The Boy Travellers in the Far East, Part Second / Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Siam and Java; With Descriptions of Cochin-China, Cambodia, Sumatra and the Malay Archipelago

by Thomas Wallace Knox

SOME OF THE THIRD-CLASS PASSENGERS.

Doctor Bronson and his young companions were early at the railway-station, and purchased their tickets for the journey. They found three classes of carriages on the road; the first and second being patronized by foreigners, and the third class exclusively by natives and Chinese. For their first-class tickets they paid six florins and thirty cents—equal to two dollars and a half of our money. The second-class ticket costs half as much as the first, and the third half as much as the second, so that the natives are able to ride for about a cent and a half per mile. The third-class carriages were crowded to such an extent that Frank and Fred both remarked that the Javanese were as prompt as the Japanese to recognize the value of the railway. Men and women were closely packed on the rough seats of the carriages of the third class, while those in the first and second, especially the former, had plenty of room.

"I suppose this is so the world over," said Fred, as he contemplated the difference between the accommodations of the various classes on the train.

"Everywhere we have been, at any rate," responded Frank.

"Whatever accommodations you wish and can pay for," said the Doctor, "you can have. If you want a special train at the price they demand, you can have it by paying in advance."

"It is the same in Java as in Europe, and, to a certain extent, we have similar arrangements in America. We are more democratic in our ways than any other country of importance, and consequently have been slower to make the distinctions in railway travel that exist in other parts of the world. But we are steadily moving in that direction, and in time we will have all the distinctions of classes—special trains and all. In fact, we have them already."

"Aren't you mistaken, Doctor?" said Fred. "Surely we do not have three classes on our railways at home."

"Stop and think a moment," answered the Doctor, while there was a suggestion of a smile about his face. "We have the ordinary railway carriage and the Pullman car, have we not?"