The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-09-26

only two other rooms were not engaged.
The three steamer tickets going cost
$345: the same returning $46S This in
cluded our railway fare from Plymouth
to London and from Paris to Cher
bourg. the European ports of arrival
and departure. the overland journey In
each instance covering about two hun
dred and fifty miles. These amounts
included our entire expense over and
back, rooms. meals and first cabin pas
sage, with the exceptions OF the custom
airy fees to which attention viii be ad-
verted later.
Our other expenditures counting ali
tips, were $780, grand total OF LAOS.
In this amount was $106 spent for
souvenirs, photographs. pictures, cloth
ing, "a pair of French trousers Paris
ian hat, kid gloves for nine years to
come, allowing two pairs per annum) a
scotch steamer rug. the pride or oul
hearts. woven in the tartan of the Clan
MacLennan. and family crest to be
emblazoned on the doors of our carriage
and the livery of coachman-when Kan
sas becomes an empire under Cyrus I.
But to the expenses which our friends
who are going next year insist upon
knowing. Included in the total above Is
railway fare paid from London to Edin-
burgh and Inverness and return, $45;
and from London by the route we chose,
steamer and rail. to Amsterdan-,
Cologne, up the Rhine. through Switzer-
land to Geneva. under the Alps ana
across France to Paris. $109. We stop
ped at first class hotels; but not being
members OF any royal family, or the
individual who with his money IL soon
parted, did not usually travel Glass
on the English and Continental rail-
roads. Second cabin on the steamer
would save three persons about $40O
Many of the best people Travelled OH
such tickets and received accommoda-
tions quite equal to those of Topekas
best hotels.
But to start anew: Leaving Topeka
Saturday We reached New York city
Monday afternoon, August TO- with
nothing in the pocketbook, but Ameri-
can money and New York drafts. The
banks had closed and instead of pur-
chasing the usual letter of credit carried
by foreign travellers, and probably the
safest and best method for providing
for expenses, decided to exchange my
United States. currency for English five
and ten pound notes, SOvereigns, and
some smaller coin; crowns, shillings
and pence This by the aid of a New
York friend who knew a broker open
till six. The British gold and notes wel e
readily accepted at every point on our
travels in the hotels and stores in what
ever city we found ourselves. My only
trouble with the English money was
that / didn't have enough of it. 1 got
rid of it with more ease than had ar
ticipated. It's value was never disputed
by the Dutch, the Germans, the Swiss
or the French, with whom our lot was
cast and our possessions divided. Thus
fortified with foreign funds, we rode by
cab and ferry to the docks at Hoboken,
boarding the Kronprinz Wilhelm. This
is one of the best two ships of the great
North German Lloyd's fleet of one hun
dred and seventy, number so large
that every storm which blows on the
earth's surface is said to find in its
grasp one of the company's vessels.
which rides in safety to nearly every
port known to sea-faring men. We
seemed to be in a palatial hotel and
quickly were settled in our state room
with two steamer trunks fitting as
snugly under the three berths as we did
severally in them. Most of the passen-
gers embarked during the evening as
the sailing hour was quite early, seven
the next morning.
AS the great express steamer, with its
backed away from its slip, the pier was
crowded with friends of those going
abroad. Mr.. and Mrs. Charles Lager
strom of Topeka. in New York at the
time. were seeing lis off. AS they and
the others waived US all adieu it seemed
as if we were departing into the I'M
known. We had hoped for a pleasant
morning to see the wonderful New York
sky line, Brooklyn bridge. the Statue OF
Liberty, Coney Island. and all the OBJ
jects which fast recede from the out
bound passenger, but fog suddenly set
tied about and none of these things was
visible. nor the craft of every kind we
knew was in our wake. Our view was
confined to less than half a ships
length and the voice of the fog whistle
became early familiar.
Thick weather in the New York bay.
with the narrow and winding channels
leading out to the sea, means much dam
ger to property and persons afioat, I'M
less protected by skill and care in navi-
CATION. These both the German officers
and crew possess in reputation and
practice. The menace of collision and
shoal are more greatly feared at sea
than the storm. AS the fog increased
our speed lessened. When almost COM
pletely enveloped in the cloudy atmos-
phere the captain ordered the anchor
dropped and nothing moved but the
valve of the steam whistle. For an hour
and a half we had time to write letters
to be mailed later by the pilot whenever
he put us safely beyond Sandy Hook.
With the lifting fog the Kronprinz
pushed slowly, by lead and line, out to
the beaten pathway, clear only to the
mariner. By eleven the pilot, with us
safely out of the lower bay, took him
self and our last messages over the rail
into the small boat to the pilot steamer
waiting to return him to shore, leaving
US and our ship to fate. On this day
the sea was quiet and there was no
trouble in sending the pilot to his own
ship, but at times the waves are so
high that the pilot is only landed on
the opposite side of the Atlantic. This
was the case on the steamer which fol-
lowed us homeward when the sea was
so rough the pilot could not safely re-
turn. He became a passenger, an hon
ored guest of the officers, to America.
a visit which he had not contemplated,
nor had ever made before.
Our ship is $50 feet long; its length
about the distance from the State
Journal building to the Crawford opera
house. AS the width of the steamer is
sixty-six feet and its height forty-three,
if. the vessel were deposited on Kansas
avenue it would fill most of the space
,,ritf1ir, the two noints between the curb