There--that seems to me to be a very impartial schedule--the conclusion being that travelling on the Orient Express or on an American express is equally uncomfortable. The truth is that all railway travelling is very uncomfortable anyhow. As Mr. H. G. Wells printed somewhere, railway travelling hasn’t really improved since the first trains were invented. The same essentials of discomfort remain: the narrowness, the dirt, the stuffiness, the vibration of the car. The car has not improved. The Pullman car is a more ingenious arrangement than the European car for the train, but it is not more comfortable for the passenger. What surprises me now is the things I remember Americans telling me about American trains before I went to America. I remember being told by them that American trains were full of hot and cold baths, which you could jump into at any minute; that there was no difference in being on a train or in a club; that they were more comfortable than the best hotel and more luxurious than the fastest liners; that the best European cars would be considered to belong to the fourth class in America. How different this is from what I have heard Americans say about American trains when they were themselves on the train in America! With regard to baggage, I throw a large bouquet at the check system. It is infinitely more convenient than the European system, which I do not think has a single advantage, except the doubtful one of its being easier for you to lose your boxes. In England, for instance, there is a special profession to which certain people belong who are called “Peter-claimers,” and whose whole business in life is to steal other people’s baggage from railway stations. They drive to the station with an empty bag or with a bag full of stones. They put down their bag next to that of a banker, which they know to be full of gold, or next to that of a duchess, which they know to be full of pearls, rubies, and pink topazes. Then in their hurry they make a mistake, and, leaving their bag, they take away that of the banker or the duchess and drive home with it and never give it back, unless the reward offered be larger than the value of the contents of the bag and no questions be asked. This is called “Peter-claiming.” [Illustration: THEIR WHOLE BUSINESS IS TO STEAL OTHER PEOPLES’ BAGGAGE] Another and more complicated way of doing it is this: You--the crook--that is to say, the “Peter-claimer”--have a particular kind of bag made which when placed on the top of any other kind of bag opens and swallows it up. I don’t see how “Peter-claimers” could possibly do their work in a country where the check system prevails. However, human ingenuity is boundless, and doubtless a way would be found.