Rollo in Switzerland Part 2

"Well, Rollo, you've done it, I declare. I did not think you were so much of a man."

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: Carlos was a Spanish boy, who was residing at this time at the same hotel with Mr. George. The manner in which Rollo became acquainted with him is related in Rollo in Paris. Carlos did not understand English, nor Rollo Spanish; but when they were together they usually kept talking all the time, each in his own way.]

[Footnote 2: A courier is a travelling servant and guide.]

CHAPTER II.

CROSSING THE FRONTIER.

On the morning when Mr. George and Rollo were about setting out for Switzerland, Rollo, having got every thing ready himself half an hour before the time, took out his map of Europe and asked his uncle George what route they were going to take. Mr. George was busy at that time putting the last things into his trunk and making ready to lock it up and strap it; so he could not come to Rollo to show him the route, but was obliged to describe it.

"Have you found Paris?" said he.

"Yes," said Rollo; "I have got my finger on it."

"In the first place, then," said Mr. George, "there is a railway that goes east from Paris a hundred miles across France to Strasbourg on the Rhine. See if you can find Strasbourg on the Rhine."

"Yes," said Rollo; "here it is."

"Then," said Mr. George, "we take another railway and go south, up the Rhine, towards Switzerland."

"_Down_ the Rhine," said Rollo, correcting his uncle; "it is _down_."

"No," rejoined Mr. George. "It is down on the map; that is, it is down the page; but it is really _up_ the river. The Rhine flows to the north.

It collects the waters of a hundred glaciers in Switzerland and carries them north into the North Sea."

"Well," said Rollo.

"This railway," continued Mr. George, "will take us up from Strasbourg, along the bank of the Rhine, to Basle, which is in Switzerland, just across the frontier. It is there, I suppose, that we shall have to show our pa.s.sports; and then we shall know if you got them stamped right."

"I did get them stamped right, I am very sure," said Rollo.

"Boys are generally very sure that what they do is done right," rejoined Mr. George.

Soon after this Mr. George and Rollo took their seats in the carriage, which had been for some time standing ready for them in the court yard of the inn, and drove to the Strasbourg station.

Rollo was greatly interested and excited, when he arrived at the Strasbourg station, to see how extensive and magnificent it was. The carriage entered, with a train of other carriages, through a great iron gate and drew up at the front of a very s.p.a.cious and grand-looking building. Porters, dressed in a sort of uniform, which gave them in some degree the appearance of soldiers, were ready to take the two trunks and carry them in. The young gentlemen followed the porters, and they soon found themselves ushered into an immense hall, very neatly and prettily arranged, with great maps of the various railways painted on the walls between the windows on the front side, and openings on the back side leading to ticket offices or waiting rooms. There were seats along the sides of this hall, with groups of neatly-dressed travellers sitting upon them. Other travellers were walking about, attending to their baggage or making inquiries of the porter or policemen. Others still were standing at the openings of the ticket offices buying their tickets. What chiefly struck Rollo's attention, however, and impressed his mind, was the air of silence, order, and decorum which prevailed and which gave to the station an aspect so different from that of an American station. It is true, the hall was very large, and there were a great many people in it going and coming; but they all walked decorously and quietly,--they spoke in an undertone,--and the presence of so many railway officials in their several uniforms, and of police officers with their badges, and here and there a soldier on guard, gave to the whole scene quite a solemn and imposing appearance.

Rollo gazed about the apartment as he came in, surveying the various objects and groups that presented themselves to his view, until his eye rested upon a little party of travellers, consisting of a lady and two boys, who were standing together near a low railing, waiting for the gentleman who was with them to come back from the ticket office with their tickets. What chiefly attracted Rollo's attention, however, was a pretty little dog, with very long ears, and black, glossy hair, which one of the children held by a cord. The cord was attached to the dog's neck by a silver collar.

Rollo looked at this group for a few minutes--his attention being particularly occupied by the dog,--and then turned again towards his uncle, or rather towards the place where his uncle had been standing; but he found, to his surprise, that he was gone.

In a moment, however, he saw his uncle coming towards him. He was clasping his wallet and putting it in his pocket.

"Uncle George," said he, "see that beautiful little dog!"

"Yes," said Mr. George.

"I wish I had such a dog as that to travel with me," said Rollo. "But, uncle George where are we to get our tickets?"

"I've got mine," said Mr. George. "When I come to a railway station I always get my ticket the first thing, and look at the pretty little dogs afterwards."

So saying, Mr. George took a newspaper out of his pocket and began to walk away, adding, as he went,--

"I'll sit down here and read my newspaper till you have got your ticket, and then we will go into the waiting room."

"But, uncle George," said Rollo, "why did not you get me a ticket when you got yours?"

