I almost forgot to mention one other detail in which, so far as I could
judge, we lead the whole of the Old World--dentistry. Probably you have
seen frequent mention in English publications about decayed gentlewomen.
Well, England is full of them. It starts with the teeth.
The leisurely, long, slantwise course across the Atlantic gives one
time, also, for making the acquaintance of one's fellow passengers and
for wondering why some of them ever went to Europe anyway. A source
of constant speculation along these lines was the retired hay-and-feed
merchant from Michigan who traveled with us. One gathered that he had
done little else in these latter years of his life except to traipse
back and forth between the two continents. What particularly endeared
him to the rest of us was his lovely habit of pronouncing all words of
all languages according to a fonetic system of his own. "Yes, sir,"
you would hear him say, addressing a smoking-room audience of less
experienced travelers, "my idee is that a fellow ought to go over on an
English ship, if he likes the exclusability, and come back on a German
ship if he likes the sociableness. Take my case. The last trip I made I
come over on the Lucy Tanner and went back agin on the Grocer K. First
and enjoyed it both ways immense!"
Nor would this chronicle be complete without a passing reference to the
lady from Cincinnati, a widow of independent means, who was traveling
with her two daughters and was so often mistaken for their sister that
she could not refrain from mentioning the remarkable circumstance to
you, providing you did not win her everlasting regard by mentioning it
first. Likewise I feel that I owe the tribute of a line to the
elderly Britain who was engaged in a constant and highly successful
demonstration of the fallacy of the claim set up by medical
practitioners, to the effect that the human stomach can contain but one
fluid pint at a time. All day long, with his monocle goggling glassily
from the midst of his face, like one lone porthole in a tank steamer, he
disproved this statement by practical methods and promptly at nine every
evening, when his complexion had acquired a rich magenta tint, he would
be carried below by two accommodating stewards and put--no, not put,
decanted--would be decanted gently into bed. If anything had happened to
the port-light of that ship, we could have stationed him forward in
the bows with his face looming over the rail and been well within the
maritime regulations--his face had a brilliancy which even the darkness
of the night could not dim; and if the other light had gone out of
commission, we could have impressed the aid of the bilious Armenian lady
who was sick every minute and very sick for some minutes, for she was
always of a glassy green color.
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