Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-07-24
Spicy Letter From Vickery.
Uondon correspondence of the JOURNAL.

(London correspondence Of the JOURNAL
LONDON, July ID, 1894.
Editors Kennebec Journal: As myself
and family left many friends behind us,
and as it is impossible to write them all,
personally, ! win, with your permission,
give them, through the medium of the jour
NAL, brief sketch of our trip from Augus-
Ia TO London.
We left Augusta July LIST Sunday; it
was warm in Augusta, but the farther we
went the warmer it grew, and when we
reached Boston it was decidedly hot. At
the Providence depot we met many friends
and spent the time socially till we took the 6
o'clock train for Fall River. where we arrived
at o'clock and took steamer Providence"
for New York. When l went to retire
for the night, | got into the upper berth of
the stateroom, but when fairly landed in
the berth, / went down through, spring
mattress and all down on to the lower berth.
As it happened, my wife had not retired to
the lower berth, thus saving broken head
as | am no feather weight. set out to get
mad, but when reflected that was on the
same boat "a years ago, and that, like my
self, the boat was getting old, fOrgave her,
placed the spring and mattress on the floor,
just.
Arrived at New York at o'clock in the
morning, and found it warmer still in New
York, and although we secured an airy
suite of rooms in the Brevoort House on
Fifth Avenue, we suffered very much with
the heat. The brick walls in New York,
when they get hot. forget to get cool, aud
the result is that refreshing sleep is very
hard to get.
At2 P. M. on Tuesday the Sd, we went
on board the .'Aurania." and sailed at 3
7. M. On our trip out past Sandy Hook,
We found the decks cool and inviting, but
the staterooms ere yeritable sweat-boxes,
and one had to leave the door wide open in
order to live. The steamer is made of
steel, and lying at the wharf in New York
a-week had the effect of heating her~tO
blood heat While in New York heard the
"Aurania' spoken of as the"Rolling Auran-
al. That was Just right, as we learned the next
morning, for there was fresh breeze blow
ing and the boat was rolling fearfully.
Nothing daunted. got wife up on deck,
where Doctor and Percy Joined us, and al
though at least two thirds Of the seven hun
bred passengers were sick, the four of us
escaped entirely and never went fishing for
mackerel during the entire voyage. But
wasn't it hot? The air was hot, and when
we entered the gulf stream it was worse still I;
and to make matters still worse, the cold
storage engine broke down, and as it would
take all the ice to keep the perishable pro-
visions from spelling, our ice supply was
cut off, even for table use. You can i'm
agne what it was to be cut of from ice
those days in the gulf stream. After we
left the gulf stream it was cool and nice, and
had a very pleasant journey the rest of the
way, calling at Queenstown Wednesday at
A. M, arriving at Liverpool A. M.
Thursday-took q special express train for
London ut l0.40 A. M. Thursday, arriving
in London at 4.30 z. M. and are quartered
at the Midland hotel during our stay in
London.
few little incidents occurred on the
steamer worthy of note. The third day out
l started to hunt up barber shop and get
shaved found it, little room about six
feet square-only room enough for one VIC
tim at time-a wise provision, for II
an outside party should witness the agonies
of the victim, the barber would never ha,
but one patron. sat down in chair with
an apology for head rest, and no foot rest
at ALL and the operator commenced by not
only lathering my face but filling my eyes
and ears full. Then commenced the tug OF
war. When he commenced to pull on that
razor, would you. believe that he stopped,
for the time being, that 1900 ton steamer
from rolling? Well, if you object to be-
heving it, why will not insist on it; but
what do know, and ask you to believe, Is
that although the steamer was rolling very
violently, / could not, for the life of me,
tell whether my head or my heels were IN
tne air. At that moment l would have
gwen sovereign 1--WE have no such vulgar
.hlngs as dollars and cents) to have looked
into Lon Chadbourne's or either of his three
artists faces for fifteen minutes-and the
operator looked down into my face with an
expression of childlike innocence and asked
II the razor cut we'll. What could say