The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-09-11
TYPES OF WOMEN
 ON SHIPBOARD Their Vagaries Plainly to Be Noted While
 Afioat.
AT CAPTAINS TABLE
How to Locate the Belle of the Voyage-When Close
 Friends Disagree.

It was luncheon hour, just after the Dig liner had left the Liverpool docks and the cynical second officer at the head of his long table, surveying the captains table near by, crowded with women, turned to the man next him and said, with sigh of relief: "There's just one compensation that I can see in being second officer instead of captain; one doesn't need to have all the fool women who cross sitting at his table. You'll find most of them breaking their necks and emp tying their pocketbooks to the saloon steward after lunch to get seats near the captain"
 And he was right, for the passen- ger lingering near the dining saloon that afternoon had his curiosity re- warded by overhearing such speeches as, "But I wrote to you about it from London. I always sit at the captains table. I'm sure it's very strange that I can't this trip" or But I've crossed with Capt X-- three times, and hs,s a personal friend. shall speak to him about it." and others of like tenor.
 The successful were smiling com poBedfy and wore their prettiest gowns to dinner until they vanished into, their cabins, the victims of the first storm. Why is it, one wonders, that almost the initial thing a return ed woman traveller has to say about the voyage Is: "And we sat at the captainis table," as if that were the height of the voyagers ambition It is probably only one of the idiosyncra- gies that belong to women on ship board, where. perhaps better than in most other places, these come to light.
 As is usual the world over, brass buttons prove as attractive on ocean steamships as at an army post or on the poiceman's beat. From Bridget in the kitchen to a lady of the haut monde, the natty suit of blue with the sheen of well-burnished metal plays havoc with the feminine contingent. So one of the types to be found on ev- cry ship is the woman who scrapes &C., quaintances with each uniformed man on board, and retails to admiring friends on lading her fllrtations with the doctor or purser. To the student of human nature who finds the prom enade deck an excellent field for ob- servation, 1t is often marvel that these besieged gentlemen respond with so much gallantry to the ad- vances that their admirers make openly. Undoubtedly they must grow weary of -ceasing adulation and one can only conclude that they re- gard such gallantry as part of their method of earning salary.
 Among other feminine foibles noted by the observing ocean voyager is the tendency to indiscreet chatter. If there is one place fore than another where walls have ears 1t is on board ship. Even in the kind of summer cottage where partitions extend but three-fourths of the way to the cell ing it is no easier to learn the most intimate details concerning your next door neighbors. "Do you suppose" :" querted an inquisitive lady to a stew ardess as she waited for her bath to be filled, "that the stout woman in the room next to mine colors her haiF?"
 "She does, madam" came an icy voice from the next bath, rising above the hiss of the steam and the splash ofatt1e water, "and if you remind me later I'll give you the name of the place fin New York where I have it done. Your own needs improve ment, I've noticed"
 But lessons like this have little or no effect upon the careless. Two women in their steamer chairs were warned by third that they were di- rectlyeunderneath the windows of a staterooTn. and that what they said might be overheard. What of it?" was tffesreply. ''These people will nev- CT see us aeain."
 Feeling that way, with regard to ones fellow passengers, it is strange to discover, among other types, the woman who aims at knowing as many people on board as she can scrape &C., qualntance with. She is in direct contrast to the oposite sort who avoid meeting people as far as is possible without rudeness. q never meet any one on board, except my table mates," said the wife of an American consul, who crosses frequently. On the other hand, there are those who claim to have made some of their pleasantest friends among their fel- low passengers. The truth Is that a reasonable amount of friendliness is desirable, but that it Is well to be- ware of rushing into sudden inti- macies.
 By the third or fourth day out, the keen witted will have classified her