Part 38

MONDAY, MAY 5.—I think every man believes his “luck” is atrocious, and that he rarely gets an “even break.” But I am perfectly satisfied with what they have done to me on the “Canada.” It is a new ship of fourteen thousand tons, and there are only fifty passengers in the first-cabin. As a result, we have plenty of room, and the officers give us whatever we want. I have a room to myself on the best deck, and Adelaide has another just like it next door. Between our rooms there is a private bath, which has been turned over to us for good measure. On most ships the beds are hard. On the “Canada,” our beds are provided with springs, and we have real bedsteads. I have two windows in my room, and Adelaide has two in hers; our bath-room is as big as a stateroom, and is provided with a shower-bath, in addition to the usual tub.... In the dining-room, we have a table to ourselves; a small table for two, with a side electric light, in addition to the ceiling lights. On our table twice a day are quart bottles of red and white wine, always full. This wine is free; it is a feature of all French boats. The cooking is the best I have ever enjoyed on a steamship or hotel, and the attendance perfect. Our waiter is a Frenchman who speaks almost no English, but the chief steward (a German, by-the-way) speaks English, and sees that we are not neglected. The meals are French, except that we have an English breakfast; which means that we have eggs, chops, fish, bacon, etc. On the continent, breakfast almost universally consists of coffee, bread and butter, and jam. At the fine Hotel Vesuve, in Naples, we had this sort of breakfast, although we could have eggs if we called for them. In Paris it is almost impossible to get anything to eat before noon, except at hotels patronized by Americans and English.... Our rooms are in charge of a woman; we see a man in overalls occasionally, but the woman is in charge. On German ships, the dining-room stewards not only care for the rooms, but play in the band; on the “Canada,” waiters in the dining-room have nothing to do with the sleeping-rooms.... The first-class passengers have two big decks. In the rear of the upper deck is a handsome smoking-room. At the rear of the next deck below, the deck on which our rooms are located, is a music-room. At the other end of the deck is a writing-room. Just below the writing-room, and reached by a grand stairway, is the dining-room. All these rooms are very handsome, as the ship is less than a year old.... What do we pay for all this luxury and magnificence? Less per day than we paid on the “Maunganui,” between Wellington and Sydney, where I shared a room 9×10 with three others. Adelaide shared a room of similar size on the “Maunganui” with three other women. The “Maunganui” was a favorite; the “Canada” is a new and unknown ship struggling for recognition from the traveling public. Moral: Keep away from favorites; they will always impose on you.... Another pleasant thing about the “Canada” is that there is not a single Englishman on board. There is no Sports Committee, no loud talk, and no noise. About half the first-cabin passengers are Americans, and they are so well-behaved that I am proud of them. The others are French and Italian, and they are also quiet and modest.... When we look down on the lower decks, we see a seething mass of humanity: Italian and Sicilian emigrants. Fortunately the weather is fine, and most of them are on deck; only a few of them are seasick. Some people can’t go on a millpond without becoming sick, and we have a few of this sort in the first-cabin. The three or four hundred passengers in the second-cabin we cannot see, as they are on a deck under ours.... This morning I saw four barbers at work among the emigrants; barbers who are going to the United States to work at their trade. The barbers charge four cents for shaving, and six cents for hair-cutting. The barber in the first-cabin charges only fifteen cents for a shave, and he is a good workman. The emigrants eat on deck, now that the weather is fine. Each one seems to get a loaf of bread, and a bucket containing soup and meat. A cheap wine is also given them; also macaroni. They are well treated, as the Italian government has a commissioner on board to look after their interests. This commissioner sits on the captain’s right in the dining-room, and has one of the best rooms on the ship.... The emigrants are all poor people, but very wasteful, now that they have plenty. Every day enough bread is wasted on their deck to feed dozens of people, and this is swept up and thrown overboard by the sailors.... These emigrants are objectionable, in one way. In case of a panic, we would all go to the bottom. Nothing could control them, and we haven’t enough boats to float twenty-five hundred people, even if order were maintained. But the “Princess Irene,” the favorite, is carrying even more emigrants than the “Canada.” I have never before been on a ship where the decks were black with emigrants; there are a few hundred on nearly every ship, but the crowd on the “Canada” frightens me.

