New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-12-11
LETTERS FROM NEXT DOOR.


come again to Frisco At mid-afternoOn Of glori-
Gus day we walked eomplacently up the gang-plank
of the Moses Taylor, steamship OF INDEFINITE tnns
burden, bearing the lll-omened sobrlquet OF The
Rolling Moses and bound for Portland, Oregon.
Cheerful friends assured rs that the little run was
very charming, "sea like pond, you know" Some
of us had been rudey bufieted and made mock of
by the wild Atlantic and of us were conscious
of having such very poor and incapable brains for
sailing, that if we had gone out Ike SIMPLE Simon
all to catch whale, and all the water that we had
was in our mothers pail, we should nave developed
then and there dire capacity for sea-sckness But
there such stability and assurance In the
name Pacific, there was such encouragement in the
iteration of the tale that there were voyages on
record wherein the soap-dish had not forsakon the
ever, nor wine-gass tipped of the table, there
was such prophesy of calm seas and quiet skies in
the cases of wine and boxes Of grapes in the peach
baskets and store of lines and oranges that had been
heaped upon u.s. that the reckless among us rolled
about the deck with hats at the angle of the Jolly
tars and an expression of intelligent interest in the
engines, though believe that not even the boldest
spirit went far to eXclaim: SILVER my tlmDers
if this is not neat craft" or, Knock me Oh my
beam ends but wet sheet and a flowing seas the
life for me my hearties" or, blast my eyes, which
your true son of Neptune always does. OF course /;
and even the weakest minded smiled, and waved
energetic farewes with parasos and handkerchieis,
and observed to each other that the effect OF the
broken lights as we should emerge from the Golden
Gate would be superb. II might have been. We
never knew yTwere long to tell what steeds gone
DER as swept the hunt through Cambus Moor; what
reins were frightened in despair when rose Ben Ledis
bridge in air, who paused ,upOn Bocastles heath,
who Stunned to stem the flooded Leth, but when
he Rrtdpe Of York was won. the hcadmOSt horse
man rode alone.
GREAT FRAUD
Before this holiday making we had given mp Will
liam Tell with philosophy and parted tearlully but
firmly from Joan of Arc, when we found out that
she was not at all what she had represented herself
TO be for six centuries. We had even resigned POca
hontas without tear, when the record made 1T plain
that she was forbidden the camp for dsordery
squaw who icOuld perform very un-rOyal antics in
front of the uChite dlgntaTies quarters. Long ago
had Saint George dispOssessed his niche of ITS orna
ment when he turned out to be thieving Turkish
commssary, and her sin had found out Fair Rosa
mond, who, decetful MINK was never born. il was
not bodily misery alone that kept in those dread
full little dungeons they call stae-rooms-weak mis-
nomer-on board ship. No. it was the new blow to
our faith in the testimony of man, and the new re-
moving of the ancient landmarks of our fathers.
For the Pacific is the most shameless and baselcss
deluson of ALL The widest tossing Of the wild At
lanic could never so horribly pitch and trouble one
no. not if it was a mad bull it couldn't. Ii is not
only the long shuddering pause the ship touches
the tOpmOst wave il is not only the sckenng plunge
down. down. down. il is not only the horrible swing
ing in the trough of the sea- II Is the mental lmbe-
cihty and insanity that Oycrtake one. You lie IN
your berth too weak to lift your finger and the hate
full four walls approach andnearer and nearer
till, sufocating in that coffin YOU hide your face in
the pillow that you may not seesbut only feel the
death, and the motion breaks the spell and
the coilin-lid lifts into the ceiling once
more. Or, tho stewarless opens the door-every-
body is so sick that she comes but rarely-and brings
YOU q glass of champagne or bowl Of Cruel, and
instantly she is Lucrta Borgia-and the bowl is
poison, and drink il you must. Or you hear the
smashing of the waves against the ship and you are
wrecked at sea in an open boat; have been drifting
for days on days under the blazing sun, and without
water fighting with yourself to abstain from the
salt food that rises to yonr lips and has horrible
death in every bubble knowing that in instant
more your senses will fail You and You WiH drink.
Or worst horror of ALL your silled with people,
hosts Of them, armies of them, pushing, crowding
world Of them living and dead and unborn; they
whom you have known or never known, have loved
or hated have longed for or have feared. They talk
they laugh they eer they smile they kiss they praise
they mock. they taunt they fall silent, and point in
Vulnerable fingers, and fix immoyable innumerahle
eyes upon you. They go out and others take thor
places hunchbacks idiots, dwarfs, giants, all man
ner Of misshapen and distorted creatures, and the
rush of their going and their coming is more mad
dening even than their stony stiffness and silence
The unspeakable and browning horror is that You
know all the time how false is the delusion vet you
Iii -
reason are as broken as that miserable body that
you see lying there as if it hulk with which
you had no concern, For almost four days and
nights YOU are possessed of those devils and when
at last they tear their way out you are all spent and
faded, and as one just brought back from the dead
And this is life on the ocean wave that IS like n
mill pond you know" offer this tale as a cOntr
button to medical science, to the Coast Survey Com
mission and TO the future compiler of TariOHs MYTHS
of the Last tCo Centuries from The Laying on Of Royal
Hands for the Cure Of SeTOfd 10 The Belief IN the Tran
quillify of tie Pacific Ocean. To the first because
have never seen this form of sea-sckness described
and am convinced that it is the most dangerous
and uncomfortable Of all. TO the second, because in
Its valuable manuals it has said that this ocean is a
region of cans! TO the third, because he who pulls
up two blades of deusion where grew before de-
serves well OF me-
ASTORIA
have said that the headmost horsenan was
alone. He it was, the undaunted host of us all,
who wandered solitary up and down the ship de-
yising impossible remedies for the rest and planning
sorties of walters who beset doors offering every
mitigation of our state from roast pig to raisns If
thoughtfulness and sympathetic distress were an
antidote, he would have cured us all. and had the
voyage lasted one day longer lin which case the rest
of us had not) ] am convinced that he would himself
have fallen ILL., in the spirit of that prince of courtesy