Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-06
PASSPORT BOTHERS
Last Days Of a Trip Over the
Caucasus.
PLEASANT TRAVELLERS
A RUSSIAN FAMILY GROUP AND
ACCOMPLISHMENT
A Steamship Captain Who is Also a
Poet and a Man Of
Letters.

| Written for The Evening Star
To say farewell to Batoum was to bid
goodbye to the Caucasus, with its noun
tains beyond compare, and it's wonderfully
| good-looking men in their picturesque
| Coats and to it's extortonate hotels and
| cheap railways; to its delicious peaches
| and lastly to it's f1eas! And in spite Of the
| drawbacks it Was to us painful ceremony.
| The Messageries Narratives having
| steamer whose date of sailing correspondent
| with the date which we had decided, we
had engaged passage for Constantinople by
that line, and had but few hours left in
| Batoum.
| The ceremony of departure was also
| painful to some extent, both account of
| our passports and of our letters of credit.
| The former had been delivered up into the
| hands of the hotel on the night of our
! arrival, and were returned the next morn
| ing. When they had been snugly slowed
| away in their concealed habitations and our
| portmanteaux and rug bundles packed, our
| dressing cases locked and were prepar-
ing to join Leon below and sally forth in
| search of the bank, that person Of the
| beamng countenance appeared and in
| formed us that we must again deliver up
| our passports.
We had much bother in unearthing the
| things, but they were at last produced and
| after about an hour again returned and
again we prepared to sally forth.
| AS by that time we felt that we pretty
| well understood the ways and methods of
| letters of credit, we decided to send Leon
| on a shopping expedition and go by our
selves to the bank, or at least allow him to
| leave us there, which was accordingly done.
| We found all the officials of the bank most
polite and considerate, and to all that we
said they bowed and smiled and said, Yes,
certainly. or, MATS, oui," and taking our
letters, retired to far room to peruse their
| contents After waiting many minutes 1t
| occurred to of that the identification
| was not sufficient so we begged the attend
| ance of one of the stalwart gentlemen, both
Of whom looked like Germans, and said
in English, which we took it for grant
| ed they understood, there had always
| been English-speakfng clerks in all the
banks heretofore, that If they wished fur
| Their identification, we could name such and
| such people in Batoum. They still bowed
politely and said. Yes. certainly
! Then, consulting our united intellects, we
| decided that those two words were the only
| ones they knew or understood, which really
| proved to be the case.
1 said politely that possibly monsieur
| would prefer to speak French, and they
both frightened visibly. After time,
| however, the same affably knowing look
| began to return to their blond counte
nances, and they retired again to cover,
| taking their letters with them. -"Can 1t be
that they understand no French, either?' We
| speculated, and one of them soon after ap-
pearing at the door of their private lair to
| regard with puzzled glances our open coun-
| tenances, we hailed him politely in German.
| An expression of immense relief overspread
| his fat face, and he sped to us with fleet,
| fiat feet, and, all smiles and beaming
| glances, took a chair back Of the large ia
BILE at which we were seated, and then in
fairly good German begged that the ladies,
| If they objected not, would read to him the
| contents of the letters Of credit
The ladies did so in German, not Of the
best, and then explained as best they could
| the meaning Of the thing-Why had
come to them, the fact that we were not to
be charged large percentage on our checks
| and WHY.
The ladies themselves were, I fear, ex-
| trenlely hazy in their understanding of the
| subject in hand but did their best, won
| dering at the same time why the sign
| English spoken was to be seen displayed
| upon the banks doors, and why the name
of a bank which evidently knew not the
| ways of letter of credit was to be found
| upon those letters. An understanding be-
| ing arrived at, after fully an hour Of eX
plantations, we Were just pocketing our
! mixture of French and Turkish coins when
| the faithful Leon appeared, perspiration
| streaming down over his rosy countenance.
| and on seeing us exclaimed: Herr Gott.
you was here indeed, then, mesdames. l
| greatly feared your destruction or loss"
We had engaged to meet him In less than
| an hour the Boulevarde by the sea. and
| after searching in every nook and corner
| Of the place he had sped away to the bank.
! in direst terror that we had "lose our
| Selves"
| AS we started forth he informed us that
| we must again deliver up our passports.
| alas! for the inspection of the port, as we
understood 1t, and when an hour later we
| demanded them from our hotel they told
| us they had them not, but we would
| ceive them aboard ship.
| A Costly Attachment.
| Then and there we made up our minds
| not to leave the town without those beastly
| passports. They had cost already about
| $50, the price for having them vfsed by
| the various consuls, and they were our one
| possibility Of landing in Constantinople and
| getting back by Bulgaria to Paris. route
we had determined upon long before, so
| poor Leon was dispatched to some mystic
| rious quarter, messenger was dispatched
| to the ship Office to say that they must
wait for US. as we were waiting for our
| passports, and we remained in the hotel In
| a state, for the time. of evaporation
| against all things Russian:
However, Leon returned in time, we were
duly cheated out of our few remaining Rus
sian coins by the eXtOrtiOnate boatmen who
| rowed us out to the ship, and we finally set
sail on the Memphis at 1890 of brilliant
| day in September
| We found our cabin, large, airy room.
on deck, with window in place of port,
and our second voyage on the Black sea
| proved very nearly II not quite as delight
full as the first had been.
We were somewhat amazed to find that
with the exception of party OF three Rus
| slams ana three french Soutlemen we were
the only passengers aboard. and a little
dismaved when we found that the Rus
slams were going only as far as Novoris-
sisk where we were due the next day at
| / o'clock. We had always vowed that we
would on no account take passage In a
French ship. and here we were. the only
Misunderstanding people aboard, and If no
other woman came at Novorissisk we would
be the only women except the stewardess
on a French boat Off for a four days voy-
age. The first event which took place was
the delivery of our passports into the hands
Of the captain, but after that we breathed
q sigh of relief, for we would have four or
nearly five days free Of Them
/ Pleasant Companions.
The Russians-a mother. daughter and
son-in-law-proved very interesting, spoke
perfect French. and we had delightful
day and evening with them, the mother
Madame R.. giving us points on Little Rus
sia, the daughter singing in weil-trained
l voi hfsaf ting md of