TUESDAY, MAY 6.—The weather remains fine, and the sea is as smooth as we found it in the Red Sea, or on the east coast of Africa. The Mediterranean narrows up at its western end, as we approach Gibraltar, and becomes a great harbor. At six o’clock this evening we were within a few hundred yards of the mountainous coast of Spain. The Mediterranean being narrow at this point, we are seeing many ships: seven were in sight at one time this evening.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7.—At 4:30 this morning, a steward knocked on my door, and said:

“Gibraltar.”

I climbed out of bed, hurried into a little clothing, and went on deck. Daylight was faintly appearing. On the right, two or three hundred yards away, was the rock of Gibraltar, where the English have a huge fortification which is said to be so old as to be a joke. No one is allowed in the fortification, but it is common report that the big guns are so old and rusty that it would be dangerous to fire them. The rock of Gibraltar is an island, and puts out into the sea. Behind it is the town of the same name; a place as big as Atchison. The picture of Gibraltar shown in advertisements of the Prudential Life Insurance Company looks exactly like it, except that the bay and town behind the rock are not shown accurately. Half-way up the rock of Gibraltar was a light, and a long shelf; I suppose the shelf is a part of the fortification. In the town were occasional clusters of electric lights, as may be seen in any modern town just as daylight is appearing, and I could see a lighthouse on the African shore off to the left. Creeping through the straits were a number of ships, one of them within two or three hundred feet of the “Canada.” Then I went back to bed. I aroused Adelaide, and told her of the sight on the opposite side of the ship, but she concluded not to get up.... Soon after breakfast, we passed Tangier, and left Africa for good. We have been in sight of Africa almost constantly since March 2, when we landed at Durban. During the twenty-four days we were on the “Burgermeister,” we were out of sight of it a few days after leaving Port Said, but this morning we saw the African continent again, at its north-western end, at Tangier, in Morocco.... An hour later, we were out of sight of land in the Atlantic ocean, which Adelaide had been afraid of, but there was little motion, and the weather was warmer and brighter than it has been since leaving Port Said. The barber, when he shaved me this morning, predicted rough weather when we get behind the Azores, but certainly we are having beautiful weather now, and have had it continuously for thirty-two days.... There is an American on board who said to me this morning: “I shall never travel at sea again. Wherever you go by ship, travel is rendered disagreeable by the English. The English are intensely disagreeable to me, and in future I shall keep away from them. They are the most impolite people in the world, and do not realize that everything English is not perfect. They pronounce words wrong, and regard you with pity if you pronounce the same words correctly. The English are headed for a big tumble. You and I will not live to see it, but Canada and Australia will throw off the English yoke. That will encourage India, and Africa, and many other countries, to do the same thing. England is seeing its best days right now; let the Englishmen swagger while they may. The English remind me of a big trust: they paid too much for their various possessions, and are bound to ‘bust.’”... I do not feel that bad about the English, but I certainly remark that the “Canada” is much quieter than it would be were a majority of the passengers sons of John Bull. So far, I have not seen a single passenger running around in pajamas.

