The National tribune., 1909-10-14
Letters From a "sailor Aunt"

Letters From "Saiior Aunt.
r. NJ. S. p Amazon, July II, 1909
Dear ..Fayorite Niece" While Ehzabeth
has sought the seclusion which our cab
In grants, cold as Greenland's icy noun
tains tho it be, in order TO make Up
little of the sleep out Of Whicn tnlS
land of prolonged ght has cheated
her, | VIII avail myself of the JpDHr-
tunity to commune With you.
We are sa ling along in the extreme
northern part Of the Atlantic Ocean,
within the Arctic Circle, in about 50
degrees north latitude. and YOU better
believe your Sailor Aunt is far 100
chilly to suit ner. Her nose is red and
her cheeks and lips are blue an1 sne
Is not looking pretty. but her heart is
as light as Singing 3iru &, all Vhe
!. same. She IS seated IN hcr steamer
chair, in a sheltered part OF the deck,
clad, first and foremost. in Winter flan-
nels from neck to heels, then tights.
Under her heavy Iackst she has
sweater, and over all her long. warm
wrap, with the Persian lamb collar and
cuffs, the former now turned up around
her ears to keep out the icy kiss Of the
saucy breeze. Her Que uncovered n;,nd
holds the fountain pen which mas the
honor of writing these words, and she
can Just manage to hol1 on 10 thar pen
and that is AL, out when tie cause is
sufficiently worthy no one cou d be
more of a Spartan than your Sailor
Aunt" The early Christians were SIM
ply not in it with her
There is no use denying the fact that
pur fine ship is nost uncomfortably
cold. The electric Fans which stare us
in the face everywhere mock lis in our
misery. True, there are steam heaters
here and there all along the long prom
enade to our raoin, / ut these, when
touched in the hope that at last the
steam has been iurnel on, give back
the same icy response The dining
room is quite warm. fortunately. and
the social hail." but the rest of the
ship. our cabins particular are er
fectly in keeping with the temperature
of this far northern coaSr. 1t would
not be so chilly if re had the bright
sunshine to warm and cheer us; but
since l last wrote you each dag has
been gray, with the exception of THIS,
!, which could hardly be called sunny. yet
old Sol is doing his best. and OCCASION
ally shows US his face frori behind the
clouds
We were several hours late in maxi
ing Trondhjem, our tirst landing in
Norway The night before had been
quite rough. The North Sea evidently
didn't care for the Amazon, and made
things as unpleasant for her passen-
gers as it could. Neither Elizabeth nor
minded it bit, bdt it delayed, our
landing from about 2 o'clock on the
afternoon of the 18th to n. IN. Ap-
parently the large steamers 10 not go
to the dock to take or and land pas
sengeTs in Norway, hut anchor out in
the stream and send these off or pick
them up in small boats, and that was
what was done in our case. Wh-a The
time came for us TO go ashore the
AmaZon's lifehoats and steam lanch
were lowered. az well as the gangv;ly
ladder, all the people collected ON that
part Of the steamer, and as aiuIcal.' as
a boat was filled it put of Cor Trondh-
jem. Several trips were necessary to
transfer everyone from ship TO shore,
but Eliza beth and were lucky enough
to get into one of the first boats to land.
As we approached terra firma the very
first thing that caught the eve was the
sign "E A Smith" on one of the many
warehouses that lined the shore, and
you can imagine how much at home II
made us feel. We saw the sai..e name
on very good-looking store up In The
town, and came to the conclusion that
: some enterprising Yankee. perhaps. ha d
found in that distant land the success
which had been denied him in his own
One finds this driftwood all over the
world, but seldom under such prcmis-
ing circumstances.
I'm afraid 1t is my duty to give you
little of the history of Trondhjem,
which from necessity must be more Or
less gulue-pooky, out Will DO my DeSl
to shake as much dust as possible from
my facts. and spare you all the dates
possible. This is the spot from which
sprang the very beginnings os the King
dom of Norway, its ancient Capital
where the Vikings in the old days
brought their rich p.under and held
their rude revels. As long ago as the
year $50 one of its early rulers built g
palace and church here, and 1t was ir
Trondhjem that che Norwegian Kings
were elected and crowne.. What passed
for their Parliament met here, and the
town gradually grew to be one Of the
largest and richest in Norway, the
splendid cathedral. which is still the
country's pride, and no fewer than IA