THE BALTIC TO VESUVIUS. A CHAPTER I. A RIDE FOR DAYLIGHT. N American who can travel in his own country from the banks of the Kennebec to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, from Plymouth Rock to San Francisco, without any change in the currency, or any examination of passports, or any custom house detention, is amazed in the old world by the frequency of the calls made for his passport, and at the number of dirty hands that are thrust into his carpet bag, and with the constant refusals of traders, porters, and hackmen to take the coin, which was current but a few miles distant. Those who visit Europe for the first time, and who have little or no experience in these matters, often express their disgust in a vehement manner, but after a time become so familiarized to the trouble and detention, that they bear it with philosophical coolness. (11) |