Europe and elsewhere, by Mark Twain [pseud.] [with an appreciation by Brander Matthews and an introduction by Albert Bigelow Paine]

EUROPE AND ELSEWHERE

this Shah or there shall be a funeral that will be
worth contemplating."
I went to bed then, but did not sleep a great deal,
for the responsibilities were weighing pretty heavily
upon me. At six o'clock in the morning Mr. Blank
came and turned me out. I was surprised at this,
and not gratified, for I detest early rising. I never
like to say severe things, but I was a good deal tried
this time. I said I did not mind getting up moderately early, but I hated to be called day before
yesterday. However, as I was acting in a national
capacity and for a country that I liked, I stopped
grumbling and we set out. A grand naval review is
a good thing to impress a Shah with, but if he would
try getting up at six o'clock in the morning-but no
matter; we started.
We took the Dover train and went whistling along
over the housetops at the rate of fifty miles an hour,
and just as smoothly and pleasantly, too, as if we
were in a sleigh. One never can have anything but
a very vague idea of what speed is until he travels
over an English railway. Our "lightning" expresses
are sleepy and indolent by comparison. We looked
into the back windows of the endless ranks of houses
abreast and below us, and saw many a homelike little
family of early birds sitting at their breakfasts. New
views and new aspects of London were about me;
the mighty city seemed to spread farther and wider
in the clear morning air than it had ever done before.
There is something awe-inspiring about the mere
look of the figures that express the population of
London when one comes to set them down in a good
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