The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-07-24

you something about seasickness wnicn
perhaps you don't know. have heard
| thousands of men talk the way you do,
and before the voyage was over they
were in as bad shape as the rest of them.
| Many men who are not sick the first day
| out catch it the second, or even the third;
and the fellows who feel pretty proud
over their good luck the first day usually
go down when every one else on board Is
coming round all right. Now and then
we meet man who sails several voyages
without getting sick, and then makes
one perhaps not as rough as the others
| and goes all to pieces. Old sailors are
sometimes taken with seasickness for a
voyage. We have sailor on board this
ship who gets sick every third voyage as
regularly as a rooster crows in the morn
ing. He has laid off trip, and then two
trips at time, to see if it wouldnt
break the spell, but with no change"
A queer thing about seasickneSs IS
that every man who suffers with 1t Is
ashamed of it, as if he had caught the
itch or something, and endeavors to con-
ceal it till finally he gets so sick that
pride and every other feeling and aspira-
ton save abject misery and Indifference
as to whether he hides himself in his
staterooIn, exposes his inirmity on deck
or falls overheard have disappeared.
When the attack first comes on the VIC
tim inquiries for quinine and says he
must have taken cold, or he has eaten
something which has disagreed with
him, or he has smoked too much. He
goes to the table and makes a gallant
but unsuccessful effort to eat as If moth
ing had happened, all for appearance
sake, and nibbles and goes through
pretense Of eating, and turns pale and
suffers agonies till he thinks he can
sneak away without being suspected of
the crime of seasickness.
Women, on the other hand, don't try
to conceal their affection. They appear
to glory in it. The average woman
thinks sea voyage that does not give
her seasickness is blank failure Won
en- passengers don't talk Of much else
as long as they are able to talk-but sea-
sickness and how they have been sick
before and how it feels to feel that it was
a mistake ever to have been born. They
are like children with the mumps and
measles and few stone bruises and
other sores-the one with the longest
record Of Affections and the most profuse
showing of Commissions is the proudest
and happiest.
The nearest we came to seasickness
was a temporary cessation of interest in
what new and good things the cook had
for dinner one day, and a unanimous
conclusion, which lasted for about twen-
ty-four hours, that there is something in
the flavor of salt water and salt air
which takes away the enjoyment of a
cigar. This was but a faint rumbling
of possible disaster in store for US, yet it
was enough to curb our naughty spirits
and give US more sympathy with the
Affections of our fellow passengers.
If you go to sea don't fail to take a
steamer chair with you. We had heard
of people buying steamer chairs, but con-
Guided they were idiots trying to Out on
style and declined to invest. We after
ward wished we hadn't. There may be
steamships which carry an ample sup
ply Of comfortable chairs for the use of
their passengers, but this one didn't,
and we sat around on coils of rope and
spars and back breaking stools and bor-
rowed chairs till we were tired of it.
Don't enter the captains stateroom I'M
less you are invited to do so. The aver
age captain is a meek enough man on
shore. Meet him on Broadway and he'll
step into the gutter to give you room to
pass, but on board his ship he is an
other being. There he is lord of all he
a monarch of absolute power
between port and port, and he knows it.
Don't ask him questions while he is tax
ing observations; don't disturb him
while he is monkeying with logs and
if you want to keep on good
terms with him, and you do want to
keep on good terms with him, for you |
are a nobody at sea, whatever you may
be on land, unless the captain patronizes
you, and finally, don't forget to give the |
young man who takes care of your state |
room two dollars at the end of the trip,
and the other young man who waits on
you at the table two or three dollars. |
They have earned it.
If you are wise, while at sea you will |
walk forty or fifty times day from the |
stern to the bow; you will go up on the
bridge at night and see the moon rise /
and have little spray fly in your face;
you will go down into the hold and take |
a look at the great marine engines, and /
see the poor stokers feed the fires while
the fat is being tried out of themselves
IN temperature of 125 degs. Fahrenheit; |
you will make friends with the purser,
who is the financial and business man of
the concern, and lastly you will 90 to bed |
Early and avoid the seductive game #
hearts, both on deck among the dar
eyed bellies from Cuba and in the smok-
ng room with the innocent looking gem
.lenen who roll and smoke cigarettes
md languidly scoop in the jackpots.
WALTER WELLMAS.