New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-03-05

the financial standing Of my passengers. for
you can never tell when an emergency will arise.
That man over with US two months ago
I had his financial pedigree to speak, before
we sailed from York, and knew was
safe in taking his check And when we can't
take a check we accept other security, until
sometimes on the return voyage the chief stew
ard and l. between us, have a regular pawn
shop. oh. yes. the chief steward often advances
money. You see woman in trouble
will appeal to the officer he or she knows best
An experienced traveller goes at the task of
! borrowing in a most unconcerned, businesslike
fashion. It's only the new one at the game who
selects roundabout methods. Particularly is this
true of women, who, matter how much they
lay aside for shopping and art collecting. are
apt to overstep the limit Then. too the in
experienced traveller does not count on the in
cidentals, the tips. etc. not mentioned in guide
books
See that woman in the squirrel coat, leaning
against the rail? She came aboard at Genoa
with % cents in her pocket. And it never
phazed her. She went straight to the chief
steward and told him she wanted $50 until she
reached NewYork. and she gave him cameo
for security. She didn't really need the money;
no tips the stewards until we touch
port, and then she could get money from her
family, who will meet her on the dock. But
she didn't like the sense of carrying an empty
pocketbook. After she had squared herself
with the customs officials and greeted her fam
fly, she'll come back on the boat, hunt up the
chief steward. lay down the $50 and take UP her
cameo. Perhaps her husband will come aboard
with her and add his thanks and a remem-
brance for the man who saved his wife this
trifling annoyance.
1--WE get odd things sometimes for security.
Not long ago a well known writer sporting
with Son baV mr. n
New-York. He had been playing the English
races and went fiat broke. The only thing he
could put up for security magnificent
pair of field glasses. He wanted some money
to play poker and to take hand in the daily
pool The chief steward loaned him $50 on the
glasses (and, by the way, the loan was per-
fectly safe. Well that chaps luck turned with
the loan He two nights straight at poker,
and the third day he captured the pool for the
boats speed. He took up his glasses, gave the
chief steward a IS tip and then the day
landed in New York he hooked them again, be-
cause he'd lost everything he'd won and hadn't
a cent to square up poker debt and tip his
room and table steward The day after we
landed he sent messenger boy down to the
dock with the money and order for his
glasses
On our last Mediterranean trip we brought
home a woman from the midwest who had been
clubs. In the first place. she was mex
perienced traveller and had been done by every
Italian with whom she came in contact. In
addition. she had lost her head over photographs
and pictures, and had spent her last dollar
art. She was TO board the boat at Naples, and
she sent note asking for $50 to get away from
her hotel. We had eight hours coaling before
us, 1 went ashore with the doctor and
called on her. She hadn't thing to offer me
but pictures. but 1 knew they would bring
double what she had paid for them if they were
sold in New-York, gave her the money.
When we locked at New York there was some
misunderstanding; her husband. who was to
meet her, was day late and honestly. the way
that woman fretted over her pictures was some
thing funny. She had enough left from the
$50 10 stop a day in New-York, and finally her
husband appeared on the scene. They came
down together for those photographs. and you
would have thought by the way the woman
behaved that they were Kohinoors
Once woman pawned ten dozen pairs of
gloves with me for $50 and never redeemed
them. 1 knew 1 was safe. for If she had paid
80 cents pair for them. as she probably had
Cthey were Roman gloves) they had cost her
$780, so 1 was SO to the good I never heard
a word from her. and l carried those glove,
back and forth in my locker for nearly a year
until the white gloves turnel bit yellow Then
l turned them over TO my wife and after sha
had picked out what she wanted for herself
she began selling them to her friends am stiIi
drawing small but irregular income from that
deal. 1 presume the woman had snent mora
than she planned abroad. her husband was
angry, wouldn't give her money to redeem them
ana as she was not out much. by the game she
just let them Slide
AS you probably know tortoise shell is very
cheap In Southern Italy, but the duty is heavy
90 per cent, l believe. Well. clever Pb,Is
delphia girl tried a smooth game ON me NOT
20 many trips back. She had bought in Florence
a tortoise shell set for her dressing table that
could not he duplicated in New-Yorts for Iass
than 800 Half way across on the homeward
Voyage she wss taken Ill and required eonsidar-