The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1900-03-10
On BOARD "FURsT BISMARCK"

MEDITERRANEAN SEA, Feb. 10, 1900.
DEAR READERS Il closed my last letter by
saying 1--WE were served in pomp with an eight
round dinner on board our ship in New
York Harbor, February TO- This the Steam
ship Company could well afford to do, so far
as the writer is concerned. His meals after
that were .'little toast and milk" and then
for change "a little milk and toast were of
a one course style for four days. On Satnr-
day night the ocean got very rough and the
waves run high four days and four nights.
The boat rocked and jumped, first in one di-
rection, then in another, until nearly all the
passengers were '.sea Sick The plague was
no respecer of persons. The I'D. D's.," the
'Rev's., the IN. DIS. ;" the millionaires and
the poor all fell in line.
Rev. Ford C. Ottoman said 81 crossed the
ocean eight times before, but this is the rough
est voyage | ever had" Many interesting
anecdotes might be given to show the distress
of ''sea sick; crew, but few will suffice.
gentleman in the dining room excused
himself and hurried to the nearest place of
deliverance where he could do homage to
the fish and gull as he crossed the promenade
deck-u-up. The steward on the deck at once
took him by the arm, ''over the rail sir.
please" ''Who is doing this ''puke." You
or u-up, ''I' was the reply. Another gentle
man excused himself from the dining room
and hurried down the aisle with a handker-
chief in his mouth to conceal the crime. Two
hundred and seventy-fve passengers were
''sea sick" at one time. But after storm
there is always calm. One Thursday morn
ing our passengers awoke from their sumber
to find the ocean as calm as a mill dam be-
tween Two hills. Our boat moved along with
out any perceptble motion, the sun appeared
behind the horizon in clear sky dropping
his rays of red, gold and yellow upon millions
of small waves Before us lay the beautiful
picturesque mountainous Island of Azore.
towns and villages, painted white, are dotted
all along the coast. The fields, hedges and
groves are as beautiful and green as the fields
in Carroll in June. In the midst of all a
snow capped peak rises 5000 feet high. On
board our ship every thing changed before 10
O'Clock. That old terror .'sea sick" could no
more hold his subjects in their state rooms.
On deck 400 passengers were greeting one
another and renewing friendship made in New
York harbor before the storm. Everybody
had joke at the expense of poor old Mr..
''sea sick" and the old gentleman had no
power to revenge.
Nothing can be more pleasant than a voy-
age across the ocean.
On Sunday, February Is, at o clock, we
anchored at Gibralter. The management of
our party took US through the city and into
the grotto.
Gibraltar is a solid rock of limestone and
gray marble, 400 feet high and six miles in
circumference. The town is between the
| rock and the wall along the coast. The
streets are narrow and the town is not over
! 500 feet wide, population 5000. Frost is a
stranger here. The public parks are very
beautiful. The large rock is indeed fort
ress as it holds hundreds of powerful guns.
Our party was allowed to enter some parts of
the fortified rock. We entered a grotto and
travelled under the rock about l mile. We
were then 500 feet above sea level. About
| 100 feet apart caverns are dug in the side of
| the main grotto to the surface of the rock
where large and powerful guns keep watch
through small holes, 2 by feet. Other
grottos lead to the top of the rock. The town
and the rock belong to England; 5000 soldiers
are always on guard here. Here everything
| was order, all stores were closed and the sab
| bath was observed.
Three hundred yards east of the rock we
stepped on Spanish soil.
Linea is a town of considerable size in
Spain. Here, too, soldiers searched the
writer before he could pass into the city. In
| this town the writer saw more beggars in 10
minutes than he has seen in Maryland in 20
years. The stores were open aud the black
smith shoeing horses. 1t was Sunday, their
best day for business. In the center of the
town stood large arena. in which the bull
fights take place on Sunday afternoon.
Throughout the whole town soldiers were on
duty. Our party returned to our boat and
sailed through the strait into the Mediter-
Go. W. YE1sER.