Evening star., 1901-05-25
NOT AS HE ANTICIPATED

y am conscious, said q Well-knoWn
Washington clubman, who returned from
European trip a short time ago, 'that 1
didn't diagnose certain conditions properly
when I went across the water to England
last summer. didn't get on right as the
racing men say.
II went to the New York Office of the
steamship company to book my passage at
the time when the rush Of Americans to-
ward Paris to visit the exposition was at
it's height. I was told that the ships were
SO crowded with passengers that I'd have
to be put in a state room with two other
men I protested that my privacy was
dearer to me than life, and that I'd willing
ly give up double fare rather than be
showed into the same cabin with anybody
whomsoever. The agent told me that he
positively couldn't give me separate room
for love or money.
But said 1 to the agent, Tn an old
voyager, and have been across a lot of
times, and 1 never get seasick any more.
Now, suppose those two fellows that
you're going to throw me in with are both
lubbers. and both of 'em get sick at the
same time, what sort of fun dye suppose
/ II have on my trip across?'
Well he said, Ife's one great big
chance, at best, and it's a condition and
not a theory that confronts you.
THE agent looked over his passenger list
carefully to find two of the right kind of
people to herd me with. 1 noticed that
there was sort of grin on his face when
MS pencil finally arrived at a couple of
names assigned to certain cabin but
didn't think any of that He put me in
with those two names and l went aboard
the ship full of gloomy forebodings as to
the sea-farlng capacities of my two cabin
mates.
We'll, when I met 'em, they didn't i'm
press me at all men capable Of standing
the deep-sea gaff very well. They were
poth pig, stout Engishmen of middle age,
and L reflected dismally that big stout
men are much more susceptible to NAL de
mer than small, StinSily built chaps. They
We're bronzed out-of-doors loking fellows
though, and l put them down at once as
something like that
Get sick as a general thing?' I asked
them with a woud-be amiabIe grin, look
ing from one to the other.
They looked sort O. sheepishly at each
other and fiddled with their hands a bit be-
fore replying.
Well said one of them after pause,
we sStnE haven't done much travelling on steam
ships, and So we can't tell you that
ON, guess you'll be all right, said 1,
patronizingly. All you've got to do is to
set your mind against being sick at sea,
you Know, and you won't get sick, that 8
all
III you gentlemen. either of you. feel,
when we hit the swell, that you're going to
get sick. why. just let me know, and I'll
SSG II CdH l Help you out.
well, the three of us were still busyins
ourselves in our cabin when the steamer
got down to the Hook. When she passed
out into the open sea l felt the swell
right away, and 1 looked at my two cabin
mates. They, in their turn, were looking
at me.
You look bit white, don't you, old
chap? said one of them to me- solicitolsly
ana ne was right. looked white and felt
white What's more, l felt sick-seasjck,
L fn leo
it, but l did.
oh, bit of indigestion,' I said, with
an assumption of carelessneSs to nv pair
OF mates. It'll wear off when get my sea
legs.
But 1t didn't. The ship ran smack into
neaEy weather after getting outside the
HOOK ana then, for the first time in two
decades, | felt myself getting lust deadly
seasick and nothing else
My TWO room mates were very kind to
me, but l didn't want kindness T wanted
eternai peace Moreover, 1 was sore on
them because they didn't become sick
Neither of them showed the first SIGN of
seaslckness. Neither of 'em missed a meal
Ihey d come poking into the state room
alter each meal. picking their teeth and
patting their Stomachs tenderly as Illus
trating how much they'd enioyed Them
selves at table, and they would ask each
other how the pancakes, or the salsa 90
ished. "ee1 Aei-
Why. I yelled at them in nv misery
don't you two lubbers get sick? but they
oihy su1aWed and asked me what they
couid do to make my lot bit easier. 'ii :
AFTER three days 1 crawled on deck
more dead than alive. and my two cabin
mates certainly We're decent in helping me
around and handing me things. They sat
ana talked with me as 1 was sWaddlad IN
on deck, and L noticed that they EXCHANGED
IN quiet sort of way, a lot of nautical
talk with each other. That puzzled me.
couldn't conceive of their picking up so
much of the lingo in the course of the three
days we'd been to sea.
See here l said to them, Il THOUGHT
you fellows told me you hadn't done much
riding on steamships?'
Neither have we,' replied one of Thorn
Laughing heartily as he looked al his
friend. i''
And then it came out
1hey We're both British skinnnra of
World-tour1ng sailing ships, and both of
EN- mad been to sea since their twelfth
year They had left their ships in drv-docl,
1or repairs in Erie basin. and they were
running across the pond in the meanwhi1a
10 see their folks. They told me all of This
as mildly as they could SO as not TO make
me feel too cheap over the patroniziny .ir
had assumed when talking to them about
Seaslckness, but l couldn't see it that wav
ana lashed myself openly before them and
uid my little penance by doing the buvinp
Tor the remainder of the voyage. haven;1
peeli patron1zlns to even a yellow dog since
that eNDpripncp ''AtAS-