it can, and
fills the racks, the seats, and the floor with heavy bags and
portmanteaux. In bygone years the saying was that none travelled first
class save fools and Englishmen, but nowadays Germans travel in their
own first-class carriages a good deal. The third-class accommodation
is wretched, more fit for animals than men. In some districts there
are fourth-class uncovered seats on the roof of the carriages, but I
have only seen these used in summer. When I was last in Germany a year
ago there was much excitement and indignation over certain changes
that were to make travelling dearer for everyone. All luggage in the
van was to be paid for in future, first-class fares were to be raised,
and no return tickets issued.

But you must not think that when you have bought a ticket from one
place to another you can get to it by any train you please. "I want
the 10.15 to Entepfuhl," you say to the nearest and biggest official
you can see; and he looks at your ticket.

"_Personenzug_," he says in a withering way,--"the 10.15 is an
express."

You say humbly that you like an express.

"Then you must get an extra ticket," he says, "This one only admits
you to slow trains."

So you get your extra ticket, and then you wait with everyone else in
a big room where most people are eating and drinking to wile away the
time. Don't imagine that you can find your empty train, choose your
corner, and settle yourself comfortably for your journey as you can in
England. You are well looked after, but if you are used to England
you never quite lose the impression in Germany that if you are not an
official or a soldier you must be a criminal, and that if you move an
inch to right or left of what is prescribed you will hear of it. Just
before the train starts the warders open your prison doors and shout
out the chief places the train travels to. So you hustle along with
everyone else, and get the best place you can, and are hauled out by a
watchful conductor when you arrive. If it is a small station there is
sure to be a dearth of porters, but you get your luggage by going to
the proper office and giving up the slip of paper you received when it
was weighed. Never forget, as I have known English people do, that you
cannot travel in Germany without having your luggage weighed and
receiving the _Schein_ for it. If you lose the _Schein_ you are
undone. I cannot tell you exactly what would happen, because it would
be a tragedy without precede