arrival in Europe. 
 
 Havre, according to the guide book, has little 
 to interest the traveler, and so, after a short 
 ramble about the city, I wheeled along toward 
 Graville, a small suburb of Havre, and one of 
 the chain of towns through which I must pass 
 en route to Rouen. 
 
 Continuing my journey, I soon found myself 
 
 31
 
 on a fine stretch of road, which brought me into 
 the agricultural district, with its green pastures 
 and verdant hills. Here whole fields of grain 
 were dotted with bright flowers of variegated 
 hues. The abundance of wild flowers to be seer 
 at certain stages of the journey added much 
 to the picturesqueness of the scenes. I passed 
 through the dead little seaport town of Hon- 
 fleur, distinguished from the fact that about six 
 centuries ago Henry V. of England took it and 
 later some of his successors returned it. Havre 
 has long since taken away its trade as a sea- 
 port. 
 
 Ten miles out I made my first inquiry, asking 
 three natives of St. Romain the way to the 
 next town, La Remuee. Not one of them 
 seemed to know. My persistency was reward- 
 ed, however, when I asked the route to Lille- 
 bonne, which one of them seemed to know, 
 though it was twelve miles away. 
 
 There was a most exhilarating coast of a 
 mile or more down into this town. On one of 
 the surrounding heights could be seen looming 
 up above the trees the gray tower of the ruined 
 castle where William the Conqueror, one thou- 
 sand years ago, extended a cordial invitation 
 to the nobles to visit old England and increase 
 their real estate holdings, which invitation we 
 are advised on good authority was accepted. 
 
 As I entered the town from one side a regi- 
 ment of infantry marched in from the other 
 In advance came a French officer scorching in 
 
 32
 
 on a bicycle. All about the place on the ground 
 were little heaps of refreshments of bread, rare 
 meat, etc., contributions for the tired men of 
 the invading host. I did want to take a picture 
 of the scene, but with a discretion born of pre- 
 vious experience, and accing under advice writ- 
 ten in my little book of "don'ts," saying, "don't 
 take pictures of anything military and thus 
 avoid unpleasant consequences," I hunted up a 
 place to have my noon lunch and had what a 
 Frenchman calls his breakfast. 
 
 Continuing on my jotirney, I tried for a few 
 days the experience of travelling without maps, 
 but found it unsatisfactory, and the guide post 
 system of Brittany not so excellent as that of 
 Normandy. I found Brittany quite hilly as a 
 whole, more so than Normandy. At times on 
 the journey toward Paris I would come to a 
 long level plain and would ride for miles on a 
 straight, level road, as was the ease when en- 
 tering Chartres. In one case only did I lose 
 my course, and that was due to accepting the 
 advice of a peasant seated at a cross road. I 
 believe I was directed to Noce instead of No- 
 gent. I succeeded, however, after going four 
 miles out of the way, in finding the main high- 
 way and righted myself. I was in no amiable 
 frame of mind at the mishap, particularly as 
 the roads were hilly and the weather was hot. 
 
 At Charties there was a magnificent cathedral 
 to see, and then, by a long day's journey, I 
 counted on reaching Paris. Eighty miles from 
 
 33
 
 the capital 1 saw the first guide post bearing 
 the word Paris, and from there on I found my- 
 self watching the kilometre posts, and uncon- 
 sciously translating into miles each distance 
 marked. I passed through the town of Main- 
 tenon, and dismounted to view the old chateau 
 of Madame de Maintenon. Not far distant I 
 reached a little town, which in appearance 
 seemed to me to approach the neai-est to a de- 
 serted village I had ever seen in all my wan- 
 ierings. As I jogged along over the rough 
 stone pavements through the main and only 
 street of the town, looking right and left for 
 some signs of life, I wondered whether this 
 dead town was the Chelsea or Pompeii of 
 France. There were no children playing in the 
 street, every door was closed, and shutters were 
 up at all the windows. Even a store, which 
 had over the door the word "Novelties," 
 seemed to have given up its business, for the 
 shutters there, too, were up. 
 
 During the first few days of my journey in 
 Normandy my ideas of the topography of the 
 country underwent quite a change. I had ex- 
 pected to see a country not unlike Cape Ann 
 and the North shore, and to encounter a suc- 
 cession of steep hills. Instead, I found about 
 two steep hills a day, and long, level stretches 
 between. The fact that my first day in France, 
 heavily laden as the bicycle was with my bag- 
 gage, I had covered sixty-two miles, from 
 Havre to Rouen; had seen the points of interest 
 
 U
 
 and made a side trip to the ruins of an old 
 abbey of the seventh century at Jumieges, 
 shows quite clearly the topographical condi- 
 tions. As for the roads, no adjective is good 
 enough to describe their excellence. It is no 
 exaggeration to compare them to our park 
 roads in quality, though not of course, posses- 
 sing the great breadth. 
 
 Though following the Seine, generally speak- 
 ing, I caught only an occasional glimpse of the 
 river, once at the quaint old town of Caudebec, 
 again at Jumieges, where the banks of the river 
 suggest portions of the Hudson, and at Du- 
 claire. 
 
 The clocks were striking six when I caught 
 my first glimpse of Rouen in the valley below. 
 "Dangerous hill, look out," said the signboard 
 of the Tourist Club de France, and so with 
 brake well in hand, down the hill I coasted and 
 dashed into the streets of the city of Rouen. 
 
 I passed through Rambouillet, and saw the 
 park and forest. It was here Francis I. died 
 at his chateau. As I was proceeding on my 
 way I met a young man on his wheel riding in 
 the opposite direction to which I was going. 
 He turned about and we rode to Paris together. 
 He knew some English, and when he could not 
 find the exact word necessary he invariably 
 fell back on the expression "all right." We 
 passed over an extremely hilly district, going 
 to Versailles, but the surroundings were beau- 
 tiful. I left the palace and the gardens of Ver- 
 
 35
 
 sailles as a part of my Paris programme, aud 
 proceeded without delay over the main road to 
 St. Cloud, and from there through the Bois de 
 Boulogne to Paris. 
 
 It is of course an essential feature, and in 
 fact a necessity, in touring that the cycler be 
 well equipped with the best of maps. The geo- 
 graphical knowledge of the peasant is quite 
 elementary, and generally speaking, the most 
 distant point with which he has any acquaint- 
 ance is the adjoining village. Under such cir- 
 cumstances, unless the tourist has familiarized 
 himself with the names of intervening towns, 
 all his queries will be to the villagers as com- 
 plex conundrums. 
 
 The foreign maps are works of art and ency- 
 clopedias of information. Aside from the maps 
 for military purposes, there are special maps 
 for cycling equally as elaborate, showing the 
 great highways, and distinguishing them from 
 the ordinary routes, giving the distances in 
 kilometres, between towns, and in the moun- 
 tainous regions the elevations and distinctive 
 signs mark the location of places of interest — 
 chateaux, ruins, convents, glaciers, beautiful 
 points of view, etc. 
 
 Supplementary to the accessories of travel 
 above mentioned, the standard guide books en- 
 able one to get a very comprehensive knowl- 
 edge of the interesting places to be seen in 
 every town and of the towns themselves. 
 
 In reviewing the trip, I can speak only in the 
 
 .36
 
 highest terms of the treatment received at the 
 places where I stopped. Everywhere I received 
 the most courteous acquiescence to my requests 
 to be directed on my journey. I found the food 
 excellent and the roads perfection. The scenery 
 at times was charming, at times beautiful and 
 picturesque. I had slept in country inns, and 
 listened to the church bell chimes of Normandy 
 ringing out the quarter hour, or perhaps the 
 curfew note — bells whose very tone told of old 
 age, and churches whose moss-covered, gray 
 walls had been standing for centuries. I had 
 wandered through ruined abbeys, castles and 
 palaces. I entered towns bristling with fortifi- 
 cations, the scenes of wars and siege and battle 
 with English monarchs. I saw the home and 
 final resting place of the Norman ruler who 
 made whole chapters of early English history 
 a record of his triumphs. 
 
 Such are the pleasant experiences Mr. Peck 
 records of the ride from Havre to Paris. 
 
 J57
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 "In Gay Paree." 
 
 HETHER it was done by rail, or 
 whether you rode in on your 
 wheel, I am going to take it for 
 granted that you made the journey 
 from where you left your steamer 
 and arrived in Paris with all the cyclist's ca- 
 pacity of enjoyment of the material things of 
 this life. Whether you send your baggage 
 ahead, or whether it comes on the train with 
 you, you will expeiience very little trouble with 
 the Octroi authorities at the Gare St. Lazare. 
 The chances are they will make only a very 
 cursory examination, but it is well to be care- 
 ful not to have any matches, tobacco or wine 
 with you. 
 
 Of course, on arriving in the city for which 
 Napoleon the Little did so much in spite of the 
 ill he wrought for the rest of France, the ques- 
 tion of where to go is the most important one 
 that confronts you. On this subject I can only 
 say that Paris, perhaps more than any other 
 place in the world, can furnish hotels of any 
 
 38
 
 kind suited to the purse of any one. It is at once 
 the dearest and cheapest city of modern times. 
 If you have no friends in Paris and have made 
 no previous arrangement, any hotel will do for 
 the first twenty-four hours. The largest and 
 best known for such a transient stay are the 
 Grand, the Terminus and the Continental. 
 They all have the advantage of being easily 
 pronounced, too. I know an American who pre- 
 fers the Hotel de France et Choiseul to any 
 hotel in Paris, but he can't stay there, because 
 he can't pronounce the name when he wants to 
 take a cab. The Chatham in the Rue d' Aunou 
 and the St. Petersburg in the Rue Caumartin 
 are also central, and in fact there are myriads 
 of hotels that one can go to for a short stay 
 while getting settled. In any of these hotels 
 two persons can have a good room from $2 to 
 $2.50 a day which includes electric lights and 
 service, and you are free to take your meals 
 where you like. You will find excellent English 
 and American cooking and English spoken at 
 'Fred's" in the Rue Caumartin, near the corner 
 of the Rue Auber, and at Pulaski's at No. 404 
 Rue St. Honore. Pulaski also imports Ameri- 
 can oysters. As for table d'hote at prices rang- 
 ing from thirty, fifty and sixty cents up to a 
 dollar, their name is legion. I insert the menu 
 of one of them in order to give you an idea of 
 what these places furnish, though 1 b(>lieve the 
 particular restaui-ant montioncMl here exists no 
 longer. 
 
 39
 
 t-^^'^^ 
 
 ■^xivA 
 
 Talsle-d'Hate 
 
 i^Ci^jj 
 
 57 Chauss6e-d'AntiD (a I'En'iresol] 
 
 eg 
 
 \\M l!ST llEPRIS mil -10° U E(;UA\GE D'.llTHE VJN 
 Les Plats an Oralrn xe commandent d'avance 
 
 •Pelil Macon 80'^ . IV" remplaeanl Mi IV" 30 de SupplomeiU 
 
 ■Menu <iu 
 
 •\i 
 
 IkMihi/^ 
 
 m 
 
 C vjjpW-cl' i9 
 
 
 
 "^ oiMcmAv Ai 
 
 
 A| 1 ' J 
 
 ^^-'^^^t^wtc^e^ 
 
 '.^cyiS^ 
 
 
 
 ^MKMvlS^
 
 These places are all well lighted and served 
 by waiters iu evening dress. The largest one 
 at present where a menu of astonishing variety 
 is given, is in the Place de la Trinite at the 
 corner of la Rue Blanche. Here the dinner with 
 wine is only thirty cents if you are looking for 
 that sort of thing. The Place de la Trinite is 
 directly back of the Opera, and is reached by 
 passing through the Rue de la Chaussee d'Antin. 
 For breakfast one of the Duval establishments 
 will be found very satisfactory, as the menu is 
 varied and the prices are cheap, though the 
 portions are small. Anyone will direct you to 
 the Duval establishment nearest to the place 
 where you happen to be staying. I give here a 
 Duval menu which will give you an idea of the 
 variety and the prices, and it may also prove 
 both amusing and profitable foi- the reader who 
 is not over conversant with the French to get 
 out his dictionary and see if he can puzzle out 
 a breakfast order. 
 
 In summer the table d'hotes in the Champs 
 Elysees, along the Avenue de la Grande Armee 
 and at the Touring Club and the Chalet du 
 Cycle in the Bois du Boulogne are always at 
 tractive, being enlivened Ijy mu.sic and rendered 
 dazzling by myriads of multi-colored lights. 
 
 However, if economy is the order of the day, 
 the morning after your arrival you will do well 
 to invest three cents in a copy of the European 
 edition of the New York Herald, in the columns 
 of wliich you will find plenty of advertisers who 
 
 41
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
   
 
 T 
 
 »Oun Its v/INS & llOUtURS VOIR AU DOS ^-^= 
 
 =?^' 
 
 .> 
 
 l../(r.<(,- w„ 
 
 ^U*rv< "«;-y<. 
 
 M^/ZfYif: 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 *flt^i,-J t*. 1% 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 J" 
 
 7" 
 
 S" 
 so 
 5° 
 
 io 
 ko 
 6 « 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 ->' 
 
 7" 
 
 i o 
 
 
 C^/?M^-0 
 
 5'^, 
 
 
 = CAf C seur 30 _ i»/cc COCNao oj rkum 40 
 
 J-t 
 
 The prices are marked in centimes, five centimes making a cent.
 
 take boarders at from five to seven francs a 
 day, and even less by the month. That is to 
 say. $1.40 a day will cover all your living ex- 
 penses. If you are going to make a protracted 
 stay in Paris, suitable rooms can be had on 
 either side of the Seine for from forty francs, 
 or $8 a month up. You will have little trouble 
 in Paris in keeping your bicycle near you, and 
 when you are on the street, the nearer you keep 
 it to you the better. Most of the hotels have 
 some arrangement for bicycles, and if you are 
 in a private family or have rooms high up any- 
 where you will never find any difficulty in lo- 
 cating a man in the vicinity who makes a busi- 
 ness of taking care of your wheel for six cents 
 a day or $2 a month. When I lived in a hotel 
 where there was no place downstairs for keep- 
 ing a wheel, I found the valet de chambre only 
 too willing to take my wheel up to my room. 
 For taking two wheels up and bringing them 
 down again he was amply repaid with ten cents, 
 which made it a good deal cheaper than leaving 
 a wheel en garage, as the French call it, outside. 
 The advantage of this system is that you only 
 pay for your wheel days when you use it in- 
 stead of every day when you leave it en garage, 
 and you also have it where you can look after 
 it yourself if you care to. 
 
 In I'iding in Paris you must be careful to 
 light your lamps or carry a Chinese lantern in 
 your hand as darkness comes on; also have a 
 clear-voiced bell, which the police edict says must 
 be loud enough to be heard at least fifty yards. 
 
 V,
 
 If you get caught after dark without a lamp 
 you can get a Chinese lantern at either a gro- 
 cery store or a cigar store. A cigar store is in- 
 dicated by a red light, and it is here also that 
 you have to l)uy your stamps. If you can't 
 find a cigar store or Bureau de Tabac, just ask 
 anybody for the nearest epicerie. Don't be 
 alarmed, it is only a grocery store. The lan- 
 terns are called lampions, and the price, to- 
 gether with the candle, varies from four to six 
 cents, and depends generally on the dimensions 
 of your accent. 
 
 If you are going to make a business of riding 
 while you are in Paris, it is well to live in the 
 Champs Elysees quarter, or on the Avenue de 
 la Grande Armee itself; but if ycu do live down- 
 town, in going to the Bois you will find it bet- 
 ter to go up the Boulevard Haussmann or up 
 the Champs Elysees. There is a car track, but 
 less traffic on the Boulevard Haussmann and 
 the wooden pavement furnishes excellent wheel- 
 ing. But if you do decide to go up the Champs 
 Elysees, don't follow the Boulevard de Ca- 
 pucines to the Rue Royale. but turn off to your 
 left at the Rue Cambon, which has an asphalted 
 pavement, and where there are very few car- 
 riages. 
 
 The Rue Cambon will take you to the Rue de 
 Rivoli, where it is only a step to the Place de 
 la Concorde, and then there is a straight-away 
 ride up to the Arc de Triomphe. The other side 
 of the Place de I'Arc de Triomphe, the Avenue la 
 
 44
 
 Grande Armee begins with its special path re- 
 served for cyclists. At the foot of this path is 
 the well-known Cafe des Sports. In stopping at 
 these cafes, never leave your wheel against the 
 curb or any neighboring tree. This is against 
 the police regulations, and is also dangerous, 
 as you are apt to lose your wheel if you take 
 your eyes off of it for a moment. But at all 
 cafes, nowadays, accommodations are furnished 
 for cyclists; but never give your wheel up to 
 the commissaire without getting a ticket. An 
 Englishman gave his wheel to the commissaire 
 of the Criterion Cafe, in front of the Hotel Ter- 
 minus, while he went in for dinner, and when 
 he came out the wheel was gone. The proprie- 
 tor refused to be responsible on the ground that 
 the gentleman had not taken a ticket from his 
 employe. In most of the cafes in the Hois, and 
 nearly everywhere you ride, you will find Pos- 
 tes de Secours. where the injured can be looked 
 after without delay. At many cafes are woi'k- 
 men with kits of tools sufficiently complete to 
 mend anything except the ways of theii- jia- 
 trons. Nearly all these cafes have orchestras, 
 and one can pass an hour or even more most 
 entertainingly in watching the ever-changing 
 stream of cycling hunumity as it cl)bs in and 
 out with everything new and oibl in the way of 
 costumes that one can imagine, and some that 
 one never wcjubl have imagined. 
 
 In Paris, a Frenchman always regards any 
 woman who i-ides a bicycif in a skii-f eitlier as 
 
 4.")
 
 • :l .^ 
 
 "now ARK vor, vankke?"
 
 an American or as an English girl, and she is 
 apt to be greeted, as she flits by, witli such, ex- 
 pressions as "Oh. yes," "I spealv English," 
 "You are a jolie mees," and if he can't go as 
 far as that, he is quite certain to greet you with 
 "All riglit." It is a fact, liowever, that some 
 French women prefer a skirt to the oftentimes 
 liideous bloomers. Once, when I was coming 
 back with a party through the Bois, one of the 
 riders, who happened to be a most demure 
 young French woman, was accosted by an im- 
 possible young French person of the rhemical 
 blonde type with "How are you. Yankee?" The 
 lady addressed was unable to resist making a 
 few comments in her native tongue, and she 
 of the culotte was so astonished to find out that 
 she of the skirt was a compatriot that she 
 promptly fell off her wheel — much to the amuse- 
 ment of the crowd who had been watching her 
 antics. 
 
 47
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ^ 
 
 Encore *'Paree/ 
 
 SIDE from the idiot wlio will call out 
 to you, "Yes, mees," and "All right," 
 just because he wants to air his Eng- 
 lish, there is another pest who occa- 
 sionally annoys ladies riding alone, 
 no matter how carefully they have tried to choose 
 an hour for their outing, when the Bois ought 
 to be tolerably unfrequented. Still, this indi- 
 vidual is more obnoxious than dangerous. The 
 French "masher" will ogle and will sometimes 
 say a few things that will make an English or 
 an American girl wish she were a man for a 
 few moments, but that's as far as he will go. 
 From what I have seen of the type, I think he 
 is more to be despised than feared, and should 
 say that any self-respecting woman can nde in 
 Paris without being subjected to a greater 
 chance of annoyance than she would be at home. 
 Naturally, she will ignore any remarks ad- 
 dressed to her directly and affect the role of a 
 deaf mute when things are said not directly at 
 
 48
 
 her. but meant for her all the same. Then 
 again, she should not be disturbed at any 
 "oddities" of costume. There is a censor who 
 supervises such things in Paris and the police 
 carry out his orders carefully. She may see 
 things that will be so out of joint with her ideas 
 of the beautiful as to cause an involuntary gasp 
 and an exclamation. "Oh. how horrid!" "How 
 can she!" but nothing more. For instance, "la 
 culotte" (bloomers or tights would be our Eng- 
 lish word for it. depending on the cut of the 
 particular culotte in question) isn't really 
 shocking. Any old liallet girl in America pre- 
 sents herself in public in a costume which 
 wouldn't be permitted even to a Parisian cyclist, 
 without keeping an American .girl away from 
 the theatre. Still, you will see things of strange 
 and uncanny character. For instance, some of 
 the French young women who cycle have con- 
 ceived the idea that it is the proper thing to 
 wear socks. I say socks advisedly, for that is 
 exactly what they are. They are cut like those 
 of the male biped, only more on the Harlem flat 
 plan; that is to say. they are smaller. They 
 come up a little above the tops of the hi.gh laced 
 shoe worn by the French rider and leave the 
 rest of her leg bare to the knee. All classes of 
 society in France wear the culotte, bill those 
 who ride the bicycle bare legged, it is fair to 
 say, are not received at the Elysee. 
 
 Of these young women, let it be said to their 
 credit — and it's very diflTicult for them to get 
 
 49
 
 <s^ 
 
 f*~ ^1*-1 <^|<-/ ;— .   
 
 MEMBERS OF THK HAK IM.iaiGKD CC)NTINGENT.
 
 credit — that they never say anything which 
 their foreign or more proper sisters cannot 
 hear, nor do they insult them by word or look. 
 Of course, the visitor may hear things that may 
 be a little outre, but one will have to live so 
 long in Paris to understand their "argot" or 
 slang that one would be so old that it wouldn't 
 make much difference what anybody said. 
 
 Besides the individual of the "masher" 
 type, there used to be another character 
 who did business in the Bois. The last I 
 knew the police were looking out for him 
 and he may exist no more, but this is the 
 adventure that one American girl had with 
 him: She had taken an early morning ride 
 through the Bois and was returning through a 
 path reserved for cyclists when a respectable 
 looking man bowed to her politely and apolo- 
 getically informed her that her tire was de- 
 flated. She looked down at her hind tire and 
 saw that it was. The man, who was in cycling 
 costume, politely offered to blow it up for her. 
 Of course she very naturally suspected nothing, 
 and when the man had finished pumping in the 
 air he put on the cap, and rising to his feet, 
 said: "I think that'll do, I'll just see." Where- 
 upon he jumped lightly into the saddle and rode 
 off, and it may be added that he hasn't got back 
 yet. 
 
 The wheel was a new Columbia which the 
 young woman had just got from home, and as 
 she was quite as tall as the man it suited him 
 
 51
 
 perfectly. It was afterwards explained to her 
 that this man makes a business of this particu- 
 lar thing. He waits patiently till he sees a 
 woman or a young person with a tire that needs 
 blowing up, and then addresses them as he did 
 in this case. What the American girl said at 
 the moment doesn't appear, but she was obliged 
 to take a carriage home after reporting her case 
 to the nearest Poste de Police. She did say af- 
 terwards that what made her maddest about it 
 all was the provoking way in which the man 
 looked back at her over his shoulder and called 
 out with a winning smile, "Oui, c'est bien 
 gonfle." "He had no need to tell me that it 
 was well blown up," she said, "I could see that 
 for myself." 
 
 At the restaurant of the Touring Club, or 
 Grossetetes, at the entrance of the Bois as one 
 enters it from the foot of the Avenue de la 
 Grande Armee, one always finds a crowd from 
 noon until midnight during the cycling season. 
 There is also the music of an orchestra as 
 well as that of women's voices and popping 
 corks. An excellent table d'hote dinner is 
 served here with wine and coffee for four francs 
 or eighty cents. 
 
 Not much further along, on the way to the 
 Gate of Suresne, you will notice on your left the 
 sign d'Harmenonville; here you will see the 
 swell women of the half world, the Emilie 
 d'Alencons and Liane de Pougys of Paris. Of 
 course, at home the cyclists would not even ad- 
 
 .^2
 
 mit the existence of such persons, but in 
 Paris, where they are included by all the news- 
 papers in "those present" at the first nights of 
 all the theatres, alongside of the names of 
 society women, it is just as well to admit that 
 they are very much in evidence in this gay 
 capital. 
 
 "our C'KST BIKS CONFI.]C." 
 
 Then on to the Chalet du Cycle, past the club 
 grounds where young Parisians of sporting 
 taste play tennis and polo, to the Gate at Su- 
 resne, where the chalet will be found just to the 
 left. If one goes through the gate and across
 
 the bridge one finds oneself on the most direct 
 route to St. Germain and Versailles. But let us 
 stop at the chalet. There one can see more 
 queer scenes illustrative of the Parisian bicycle 
 world in an hour than in any other one given 
 spot. 
 
 As elsewhere, the orchestra plays incessantly, 
 only pausing long enough for one of its mem- 
 bers to pass the hat from time to time. There 
 is no table d'hote at this resort, but an excellent 
 dinner a la carte is served in little tents in the 
 garden or in the casino itself, if one prefers. 
 This is perhaps the most popular resort for 
 bicyclists in the neighborhood of Pairs, and 
 on the last Grand Prix Day the man in charge 
 of the garage told me that he gave out checks 
 tor 12,000 bicycles checked there by patrons 
 who had stopped to get a drink and look at 
 one another. 
 
 This seems an enormous number of bicycles 
 for one cafe to look after in one day, but when 
 you consider that there was a rushing business 
 from early morning till midnight and bicycles 
 are even hung up in the trees to get them out 
 of the way, it may be that the number left there 
 was not exaggerated. One thing that will strike 
 the Americans here, as in other resorts, will be 
 the large number of automobiles of all sorts 
 and descriptions which will come through the 
 gates without causing the bicyclists any trepi- 
 dation. In fact, so many of these are used in 
 Paris that in places like the Chalet du Cycle 
 
 54
 
 there is a place set apart for them. It" possible, 
 get a seat immediately in front of the gate, 
 where you will have a good chance to size up 
 the eccentric costumes which are sure to pre- 
 sent themselves in a never changing array; 
 some are attractive and some are not; some 
 risque to a degree, while others, by their very 
 demureness. serve the wearer's purpose best; 
 in fact, one sees exactly what one might ex- 
 pect to see in a country where the bride and 
 groom sometimes go to the church for the wed- 
 ding ceremony on a tandem, the groom in even- 
 ing dress and the bride in the conventional 
 gown of Wiiite satin, though cut a trifle shorter 
 than usual and all the wedding party also 
 mounted on wheels. 
 
 It is well to realize, too, that if you find your- 
 selves interested observers of the French, they 
 are equally critical of the foreigners, and for 
 that reason it is always as well to make oneself 
 as little conspicuous as possible. I remember 
 noticing one day a party of Americans who 
 were evidently in charge of a young woman 
 who felt her responsibilities very much because 
 she spoke a little French. She caused all the 
 French people present a great deal of amuse- 
 ment, and her compatriots, who happened to 
 notice the incident, a great deal of embarrass- 
 ment, by the way in wliich she insisted, in very 
 bad French, that the waiter should take away 
 two syphons of seltzer, declaring that he was 
 trying to cheat her, as the one that tney had 
 
 55
 
 already v/as qiiite enough. As no charge is 
 made for seltzer at such cafes, and a sign. "Bau 
 de Seltz, gratuite," was displayed prominently 
 on most all the trees, the assertiveness of the 
 young woman was all the more ridiculous. It 
 was simply another one of these cases where a 
 little knowledge is a dangerous thing. 
 
 After you have become familiar with the Bois 
 and are looking for change of scene, perhaps 
 it will occur to you to ride over to the Latin 
 Quarter for a brief visit to the Cafe d'Harcourt 
 and other similar cafes made famous by the 
 student patronage which they all depend on 
 so largely. Of course, if you want to witness 
 this scene in full action, you want to go in the 
 evening. It is only necessary to cross the Seine 
 by the bridge at the Place de la Concorde and 
 ride up the Boulevard St. Germain to the "Boule- 
 Miche," as the Boulevard St. Michel is com- 
 monly called. There you will see revelry by 
 night and know that you are in the Latin Quar- 
 ter without asking any one. 
 