THURSDAY, MAY 8.—Our magnificent French cook had macaroni for dinner today, and, while I liked it better than the Italian way of preparing it, I did not like it so well as the American way. Italian macaroni did not please my taste. It was not cooked enough, to begin with, and had the tomato sauce baked into it. It is a sight to see Italians eat macaroni. It is cooked in long strings, and the Italians poke it into their mouths in a fashion that is not at all pleasing.... Six whales were in sight at one time this afternoon, and probably there were many more in the school we did not see. An hour later, we ran into the biggest lot of porpoises I have ever seen. They were quite close to the ship, on both sides of it, and seemed to be following us. A porpoise looks like a fish weighing twenty-five to forty pounds, and leaps entirely out of the water when in a sportive mood. Jumping out of the water is probably a fish’s method of taking a bath.... We have our chairs on the upper or hurricane deck, and, when we take a walk, pass the wireless room, where an operator sits all day and night with receivers at his ears, to catch any call that may be in the air. When the operator reads, he has the receivers fastened to his ears, and I have seen him eating dinner in his room when rigged up in the same queer way.... A dove has been following the ship several days. It is very tired, and this morning I saw it attempt to light on the waves; then it fluttered up into the rigging, and rested there awhile.... Near the entrance to the dining-room there is a notice in French and English. Among other things, it says the management will appreciate the courtesy if passengers dress for luncheon and dinner. We are wondering what a proper dress for luncheon is. The rules also say that dogs are not allowed on board, but one has the run of the ship; and, since he is the only nuisance on board, we wonder that the officers stand for it. I never cared much for those who go crazy about dogs. Senator Vest, of Missouri, once wrote a false and sentimental tribute to dogs, and the Dog People were so much encouraged by it that they are very pronounced nuisances everywhere. No one has a right to keep a dog that is a nuisance to others; whoever does not know this is unfair and impolite in other ways.... The big ship “Canada” is doing a very fair job of pitching this afternoon, but we have been at sea so long that we do not mind it. There is a noticeable thinning-out on the steerage deck. So far, we have been at sea fifty-three days since leaving San Francisco, and have been seasick only four or five days. We were sick three days on the Pacific, and two between Australia and New Zealand, but during the last forty-seven days at sea we have experienced no inconvenience. I sleep at night as I never slept before in my life; there is just enough motion to rock me to sleep.... In Italy, a traveler from the United States wonders at the general use of wine. All classes drink it, and it is very cheap; I bought a bottle of very good wine in Naples for six cents. The poor people use it instead of gravy or milk; on the ship, I see emigrants soaking their bread in wine. Every vacant plot of ground in Naples is devoted to grapes and vegetables. In the heart of the town, wherever you find a vacant lot, you find a garden. I have never seen anything growing in Italy except vegetables and fruit; I wonder where the wheat comes from with which they make macaroni? The Italians say American flour makes better bread than the Italian flour, but inferior macaroni. The Italians are poor, as a rule, but nearly all of them are fat; particularly the women. The poor people of Italy do not eat meat once a week; the Italian emigrants on the ship get it twice a day. But they are very wasteful of it, and complain as much as though they had always been accustomed to the very best. One of the officers says that on the last trip, the ship was compelled to bring back twenty-two emigrants who failed to pass the examination in New York. The charge against one man was that he had been a professional beggar. This man made a great deal of trouble during the voyage to New York; he was always finding fault with the food, although it was abundant. I asked the officer why the ship gave the emigrants so much food that they threw it overboard; his reply was that the Italian commissioner on board insisted on a liberal supply, and the captain was at his mercy. The emigrants are pretty well crowded in their sleeping quarters; one hundred and fifty men sleep in one room, in a bed which runs up in broad tiers. If the owners of the English ships running between Australia and New Zealand ever hear of this, they will die of mortification because of their moderation in putting only four in a room.... We had a moving-picture show last night, with the explanatory lecture in French.... The barber who shaves me every morning says he has been going to sea a good many years, but never started on a voyage on Friday; that a ship never leaves its initial port on Friday. The barber is mistaken. For thirty years or more, the P. & O. line has sent a ship out of London every Friday. Nine-tenths of all you hear is untrue. The barber also says that the famous expression, “See Naples and die,” is founded on a play on words. In the bay of Naples there is an island called Morreai, which in Italian, means something connected with death. The original saying was, “See Naples and Morreai,” but in a spirit of levity the English translated the saying, “See Naples and die.”

