The National tribune., 1909-12-30
Letters From a Sailor Aunt.


fut the stamp OF my approval on all
such sentiments as America is good
ssrIough for me-" etc ttho | think these
Bad better he kept quiet and out of
SIGHT in the heart, rather than too much
in evidence on the tOnguc), still l do
fel awfully sorry for our countrymen
Who have never had the fun of cross
BE the water and visiting these cities
\ sf the Old World. There is nothing
fhat does us so much good as traVeilhS
: shout the world a bit outside America
fine as are our cities, beautiful as IS our
fcenery Two or three months OF Tor
.ign travel docs more for YOU IN the
= WAY of education than years spent IN
yeadng and study. In some subtle way
u changes the whole aspect OF things,
deepening and putting new meaning
into all your impressions. opening
door in your mind unsuspected by you
snd hitherto closed, from which you
look out upon a new world. In your
hours of blacklist gloom, when, for in
. staHce. Miss IS stunning new hat
Gvou are wearing horrid old unhc-
coming thing yourself) is almost more
fEan you can bear, up pops the mem
cry of the day in London, the drive
inter der linden in Berlin, the Won
Gers of Paris, the scene in some tea
house of Japan, etc. which scornfully
brushes aside and crowds out all other
- t4Nd-NiS li NOuI diH d. tiit
appearance of n master mind or big
police man cowcrS and diSporSeS an un
July mob. And then, besides all this. |
81 Is such fun. such awfUlly jolly, eX-
citing fun, which doesn't seem 10 let
up. but goes right on day after day.
Adventure is in the air. and you never
know what is going 10 turn up next.
| Do YOU remember the day we landed in
Shanghai, the day we first put foot to
Chinese soil, when We got into our
iickshaws with sea Of pigtails all
) around us. and ] waved my hand TO
you as my boy dashed past yours, |
shouting: Lets never go back TO Amer /
jca any more ?" Well. il is just this |
came reckless. "don't-care-if-s school
geeps-or-not feeling that foreign
scenes awaken in one, making you look I
upon life for the moment as an exciting |
play, at which everyone is engaged and |
sll having perfectly splendid time.
We have had such an interesting visit
in This quaint old Dutch Capital, which
We reached yesterday morning between ,
S and o'clock, and which l will tell |
you all about little later in this let |
s:derably to the gaiety of Nations. as
the saying goes. We had second-class
tickets from Copenhagen to Hamburg,
whore We were to change cars, and
when Elizabeth and l entered the COM
PaTtment on the day we left the former
cay We IL H4lSO UN OIL
French people, three men and one wo-
man. The men We're inexpressibly
coarse and common-looking--I have
seldom seen their equal in this respect, |
one of them bearing a positively pain
ful resemblance TO great pig dressed |
up--but the woman, girl of not more |
than 20, was as dainty a little Paris |
ienne as one often comes across and |
was evidently the wife of one of the |
. men. You could see, of course, that !
she wasn't to the manor born, either, |
tho she was so pretty, but she was
worlds finer than they. The man who |
seemed to be her husband had fright |
fully red face and nose, with red, hairy |
wrists, which he showed off to great /
advantage by keeping a paper before |
mis- face most of the time, wearing |
clothes made of a big plaid material, |
with hashy watch chain hanging from |
his vest pocket He looked as if he |
might be successful liquor merchant |
perhaps. but belonging to the lowest |
strata of the middle class certainly, and |
We were therefore struck dumb with |
amaZement when they began talking |
ABOUT dinners, receptions. etc, attend |
ed at ChriStiania, which city they had |
Just left, forcing us 10 the conclusion !
That they must be members of the |
French official party visiting the Nor |
wegian Capital when we were there !
The pig-man had a good-natured, fun |
az AoScr anu Itu HIS DBSI 10 make I
friends with us. but Elizabeth soon
froze him out. He was awfully anus
ing, tho he didn't know he was, and !
even Elizabeth couldn't keep her face !
straight to save her life most of the !
time. He had evidently kept diary |
OF the trip. and he took the little note !
book from his pocket and began read |
ing IL to the others in French. of |
course, but we understood quite easily |
nearly everything he said There were |
no flights of fancy in that record, ] can /
tell you, nary flight; nothing about |
tne magnificent scenery of the country |
the simple life of the people (this party !
mad been making quite an extended |
trip over Norway or anything of that !
sort, but it was a record pure and sim |
pie of the different breakfasts. lunch !
cons and dinners, with comments on the |
same, which they had enjoyed or not |
in the various places visited, 1t went
something like this: Arrived Bergen; |
de)euner Norge Hotel, diner Grand |
Cafe teFidently they hadn't cared for |
that dejeuner at the Norge); arrived |
Christiania; dejeuner Grand Hotel |
diner Grand Hotel" etc. There was |
one dejeuner he couldn't possibly find, |
and IT was too funny TO see his concern |
over this. fumbling the pages of the |
little book to discover it, and to hear |
the animated conversation of the others |
in their attempts to help him out. While |
the party who had compartments near |
Dy crowded around the doors of ours |
each taking friendly hand in this |
search, and when that lost dejeuner |
was finally dragged from its lair there |
could hardly have been more joy and |
satisfaction expressed by the pig-man |
II he had rescued a beloved child from
watery grave. The relieved express
sion on all their faces was really ex-
uemely ludicrous. All thru the day |
until we arrived at Hamburg these Wis |
iting friends squeezed themselves into |
our apartment. making it quite dis |
agreeable for Elizabeth and me- but |
they were so different from the simple |
taciturn Norwegians we had been with |
for the past three weeks they seemed |
TO be on such intimate terms with each |
other and would say such amusing |
things sometimes rather startling), |
That really got no end of fun out of |
them.
We got into Hamburg after dark, for |
which we were both sorry, since we had |
wait there of nearly three hours and |
mad hoped to see something of the city |
py taking a carriage and going for a |
drive, but the darkness settled that |
question for us. We managed to XII |
considerable time at our dinner. which |
We took there in the station, and I |
must say never in my life ate a piece |
OF steak more deliciously broiled, better |
Lyonaise potatoes, nor ever before nut |
to my lips such delicious beer as / did |
on that occasion. had often heard |
1E. 10.