Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1898-12-15
Letter From Rev. KreIl.
ON THE PACIFIC. Tuesday. Nov. s, 1898

doubt you will be all the gladder to get 1t from
board ship on the ocean. Do not for moment
think have lost interest In you or affection fol
YOU have not. You shall eyerbe dear to me-
as will all your fathers family. l shall not for
get the kind and sympathetic words OF dear
Brother Eddy, God ever bless your father for
his help. Tell him that advice about the rhll'
barb root and quinine is all right 1t helped
me and many other Of the boys. have not
yet been on the sick list l am one Of five out
OF our company that has not been sick. Camp
Merritt was awful OIL us. We had to sleep on
the sand and amid the awful fogs from the
Pacific. 1t was so cold we nearly chilled to
death. At Preside we had board floors, TICKS
filled with straw and at the last we Jared well.
The fogs did not reach us there only at spells.
The weather too got better until rain began TO
come and leaked through our tents.
We left camp Oh last Thursday near noon.
At 4: 20 our ship, the pennsylvania" weighed
anchorage and we started with band playing,
colOrs flying and the boys shouting. The great
thrOng OF people that came to see us off cheered
us, waved handkerchefs and shouted as far us
we could hear. At about sun down we passed
through the "Golden Gate" into the Pacific.
The fog, edges of clouds and border of the land
were all gilded over by the sun till it looked like
a golden entrance to the bay. 1t is rightly
named. I'll never forget the sight. My soul
was all enraptured. Tears came to my eyes.
God bless my native land! You do not. cannot
know how strange it seems to be so long all
surrounded by water and not see anything else
except the sky and clouds. We have not even
seen any fish; that is strange to me indeed.
This is our fifth day out and no ship has been
in sight, though night before last we saw the
light of one in the distance. 1t could be seen
only for a moment at a time as the waves would
raise it up. On Friday l was sick all day.
VOmited twice but got through much better
than most of the boys. Some few are sick yet.
Such time There was venting all over and
throughout the ship, yomit everywhere. How
we would laugh to see a man go through the
most ridiculous efforts to vomit. One would
laugh only to soon be laughed at. Well it was
enough to make hog sick. We have been
cleaning up. II is clean up, clean up. You can
guess we needed to do so.
How are Bakers, Kibler's, Kopp's, Brother
Luse, Taylor, Lovelace, Wright, Ross, well
was going to mention all but it takes too much
space. How are all the people? How should
love to walk into the Ross church when they
dIC sill lliclcs udS iIOdtCu oNci my tSlG III
Camp Merritt then in Camp Preside and 1t is
now on its way to Manila. 1t is pretty well
bleached. On it is printed Gross NJ. L. church
May 20, $685." That was the date Of my last
visit there. When will he the next? God bless
all the people! Will write more later when
nearer Honolulu and will mail this there
November 8. The weather continues fine. A
gentle and cool breeze blows all the time; often
1t is with the ship. Today, for the first time,
saw flying fish; thought them birds at first.
They would fly about four rods and were about
six inches long; no other kind has been seen.
Last week we saw whale in San Francisco
Bay; had expected to see many on the ocean,
but have not yet seen any. Our dinner today
consisted of good soup, cabbage. beef, three hard
tack crackers [3X3 inchesl and two-thirdS of a
pint of coffee. ] take my haversack containing
plate, knife, fork, spoon and cup. and with the
company sit in a line on the right side of the
ship ION the deckl and wait about ten or fifteen.
minutes, till article after article of food Is
brought to us and dished out as we sit there. 1t
is lawfully crowded and Co. "E" must pass in
front of us with its meals as we sit; they can
hardly get through. Some times we eat the first
article of food before the second is obtained.
After eating we one after another wash our
dishes at IA hydrant, then take them back down
to our hunks. There is plenty of life and fun OH
board. 1t seems like bee hive with the bees
just ready to swarm. There is IL constant NOV
ing and buzz. The hunks are three one above
the other and the room is full OF them. The
hunks are the comb, ha! l don't know where
the honey is ha, ha! Guess the drOnes ate it
all ha, ha, ha! Well, the boys generally like it,
though some kick. Kickers will always kick.
Better be contented and make the best oft, is
my motto. We fare very well. Some of the
boys sleep on the deck. They have pure air
there, but it is most too cool. had my first
bath on the ship this forenoon. company
battles at a time. We must undresS below l
did so, pinned my towel around me and went
up to the bathing place. A shower bath Is
given. 1t was rather cool in the cool wind, but
it made me feel well. 1t Is quite refreshing.
The soldiers scrub the deck; one company take
it for day and wash it all over three times.
A hose is turned on and with broom and rubber
Scraper the work is done. II the boys do not
get out of the way the hose Is turned on them.
How they do get! To wash my under clothes
and towel, they with few other articles, were
tied to line, hung over the side of the ship and
let drag in the water for about two hours and
then they are in pretty good condition. Some
of the boys lose clothes in this way, but it Is
about the only chance we have to get them
washed. They have put UP canvass cover over
the deck which gives shade, protects from the
heat of the sun and creates draught. Large
canvass tubes carry air from away up down
into the lower part OF the ship; the air rushes
down through these. We entered the torrid
zone today and find it much cooler than we
supposed it would be, but this is the cool part
of the year and the sun passing farther south.
1t Is good that we didn't come sooner as we
have more breeze and 1t is much cooler. 1t is
almost p M, and this is laid aside till tomor-
w. Good night.
Thursday, November 10. At noon today it
began to rain fine, misting rain Over head
the sky and clouds look just as they do in Iowa,
but they did not look the same at San Francisco.
The current Of air from the ocean rushing
through the opening of the coast range and
coming i'm contact with the warm air of the in
land just north of us ON the bay, made the
clouds always seem strange to us. 1t was often
foggy or cloudy with us, when just across the
bay even on Angel Island i'm the bay, we could
see the sun shine 1t was never foggy there.
At Camp Merritt during July and August we