ALMY'S EXCURSION TO EUROPE. 55 



conductor or courier of our party. The courier is a prime 

 convenience if not a necessity for European travel, caring 

 for baggage, hotels, routes of travel, porters' fees, etc., 

 etc., and especially fertile of expedients in emergencies. 

 Our party had occasion to appreciate the services of our 

 conductor in arranging for comfortable railway carriages 

 for a night ride from Edinboro to Kenilworth. 



The English Country Inn is a thing of precious memory 

 to us. An inimitable breakfast, served by mine host at 

 the inn close by the ruins of Kenilworth, was thoroughly 

 enjoyed. A carriage ride from Kenilworth to Stratford, 

 via Warwick, afforded the desired opportunity of viewing 

 the country scenery in England. 



The English lake region charms you, but most essen- 

 tially through the spirit of poesy with which the bards 

 have enthralled it. London, the great city, ancient, his- 

 toric, beneficent, spangled with parks, no description of 

 it can be given in this epitome. 



We went to Holland across the North sea. Rotterdam, 

 the Hague with Scheveningen beyond the dyke, Haarlem, 

 and the concert at the old cathedral, Amsterdam, and the 

 picture galleries in all these cities, the quaint dress of 

 the people, their amphibiousness, the cattle, the wind- 

 mills and dampness, are homogeneous. Passing from Hol- 

 land to Germany, the hitter's military spirit appears at 

 once. The flagmen stationed at the road-crossings pre- 

 sent arms with their fla^s in scabbards. Characteristics 

 no less marked attract attention in all the nations. 

 Cologne, in Germany, has finished her beautiful cathedral 

 after six hundred years. I do not wonder that a simple 

 and unlearned people are devoted to the Roman Catholic 

 faith with its wonderful cathedrals, 



" Where lights like glories fall. 



The Rhine reminds one of the Hudson, minus the an- 



