THE "PERSONALLY-CONDUCTED TOURIST."
[TO TRH EDITOR OP TED , EPROTITOR.")
Sift,—The British tourist abroad is a well-known animal. He
is peculiar under all circumstances ; but when he is travelling lb company with a number of his countrymen he shows his peculi- arities in the most striking manner. For then the partial restraint imposed by the presence of the " natives" is thrown off, and he can freely indulge in those eccentricities of speech and conduct which are quite sufficient to account for the common saying of which most Englishmen are so proud,—" that an Englishman is. known wherever he goes."
On one of the early days of last month, as I happened to be staying at the Rigi Haltbad hotel, I resolved to make an excursion to the top and see the sunrise. For this purpose I got up at three- in the morning, and arrived at the summit in about an hour's time.. To my surprise, I found about a hundred people congregated there, evidently with the same end in view which had prompted me to the ascent. I found afterwards that these were Mr. Cook's ex- cursionists. Now to these amiable beings no one could have less objection than myself. In fact I regarded them with some degree of admiration, for having been impelled by the desire of seeing one of the finest sights of nature to rise from comfortable beds. at that unearthly hour. But I must confess that my admira- tion considerably dwindled when I heard the remarks made by these heroic individuals. The first remark I heard was this, addressed by an excursionist who was lying on the grounel to another excursionist who was standing on a bench, "Give us a whistle, Charlie, when 'e comes oop." The next remark was made by an evidently impatient excursionist, " Well, I wish 'e'd be oop and 'a done with it." Of course he in these two elegant and appreciative sentences stands for sun.' When at lag 'he' had been good enough to reward the eager excursionists by
cooming oop,' a facetiously-disposed individual, elevated on a seat, announced the fact to his brother excursionists by saying in a loud and showmanlike tone, "Ladies and gents, be'old thesun I" This was almost enough for me, even in sight of the splendid spectacle which was presenting itself to my eyes ; but before I left
I was doomed to one other instance of British taste and refine- ment. One other excursionist, addressing a companion, remarked, 44 They tell me we can see the 'ole of the Joongfror and Matter'orn from here. I wonder now which they be. It don't matter, how- ever. At all events, we can say we've seen 'cm."
After this, Sir, I began seriously to despair of the reign of culture over being a reality in England. —I am, Sir, 8re., A TRAVELLER.
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