The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-05-04
ON THE PARTISAN.
A Portland Party's Trip Across the
Atlantic.

Bright Letter from Mrs. Hermann
Kotzschmar.
ESPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE OF THE PRESS. J
Have our dreams indeed become reality
and are we actually going to Europe
exclaimed II. with breathless delight. A
blissful smile, an ecstatio embrace, was
the only answer necessary. But before
writing further, we wish to explain our
use of the first person plural. 1t is by
no means the conventional, editorial,
we" but bona-flde one consisting of
two distinct Municipalities, W. the elder.
E. the younger uniting such perfect
sympathy in tastes and mutual oompre.
hension. that for us. it is an idesl "we''
who are to see together the wonder and
the glory Of the Old World. Besides this
close personal "we,'' to speak with the
mathematical exaotness of the immortal
Wordsworth, "We are eight The
Portland papers have made such slight
~ reference to our party, that for the
bensflt of those who may have missed
seeing the occasional y notice, we will
partioularize our numbers, Monsieur,
Madame and Mad emoiselle, The Travel
Ter, aad close beside her Miss Dot, Mrs
Iapley "a cousin of Mark determined to
make the hest of everything) and "we. "
Those who have experienced the stir and
excitement of "getting ready will UNI
derstand what the few days preceding the
sailing of the ''Parisian'' meant to us,
the deciding OF the momentous question,
what to take, what not to take. the strug-
gle to induce fair sized trunkful, to
compress itself into small enough STAGE
to make respectable looking "hold-
all. The realization of the many
thoughtful friends we had go freq uently
impressed upon us in the receipt Of
numerous packages, each containing
"the very thing we wanted most;" anc
yet through all those dear delightful days,
VIC kept having such strange sensations
IN our Threats. We were told later that
they always come, when two go, and two
are left behind. The day so Ion expect
ed, tile 9th Of April dawned through
cloudy skies, but We were confident the
heavens would giveus smiling good-bye
and sure enough when on board and
ready TO start. the sun was shining bril-
liantiy--at least we think it was-per-
haps 1t was the cordial good wishes,
the cheery words from hosts Of friends
that s.ade everything LOOK 70 sunny.
Surely the one event most delig htful to
experience In ones lite-pext to being
narried-is to leave Portland on the
Str. Partisan for European trip Of six
months. No words can half express the
feeling of our hearts; we had go ooncep-
ton Of the tender regard in which we
dazed, hewildered, and literally EN- bow
cred in flowers, roses, pinks, and yiolets
| galore, whila books and deinties were
| neaped upon US to aid to the pleasure
| and comfort of our voyage. AS the mo-
| ments flew and the hour fer sailing
came, our friends crowded the pier fo1
more thnn the vessels length. At last
the cannon bconed, the engine throbbed,
| and With nm almost impercertible move
| Inent, we gliaed out into the bay. AT
that moment we know that the heavens
above and tho earth beneath were misty.
| Each gazed at the one dearest face. til
! everything WA but blur. Then the
idows of the party looked at each othel
| blankly, and endeavored to smile, but Il
was miserable, wately failure. From
Thar day es eninr, fer leaving Portland
until the following tuesday, thick fog
| alternating with rain and snow was oul
potion. When we reached Halifax tbs
! streets and houses were covered witt
snow. As we came to the dock Eve notices.
u crowd of thirty or more stevedores
evidently waiting for work. but The
moment the ship made fast, they wheeled
about and marched off with military pre-
It, H. aA.s. L41I l<,Ao 49,
this was their invariable custom. They
Away cungreQate TO see the coming Of
the ship immediately leaving on bel
arrival at about fiye-to get their suppers
thus saving an hour or SO in loading
freight AS it was, 1900 barrels of apples
and fifteen car loads ofsumber kept them
busy until daylight. Saturday morning
at ten we sailed forth to see the place tt
witch bores and troublesome individ
uals, have been consigned from time i'm
memorial Whatever beauties Halifa1
may possess in summer, they are not in
evidence in April. but the rain falling or
limp fish. withered cabbages, and the
like, did not inducs US to linger long.
In three hours we became sufficiently 40.
qnainted with Halifax. aud returned tt
the steamship amusing ourselves will
| watching the various newcomers. Al
four o'clock, amid hand shaking and
| Ujlp hTlSluL
weighed anchor: or ce more We started
land was snon left behind and for the
first time we realized that We were "afal
and afar on an ocean,"
Thursday, April 22pd 1t
is week today since we
left home, and while since Monday We
have had pleasant sunny days, yet the
captain tells US there is more rolling
motion tn the ship than he has exerienced
for two years, except during storms;
probably owing to the way in which the
freight is stored. People have much to
say about the restfulness of an ocean
voyage, but to US it Ia exasperating to
the nerves, whatever 1t may be TO the
body. We want to he able to calculate
UPON ourselves with reasonable degree
of certainty, aud if we cLooss sitting
posture not to be made to stand willy
nilIy, by downward dip of the deck.
Or if we think we would like short
walk, be compelled to sit In humiliat-
ing heap. We ere confident ST. Paul
must have had one of mis- many voyages
in mind, whom he wrote. The things
that | would I do not and the things
that l would not those I to.'' We hs We
all proved good sailors but the HIittla