 Opinions of Paris vary. I cite one here from 
 the pen of a fair contributor to the Ladies' 
 Home Journal: 
 
 "For a month I have been in this city of lim- 
 ited republicanism; this extraordinary example 
 of outward beauty and inward uncleanness; this 
 bewildering cosmopolis of cheap luxuries and 
 expensive necessities; this curious city of con- 
 tradictions, where you might eat your break- 
 fast from the streets — they are so clean — but 
 
 56
 
 
 - H ST i\ 
 
 f ft f ^f^&=L 
 
 ox THic " r.oui,!'; miciik.
 
 where you must close your eyes to the specta- 
 cles of the curbstones; this beautiful whited 
 sepulchre, where exists the unwritten law, 
 'Commit any offense you will, i)rovicle(l you sub- 
 merge it in poetry and flowers;' this exponent 
 of outward observances, where a gentleman will 
 deliberately push you into the street if he 
 wishes to pass you in a crowd, but where his 
 action is condoned by his inexpressible manner 
 of raising his hat to you, and the heartfelt sin- 
 cerity of his apology; where one man will run 
 a mile to restore a lost franc, but if you ask 
 him to change a gold piece he will steal five; 
 where your eyes are ravished with the beauty, 
 and the greenness, and the smoothness and ap- 
 parent ease of living of all its inhabitants; 
 where your mind is filled with the pictures, the 
 music, the art, the general atmosphere of cul- 
 ture and wit; where the cooking is so good, 
 but so elusive, and where the shops are so be- 
 witching that you have spent your last dollar 
 without thinking, and you are obliged to cable 
 for a new letter of credit from home before 
 you know it — this is Paris." 
 
 The young woman who penned those lines 
 may eat her breakfast off the Paris streets if 
 she wants to; I should hate to undertake the 
 contract. In fact, the stories so often told to 
 the effect that a man who throws down a piece 
 of paper, even, in the streets of Paris is at once 
 arrested, and the other narratives as to the 
 fabulous cleanliness of Parisian thoroughfares 
 
 58
 
 are simply fairy tales. Still, the system of hav- 
 ing tlie streets washed down by hose attached 
 to hydrants at frequent intervals is an excellent 
 one and might be imitated to advantage in 
 many American cities. 
 
 As for I'^arning French, each person must go 
 about it in his or her own way. Dictionarias 
 and phrase books will prove most useful, though 
 
 the reader will do well to avoid those compiled 
 by foreigners, who are apt to give you this sort 
 of thing: 
 
 Que (lesii'c monsieur 
 le matin; tlie eale an 
 lait, cliocolat V 
 
 Vous m'ajiporterez le 
 cafe an lait tons les 
 matins a Unit lienres. 
 
 C'est entendu mon- 
 sieiii-. 
 
 What do vou take in i Onate don •/,(• taiUe 
 
 tlie morninij 
 
 eotfee with milke or 
 chocolate .' 
 Brlni; me cofl'ee witch 
 
 ■iir; tea. ine zi' moi-niiiiKiue seui': 
 
 ii, colli onise milk 
 tchoholete. 
 lirinimne mi t-ol1ii 
 
 milk every moi-ninu' at onise tnilke e\i'ri nior- 
 eiuht o'clock. ninni;ue. it c'tc' o■(■|ol■|^. 
 
 A'ery well sir. \'('ry onel, seur. 
 
 l".\E CO.NNW IS.WCK. ; .AX A((>)|'()|-,AiN-I-ANl'l'; | A N l-;.\l>ir( )l .\ I \ 1 A MiCl-: 
 
 Jlonsienr est etran- 
 ger? Oui. monsieur, ie 
 .suis Anglais. 
 
 •I'en siiis cliarme car 
 .ie tiens tons les Anglais 
 en graade estime. 
 
 Je von.s reinercie pom- 
 eux. 
 
 ('"est la j)reniiere fois 
 (ine vons venez a Paris .' 
 
 Are you o foreiuiiei- Are yon i- loi incur, 
 sir/ Yes, sir, I .-ini senr :■ Yes. scuci-, ai' 
 english. inegliohe. 
 
 I am so i)leased, be- i A'i aine so slisde. lii- 
 canse 1 hold all English j <-anse a'i holdc oil ineg- 
 people in high esteem. ' liche piiiulc inc a'i es- 
 time. 
 
 I tliank you in tln'ir 
 name. 
 
 It is the lir.st tinu' 
 you come to Paris 
 
 .\'i sannekioii inc sicur- 
 nciuc. 
 
 Isite ze tenrsle tainn'. 
 yon come ton I'ariss. 
 
 I..\ <;oKi{Ksl'().\i).\\(i-: 
 
 I'll I-: I i)i;iti;si'(iN daxci-: 
 
 Uonnez moi <ln paiiicri' ' (iive mc some letter 
 a lettre, des enveloppes, paper, sonic cn\ clops, 
 
 line plnnic. un |iorlc- a pen, a pen li;inille, 
 
 I)luine. 
 
 de leiK-re. un <'ra\cin. ink, pencil. 
 
 uiie cai'tc poslalc de a nosi -i-ai'dr oi one pcn- 
 
 dix.centiines, ny, I'orl llii'cit\ post. 
 
 nn timlire tUt trols sons, (hree hall penny stamp 
 
 un timbre de vingt ciiKj alwopcnn\ hall pcnnv 
 
 centimes, j stani|), 
 
 <le la circa caclietcr, un ( sealing \\a.\, 
 
 cacliet pour iiiie lettre a seal I'or a rcgisli-red 
 
 charg(''e. letter. 
 
 y.i. < (lIMtlsriiMll AfK 
 
 (iuive nie sonic Icl- 
 teur papeur. sonic cii- 
 velo|)s, . 
 
 <'■ pene, e pcnc lia nc- 
 deule, 
 
 innke. jienecilc. 
 e poste carde oye 
 oncunc' peiii loi' /.c iili 
 post. 
 
 ('. iri lial'c peni slamli. 
 |. loll pi-iii lial'c pcni 
 slam, 
 
 silinngue ona.xe. 
 e silc loi- regislcui-de 
 litlenr. 
 
 59
 
 .MAOASIN' l)K roNTKr- ' 
 TIOXS. 
 
 Uoiijour, monsieur, , 
 que lU'sirez-vous? 
 
 .Ic vouiirais avoir une 
 vest!', uu iiautaloii et 
 nil i^ili't ^\^• fioiiiu' (juali- 
 ti-. i 
 
 Nous avons nn'oise- 
 iiu'iit uu i^raiid clioix j 
 en CO niouR-nt. i 
 
 Tfucz, voioi (juelque 
 fhose <li' (res l)on et pas 
 Cher. f 
 
 Couibien cela vaut- 
 ilV 
 
 r\t\-: rii;Ai>\ < i,<)-iiii.n(; 
 iiui-si:. 
 
 (iood luoniiutr, sir, 
 what do you desire? 
 
 I wan "a west, trou- 
 sers and waistcoat in 
 yood inarerial. 
 
 We have .just now a 
 larf;e selection. 
 
 Here is 
 very good 
 
 <lcar. 
 
 How mncli 
 wurtli .' 
 
 soinetliintr 
 and not 
 
 is tliat 
 
 ZIO lllODV CJ.OZl.VNGUK 
 HOl'SK. 
 
 Oond niorninjfne seur 
 outi' don you disairc? 
 
 AY ouanle e vaiste. <'■ 
 traouseurs annde ones- 
 code in gonde inat('ri- 
 ale. 
 
 Oni liave djeuste naii 
 i'' larije sC'ltVheune. 
 
 Il^re ise somessinnutuc 
 veri goude annde note 
 dire. 
 
 llaouv nieutche ise 
 sale oueurste V 
 
 These examples I have taken at random from 
 a phrase book picked iip in Paris and which 
 many unfortunate Frenchmen use to aid them 
 in acquiring tae English language. 
 
 One thing Is certain, and that is that the best 
 way to learn to speak a language is to speak it. 
 You'll never learn if you are afraid to try to 
 talk. Put yourself as often as possible in places 
 where you've got to talk or get arrested, and 
 never have any false shame or pride about your 
 mistakes. Remember that if your French is 
 broken and your accent as strong as Sandow, 
 the other fellow can't speak English at all. 
 
 As to finding your way around Paris and its 
 environs it is too easy. Maps are plentiful and 
 accurate and not dear. One little book, such 
 as the gendarmes and the cab drivers provide 
 themselves with, will prove most useful; it is 
 a street airectory of Paris and can be carried in 
 your waistcoat pocket. It tells you where each 
 street begins and where it ends. If you can't 
 get it at Brentano's, 39 Avenue de I'Opera, Pitt 
 & Scott, 9 Rue Scribe will get it for you. As to 
 what you want to see in Paris, either on your 
 
 60
 
 bicycle or otherwise. I have nothing to do. 
 Follow your own tastes and any guide book will 
 do the rest. However, for the sake of the 
 ladies, and in no way in the shape of a paid ad- 
 vertisement. I can give them without reserva- 
 tion the address of Madame Herauld. 31 Rue de 
 Douai. Paris, a dressmaker whose work equals 
 that of the Rue de la Paix artists and costs 
 about half as much. Up to date, so far as I 
 know, the clientele is nearly entirely French, 
 which may account for her low prices. It may 
 be well to explain to her that you are cycling, 
 and have seen this notice here. I cannot prom- 
 ise the usual 10 per cent, reduction for cyclists, 
 but I can say that they can go to her with the 
 assurance that she hasn"t one set of prices for 
 her French and another for her American cus- 
 tomers. 
 
 61
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 On An Outing. 
 
 ET us assume that you have had 
 enough of Paris, and we'll now 
 plan our first extended bicycle trip. 
 Still, that is badly put. No one 
 ever had enough of Paris, so let us 
 say that having no more time to spend there we 
 have arranged a ride on our wheels from Paris 
 to Venice, taking in the most beautiful part 
 of Switzerland and crossing the Alps en ro'ute. 
 As we can't very well describe a trip in advance 
 that we have not taken, perhaps it will be better 
 for us to go over a former trip which I took last 
 September with two married friends of mine, 
 following the exact itinerary. I did not know 
 at the time, and neither did they, that I was 
 going to write anything about it, so it seems 
 unfair that I should drag them into an un- 
 courted notoriety in this connection. 
 
 Let us then call them simply Joe and Lou. 
 This much more I will confide to you very 
 quietly: Joe is thirty-five years old, and, being 
 a doctor, tries to look older. Lou is twenty- 
 
 62
 
 four, and. being a woman, and not being a 
 doctor, she tries to look younger. She is very 
 jolly, and the only time I saw her look unhappy 
 during the whole trip was in Switzerland; then 
 she confided to me that she had been thinking 
 what a pity it was that she was a blonde in- 
 stead of a brunette. She would have looked so 
 much better against a background of snow and 
 ice. 
 
 It was September S when we left Paris, and 
 our friends told us that we were a little late in 
 the season for bicycling in Switzerland. We in- 
 clined to that opinion ourselves, and as the 
 weather was not all that it might be, and as the 
 roads within a hundred kilometres of Paris in 
 any direction always leave much to be desired, 
 we drove to the Gare de Lyon and bought 
 tickets to Macon. We took second-class tickets, 
 as every one does in France who has more sense 
 than money. Our tickets cost 33 francs, or $6.6i) 
 each, and we had the good fortune to have a 
 compartmeni to ourselves. For our bicycles we 
 paid two cents. The train left Paris at 2.15 
 p. m. It was between 7 and 8 o'clock in the 
 evening when we arrived at Dijon, whicn was 
 the first place at which we had a chance to get 
 anything to eat. The barbarous practice, common 
 with us, of standing at a counter while eating, is 
 unknown in France, even at a railroad restau- 
 rant. There were only twenty minutes for 
 refreshments, but the tables were attractively 
 spread for a table d'hote dinner, and were 
 
 C?.
 
 " i.or.
 
 variously ticketed three and four francs, or 
 sixty and eighty cents, with tlie wine incluaed. 
 We took a four franc table and Lou worried 
 dreadfully about it. She said she had a great 
 deal too much to eat and wanted to get a re- 
 bate, but time wouldn't permit. At 9.40 o'clock 
 we arrived at Macon and drove to the Hotel 
 de I'Europe, which is about ten minutes from 
 the railroad station and on the bank of the 
 river Saone. Our wheels were carefully stowed 
 on top of the omnibus. We found the hotel ex- 
 cellent, and special rates were made for up as 
 soon as it was known that we were cyclists and 
 members of the Touring Club. Joe and Lou 
 paid five francs, or $1, for a great room with 
 two beds. I got one two sizes too big for me 
 for three francs or sixty cents. Lights and ser- 
 vice were included. Two beds generally go 
 with all double rooms in French hotels. 
 
 The nexc morning was so mild and the out- 
 look so beautiful that, after crossing the river 
 on the first bridge to the right on leaving the 
 hotel, we rode to Bourg for l)reakfast. Bourg 
 was thirty Kilometres, or a little more than 
 twenty miles, from Macon. We stai'ted late, 
 and when we were ready to leave Bourg it was 
 already about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. But 
 with the exhilaration of the wheel strong within 
 us, we were not yet satisfied and decided to keep 
 on to Pont d'Ain, whei-e we were to si)pn(l the 
 night in spite of the lowering clouds which 
 threatened laiii. Wo hadn't richlen ten kilo-
 
 metres when it began to rain in good earnest. 
 Ordinarily, under such circumstances, there is 
 some town which will furnish a temporary 
 shelter, or at which you can even put up for 
 tne night if the rain continues; but in this case 
 there was nothing between us and our destina- 
 tion. As the rain came down faster and faster 
 we finally decided to take shelter in a little hut 
 with a thatched roof beside of the road. 
 
 Here we were made welcome by the old 
 woman in charge, a good type of the French 
 peasant, who seemed very much surprised when 
 she learned that we came from Paris and did 
 not know her daughter Clemence, who was in 
 service there. While we were waiting for the 
 rain to cease the old woman told us that they 
 were all very poor in that neighborhood; they 
 lived on bread and pork, with a potato and a 
 parsnip or two thrown in now and then as a 
 luxury. She said she didn't mind so much in the 
 summer, but in bad weather, during the winter, 
 she and her husband were kept busy shoveling 
 the snow out of the house. 
 
 As the rain continued we decided we had better 
 make a move rather than be caught by the dark- 
 ness as well as the bad weather. Lou was more 
 anxious even than we to move on, and declared 
 that she didn't mind a little wetting, so we set 
 out, and a ride of about three-quarters of an 
 hour brought us to Pont d'Ain, where we went 
 to the Hotel Beau, an unpretentious though ex- 
 cellent hostelry. On our arrival we were 
 
 66
 
 pretty wet and our wheels were sights to be- 
 hold, but. as usual in French towns, there was 
 a mechanic who makes a specialty of looking 
 after bicycles, and we turned thom over to his 
 mercies. The house was kept by an old lady 
 with four daughters. They showed us every at- 
 tention, got dry clothes for Lou, and even got a 
 hot water bottle for her feet. As no such so- 
 licitude was shown on our account, Joe and I 
 went out and put a bottle where it would do the 
 most good from our point of view. 
 
 The next morning bright and early the bicycle 
 man came around with our machines in excel- 
 lent order. He charged us a dollar for the 
 three. As it still rained, Joe and I played bil- 
 liards while Lou wrote letters. If we could 
 have been easily discouraged we would have 
 lost heart right here at the outset of our trip, 
 for it rained steadily two days. But between 
 letter writing and playing cribbage and billiards 
 we managed to pass the time very agreeably, 
 although we were impatient to get on. By the 
 way. if you want to play billiards cheaply go 
 to Pont d'Ain. They don't charge anything 
 there. 
 
 On Saturday, September 11. the weather 
 cleared up sufficiently for us to start on our way 
 and we rode on to Cermont, by the way of 
 Poncin, when it began to rain again, and we 
 were driven to the village inn for shelter. We 
 took advantage of the opportunity to order 
 breakfast, during the course of which we 
 
 68
 
 learned that our host had been a butler in a 
 Chicago family and had traveled all through 
 the United States. He confided to us that he 
 didn't dare to narrate to his friends in Cermont, 
 where he was born, all the luxuries and com- 
 forts of travel and other marvelous things tnat 
 he had seen in America. He said he was afraid 
 if he did he would get the reputation of being 
 the star liar of the district. Early in the af- 
 ternoon, as the weather uad cleared again, we 
 started out on our way to Nantua, about twenty 
 kilometres further on. Right here let me ex- 
 plain the difference between a kilometre and a 
 mile: A kilometre has 1,000 yards, while, as 
 every schoolboy knows, it takes 1,760 to make 
 a mile. On leaving Cermont one has about six 
 or seven kilometres of hill climbing, but it is 
 the most beautiful hill climbing that can pos- 
 sibly be imagined. As you get up higher and 
 higher, and look back at the little village you 
 are leaving behind you with its picturesque 
 chalets, the rivulets dancing down the mountain 
 side, and the fields below where the cattle 
 browse, with the ever varying shades of light, 
 the effect is marvelous. The road is so tor- 
 tuous that when you think you have almost 
 come to the end you find yourself at a turn 
 which leads you higher and higher, until you 
 arrive at a point almost opposite that at which 
 you thought you were already nearing the top. 
 In fact the scene is so lovely, and one becomes 
 so lost in the contemplation of it, that one 
 
 69
 
 doesn't mind the climbing of the hills at all. 
 All the way the road is good, and once at the 
 top, one is rewarded with a coast down the 
 other side and a scene almost as beautiful as 
 the panorama on which we had just feasted our 
 eyes. After a ride of ten kilometres a beautiful 
 land-locked lake, nestling in the valley, comes 
 into view, and at the lower end of this 
 there is the town of Nautua. It was nearly 6 
 o'clock when we rode through the streets of 
 this quaint old town and found excellent quar- 
 ters at the Hotel de France. Here we remarked 
 that while the rooms were good, they were no 
 better than those we had at Pont d'Ain, al- 
 though th^y cost twice as much. Still, that 
 wasn't so much either, as at Pont d'Ain we only 
 paid two francs each for our rooms: Joe and 
 Lou paying no more for their double room than 
 I paid for my single one, an arrangement which 
 obtains very generally in France. 
 
 71
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 On to Geneva. 
 
 OU met her first annoyance at Nan- 
 tua in the morning when she 
 waked up. As usual, she wanted 
 cafe au lait served in her room, 
 but instead of the dainty little ser- 
 vice on a tray, the woman appeared with the 
 big coffee poi such as is used down stairs m 
 serving the cafe noir, and seemed much sur- 
 prised when I^ou wanted a little pot of her own. 
 "Why," she said, "just think of what a lot of 
 small pots we would have to have if we served 
 one to each room!" This was only one of many 
 instances we found where the more pretentious 
 the hotel and the more pompous the demeanor 
 of the proprietor the worse the service was. 
 When we got outside the weather was very far 
 from cheering us. It was still raining. How- 
 ever, we borrowed umbrellas and got some fun 
 out of strolling round the town, noticing in the 
 course of our walk that a theatrical troupe was 
 billed to give a performance of the "Courier of 
 Lyons" that evening. The theatre was simply 
 a great tent pitched in an open space in the 
 
 72
 
 middle of the town. Inside tlie tent there was 
 a very decent arrangement of seats on a rising 
 floor, and the stage was of fair dimensions. 
 
 The idea of going to the theatre under such 
 circumstances tickled Lou immensely, and we 
 immediately tried to purchase three reserved 
 seats for the evening. The woman in charge 
 said it was against the rules to sell seats in 
 advance, but good naturedly offered to i-eserve 
 us three of the best, which we could get and pay 
 for at night. This done, Lou announced that 
 she was going to get her hair shampooed. 
 Meantime, Joe and I got shaved oy a barber 
 who said he knew America very well himself, 
 and who wanted to know what part of Brazil 
 we came from. It seems he had passed some 
 time in Rio de Janeiro. It is generally the case 
 In Europe that the distinction between North 
 and South America is very little understood. 
 Meantime, while Lou was getting her hair 
 dried, Joe and I played billiards, and by this 
 time we were ready for breakfast, which was 
 very bountiful, and, as usual, included wine. 
 The price of the breakfast was three francs, 
 which, unlike the general custom, was the same 
 price as the dinner. The dinner was also very 
 good, though, as in so many other French hotels, 
 there was a great deal too much of it. Our 
 rooms at this hotel for four francs were fair 
 and .Joe and Lou paid no more than I did. 
 
 In I he evening an agreeable surprise awaited 
 us; I have seen very much less meritorious per- 
 
 73
 
 formances of well known plays given in fair 
 sized American cities than that of the "Courier 
 of Lyons" as presented by the French troupe in 
 that big tent at Nantua. In fact, so good was 
 their work, and so strange did it seem to see 
 such unusual talent under such odd conditions, 
 that when it rained the following day, which 
 was Saturday, we didn't know whether to be 
 disappointed or to be glad, for it gave us a 
 chance to stay longer and see the same company 
 give a performance of "La Fille ae Madame An- 
 got," which they did with a tunefulness and a 
 go simply refreshing. They also numbered in 
 their repertoire such pieces as "La Perichole," 
 "Le Petit Due" and "Madame Sans Gene," and 
 many others equally ambitious. 
 
 That night the company was billed in "Le 
 Petit Due," but as it still rained, and as we 
 were not particularly pleased with the hotel, in 
 spite of the length of its menu, we took a train 
 toward 6 o'clock for Bellegarde, some twenty- 
 five kilometres further on in our journey. We 
 disliked to do this, because the road between 
 Nantua and Bellegarde is very good, and from 
 what we saw of it from the train the scenery 
 must be beautiful. At Bellegarde we went to 
 the Hotel des Touristes, which is kept by two 
 sisters, who were extremely agreeable. We had 
 been advised not to go to this hotel, as the pro- 
 prietor of it had been murdered by one of his 
 servants about six months before, and this 
 faet was supposed to cast a hoodoo over the 
 
 74
 
 house and all who went there. We consulted 
 Lou on the subject, and she said she just 
 doted on hoodoos and wouldn't hear of going 
 anywhere else. Joe and Lou got an excellent 
 room for four francs, while I had good quarters 
 for two francs fifty centimes or fifty cents. 
 
 Incidentally, Lou ascertained that the maid of 
 all work received for her services the munificent 
 sum of $4 per month, and was expected to be 
 up shortly after four o'clock in the morning and 
 not to go to bed before ten. Lou said she had 
 rather ride a bicycle. 
 
 At last, on September 13, the sun consented to 
 smile on our little expedition, and we set out 
 about eleven o'clock for Chancy, a town on the 
 frontier, between France and Switzerland. We 
 had decided to take our dejeuner a la fourchette 
 at Collonges, a little more than twenty kilo- 
 metres away. The ride to this place was delight- 
 ful. At first it was up a continuous ascent, some 
 of which is too steep to ride comfortably, though 
 most of it can be negotiated without effort. In 
 fact, Lou could take hills quite as well as we 
 could. She said it was because she didn't 
 smoke. The road was in excellent condition, 
 and as you ride along you get a magnificent 
 view of the gorge below, through which flow 
 narrow streams of water which sparkle in the 
 sunlight, being fed from the mountain brooks 
 dancing down the mountain side to our left and 
 passing through waterways made for them un- 
 der the road along which we were wheeling. 
 
 75
 
 Far, far below, Lou, on the fui-tiier side of the 
 gorge, were two railroad tracks, and every now 
 and then we could see trains in motion, so far 
 away that they seemed to be only crawling 
 along, and it was interesting to see them dis- 
 appear into some tunnel of great length, often- 
 times dug through solid rocl^, only to appear 
 again at the other end, their coming being 
 heralded by little puffs of smoke. 
 
 When we got to Collonges we were nearly up 
 to the top of our climb. We breakfasted in the 
 funniest of little road-side inns, where the na- 
 tives must have mighty appetites, judging from 
 the supply of viands set before us. As usual, 
 the breakfast included wine, and cost us fifty 
 cents apiece. After breakfast we were very 
 glad to soon find ourselves riding down a hill 
 toward Chancy. 
 
 We bowled at great speed, and in wonderful 
 spirits, across the bridge at Chancy, when sud- 
 denly a man stepped out of a little house, at the 
 right of the road, and held up his hands for us 
 to stop. We understood in a moment what he 
 meant. We were about to cross our first fron- 
 tier, and that was his way of telling us to stand 
 and deliver. Lou said afterwards that she 
 knew she could have ridden by him and he 
 could never have touched her. as a matter of 
 fact, I have no doubt she could have done so, and 
 it would often be possible to cross a frontier in 
 this way, but it would never be advisable. If 
 one should undertake to do such a thing the of- 
 
 76
 
 ficial would simply telephone or telegraph to 
 other officials along the route which you would 
 have to take and you would be sure to be held 
 up, and the consequences of your indiscretion 
 might be serious. 
 
 As it was we all dismounted, and as we wei'e 
 each armed with our cards of identification as 
 members of the French Touring Club, we ex- 
 pected no trouble whatever. The Swiss officials 
 were very polite, and after having carefully ex- 
 amined my card and that of Joe, and having 
 compared the name of the maker and the num- 
 ber on the card with the name and the number 
 on the machine, they pronounced them all rignt 
 and said we might proceed. 
 
 Whether Lou had brought along the hoodoo 
 from that hotel at Bellegarde or not I cannot 
 say, but trouble began at once when she handed 
 over her card of identity. The official examined 
 it carefully, looked puzzled, smiled a, little, and 
 then looked at Lou curiously. 
 
 "Guess he thinks I'm smuggling something." 
 said Lou, sotto voce, in English. 
 
 We could not understand what was the 
 trouble, for her card was identical with our own. 
 Then the official proceeded to explain, pointing 
 out the fact, that while Lou's card was en 
 regie in all other respects it lacked the number. 
 
 "But the machine has no number," Joe ex- 
 claimed. 
 
 "But it should have," said the Swiss official. 
 "I never saw one before that didn't have.' 
 
 77
 
 Now the fact was that Lou had learned to 
 ride a bicycle in the Bois de Vincennes, near 
 Nogent Vincennes, and had let the man of 
 whom she hired the wheel, and who took charge 
 of her instruction, build her a bicycle to order, 
 from the parts of machines which he had re- 
 ceived from England. Not being a bicycle man- 
 ufacturer, and never having put together more 
 than half a dozen machines in his life, he had 
 never bothered about numbering them. 
 
 We explained this to our Swiss friend with 
 all the gentleness possible, but he would not 
 have it. 
 
 "You gentlemen can go on," he said, "but the 
 lady cannot cross this frontier." 
 
 "Do you mean to say that we have got to go 
 back to Paris to have the man who made the 
 machine put on a number?" we asked. 
 
 "No," he said, "you can have the number put 
 on anywhere in France. 
 
 "Will any old number do?" asked Joe. 
 
 "Certainly," said the Cerberus of the Swiss 
 frontier. "All you have to do is to take this 
 machine somewhere on your side of the fron- 
 tier and have it numbered; then come back here 
 and the lady can go on with you." 
 
 On inquiry, he informed us that there was a 
 blacksmith's shop he thought about two kilo- 
 metres back on the way we had come. Seeing 
 that thei'e was nothing for it but to comply with 
 this seemingly ridiculous requirement, we 
 mounted our machines and turned back, al- 
 
 78
 
 though the sky was growing overcast again. 
 Lou never said a word for the first kilometre, 
 then turning to us, she ejaculated, "Will you 
 two swear for me, please?" We complied with 
 pleasure. 
 
 We foimd the blacksmith's shop without 
 trouble, but as often with French workingmen, 
 the proprietor was not at work. His wife was 
 there, however, along with five or six dirty chil- 
 dren. After some difficulty we persuaded the 
 woman to crawl into the shop through a win- 
 dow and bring out as many sharp pointed tools 
 as she could get hold of. With one of these in- 
 struments Joe went to work to try to cut a 
 number on Lou's machine. He could make lit- 
 tle impression on the hard frame with the com- 
 paratively dull instrument he had to work with, 
 but he finally did succeed in cutting a pretty 
 fair imitation of the number 13 on the enamel 
 surface of both the front and back part of the 
 frame of the machine. 
 
 But this didn't suit Lou. She might dote on 
 hoodoos in a general way, but she was not going 
 to ride a machine numbered 13. Thereupon Joe 
 added another three to the numbers already cut, 
 and having tipped the old lady, we all started 
 merrily back to Chancy. Lou's machine, which 
 had caused so much suspicion when it was un- 
 numbered, now passed muster all right with 
 those magic symbols 133, and the Swiss official 
 sent us on our way rejoicing. Meantime, the 
 clouds, which had long been threatening, be- 
 
 79
 
 gan to drip rain, and when we were still eigh- 
 teen kilometres from Geneva, we found our- 
 selves caught in a nasty drizzle storm. We had 
 begun to think that we were in for another ride 
 ill tlie wet, and Lou was remarking on the 
 difficulty of keeping her hair in crimp, when 
 we saw a tram car by the side of the road. We 
 asked the conductor where it went, and to our 
 delight learned that it went right into the heart 
 of Geneva, and that if we wanted to take it 
 there was plenty of room on the front platform 
 for our bicycles. 
 
