Rollo in Switzerland | Page 8

George thus threw the responsibility upon
Rollo seemed sometimes to be a little blunt. One would suppose, in
some of these cases, from the way in which he spoke and acted, that he
did not care at all what became of Rollo, so coolly and with such an air
of unconcern did he leave him to his own resources. In fact, Rollo was
frequently at such times a little frightened, or at least perplexed, and
often, at first, felt greatly at a loss to know what to do. But, on
reflecting a little upon the subject, he usually soon succeeded in
extricating himself from the difficulty; and then he was always quite
proud of having done so, and was pleased with his uncle George for
having given him the opportunity. So Mr. George, having learned by
experience that Rollo liked, on the whole, to be treated in this way,
always adopted it; and in carrying it out he sometimes spoke and acted
in such a way as might, under other circumstances have appeared
somewhat stern.
The idea of taking a second-class car for himself in order to save a
portion of his money, while his uncle went in one of the first-class,
took Rollo's imagination strongly, and he was half inclined to adopt it.
"On the whole," said he to himself, "I will not do it to-day; but I will
some other day. And now I wonder which is the ticket office for
Strasbourg."
So saying, Rollo looked about the room and soon found the proper
place to apply for his ticket. He procured a ticket without any difficulty,
asking for it in French, with a pronunciation which, if it was not
perfectly correct, was at least perfectly intelligible. As soon as he had
received his ticket and had taken up his change he went to the bench

where his uncle George was sitting and said that he was ready.
"Well," said Mr. George, "then we'll go. I like to travel with a boy that
is capable of taking care of himself and is willing to be treated like a
man."
Saying these words, Mr. George rose from his seat, and, after attending
properly to the baggage, he and Rollo passed through a door guarded
by a man in uniform, who required them to show him their tickets
before he would allow them to pass, and then entered a spacious
apartment which was reserved as the waiting room for the first-class
passengers. This room was beautifully finished and richly adorned, and
the splendid sofas and ottomans which were ranged about the sides of it
were occupied by well-dressed ladies and gentlemen, carrying shawls,
greatcoats, and small travelling bags upon their arms, and exhibiting
other similar indications of their being travellers. Mr. George and Rollo
took seats at a vacant place upon one of the sofas. In a few minutes an
officer came and informed the company, in a very respectful manner,
that the train was ready; whereupon they all rose from their seats and
walked out upon the platform where the train was waiting. Here there
were several railway servants, all dressed in uniform, whose business it
was to conduct the passengers to the several cars, or carriages, as they
call them, and open the doors. These carriages were entirely different in
their construction from the long and open cars used in America, which
form but one compartment, that extends through the whole length of
the car. The French cars were like three elegant carriages, joined
together in such a manner that, though the three formed but one car,
they were still entirely distinct from each other. The seats in these
carriages were very spacious, and they were richly stuffed and lined, so
that they formed soft and luxurious places of repose. The railway porter
opened one of the doors and admitted Mr. George and Rollo, and when
they had entered he closed it again.
"Ah," said Rollo, seating himself upon the soft cushion on one of the
seats, "is not this superb? I am very glad I did not take a second-class
car."
"And yet the second-class cars in France are very comfortable and very

respectable," said Mr. George, "and they are very much cheaper."
"How much should we have saved," asked Rollo, "in going to
Strasbourg, if we had taken a second-class car?"
"I don't know, precisely," said Mr. George. "We should have saved a
great deal."
The train now began to move; and, soon after it left the station, Mr.
George took out his newspaper again and began to read. It was a copy
of a very celebrated newspaper, called the London Times. Mr. George
had another London paper which was full of humorous engravings. The
name of it was Punch. Mr. George gave the Punch to Rollo, thinking