River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1899-09-21
Rocked In the Cradle Of the Deep.

TRANSPORT SHERIDAN" June 30.
Dear Father and Mother:--
l think have been long enough on
the water now to be able TO tell you
how it seems, so / will let you know
what think OF the trip this far. We |
left San Francisco June 24th and have |
now been six days on the water,
The weather has been simply per-
feet and have enjoyed the trip more
than can tell you. We have plenty
to eat and only drill half an hour each |
day and we can put In the rest OF the |
day as we choose. We are nearing the
tropics now and the sun comes down
pretty hot on deck. We wear light,
brown, sleeveless undershirts and
white pants, and that is all we need
-Four or five hundred Of the boys
have been seasick but have not had
my turn yet. We shall reach Homo
lulu Sunday morning and may spend
the 4th there if we stop to take coal
| wish you could be on the ship with
me this afternoon. The weather is
fine and old ocean here is beautiful
shade of blue and the waves run just
high enough to look pretty ia the sun
light.
We all staggered around on the
boat like a lot of drunken men for
couple of days but now we have our
sea legs and don't notice the motion
at all
/ tell you fellow can sleep we'll
here. 1t is just like being rocked in a
cradle and it seems as though fellow
can't get enough sleep to satisfy him.
| wish you could see the sun rise
and set on the sea. 1t is grand. 1t
looks just like a great ball of fire and
seems to sink out OF sight in the
water, leaving all sorts of beautiful
colors. We have only 6 men in the
hospital out of 2,100 and they are not
very sick, so you can see we are hav-
ing healthy trip.
This transport is 482 feet long and
Is simply mass of iron and steel.
Even the floors are of steel and there
is scarcely piece of wood used in her
structure. We average about 200
miles day which is very good sailing,
considering the load we have.
l suppose the trip from Honolulu
won't be so pleasant as it will be terri
bly, hot and when we get into the
China sea we shall probably see more
rough water, but the time passes so
quickly on board ship that we shall
hardly have time to mediate much
before we are there.
Ny regiment has only year and a
half morepin the Islands before it
comes home SO l won't have so very
long to stay after all, and the more 1
hear of the Islands the more 1 think
will like it there so am not worry
ing at all.
don It expect to see much fighting
but would like to be in little miX-up
just to see how it would seem.
AT noon here now the sun is nearly
directly overhead and it would be
pretty hot if it wasn't for the cool
ocean breezes. My partner and / will
sleep on deck tonight so as to get the
first glimpse of land in the morning.
His name is Rob't G. Williams and
we look enough alike to be twins.
July 22.-As we are nearing the end
of our journey and will soon have
chance to mail letters for home will
try and write you little concerning
our trip. / suppose you have received
the letter 1 mailed at Honolulu and
are anxiously awaiting another.
We stayed at Honolulu four days
taking on coal, and those of us who
were lucky enough to get shore-leave
had fine time. We dropped anchor
in Honolulu Bay Sunday morning,
July End, and few Of us were on
shore in time to attend the funeral
ceremonies of the dead Queen.
July 4th was beautiful day and
was celebrated for the first time in
Honolulu in good old United States
style. All the ships were covered
with flags of all descriptions and the
whole city was dressed in its holiday
attire. The good old stars and stripes
fioated over all the public buildings
and it seemed impossible that we
were out OF the United States at all.
We found one German flag floating
above "Old Glory" on a German
church but you can bet it didn't take
long to tear it down and then there
was hot time for awhile but no ar
rests were made.
There was a Man-ofWar training
ship lying near us in the Harbor
From Argentine Republic] and she
fred salutes with her heavy guns and
her band played our national airs all
day.
Honolulu is one of the most beauti-
full places imaginable and cannot be |
described but must be seen to be ap- |
preciated. Fruits of every descrip- |
tion grow there the year round |
and cocoanuts and other tropical |
fruits grow along the principal
streets. Trees as large as our big will |
low at home, and covered with flowers |
of various colors, grow in the door,
yards, and beautifully plumed birds |
furnish plenty of music at all times
Of the day. / saw pears, peaches. |
bananas, cocoanuts, mangoes, pine |
apples, ounces, bread fruit and |
several other things l did not know |
the name of, growing in plenty. We
bought pineapples as large around as
stove-pipe and two feet long for five
cents each and other fruit was pro-
portionally cheap, except watermelons
which were 40 and 80 cents for good |
big ones.
I only wish you could have been
with me to take in the town for | am |
sure you would have enjoyed it as
much as I did, The climate there is |
perfect and is the same the year
round. am afraid after / serve my |
three years time soldering l shall
pevar no nontantad tn settle down in /