The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1899-05-03
Letter From Mr.. Irving
Ryttenberg.

Editor of Watchuaan and Southron.
Pacific Ocean, Steamer China,
Easter Sunday, One Day Out from
Notwithstanding to promise l
write you this letter with q short
account of my trip to date, trusting
it will be Of interest to you and "the
folks at home," for no matter where
l shall live in the future I feel that
Sumter will always be "home" The
trip from Sumter to New Orleans
was devoid of any interesting events.
Arriving there on Sunday I saw
what could be seen of the city in
hurry, and which is too near home to
be of much interest The next day
I started on the Sunset Limited,
the palace on wheels Surely there
is no comfort for man that cannot be
found on this train except method
to prevent dust The library car,
smoking car, dining car and sleepers
are all that one can desire. 1t was
quite novelty l assure to be shaved
whilst travelling at the rate of so
miles an hour. The speed on this
train seems to have no limit. I saw
the speed Indicator 60 up to 10 miles
an hour repeatedly, and was told by
brakeman that on the previous trip
whist trying to make up lost time
they had run for g short distance at
IS miles an hour, for which the
engineer was censured. The scenery
which at first is very interesting.
particularly along the Devil River
Canyon, becomes monotonous when
you reach the plains 1t was with
great pleasure that at Tucson | met
Mr.. Knox Corbett and our fellow
townsman, Mr.. j. N. Corbett San
Francisco was reached exactly on
tiue. spite of a breakdown of the
engine on the way. Unfortunately
it rained from the time of our arrival
until the morning of departure, so
we saw very little of Frisco in conse.
quence
The Palace Hotel, like the ST.
Charles in New Orleans, and every
hotel in the sonth. makes specially
of foreign dishes, with the result
that the delicious oyster cocktails,
giant crabs, luscious figs and other
spec,al,ies for which California is
known never reach the bill of fare.
The Palace Hotel where our party
stopped is one of the incest hotels in
this country, comparing favorably
With the large New York caravansa-
RES. We were somewhat disappoint.
ed in the California fruits about
which we have heard so much They
look nice and are very juicy, &c, but
do not seem to have the favor that
our southern fruit has
Our steamer sailed at l o'clock.
Two hours before the wharf was a
moving mass of passengers, truck
men and Cinnamon. To Californians
the Chinaman is the same as
to us the southern negro is,
but 10 an easterner the sight
of so many of them for the first
time is very entertaining. You soon
get accustomed to them, however, as
they are the only help aboard chip.
Sailors, walters, porters, cooks
everything Cinnamon. You think
you soon learn to talk pigeon
English" to them, for instance zone
piece man. means Ga man." Ego
look see." is "to send" "no have
got" means "no," and lunch becomes
"tifia. "
The passage out of the harbor
through the celebrated Golden Gate
is beautiful, past the cliff house and
sea! rock, which is literally covered
with seal, aad then what change,
every one is going below as it gets
rough. until finally by dinner time
the officers have the dining room
entirely to themselves, and every
ore else wonders bow Balboa could
have made such mistake as to call
this ocean Pacific !" Next day
(and ever sincel we realize that he
was right, as we have had beautiful
weather and the ocean seems like a
big mill pond.
Our first stop lis 3, Honolulu, the
new American city After six days
OF the water imagine now gladly we
greet tue eight of land, and such