mean man

who bade us "stand up," while he got through" our beds.

Where," I naturally thought, "are the opposite legs to be stowed away?" But the bedmaking, which was accomplished with amazing celerity, somewhat allayed our fears. Down went the backs of our seats, up went the planks above our heads, over went the mattresses, pillows, sheets, and blankets, in the space of time usually allowed to say "Jack Robinson." Though the curtain was drawn across, we were still rather bewildered as to what was next to be done, therefore anxiously inquired for the "state-rooms."

"In here, miss," said our black chamberlain, after he had achieved another transformation trick.

We slipped in as meek as might be, and found nothing but a rather large bed, with curtains all round it, except at the top, which was open to the ceiling. It might have been a state bed, but state room it was not, for there was room neither to sit nor to stand. We might have lain down dressed in our bonnets, boots, and umbrellas, but, it being only seven or eight o'clock, we peeped out again. Premising that the gentlemen had got possession of the passage, and were divesting themselves of coats, waistcoats, &c., we of course turned back and kept

our faces to the wall. came round to examine the tickets-which he did about every half-hour-we discerned, by the light of his lantern, a pair of stockings, with legs in them, dangling from the shelves next door to us.

But when the chief clerk

The peculiar oscillation of the carriage, which swayed from side to side, fore and aft, and then took a sudden wriggle, like a vessel in a chopping sea, bade defiance to all repose of the body. I have slept in a storm in the Bay of Biscay; I have slept standing on guard; on my guard; on my knees at long matins; on horseback; and in an Irish country village bed with its inhabitants (the bed's, I mean), after a little contrivance; but by no human ingenuity could I ever procure a wink of sleep in an American sleeping-car; although, from sundry unmelodious sounds that reached us when the train stopped, our neighbours seemed to be enjoying their rest pretty well. After a while the air became anything but rarefied, and the opening of the door by the ticketclerk eagerly watched for-for when we consider some forty or fifty human beings unclothed, asleep, and packed up in a space similar to that of sardines in a box of oil, the atmosphere must of necessity be overwhelmingly vitiated.

When morning dawned a terrible vision arrested my sleepy eyes. I had paid a dollar

extra for having no shelf over my berth, that constituted the real difference between a "berth" and a "state-room;" I was therefore entitled to so many cubic feet of air for my own use; but, unfortunately, the compartment next to mine was let off in shelves, and the gentleman occupying the top shelf being a very tall man, his feet projected into my "state-room," so that I really had more feet-though not of air-than I had bargained for. I could only feel thankful that the intruder had not chosen that end for his head. When relating this to an American lady, she exclaimed: "That was a down-right shame! Why didn't you get up and tickle them? that would have made him draw them up."

The morning scene was something worse than the evening one. Sundry feet, stockinged or otherwise; sundry heads, night-capped or au naturel; sundry bodies for the most part in a state undescribable in this work-made their entry from behind the drop-scene into the passage. They were all about to avail themselves of the "accommodation" of the toilet saloon, some yard and a half square, and into which as many as possible crammed themselves to enjoy the luxury of one basin, one piece of soap, one towel—a large one, on a roller-one hair-brush and comb, and, I am assured, one tooth-brush! Presently our dark

VOL. II.

9

chamberlain again insisted on "getting through" our beds, and we had to emerge from them, rumpled and forlorn, and to stand in the passage until the process of putting them up was completed.

When the train stopped we were drivenmuch in the manner of cattle-into a wooden shed, to take our breakfast. One cup of coffee, or rather solution of some kind of mud, was a shilling, if you stood up to drink it, at the counter; but if you took a seat, it immediately became a dollar (four shillings), or a full breakfast, whether you eat it or not, or asked for it or not, you must pay for if you sit down. Our nervous friend sat, and accomplished the feat wonderfully, with one minute to spare to stretch his leg. He ate oyster-soup, salted cucumber, fried ham, succotash, fried fish, beef-steak, roasted apples, quart of iced water with a pint of tea, ditto, coffee-and various cakes, butter, and molasses for this was the seven o'clock breakfast provided for all who approached within several yards of the table. I should have mentioned that there were no separate sleeping compartments for ladies; therefore these sleeping-cars are not very pleasant or convenient for ladies to travel alone, or for single ladies, any way.

CHAPTER X.

PHILADELPHIA, THE QUAKER CITY.

TRAVELLER who had seen many American cities might have some difficulty in deciding which of them was the dirtiest. St. Louis, Cincinnati, Pittsburg, would all have sooty claims upon his consideration, but he would have no difficulty in deciding that Philadelphia was the cleanest; for that would strike him immediately. The Dutch, the first settlers in Pennsylvania, seem to have bequeathed to their successors one of their greatest virtues; for never out of Holland have I seen a cleaner town than Philadelphia. Besides being actually clean-even the brick pavements being diligently scrubbed as in Holland-the materials of which the houses are constructed give also the appearance of cleanliness. Most of them are built in regular rows of brick, which by some process is kept very red, and the