The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1879-09-17

best of the lot which he had SO ad-
chosen. But even to
him the hardships proved all but intoler-
able. For tea the first night
the Storage passengers were supplied with
large tin pan containing 40 or 80 hunks OF
dry bread and plate with two pounds or so
of most Unlocking compound representing
butter.
procuring a piece of the bread, / set
about to eat, in imitation of the people about
me. In vain, though. The bread was only
half baked-burned on the outside and dough
within. The tea tasted strongly of smoke
1 had scarcely taken one gulp ere-good
sailor as 1 AMI hastily put down the cup,
rushed upon deck, and there sat down on a
coil of rope
For breakfast, the same half-burned bread,
the same rank butter, and what was called
an Irish stew; sloppy stuff, without season.
ing in it, and with little meat in it that was
not singularly greasy coffee served in wa
tering-pots, of origin and components I'M
known, but hot. For dinner, the tin pan was
filled with small watery potatoes, tish-ket-
tie of soup, and in another tin, reeking with
grease and covered with SCOT and dirt, were
about 20 slices of boiled beef, tough, trashy,
and stringy." One of these pieces B. attempt
ed to eat, and, like most of his fellow-passen-
gers, had to give in. Bread was not allowed,
and the potatoes, after trying %, he also gave
up in disgust and despair.
''Such were our meals, with unvarying
and monotonous regularity; bread that would
have been good had it been sufficiently
baked; coffee and tea that would have been
tolerable had they been properly made, meat
that would have been eatable and nourishing
had it been decently cooked; butter that
would have remained sweet had it been kept
Il 4 Al
ing fashion narrated"
1t sounds incredible enough, but we are
told that not only was the tea and coffee un-
drinkable, but no drinking water was to be
had. Such Storage passengers as had the
bad taste to wish for water, were referred to
the tap on the main deck-the tap which
supplied the water used for washing plates
and dishes-warm and nauseous. Asking
for water that could be drunk, B. was told
by the steward, with an oath, that if that at
the tap was not good enough for him, he
could go without.
During the whole of the voyage not one
of the Storage passengers on board was al
lowed drop of drinking water"
The inhumanity. adds our author, of with
holding a supply of water on board steam
er during a sea voyage in summer calls for
something more than protest. 1t surely
q
The Storage passengers soon found it out.
They complained of the deprivation in forci-
BILE terms. "But the stewards in our den
didn't mind, for they well knew that thirsty
people must drink, and bottled beer was to
be had for price"
For the animated accounts of the treat
ment of the passengers by the stewards l
must refer you to the letters. Oaths in pleE-
ty, orders in plenty, arbitrary exactions in
plenty. To the steward mind, steerage
passenger seems to be no better than a pau
per or convict, and he is treated by the
stewards as pauper or convict ought to be
treated. Nor was there any redress. Dur
ing the whole of the voyage not a single re-
sponsible officer belonging to the ship enter
ed the Storage. "The stewards were abso-
lutte. they could do as the please and they
did"
The one mistake B. makes is when he
steps outside of his personal experience to
generalize. The Cunard company, he says,
confessedly accommodate their third-class
travellers better than any other trans-Atlan-
tic line This "confessedly" shows how
much hold the superstition l spoke Of has
even on the mind of man who has gone
through such an experience as BIS. His re-
mark is anything but true. I believe it to
be untrue as to several lines. / can testify
of my own knowledge that it is untrue of the
White Star ships. l visited the Storage of
the Britannica the last time 1 crossed. No
more complete contrast could be offered to
the Cunard Storage here described. The
steerage of the Britannica was clean, COM
Portable, light, roomy, and admirably venti-
lated. The Storage passengers, when asked,
told me they were well fed, and in all ways
well cared for. know they are visited at
least once day by one of the superior Off
GERS. l dare say the same is true on other
lines-the Cunard excepted. G. WIS.