MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT IN GERMANY. 61 



ilar to the Lowell stations in Boston. There are four tracks, 

 two for local and two for through traffic, and all express 

 trains from distant cities are brought into ene grand cen- 

 tral station at the Friedrichstrasse, in the heart of the city. 

 The hackman nuisance, common to our railway terminal, 

 is obviated by having an official stationed at the exits from 

 the station, from whom passengers receive a check for a 

 cab, finding the corresponding number waiting on the street. 

 The railway also provides porters to take out and bring in 

 the baggage, receiving a moderate and stated fee for their 

 service. 



The street-railway system of Berlin is excellent. It is 

 all in the hands of one great company, as in Boston, and 

 the cars thread the streets in every direction, gliding 

 smoothly and rapidly over rails grooved in the centre and 

 jointed diagonally, offering no obstacle to the traffic of 

 wagons and carriages. The cars only stop at stated points, 

 indicated by a little sign at the edge of the sidewalk. The 

 movement of cars is thus materially accelerated, and so 

 accustomed is the public to this arrangement that even la- 

 dies who wish to get off at a point where the car does not 

 stop often skip lightly off while it is in motion. There is 

 also an omnibus company doing a large business. Many of 

 its vehicles are very similar to street cars in construction, 

 with large platforms behind, and with wheels hardly larger 

 than those of the cars. They move more smoothly over 

 the asphalt. 



Berlin has an admirable park system, with which the art 

 of the landscape gardener has done wonders in creating 

 beautiful passages of woodland and meadow, charming 

 contrasts of tree and shrubbery groupings with intervening 

 glades, out of the monotonous flat country amid which lies 

 the German capital. There are four great parks around 

 Berlin, and a fifth of lesser size, the Victoria Park, named 



ESSEX INST. BULLETIN, VOL. XXI 5 



