United States -- Description and travel; United States -- Social life and customs
I had with me a mattress and blankets for the emigrant car beyond New
Orleans, but having a first-class ticket I supposed this entitled me
to a regular made-up bed in the Pullman carriage which was next to
the first-class car. I found though it was not so, and that two
dollars a night had to be paid for the luxury. In the first-class
carriage, with small seats holding only two, it was impossible to lie
down at all, and so I paid it, but this was the first experience I
had of the way Europeans are deceived on the American railroads. When
I paid at New York the difference of third to first as far as New
Orleans, the official well knew, for I told him, I did it to secure
sleeping accommodation, but he took good care not to undeceive me. I
have known the same sort of thing occur again and again. The most
flagrant case I met with I will mention here. I was in Colorado at
the time, and about leaving for England. I wrote to a high official
of the Central Pacific Railway, at Denver, for the rates of through
tickets to New York. He replied that first-class was 48 dollars,
second, I think, 44, and added, the difference was small (which was
quite true), and that an additional advantage obtained by going
first-class was that "it entitled you to sleeping accommodation." (I
can swear to the six words quoted.) "Yankee cuteness" had made me
suspicious by this time, besides I had never known the Pullman beds
included in first-class fare, so I wrote again, and asked if he meant
what his letter said. Driven into a corner he explained what I had
previously known, viz. that only first-class passengers _could_ use
the Pullman, but had to pay extra for it. I wrote back indignantly
and said the statement in his first letter was analogous, and equally
truthful, to the following supposititious case. A meets his friend B
in a town. A points to a jeweller's shop, and tells B he is
"entitled" to anything in it. So he is if he pays for it, and it was
the same with the Pullman car!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account