 In an hour we were in Geneva, and as 
 the rain had ceased falling, we got on our 
 machines and started to ride through the town. 
 We did this in accordance with an invariable 
 rule which we followed all throuch the trip, and 
 which, undoubtedly, saved us a great deal of 
 money. We would never decide beforehand 
 what hotel we would go to before arriving at 
 any given place. 
 
 so
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Adventures in Geneva. 
 
 N THIS way we were able to ride 
 y around the town and look over the 
 "■■^' various hotels to suit ourselves. 
 /' If we saw one which was not too 
 pretentious, and yet appeared to 
 be to our liking, we would ride up to it, dis- 
 mount, lean our wheels against a convenient 
 tree or place them in the racks usually pro- 
 vided for bicycles, and then order some re- 
 freshments, as if we had not the slightest idea 
 of taking rooms there. A little later we would 
 ask the waiter casually if they had rooms to let, 
 and how the prices ranged. Within a few mo- 
 ments that waiter was sure to have the master 
 or mistress of the establishment out on the side- 
 walk, and it was equally certain that the pro- 
 prietor would make us the most alluring terms, 
 fearing that we would ride away without in- 
 specting the rooms. If the prices were rea- 
 sonable, Lou would go in and see if the accom- 
 modations were suitable, and there we were, 
 settled without any bother or embarrassment or 
 haggling about rales. The advantage of this 
 
 SI
 
 mode of procedure is obvious. If you ride up 
 to a hotel with the avowed intention of staying 
 there, before you have a chance of making any 
 arrangements the porters and waiters have 
 grabbed your bicycles, unstrapped your baggage, 
 and probably stowed away the whole outfit in 
 some back room, then feeling already half sure 
 of their prey, the patron piles on the price. 
 Having gone so far, you feel embarrassed about 
 going, and even if you do so, all the employees 
 will expect tips for having handled your ma- 
 chines. 
 
 In Geneva, of course, there is no lack of 
 hotels, and many of them are of high grade 
 and not dear from the American standpoint. 
 Four dollars a day would probably cover all 
 your expenses at any of them. But we thought 
 that we could do better, and events proved that 
 we were right. After riding around for an hour 
 we came to the conclusion that most of the 
 people of Geneva were trying to support them- 
 selves by renting rooms. There were signs of 
 rooms or apartments to let, of every descrip- 
 tion, on all sides and in all parts of the city. 
 
 At the end of our hour's ride we found our- 
 selves very comfortably located in rooms up 
 one flight, in a house where furnished rooms 
 were to let without board. We never went to 
 boarding houses. The rooms were very agree- 
 able, and situated near the grounds of the late 
 exposition. When we left Macon we had sent 
 our trunks by grande Vitesse, to meet us at 
 
 82
 
 Geneva. We had no difficulty whatever in get- 
 ting them here. We merely gave the keys to 
 a man employed in the house and we had them 
 the next morning. We had taken them as far 
 as Macon with us because our cickets to that 
 place entitled us to that amount of baggage, 
 and it was cheaper to express them on from 
 there to Geneva than it would have been from 
 Paris. The price of the rooms which we en- 
 gaged was no higher than that which we had 
 been paying. 
 
 Joe and Lou paid four francs for their room, 
 and were blessed with the liberal supply of 
 three beds. Joe said that Lou put her bicycle 
 in the third bed every night, but Lou denied it. 
 My room cost me three francs and only had one 
 bed. I don't think that was quite fair, but 
 didn't say anything, as sixty cents a day isn't 
 so very dear for a room one flight up with a 
 bed eight feet wide. We were also able to make 
 special arrangements by which Lou could get 
 tea or coffee and bread and butter m her room 
 every morning for one franc. When we asked 
 what the weather outlook was we were told 
 that it was good, because it had already been 
 raining at Geneva for a week. That night we 
 dined at the Cafe Lyrique, near the Theatre 
 Lyrique. This is an excellent cafe, the por- 
 tions being large even from an American point 
 of view, and the prices were reasonable. By 
 the way, if you drink wine, every one will be 
 advising you to try a brand called Asti. All I 
 can say is, don't do it. Maple syrup is sour by 
 
 83
 
 comparison. That night we were tired and 
 went to Ded, only to get up and find it still rain- 
 ing. We made a trip around town, though, and 
 in searching for a restaurant at which to break- 
 fast, we were directed to the Hotel du Nord. 
 
 We had an excellent breakfast at this restau- 
 rant, and there is no question that the chef 
 understands his business, but the prices are 
 higher even than at a similar place in Paris. 
 The check was for twenty-four francs and we 
 didn't have much either. 
 
 Outside, Lou complained of indigestion: she 
 said she didn't know whether it was the break- 
 fast or the checlv. 
 
 That night we went to a real theatre, the only 
 one open at the time in Geneva. They were 
 playing "Charley's Aunt" or "La Marraine de 
 Charley," as it is known in the French version. 
 It wasn't l)adly done, but Lou said she didn't 
 enjoy it half as much as the performances in 
 that tent at Nantua. 
 
 We had now got to September Ifi and the 
 weather was still gloomy, yet it diun't rain. In a 
 spasm of economy and still remembering the 
 check for twenty-four francs at the Hotel du 
 Nord, Lou dragged us to some place where we 
 could breakfast for 30 cents. I had rather not 
 say much about that breakfast, but it certainly 
 wasn't worth more than they asked for it. Af- 
 ter breakfast, while Lou went home to put on 
 her bicycle costume, Joe and I went and got 
 something to eat. That afternoon we rode all 
 
 S4
 
 OA'er Geneva, although the roads outside of the 
 city were still in such a condition as to make it 
 impossible for us to continue our journey. It 
 is remarkable how much more of a city you can 
 see in one afternoon on a bicycle than you pos- 
 sibly could in traveling around a number of 
 days on foot. I need not tell you of the myriad 
 of pretty articles in the way of jewelry and 
 souvenirs displayed in the show windows at 
 Geneva. When you get there you will see them 
 for yourself. 
 
 On September 17 we called on the United 
 States Consul at Geneva, Benjamin H. Ridgely, 
 who, besides being an authority on international 
 law and a linguist who speaks French as well 
 as he does English, is an enthusiastic cyclist. 
 Mr. Ridgely has made the tour of the Lake of 
 Geneva on his wheel more than a dozen times, 
 besides having ridden over most of Southern 
 Europe. To him we are indebted for the route 
 which we subsequently took on our trip to Inter- 
 laken and across the Alps to Milan and Venice. 
 He also kindly lent us some maps of his own 
 which were invaluable to us on the journey. 
 Mr. Ridgely expressed the opinion that the 
 trip from Brigue across the Simplon to Domo 
 d'Ossola is perhaps the most beautiful bicycle 
 ride in the world. 
 
 That afternoon .loe had an adventure which 
 illustrates a curious practice in Switzerland. 
 Joe speaks French pretty well, so when he went 
 into a barber shop he said with calm confidence, 
 
 85
 
 "La barbe, une seule fois, bien vite s'il vous 
 plait, " meaning to say, "Shave, once over, 
 mighty quick, please." 
 
 To Joe's surprise the man grabbed the scissors 
 and began to make frantic attempts to cut his 
 hair. Joe flushed a little to think his French 
 should meet with such a reception. Hastily he 
 seized a razor in his hand and said again, in 
 French, "What's the matter with you? I said 
 shave." 
 
 At last the man, seeing the razor, seemed to 
 comprehend, and proceeded to shave his victim. 
 
 When he was through Joe said very distinctly 
 "Pas de poudre," naturally wishing to say "no 
 powder," whereupon the man seized the puff 
 and powdered Joe vigorously all over the face, 
 not missing his mouth when Joe opened it to 
 expostulate. 
 
 "Don't you speak French?" cried Joe. "Nein," 
 said' the man with a stupid look. 
 
 Joe began to think he was in an idiot asylum 
 when the proprietor came out of the back room 
 and offered this explanation. His employe, he 
 said, was what is known in Switzerland as a 
 Volontaire, that is to say, he was one of those 
 Germans who come over into a French Canton 
 to learn the French language, offering his ser- 
 vices voluntarily and receiving only his board 
 for his work. 
 
 But Joe's saddest adventure in Geneva was of 
 a more serious character. The night before the 
 last of our stay there we dined at the Grand 
 
 86
 
 Cafe. I had walked down with Loii, and Joe 
 was the only one with a bicycle. When we 
 started to go home it was raining a little and 
 Joe asked the proprietor if he could leave his 
 bicycle at the cafe. That gentleman said "cer- 
 tainly," and was greatly insulted when Joe 
 wanted to put his chain on it. "Your bicycle 
 is as safe here as it would be in your own 
 house," he said with a grandiloquent air. So 
 Joe did not insist further, but left his wheel, 
 with some misgivings. 
 
 Next morning Joe called and got his wheel. 
 On mounting it he noticed that the hind tire 
 bumped. Getting off, he found the tire entirely 
 deflated, and looking for the cause, found a nail 
 in it more than an inch long. He dragged the 
 proprietor out to look at it. That individual 
 was very sorry, but he had merely promised Joe 
 that his wheel would be safe, and the only thing 
 he could imagine was that one of the members 
 of his orchestra must have taken it out for an 
 early morning ride, and that after having picked 
 up the nail, must have ridden back with the 
 air out of the tube. There was nothing for Joe 
 to do but go to the representatives of the manu- 
 facturer of his tire at Geneva. There they tried 
 to repair the tire but the cut was so near the 
 valve, they said, that when it was blown up it 
 exploded, and Joe had to buy another tire of the 
 same make. The manufacturers of the tire at 
 Paris subsequently sent him a new tire without 
 charge on his representation of the case. The 
 tiif reached us at Milan. 
 
 87
 
 The night of September 21 was ])right and 
 starlight, so we made arrangements for the for- 
 warding of our trunks to Interlalien, and pre- 
 pared to continue our journey next morning. 
 
 88
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 En Route at Last. 
 
 N the morning of September 21 we 
 realized the truth of the proverb 
 which runs as the French put it, 
 "Tout vient a point a qui sait at- 
 tendre." Surely we had waited 
 long enough for the sun, and, at length, there 
 it was in all its glory. Our next step may seem 
 singular to most cyclists, for instead of riding to 
 Lausanne we took the lake steamer which left 
 the Quai du Mont-Blanc at about eleven o ciock. 
 It is true that the roads were perfectly rideable, 
 and that a tour even around the whole of Lake 
 Geneva is a most interesting one. At the same 
 time, on such a trip as we were undertaking, 
 one gets plenty of bicycling, and by taking a 
 steamer we had a chance to see l)oth sides of 
 the lake, as the boat touches here and there 
 at ports on either shore; whereas had we ridden 
 to Lausanne, we would have only seen the lake 
 from one side. Besides we were able to break- 
 fast very comfortably on board and found the 
 cuisine excellent. 
 The following is an account of an excursion 
 
 89
 
 around the lake from a local publication: 
 
 "This beautiful excursion is generally made 
 on the spacious steamboat called La Suisse, 
 which leaves the Quai du Mont-Blanc at 9 
 o'clock in the morning and returns to Geneva 
 at 8 o'clock. Return tickets are issued for this 
 excursion. There is an excellent restaurant on 
 board where dinner may be had at any time. 
 
 "The steamboat follows at first the Swiss side 
 of the lake, passing before Coppet, where there 
 is the chateau of Madame de Stael, Nyon, a little 
 town in the Canton de Vaud containing a pic- 
 turesque chateau; a liitle further on, at Pran- 
 gins, there is the house and estate which be- 
 longed to Prince Napoleon. The boat now 
 crosses the lake and touches at Thonon and 
 Evian from where it again returns to the Swiss 
 side and stops at Ouchy (funicular tramway up 
 to Lausanne). Continuing along the Swiss side 
 of the lake, the steamer passes before Vevey, 
 Montreux, le Chateau de Chillon and stops at 
 Villeneuve. During the whole of this part of the 
 sail visitors will be able to admire the superb 
 mountains which surround the lake, the Dents 
 d'Oche, the Cornettes de Bise, the Grammont, 
 and farther back the Dent du Midi with its sev- 
 en points. 
 
 "This excursion may also be made in another 
 way. I'ae express boat may be taken at 6 
 o'clock, at half-past ten the visitor will be at 
 Territet, where he may take the funicular rail- 
 way lip to Glion and from there the cogged- 
 
 90
 
 wheel railway up to the top of the Rochers de 
 Naye, at an altitude of about 2,044 metres, or 
 about 6,800 feet, where he will arrive at 12 
 o'clock. The view is superb and the way up 
 most interesting. At 2 o'clock the train must be 
 taken again down to Territet, from where La 
 Suisse starts at 3:30, arriving at Geneva at 8 
 o'clock." 
 
 There is no use to attempt to describe the 
 beauties of the scenery by which Lake Geneva 
 is environed. It is known as one of the most 
 beautiful lakes in the world, and the scene from 
 the boat was such a lovely one that Lou de- 
 clared she believed even the bicycles enjoyed 
 it. It was still early in the afternoon when we 
 arrived at Ouchy. As soon as we were fa.rly 
 on shore we mounted our bicycles and, instead 
 of climbing up the steep hill which leads to 
 Lausannfc, we set out on the road which winds 
 along the ahore of the lake and, exhilarated by 
 the air of a perfect September day, wheeled 
 along at a pace which we would never have 
 dared to touch during the epoch of cloudy 
 weather and muddy roads which we had so far 
 experienced. 
 
 Our destination now was Montreux, which is 
 known as the Nice of Switzerland. The further 
 we rode the more delightful the scenery be- 
 came. To our leit were sunny slopes covered 
 with vines heavy with ripening grapes of both 
 the light and dark varieties. To the right, at 
 our feet, were the pellucid waters of the lake 
 
 91
 
 with tlieir peculiar blue, and further ahead and 
 to the right again, were snow-capped moun- 
 tains which seemed in the sharper contrast 
 from the rich verdure and ruddy grapes about 
 us. We arrived at Montreux about six o'clock 
 in the evening. 
 
 The only thing which provoked Lou during 
 the trip was the fact that she couldn't get any 
 milk that was not boiled. The idea that one 
 must drink boiled milk or none at all was too 
 much for her. When we didn't seem to sym- 
 pathize enough with her she said she guessed 
 we would appreciate the situation better if we 
 couldn't get anything but boiled absinthe or 
 boiled beer. Even at Vevey, a popular winter 
 resort for foreigners, I..OU was equally unfortu- 
 nate in her attempt to get fresh milk. At Mon- 
 treux we went to the Hotel du Pare, where we 
 had an excellent table d'hote at three francs 
 each, and wine Included. Our rooms afforded 
 an excellent view of the scenery for which Mon- 
 treux is famous, but owing to the popularity of 
 the place as a winter resort prices ran a little 
 higher than usual, Joe and Lou paying five 
 francs for their room while I got off for four. 
 
 It had been our intention to ride on from here 
 to Fribourg, but when we learned that every 
 bit of the way was up hill and that even the 
 trains required two engines to pull themi up the 
 incline we decided to take the train ourselves, 
 as it was only a matter of something more than 
 thirty kilometers and the fare was insignificant. 
 
 92
 
 A REI'Ki;SIII\C, SWISS WATKRI'AM..
 
 The fact was Lnu had confided to Joe that she 
 was afraid she would get bow-legged if she 
 walked up too many hills, and Joe, who was get- 
 ting a little stout, was quite as ready to ride as 
 she was, though he made her believe that he 
 only consented as a great personal sacrifice. 
 
 If there had been a person of average intel- 
 ligence at Montreux we would have been obliged 
 to ride back only as far as Chexbres, just 
 the other side of Vevey, in order to take the 
 train which passed through there for Fribourg 
 about three o'clock in the afternoon. But as 
 it was we were told we would have to ride 
 away back to Lausanne over the road which 
 we had come in order to get a train which went 
 to Fribourg. This train left Lausanne a little 
 after two o'clock and was the one we might 
 nave taken at Chexbres, if they had only known 
 enough to tell us about it. It wasn't that we 
 minded going over that route again, but the 
 difficulty came after we arrived at Ouchy, where 
 to reach Lausanne we had to climb a 
 hill practically impossible to ride, being 
 steep and about six kilometers long. As 
 we were ascending the hill a woman driv- 
 ing a horse attached to a sort of buck- 
 board and which, by the constant use of the 
 whip, she kept at a lively trot, became so 
 lost to everything else in her contemplation of 
 Lou that she nearly ran over that young woman, 
 much to the latter's indignation. Once at the 
 top of the hill at Lausanne one is rewarded by 
 
 94
 
 a view for which Lou could find no other ex- 
 pression than "Simply gorgeous!" Still we 
 were getting so used to lovely views that it is 
 doubtful whether we would have climbed that 
 hill for this particular one if we'd known about 
 the station at Chexbres. As we had more than 
 an hour on our hands before train t^me we went 
 to the Hotel Terminus for our breakfast. 
 
 On adding up the check Joe noticed that the 
 waiter had charged us one franc each for our 
 coffee and cognac, though it should not by any 
 possibility have been more than ten cents or, at 
 most, twelve cents. Joe questioned the waiter 
 and then asked the head waiter about the 
 charge. Both insisted that it was all right, and 
 to the astonishment of Lou and myself Joe paid 
 the check without further expostulation. As 
 soon as we were off the porch Lou turned to her 
 husband and said: "Can we never make a trav- 
 eler of you? Why that was simply extortion." 
 "Never mind, my dear," said Joe, quietly, 
 showing the check. "God has punished the 
 wicked head waiter; he forgot to mark the bot- 
 tle of wine we had." 
 
 It was a fact; in their haste to charge double 
 price for the coffee and cognac they had for- 
 gotten to mark down our bottle of wine which, 
 if I remember rightly, was three francs. Any- 
 way it was a case of the biter bit. 
 
 Our tickets to Fribourg were something like 
 five francs each and as, drawn by two engines, 
 the train puffed slowly up the incline we had 
 
 95
 
 almost as good a chance to view the scenery 
 as we would have had if we had been pushing 
 our bicycles on foot, particularly as we had one 
 of those cars so often found in Switzerland in 
 which one can walk from one end to the other. 
 At Fribourg we merely made a brief tour of the 
 town on our l)icycles, as Joe had conceived the 
 idea of getting to a little Swiss hamlet called 
 Noreaz. This place was the home of an old 
 and faithful Swiss valet who had served his 
 family a long time on both sides of the Atlantic. 
 He was at present home on a vacation and Joe 
 had promised him that if he ever rode through 
 Switzerland he would look him up. We learned 
 that Noreaz was only about 15 kilometers 
 from Fribourg and rode there over a series of 
 most picturesque by-paths which may never be- 
 fore have known the mark of a foreigner's 
 wheel. As we approached Noreaz, which is 
 prettily situated half way up tne low mountain, 
 our ears were greeted by the sound of most 
 peculiar music. 
 
 "It sounds like a xylophone," I ventured. 
 
 "It is the Angelus," said Lou in an awed tone. 
 
 "It's cows," said Joe. And Joe was right. 
 
 As we rounded a sharp turn there in the 
 meadow below were at least a hundred cattle 
 gathered in for the night. Each one wore a 
 bell and each bell was of a different size and 
 attuned to a different key. The effect was real- 
 ly like that of many sets of chimes rung to- 
 gether, so Lou's mistake was not at all an un- 
 natural one. 
 
 96
 
 Our arrival at Noreaz, a place of some one 
 hundred and twenty inhabitants, created a 
 veritable sensation not unmixed with conster- 
 nation, if one may judge by the fact that one 
 boy dropped a pail of milk and another fell into 
 the watering trough just at the sight of Lou. 
 They had never seen a woman cyclist before. 
 But as for Eugene, the faithful dependent whom 
 we had come to look up. he was at once aston- 
 ished and overjoyed, and nothing would do but 
 that we must come with him and break bread 
 and drink wine under the family roof. It was 
 now too late for us to get back to Fribourg that 
 night so we were lodged in the little chalet 
 which served as an inn. The rooms were so 
 low that one couldn't jump for joy without dan- 
 ger of a fractured skull, but the roof we felt 
 quite certain would stay on during the night at 
 least, because it was held down by several 
 monster rocks. Lou said she didn't care wheth- 
 er it blew off or not as she always had a weak- 
 ness for astronomy and star-gazing generally. 
 The view from the chalet was superb, or at 
 least as much of it as we could see thi'ough the 
 lilliputian windows. 
 
 All Noreaz had gathered at oui' door the fol- 
 lowing morning to see us start haik on our way 
 to Fribourg, to which place we were obliged to 
 return before setting out for Berne, about thirty 
 kilometers from Fribourg. P"'ribourg, as I have 
 already said. Is only fifteen kilometers from 
 Noreaz, leaving us only about forty-five kilo- 
 
 97
 
 meters for the day, about T^ou's size, although 
 frequently she didn't mind sixty, and once later 
 on in Holland, even so far forgot herself as to 
 ride one hundred without noticing it. We 
 found Fribourg in gala attire. The whole pop- 
 ulation had turned out to attend the trial of 
 a man who had murdered the station master 
 of a nearby town. Fribourg is an interesting 
 city with a very old cathedral, which Lou 
 wouldn't go into, however, declaring sne had 
 rather miss a picture or two than get a cold 
 in the head. By the way, if you happen to 
 have anybody in your path in life and want to 
 get rid of him, just get him to cycle witti you 
 in Europe during the hot weather and then 
 push him into two or three old cathedrals as 
 you go by, while you stay outside yourself. 
 
 The suspension bridge at Fribourg is regard- 
 ed as a great engineering feat and one of the 
 sights of the city. We had to cross it on our 
 way to Berne and found the view on the middle 
 of it very fine. 
 
 Once over the bridge and up a short hill to 
 the left we found the road to Berne excellent, 
 though the scenery wasn't particularly inter- 
 esting. One thing we noticed in this district, 
 and in fact nearly everywhere throughout 
 Switzerland, was the great number of women 
 and children working in the fields. Very few 
 men were visible. At Berne we first went to a 
 hotel marked in the book as the Touring Club 
 of France us one on its list. Here we were 'ui- 
 
 98
 
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 ai 
 
 o 
 
 S3 
 
 o 
 
 Q 
 
 2 
 
 S5 
 
 X 
 
 o 
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 XT.
 
 able to follow our usual tactics as there were 
 no tables outside. However. I stayed with the 
 bicycles in the courtyard while Joe and Lou 
 went up to look at the room, 'ihe name of the 
 hotel was the Hotel du Falcon and when Joe 
 and Lou came down they were unanimous mat 
 they wouldn't have the room at any price. No 
 attempt was made to prevent our exit, though 
 the proprietor from the moment he learned our 
 decision treated us with great hauteur. It was 
 now quite dark and it was drizzling outside 
 so we were ready to take almost anything that 
 might offer for the night, but fortunately tum- 
 bled on the Hotel Pfistern, or Hotel des Bou- 
 langers, as it is also known. This proved to 
 be one of the best hotels we had found yet, 
 though a little higher priced than many. We 
 paid six and four francs respectively for our 
 rooms. The restaurant was extremely good and 
 the prices were not too high. 
 
 Lou said she would hate to be in the um- 
 brella ti-ade in Berne, and we agreed with her. 
 One can walk up and down the sidewalks of 
 almost any of the streets of Berne in the busi- 
 ness part of the town, even when it is raining 
 hard, without getting in the least wet. The 
 upper par. of the houses are built out over the 
 sidewalks so that one walks along a continuous 
 arcade on the inner side of which are the shop 
 windows, while in the archways which occur 
 every few feet are open counters and tables 
 covered with every knick-knack and gew-gaw 
 peculiar to the country. 
 
 ]00
 
 •A 
 
 ■A 
 
 A 
 
 O 
 
 p5 
 
 o 
 Pi 
 
 Hi
 
 One of the interesting sights of Berne is the 
 clock tower with a clock which strikes every 
 quarter of an hour. From the suspension 
 bridge one has an excellent view of the Jung- 
 frau. Then, of course, Berne wouldn't be Berne 
 without its bear pit, which has existed there 
 for many, many generations until the bears 
 have become much more important in Berne 
 than the aldermen are at New York. It is real- 
 ly doubtful whether Berne could get along with- 
 out her bears, while New York — but never mind 
 that. One thing we all noticed about Berne 
 was its unusual number of really nandsome 
 women. In fact, we saw more good-looking 
 women there than anywhere else on any of 
 our tours, 'ihey were not only fine looking but 
 of superb physique and brimming over with 
 healtli and spirits. Lou said that she has a 
 suspicion that that is why we found Berne in- 
 teresting enough to keep us there three days 
 in spite of fine weather. But then, Lou doesn't 
 mean all that she says. 
 
 The guide book states that ninety-five per 
 cent, of the inhabitants of Berne are German 
 and that only five per cent, speak French. If 
 this is the case we must have met someone who 
 belonged to that five per cent, whenever, as fre- 
 quently happened, we were obliged to enquire 
 our way or seek other information; for nearly 
 every well-dressed person whom we accosted 
 spoke at least a little French, and in one or 
 two instances we met natives who were anxious 
 
 102
 
 to try their alleged English on us. At last we 
 managed to tear ourselves away from Berne 
 with its bears and other manifold attractions, 
 and set out for Th\in. an interesting old tow'n 
 at the head of Lake Thun, only thirty kilo- 
 meters away. The road was very direct and 
 the wheeling good, though there was nothing 
 particularly thrilling in the scenery. 
 
 On arriving at Thun we gave our bicycles 
 into the charge of the l)icycle dealer of the 
 town to be thoroughly cleaned and looked over 
 generally. We found very good quarters at the 
 Hotel Freienhof, near what is known as the 
 Jardin Anglais. .Joe's room cost the usual Ave 
 francs, while I got off for three; the table 
 d'hote dinner cost only two francs each. The 
 next morning there was so much delay in get- 
 ting our bill ready that we took all our bag- 
 gage and went to the place where we had left 
 our bicycles. There was nothing to prevent our 
 leaving without settling with our host but tnat 
 fact didn't disturb him in the least, and it is 
 true that in nearly any part of Europe Ameri- 
 can and English tourists share the confidence 
 of tradesmen and hotel people to a degree that 
 native customers can never hope to enjoy. 
 After we had gone back and settled our bill we 
 set out for Interlaken along the upper or left 
 hand side of the lake of Thun, going towards 
 that place. Here we were most agreeably sur- 
 prised Ijy a bit of landscape which had not 
 perhaps been equaled since we began our ride. 
 
 104
 
 The road all along the way was perfect for 
 wheeling: with the exception of one hill which 
 we had to climb it was mostly down grade. At 
 places the road was almost entirely overhung 
 with great crags and ledges of rock, and every 
 now and then our way led through tunnels 
 cut through the rocks sometimes a hundred 
 yards in length. These holes through bits of 
 mountain must have been dug at great expense 
 but were made absolutely necessary by the 
 character of the country. They were invaria- 
 bly dripping with moisture and quite dark in 
 The middle. At first we approached them with 
 catition and no little anxiety but after iiaving 
 passed several and found the road bed secure 
 we rode with more confidence. To leave the 
 warm sunshine outside, disappear into one of 
 these subterranean passages only to emerge 
 into the daylight at the other end, gave one 
 a very odd but quite enjoyable sensation. In 
 fact, I think we all remembered that ride from 
 Thun to Interlaken, after the trip was over, as 
 one of our jolliest experiences. We wheeled 
 into Interlaken shortly after four o'clock in 
 the afternoon. It was on the 26th of Septem- 
 ber and as that happened to be Sunday the 
 streets were filled with merry-makers, who 
 were only too giad to enjoy the perfect weather 
 after the rains which had prevailed earlier in 
 the month. 
 
 105
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ?^ 
 
 Across the Grimsel. 
 
