The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1900-08-02
THE FOURTH ATSEA.
James Sellers Writes Entertain
ingly of His Experience. IA

In letter to his parents received
Saturday, James Sellers writes enter
tainingIy OF how the 4th OF July was
celebrated aboard the vessel In which
he took passage for Europe. Thelet
ter In part lie as follows. bins ise1rI
lsAsi sa 81 Am Bord l1IIsCs35 l5ls
/ des Postdampfers Grof Waldersee,
r s. dlsF den 5th July, 1900. 5f
Dear Father Mother cssd al when
this reaches you the above date win
call to mind the fact that the day of
the small boy and his flrecrackers has
recently passed and with it my birth
day; but never did I celebrate that
day in more characteristic fashion,
Yet we did not fire cracker, for they
would be too dangerous for use on
shipboard, nor were rockets allowed
since they are always used as signal
of distress; but every other tradition
and custom connected with the 4th of
July was surely carried out. lH7oHI
In the morning at 10 o'clock we had
a parade led by the band Eve have q
fine German band on board and COM
posed of all the passengers in both
first and second cabin, which number
over 300, so you see we had quite a
procession. After going around the
promenade deck several times, we
went down to the second cabin deck,
then to the bow on the main deck
where the band played and we sang
"America" and "Die Wacht Am
Rheine." While they stopped
climbed up the mast to the"look-out"
| (about 40 feet above the deck and
took what trust will be very pretty
picture OF the ship, the crowd, the
band and all the fiuttering flags which
so many were patriotic and thought
full enough to bring with them! After
the parade came the athletic events,
as result of which 1 feel very stiR
to-day, but we enjoyed it while it
lasted. At 8 p. M. came concert in
the main salon which was beautifully
decorated in the stars and stripes and
the red, white and black of Germany.
viii send you copy of the program
which was printed on board, for you
know they print each day the menu
for lunch and dinner. ..' -1 ..a
In the evening at O'Clock an elab-
crate dinner was served and each one
was presented with handsome menu
card with "Old Glory" embossed on
the front page and some fine half
tones of ocean scenes on the back.
One very novel feature of the dinner
was the illuminated ice cream" At
signal from the head steward the
electric lights were all turned out and
as the orchestra played the Stars
and Stripes Forever, "the twenty-five
stewards (waiters) marched in, each
bearing on tray plate of ice cream
in the center of which was cylinder
of ice Illuminated from the center by
a candle. Coloring matter had been
frozen in the ice, so you can imagine
that the effect was unique.
Just after the last course was served
Baron Friedrich @. Won Heydebrand
who was made an American citizen
only three weeks ago, created quite
an excitement among the Germans on
board by saying why he had become
an American citizen. He not being
accustomed to speaking became ex-
cited and not being able to express
what he wanted to say nicely he made
it sound little blunt and very strong,
and ending by proposing three cheers
for America, he made some Of the
Germans look dsggers at him. 1t
probably would have ended there, but
some of us got together and made the
Baron believe that he had offended
every German on board and that they
were all talking about him. He got
excited and tried to fix it up by ex-
planning to each of them what he
really meant, which made them say
more than they had even thought be-
fore, and they are still discussing it
although this is being finished after
an interval of several days. .,..-.a
One would think that it is an easy
matter to find time to write but really
it is hard to get down to it, although
L have been getting up at seven every
morning to take a nice cold shower
before breakfast at eight. After
breakfast we take a walk around the
promenade deck, then play "Shuftle
Board" chess, or listen to the con-
cert till lunch time when we proceed
to get rid of the raVenous appetite
that we have developed since "boul-
lion" was served at ten; and, by the
way, we onlylhave five meals day.
As you know / have never had the
pleasure Of entertaining that monster
of the deep, "Mel.de mer," so am
always ready to respond which state
ment can verify by Mr.. Parker, who
has only missed three meals along
with many others during the last few
days, wheniwe have had weather I'M
usually rough for this season Of the
year, 1t islstrange how bitter one
feels towards the ocean when they
have been unable to hold their own.
Mr.. Parker said that Mrs. Parker
would have to come slonei II she came
over next year, but since he'is him
self again he has decided TO carry ont
their plans and bring her over next
~ L. q ri 80 H.