Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1860-05-11
Correspondence of the Century
A VOYAGE TO CALIFOR MA.

San Francisco, March Is, 1860
Our voyage from New York TO Aspinwall
on the noble Baltic, was very pleasant.
We had little world on board. As usual,
the learned professions and the various pccu-
pations and grades of society, and quite
number of nationalities were represented.
What excited most inte- est was the presence
Of several newly married couples, still in the
honeymoon, besides two or three brides in
prospect, on their way to meet their prospect
i've husbands in the far west The ample
supplv of state rooms on the Baltic allowed
an entire stateroom to each happy pair.
Adam and Eve could not have enjoyed life in
Eden more than these bewitch ed travellers
did their home on the Atlantic.
Having landed at Aspinwall, we We're
wbirleI across the Isthmus too rapidly TO
satisfy the Curiosity Of those who were not in
mad haste to reach the land Of gold. Scarcely
had we steadied ourselves. after the rocking
on one ocean. till we found ourselves rocking
but much more gently, on the great Pacific,
in the steamer Sonora. And here our troubles
began. The cabins being less spacious than
those of the Baltic, and the staterooms not
so numerous, we found ourselves crowded by
night in close quarters. The sexes We're mar
shalled into different apartments. The long
married bore their separation with stOlcal
fortitude But, alas for all earthly bliss the
haIfscore of newly married received the tidlngs
with CONSERVATION The brides were evidently
most deeply affected, or, at least they showed
their sorrow more One of them implored
the Purser to relent, and piously quoted :
" Whom God hath Joined let no man (not
even the purser of ship putasunder But
there was no help for 1T.
A clergyman. whose wife was on board,
submitted resignedly to the new Arrangement.
and having lett his partner in their proper
quarters, tumbled into the lowest OF the three
berths In the room to which he was tlcketed.
When he opened his eyes IN the morning, 10.
there Law an outfit of crinOline and other
feminine circumstances. He had got into the
wrong box. A thousand dreadful aPprehen-
sions rushed upon his brain, and IN great
trepidation the reverend gentlemen crePI
forth, and throwing on bis garments gllded
out of the apartment, and proceeded 10 report
to the nurser. This officer assured MIN that
he had taken the right room, and that the
crinoline was in the wrong place ana ne
would have the error Tectlted- mat night
our clerical friend again took his berth, the
lowest of the three, but he had scarcely settled
down. when female entered, and deposited
the same hideous trappings in the same place
and leaped into a roOst overhead.
After dreaming all nj. ht of Gehenna, the
persecuted man again had recourse to the
purser, who determined to explore the mys-
terious phenomenon. Another gentleman,
consigned to a neighboring stateroom, had
found himself mixed up in precisely the
tan ngl
This at first added to the mystery. But 1t
was soon ascertained to be the result OF an
arrangement between two of the newly mar
ried pairs The two brides had been booked
for one room, and the two husbands for the
other. A iudicious scheme to restore the
natural afinities of the parties had led to the
trouble.
But the end was not yet. The ministers
wife pitched In-to use classic phrase-and
declared, among other eloquent speeches,
that no lady who would DO as the lady had
done, who had slept in her husbands state
room, was lady, whereupon the war became
feminine, and report said both parties lost a
few handfuls of hair from the head.
Before we reached San Francisco, the bl
ography of all the passengers who were wor'
thy of note was pretty well known to the
company in general. This was due to the
industry and ingenuity of number OF the
ladies. There was gentleman on board
from the interior of California, who had lei
home to find wife in the Atlantic States
and who had but six weeks for the job. H(
succeeded, however. and his wife was one o.
the brides Another of the brides was enor
mously fat, carrying at least two hundred
pounds. Her engagement had been made ter
years ago, when she was of moderate proper.
tions And her faithful swain who had spen
the interval in California preparing hom'
for her, seemed rather pleased than other
wise that she had so much more to give hin
than the original contract called for.
We had been led to expect better accom-
modations at this end Of the line than be