AN OCTOBER ABROAD 215 



80 long unused. In the course of my journeyings, 

 I tried each class or compartment of the cars, first, 

 second, and third, and found but little choice. The 

 difference is simply in the upholstering, and, if you 

 are provided with a good shawl or wrap-up, you 

 need not be particular about that. In the first, the 

 floor is carpeted and the seats substantially uphol- 

 stered, usually in blue woolen cloth ; in the second, 

 the seat alone is cushioned ; and in the third, you 

 sit on a bare bench. But all classes go by the same 

 train, and often in the same car, or carriage, as they 

 say here. In the first class, travel the real and the 

 shoddy nobility and Americans; in the second, com- 

 mercial and professional men; and in the third, the 

 same, with such of the peasantry and humbler 

 classes as travel by rail. The only annoyance I ex- 

 perienced in the third class arose from the freedom 

 with which the smokers, always largely in the ma- 

 jority, indulged in their favorite pastime. (I per- 

 ceive there is one advantage in being a smoker: you 

 are never at a loss for something to do, — you can 

 smoke. ) 



At Chester I stopped overnight, selecting my 

 hotel for its name, the "Green Dragon." It was 

 Sunday night, and the only street scene my rambles 

 afforded was quite a large gathering of persons on 

 a corner, listening, apparently with indifi'erence or 

 curiosity, to an ignorant, hot-headed street preacher. 

 *'Now I am going to tell you something you will 

 not like to hear, — something that will make you 

 angry. I know it will. It is this: I expect to go 



