Excerpt from A Trip to Europe and Facts Gleaned on the Way: Observations, Narratives and General Notes of Travel as Viewed and Given by a Primitive Pennsylvania Farmer; Also a Collection of Numerous Interesting Facts Relative to the Places and Countries Visited During the summer of 1908, my desire was at last gratified, in that I was able to leave on my previously pro posed European trip. This intended trip had been stir ring my mind for a number of years previous to my de parture. On different occasions I made partial arrange ments to leave, but it seemed there were always obstacles in the way. At last, on a bright and starry September evening, I had my luggage all packed and boarded an eastbound train, which sped along at a rapid gait for New York-city. I must admit I felt a sort Of a heavy lump in my throat, which was rather hard to remove, as I thought of the friendly, familiar faces and the dear parents, brothers andi sisters, whom I was leaving behind, and facing a land be yond the wide sea, where not a single soul was personally familiar to me. It was with a two-fold sadness I left home on this identical evening. Two of my nephews, bright little boys, two and three years of age, were lying in their death shrouds; both died the same day and were laid side by side in one coffin. To many it may seem strange to leave nu der such circumstances, but I had previously purchased my passage ticket, so I was obliged to either lose the cost of the ticket or go before the day of the funeral, and the latter w'as chosen. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
