parts, that the system operates noiselessly, without confusion, and with
never a failure of cooperation at any point. So long as the voyage lasts,
impressions of a perfected system drive themselves into one's
consciousness.

After one goes ashore, and as long as he remains in Europe, that well
ordered state will impress, delight and comfort him. Possibly he will
contrast it with his own country's more hurried, less firmly controlled
ways, but once he reflects on causes, he will perceive that the ways of
Europe are products of a civilization long since settled, and already
ancient, while the hurried and more thoughtless methods at home are
concomitants of a civilization still too young, too ambitious, and too
successful to bear the curbs and restraints which make good manners and
good order possible among all classes. It is from fine examples in these
social matters, no less than from visits to historic places, that the
observing and thoughtful tourist derives benefit from a European tour.

The literature of travel in Europe makes in itself a considerable library.
Those who have contributed to it are, in literary quality, of many kinds
and various degrees of excellence. It is not now so true as it once was
that our best writers write for the benefit of tourists. If they do, it is
to compile guide-books and describe automobile trips. In any search for
adequate descriptions of scenes and places, we can not long depend on
present-day writers, but must hark back to those of the last century.
There we shall find Washington Irving's pen busily at work for us, and the
pens of others, who make up a noble company. The writings of these are
still fresh and they fit our purposes as no others do.

Fortunately for us, the things in Europe that really count for the
cultivated traveler do not change with the passing of years or centuries.