The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1908-06-04

~
Ocean travelling has been SO COM
pletely changed within the past twenty
years, that the young ladies and gentle
men passing across the field of fash
ionable life from New York to London
or Paris, probably never pause to COM
pare the luxuries of today with the
meager accommodations provided on
Transatlantic steamships twenty years
ago.
The rapid and marvellous changes
in naval architecture during the past
decade, causes the 5000 ton single screw
liner of the SOS to appear as crude as
the packet of 1860 when compared with
the gigantic quadruple screw turbine
Lusitania and Mauritania. Along
with the increase in size and luxurious
furnishings has come decided change
In mode and custom of living on these
palatial ships.
The whole scheme of ocean travelling
has altered completely. In the old days
the traveller was warned beforehand
not to take good clothes for wear on
board ship. "Use your worst and your
oldest apparel" was the advice given
not only by old travellers, but by the
steamship people themselves. The
result was that the passengers in the
saloon or first cabin, looked like
tramps released from a county poor.
house. Even the Purser, who usually
was the smartest dressed official on the
ship seemed to forget his self-appointed
task as dictator of fashion. In passing.
If depression will be pardoned, the
custom of wearing old clothes on
yachting trips was in vogue during
this period, which the arrival of oul
multimillionaire has also changed
The idea of wearing full evening
dress for dinner or respectable outing
costume during the day would have
been laughed at as simply idiotic. Tt
be sure, on the p. & o. lines (The
Peninsula and Oriental Steamships
running to the far Eastern ports tht
custom of wearing full evening dress
at dinner had been in vogue for man!
years. This is not strange nor unusua
to those acquainted with the conserva
tive and Interchangeable habits of the
high caste Englishman. TIE torrit
heat of the tropics cannot divest al
Englishman of clawhammer and stove
pipe.
Today full evening dress for ladie
and gentlemen is De Rigeur on all first
class steamships in the Atlantic service
To my brothers in exile and now i
durance who are taking a trip acros
the pond to Lunnon and dear, gay Pare'
thru the pages of a favorite author an
are planning tour of the old countrie
abroad in propria persona at some, le
US hope, early future time please d
not forget to provide yourself wit
this essential passport to the uppe
circles of swelldom. Neglect it an
YOU will be shamed into solitary limo,
uous desuetude.
"Grande Dinner" and generally cru
fate orders most passengers to do s
the first two days while Neptune
demanding tribute and furnishing Sc
legs for the greenhorns, a liberal tip
one of the cabin stewards will bind hi
to your service with bands of steel f
gold) and in the quietude of yo'
cabin you can dine in solitary sta
<tSans CulOtte."
Harking back to the thread of Of
dissertation and remembering VIII
constituted an ocean greyhound in Il
8O's and the difference today as exel
plified in the latest effort of the mari
builder before cited, the result of Il
comparison is simply astounding. Co
slider for moment the idea of goil
down to your stateroom in an elevate
The thought of more than one salo
deck with continuous and unbr0k
promenade from stem to stern. T
suggestion of staterooms with beds
them and suites with private bath; t
hint that first-class orchestra wou
discourse the latest Operatic airs q
waltzes behind wall of flowers, or
fact that wireless kilograms would
found posted on the bulletin bos