 F course, at Interlaken, as at Gene- 
 va, there was no lack of first-class 
 hotels, but as we were on a bicycle 
 trip, pure and simple, anything in 
 the way of display was exactly 
 what l^ou wanted to avoid. Therefore, accord- 
 ing to our custom, we rode about the town for 
 an hour or so. stopping at the cafes of several 
 hotels before we finally made our selection. The 
 hotel we picked out as the result of our inves- 
 tigation was the Hotel Bernerhof, where we got 
 rooms affording us an excellent view of the 
 Jungfrau. At this hotel we made an arrange- 
 ment differing a little from our usual plan. We 
 were to have our rooms with the cafe au lait 
 served in them, together with a table d'hote 
 dinner at night, with wine. Our solid break- 
 fast, or dejeuner a la fourchette, we were to 
 take a la carte, either at the hotel or elsewhere 
 as we pleased. This enabled us to ride out after 
 cafe au lait and take breakfast anywhere we 
 liked without being obliged to pay for another 
 at the hotel. This made our expenses individ- 
 
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 ky'^-m?^m 
 
 'I'm. i 
 
 I : 
 
 J •*«■ J 
 
 ^ m^^Mn'i III 
 
 
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 5*%.^|^ .: J.. j.->. »j^. 
 
 r«?f^- 
 
 w 
 
 I— I 
 
 5- 
 O
 
 ually less than eight francs a day, with every- 
 thing included, wliicli, besides being very cheap 
 for Interlaken, gave us absolute freedom as to 
 our movements. The proprietor of the hotel 
 spoke both French and English. 
 
 The Sunday night of our arrival we went to 
 the Kursaal, where we listened to excellent 
 music, besides doing a little mild gambling at 
 a game somethingonthe order of the petits che- 
 vaux except that a little railroad train, instead 
 of the horses, runs around the circle and stops 
 at one of the stations marked on the board. 
 These stations bear the names of the princi- 
 pal capitals of Europe, and as there are eight of 
 them, and as you are only paid six for one in 
 case you happen to guess rightly which station 
 the train is going to stop at, it will be readily 
 seen that it is a hard game to beat. 
 
 The next morning we spent in mousing 
 around Interlaken, where Lou picked up lots of 
 little trinkets in the way of souvenirs. When 
 Lou began to buy things it was always a matter 
 of congratulation to Joe that she was travel- 
 ing on a l)icycle and couldn't carry much with 
 her. In the afternoon we rode on our wheels 
 to Lauterbrunnen through the mysterious val- 
 ley entirely shut in by mountains, to get a 
 glimpse of the famous waterfall, an unceasing 
 stream pouring over the picturesque cliff on the 
 mountain above the road. Here again , we got 
 the effect of that same weird music which had 
 attracted our attention at Noreaz; but this time 
 
 108
 
 
 PICTURKSCJll'; STAIHAC n iwr.i.s.
 
 the bells were attached to goats, not to cattle. 
 The road to L,aiiterbrunnen is only a little more 
 than fifteen kilometers, and if one does have to 
 climb a slight rise all the way in getting there, 
 one has a glorious coast back. The next day 
 we had planned to go and visit one of the 
 glaciers on the Jungfrau. To do this we bought 
 tickets to Grindewald. The tickets cost only 
 something like 60 cents and the distance was 
 only twenty-three kilometers, though it takes 
 the train about two nours to make the trip. Of 
 course anyone could ride on one's wheel to 
 Grindewald, but I should advise against doing 
 so, for, besides arriving in a heavy perspiration, 
 the system could not fail to be more or less 
 exhausted after that hard and continuous as- 
 cent, and one would be in no condition to take 
 the walk over the snow and ice of the glacier, 
 and penetrate the great ice cave cut nearly a 
 hundred yards through the solid ice of the 
 glacier. Therefore, we went by train, and at 
 Grindewald took horses and a guide for our 
 visit to the grotto with its mysterious recesses 
 and weird echoes, and later to the lower glacier 
 and that wondrous cave through the solid ice. 
 This is a most enjoyable trip and should not be 
 missed by anyone who goes to Interlaken. As 
 for Lou, she was perfectly delighted and de- 
 clared if she ever rode horseback again she 
 would do it in her bicycle costume. The guide 
 and two horses cost Joe sixteen francs. I pre- 
 ferred to walk. This price was a little lower 
 than usual as the season was over. 
 
 110
 
 
 ^1 
 
 in 
 
 S 
 OS 
 
 < 
 X 
 tj 
 
 K 

 
 We had learned on our arrival that nearly 
 everyone had left Interlaken about the fifteenth 
 of the month, disgusted with the continued wet 
 weather, that the Grimsel pass over which we 
 proposed to go on our way into Italy had been 
 closed l)y the snow and that diligence traffic 
 over this pass always closes on September 15. 
 But such delightful weather had prevailed dur- 
 ing and several days prior to our arrival that 
 we were informed if we would wait a day or two 
 very likely the pass would be open again and 
 we could cross it in a carriage from Meiringen. 
 Therefore, on September 29, when word came 
 that the pass was again clear we shipped our 
 trunks to Milan by the petite vitesse and start- 
 ed along the shore of Lake Brienz for the town 
 of Brienz at the further end of the lake, less 
 than twenty kilometers away. Interlaken, in 
 fact, gets its name from its position between the 
 lake of Thun and the lake of Brienz. The road 
 from Interlaken to Brienz was excellent but the 
 scenery was hardly as fine as that between 
 Thun and Interlaken. Arriving at Brienz we 
 found that we could get a one-horse carriage 
 to take us across the Grimsel for forty-five 
 francs, but we thought we might as well ride 
 along the fifteen kilometres that separated us 
 from Meiringen, as a carriage from there would 
 be cheaper, and besides we hadn't had riding 
 enough for the day. 
 
 We arrived at this point and found the Hotel 
 Brunig quite a resort for American and English 
 
 112
 
 
 CIS 
 
 2 
 
 I— > 
 
 w 
 a 
 ft 
 
 
 K
 
 people, about a dozen of whom still lingered on 
 although the season was over. Many of the la- 
 dies came to table d'hote dinner in more or 
 less of evening dress, but that didn't bother 
 Lou, for she was quite at home in her short 
 skirt and said she knew all the rest of them 
 were envying her. As a matter of fact, judging 
 from the conversation at the table, every mem- 
 ber of that little company bicycled, from grand- 
 pa, who sat at its head, to the youngest child, 
 a pretty little English girl about ten years old. 
 Prices here were about the same as elsewhere, 
 Joe and Lou paying only four francs for their 
 room. The dinner though, was three francs 
 for each person, without wine. However, we 
 got a bottle of excellent Beaujolais for three 
 francs. 
 
 That night we made an arrangement with a 
 man who owned a one-horse carriage to take us 
 up the Grimsel pass the next day for thirty- 
 five francs. He would have taken two persons 
 for thirty. It was arranged that we should 
 start at 8:30 the next morning. When we came 
 down we found the bicycles artistically attached 
 to the back of the carriage by ropes and sup- 
 poi-ted by boards. They were so arranged that 
 there was little or no strain on them. The car- 
 riage was one of the landau pattern. After a 
 cup of coffee we started on our long journey up 
 the pass. The distance, all told, was about 
 thirty kilometers and the horse could only aver- 
 age about four kilometers an hour. We were to 
 
 114
 
 breakfast at Handegg, where we we/e due about 
 noon. I think that if I were doing it over again, 
 and particularly if there were no ladies in the 
 party, I would advise keeping on with the bi- 
 cycles as far as Handegg, as part of the road to 
 that point is rideable and one could make much 
 better than four kilometers an hour up to that 
 point. After breakfasting at Handegg, where 
 we submitted to some mild extortion owing to 
 the lack of competition, we set out again for the 
 top of the pass. The trip through one of these 
 passes is always wonderful and beautiful, and 
 the journey through the Grimsel was extremely 
 picturesque, the fans at Handegg being espe- 
 cially noticeable. 
 
 When we arrived at the top of the pass our 
 driver who spoke neither English nor French, 
 drevsr up his horse and, having received his 
 money, began unfastening the bicycles. Then, 
 with one sweep of his hand toward the left and 
 indicating a mass of white snow and ice he said, 
 "Rhona glacier;" then, pointing toward the 
 right, he pronounced the words "Mtmster — 
 Brigue." With that he was gone. 
 
 We now- found ourselves in a rather peculiar 
 position. It was nearly five o'clock and night 
 was not far off. We were so high on the 
 mountain tor" that the clouds were settling 
 about us and it began to rain; before us lay that 
 terribly steep zig-zag path down the mountain, 
 covered here and there ])y sharp-pointed b -oken 
 stones with which the roal laborers had filled 
 
 115
 
 in mud holes, and elsewhere, by larger l)its of 
 rotk, which, freed from their position by the 
 melting snow, had roUcd from the crags above. 
 
 This was the sort of roadway whicli confront- 
 ed us, and to its right lay a precipice witn an 
 awful descent of hundreds of feet to the rocks 
 below, with nothing between us and its edge 
 save a number of stone posts about two feet 
 high at intervals of thirty feet. It was a 
 hard road for any man to undertake, let alone 
 a woman, bui i.ou wouldn't hear of walking, so 
 we all looked to sec that our biakes were in 
 good condition and warned I^ou under no cir- 
 cumstances to let her wheel get beyond her 
 control; if she found it was doing so to put on 
 her brake hard and l)ack pedal with all her 
 might and then, if she still felt any doubt as 
 to her ability to stop her machine, to promptly 
 fall off before it had a chance to run away with 
 her. Having taken these precautions we set 
 out. not without misgivings but with a feeling 
 that something must be done. After the first 
 two kilometers we were out of the rain but the 
 road grew no better. Yet every time that Joe 
 and I, who were in advance, called back to Lou 
 she replied that she was all right. 
 
 At the bottom of the mountain, and in fact 
 during the last part of the descent, the road 
 was not too steep for comfortable riding, but 
 as it was already growing dark and as Brigue 
 was still fifty kilometers away we had to give 
 up all idea, of course, of getting there that 
 
 116
 
 night, ijut we did manage to make Munster. 
 though we rode the last three kilometers in a 
 heavy shower which had come up suddenly. It 
 was quite uark when we reached this tcwn 
 and we now found ourselves among people wao 
 could speak practically nothing but German. 
 
 At the Hotel de la Croix d'Or et Poste, a hotel 
 of unusual excellence for so small a place, we 
 found, however, a young woman who spoke 
 French quite well. We had a fire Iniilt in the 
 parlor for us, and a couple of hot drinks and a 
 good dinner made us all feel better. The prices 
 were about the same as usual, only the rooms 
 being cheaper. I was charged two francs for 
 my room, while Joe paid three. The weather 
 being fair the next morning we rode on to 
 Fiesch, a little more than twenty kilometers 
 from Munster. Here we breakfasted at the 
 Hotel du Glacier et Poste. The check for the 
 three of us amounted only to eight francs, in- 
 cluding wine, coffee and cognac. The road from 
 here to Brigue was still down hill and we made 
 perhaps the fastest time on the trip in spite of 
 the fact that several drivei's of diligences made 
 frantic attempts to run over us or force us off 
 the road. Throughout Switzerland cyclists will 
 notice this desire to kill cyclists which every 
 unigence driver seems to noui-isli within nis 
 breast. 
 
 At Brigue, after making our usual reconnoi- 
 tres, we finally went to the Hotel D'Angleterre, 
 where we found the prices ranged a little high- 
 
 117
 
 er Lhau eustomary but here again our touring 
 club card dia us good service, securing for Joe 
 and Lou tlie best room in tlie house for four 
 francs, while I had a much smaller apartment 
 and paid the same price. The dinners here 
 were 3 francs 50 centimes, without wine, 
 but wine was included with ours as a special 
 concession. 
 
 We found that to get across the Simplon pass, 
 or, that is, to be taken up to the Hospice, would 
 cost with a one-horse carriage twenty francs. 
 But as we thought we would be more comfort- 
 able with two horses, and as that cost only ten 
 francs more, we made this arrangement. 
 
 The ride up the Simplon was quite as beauti- 
 ful as that across the Grimsel, and this time, 
 when our driver left us at I'Hospice, the sun 
 was shining. This building was erected by the 
 great Napoleon for the care of his soldiers dur- 
 ing his first descent on Italy ana is now occu- 
 pied as a monastery. I had heard much of the 
 hospitality or its inmates, but we searched it 
 from top to bottom without being able to bring 
 to light a single monk, mucu to Lou's disap- 
 pointment. 
 
 The descent from I'Hospice is much less diffi- 
 cult to negotiate than on the Grimsel— from the 
 effects of which, by the way, we were still suf- 
 fering, our legs being stiff from back pedaling, 
 as if we had taken a long ride for the first time 
 in the season. Our hands, too, were stiff and 
 cramped from where we had used the brake. 
 
 118
 
 ^Londres 
 
 I'KOM HRICUI-; TO MII.AX, CIvXOA AND NICl':.
 
 From I'Hospice we had a delightful ride down 
 to the town of Simplon, where we got an excel- 
 lent breakfast at the Hotel de la Poste which, in 
 spite of its unpretentious appearance, is well 
 kept. 
 
 Soon after leaving Simplon we began to real- 
 ize that Consul Ridgley was right in speaking 
 of this route in the terms of highest praise. If 
 there is any more beautiful bicycle trip it isn't 
 to be found in the same sort of country. One 
 might prefer a. ride through miles of orange 
 gi'oves, or perhaps one's taste might run to 
 the fragrant paths of a pine forest, or even the 
 carefully kept cycle paths of the Bois du Bou- 
 logne, but for a trip, or rather a coast on a 
 bicycle, alongside of rushing mountain streams 
 in a narrow gorge where the rugged splendor of 
 the surrounding scenery almost awes you, one 
 might search the world over and l.nd nothing 
 to equal that coast from the Simplon across the 
 Italian frontier to Domo d'Ossola. 
 
 120
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 First Impressions of Italy. 
 
 LL this route from the Simplon 
 down is in the nature of one long 
 coast and only two things inter- 
 fered with our making twenty-five 
 kilometers an hour. ' ne was the 
 fact that in places where the sun's rays had 
 been unable to reach there was more or less 
 mud, and the other was Lou's tendency to keep 
 us dismounting about every fifteen minutes 
 while she had a chance to admire at her leisure 
 some peculiarly striking bit of nature's haudi- 
 work. About half way between Simplon and 
 Domo d'Ossola we crossed the frontier at a 
 small place named Gordo. We could tell pretty 
 surely when we were nearing the frontier by 
 the sentry boxes with solitary sentinels which 
 we remarked here and there before reaching 
 Gordo itself. At the custom office we were 
 politely received by an officer in uniform, who 
 took oui' cards to a clerk at a desk inside. The 
 cards were scrutinized carefully enough, but 
 little care was taken in comparing the numbers 
 and names on the cards with those on 
 
 121
 
 the machines and as all our wheels 
 were somewhat spattered with mud I have 
 my doubts whether the custom house offi- 
 cials saw tne artistic 133 which Joe had so care- 
 fully cut in Lou's machine. Anyway we com- 
 plied with all the formalities and on the pay- 
 ment of twenty-four cents each we got our re- 
 ceipts of entry and went on our way rejoicing. 
 On our receipts the name of the town was 
 stamped Gondo but all the maps give it Gordo. 
 It was nearly six o'clock when we entered the 
 pretty town of Domo d'Ossola. Our first at- 
 tempt at a hotel did not prove a success. The 
 house was attractive in exterior appearance but 
 as the waiters, the chambermaids, the porters, 
 the stable boys, the cooks, together with the 
 proprietor, his wife and lour aaughters all gath- 
 ered around us at once and gibbered away in 
 Italian we concluded it was no place for us 
 and fled incontinently, even leaving the refresh- 
 ments which we had orderea untasted on the 
 table. Further along, in the center of the town, 
 we found a less pretentious hotel known as the 
 Albergo Manini, the proprietor of which had 
 only two waiters and the good sense to speak 
 French. Here Joe and Lou got very good rooms 
 for three francs, while I didn't fare at all badly 
 and only paid two. Among the changes that ve 
 began to r:mark was that the rooms no longer 
 had two beds. In fact, no room of average size 
 would have the space for two ordinary Italian 
 beds. I hardly dare to say how large they are, 
 
 122
 
 but think I'm safe in stating that they are 
 larger than billiard tables, and not so large as 
 lawn tennis courts. To get as near as possible 
 the exact dimensions I should say they ran 
 from seven to ten feet wide. Among the other 
 odd things that we noticed immediately after 
 our advent in Italy was a custom, altogether too 
 common, of serving the soup after the fish, 
 and cold meats after the entrees and roasts 
 had been eaten. Lou said it wo'uld not surprise 
 her a bit to get her oysters after her ice cream 
 if that sort of thing kept on. 
 
 We also noticed that when an Italian wanted 
 to light hiS cigar after dinner the waiter would 
 bring him a lighted candle to which an iron 
 support was attached by a ring sliding" up and 
 down the candle itself. On this support the 
 smoker would lay his cigar — generally about 
 eight inches in length — with its end in the flame 
 and let it burn away there for about five min- 
 utes before he began to puff on it. I^ou said 
 that she thought fried cigars must he just as 
 bad as boiled milk. We were also rather dis- 
 appointed in the Italian grape. We had always 
 supposed that if you were going to get good 
 grapes anywhere it would be in Italy, but so 
 far as we could see they were very little better 
 than can be had in the south of France. The 
 Italians have one sensible custom, though, 
 about serving grapes. They never bring a 
 bunch of grapes to the table without giving you 
 a large bowl to wash them in. 
 
 12.3
 
 So attractive did we find Domo u'Ossoia that 
 we spent two nights there. Wheeling in the 
 neighborhood was excellent and the table at the 
 hotel very good. The dinners at the Albergo 
 Manini were three francs with wine, a very fair 
 red wine of the country. On October 4 we 
 started out on our joui-ney toward iviilan, with 
 a letter of recommendation from the proprietor 
 of the hotel to his father, who kept a hotel at 
 Orta. 
 
 We had planned to breakfast at Omegna. about 
 half way to Orta, which was some forty kilo- 
 meters from Domo d Ossola, but when we got 
 as far as Omegna we breakfasted so late that 
 we decided to spend the night there, particularly 
 as the sky looked overcast and Lou, who had 
 had her haii' curled before leaving Domo 
 d'Ossola, declared that she didn't want to take 
 the chance of another wetting. At Omegna we 
 went to the Albergo Croce Bianca. Here the 
 price of rooms dropped for joe and Lou to 
 three francs, or I should say three lire, wLich 
 is equivalent to about the same thing, though 
 really a little bit less. I paid two lire. The 
 dinners were three lire each. The next day we 
 spent roaming around the country and in the 
 afternoon rode to Orta at the foot of a beauti- 
 ful little lake of that name. Here we found the 
 Hotel du Lion d'Or. charmingly situated and the 
 prices as usual. We should have litvcd to linger 
 there longer but we felt that we'd never get to 
 Milan if we kept on spending two or three 
 
 124
 
 clays at each place that we found particularly 
 attractive. 
 
 The night of October (j found us riding into 
 Arena, a town of about four thousand inhafci- 
 tants at the southern extremity of Lake Mag- 
 giore. After looking the hotels over we con- 
 cluded that none of them amounted to mucn 
 and finally settled at the ••Albergo Ristorante 
 Ruffoni." Gia' Falcone, ihis hotel had an ex- 
 cellent view of the lake and, though of decided- 
 ly modest pretentions, proved to be perfectly 
 comfortable. Here again Joe only paid three 
 lire while I escaped for two. We had planned 
 to stay several days at Arona in order to 
 make a tour of the lake on one of the lake 
 steamers which cruise from point to point on 
 either side of this beautiful sheet of water. As 
 we were riding around Arona, the afternoon of 
 our arrival. Lou noticed the sign of a bath es- 
 tablishment and after we had left our things 
 at the hotel she announced that she was going 
 back to get a good hot bath. She was gone 
 about fifteen minutes and returned looking dis- 
 gusted. 
 
 "What's the matter?" said .loe. 
 
 "Would you believe it." said Lou. "that old 
 woman who I'uns that bath establishment said 
 that if I wanted to take a hot bath I must let 
 her know the day before so that she coiild get 
 the fires lighted to heat the water?" 
 
 "How do you know she said that?" asked Joe. 
 
 "Oh, she didn't speak such bad French," said 
 
 125
 
 Lou. "and she seemed quite surprised t'K.t 1 
 should find anything unusual in being obliged 
 to give twenty-four hours' notice of my inten- 
 tion to take a bath." 
 
 Next day we took a steamer and went up the 
 lake as far as Isola Bella, where there is a most 
 interesting palace belonging to one of the oldest 
 families of the Italian nobility. This trip on 
 the Lake Maggiore is something that no one 
 who passes through Arona, or is even as near 
 as Milan, should miss. 
 
 After another day's tour in the neighborhood, 
 both by boat and wheel, we set out for Milan 
 by the way of Gallarate and Legnano. This 
 made a ride of sixty-five kilometers. 
 
 En route, however, we stopped at a place 
 called Lorenzo to get breakfast and there Lou 
 got it into her head that her hind tire wasn't 
 blown up tight enough to suit her ideas of 
 rigiuity. Joe and I managed to pump it up for 
 her but in some way or another something hap- 
 pened to the valve and our united ingenuity 
 could not make the air 3tay in that blessed tire. 
 So there we were, more than twenty kilometers 
 from Milan with Lou's wheel in an unrideable 
 condition. No one about the place spoke any- 
 tuing but Italian, but Joe got out his pocket 
 dictionary and carried on a long conversation 
 with one Italian more intelligent than the rest, 
 who made us understand that in about an hour 
 a steam tramway would pass the door which 
 would take us right into the city, bicycles and 
 
 126
 
 all, for twenty cents apiece. Then we felt bet- 
 ter and had breakfast. By the way, if you are 
 afflicted by a large appetite and a small pocket- 
 book, go to Lorenzo, Italy, and become a 
 boarder at the Ristorante Dell 'Angelo. The 
 breakfast for us three cost fifty-nine cents, 
 which was divided up in this way: Wine eight 
 cents, bread four cents, an enormous plate of 
 fried potatoes sixteen cents, milk and butter for 
 Lou twelve cents, a large plate of chops s.xteen 
 cents, one pony of kummel three cents. This 
 certainly was cheap enough and we had more 
 than we wanted. 
 
 Naturally we were all somewhat disappointed 
 in not being able to ride into Milan, but felt that 
 we were very fortunate to have the tramway so 
 near at hand, and, although, when we were once 
 on board we were carried along pretty fast, we 
 got a fair view of the country, which wasn't 
 nearly as interesting to us as the people. On 
 leaving the car the first thing we did was to 
 look up a repairer of bicycles and he soon had 
 Lou's machine in running order. We were 
 surprised on riding through Milan at the atten- 
 tion which Lou attracted. We expected this 
 sort of thing in the country and smaller towns, 
 but in a city like Milan, of more than 300,000 
 inhabitants, we hadn't supposed she would at- 
 tract any more attention than sue would in 
 New York. Still it was a fact, and wo couldn't 
 help noticing it, that people sto))p(Ml in the 
 streets, turned around, and stared after her. 
 
 127
 
 Later on we learned that ladies ride compara- 
 tively little in Milan and then confine their 
 wheeling to the park, seldom appearing in the 
 city itself. 
 
 It is more difficult to find the right kind of 
 lodgings in a large city than in the smaller 
 towns that one rides through when touring. 
 After many disappointments in the way of 
 quarters which proved unsuitable either be- 
 cause they were too dear or too cheap, more by 
 good luck than anything else we stumbled upon 
 the Hotel St. Michel and Bernerhof. situated 
 right in the heart of the city. If the street 
 which it is in has any name I never knew it, 
 and the proprietor doesn't put it on his bill 
 heads. It stands in the first street back of the 
 cathedral, or the first street to the right off the 
 Corso Victor Emanuel. Any cabman in Milan 
 knows the Hotel St. Michel, as it is commonly 
 called. 
 
 We had planned to stay some time in Milan, 
 and finding that we could have our meals at 
 any hour thai suited us we agreed to pay so 
 much a day for our meals with board. We 
 wouldn't have thought of doing this if we had 
 not had our own tal)le in the restaurant and or- 
 dered just what we liked, as if we were living 
 on the a la carte principle. We were at the 
 hotel two weeks on this plan and found it very 
 satisfactory, the only trouble being that there 
 was a great deal too much of everything. Only 
 the fires in our rooms were extra. The price we 
 
 128
 
 paid for all this, with wine included, was seven 
 francs a day, each. It is useless for me to try 
 to describe here the beauties of Milan. Bae- 
 deker will tell you all about it. All I can say 
 is that it rained nearly all the time during taose 
 two weeks, and yet we were not bored. The 
 theatre, the opera and the concert hall in Milan 
 are within the financial reach of all and cabs 
 can be had for thirty cents for the first hour, 
 and twenty cents for all hours afterward. Milan 
 is a wretched place to bicycle in, however, 
 as the streets are narrow and cuoked up with 
 traffic. 
 
 It was not till October 18 that the weather 
 was pleasant enough to warrant our starting 
 on our ride to Venice. On the afternoon of that 
 day we started out at 3 o'clock in the afternoon 
 and rode to Lodi, some thirty-one kilometers 
 from Milan. We got there while it was still light 
 and went to the Albergo Ristorante Vignola, 
 where we got rooms for seven francs, four of 
 which fell to Joe's share. The hotel is on the 
 main square of the town, known as the Piazza 
 .viaggiore, and nearly opposite was the restau- 
 rant Vedova, where we all dined comfortably for 
 a dollar. In the morning Lou was much inter- 
 ested in a market which was being held in the 
 square, attended by peasants from all the coun- 
 try around. We got under way about 1 L o'clock, 
 and riding across the bridge made famous by 
 the charge of the French troops, led by the great 
 Napoleon himself, we cycled sixteen kilometers 
 
 129
 
 to Crema, where we breakfasted at the Albergo 
 Ponte di Rialto. By this time we had learned 
 Italian enough to know that vino was wine, 
 pane was bread, uova fritta was fried eggs and 
 iiva was grapes. We had also grasped the fact 
 that caffe was coffee and latte meant milk. In 
 fact, Lou said she knew lots more things, and 
 T guess she did by the confidence with which 
 she kept saying to the peasants along the route, 
 "quella strada andare to the next old place?" 
 After having paid the enormous sum of 
 eighty cents for breakfast we started out again 
 by the way of Romanengo. Soncino Pompiano 
 and Torbole, and quite early in the afternoon 
 had finished the thirty-three kilometers which 
 lay between us and Brescia where we were to 
 pass the night. 
 
 130
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Nearing Venice. 
 
 HAD no difficulty in finding a 
 good liotel at Brescia as there 
 were several all near together. 
 Our choice was the Albergo dell 
 'Orologio, which was on the main 
 square in the centre of the town. The young 
 man in charge spoke French very well, and the 
 price of a double room was only three francs. 
 In the restaurant one is well served, a la carte, 
 at the low prices prevailing in Italy. Brescia 
 is pleasantly situated on a hill and commands a 
 magnificent view and there are many things 
 of interest to be seen there, besides the inevi- 
 table cathedral. In fact, we did not stay at 
 Brescia as long as we should have liked to, for 
 the next day was fair and we were anxious to 
 push on to Verona, which was just sixty-six 
 kilometers further on our way to Venice. We 
 breakfasted at Lonato, a town of between i3,{)W) 
 and 7,000 inhabitants, twenty-three kilometei-s 
 from Brescia. The road to Verona we found ex- 
 cellent, although the weather was uncomfort- 
 
 131
 
 ably warm, in sjiite of the fact that it was 
 almost the end of October. 
 
 Among the other things which the cyclist no- 
 tices in this part of Lombardy are the rows 
 after rows of high hedges which line the road on 
 either side and shut out, most of the time, what- 
 ever scenery there may be. But, as a rule, this 
 country is flat and rather uninteresting. I 
 should judge that the same thing is true of 
 nearly all of Lombardy. Ordinarily, in cycling, 
 one has a constant change of view and the road 
 twists about bringing with each turn some 
 change of scene, but this isn't the case on the 
 road from Milan to Venice, where, for mile 
 after mile one sees before him a great stretch of 
 road without a single turn or deviation, which 
 makes the way seem much longer. In fact, Lou 
 said she'd rather climb a hill or put up with 
 most any kind of wheeling if they would only 
 give her a little variety. 
 
