TOURING THE "STATES"

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2531, 4 August 1915, Page 8

TOURING THE "STATES"

MR. F. M. B. FISHER IN AMERICA RAILWAY LUXURIES (Extracts from a Letter Written by Mr. F. M. B. Fisher while Travelling between Denver and Chicago.) "Sinco leaving Denver we have completed our journey across the State of Colorado, and liavo since crossed tlio States of Kansas, and Nebraska, and are now flying through lowa. By tomorrow morning at 7.30 wo shall bo in Chicago, in the State of Illinois. W® crossed the Missouri Biver this morning, and shortly, we shall cross the Mississipi River. Wo have also to-day passed through the large town of Omaha, and to-night we pass through Dos Moines, in lowa. This last-men-tioned Stato is the most beautiful country I havo ever seen. Through countloss miles of the. richest and most intensely cultivated lands we have been passing all day. One can form little or no idea of the enormous area of this country without travelling over it.

Railways de Luxe. ' "Night, 10 p.m. (on a lailway station platform). —[ am now ready to step aboard the Grand Trunk train for Toronto, where I arrive to-morrow at 3 p.nr. In front of mo is a row of trains all ready to start. Immediately in front is tho "Dixio Flyer," bound for places with such strange . names as Terre Haute, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Florida Towns. The next train is Grand Trunk Special, leaving for Detroit, • Montreal, Buffalo, Canadian Towns, and New England. The next is tho .New York Flyer, which averages over 50 miles an hour for 1000 miles— that is equal to travelling from Auckland to Invercargill in about tlio samo. time that the Main Trunk takes from Wellington to Auckland. Next comes tho train for San Francisco through Kansas City. Next Pittsburg and Philadelphia ; then Milwaukee and Northwest towns, and another goes : to New Orleans. Baltimore trains are there, too. "It is a wondrous sight, and they aro iucli comfortable trains, with fine Pullman sleepers. Tho parlour cars are especially adapted to comfort. The back end of tlieso cars is the observation portiou, where about 12 persons can sit and enjoy tho fresh air and the scenery. Running into Denver the other evening wo had a very, lively party of youug Americans, wlio pushed all tho seats back and sang and danced one-steps and tangos. Epicurean Feasts. .

"Then tho dining car is a wonderful affair—tho tables are nearly as large as an ordinary dining table, and seat four. You can have your choice of over 120 items on the elaborate menu. As for tho cooking—it is simply marvellous. I hope no one will feel offended if'l say that in New Zealand we do. not know how to cook. In future I am prepared to forgive almost any comment that much-travelled visitors may make upon our culinary _ defects. Fancy _ sitting down in a railway carriage going sixty miles an hour and having your choice of four soups, three or four entrees, turkey, chicken, fowl, or duck, boiled, baked, roasted, or grilled, wliilo you wait. Potatoes served up in any one oi fourteen different methods. Orel twenty varieties of salads. All varieties of fruit, salads, or ordinary fruit ; seven or eight varieties of fish, puddings, tat'ts, cakes; over 200 kinds of drinks on tho wine list, and all or any of it most excellently served by a black waiter all dressed in spotless white with great shining silver buttons. It is wonderful, too, .how soon one gets used to getting a good meal cheap. What I call cheap is 3s. for breakfast, 3s. for lunch, and 4s. for dinner. That is the lowest you can do it at."