Every  one  told  good  stories,  the  host  made  an
excellent  speech,  and  it  was  after  two  o'clock  be-
fore that  merry  little  coterie  broke  up.
The  year  1913  was  dawning,  and  a  steamer,  in
which  I  was  to  be  borne  to  the  Tropics,  was  getting
up  her  fires.
To  lay  a  plan  is  so  easy,  to  hatch  is  so  rare.
CHAPTER  XI
TRANSPORTATION

NEW  YORK  is  perfectly  delightful.  There  are
many  things  I  love  about  it.
I  love  the  hospitality  of  its  people.
I  love  the  charm  of  its  women.
I  love  their  beautiful  clothes.
I  love  the  delicious  American  foods.
But  its  transportation  is  perfectly  vile.  In
fact,  those  who  are  responsible  for  the  transport
antics  of  New  York  should,  according  to  my
mind,  be  transported  themselves  to  another  land
as  our  convicts  formerly  were  to  Australia ;  for
that  is  what,  with  us,  the  word  "transportation"
means.
In  London,  Paris,  or  Berlin,  when  a  woman
goes  out  to  dinner,  or  a  theatre,  or  to  the  station,
she  hails  one  of  the  numerous  taxis  (we  have
70,000  motor  vehicles  in  London)  and  for  twenty-
five  cents,  or  at  most  fifty  cents,  is  landed  at  her
destination,  clean,  and  happy,  and  composed.
This  cannot  be  done  in  New  York.  Oh  dear,  no.
Two  or  three  dollars  is  required  to  accomplish  the
same  distance.  The  taxis  all  seem  born  old,  and
the  prices  are  prohibitive  to  the  ordinary  traveller.
