m Victoria
Station--second-class carriage, no sleeper--for a three days' and
two nights' journey to Rome. It looked appalling, even to so old a
traveller as myself, but I inwardly said, "I can stand it if the
younger ones can." The crossing of the straits of Dover was rough,
the sea dashing over the sides of the boat, but Rachel and I went
through the two hours without a quaver. At Calais we had the same
good luck as at London--a compartment of the car all to ourselves.
Here we were to be settled without change for that night and the
next day, so with bags and shawl-straps, bundles, lunch-baskets and
a peck of oranges, we adjusted ourselves. We breakfasted at Basle,
after having pillowed on each other for the night as best we could.
Now we were in the midst of the Jura mountains, and all day long we
wound up and down their snowy sides and around the beautiful lakes
nestling at their feet--through innumerable tunnels, one of them,
the St. Gothard, taking twenty-three minutes--over splendid bridges
and along lovely brooks and rivers.

We arrived at Milan at 7:50 P. M., when even the bravest of our
party voted to stop over twenty-four hours and try the virtues of a
Christian bed. Rachel and I shared a large old-fashioned room with
a soap-stone stove, where we had a wood-fire built at once.
(Remember that all the houses have marble floors and stairs, and
are plastered on the stone walls, so they seem like perfect
cellars.) We had two single bedsteads (I haven't seen any other
sort on the continent) with the same bedclothes covering both. Our
big room was lighted with just two candles! We "slept solid" till 8
A. M., when Rachel got out her Italian phrase-book, rang the bell
and ordered a fire and hot water.

After fairly good steak and coffee, we five began a day of steady
sight-seeing.... In the evening we went to the station, and here
found a wood-fire in a fireplace and monstrous paintings of Christ
and the saints on the walls. All who had trunks had now to pay for
every pound's weight. I had brought only my big satchel and
shawl-strap. We were not so fortunate as to find a compartment to
ourselves but had two ladies added to our number, while four or
five men in the next one smoked perpetually and the fumes came over
into ours. We growled but