The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-07-23
IS He HOMESICK ]?
Editor Morgan Winds,Up Letter
With I" Hnrrah for America"
End Of the Ocean Voyage With
Hamburg in Sight.
WEATHER is CHILLY.
where They Land Is Same Lati-
tude of Hudson Bay.
Dancing on Bounding Waves
Trifie Difficult.
Farewell to Steamer Deutsch-
land and Five Meals Daily.

Steamship Deutschland, July 5, 1906.
Life on the. ocean wave as experienced
in modern big steamship IS good deal
like life in first class hotel Every
thing possible for comfort and pleasure
IS at hand, except you can't leave the
hotel. And then there are times when
the ocean hotel tits up and down and
rolls sideways as if rocked by an earth
quake, and you wish you could get out
and walk but you can't The little state
room where we sleep all night is conVen-
lent if not commodious. But there is
a great big porch of promenade deck
where you can walk or sit in a comfort
able chair, there is an elegant parlor
with books, papers and piano, a smok-
ing room with handsome appointments
and courteous walters, games of cards
and chess. pictures and good stories,
jolly companions and a pleasing sense
of being sure of FIVE good meals a day
and plenty to eat between times. One
night the deck was enclosed with can
vas strung with electric lights, and
the band played for dancing 1t was
g little difficult to waltz up the grade
when the ships deck angied upward
~ or 80 degrees, and when it rolled the
other way two-step down the incline
was only stopped by the railing from
endlng with plunge into the brine.
But the German band played on, and
the dancers held back or charged rs
the floor changed position and all were
as merry as the unusual scene justified.
The night before we reached Ply
mouth, England, was the Captains
dinner" The dining saloon was hand
somely decorated, the cooks did
their hest and If
through the bill of fare.
Ana then there was the Concert
rms IS a regularly established custom
on all well-regu1ated liners and it I'M
fortunately seems to be fixed The
best part of the concert is the antici-
patton and the fact that it not only
nils IN one evening but it gives a sub
Ject of conversation the day before
and the day after. From the talent
among the passengers a programme
was evolved which would have done
credit to any ordinary Sunday school
entertainment and the climax came
with the collection which was quite
large as it went to the saflorsf orul1arls'
home and not to the performers.
Yesterday was the 4th of July and
the Deutschland went steaming along
the English channel. We wore small
American flags and some of US Haunted
the stars and stripes as Extensively as
possible. In the evening the tables
were decorated with flags. the band
playe American patriotic airs and the
ice cream was red white and blue
The German cooks did their best to
come I'D to the spirit of this occasion
Fireworks are not allowed on shin
board but al that was lacking for
regular celebration was few sky
rockets and a tired-tO-death feeling
that is never attained so we'll as by
periodically observing independence
day
With such festal occasions as these
and the excitement of the pools and
the supposed ship race. a week has
gone by even more rapidly than it
seems on shore. There is always
something going on in a big ship. is
1t is only a discussion as to whether
a distant vessel is a freight. boat or a
American liner.
have been greatly impressed by
the good seamauship on the Deutsch-
land. especially by the band and the
cooks. Yesterday We stopped at
Plymouth to unload passen gers for
England and at Cherbourg for pas
sengers to France As soon as the
band struck up a tune. When the
baggage was slid down the plank the
music had the porters working to
rythm. As the passengers marched
from the ship to the tender which
was to take them to land. the must
clans played a jolly farewell. And as
our boat started gain on her way
the band on deck hurled harmonious
notes at the disappearing shores. I
have dwelt upon the industry and inn
portance of the cooks, but let me add
this bit of confirming evidence: The
printed pamphlet which contains the
passenger list and officers of the
Deutschland does not mention the
name of the ships doctor. the purser
or the steward. but it gives in full.
just after the captain. titles and names
of the chief cook. the first assistant
cook and the second assistant cook.
We are happy tonight, and some of
our German friends are likely to be
driven to drink from sheer joy. The
Deutschland beat the French La Pro
vence ten hours in the trip across the
Atlantic OF course this was not a
race. for that would not have been
permitted. but the Deutschland went
just as fast as she knew how and as
fast as the captain. the engineer. the
cooks and the band could make her
go. The superiority of Germany over
France is once more settled, and the
officers of our boat are strutting
around as much as men can strut on
shipboard.
The class system begins as soon as
the ship leaves New York harbOr and
it makes an American very weary. The
first cabin passengers have swell quar-