 As you wheel along, too, you can't help being 
 struck with tne fact that Italy must be the bar- 
 gain counter of the world for statuary. Every 
 estate along the road, whether the house there- 
 on be a mansion or a modest cottage, is sure to 
 have the statue of some well-known mytho- 
 logical character in life size on either gate post, 
 and the walls enclosing the grounds are inva- 
 riably decorated with the busts of those whose 
 names have come down to us from the days of 
 antiquity. And scattered about the grounds 
 themselves are more statues, many of which, 
 
 132
 
 owing to their exposure to tlie weather, look 
 more or less the worse for wear. In these cases 
 Venus de Milo no longer has a corner on being 
 the only statue without arms. Armless Apollos 
 and legless Venuses, not to mention .Jupiters 
 minus an ear, are frequentl.v seen, while many 
 of the marble counterfeit presentments of Bac- 
 chus make that giddy young god look as if he 
 had been out all night and had run into the 
 club of a New York policeman. 
 
 However, all these things are amusing and 
 Lou rather enjoyed the sensation she caused 
 when we dashed through the small Italian ham- 
 lets and villages, where men and women ran 
 (lut into the streets in a frantic endeavor to get 
 a glimpse of the spirit from a foreign land who 
 flew through their country on wheels. Still it 
 is only fair to say that the Italians were only 
 animated by sheer curiosity and that their at- 
 tentions were never otherwise than respectful, 
 if we except one case in Milan, where an irre- 
 sponsible small boy threw a stick at Lou's wheel 
 ■which broke the mud-guard. .loe would have 
 liked to administer a good American spanking 
 to this young son of Italy, but he fled like the 
 wind and was soon lost in a crowd of his 
 fellows. 
 
 From Lonato our w^ay lay through Rivoltella, 
 Peschiera to Castelnuovo di Ver. The last men- 
 tioned place is only eighteen kilometers from 
 Verona, where we arrived just at dark. As it 
 was raining at the time, wc went lo the first 
 
 133
 
 hotel we could find, which happened to be the 
 Alia Gabbia, which is on the Piazza Erbe. This 
 hotel was not as cheerful as it might have been, 
 but still we were not uncomfortable there. A 
 room for two persons cost four lire, and all the 
 prices were quite as reasonable as those I have 
 already mentioned. 
 
 We did not see Verona under the pleasantest 
 circumstances and yet we enjoyed it thoroughly, 
 although it rained almost incessantly while we 
 were there. Really Verona is one of the most 
 Interesting cities of Italy, if not of all Europe. 
 It is a perfect symposium of Roman antiquities 
 and of cathedrals decorated by the greatest mas- 
 ters known to Italian art. Its amphitheatre is 
 believed to have been constructed in the years 
 68 and 69 A. D., and almost all of its celebrities 
 of past ages can boast of having been dead 
 longer than similar celebrities almost anywhere 
 else in Italy. Naturally we visited all the 
 cathedrals most worthy of our attention, be- 
 sides making an inspection of the fortifications 
 of the city, which are most complete and in- 
 teresting. 
 
 I think what Lou enjoyed most was our call 
 at the alleged tomb of Romeo and Juliet. I 
 say tomb, although what we saw was only a 
 small part of it. In appearance it resembled a 
 great stone bathtub, which was more than half 
 filled with the visiting cards which had been 
 left there by sympathetic callers from all iiarts 
 of the world. Lou followed the example of her 
 
 134
 
 predecessors and dropped a dainty little crrd. 
 and. I suspect, a tear where so many similar 
 cards and possibly tears had been dropped be- 
 fore. We were told afterwards that there are 
 really no authentic proofs that what is pointed 
 out to the visitors at Verona as part of the 
 tomb of Romeo and .Juliet is really what it is 
 supposed to be. but Lou would never listen to 
 the story for an instant. She declares she is 
 sure that that stone bathtub is the real thing 
 for she felt the presence of the unfortunate 
 lovers as she stood beside it. One thing that 
 troubled Lou in Verona, as elsewhere in Italy, 
 was the idea that Garibaldi, who had been dead 
 only such a short time, should have so many 
 more statues than lots of other distinguished 
 Italians who died centuries before he was born. 
 
 On the morning of the third day, as it was 
 still raining, we made up our minds that if it 
 hadn't cleared up by afternoon we would go by 
 rail to Vicenza. which was fifty kilometers 
 further along on our road to Venice. Therefore, 
 as the weather was unchanged in the after- 
 noon, we took a train about four o'clock for 
 Vicenza. 15ut as we rode over this same route 
 on our wheels on oiu- way back from Venice, I 
 am prepared to say that thf v.heeung between 
 the two cities is not at all bad. 
 
 On arriving at Vicenza we left our bicycles 
 at the station, having unstrapped what l);iggage 
 we carried on them. Then, for the first time 
 and thf last while on a wheeling tour in l<]ii- 
 
 135
 
 rope, we entered one of the hotel omnibuses 
 which was waiting at the station. A little later 
 we had a ( hance to see for ourselves at what a 
 disadvantage any one is who makes his entry 
 into an Italian hotel under these circumstances. 
 
 The particular omnibus which we got into 
 belonged to the Hotel Roma, which is some dis- 
 tance from the station. When the omnibus 
 stopped wp found ourselves in the courtyard 
 of a hotel of considerable dimensions. The 
 manager, who spoke French, said he had rooms 
 for two persons as low as six francs. Lou ele- 
 vated her eyebrows at this but said she would 
 look at the quarters. Joe and I went up with 
 her and were shown to a miserable little inside 
 room with single bed. It was the worst thing 
 in the way of rooms that we had seen since we 
 left Paris. The waiter volunteered the infor- 
 mation that they had something better for ten 
 lire. There is no denying the fact that we 
 were three pretty mad Americans when we 
 got down stairs. 
 
 The manager was standing on a chair wind- 
 ing a clock, surrounded by four or five waiters, 
 when we tackled him. Briefly, but in fervent 
 language, we told him what we thought of him 
 and his hotel and then before he had time to 
 even get off his chair we each grabbed up our 
 hand baggage and sailed out of the hotel. I 
 don't think there was a more astonished hotel 
 manager or a madder one in all Italy that night. 
 A waiter followed us up the street trying to 
 
 1.36
 
 get a lira each from us for our fares in the 
 omnibus to the hotel. We paid no attention to 
 him. Having sought out the nearest cafe we 
 had no difficulty in being directed to an excel- 
 lent hotel near by where Joe got a splendid 
 double rooom for three lire and the restaurant 
 was not only good but the prices in the restau- 
 rant were even lower than some of those al- 
 ready cited. 
 
 We did little or no sight seeing in Vicenza. 
 and though we breakfasted there we did not 
 make a start liII afternoon. It was Sunday and 
 we attracted a good deal of attention when we 
 made our appearance in the street. We arrived 
 at Padua, thirty-two kilometers from Vicenza, 
 so early in the afternoon that we thought we 
 might as well keep on towards Venice, or rather 
 Mestre, which is as far as one can go on one's 
 wheel. At Mestre you take the boat or the 
 train across the bridge to Venice. Mestre is 
 only forty-two kilometers from Padua. We 
 knew we couldn't reach Mestre that afternoon 
 but thought we might arrive at Mira Vecchia, a 
 town of nearly ten thousand inhabitants, where 
 we could pass the night. That afternoon, how- 
 ever, for the first time we lost our way. We 
 made the mistake of asking in our Nutt's di('- 
 tionary Italian if we were on the right road to 
 Venice. In each case we were assured that we 
 were. The good people that we met had no 
 intention of deceiving us Ijut wliile we were 
 always riding towards our destinntion we were 
 
 1.37
 
 entirely off tne road to Mira Vecchia. When 
 we discovered this fact it was already dark and 
 the nearest town at which we could find ac- 
 commodations for the night was called Mirano 
 and was nearly ten kilometers away. There 
 was nothing for it, however, but to make the 
 ride in the dark. We had no lanterns, but man- 
 aged to reach Mirano without accident between 
 seven and eight o'clock. Here there was no 
 question as to hotels. There was only one in 
 the town. The main square of the town was 
 lighted up and a brass band was playing in the 
 center of it. Lou said she wondered how they 
 knew we were coming. We were too glad to 
 get anywhere to ask any questions about prices 
 that night, but when we got our bill next morn- 
 ing we could hardly believe our eyes. 
 
 Joe and Lou had a room whicn was nearly 
 big enough for a bowling alley, with the usual 
 decorated ceiling and painted walls. The 
 charge for this for both of them was thirty 
 cents, or fifteen cents apiece, while my room, 
 which wasn't quite so large, was twenty cents. 
 Dinner for us three was eighty cents, and three 
 pints of wine were marked down as eighteen 
 cents. The Benedictines, cognacs, etc., as well 
 as the small cups of coffee were all charged for 
 at the rate of two cents each. We could hardly 
 believe that there had not been some mistake 
 until we had paid the bill and received our 
 receipt. Then we came to the conclusion that 
 this must have been the first time any Ameri- 
 
 138
 
 cans had ever stayed over night at Mirano. We 
 were very carefnl not to spoil a good thing by 
 expressing surprise or by giving over-extrava- 
 gant tips. On inquiring in the morning where 
 we were we found that we had only about ten 
 kilometers to reach Mestre. We had to walk 
 and push our machines, however, to get out ol 
 Mirano, as it was market day there and the 
 streets were filled with peasants. 
 
 The road to Mestre proved all right, and on 
 arriving there, instead of leaving our wheels in 
 the town itself, we followed the horse car track 
 and rode out to the end of the point of land 
 from which a little passenger steamer starts for 
 Venice. There we found a storage room, pre- 
 pared especially for the keeping of bicycles, at 
 a cost, if I remember rightly, of five or six 
 cents a day. On arriving at Venice we had no 
 idea where to go, so on leaving the steamer we 
 hired a gondola by the hour and were propelled 
 up and down the Grand canal looking for suit- 
 able quarters. Of course Venice is dearer than 
 most places in Italy, but we succeeded in get- 
 ting excellent quarters at the Hotel Beau-Riv- 
 age very reasonably. There a room cost .Joe 
 and Lou six francs a day, while I paid four. 
 Cafe au lait with bread and butter, served in 
 the room, cost twenty-five cents. At the Ris- 
 toratore Panada on the Calle Specchieri, Nos. 
 G47 and 648, there is a restaurant which fur- 
 nishes a remarkable variety of dishes and wines 
 at prices which seem ridiculously (dieap. If 
 
 1.39
 
 they ordered sensibly two persons could spend 
 a dollar for dinner at this restaurant, without 
 wine, but they would have to have a great ap- 
 petite. Birds and fish of all varieties are spe- 
 cialties here and they have an excellent Italian 
 champagne also, which is fairly dry, and costs 
 only about sixty cents a bottle. At this mo- 
 ment I cannot be sure of the spelling of the 
 name, but if you ask for a bottle of Cogneg- 
 liano I am quite sure that you will get what I 
 mean. 
 
 Your guide books will tell you more about 
 Venice than I could possibly find room for here, 
 so there is no use of my attempting to go into 
 the beauties and charms of this peculiar city. 
 In its way it is perhaps the most interesting city 
 in Europe. 
 
 Naturally you can't bicycle in Venice and Lou 
 regretted much that we hadn't sent at least one 
 trunk on from Milan. Hers was the only short 
 skirt we saw while there, and while one gets 
 more or less used to being stared at, too much 
 of that sort of thing becomes trying to the 
 nerves. Lou didn't say much about it, but it 
 was easy to see what she thought on the sub- 
 ject, for one day she stamped her foot in vexa- 
 tion and almost with tears in her eyes ex- 
 claimed: 
 
 "I wouldn't care so much if I was only sure 
 these people knew I was cycling. What I'm 
 afraid of is that some idiot will go and think 
 that I am a new woman, or some awful thin.u 
 like that." 
 
 141
 
 A STREET WHERE ONE WOULD NEED AN AQUATIC BICVCEE.
 
 However, as we spent most of our time out 
 of doors in gondolas, the length of the skirt 
 didn't make much difference after all except in 
 crossing the Place St. Marc on our way to the 
 restaurant or while out on shopping tours. 
 
 We spent six days in Venice, and on October 
 30 we returned to Mestre and set out on our 
 return journey over the same route which we 
 had taken on our way to Venice, with the ex- 
 ception that we rode back by the way of Mira 
 Vecchia instead of going back by Mirano. At 
 Verona the weather had grown so cold that we 
 took the train back to Milan, where we spent 
 another week at the Hotel St. Michel. 
 
 This time instead of taking pension, or 
 board, we lived on the European plan. Joe and 
 Lou got an excellent room with an electric 
 light for five lire a day, while I did fairly well 
 for two lire less. We breakfasted and dined at 
 the hotel or outside, as we saw fit, and found 
 that there was not much difference in expense 
 between this plan and the one we had adopted 
 before of paying seven francs a day, which cov- 
 ered everything. 
 
 At the end of the week as the weather grew 
 no warmer, we determined to take the train to 
 Genoa, and cycle along the Mediterranean from 
 Genoa to Nice. Although we took the train, in 
 the proper season one can cycle very easily from 
 Milan to Genoa by the way of Pavia, Tortona 
 Cassano Spinola, Ronco Scrivia and Busalla. 
 The distance from Milan to Tortona is forty-six 
 kilometers; from Tortona to Genoa it is sev- 
 enty-five kilometeis. 
 
 143
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ^ 
 
 On To Ventimigflia. 
 
 N LEAVLNCt MILAN we had 
 sent our trunks on by the grande 
 Vitesse, so when we left the train 
 on arriving at Genoa, we fastened 
 our baggage as usual to our ma- 
 chines and stai-ted to ride through the city in 
 quest of a hotel which would prove to our lik- 
 ing. We haan't ridden fifty yards, however, be- 
 fore a very tall man of sombre mien, wearing a 
 tall hat and a long, single-breasted coat, but- 
 toned up high about the neck, and reaching 
 nearly to his ankles, stepped into the middle 
 of the narrow street, and holding before him 
 a kind of mace he carried, bade us politely 
 enough to dismount. 
 
 This individual was one of tiiose peculiarly 
 garbed policemen whom one sees in the large 
 cities of Italy. The officer spoke only a few 
 words of French, but he made us understand 
 that it is forbidden to ride the wheel in Genoa. 
 Later on, when we inquired why, we were told 
 that nearly all the traffic in the city passes 
 
 144
 
 through the single main thoroughfare, which is 
 badly paved and very narrow. Of course, we 
 were surprised, hut there was nothing else to 
 do but accept the situation gracefully. We 
 pushed our wheels before us to the Hotel des 
 Etrangers. which is situated on the Rue 
 Carioli, quite In the centre of Genoa. It is an 
 excellent hotel, with electric lights and ele- 
 vators and is heated throughout, but Lou 
 thought nine lire was rather high for the 
 room to which she and Joe were shown. The 
 proprietor was a most agreeable man and ad- 
 mitted very frankly that the hotels in general 
 in Genoa were deaier than anywhere else in 
 Italy, and then added that since we were mem- 
 bers of the French Touring Club he would 
 make the price of the room six lire. I also had 
 an excellent room for a lira less. The restau- 
 rant was a la carte and the cuisine very good, 
 and for the first time in many days we were 
 able to get a sirloin steak, which would have 
 been a credit to any first-class American res- 
 taurant. 
 
 The next morning, as bicycles were tabooed, 
 we took a carriage for a drive through the 
 town. I think the carriage, which made a very 
 good appearance, was forty cents an hour. We 
 were more anxious to see the house where 
 Columbus was born than anything else. Hav- 
 ing seen that and the fortifications and other 
 points of interest in the city, we went back to 
 the hotel and had our bicycles taken to the sta- 
 
 14.5
 
 YOU CAN'T CVCI^K IN GKNOA; COLUMKUS DIDN'T.
 
 tion. We did this because everyone agreed that 
 the first sixteen kilometers from Genoa, or as 
 far as Voltri on our way to Nice, was an abom- 
 inable route for wheelmen. Therefore, we took 
 the train which left Genoa about two o'clock, 
 for Voltri. The train ran along close to the 
 shore of the Mediterranean, and whenever it 
 stopped, for any reason, the passengers amused 
 themselves by throwing coppers out of the win- 
 dows for the children of the fishermen who 
 swarmed the beach, to scramble for. 
 
 In about half an hour we were at Voltri and 
 had mounted our wheels and begun our ride to 
 Nice. The distance from Nice to Genoa is in 
 the neighborhood of 175 kilometers. That after- 
 noon we rode a little more than thirty kilome- 
 ters to Savona, a town of about 30,000 inhabi- 
 tants where we found very good accommoda- 
 tions and courteous treatment at the Hotel 
 Roma. Our rooms here were four and five lire, 
 respectively, and the prices at the restaurant 
 were about the same as usual. 
 
 On the morning of November 8 the weather 
 was simply perfect. The air was warm and 
 balmy without being too hot, though in riding 
 in the middle of the day we suffered a little from 
 the heat, being clad too warmly. The road 
 from Savona to Spotoi'no was simply a bicycling 
 dream. On our left lay the beach washed by 
 the blue waters of the Mediterranean. On our 
 right rose great hills that sheltered us complete- 
 ly from the cold winds of the north. The scen- 
 
 147
 
 ery. people, and their habitations were all p'n- 
 turesque, and everything about us was full of 
 interest. The road itself was good, and, taken 
 altogether, I don't think that one could bicycle 
 anywhere under more perfect conditions than 
 along this route from Genoa to Nice. But, 
 alas I for us. it was not to be, and as we bowled 
 along, all of us in the highest spirits, Lou de- 
 clared without the slightest idea that her pre- 
 diction was so soon to come true, that the only 
 fear that she had was that it was just too lovely 
 to last. At Spotorno, we dismounted from our 
 wheels, and leaning them up against the side 
 of the road, went down on the beach to see a 
 score of fishermen, and women, for that mat- 
 ter, draw in a great net which had been set 
 over night. The net was of enormous propor- 
 tions, and stretched out to sea for a distance of 
 about a hundred yards, and took at least a 
 quarter of an hour to be drawn in. At last 
 when the final meshes were drawn upon the 
 beach, it was seen that the catch was a poor 
 one, as there were not more than a bushel bas- 
 ket full of small fish to reward so many fishers 
 for their labor. 
 
 Spotorno was perhaps the prettiest village 
 we saw on our ride along the Mediterranean. It 
 is delightfully situated at the base of two great 
 hills, which slope down towards it gradually, 
 leaving it charmingly land-locked on all sides 
 from which a blast of cold air might possibly 
 come. The houses, and the gardens about them, 
 
 14S
 
 are attractive, and the people kind and hospit- 
 able. Along the beach were scores of fishing 
 boats, showing that the fishing thereabouts 
 must be good. Undoubtedly one could live in 
 Spotorno, or in fact, in any of these Italian vil- 
 lages for about seventy-five cents a day, and be 
 regarded as a millionaire. As we contemplated 
 the natural beauties of the place, we couldn't 
 help thinking how any one who wanted to 
 withdraw from the noise and bustle of the 
 world, and put aside the cares of life tempo- 
 rarily, might do well to resort to some such 
 sequestered nook. Here one could find perfect 
 rest and quiet. Surrounded by plenty of 
 books, one would have no lack of time to read. 
 Here, too, a knowledge of the Italian language 
 could be acquired and no better place could be 
 imagined for the finishing of some literary 
 effort. For sport, one would have to depend on 
 fishing, swimming, bicycling and tennis. Be- 
 sides one could wheel to Monte Carlo and Nice 
 by passing only one night somewhere on the 
 road, or, in fact, a good wheelman could make 
 the trip in one day. 
 
 Two or three kilometers beyond Spotorno we 
 had other things to occupy our thoughts, for in 
 going through the town of Noli, .Joe's hind tire 
 picked up a tack or nail which had doubtless 
 worked loose from the wooden shoe of some 
 Italian peasant. It made a good sized hole, and 
 it was soon evident that Joe could do no more 
 riding until that tire was repaired. It was a 
 
 14r>
 
 single tube American tire, but wlien we tried 
 to repair it we could make no headway, as we 
 could not force the mushroom-shaped bit of 
 rubber into the hole, and found, moreover, that 
 our glue had dried up. Fortunately, however, 
 although it was Sunday, we found that a train 
 was due in about half an hour, which would 
 take us on to Finalmarina, nine kilometers fur- 
 ther on. where there was a m«n who repaired 
 bicycles. At this town we found the bicycle re- 
 pair shop to be in charge of Emanuel Maggi, 
 who, in reply to our dictionary Italian, looked 
 confident and assured us that he could repair 
 the tire easily, though he had never seen one 
 like it before. Later on in the afternoon he was 
 just as confident as ever, but hadn't made any 
 headway with the tire or with his work. Fin- 
 ally, he said it would be necessary for us to 
 stay all night. 
 
 Lou didn't like this idea, and said she'd bet 
 he would charge us for sitting up all night with 
 a sick tire. By noon the next day he sent word 
 to the hotel that he'd finished his work and we 
 all got ready to go down to the shop to con- 
 gratulate him. 
 
 Finalmarina's hotel is not such a bad one. 
 It is in the centre of the town, and is known as 
 the Grande Hotel Garibaldi. We had ordered 
 a la carte, and found things reasonable, and 
 now on getting word from the bicycle man that 
 he was ready for us, we called for our bill and 
 
 150
 
 found that the i-ooms were only marked at two 
 and three lire respectively. 
 
 At the bicycle shop we found an admiring 
 crowd gathered, who were watching Signer 
 Maggi careering around the Square on Joe"s 
 wheel, just to show his countrymen that he 
 could repair anything in the tire line, if it 
 did come from America. That tire certainly 
 did stand up, but what he had done to it we 
 shall never know, even in the light of subse- 
 quent events. 
 
 The tire had been a new one when we left 
 Milan. It now looked as if it had been ridden 
 across the Rocky Mountains. Over the point 
 where the nail had entered he had glued on 
 several layers of rubber, and over this he had 
 wound several yards of white cloth, all of 
 which was fastened down with a piece of red 
 flannel. Signor Maggi explained that if the tire 
 didn't have a relapse after being ridden two or 
 three hours we could remove these outside 
 bandages, rle then charged us eight lire for his 
 work and said good morning and prepared to 
 receive the congratulations of his friends. 
 
 The appearance of Joe's tire certainly wasn't 
 calculated to inspire confidence in any one, but 
 we mounted and started on all the same. For 
 something more than fifteen kilometers we rode 
 along all right, the wheeling and the scenery 
 being almost equal to that whicli I have al- 
 ready described. As wo were ai)pr()acliing AI- 
 benga, however, Lou and I, who were riding on 
 
 1.^1
 
 ahead to warn Joe of any obstructions in the 
 path, which might prove fatal to his already 
 demoralized tire, heard him behind using lan- 
 guage. We rode back and found the tire gone, 
 this time for good and all we feared. Signor 
 Maggi, after making his repairs, had put the 
 tire back on the wooden rim with little or no 
 glue. As a consequence the friction had cut the 
 rubber badly about the valve. It was only 
 about three kilometers to Albenga, so Joe 
 climbed on a passing omnibus with his wheel, 
 while Lou and I rode. 
 
 At Albenga we took luncheon at the Hotel 
 Vittorrio, while a local bicycle professor tried 
 to see what he could do with Joe's tire. He, 
 too, thought he could fix it, but being a more 
 honest man than Signor Maggi, frankly con- 
 fessed his inability to do so, when we returned 
 to the shop after luncheon. 
 
 THE CYCLIST'S ENEMY. 
 
 I,i2
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Forced to Forsake Our Wheels. 
 
 HILE AT THE HOTEL we had 
 engaged in conversation witl: 
 an Italian army officer wiio 
 spoke French, who told us that 
 we would certainly be able to 
 have the necessary repairs made at Oneglia, a 
 city of 7,001) inhabitants, about forty kilometers 
 further along on our journey. 
 
 An hour later we were in a train on our way 
 to Oneglia. As we rode on the cars we could 
 see enough of the route along which we would 
 have ridden on our bicycles, but for .Toe's acci- 
 dent, to make us all regret exti'emely that we 
 were obliged to miss it. In fact, as far as we 
 could judge, every bit of the way to Nice ou 
 the road which we had mapped out was as at- 
 tractive as that part of it that we had already 
 ridden. It was between four and live o'clock 
 when we got to Oneglia, and as we were now 
 Hearing the French frontier, we found plenty of 
 Italians ready to serve as interpreters for us 
 
 15?.
 
 in that language. As soon as we had stated our 
 case, a consultation of all the bicycle professors 
 of Oneglia was held, who. after a careful ex- 
 amination of the tire and conferring among 
 themselves, gravely announced that the tire 
 was beyond their aid. Wnen we tried to buy a 
 new tire they said they had none which could 
 be mounted on a wooden rim, so we gave it up 
 in despair and took the train that night at 
 half-past seven for Nice. 
 
 Ventimiglia, the town on the frontier of 
 France and Italy, which the railroad goes 
 through, was only about forty kilometers 
 away. This was the first time we had crossed 
 the frontier with our bicycles on the train, 
 but we didn't have the trouble we anticipated. 
 On the presentation of our cards of identity and 
 the slips given us at the time of the entries of 
 the machines into Italy, we were passed 
 through all right, although the official in charge 
 said it would be unnecessai'y for him to take 
 the time to write out a receipt to the effect 
 that we had taken our machines out of the 
 country. When we insisted, however, he com- 
 plied with a rather bad grace and the remark 
 that it wouldn't be his fault if we lost our train. 
 He said no question would ever come up about 
 the duties on our machines not having been 
 paid, but we told him that we owed it to the 
 Touring Club of France, which was responsible 
 for us, to have our receipt in proper form. 
 On arriving in Nice, between ten and eleven 
 
 154
 
 o'clock, we were all pretty tired, and went to 
 the first hotel which we ran into on leaving the 
 station, which happened to be the Hotel St. 
 Louis. Still in Nice there is almost any number 
 hotels at all prices, and if you don't care for 
 hotel life, furnished lodgings can be had all 
 over the city, which give very fair accommo- 
 dations for from sixty francs a month up. The 
 rooms which we had at the St. Louis were only 
 up one flight, and were on the street. Five 
 francs for Lou and Joe and four francs for 
 me, with service and light included, was the 
 price agreed upon. The morning after our ar- 
 rival we found, to our consternation, that our 
 trunks, which we had intrusted to Johnson & 
 Son, in Milan, to be forwarded to us at Nice, 
 had not yet arrived, although that was nearly a 
 week ago. This was the more annoying, as 
 we had agreed to pay more than five dollars 
 in order to have them sent by the most rapid 
 express. Joe had a brand new tire in hi.s trunk, 
 and was obliged to hire a wheel until its ar- 
 rival. Lou, too, was annoyed, of course, at 
 being obliged to go around in a short skirt, al- 
 though that is so common at Nice that it at- 
 tracts little or no attention. 
 
 This delay, however, led to our taking one 
 useless trip. One afternoon we rode ovei' to 
 Monte Carlo, thinking to have a look at the 
 Casino there, l)ut were i)olitely informed that 
 we could not enter in bicycle costume. Lou 
 said she didn't see why a man couldn't lose just 
 
 15.0
 
 as much money in a bicycle suit as he could in 
 evening dress and that a short skirt might be 
 an indication of a long pocketbook. This ride 
 from Nice to Monte Carlo is a pretty hilly one, 
 but is sufficiently picturesque to make it worth 
 the while. It is less than twenty kilometers, 
 anyway. 
 
 On the third day we got our trunks, at last, 
 so Joe had his tire and Lou had her dresses, 
 and everyone was happy. 
 
 I don't think that anything that T could write 
 of our experiences in Nice could possibly add 
 to that city's reputation as a popular winter re- 
 sort. I can only say that we enjoyed ourselves 
 there thoroughly and that it is a very pleasant 
 city to bicycle in. I may add, too, that on a 
 subsequent visit to Monte Carlo, in more con- 
 ventional raiment, we looked in at the Casino 
 and found that the bad luck which pursued us 
 on the road attended us no longer. Joe won 
 enough money playing roulette to buy more 
 tires than he is ever likely to need in the rest 
 of his natural life, while, if Lou puts her win- 
 nings into hats, she will be able to start a 
 millinery store when she gets back to New 
 York. 
 
 It had been our intention to return to Paris 
 by the way of Marseilles, riding to that city 
 from Nice on our wheels, but Joe received a 
 cablegram which made it necessary for him to 
 get home as soon as possible. For this reason 
 we took the train direct from Nice to Paris. 
 
 156
 
 o 
 
 * 
 A 
 
 5-1 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 o
 
 We left at ten-thirty in the evening and were 
 in Paris the following day by six o'clock in the 
 afternoon. Lou's last words were, as she 
 stepped into the train for Havre, at the St. 
 Lazare station: 
 
 "You may be sure that next summer you'll 
 see me back in Europe for another tour, and in 
 the meantime, I'm going to make Joe learn to 
 repair his own tires." 
 