FRIDAY, MAY 9.—This afternoon we passed the “Lusiana,” an Italian emigrant ship also bound for New York. The “Lusiana” left Naples a day before we did, but it is slow, and we overhauled it. We passed it within a hundred yards, and marveled at the manner in which it pitched and rolled; probably the big “Canada” was cutting up in a similar manner, viewed from the decks of the “Lusiana,” which were black with emigrants. The emigrants did a good deal of cheering as we passed.... The “Canada” is also a faster ship than the “Princess Irene,” the favorite, and we are hoping that we may overtake it, and jeer at the passengers. The “Princess Irene” had a start of nearly twenty-four hours, as it did not stop at Palermo.... By-the-way, as we left the “Lusiana” behind, I caught the geographies in a ridiculous error. They all say that at sea, the last sight of a disappearing vessel is the top of its masts; which proves, the geographies say, that the world is round. The curvature of the earth is something like an inch to the mile, so that the funnels of a ship would not disappear under five hundred miles, if one could see that far. Three hours after we passed the “Lusiana,” it was a mere speck on the horizon, but we could plainly see its hull. After it had entirely disappeared from view by the naked eye, we could see its hull with the aid of glasses. The ships were probably fifteen miles apart when we finally lost sight of the “Lusiana,” and the difference between them, in the curvature of the earth, did not exceed fifteen inches.... The hull of the “Canada” is white, and it must have presented a very pretty sight to the passengers on the “Lusiana,” who were all of one class: emigrants. But down below, the “Canada” is probably a little untidy. Everything below its two top decks is crowded with emigrants, and they are not very clean. In the evening, they sing a great deal; a trombone-player, en route to New York to join an Italian band, leads with his instrument. Among the first-class passengers is an Italian opera-singer who is about as good as any of the second-rate tenors at the Metropolitan Opera House, and he sings every evening.... Nearly all the emigrants seem to wear home-made socks and shoes. Most of them are young men; I doubt if there are two hundred women in the entire lot. Many of them have been over before, and will return home when outdoor work ceases next winter, as the price of the passage is only $25. The weather is chilly, and the emigrants sit on deck wrapped in blankets furnished them by the steamship company. In addition to a blanket, each is given a sack stuffed with straw, and on these they sleep. Nearly all of them eat in groups on deck, and this morning I saw them pouring olive oil into tin cups containing either coffee and bread, or wine and bread, I could not tell which.... I write this at a table in a little alcove on deck, and the screaming of the emigrants as they excitedly talk to each other amounts to a roar. This noise is in my ears continuously, except when I go to my room, which is amidships, and far removed from the emigrant decks forward and aft.... The cooking on the ship continues to astonish us, it is so excellent. So far, we have not had a dish duplicated at lunch or dinner. You would think anyone could scramble eggs; it may be difficult to unscramble them, as the late J. P. Morgan once observed, but there should be little difference in the process of scrambling them. I am fond of scrambled eggs, and have been eating them all my life, but the manner in which they are prepared in the “Canada’s” kitchen is new and delightful. This morning I asked the chief steward to take Adelaide into the kitchen, to learn the chef’s secret of scrambling eggs. Adelaide says one secret of his delicious cooking is that everything is reeking in butter. It is possible that a German or English crew would suit me better than the French crew of the “Canada,” when it comes to the general work of the ship, but the kitchen and dining-room, and sleeping-rooms, are better managed on this ship than on any other with which I have been familiar on two voyages around the world, and three shorter trips by sea. I do not want any better accommodations than I have on the “Canada.”... Much as I admire the Germans, I cannot help noting that their language does not _sound_ as well as French or Italian. To a man who does not understand languages, the German sounds worst of all, unless it is the Russian. On the “Burgermeister,” where we heard German constantly for more than three weeks, we used to laugh at its funny sounds. I know of no uglier sounding word than the German word “yaw,” which means “yes.” If I were a young man, and should propose to a young and beautiful German girl, and she should reply with what poets say is the sweetest of all words, yaw, I should feel disposed to run away to South America, or South Africa, or some other country where it is too hot.... I have never known anyone to struggle quite so hard against baldness as the barber on the “Canada.” When his hair is in order, it looks all right, but the other morning, while I was being shaved, the window blew open, and the barber’s hair went to pieces. He is bald, but has cultivated a lot of long hair on the side of his head which he combs over his baldness. The wind threw this long hair out of place, and as it flapped around, the barber was as flustrated as an old maid suddenly discovered in her night-gown.... Speaking of the barber reminds me that he says all the officers of the “Canada,” except the captain, wanted more pay, a few months ago, and walked out just before the ship was to sail from Marseilles. The ship had a big lot of passengers aboard, but the general manager was stubborn, and he fooled around for a week before he could find another set of officers.... We hear on the upper deck that the six hundred Sicilians among the emigrants are not as good workers as the fourteen hundred Italians; and that in addition to being lazy, the Sicilians use a knife with very little provocation. In Sicily, you hear a great deal of the vendetta, wherein a man will knife another man who is a second cousin to an enemy.... This morning we passed the Azore islands, where Columbus stopped on his famous voyage. Usually the “Canada” passes between the islands, and quite close to shore, but owing to rain and mist we passed on the longer and safer course.