"Because," said Mr. George, "among other reasons, I did not know which cla.s.s carriage you wished to go in."

"Why, uncle George!" exclaimed Rollo, surprised. "I must go in the same carriage that you do of course."

"Not of course," said Mr. George. "I have got a ticket in the first cla.s.s; and I should like to have your company in my car very much if you choose to pay the price for a first-cla.s.s ticket. But if you choose to take a second or a third-cla.s.s ticket you will save, perhaps, half your money."

So saying, Mr. George went away and left Rollo to himself.

This was the way that Mr. George always treated Rollo when he was travelling with him. He left him to act for himself and to take care of himself in almost all the emergencies that occurred. He did this, not because he wished to save himself the trouble of taking care of a boy, but because he thought it was much better for boys early to learn to take care of themselves.

The manner in which Mr. George thus threw the responsibility upon Rollo seemed sometimes to be a little blunt. One would suppose, in some of these cases, from the way in which he spoke and acted, that he did not care at all what became of Rollo, so coolly and with such an air of unconcern did he leave him to his own resources. In fact, Rollo was frequently at such times a little frightened, or at least perplexed, and often, at first, felt greatly at a loss to know what to do. But, on reflecting a little upon the subject, he usually soon succeeded in extricating himself from the difficulty; and then he was always quite proud of having done so, and was pleased with his uncle George for having given him the opportunity. So Mr. George, having learned by experience that Rollo liked, on the whole, to be treated in this way, always adopted it; and in carrying it out he sometimes spoke and acted in such a way as might, under other circ.u.mstances have appeared somewhat stern.

The idea of taking a second-cla.s.s car for himself in order to save a portion of his money, while his uncle went in one of the first-cla.s.s, took Rollo's imagination strongly, and he was half inclined to adopt it.

"On the whole," said he to himself, "I will not do it to-day; but I will some other day. And now I wonder which is the ticket office for Strasbourg."

So saying, Rollo looked about the room and soon found the proper place to apply for his ticket. He procured a ticket without any difficulty, asking for it in French, with a p.r.o.nunciation which, if it was not perfectly correct, was at least perfectly intelligible. As soon as he had received his ticket and had taken up his change he went to the bench where his uncle George was sitting and said that he was ready.

"Well," said Mr. George, "then we'll go. I like to travel with a boy that is capable of taking care of himself and is willing to be treated like a man."

Saying these words, Mr. George rose from his seat, and, after attending properly to the baggage, he and Rollo pa.s.sed through a door guarded by a man in uniform, who required them to show him their tickets before he would allow them to pa.s.s, and then entered a s.p.a.cious apartment which was reserved as the waiting room for the first-cla.s.s pa.s.sengers. This room was beautifully finished and richly adorned, and the splendid sofas and ottomans which were ranged about the sides of it were occupied by well-dressed ladies and gentlemen, carrying shawls, greatcoats, and small travelling bags upon their arms, and exhibiting other similar indications of their being travellers. Mr. George and Rollo took seats at a vacant place upon one of the sofas. In a few minutes an officer came and informed the company, in a very respectful manner, that the train was ready; whereupon they all rose from their seats and walked out upon the platform where the train was waiting. Here there were several railway servants, all dressed in uniform, whose business it was to conduct the pa.s.sengers to the several cars, or carriages, as they call them, and open the doors. These carriages were entirely different in their construction from the long and open cars used in America, which form but one compartment, that extends through the whole length of the car. The French cars were like three elegant carriages, joined together in such a manner that, though the three formed but one car, they were still entirely distinct from each other. The seats in these carriages were very s.p.a.cious, and they were richly stuffed and lined, so that they formed soft and luxurious places of repose. The railway porter opened one of the doors and admitted Mr. George and Rollo, and when they had entered he closed it again.

"Ah," said Rollo, seating himself upon the soft cushion on one of the seats, "is not this superb? I am _very glad_ I did not take a second-cla.s.s car."

"And yet the second-cla.s.s cars in France are very comfortable and very respectable," said Mr. George, "and they are very much cheaper."

"How much should we have saved," asked Rollo, "in going to Strasbourg, if we had taken a second-cla.s.s car?"

"I don't know, precisely," said Mr. George. "We should have saved a great deal."

The train now began to move; and, soon after it left the station, Mr.

George took out his newspaper again and began to read. It was a copy of a very celebrated newspaper, called the London Times. Mr. George had another London paper which was full of humorous engravings. The name of it was Punch. Mr. George gave the Punch to Rollo, thinking that the pictures and caricatures in it might perhaps amuse him; but Rollo, after turning it over a moment, concluded that he should prefer to amuse himself by looking out the window.

[Ill.u.s.tration: IN THE CAR.]