 Lou's speaking of summer tours recalls a lit- 
 tle trip which we three took in June of 1897. 
 On this occasion Joe was very much pressed for 
 time, and we had only two weeks in which 
 to ride. In that time, however, we rode in 
 France, Belgium, Holland and even had a lit- 
 tle run in Germany. On this tour we met with 
 no accidents of any sort, and rode a thousand 
 kilometers without any of us being obliged to 
 do more than have our tires blown up now 
 and then. 
 
 We left Paris about June 10th en route for 
 Brussels, where the exposition was being held. 
 As I have already said, in starting on a trip 
 from Paris, one is apt to find the worst roads 
 in the first day's ride from the city. For this 
 reason, we decided to take the train to Laon, a 
 little more than three hours' ride from Paris by 
 rail. We left Paris from the Gare du Nord 
 about noon. Laon is a town of about 14,000 in- 
 habitants, and has a cathedral built in the 
 thirteenth century, and an old tower and gate 
 of the twelfth century. A beautiful view can 
 
 158
 
 also be had from the ramparts above the town. 
 
 ■\Ve arrived at Laon so late in the afternoon 
 that we decided not to stop to view the sights 
 there, but to keep on instead to Vervins, a lit- 
 tle more than twenty kilometers further on. 
 You will have to take one or two hills on this 
 route, but on the whole it isn't at all bad. At 
 Vervins we went to the Hotel du Cheval Noir. 
 This proved to be a very nice little hotel and 
 ve were soon well acquainted with our host, 
 who seemed very much interested in us. Joe 
 and Lou had an excellent room for two fi'ancs, 
 while I paid the same for mine. The dinners 
 were three francs each, with all the wine we 
 could drink. 
 
 The next morning it was pretty hot, but we 
 started out gaily for La Capelle, where we had 
 planned to breakfast. Before we negotiated the 
 twenty-five or thirty kilometers which lay be- 
 tween Vervins and this town, we realized that 
 bicycling in the middle of a hot day was pretty 
 serious business. However, on arriving at La 
 Capelle, we went to the Hotel des Messageries, 
 which had been recommended to us at Ver- 
 vins. Here Madame Hergott ana her very 
 charming daughter showed us every attention, 
 Miss Hergott even putting her own room at 
 Lou's disposition. Half an hour's rest made us 
 all feel better, and when the dejeuner a la 
 fourchette was announced we were prepared 
 to do it ample justice. We all enjoyed our stay 
 at I^a Capelle extremely, and our hostess was 
 
 159
 
 very anxious to keep us over night, but we 
 had determined to push on to Maubeuge, where 
 we decided to spend the night. It was only 
 about twenty-fi\e kilometers to Maubeuge, 
 which was a town of about nineteen thousand 
 inhabitants. There we went to the Hotel du 
 Grand Cerf. Here dinner, with wine, was, as 
 usual, three francs, and we each paid 
 two francs for our rooms. By the way of di- 
 version that evening, we went to a cafe where 
 there was a concert. 
 
 On leaving Maubeuge we found the roads 
 rather heavy with mud, and we were obliged 
 to depend almost altogether on the side paths 
 and in some cases even these were not too ride- 
 able. It was also raining when we set out, but 
 as Maubeuge is shut in in a sort of a valley, we 
 rightly supposed that we would have clear 
 weather after an hour's riding. After wheeling 
 for about two hours we found ourselves on the 
 Belgian frontier, where we were most politely 
 received by two Belgian oflBcers. We had left 
 Paris in such a hurry that Joe and Lou hadn't 
 had time to have their Touring Club cards 
 properly made out and signed Dy the proper 
 authority. However, the officials, as soon as 
 tney had satisfied themselves that we were 
 genuine tourists, allowed us to pass on without 
 making any entry on their book at all, or with- 
 out giving us any receipt of entry. Soon after 
 crossing the frontier we found a path at the 
 side of the road built exclusively for the use of 
 
 160
 
 cj'clists. It was a cinder track, and, being wet, 
 was a bit heavy, but was a welcome relief from 
 the riding we had been having, and by this 
 time ought to be in perfect condition. 
 
 At Mens, which is less than an hour's ride 
 from the frontier, we stopped and had an ex- 
 cellent breakfast at one of the cafes, which are 
 many and easily found there. Starting on our 
 way again, the rain which had been threatening 
 tor some time, came down in earnest and at 
 Soignie we took the train to Brussels. 
 
 Brussels is a town which has a reputation for 
 cheap living. However that may be from the 
 point of view of the native, or the foreigners 
 who reside there, it is certain that in an ex- 
 position year the transient visitor will not be 
 struck with this alleged characteristic of Bel- 
 gium's capital. The hotels we tried were most 
 of them expensive and didn't want to take you 
 at all unless you took board as well as rooms. 
 We finally secured very good rooms over Corde- 
 man's restaurant, No. 2 Boulevard Anspach. 
 
 We liked this restaurant as well as any we 
 found in Brussels, and it was vei'y convenient 
 for us living in that way. Joe paid four trancs 
 for his room and I paid the same for mine. 
 Every citizen of the country who rides a bi- 
 cycle has to carry a great white enamel plaque 
 bearing a number on his machine, and the 
 rules governing cyclists are quite strict. One 
 officious young policeman stopped me because 
 I had a gong or a "sonnette" on my machine 
 
 161
 
 instead of a bell or a "grelot" As I was a 
 foreigner he didn't do anything more than give 
 me a word of advice on the subject. Later on 
 I asked an older policeman about this point, 
 who told me that while the young officer might 
 be technically right, he was evidently suffering 
 from an attack of over-zeal. Joe also had an 
 experience, being stopped by a policeman while 
 coasting down a slight declivity near the ex- 
 position grounds. He was informed that bi- 
 cyclists are not allowed to coast in Brussels. 
 There were certain streets, too, which it is 
 against the city ordinance for cyclists to ride 
 through. Of course the foreign rider is not 
 obliged to register his machine or carry a big 
 plaque with a number, unless he means to 
 make a prolonged stay there. 
 
 After several days in Brussels we started one 
 afternoon for Antwerp, which is only two or 
 three hours' ride from Brussels. Most of the 
 way the road lies alongside of the canal, and 
 much of it is shaded by great trees. Here, as 
 almost everywhei'e else in Belgium and Hol- 
 land, the road is level. This is one thing which 
 makes cycling there easy and agreeable. Lou 
 said that while she liked windmills and fields 
 in the abstract, when one gets nothing but 
 windmills and fields, with a few canals thrown 
 in, in the way of scenery, it begins to °-row a 
 little monotonous 
 
 Something which we noticed on our way to 
 Antwerp was that as we neared that city the 
 
 162
 
 bicyclists whom we met began to pass to our 
 right, motioning us to talve the left of the road. 
 This seemed odd, as up to this point everybody 
 had turned to the right. But the more we rode 
 in Holland the less we were able to decide as 
 to what the law of the road in that country is. 
 We finally came to the conclusion that it was 
 largely a matter of locality, and that in some 
 parts of Holland you keep to the right, while 
 in others you had to pass those whom you met 
 on the left. We arrived in Antwerp on Sunday, 
 and after riding through the city, went to the 
 Grand Cafe Leopold. We ordered dinner on the 
 terrace in front of the restaurant, and here we 
 had an adventure which I will recount just as 
 an instance of the strange experiences one 
 meets with while touring. 
 
 163
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Incidents of Travel. 
 
 I HE dinner was ordered and after 
 we had waited an iinreasonably 
 long time for the soup to be served, 
 Joe called to the waitei% who at 
 first paid no attention, and then, 
 
 turning to ns, said, insolently, 
 "Don't disturb me when I'm busy, besides you're 
 not an orchestra paid to make music for me." 
 
 The fellow's impudence was so astounding 
 that at first we didn't know what to think. 
 Then Joe went inside to interview the pro- 
 prietor. The waiter followed him and continued 
 his insolence in the hearing of his employer. In 
 a moment the proprietor came out himself to 
 take our order, and five minutes later the wait- 
 er, in his street clothes, with a little package 
 in his hand, came up to our table and made an 
 address in Belgian French something to this 
 effect: "For three long years I have worked 
 here, and now you see me discharged for you, 
 a foreigner. But I am a man, and my hands are 
 hard, and my arm is strong. Your liand is soft, 
 
 164
 
 youv arm is weak. I go, but I will be reveiigeil. 
 You may sit here till long after midniglit, but i 
 will be on the w'atch from behind yonder tree."' 
 
 Nobody made any reply to the man, thinking 
 that he was simply drunk, and supposing that 
 the proprietor would take him back the next 
 day. An hour later, however, Lou looked up 
 and exclaimed: "There's that dreadful man 
 now."' And sure enough there he was, on the 
 opposite corner, talking to a woman and ges- 
 ticulating and pointing to us in an excited man- 
 ner. 
 
 A moment later he came up to the table 
 again. This time with a stout stick, with its 
 handle loaded with lead, under his arm. Again 
 he made a little address, and ^aen informed Joe 
 that he was warned at the police station. Still 
 we paid no attention to the man, and he finally 
 went away, only to return almost immediately, 
 and this time with a policeman, who beckoned 
 to Joe to leave the table and come out on the 
 sidewalk. Instead of doing so, Joe sent for the 
 proprietor, who said a word to the officer. The 
 officer, proprietor and waiter then disappeared 
 into tlie hotel, lae next we saw of the man 
 he came out of the side door alone with the 
 policeman, who apparently was taking him off 
 to the police station. 
 
 However, the incident rather spoiled the din- 
 ner and made Lou very nervous, and she 
 dreamed all night that the waiter was at the 
 front door waiting for us to come out in the 
 
 165
 
 morning in order to Ivnocii Joe's brains out witli 
 his loaded cane. 
 
 Lou's fears, however, were unfounded, as no- 
 body was lying in wait for us when we mounted 
 our wheels in front of the hotel in the morning. 
 First we rode around Antweri) and took a look 
 at some of the museums and two or three of the 
 most interesting art galleries to be found there. 
 For a continuance of the tour, we had planned 
 that day to reach Eindhoven, which is more 
 than fifty kilometers from Antwerp. On in- 
 quiry, however, we found that the first half of 
 this distance was a combination of continuous 
 ascent and bad roads. We therefore decided to 
 take the ti'ain to Turnliout, which left us only 
 between twenty and thirty kilometers to ride 
 in order to reach Eindhoven. It may be well 
 for me to state here that in Belgium and Hol- 
 land you cannot have your bicycle carried on 
 the train as cheaply or with the same facility 
 as you can in France. In France, as I have said, 
 you pay two cents, and on handing your wheel 
 to the porter have no further trouble with it. 
 In Belgium, on the contrary, you pay fifteen 
 cents for your wheel and the employees of the 
 railroad company are not obliged to handle it 
 at all. Therefore, you are supposed to roll your 
 wheel out on the railroad platform yourself and 
 are often forced to put it in the baggage car 
 with your own hand. Of course, this rule may 
 have been changed since I was in Belgium, as 
 the Touring Club of Belgium was trying when 
 
 166
 
 I was there last summer to get some concession 
 from the State in this respect. The troubles of 
 the Belgium cyclists were generally attributed 
 to the fact that the Minister whose department 
 has charge of the railroads of that country is a 
 crusty old bachelor who doesn't approve of 
 cycling. Most of the Belgian railroads being 
 operated by the State, his word is law about the 
 matter. 
 
 However, we managed to get to Turnhout 
 with our machines safe and sound, and then 
 set out on our ride to Eindhoven, which we 
 reached shortly before nightfall. The road be- 
 tween Turnhout and Eindhoven was very good 
 as far as wheeling went, and in cycling through 
 the small villages we did not encounter the 
 same rough cobble stones with which the 
 streets of similar places in France are paved. 
 The main streets of the villages in Holland are 
 also paved, but with peculiar elongated slabs 
 of stone which are laid together in much the 
 same manner as the strips of wood on a bowling 
 alley. In the interior of Holland one finds few 
 persons who speak either French or English, 
 and one's ingenuity and the comprehensiveness 
 of one's dictionary are taxed to the utmost. 
 
 On our arrival at Eindhoven we saw a dress- 
 maker's sign in French and lost no time in call- 
 ing on her to see whether she really was French 
 or not. In this case she proved to be the real 
 article, and after giving us such information as 
 we desired, she directed us to tlie [rot(>l Post- 
 167
 
 huis, which was kept by a widow with three or 
 four daughters. The hotel was a model of 
 neatness and comfort, and the mother and the 
 daughters spoke with considerable facility such 
 French as they had acquired at boarding school. 
 You must not expect to travel in Holland, or in 
 Belgium, as cheaply as you can in France or 
 Italy, or even in Switzerland for that matter. 
 At Eindhoven the charge was three francs for 
 each person's lodging, whether one or two per- 
 sons occupied the same room. The dinners were 
 two francs fifty centimes for each person with- 
 out wine. In Holland wine is dear and not par- 
 ticularly good, l)ut at Eindhoven we found for 
 eight cents a large pony of cognac which far 
 excelled anything we ever found elsewhere In 
 Europe, even at one franc the thimbleful. 
 
 The following day Lou made her record ride 
 of one hundred kilometers. She said afterwards 
 if she'd known that we were making her ride 
 so far she would have been too tired to have 
 finished the day's journey. From Eindhoven 
 we rode through a succession of fields and 
 windmills to Weert, where we breakfasted at 
 the Hotel de Roos. The name of the man who 
 keeps the hotel is E. Coenegracht. How Mr. 
 Coenegracht is going to get rich we couldn't 
 quite understand. But then it was none of our 
 business. Here was his bill for our breakfast: 
 Eight beers, one glass of bitters, three break- 
 fasts, three coffees with cheese, eighty-six 
 cents. This would have been cheap even for 
 
 168
 
 Italy, but we didn't run across this sort of 
 thing often in Holland. 
 
 Leaving Weert, we passed through Maeseyck, 
 and spent the night at Maastrick. We were 
 now getting rather hurried, as we wanted to 
 get back to Brussels in time to spend a day or 
 two there. 
 
 The next morning we rode to Valkenberg. 
 where there are really plenty of hills and 
 scenery. This district is known as the local 
 Switzerland, and Valkenberg is a very popular 
 summer resort. We were now so near the fron- 
 tier of Germany that we decided to cross it and 
 ride to Aix la Chapelle, to take a look at 
 Charlemagne's tomb and some of the bits of the 
 cross on which the Saviour was crucified. Any- 
 way, they said they were bits of the cross, and 
 it cost two francs apiece to see them, so I guess 
 they were. Neither in entering Germany nor in 
 crossing the frontier again, two hours later, 
 were we molested at all by the customs officials. 
 Riding back from Germany we rode for about 
 an hour in Holland, and on the Belgium frontier 
 we had a little adventure. 
 
 At the custom house we showed our imper- 
 fectly prepared cards of identity to a subordi- 
 nate official, who told us that we could proceed. 
 Lou and I rode on, while Joe stopped to ar- 
 range something about his machine. Suppos- 
 ing he was following us, we rode on about 
 eight kilometers before we decided to wait for 
 him. When he did catch up with us he told 
 
 169
 
 us that he had had a great time with a higher 
 official, who had come out and rebuked his sub- 
 ordinate for having allowed us to pass. He 
 told Joe that he wasn't a Frenchman — no one 
 could ever hear Joe's accent and think for an 
 instant that he was — and said that the fact that 
 we had ridden on showed that there was some- 
 thing irregular about us. With great difficulty 
 Joe had persuaded the official to allow him to 
 go on. The permission was accompanied by 
 the information that he intended to wire custom 
 officers at some point along our route to hold 
 us up and examine all of our papers most care- 
 fully. 
 
 Lou said he needn't have taken all of that 
 trouble, as the only thing irregular about Joe 
 and me was our habits. As a matter of fact, 
 we never heard of the matter again. That night 
 we slept at Verviers, at the Hotel de I'Aigle 
 Noir, 42 Place du Martyr. Here lodgings were 
 30 cents for each person, and the restaurant, 
 where we dined a la carte, was very reasonable. 
 The following morning we breakfasted at 
 Pepinster and then rode on to Rochefort, where 
 we visited the famous grottoes, which are well 
 worth seeing, and attract people from all parts 
 of Europe. Les Grottes de Han are said to be 
 finer even than the grotto of Rochefort. They 
 are near by, but we didn't have time to go there, 
 and as the weather began to be bad, we took 
 the train that afternoon for Brussels. While 
 in Brussels we rode out to the scene of the 
 
 170
 
 HI 
 
 '^^ 
 
 
 iuMj 
 
 
 "^1 #:; 
 is- 
 
 .-^- 
 
 U-HRR7<: WKMJNGTON SI.KI'T OX TIIIC IvVI; OF 
 NAI'OI.KOX'S WATKKr.OO.
 
 battle of Waterloo, a trip which no one who 
 visits Brussels should fail to take. The wheel- 
 ing out and back was very good, and the round 
 trip is only a matter of about thirty kilometers. 
 A ride out to Aywaille and to the Bois de la 
 Cambre are also well worth while. 
 
 After twenty-four hours in Brussels we had 
 just time to ride back to Paris over the route 
 by which we had come before the two weeks 
 were up. It was in the following September 
 that we set out on our ride to Venice, whicn has 
 already been described. 
 
 172
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 European Traveling as seen by Mr. Luce 
 
 R. ROBERT LUCE, of Boston, 
 who has traveled much in Eu- 
 rope and who lectures on 
 "Switzerland," "From Monte 
 Carlo to Venice," "Rome," "The 
 Bay of Naples," and other kindred subjects, has 
 published a little book, entitled "Going 
 Abroad?" which comprises much useful infor- 
 mation for tourists generally, from which I cull 
 the following extracts, with the permission of 
 the author. Mr. Luce's book, which contains 
 about 200 pages, covers nearly every branch of 
 European travel and can be had by addressing 
 Robert Luce, 68 Devonshire St., Boston, or 
 through your newsdealer. The price of the 
 book is 50 cents, paper, or $1 in cloth. 
 
 Mr. Luce makes a reference to an organiza- 
 tion for women, which I have already men- 
 tioned as existing in Boston, and adds some 
 comments of his own as to the conditions under 
 which unprotected women travel abroad. On 
 these subjects Mr. Luce says: 
 
 17.'?
 
 In the mere matter of travel Europe offers 
 far more comfort and convenience than Amer- 
 ica to women journeying aione or in parties 
 without men. They need never touch their lug- 
 gage unless they choose. At hotels and rail- 
 way stations they will always be more courte- 
 ously treated than men — and that is saying a 
 good deal. And the "unprotected female" needs 
 no protection. English women think nothing 
 of taking their vacations on the Continent, and 
 a journey from New York to Los Angeles pre- 
 sents more terrors than one from London to 
 Constantinople or Cairo. 
 
 To make foreign travel still easier, there ex- 
 ists an admirable organization called the Wo- 
 men's Rest Tour Association, which may be ad- 
 dressed at 264 Boylston Street, Boston. "Its 
 object is to furnish women who wish to travel 
 for purposes of rest and study with such prac- 
 tical advice and encouragement as shall enable 
 them to do so independently, intelligently and 
 economically. It is not designed for the con- 
 venience of women who organize or conduct 
 large parties." And it may be added that it is 
 in no way a money-making institution, there 
 being neither salaries nor dividends for any- 
 body in it. Mrs. Julia Ward Howe is the presi- 
 dent, and other well-known New England wo- 
 men are on the board of officers. It publishes 
 a handbook of travel, entitled "A Summer in 
 England" (to which I would here give credit for 
 some of the information hereafter given); is- 
 
 174
 
 sues yearly a revised list of accredited lodg- 
 ings and pensions over all Europe, with details 
 concerning prices and accommodations; pub- 
 lishes an occasional paper called The Pilgrim 
 Scrip, devoted to travel and life abroad: ex- 
 changes introductions between members who 
 desire company; lends money from its travel- 
 ing fund (under careful supervision) to provide 
 vacation trips for women greatly in need of 
 rest and change; advises in regard to travel; 
 lends from its library of Baedeker guide-books 
 for the European trip; and in minor ways ac- 
 complishes its laudable purpose. The fee for 
 the first year's membership is $2; annual fee 
 thereafter, $1; life membership, $25. If but a 
 small part of the wealthy American women who 
 get enjoyment out of a trip abroad would, by 
 becoming life members of this association, aid it 
 in helping their less fortunate sisters to the 
 same enjoyment, its sphere of usefulness could 
 be greatly widened. 
 
 Speaking of the difficulty of securing berths 
 on ocean steamers during the summer season. 
 Mr. Luce says: 
 
 From November to April there is usually 
 plenty of room, and travelers to whom crossing 
 is an old story frequently take no more precau- 
 tions than they would to secure a berth In a 
 sleeping car for Chicago or St. Louis. In the 
 winter, payment for a single berth usually se- 
 cures a whole stateroom to yourself, and you 
 have practically the pick of the boat. Some- 
 
 17.-1
 
 times on the smaller boats there will not be 
 half a dozen first cabin passengers. 
 
 From the point of view of both economy and 
 comfort, then, it is wiser if practicable to travel 
 when the winter rates are in force. The fear 
 of stormy weather doubtless deters many peo- 
 ple from doing this, but the fact is that though 
 the chances of severe storms are greater in win- 
 ter than in summer, they are not enough 
 greater to cut any figure with those who cross 
 repeatedly. This matter of storms is largely 
 one of luck. 
 
 Mr. Luce sizes up the climatic condition of 
 various parts of Europe as follows: 
 
 Save in such sheltered spots as San Remo or 
 Ventimiglia, the scenery of Italy is naturally 
 at its worst in winter, for then the landscape 
 is brown and bare. It is at its best in April 
 and May, before the sun has begun to burn up 
 things. June is a charming month at Venice, 
 though some of its days are uncomfortably 
 warm. In mid-summer the climate is much like 
 that of the United States, frequently too hot for 
 sight-seeing, yet with many comfortable 
 periods. Few of the army of American tourists 
 then go south of Florence, but European trav- 
 elers, and especially Germans, think nothing of 
 visiting Rome in July or August, and I have 
 met people who declared they suffered riot the 
 slightest inconvenience at Naples in dog-days. 
 
 The notion that Rome must not be visited in 
 summer on account of the malaria in the Cam- 
 
 176
 
 pagna is no longer supported by those in a posi- 
 tion to speak with authority. Of course it is 
 dangerous to promenade after dark on the 
 Campagna, just as it is in a Western river bot- 
 tom, or anywhere else that malaria abounds, 
 but tourists do not promenade on th(? Cam- 
 pagna after dark, nor do they drive across it 
 after dark, as they often did before the time of 
 railroads, when I suspect it was that Rome got 
 Its bad name as a summer resort. It does not 
 yet deserve a good name, but it is no worse 
 than our Southern States in the summer 
 months, and if a tourist cannot well go south 
 of Florence at any other time, there is little 
 except the dread of perspiration to keep him 
 from going in July or August. 
 
 The Italian summer is much like that of Vir- 
 ginia or Kentucky, comfortable enough, but less 
 attractive than the spring. 
 
 Switzerland, for the passing tourist, is of 
 course to be visited in summer, and in August 
 rather than in June or July, if any mountain 
 climbing is to be done, for while the snows are 
 melting in early summer, the heights are the 
 more dangerous. In September the air gets 
 chilly and the shoi'tening of the days is em- 
 phasized by the deep valleys. Many foreigners 
 pass the winter about Lake Geneva. i)articu- 
 larly at its eastern end, and there are a few 
 winter resorts at high altitudes, almost wholly 
 freriuented by invalids for whose needs a pe- 
 culiar climate is desirable; but to the ordinary 
 traveler Switzerland in winter is dreary. 
 
 177
 
 Germany's climate is much like that of New- 
 England and tne Middle States, with plenty of 
 snow and with skating a favorite amusement. 
 Yet, though cold weather prevails, people who 
 have passed winters in Germany and also in 
 Italy, say they prefer Germany because the 
 houses are warmly built and well provided with 
 stoves. 
 
 Holland and Belgium are very cold in winter, 
 and see few tourists at that season. 
 
 Athens has an equable climate, which in time 
 Is going to make it one of the most popular 
 winter resorts on the Mediterranean. With the 
 sea south of it, and hills rising to mountains 
 behind, it has a situation midway that of an 
 island and a continent. The spring and autumn 
 there are charming; snow falls in winter only 
 once or twice in years: fogs are rare. The 
 summers are long, but the winds coming over 
 the Aegean temper Tls heats. 
 
 Southern Spain is much like Southern Italy 
 in winter. Water rarely freezes at Gibraltar. 
 Oranges may be picked from the trees about 
 Cadiz, Jerez and Seville in February; but Gra- 
 nada, surrounded by mountains, is apt to be 
 chilly, and not long after leaving Cordova on 
 the journey toward the north the mercury be- 
 gins to drop. At Madrid snowdrifts in winter 
 are not uncommon and the climate is like that 
 of a city in our Northern States. All of Spain 
 is very warm in summer, so that the best time 
 for traveling tnrough it is in the spring or fall. 
 
 178
 
 Morocco and Algiers should certainly be vis- 
 ited in winter. Egypt is now visited by throngs 
 in the late winter and early spring, but not 
 many people go or stay there after April. Like- 
 wise the Holy Land and the Far East are best 
 visited in winter or early spring. 
 
 If, then, the traveler had the time and money 
 to change his climate like the birds, he would 
 attain the maximum of comfort if he passed 
 .January and February in Northern Africa; 
 March in Palestine and Turkey; April and May 
 in Italy, Southern France and Spain; June in 
 Paris and England; July and August in Switz- 
 erland, or Norway, Sweden and Russia; Sep- 
 tember in Germany; October in Austria; No- 
 vember in Greece; December in Sicily. Not 
 that these are positively the best months for 
 each country named, but that this might make 
 the best circular tour for a year, from the 
 climatic point of view. 
 
 Some of the principal sporting events, as 
 well as others of interest, in the musical and 
 social world, are thus summarized: 
 
 In Paris the Grand Prix is run on a Sunday 
 early in June. 
 
 The Oxford-Cambridge boat race is rowed on 
 the Thames near London, usually in Mai'ch. 
 The "eights' week" at Oxford comes in the 
 middle of May; the Henley regatta late in June 
 or July. 
 
 The cricket match between Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge is played near the end of June, and be- 
 
 179
 
 tween Eton and Harrow usually in July. As 
 with us, football is a fall sport, but lasts later, 
 games being played up to Christmas time. The 
 Oxford-Cambridge match in 1896 took place 
 Dec. 9. 
 
 Oxford is at its best during the Trinity term, 
 from the middle of May to the middle of July; 
 and Commemoration Week, usually the second 
 or third in June, is the gayest. 
 
 The salons at Paris — there are now two of 
 them — open in May and are kept open for some 
 weeks. The Royal Academy in London is open 
 from the first Monday in May to the first Mon- 
 day in August. 
 
 When there is a Wagnerian festival at Bay- 
 reuth, it comes in mid-summer, but if you want 
 to go you must write for tickets weeks and even 
 months ahead; even then you may not get 
 them. A letter addressed to the management 
 at Bayreuth will procure the necessary in- 
 formation. 
 
 The fountains at Versailles generally play 
 between 4 and 5 of the afternoon on the first 
 Suiiday of each month from May to October; 
 those of St. Cloud at the same hour on the sec- 
 ond Sunday of the month. The spectacle at 
 Versailles costs about $2,000 and is well worth 
 taking much pains to see. 
 
 The flower festival in the Bois de Boulogne 
 at Paris comes about the time of the Grand 
 Prix, early in June. 
 
 The Paris Exposition will open April 1-5 and 
 close Nov. 5, 1900. 
 
 ISO
 
 As to the ocean trip and the attendant ex- 
 penses, Mr. Luce has this to say: 
 
 At the end of a trip every passenger on a 
 trans-Atlantic steamer is supposed to give fees. 
 It is an unwritten law, but as binding as the 
 English constitution. The amount to be given 
 always worries the novice, who dreads giving 
 too little, and usually begrudges giving too 
 much. If you give $2.50 to the man who waits 
 on you at table, and a like amount to the man 
 or woman who takes care of your stateroom, he 
 or she will be perfectly satisfied; that much and 
 no more is expected; if more is given, you are 
 thought generous, but no benefit accrues to you, 
 and often but slight benefit to the recipient, for 
 frequently the receipts of all the stewards are 
 pooled at the end of the trip and then divided 
 equitably. So, in making a large gift, you but 
 present so much money to the whole body of 
 stewards. 
 
