All the rest of that week I slept in the Anglo-American Club and took my
meals on the pier of the Juragua Iron Company, Mrs. Porter keeping me
abundantly supplied with food, while I tried to make my society an
equivalent for my board by furnishing her, three times a day, with the
news of the city. Getting my meals in a basket or on a tray over the
ship's side and eating them alone on the pier was rather humiliating at
first, and made me feel, for a day or two, like a homeless tramp
subsisting on charity; but when General Wood, the military governor of
the city, and Dr. Van De Water, chaplain of the Seventy-first New York,
came down to the _State of Texas_ one afternoon to see Mrs. Porter and
were not allowed to go on board, even for a drink of water, my
self-respect was measurably restored. Dr. Van De Water had walked into
the city from the camp of his regiment, a distance of two or three
miles, in the fierce tropical sunshine, and was evidently suffering
acutely from fatigue and thirst; but the _State of Texas_, where, under
the Red Cross flag, he naturally expected to find rest and refreshment,
was barred against him, and he had to get his drink of water, as I got
my daily bread, over the ship's side. The quarantine of the steamer
against the shore would perhaps have been a little more consistent, as
well as more effective, if the officers who superintended the unloading
and storing of the cargo had not been permitted to visit every day the
lowest and dirtiest part of the city and then return to the steamer to
eat and sleep, and if the crew had not been allowed to roam about the
streets in search of adventures at night; but I suppose it was found
impracticable to enforce the quarantine against everybody, and the most
serious and threatening source of infection was removed, of course, when
General Wood, Dr. Van De Water, and the vice-president of the Red Cross
were rigidly excluded from the ship.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account