ination, the officer
threw the top till contemptuously aside, and devoted himself to a
thorough search of the bottom. The only unusual object he stumbled
upon was a spyglass inclosed in a shield of morocco. Perhaps a
gesture and a remark on my part aroused his suspicions. He opened
the glass, tried to take it to pieces, inspected it inside and out,
and was so disgusted with his failure to find anything contraband
in it that he returned everything to the trunk, and let us off.

It is commonly and quite justly supposed that the more familiar the
traveler is with the language of the place he visits, the better he
will get along. It is a common experience to find that even when
you can pronounce the language, you cannot understand what is said.
But there are exceptions to all rules, and circumstances now and then
occur in which one thus afflicted has an advantage over the native.
You can talk to him, while he cannot talk to you. There was an
amusing case of this kind at Munich. The only train that would take
us to Berlin before nightfall of the same day left at eight o'clock
in the morning, by a certain route. There was at Munich what we
call a union station. I stopped at the first ticket-office where I
saw the word "Berlin" on the glass, asked for a ticket good in the
train that was going to leave at eight o'clock the next morning for
Berlin, and took what the seller gave me. He was a stupid-looking
fellow, so when I got to my hotel I showed the ticket to a friend.
"That is not the ticket that you want at all," said he; "it will
take you by a circuitous route in a train that does not leave until
after nine, and you will not reach Berlin until long after dark."
I went directly back to the station and showed my ticket to the agent.

"I--asked--you--for--a--ticket--good--in--the--train--which--
leaves--at--eight--o'--clock. This--ticket--is--not--good--
in--that--train. Sie--haben--mich--betruegen. I--want--you--
to--take--the--ticket--back--and--return--me--the--money.
What--you--say--can--I--not--understand."

He expostulated, gesticulated, and fumed, but I kept up the
bombardment until he had to surrender. He motioned to me to step
round into the office, where he took the ticket and returned the
money. I mention the matter because taking back a ticket is said
to be quite unusual on a German railway.

At Berlin, the leading astronomers then, as now, were Foerster,
director of the observatory, and Auwers