 For one, I see no reason why a head steward 
 should be feed. It is virtually a duty to fee the 
 under stewards, because their wages are small, 
 in the expectation that they will receive enough 
 from passengers to make their earnings reason- 
 able. This is not the case with the head steward 
 or anybody else on the ship. The men who fre- 
 quent the smoking room usually make up a 
 purse for the smoking room steward, but that 
 is wholly a matter of generosity. The deck 
 steward usually receives a small free from those 
 who have frequently called upon him for serv- 
 
 181
 
 ices, and the passenger who is soasiclt usually 
 calls upon him a good deal. 
 
 These hints for traveling on the Continent 
 also come from the pen of the same author: 
 
 The only important difference between a first 
 and second class compartment is that the first- 
 class has either six or eight seats to a compart- 
 ment, three or four looking front and three 
 or four back — the second-class has ten, one 
 more on each side. When all the seats are 
 taken this is a slight disadvantage against the 
 second-class, but that very rarely happens, not 
 once in fifty rides. Indeed, there are seldom 
 more than four people in a first or second-class 
 compartment — or perhaps I would better say it 
 is generally possible to find a compartment, if 
 you wish, that has not more than two or three 
 occupants. In several months' journeying, two 
 of us had second-class compartments to our- 
 selves more than two-thirds of the time, and 
 never tipped the guard. That, however, might 
 not be the case on the main lines of travel in 
 July and Augiist. 
 
 In cost the proportions, averaged from fares 
 in many countries, are: First-class, one dollar; 
 second-class, seventy-three cents; third-class, 
 fifty-two cents. In other words, speaking in 
 round numbers, first-class costs a third more 
 than second; third-class a third less than sec- 
 ond, and half as much as first. 
 
 The berths in European sleeping cars are 
 even more uncomfortable than ours, and their 
 
 182
 
 cost makes it safe to lay down the rule never 
 to travel by night if you can iDossibly help it. 
 Some I'oads have flrst-elass and second-class 
 sleeping compartments. Bean tells me he has 
 tried both, and finds no difference except in the 
 price. 
 
 Usually tickets for the through trains are ten 
 per cent, higher than those for accommodation 
 trains, but the time saved is worth ten times the 
 extra cost. What we should call the "limited" 
 train from Rome to Naples takes five and one- 
 fourth houis: the express, six and one-fourth, 
 and the accommodation, eleven bourse. The 
 distance is one hundred and sixty-two miles. 
 
 Bean, who always goes second-class, tells me 
 that once he kept a record of every ticket 
 bought while journeying twenty-seven hundred 
 miles by short stages, and found he had aver- 
 aged to pay $0.0266 a mile. On the same jour- 
 ney first-class fares would have averaged 
 $0.0364 a mile: third-class, $0,189. On any one 
 road, the price per mile is the same whether 
 you travel five miles, fifty, or five hundred, ex- 
 cept in the few regions where the zone system of 
 rates prevails, and the ordinary traveler does 
 find those. 
 
 The price of tickets is printed on the time- 
 tables hung up in the station, and in the time- 
 table books that are issued. 
 
 Children travel free up to the age of three 
 years throughout the greater part of the Conti- 
 nent; in Austria and Switzerland, n|) to two 
 
 183
 
 years. In Norway and Sweden half price is 
 charged between three and twelve; in Austria 
 and Switzerland, between two and ten. In Ger- 
 many two children under ten travel on one 
 ticket; a single child pays third-class fare to 
 travel second; second-class to travel first. In 
 Belgium three-quarters fare is charged for chil- 
 dren from three to eight; in France, half fare 
 from three to seven. When you are buying a 
 ticket for a child, it is always advisable to let 
 the ticket seller see the child. 
 
 From his experiences in traveling by boat 
 Mr. Luce has arrived at the following deduc- 
 tions: 
 
 First-class tickets come much nearer being 
 necessary on European steamboats than on 
 European railways. As a rule the best accom- 
 modations on the boats are none too good. The 
 best known boats, those crossing the English 
 Channel, would not, for the most part, be tol- 
 erated on lines of equal importance in America; 
 they draw only six or seven feet of water, which 
 is one reason why they are so sure to make 
 passengers seasick when the water is the least 
 bit rough. But don't think that inevitable. I 
 have crossed the channel when from one side 
 to the other we could not see anything that 
 properly could be called a wave. 
 
 On river and lake boats, before you get your 
 ticket, wait to see what parts of the boat are 
 allotted to first and second-class passengers, re- 
 spectively. For an all-day ride, such as that 
 
 184
 
 on the Rhine, the freedom of the whole boat 
 given by a first-class ticket is in any event de- 
 sirable. On the Lake of Thun the second-class 
 accommodations are for sight seeing and pleas- 
 ure much superior to those allotted the first- 
 class passengers, who usually crowd forward 
 into the second-class seats, in spite of their 
 tickets; but on the Lake of Brienz, only a mile 
 or so away, the second-class accommodations 
 are miserable. On Lake Geneva it costs one 
 dollar and fifty cents to go from end to end of 
 the lake first-class; sixty cents second class, and 
 in pleasant weather the second-class seats are 
 better, being ahead of the smoke-stack and giv- 
 ing the finer views. 
 
 Referring to bicycling, Mr. Luce is authority 
 for the following statements: 
 
 There are many flinty roads in England, es- 
 pecially south of London, and though France 
 has the best highways in the world, they are 
 made of flinty material and demand good tires 
 to stand the strain. Many riders have found it 
 desirable to reinforce their tires by a strip of 
 rubber going round the tire where the most 
 wear comes, say an inch and a half wide. It 
 may cost .$3 to have this put on. Only the rash 
 wheelman will make a foreign trip without a 
 tire repair outfit, or at least a supply of tape 
 to cover a puncture till a repair shop can be 
 reached. Yet many a returning rider will re- 
 port having gone through Europe without a 
 single puncture. 
 
 185
 
 The Inick roads of Holland are disliked by 
 some wheelmen — praised by others. As in Hol- 
 land more than in most other countries, the 
 villages and rural districts are the more pic- 
 turesque and the less spoiled by the quick-tour 
 people, and as there are absolutely no hills to 
 climb, it is surely worth the wheelman's atten- 
 tion. "The roads of Spain," declares one bi- 
 cycler, "are good, as a rule, though not equal 
 to those in France and Italy. A trip through 
 any one of our States would be a more formid- 
 able undertaking than one through Spain. Of 
 course we attracted universal attention, but it 
 was always accompanied by courteous respect." 
 Normandy is another delightful region for bi- 
 . cycling, and Touraine is declared a paradise for 
 wheelmen. In Northern France the climate in 
 summer is excellent for the sport, being much 
 less wet than that of England, and averaging 
 considerably cooler than that of the United 
 States. 
 
 A favorite trip is from Rotterdam or Amster- 
 dam up the Rhine Valley to Switzerland, and 
 then from Geneva straight to Paris and the sea. 
 Home-coming wheelmen who had just made 
 this trip told me, however, that if they were 
 to do it again, they would reverse it, so as to 
 elide down the Rhine Valley rather than climb 
 it. Such a trip from New York to New York, 
 with first-class passage on a slow line, could 
 handily be made in two months, at a total cost 
 of from two to three hundred dollars, according 
 
 1S6
 
 to the hotel accommodations demanded. By 
 crossing second-class and economizing on the 
 other side, it can be done for $150 or even less. 
 but most people would not enjoy what they 
 would get for an expenditure of under $200. 
 
 The postal systems abroad leave little per- 
 plexity for the bicycle tourist in the matter of 
 luggage. He is almost sure to want more than 
 lie can well carry on his wheel, but large par- 
 cels are sent by post at comparatively slight 
 cost, and a valise can be mailed with the cer- 
 tainty that it will reach your destination be- 
 fore you can get there on your wheel, unless 
 you are to go but a very short distance. The 
 notion of mailing a heavy valise for 20 cents 
 or so strikes Americans with a force that they 
 remember when they get home and wonder 
 whether our own postal department does for us 
 quite all it might. 
 
 Referring again to the fee system the writer 
 says: 
 
 If the chambermaid does for you anything 
 outside her routine work, she should get a fee, 
 always small; otherwise, ignore her when she 
 lies in wait for you as you descend the hotel 
 stairs the last time. 
 
 The declaration of too many tourists that 
 you must fee everybody in a European hotel is 
 all nonsense. The porter and the waiter are 
 the indispensables, and so with the baggage 
 porter, if you have trunks or let him black 
 your boots. The others are mere charities. 
 
 m
 
 As to amounts, the general rule is ten per 
 cent, of the bill if you stay but one night or 
 take a single meal. This applies whether the 
 bill is twenty cents or two dollars or twenty 
 dollars. A penny in the shilling is all that 
 English waiters expect; ten centimes (or two 
 cents) in the franc all that French waiters ex- 
 pect. Where a hotel bill is above ^wo dollars, 
 a percentage as low as five per cent, may be 
 given without surprise. On paying a bill of five 
 dollars at a hotel it would be the usual thing 
 to give the waiter twenty cents, the portier 
 twenty cents, and the chambermaid five cents. 
 On paying eight dollars, you might give no 
 more and no comment would be even looked; 
 or you might make it thirty cents for the 
 waiter, the same for the portier, and five or 
 ten cents for the chambermaid. 
 
 Never pay any fees until your bili is pre- 
 sented. You are not expected to dole out the 
 pennies or francs from meal to meal, or, indeed, 
 at any time before you go away. 
 
 Look at it purely as a matter of business. Tf 
 you haven't the change, make the waiter or the 
 porter or whoever you want to fee, get your 
 money changed, and give what you meant to 
 give, no more. In an American hotel that 
 would be thought stingy; abroad it is thought 
 the natural thing. 
 
 The idea that even servants in private hoi'ses 
 must be feed is the most repugnant of all to 
 American instincts. Yet go to an ninglish man- 
 
 188
 
 sion of rank for even a stay from Saturday to 
 Monday, and you are expected to remember the 
 butler and the footman to the tune of a dollar 
 or so. 
 
 In pensions, ten per cent, of the bills would 
 be an unusual distribution. If you stay several 
 weeks, five per cent, will be a great plenty, and 
 two or three per cent, is probably nearer the 
 common thing. 
 
 Cab drivers are usually made happy liy ten 
 per cent., though in such a place as Naples, 
 where the prescribed fare is abnormally low 
 (fourteen cents), to give a lira, twenty cents, 
 is frequent. 
 
 In museums and galleries, fees of ten cents 
 predominate. It is always safe to start on that; 
 if more is the custom, don't fear that you will 
 not be told of it. 
 
 Mr. Luce's experiences with the cab system 
 in Europe as he has found it is thus ex- 
 plained: 
 
 In the cities the cab and omnibus play a 
 much more important part than on this side of 
 the water. Cab hire is ridiculously cheap on 
 the Continent, and all well-to-do people, natives 
 as well as foreigners, make habitual use of the 
 cab. The prescribed rates ai'e to be found on 
 a card in every vehicle, and therefore no ad- 
 vance bargain is necessary so long as you keep 
 inside the city limits; hut plan an excursion 
 into the country and a bargain in advance 
 should always be made. The charge is almost 
 
 189
 
 invariably according to the nature of the 
 vehicle or the distance traveled — not in pro- 
 portion to the number of occupants. Two peo- 
 ple, and often three, can ride as cheap as one 
 person, but since four or more people require 
 a larger cab or two horses, there is a larger 
 fare. It is the invariable custom to fee the 
 driver — five cents being the average tip on short 
 drives. In Naples, where the regulations let 
 the drivers charge only fourteen cents to go 
 anywhere in the city limits, a lira (twenty 
 cents), would usually be given to the driver, 
 but if you gave him only sixteen or eighteen 
 cents he would not seriously demur. Through- 
 out most of Europe you may reckon on giving 
 twenty to thirty cents for a cab fare, with four 
 or five cents as pourboire. 
 
 How exact Mr. Luce may be in the details I 
 cannot say, but he gives the following informa- 
 tion as to certain articles which an American 
 may have with him and find dutiable in various 
 countries : 
 
 Dutiable goods in Great Britain are tobac- 
 co, wines, liquors, tea, coffee, cocoa and Florida 
 water. American reprints of English works 
 and copyright music are absolutely confiscated. 
 Firearms and ammunition cannot be landed in 
 Ireland, unless declared to customs and will 
 then be detained until a magistrate's warrant 
 to carry them has been granted. 
 
 In France, tobacco, wines and liquors are 
 subject to duty. Matches are strictly prohibited 
 
 190
 
 and liable to confiscation, as also tobacco, ex- 
 cept small quantities for personal use. House- 
 hold goods and wearing apparel admitted free, 
 with but few if any questions asked. The pen- 
 alty for false declarations is heavy. 
 
 In Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Belgium 
 the only articles subject to duty which travelers 
 would be likely to carry are tobacco and spirits, 
 and on these the duty is trifling. 
 
 These reflections on shopping in Europe may 
 prove of interest to some travelers: 
 
 It is chiefly by reason of specialties that 
 European shopping can rightfully attract Amer- 
 ican buyers, not alone because special applica- 
 tion to any one industry by a large part of the 
 people of a locality is sure to make its price 
 cheap, but also because an excess of production 
 results in greater latitude for selection. Geneva 
 may again illustrate, for besides watches, it 
 makes a specialty of music boxes, and nowhere 
 else can you find such a variety at such cheap 
 prices. Of other specialties the tourist will do 
 well to buy — 
 
 Tortoise shell, coral and lava in Naples. 
 
 Wood carving in Switzerland, the Black For- 
 est, Sorrento, Norway and Sweden. 
 
 Silks in Genoa, Milan and Lyons. 
 
 Silver and gold filagree work in Genoa. 
 
 Cameos, mosaics and many other kinds of 
 ornaments in Florence, Venice and Rome — 
 Florence being the cheapest. 
 
 Pearls and turquoises in Rome and Florence. 
 
 191
 
 Gloves in Naples, Genoa, Milan and Paris. 
 Artificial flowers in Paris. 
 Laces in Antwerp, Brussels, Venice and Se- 
 ville. 
 Venetian glass, of course, in Venice. 
 Umbrellas in Milan or Switzerland. 
 Toilet articles— soaps, perfumes, sponges, 
 etc. — in the German cities and in Paris. 
 Silk underwear, Sorrento and Milan. 
 Cutlery, old silverware, and Sheffield plate, in 
 London. 
 Engravings and all reproductions, in Berlin. 
 The cheaper stones — amethysts, topaz, cairn- 
 gorns, etc. — in Switzerland and Scotland. 
 
 It will be noticed that in the foregoing list 
 the names of Italian cities predominate. It is 
 the general rule abroad that as you go south, 
 prices drop. The easier it is to live, the lower 
 the price the workman will take. And the 
 easier it is to live, the more children and so the 
 more competition for work. That is why Italy 
 abounds in bargains. 
 
 These hints as to postal matter may also 
 prove available: 
 
 All European countries, as well as the United 
 States and Canada, are now in the Postal 
 Union, and the rates from any one country to 
 any other are virtually the same correspond- 
 ing in the coinage of the country in question to 
 the following on mail matter sent from the 
 United States: — 
 Letters, each half ounce 5 cts. 
 
 192
 
 Postal cards 2 cts. 
 
 Newpapers. books and other printed 
 
 matter, each two ounces 1 ct. 
 
 Commercial papers: 
 Packets not in excess of ten ounces 
 
 for each two ounces or fraction 
 
 thereof 5 cts. 
 
 Packets in excess of ten ounces, for 
 
 each two ounces or fraction thereof 1 ct. 
 Samples of merchandise: 
 
 Packets not in excess of four ounces. 2 cts. 
 Packets in excess of four ounces, for 
 
 each two ounces or fraction thereof 10 cts. 
 Registration fee on letters or other 
 
 articles 10 cts. 
 
 In his most comprehensive littie work on 
 European travel Mr. Luce forgets nothing and 
 even includes these words of advice to the de- 
 vote of the camera: 
 
 It is often thought that in luiying a camera 
 the securing of a good lens is the all important 
 thing, and that the mechanism of the shutter 
 Is a minor detail. Bean didn't think so when 
 his shutter refused to work in the Alhambra, 
 a place of all places where a camera in good 
 condition seemed most desirable. It turned out 
 that the wooden base of the shutter mechanism 
 had been swollen during the ocean voyage so 
 that something was thrown out of gear, and a 
 camera that had done long and excellent work 
 in America was for a while not woith a cent. 
 Nobody could be found with knowledge enough 
 of hand cameras to repair this one, and it was 
 weeks before Bean's own struggle with the 
 
 193
 
 thing in spare moments got that shutter into 
 condition again. Moral: Have your camera 
 thoroughly examined by an expert in such mat- 
 ters before you start. 
 
 Wherever there is a film agency, you can get 
 your films developed, but the foreign work in 
 this line is not equal to the American, and it 
 is better to wait till you get back. Yet it is 
 wise to have one or two films developed now 
 and then to see that the shutter is working 
 right and that the film has not been damaged. 
 
 194
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 ^ 
 
 The Paris Exposition of 1900. 
 
 NDER this head F. O. Houghton & 
 Co., steamship agents, of No. 115 
 State street, Boston, have com- 
 '^'S^^^i^^^/ piled in the following compre- 
 hensive form considerable infor- 
 mation as to this coming event which is casting 
 such a mighty shadow before it: 
 
 SITE OF THE EXPOSITION. 
 
 Preparations for the Exposition are now well 
 advanced. The preliminary studies are made 
 with great care and thoroughness, and the gen- 
 eral scheme of the Exposition is now well 
 defined. The works of demolition and construc- 
 tion, for which the period of a little more than 
 two years remaining will barely suffice, have 
 begun and will be vigorously prosecuted. The 
 Exposition will open Api'il 15, and will close 
 Nov. 5, 1900. The site will comprise the public 
 grounds on both sides of the Seine from the 
 Place de la Concorde, which is the centre of 
 the city, to a point beyond the Pont d'Jcna, 
 
 195
 
 embracing the Champ de Mars, the Trocadero 
 Palace and Park (site of the Exposition of 1889), 
 the Esplanade des Invalides, the Quai d'Orsay, 
 the Quai do la Conference, the Cour la Reine, 
 and a large section of the Champs Elysees, 
 including the site of the Palais de I'lndustrie, the 
 great Iniilding erected for the International 
 Exposition of 1855. the first of the series. No 
 other city in the world contains, in its very 
 centre, an equal area available for a great expo- 
 sition. This site leaves nothing to be desired 
 in point of convenience, and lends itself admir- 
 ably to the works of decoration and embellish- 
 ment, in which the French people are past 
 masters. 
 
 ARCHITECTIIRAL, PL,A\S. 
 
 The unique Palace of the Trocadero, erected 
 for the Exposition of 1878, and utilized a second 
 time in 1889, will be used, as well as several of 
 the great exposition halls of 1889 in the Champ 
 de Mars, but all of them will undergo more or 
 less modification. The Eiffel Tower will be pre- 
 served, but it is probable that some new and 
 striking features will be added to it. 
 
 TRAIVSFORTATlOiX PACI1.IT1KS, HOTELS. 
 
 EIC. 
 
 The national and municipal authorities and 
 the management of the Exposition are preparing 
 to co-operate in improving the transportation 
 facilities and public conveniences of Paris, and 
 in adding, before 1900, to the already numerous 
 
 196
 
 attractions of the city. A nuinijei' of modern 
 hotels, some of which are already under con- 
 struction, and several handsome new theatres 
 will he built, and the magnificent Opera 
 Comique, now in course of erection, will he 
 completed. Public parks, gardens and squares 
 will be created in all parts of the city. At night 
 the city will be brilliantly illuminated by an 
 extensive system of electric lights as far as the 
 outer boulevards and including the Bois de Bou- 
 logne and de Vincennes. 
 
 It is the avowed purpose to make the Exposi- 
 tion surpass all its predecessors, l)oth in Franca 
 and elsewhere: not, perhaps, in extent or in 
 architectural features, for it is conceded that in 
 these respects there is little hope of eclipsing 
 the great achievement at Chicago, but in its 
 artistic aspects, in the logical, comprehensive 
 and scientific system of classification and award, 
 and in the uniformity and harmony of the 
 whole. 
 
 GEXEKAL IM{«».li;CT. 
 
 The first international exposition was liehl in 
 1855, the second in ISHT, and the third and 
 fourth, respectively, in 187S and ISNU. The 
 interval In-tween the fiist and second was twelve 
 years: eleven years separated tiie second aiul 
 third, and a like peritjd tiie tb.ird and fourth. 
 The Exposition of ISSH was scaicely terminated 
 when thf iiuljjic opinion of P'rance spontane- 
 ously fixer] llMi'i, tlie closing year of the century, 
 
 197
 
 then eleven years distant, as the date of its 
 successor. 
 
 FINANCIAL, ARRAIVGEMENTS. 
 
 One hundred million francs ($20,000,000) was 
 provided as a guaranty fund for the Exposition. 
 Of this amount, 20,000,000 francs vv^as appropri- 
 ated by the National Government, and 20,000,000 
 francs by the city of Paris, while 60,000,000 
 francs represent the net proceeds of an emission 
 of 3,250,000 bonds of 20 francs each. These 
 bonds were issued by the Government, with the 
 co-operation of five leading financial institu- 
 tions, the Credit Lyonnais, the Credit Fonder, 
 the Comptoir National d'Escompte, the Societe 
 Generale pour Favoriser le Development de Com- 
 merce et de rindustrie en France, and the 
 Societe Generale de Credit Industriel et Com- 
 mercial. These institutions underwrote bonds 
 to the amount of 2,400,000 francs, and receive a 
 commission of .5 per cent, on the sales. After 
 providing for this commission and for the other 
 expenses of the issue, there remain GO. 000, 000 
 francs, which are deposited at the Caisse des 
 Depots et Consignations until 1900 at 2i/^ per 
 cent, interest, the Bank of France agreeing to 
 make advances from time to time for pi'elim- 
 inary expenses to the amount of 6,000,000 francs 
 at 114 per cent, interest, upon the security of 
 receipts of the Caisse des Depots et Consigna- 
 tions for deposits of the profits of the bonds. 
 
 Any surplus that may remain after the ex- 
 penses of the Exposition are defrayed will be 
 
 198
 
 divided equally between the national and mu- 
 nicipal treasuries. 
 
 AD31ISSIONS. 
 
 The regular price for the afternoon will l)e 
 one franc (19.3 cents). For mornings, after- 
 noons and special days the admission price may 
 be increased. Season and monthly tickets will 
 be offered at a reduction. Every exhibitor in 
 the contemporary exposition will be given a 
 complimentary season ticket, and the necessary 
 employees at his exhibit will also receive com- 
 plimentary admissions. 
 
 PROTECTIOX OF EXHIBITS. 
 
 No work of art or exhibit of any kind can be 
 copied or reproduced except by a special permit 
 of the exhibitor, approved by the administra- 
 tion. The taking of general photographs, how- 
 ever, will be authorized. Inventions susceptible 
 of being patented, plans and specifications of 
 machinery, etc., will be fully protected. 
 
 CATALOGUES. 
 
 A general catalogue will be prepared in the 
 French language, naming the works and produc- 
 tions of all nations on exhibition, with the 
 names of exhibitors and the location of exhili- 
 its in the buildings or grounds. Tlie sale of 
 these catalogues on the exposition grounds will 
 be regulated by the administration and will be 
 subject to the payment of a royalty. 
 
 RECOMPE.XSES. DIl'I.OMAS, ETC. 
 
 All works exhibited will be passed upon, as 
 
 199
 
 in 1S89. l)y an international jury, which will 
 have three degrees of jurisdiction— juries of 
 class, juries of group, superior jury. 
 
 Reports will be published by the Government, 
 together with an official list of the awards. 
 
 Only diplomas will i)e granted as recom- 
 penses. They will be thus classified: grand 
 prize diplomas, gold medal (lii)lonias, silver 
 medal diplomas, bronze medal diplomas, hon- 
 orable mention diplomas. 
 
 No exhibitor acting as a juror and no firm or 
 company represented on a jury by any member, 
 stockholder, agent or employe, will be eligible 
 to an award. 
 
 tOiVfES.mOMS. 
 
 Concessions and privileges for entertainments, 
 refreshment booths, etc., will be granted by the 
 Minister of Commerce, Industry, Posts and Tel- 
 egraphs upon the recommendation of the Com- 
 missary General. All privileges for pecuniary 
 benefit must pay a royalty or percentage of re- 
 ceipts to the exposition. No advertisements, 
 catalogues or prospectuses can be circulated in 
 the exposition grounds except under special 
 license, for which a suitable fee will be charged. 
 
 REGl I.ATI<)\S AS TO I'AltlFF DITIES, ETC. 
 
 The exposition grounds are constituted a 
 bonded warehouse. Foreign exhibits may enter 
 France through any custom house. They should 
 be accompanied by a bulletin from the shipper, 
 attached to the bill of lading and indicating 
 
 200
 
 their nature, class, weight and place of origin. 
 These goods will be transported directly to the 
 exposition grounds under the conditions of in- 
 ternational or domestic transit at the choice of 
 the shipper. They will be exempt from statis- 
 tical dues and from inspection at the frontier. 
 Seals will be affixed without cliarge. All for- 
 eign products will be taken in charge at the ex- 
 position grounds by the special customs agents, 
 and, if finally entered for consumption, will be 
 subject only, whatever their origin, to the du- 
 ties imposed upon like products from the most 
 favored nation. 
 
 CL VSSIFIt A ri<>\ OF KXHIHITS. 
 
 The post of honor is occupied by education — 
 ■"the channel l)y which man enters into life, 
 the source of all progress." Next come works 
 of art, and the third place is assigned to the 
 instruments and genei'al processes of letters, 
 sciences and arts. Then come "the great fac- 
 tors of contemporary production, the most pow- 
 erful agents of industrial achievement at the 
 end of the nineteenth century," the material 
 and general processes of mechanics, electricity, 
 civil engineering, methods of transportation. 
 
 A new giou]) has been created for the "moi'al 
 and material work of colonization," and the se- 
 ries closes with the military and naval gi'oup. 
 
 In all there will be eighteeii grc)Ui)s and one 
 hundred and twenty sections, as compared with 
 twelve groups and nearly a thousand sections at 
 Chicago. 
 
 201
 
 The government at Washington is now en- 
 deavoring to secure, in behalf of the League 
 of American Wheelmen, the free entry of bi- 
 cycles into European countries. On Oct. 27, 
 1897, Secretary Sherman sent the following let- 
 ter to the American ambassador, at Paris, and 
 similar letters to the United States embassies 
 at Rome and Berlin, and to the Legations at 
 
 Berne and Brussels: 
 
 Sir: I enclose herewith a copy of a letter addressed to 
 me under date of October 15, by Isaac B. Potter, Presi- 
 dent of the League of American Wheelmen, in which he 
 represents the important standing of that organization, 
 enrolling as it does. 100,000 associates, the number of its 
 members who visit the European countries for recreation 
 and the desirability of having that organization placed 
 in those countries upon the same or similar footing of 
 reciprocal privilege with other well-known associations 
 of touring cyclists. 
 
 It is presumed that the facilities accorded in France to 
 the British organization and others on the continent 
 have been reached by virtue of a reciprocal understand- 
 ing whereby the formalities for the respective introduc- 
 tion of cycles and the favors shown to the members have 
 been specified. 
 
 You are authorized to bring the matter informally at 
 first, and afterward more formally, should a suitable 
 occasion for such a course appear, to the notice of the 
 Government of France, expressing the pleasure it would 
 afford this Government to see a convenient and equitable 
 interchange of ' courtesies established in this regard. 
 Should you find a -disposition to favorably consider this 
 suggestion you will ascertain upon what terms the pro- 
 posed arrangement might be efCected. Respectfully yours, 
 
 .JOHN SHERMAN. 
 
 Meanwhile Joseph Pennell, the L. A. W. rep- 
 resentative in London, has been for weeks pur- 
 suing the same object, and a letter has just been 
 received by President Potter from Mr. Pennell 
 announcing that the Swiss and Belgian govern- 
 ments have decided to grant the application of 
 the L. A. W. and it only remains to make out 
 
 202
 
 the necessary papers. A letter has also been 
 received from the embassy at Rome reporting 
 favorable progress and asking for a quantity of 
 "sample" membership tickets of the L. A. W. 
 for use among the Italian customs stations. A 
 further report is expected. 
 
