result that I took a ticket by the Pennsylvania route, and left New York
at 10 o'clock a.m. The train service between New York and Chicago is one
of the best, if not _the_ best, in America. The cars are elegantly
fitted; they are about the length of the Pullman cars we have in
England. The best cars are those fitted with sleeping accommodation, and
travellers having tickets for a "sleeper" have the privilege of using
the sleeping car during the day. The sleeping cars are divided into
squares capable of seating four persons, but the space is accorded to
two only, as only two beds or berths can be made up in the space; the
lower berth (which is always the favourite) is formed of the two double
seats (the space for four seats), filled up in the centre by special
fittings and mattresses, hidden during the day inside the seats; the
upper berth is pulled down from the sloping roof of the car, and in the
receptacle between the slope and the square are contained the bedding
and the fittings. A curtain falls down over both the upper and lower
berths, and, so far as one can, the dressing has to be done with the
curtain hanging round one as one stands within it; and if on both sides
of the car passengers happen to stand behind their respective curtains
at the same time, they would touch one another and so block the
passage-way. The dressing accommodation is so inconvenient that only
partial undressing is adopted. The outside of the slope is polished
mahogany, and in the daytime bears no indication whatever of what it
really is, but looks like a handsome sloping polished mahogany roof.
These cars are luxuriously fitted. Another car on the train is a
handsome dining saloon, with kitchen attached, where you can order as
good a dinner as you could obtain at an hotel. The cars are also fitted
liberally with lavatories and water-closets, separate ones for ladies
and for gentlemen. On this train is also a bath-room and a barber's
shop. There are also one or two small private rooms, which can be hired
separately. This train has also a recent addition, being what is called
a drawing-room or observation car; this is the last on the train, and
the end is fitted with glass, so that in riding along passengers in this
car enjoy an uninterrupted view of the country they are leaving behind.
On this special train a ladies' maid is provided for the convenience of
ladies, and a stenographer, with his type-writing machine, occupies a
seat in the vestib