Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-06-21
NO. 13.

degree of mental effort that we recall
! the day of the week, ana to keep the
/ reckoning of the month requires con-
/ staut reference to the calender. It fl
/ nally becomes a high art to ''kin time"
/ pleasantly, At first the enjoyment OF
/ dining and Wining is regarded as an
/ unfailing resource. To be able to eat
/ four times day, and protract the sit
tings over six or seven hours, is regard
/ ed as the highest accomplishments.
Miserable indeed is the wretch whose
stomach reyolves at the sight Of food.
But the table eventually fails as pleas
ure. We tire OF the everlasting 'trat-at-
tattoo Ofknives and forks, and the cliuk
a-ti-clink of glasses
The least incident varying the routine
of ship life is welcomed with a zest un-
known before. A ship seen upon this
solitary sea, a cask aflOat, nautiIist
with its hlmy sail spread, flying fish,
or the white flash of greedy shark at
the ships side, is sufficient to call all
passengers to the deck, and start a dis
cussiOn that is economically managed
and perseveringly continued till the
subject is ABSOLUTELY exhausted. Then
it is that we ardeutly long for the land
the morning papers-the latest news
the last sensatiOn-and indicate our
approach TO imbeciltty by betting on
the turn ofpOlitical and financial events
that were Of a doubtful nature when
our ship served communication be-
tween us and the rest of mankind. The
stalest jokes are revamped, the stu
pidest tricks played, stories told for the
hundredth time, and enjoyed because
there is nothing better to enIiven the
tedium of the dallying hours. Perhaps
you r51rpOsed TO devote these days TO the
studytOf French, or the reading of liter
ature which Rrtful publishers seduce
you into buying under the pleasing
title Of 'sTales for the Traveller" or
''Lore for Land and Sea" You laid i'm
several square feet of this literature,
with a sense Of discomfort at the time,
like an OversfIlffed goose that you are
for it is not probable that during your
voyage you will reduce the solid bulk
by so much as a single square inch. |
The Incidence Of the sea is upon yOu-a
restless, purpOseless wandering about |
the ship, shufiing over the decks, look |
ing into the cabin, dropping into the
smOke-rOOm, prying into the fearful Sc
crets of the hold, teasing the officers
with questions about latitude and |
longitude, and wondering mt what
point of the compass lies frozen |
and where sunny Spain. Hav- |
ing gone the round of the vessel, mangled |
the compliments of the day in bad French |
with neighbOr who murders them out /
.he distressed Wristbands are taut as /
ship's-rope, and all because you find no \
other mischief for idle hands to do having
praised the really delightful weather in ev-
cry key and chromatic of culogy, till you |
vent a maledictfon upon it, and |
pray for a gale as n variety; having taken |
1 last turn upon deck, bored the officer on |
watch with "a pleasant night, sir" and re- |
lived the iterated reply, Every, sir; - look |
ID into the unvarying compass for a hum |
lredth time, vaguely hoping for at least a /
change in the ships course; seen the moon !
Up and the passengers below, and scanned /
he sky for indications of foul or fair wealth 4
II on the morrow, you turn in and give I
yourself to dreams of home and the loved 4
mes left behind YOU
Our course has been some degrees south of /
hat taken by the steamers ordinarily
strange stories are told of vast ice foes to the
lorth of us, covering the ocean for hundreds
f miles, and sending down upon us, when
ver the wind sets northerly, keen breezes,
With an edge of frost that cuts as sharp as a
azor and stings like needle points, This
pring say the officers, it is not an uncom-
non sight to see icebergs four miles long and
hree or four hundred feet high. Danger
us neighbors are they when the winds are
7ild and the sea rough. A vessel was
runched up by one Of these polar monsters,
few days ago, as easily as though it had
cen an egg-sheIl. So our prudent captain
as given them a wide berth, and taken
s over sea under warmer skies and with
1ch uniformly fair weather as to make
his trip memorable in his long experience
pom she high seas.
And now, at last, the long voyage is ended.
or the first time since leaving New York,
he ponderous machinery has ceased to la
or and the screw to revOlve. We wait for
he little French steamer which is to take
s to land. There is the confusion OF prep
fareweIls among friends |
lade during the passage-packlng and ar ,
lnging of trunks and traveIing-bags for
lspectIon by the French ofIiciaIs-and un- S
sr all a sentiment of regret that we are {
king leave OF the good ship William Penn, ]
lat has safely ferried us over. With a 1
ink of champaign glasses, filled from a d
1ttIe pledge on leaving New York, on fair
Gather throughout the voyage, and fairly
on, we drink to the Great Republic and {
5 people, and pass under the flag of the ]