Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-02-06
IN SOUTHERN SEAS.
PAJAMAS AND WHITE DRESSES ARE
 WORN IN MlDWlNTER.
Some of the Pleasures of a Trip to the West Indies-The Characters You Meet, and the Frantic Efforts Everybody Makes to Pleasantly Fritter Away the Time.

and the Frantic Efforts Everybody Makes | Special Correspondence.l WEST INDIA ISLANDS, Jan. 5.-There | is nothing novel in the departure of an ocean steamship from New York bound for the most distant ports. A dozen times daily one may witness the familiar picture of excited travellers and still more excited friends; of crowded cabins and mournful good-bys. As rule it is not cheerful picture. All kinds and conditions of men go down to the sea in ships, and so long as they do women will gather at the wharves. Like Niobe, all tears. and indulge in grewsome forebodings. | They did it when the good ship City of Para left New York's icy harbor on a l dull December day bound for the land of l the lotus eaters, and they will so con- | tinue until the end of time. These 1 adieux, whether indulged in personally 1 or merely witnessed, exert rather mor- | bid influence on travellers, and it is not until the passengers arc a day or two at l sea that they resume their normal condi- tion. Finally, however, mans gregari-
 ous nature asserts itself, and he is ready
 to mingle with his fellows, and discuss
 the situation, political. material and | spiritual. The sea being uncommonly
 quiet for the season, we quickly get ac- l quainted, and by the time Hatteras is
 passed and we are within few days of
 the West Indies. one knows with per | feet intimacy every human being, from
 the mining adventurer whose high hopes %,1~ T..
 to the greasy Jamaica waiter who, with 1 touching affection, has daily brought
 me hair of the cooks head in my soup.
 The change from the shivering blasts
 of tho north to the balmy and at times
 scorching air of the tropics is compara-
 lively sudden. Forty-eight hours from
 Sandy Hook we begin to feel the change
 very perceptibly, and on the morning of
 the third day January seems turned to
 July; the ladies robe themselves in soft
 white gowns and the men parade the
 decks in something akin to pajamas. We
 experience within the same week the
 comforts and discomforts of extreme
 heat and extreme cold. When the
 tropics are reached the ship company
 settles down to protracted dolce far
 niente. and under the beautiful skies of
 this gentle climate. watch and wait and observe. x*x
 One need never grow old on voyages
 like this It is an existence where life
 melts away in a continuous smile and
 where the acme of luxurious incidence is reached. One doesn't have to care par ticularly for the opinions of ones neigh
 bors, and fashion is not the memorable
 tyrant she is on shore or even on the prominent transatlantic ships. During this long holiday we find that we are an amiable lot of passengers, take it all ir all, without celebrities or notables in
 either cabin. By force of circumstances the father of Amelie Rives and the nephew of Gen. Grant are the social lions, so that our commonplace
 character is manifest when the glory any
 of us attain is merely reflex one.
 Still on the ship the types of character and of nationality are as varied as Palmer :: Cox's "Brownies." We have the typical Briton, the almond eyed Mongolian, the
 conventional Celt, the genus Dude, the t picturesque Spaniard, the bustling New r Yorker, the latter in all things a law l unto himself. Some of the Castilians look as though they had dropped out o1 u Cervantes' book and were ready to fight
 windmills and scold Sancho Panza. The f women are interesting and numerous ,- A brand new bride, attended by her sigh n ing Romeo from the wilds of Canada
 heads the list, and on the principle tha 8 "all the world loves lover," the passen l. gers pay her and her husband kindly @ homage The stately matron who guides ,. the footsteps of young enthusiastic daugh t1ax ff u she is destined to set the world right, ar, !, fellow voyagers. There are several meel !, and waiting girls on board, and whel l. you look at them you think of MT Il Howells' description of the "lonely face Il of uncourted women." The Dude is {
 naval officer whose mustache is ire g proachable, whose corsets give his coat r, perfect fit, and whose voice is as deep a !, we'll. Although naval officer in tn n /. service of his country, he has seldom # been to sea, and
 - When the breezes blow
 He generally goes below;
 v good fellow, very good fellow, read, to talk largely and well on the mari Q time armament of the world, but never q theless little weak in the stomach.
 CT As the day moves on and the SUI W grows hotter it blazes down on the whit st decks and the passengers loll about unde
 the awnings, yearning for a breath O l. cooler air and lazily watching the flyinl l, fish which sweep over the surface o ,f these tropic seas i'll vast profusion Pres l. ently land is sighted and the news 1 ,e ,e joyfuly received, for three days hay
 passed without even a sail in view. Tn l. land proves to be one of the West Indie ,t Salvador, in fact-and the captail il points out the spot where Columbus frs
 landed and discovered the western hem k isphere. What a mighty scene that mus ,n have been! Who can think of it withou in wishing that the claim of visiting un
 known lands and untraveled seas wa 'd his? What joy to go into the vagu n, unknown and to find that which ma, le l-,,ox,-. of Tybara ic proatnaSS ap