 The splendor of the last Paris Exposition is 
 undoubted. Yet its success was attained in spite 
 of the fact that it commemorated the fall of the 
 Bastile. which did not make it too popular with 
 other European countries which favored forms 
 of government other than republican. In 1900 
 no such adverse circumstance will militate 
 against its success and it is sure to be wit- 
 nessed by hundreds of thousands of English- 
 speaking persons, ready to welcome the dawn of 
 a new century. 
 
 20.3
 
 More Details of the Exposition. 
 
 The World Almanac, which we quote by per- 
 mision, has among pages of other matter of 
 details on the subject, these interesting facts: 
 
 THE JURY. 
 
 Till' jury wiU be, as in ISSit. intenialiimal, sul>-(Uvided 
 into juries of class, juries of groups, and superior jury. 
 Foreign jurors will be named by the Commissioners of the 
 respective countries. The Foreign Commissioners will be 
 ex officio meml>ers of the superior jury. The superior 
 jury will finally revise the list of awards, and the dis- 
 tribution of diplomas will take place about the b?ginning 
 of September, 1900. 
 
 AWAKD.S. 
 
 Only diplomas will be granted, thus classified: Grand 
 prize diplomas, gold medal diplomas, silver medal diplo- 
 mas, and diplomas of honorable tiu^ntinn. 
 
 M.\IN FE.VTl'KES. 
 
 The grand entrance to the Exposition of 1900 will be off 
 the Place de la Concorde, close to the Seine, but there 
 will be a multitude of other entrances in the Champs- 
 Elysees. the Champs de Mars, and the Esplanade des 
 Invali<les. The Exposition authorities themeslves do not 
 know what will be the most jiopular and striking feature 
 of the Exposition, but it will doubtless prove to be one 
 of the following, all of them novel and attractive: 
 
 1. The street of modern Paris, running along the em- 
 bankment from the Place de la Concorde to the Pont 
 de I'Alma. This will illustrate the art and wit of 
 France and will contain palaces of dancing, song, and all 
 that is refined in the curiosities of Paris. The directors 
 of the Opera and another leading Paris tlieatre are en- 
 gaged upon its elaboration. 
 
 2. M. Deloncle's telescope, bringing the moon's surface 
 apparently within 40 kilometres (25 miles) of the spec- 
 tator. 
 
 3. A city of gold, near the Trocadero, showing every 
 detail of gold production, with Californian miners and 
 models of the mines. 
 
 4. A gigantic Turning Palace, or Revolving Tower, IdO 
 yards high and lighted throughout by electricity. 
 
 204
 
 5. The Grand and T.ittle Palaces of the Fine Ait« •>( all 
 nations. 
 
 6. The Pavilion of the Press, and those of the sjieoial 
 commissioners which will be scattered over the area. 
 
 7. An enormous Terrestrial Globe by tht- fanDus 
 French geographer. M. Recliis. jjlaced. owing to its size, 
 outside the Expositinn inopt-i-. 
 
 S. Palace of the Arm.v and Xavy and a Palace of Fdod. 
 or Alimentation. 
 
 WOMAN'S PA LACK. 
 
 In addition to these there will almost certainly be a 
 Woman's Palace, showing the development of feminine 
 education, training and labor; a switchback: a colossal 
 vat; an enormous hell; imitation of the Blue Grotto of 
 Capri, of the fountain of Vancluse: captive balloons: a 
 cyclorama of the war of secession in America, and other 
 devices to interest, charm, or amuse. 
 
 THE EXTENT. 
 
 It is calculated that the Expnsition of llliiii will c.iver 
 three times the space occupied by the exhibitinn ol' l.S.S!). 
 The ground will not be i.iartitioned off by nationalities. 
 but by sections, each section being de\-oted tn a part iriilar 
 indu.stry or art. 
 
 C()N( 'I'^.SSb I. VS. 
 
 In most cases the system adopted fur tlu' disposal of 
 concessions will be auction sales and sjiecial i-untracts: 
 and all applications for concessions for the ri,t;lit to estab- 
 lish shows of various kinds should be addresseil y-.y the 
 American citi/.cn to Ma.jor Handy, Chicago. In all conces- 
 sions there will ln' hiserti-d thi' fallowing clausrs .ind .gen- 
 eral conditions: 
 
 1. Xo one nia.v bid for a cuni-t-ssinn unless he is domi- 
 ciled in Paris or has a qualified and responsible a.gent 
 there. 
 
 2. The aiiplicant must provr that If is ]iossi-ssfd i>( thf 
 necessary means and is cipafilc of carr.\'iiig liis nndei-- 
 taking to a sucressful issue. 
 
 'A. The a])p|ic-ant must make a deposit in arcurdance 
 with the dicree rt-lating to all agreements sigin-d in the 
 name of the State. 
 
 4. Concessionaii-es must builil and inst:ill their shows. 
 etc.. at their own exi>ense and at th^ir own risk and peril. 
 and must submit plans rjf their buildings to th^' adiriinistra- 
 tion of the exhibition on or l)efore the day of . 
 
 5. Water, gas. and eh-ctric-ity will b- suiipli.-rl by the 
 exhibition at ordinaiy priceK, 
 
 6. All shows, exhibiticjns. and establishments direct. vl 
 by concessionaires must be oiien tn the |iublic throughout 
 
 20.-,
 
 the duration of the exhibition (fioni April I."i tu Novem- 
 ber 5. 1900), and from the opening to the closing of the 
 gates. 
 
 7. Precautions against fire must be takin liy conces- 
 sionaires at their own expense. ' 
 
 8. No concession may be sub-let in whole or in iiart 
 without the sanction of the Commissary-General. 
 
 9. Cases of disagreement between concessionaires and 
 the administration will be referred to a jury of three 
 members, one to be designated by the Commissary-Gen- 
 eral, the second by the concessionaire, and the third by 
 the other two. 
 
 206
 
 Cirr iFUet of transatlantic J^assenflfr cStcamers. 
 
 clxtdes only regular pas»eng<^ lines from New York. Offices and piers are in Manhattan Borough 
 
 otherwise stated. 
 
 TtlMimTPfc. 
 
 Bout. 
 
 TONIXAGK. 
 
 Bolklaiar 
 
 HOBSS 
 POWEE, 
 
 YORK AND Glasgow, Plerl ALLAK-8TATB LINR 
 ; W. 21at St- J (Office. 63 Broadway.) 
 
 Id 
 
 CommAsdAr. 
 
 DUfKNSIONS 
 
 IN rirr. 
 
 State Link Estabushkd 1872. 
 
 of Nebraska. 
 
 :olla ,.. 
 
 ofCalilornla. 
 
 1880:Gla.S)?ow. 
 189llGlasgow. 
 18911 Glasgow. 
 
 Lond. & Gl'gowCo. 4^12680 
 Lond. & Gi'gowCo ,Ld 3080 
 Lond. & GrgowCo.,Ld 2670 
 
 4000 
 47B0 
 4600 
 
 660 
 
 Brown. 
 Braes. . . 
 
 43 3J 
 46 33.6 
 46 29.7 
 
 YOBK AND Southampton.) 
 r foot Fulton St, , N. K. ] 
 
 AMERICAN LINE. 
 (Offlce,6 Bowling Green.) 
 
 ESTABUSHED 1892. 
 
 mis ll894,Philadelphla 
 
 Hil 1894lPhiladelphiii 
 
 1889[Glasgow 
 
 York Il88« Glasgow 
 
 \Vm. Cramp & Sons. . 
 Wm. Cramp & Sons. . 
 J. &G. Thomson. 
 
 689411629 200001 .. iRandle 636.863 I 42 
 
 6874 11629 20000 .. Jamison I535.8|83 42 
 
 6289,10796 20000i2000Watklns m) |6i8l 42 
 
 J.&G. Thomson l6318ll0803l20000l3000lPassow l580 
 
 42 
 
 York ani> 
 tw. 24th St. 
 
 GLASCK3W, 
 
 Pier) ANCHOR LINE. 
 
 J (Office, 7 Bowling Green. ) 
 
 E8TABLJ8HED 1862. 
 
 )f Rome... ...11881 
 
 lOria 1874 
 
 la 1873 
 
 asia 1878 
 
 )pia . 1873 
 
 1880 
 
 Barrow iBalrow S. B. Co.. 
 
 Barrow iBarrow S. B. Co... 
 
 Port Glasgow R. Duncan <fe Co. .. 
 
 Barrow Barrow S. B. Co.. 
 
 Glasgow A. Stephen & Son. 
 
 Barrow Barrow S. B. Co.. 
 
 3468 
 2713 
 2626 
 2770 
 2804 
 2613 
 
 8144 
 4168 
 4060 
 4272 
 4006 
 6496 
 
 ilSOOl Young., 
 
 I 617'john WUson. 
 
 11120 Baxter 
 
 I 600Bothby 
 
 720|Wadsworth . 
 1 600 Harris 
 
 661 
 
 63 
 
 408 
 
 40 
 
 4(KI 
 
 40 
 
 40(1 
 
 42 
 
 40S 
 
 42 
 
 446 
 
 46 
 
 YOKK, (iUEENSTOWN, AND) CUNARD UNE. 
 
 fERPOOL, Pier foot Clarkson St / (Office, 4 Bowling Green.) 
 
 Established 1840. 
 
 pan la. 
 nla. ... 
 rla.... 
 rla.... 
 kDla... 
 Is 
 
 .1892,Fairfield. 
 
 .18y2lFalrfield. 
 .'18><6 Fairfield. 
 ; 1884 Fairfield. 
 .1883 Glasgow.. 
 .11881 Glasgow.. 
 .11879 Glasgow.. 
 
 John Elder&Co 1600012960 
 
 John Elder* Co...... 600012950 
 
 John Elder&Co 32671 7718 
 
 John Elder &(3o 3246^ 7718 
 
 J. & G. Thomson '4029' 7268 
 
 •T. & G. Thomson 3971 7391 
 
 J. & O. Thomson. ., '308l! 4808 
 
 300001 * iWalker 
 
 30(X)n' • H, McKay.. 
 14600 2600 Ferguson . . . 
 145(10 ffioODutton 
 
 SSOOIRkJa. McKay.. 
 10000 1000 Watt 
 
 46001 700lWarr 
 
 620 
 
 620 
 
 601. ( 
 
 601. 
 
 470 
 
 616 
 
 430. 
 
 66.3143 
 65.3 43 
 .2!38.3 
 238.2 
 67.237.2 
 6a 1 37 
 144.6lsi4 
 
 667 
 667 
 
 r York and Havre, 
 t Morton St 
 
 St. Nazaire . . 
 
 Toulon 
 
 Toulon 
 
 11886 St Nazalre.. 
 '1886 St Nazalre.. 
 1882 Barrow, Eng. 
 
 Pier) FRENCH LINE. 
 
 J (Office, 3 Bowling Green.) 
 
 ESTAJSI/ISBED 1860. 
 
 CleGleTransatlaa'quei .. | 9778 
 Soc. des Forges, etc.. 4168 7416 
 Soc. des Forges, etc.. '41711 7400 
 CleGleTransatlan' que 3906 7110 
 (SeOleTransatlan* que 3889' 7010 
 347616112 
 
 ouraine 
 
 iseogne 
 
 lourgogne. . 
 hampagne. 
 
 iretiigne 
 
 'orrrjandie. . 
 
 .11890 
 
 .1886 
 .11886 
 
 12000 
 9000 
 
 I 9000 
 9000 
 9000 
 6500 
 
 iSantelll 
 
 Baudelon.. . 
 Le Boeuf . . . 
 
 Poirot 
 
 iRupb 
 
 iDeloncle. . .. 
 
 636 
 
 66 
 
 508 
 
 62 
 
 508 
 
 62 
 
 508 
 
 61 
 
 608 
 
 61 
 
 469 
 
 60 
 
 38 
 
 84 
 
 f York, SouTnAiiPTON, 
 
 IZP.BOURQ, and HaMBUBO, 
 
 it foot 1st St , Hoboken. 
 
 HAMBUHG- AMERICAN LINE. 
 Office, 37 Broadway.) 
 
 Established 1847. 
 
 12000 164057 aSTOAlbers 
 
 12000 16000 2760iBarend8 
 
 12000 13500 2600'Kfl«mpfr . . . . 
 lOOjX) 12500 2600; Vogelgesang 
 
 SplTedt 
 
 iKopff 
 
 Karlowa 
 
 Bauer 
 
 Leithauser. . . 
 
 Schmidt .... 
 
 Ree.ssing 
 
 Magi n 
 
 Martens 
 
 Piet.sch 
 
 Kuhn 
 
 iSchroeder. . . 
 
 Reuter 
 
 Froehllch 
 
 Krech ;. 
 
 H. Schmidt.. 
 
 rtBismarck. .. 1890Stettln Vulcan S. B. Co. ... 
 
 mannia 1890 Glasgow Fairfield S. B. Co... 
 
 nsta Victoria., 1889 Stettm iVulcan S. B. Co.... 
 
 unbla 1889 Birkenhead .'Laird Bros 
 
 nsj-1 vacla 11897 Belfa-st 'Harlaud & Wolff . . 
 
 I flria 1897 Hamburg Blohm & Voss. 
 
 Iitia 
 rla. .., 
 enicia 
 »la . . . 
 lla.... 
 leniu. 
 edia.. 
 bla.... 
 oria . . 
 lalu 
 
 la 
 
 bria.. 
 Bla. . . 
 Coiiia 
 
 la . 
 
 1894 Stettin Vulcan S. B. Co 
 
 l894Stettin Vulcan S. B. Co 
 
 1894'Hamburg Blohm & Voss .■ 
 
 1894 Belfast iHarland & Wolff 
 
 1894 Belfa-st iHarland & Woltf 
 
 1896 Newcastle . . . IPalmers 
 
 1896 Belfast IHarland & Woltf..... 
 
 1896 Belfast IHarland & Wolff...... 
 
 18.96:Ne wca-stle . . . IPalmers. 
 
 1896'Newcastle . , .IPalmers 
 
 1896! Newca-stle . . . tPalmers 
 
 1896lFlensburE.. . .iFlensburg S. B. Co. . . . 
 1896'Flensburg.. . .IFlensburg S. B. Co.... 
 1896,Flensburg 'Flensburg S. B. Co. . . . 
 
 2.S6'0 
 
 6(100 
 
 2:«oo 
 
 WKIO 
 
 8(KHI 
 
 55(KI 
 
 8(MXI 
 
 hfM' 
 
 80U0 
 
 56<K) 
 
 7(HH) 
 
 MM 
 
 71KKI 
 
 um 
 
 70(Kt 
 
 3(K»0 
 
 im> 
 
 30U0 
 
 7000 
 
 30(K) 
 
 7(K10 
 
 3000 
 
 7(XI0 
 
 ■mw 
 
 7«KKI 
 
 zmx) 
 
 504:^ 
 
 6(KKI 
 
 606(1 
 
 6000 
 
 6260 
 
 6000 
 
 620 
 
 68 
 
 620 
 
 67 
 
 520 
 
 66 
 
 460 
 
 66 
 
 56(1 
 
 62 
 
 mi 
 
 62 
 
 46(1 
 
 62 
 
 460 
 
 52 
 
 46(1 
 
 52 
 
 446 
 
 61 
 
 446 
 
 51 
 
 4(K) 
 
 60 
 
 4(KI 
 
 49 
 
 40<l 
 
 49 
 
 xn 
 
 53 
 
 400 
 
 50 
 
 4<KI 
 
 60 
 
 404 
 
 ;<2 
 
 4(»4 
 
 32 
 
 404 
 
 32 
 
 40 
 40 
 38 
 38 
 42 
 42 
 32 
 32 
 32 
 30 
 30 
 30 
 30 
 30 
 29 
 30 
 30 
 26 
 26 
 26 
 
 York, Boulogne, Amster-I HOLLAND-AMERICA LINE. 
 
 »M, a.sdRotterdam, PiersfootSNETUERLANDS-AMERICAN LINT 
 
 3>arjd 7t h Sts. , Hoboken. ) (OfTice, 39 Broa<lway ) 
 
 "CSTABLISHKU 1874. 
 
 ""■■' im 11897|Belfast iHarland & Wolff. 6000' 80001 
 
 tm .1881 Belfast Ularlaudfe Wolff.:.... 3123 4639, 
 
 1 -1872 r.elfast Harland & Wol tf.. . . . . 2702 3984' 
 
 :"M,.n, 1872 Ficlffust tHfTlandft Wolff...... 2438 3707 
 
 rkenilam 'l*'.^! I'.flf.-ust iHarland & Wolff. 26541 36f,7 
 
 iMerdam..-. 11^79 )'.flfiu-,t IHarland & Woltf. 12681, ,%27 
 
 lam I1880 lielfast Harland & Wolff .... .12277 3668 
 
 ua |1878 Belfast Ilarland & Wolff |2361| 3329 
 
 tondanat I .. iBelfost IHarland 4 Wolff 1760010500 
 
 50001 Bonjer 
 
 .86(Hi Van der Zee. 
 13600. \ Id. Potjer.. 
 
 '360o,Slenger 
 
 12600 I'onsen 
 
 25O0|W. Baiker.. 
 2600' Itoggc veen . . 
 2100'BruInBma.... 
 6600' 
 
 486 
 
 63 
 
 4-M 
 
 42 
 
 420 
 
 41 
 
 420 
 
 41 
 
 410 
 
 39 
 
 411 
 
 :» 
 
 411 
 
 39 
 
 390 
 
 38 
 
 626 
 
 60I 
 
 84 
 31 
 81 
 31 
 29 
 29 
 
 '26.600 registered. 
 
 t Building. 
 
 I
 
 Built. 
 
 Balldcn, 
 
 Kew Yobk, Southampton, an 
 Bremkn, Pier 2d St., Uohoken 
 
 TONNAOE. 
 
 POW.E. 1 
 
 ■s 
 
 i 
 
 ,1 A 
 
 OommAader. 
 
 Dimi 
 
 IN If 
 
 Dl NORTH GERMAN LLOYD. 
 1.7 (Office, 2 Bowling Orppn.) 
 
 EsTABLiaHsr 
 
 Kaiser NVUhelm d. 
 
 Cirosse 
 
 Kalaer Freldrich*. 
 
 Spree 
 
 Hftvel 
 
 Liabn 
 
 Saale 
 
 Trave I 
 
 AUer 
 
 Ems 
 
 Freldrich d. Grosse 
 
 KonlRln Luise 
 
 Barbarossa... 
 
 Bremen 
 
 H. H. Meier. 
 
 1897 Stettir 
 
 .. iDanzig 
 
 1890. Stettin 
 
 1890'Stettln 
 
 18«7 Fairfield.... 
 
 liw^eaittsgow. .. . 
 
 lH>«Gln.sgov'... . 
 18S6(ilu.sgow. .. . 
 l>«4(}lasK0W. .. . 
 
 IKytiSlt^ttin 
 
 1H<« Stettin 
 
 lH96Hamburg.. . 
 
 jl896:Danzlg 
 
 ll89'2|Newca3tle.. 
 
 New York and Gknoa, 
 foot 2d St. , Hoboken. 
 
 Fieri 
 
 Vulcan Shipb' Id' eC'o. 
 Schlchau shlpbl'g Co, 
 VulciinShlpb'ld'gCo. 
 Vulcjin Shipb' Id 'gCu. 
 FairfleldK. &S. B. Co. 
 
 Elder & Co 
 
 Elder & Co 
 
 Elder& Co 
 
 Elder & Co 
 
 VuicanShipb'ld'gCo. 
 Vulcan Sbipb'ld'gCo. 
 
 Blohm & Voss 
 
 Schlchau Shipbl'g Co. 
 Mitchell , A ' strong Co 
 
 . . 1380027000 
 
 . . 12800 26000 
 
 3769 696313000' 
 
 3769 696;i'i:iooo 
 
 '2879 5681, b«(ili 
 
 :te 
 
 2779 
 
 5:^81 
 
 7,Sl«l| 
 
 2779 
 
 5Kil| 76(i0 
 
 2779 
 
 6;j81 7500 
 
 2893 
 
 5192 700<i 
 
 
 lOoOO 
 
 7000 
 
 
 1O6O0 
 
 7000 
 
 
 lawo 
 
 7000 
 
 
 10500 
 
 8000 
 
 
 5306' 3800 
 
 nglehart . . 
 
 Isiormer 
 
 Meier 
 
 Chrisloflers. 
 
 I'olile 
 
 BluTike 
 
 Thaleuhorst 
 
 VVetlln 
 
 Harra.S3owltz 
 Elchel.... 
 V. Schuck'nn 
 
 Rlchter 
 
 Relmkaaten 
 Steencken . . 
 
 NORTH GERMAN LLOYD. 
 (OlBce, 2 Bowling Green.) 
 
 649 
 600 
 481 
 481 
 464 
 456 
 456 
 456 
 445 
 546 
 544 
 646 
 544 
 481 
 
 EflTABUSHED 
 
 Fulda 11883jGla.sgow 
 
 Werra il«82l01a.sgow 
 
 Ka iser Wil helm II 18 88; St etlin.   
 New Yokk and ANTWKitp, Fieri 
 
 Elaeri Co I ... | 4814' 6300 
 
 Elder* Co ... 48151 6300 
 
 Vulcan Sh'o!' Id's Co. |4776| ^-^ '■ KoOO 
 
 f oot Fulton SL , N. R . 
 
 Friesland |1889|Gla.sgow .... 
 
 Westemland 'l883lBlrkenhead.. 
 
 Noordland 'IMSSlBirkonliead., 
 
 Southwark [189aDumbarton.. 
 
 Kensington ll894K)l8.sgow .. . ., 
 
 , RED LjIAR LINK. 
 / (OfHce, 6 Bowling Green . ) 
 
 Petermann., 
 
 Mlrow 
 
 Hogemann. 
 
 446 
 446 
 
 465 
 
 EsTABUsnan 
 
 Skw Yokk, Christiania, Co- 
 penhagen, AND Stktxin 
 Pier foot 4th Bt, Hoboken. 
 
 ■} 
 
 J. & G. Thomson 
 
 Laird Bros 
 
 Laird iiros ,... 
 
 W. Denny & Hws. .... 
 J. &». Thomson 
 
 5023 
 4320 
 4019 
 5642 
 5645 
 
 6994 
 6398 
 
 8607 
 8669 
 
 803| Nickels 
 
 700 
 
 600 
 
 1237 
 
 1237 
 
 Mills. 
 Loesewltz... 
 
 Bence 
 
 Bond 
 
 456 
 456 
 419 
 494 
 494 
 
 THTNQVALLA LINE. 
 (Oaice. 28 State St. ) ' 
 
 Ebtabushed 
 
 Amerlka. 
 Hekla.... 
 Island...... 
 
 Norge 
 
 Thlngv alla.. 
 
 1872 
 1884 
 1883 
 1881 
 
 1874 
 
 Belfast 
 
 Greenock 
 
 Copenhagen . 
 
 Ohusgow 
 
 Copenhagen . 
 
 Nkw York, Queenstown, and 
 LivERPOOt>, Pier foot W. 10th St. . 
 
 Hariandft Wolff 
 
 Scott & Co 
 
 Burmelster & Walo. . 
 
 Stephens & Son 
 
 Burmeister & Wain. . 
 
 8867 
 8258 
 2844 
 3359 
 2524 1000 
 
 4000 
 2150 
 2000 
 1600 
 
 Thomsen . . 
 
 Laub 
 
 Skjodt 
 
 Knudsen . 
 Berentsen. 
 
 I 437 
 833 
 824 
 840 
 801 
 
 WHITE STAR LINE. 
 (Office, 9 Broadway.) 
 
 Established 
 
 Teutonic 1889Belfast. 
 
 Majestic 1889 Belfast . 
 
 Britannic 1874 Belfast . 
 
 Germanic... 18741 Bel fast . 
 
 Adriatic |1871,Belfast . 
 
 Oceanic* ,. .. iBelfast. 
 
 Harlond & Wolff 
 
 Harland & Wolff.... 
 
 Harland & Wolff. 
 
 Harland & Wolff. . 
 Harland & Wolff.... 
 Harland & Wolff. . . . , 
 
 4269 9984|160002400|Cameron 
 
 4269 9966 16000 2400 K J.Smith. 
 
 3152: 5004 
 
 2989 fH>66 
 
 3468, 8887 
 
 .. Il7000l 
 
 4590 
 46(H1 
 3600 
 
 
 760| Haddock 
 760,McKlnstry . 
 600 
 
 6661 
 666 
 466 
 
 466 
 437 
 
 704 
 
 4JI 
 
 4I1 
 41 
 
 New York aAd London, ) WILSON'S & FURNESS-LEY 
 "Wilson Pier, Brooklyn Borough j" (Office, 22 State St.) 
 
 ND LINE. 
 
 Established 16 
 
 Alexandra 1897|Ula.sgow ^Stephens & Son , 
 
 Boadtcea 1897GL'usgow Stephens A Son 
 
 Cleopatra 1897 Hull Earl a B. & Eng, Co. 
 
 Winifred 1897Belfa.st Harland & Wolff 
 
 Victoria 1897 W. Hartlep'I Furness, Withy &Co. 
 
 10000 
 10000 
 10000 
 10000 
 10000 
 
 iMarshall. 
 
 Brown . 
 
 Farrlngton. 
 
 490 62.; 
 490 52.; 
 490 62.; 
 490 53 I 
 490 62 ; 
 
 Nkw York AND Htti.l, > 
 Wilson Pier. Brooklyn Borough. ) 
 
 WILSON LINE. 
 (Office, 22 State St.) 
 
 Established w 
 
 Buffalo.... 
 
 Ohio 
 
 Colorado . . 
 MarteUo .. 
 Francisco. 
 Hindoo ... 
 
 1885|Newca8tle. . 
 1880 Dumbarton, 
 
 1887HU11. 
 
 1884HU11 
 
 1891 Newcastle. 
 1889'NewcastIe.. . 
 
 ♦Building. 
 
 Palmers 2909; 4431 
 
 A. McMill & Sons, . . . 2667] S967 
 
 Earles 278?! 4:20 
 
 Earles 24241 3709 
 
 R.Siephen8on&Co.Ld2971 4604 
 RStephenson & Cn. Ld 24071 3720 
 
 I 600 
 460 
 600 
 660 
 600 
 
 I 600 
 
 Malel.... 
 Akester . 
 Whitlon , 
 Potter .. 
 Jenkiii'i , 
 
 3»<6, 
 860] 
 370l 
 870. 
 
 370' 
 
 Wing . . . ...I 8i>?l 
 
 4HiS 
 
 I 
 
 TIME AND DISTANCE REQUIRED TO STOP STEAMERS. 
 
 The following calculations as to the length of time and distance required to stop a steam vesseb- 
 ing full speed aliead when the nropelling machinery i.^ reversed were made by W. D. Weaver, U 
 Assistant Engineer of the United Slates Navy, for London Engineer. Omitting the mathematical ' 
 mulas, Mr. Weaver's conclusions are given for the Cunarder Etruria, the Italian In-nclad I>epa 
 the United States naval vessels Columbia, Yorktown, Bancroft, and Cushing. and tu: Russian 
 pedo boat Wihorg: 
 
 Etruria. . . . 
 Lepanto. . . 
 Columbia.. 
 Yorktown. 
 Bancroft... 
 
 Oishlng 
 
 SVlborg.... 
 
 IMgplacement. 
 
 9,680 
 
 4,680 
 
 7,360 
 
 1,700 
 
 832 
 
 106 
 
 138 
 
 Horse Power. 
 
 14,321 
 15,040 
 17,991 
 3,206 
 l.irj 
 1,754 
 1,303 
 
 Bpeeit. 
 
 20.18 
 
 18 
 
 :12.8 
 
 16 U 
 
 14.52 
 
 22.48 
 
 19.96 
 
 Keel. 
 2,464 
 
 2,522 
 2,147 
 989 
 965 
 301 
 373 
 
 Time, 
 
 SecontU, 
 
 167 
 
 192 
 
 136 
 83.9 
 91 
 18.4 
 25.6
 
 sn 
 
 * ESTABUSHED 1863 PUBLISHED WEEKLY. 
 
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 Series 9482