The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1882-12-15

himself with sbed, blanket, plas>. :. knife
Eforf, spoon and Q tin can for no. din;
fwster, served OF daily. The total =
ofthese articles lin London is not NOR,
than three or four dollars. Then. il h,
has the wisdom of an old steerager, h
will provide himself with shook pot,
to contain the tea and coffee served a
meals. The hook attaches it to the rim
Of the table and prevents il from being
rolled of. If he is wiser still. he will
take with him tea, coffee, chocolate,
canned meats or fish, and few spices
or condiments for helping out the ship s
bill of fare. Many of my fellow passen-
gers had so provided themselves, and
we enjoyed many sociable private '.teas''
on the "Trip. The daily bill Of fare, as
near as can recollect, was rs follows:
Breakfast at seven-coffee, hot rolls and
butter. The so-called .rollsr were in
reality small loaves, Of which each pas
seng:r was entitled to one at meal.
At.l0;S0 or eleven. soup or Cruel for
children, Of which the older passengers,
through continuance or good will. often
got share. Dinner at twelve m.-soup,
roast beef and potatoes, or Goldfish and
potatoes. rice or bread pudding. Tea
at six-cold bread, and butter and what
was called tea. Often in the afternoon
at four . plate of soup or cruel was
among the things possible. There was
certainly enough to eat-of the kind.
venture to say that one-hah Of our
steeragers were never on shore fed with
so muchregularity, or even variety. The
beef tasted as though the life had been
taken out Of it by some process. 1t was
cut up before being brought to the table.
It was brought in a huge tin can. The
can, was taken to the table by one of the
assistant stewards, and out of it he de-
posted the pieces on our plates with
long fork. The potatoes came next in
another huge pan. Another steward laid
the requisite number by our plates. Our
soup-plates were filled in similar fash
ion. The table service, as may be i'm
aginsds was entirely practical in its
nature. There is no for1nality.
The meal finished, each guest was
required to wash his. or her own table,
ware. For this purpose the cook, after
each meal. placed a large vessel OF hot
water near the galley, on deck. TIC, this
the passenger repaired with his own
soap and towel, plunged therein his tin
plate, cup, knife, fork and spoon,
washed, wiped and retired. There was
no change Of hot waterfor the company.
OF course, at the latter end of this lava
tory process it became more and more
greasy, and as it cooled this grease took
on amore and more solid consistency.
The guest is required also to clean that
part OF the table allotted him; to gather
up all the scraps, especially the potato
Feelings. These were generally fired
into the ''chute,'' from whence the Gin
ders and coal ashes were emptied into
the sea-. When this chute was on the
leeward side of the vessel all went well,
and the debris slid readily into the ocean.
When the chute waste windward things
did not go overheard so readily, Then I
a large amount of the smaller scrappage
found its way to the general wash-pan.
The trip from the Storage table with
this table furniture was on an even keel
a matter of one hundred and odd feet,
involving the climbing of the steerage
stairs to the main deck. By the main
deck, / would inform the ultra lands
man, is not meant the upper deck, which
commands the view of the sea. 1t is the
enclosed deck on which are located all
the offices of the little floating world,
such as the engine-room, cook-room,
stewards room, butcher-shop, pastry
cook, etc. Ours was one deck below
this. Having had some sea training,
all this dish-washing and other discipline
was for me no great hardship. had
done it all before in the forecastle. But
some of the poor fellows went erratically
for many days in this. unaccustomed
service. There was often clangor of
pots and plates and precipitations of
human forms in all shapes on deck, and
a spilingOf slops in all directions during
heavy weather.
The principal abuse of the modern
Storage lies in the contracted space oc-
cupied by the berths. There is no ne
cessity for so crowding twelve people in
q space not large enough for four. The
steamers take as rule, full cargoes from
America, but they are not SO loaded COM |
ing back. Nor is there any real neces-
sity that the steerage passenger be obliged |
to furnish his table service. Cleanliness
would be far better regulated were the /
tables set with the ships plates, knives,
forks and cups, and these removed,
washed and stored by the ships attend |
ants. As it is, four-fifths of the people
are entirely inadequate to the proper
cleansing of their own tableware, even
in fair weather, and the result is the
storage in their hunks of greasy plates,
which are continually getting loose and
about Under foot in rough |
As for the fare, would in the
mines of California have been very glad
to live as well as did in the Storage. 1
have seen worse fare on some vessels
when a sailor, and even worse in some
cheap boarding houses on Shore We
had very calm passage until within four
days of New York. The steamer was
LIGHT. and such rolling for three days !
never deemed anything afoat capable Of
The oscillations were as regular and al
most as rapid as those of a common pen
dulum. 1t was one steady see-saw night
and day-the deck for ever so few Sec
Dnds like Mansard roof up, and with
out the pause of a second it was the
roof down again. Twas rolled
like log to and fro in my bunk, and no
self-choking wouldsecure me.
At last l hit upon fashion of screwing
my head into one corner of the birth, and
somehow don't know howl could
m Ike that end of my body stay there. but
iii below the waist, especially the legs,
.hrashed about like pair of whiplashes.
became so tired of this involuntary ex-
,rcise that my whole body ached.-
Prentice Muyord, in San Francisco
Chronicle,
Ma Dnxal Dad fo Iourna lisna