The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1910-09-13
"A LETTER FROM MIR. BARKER
Reports Pleasant Voyage and Is En-
joying Himself In England.

Reports Pleasant Voyage and Is En-
5oying Himself In England.
DEAR EDITOR The good old
CHRONICLE came to me to-day and
brought many thoughts Of home and
the friends there. 1 assure you IL is
nice to see it,
4 My voyage aroSS the Atlantic was so
enjoyable | determined to pen you a
few lines regarding it, for l feel it will
interest you and your readers. knew
we we're going to have a safe trip, inn
mediately upon stepping upon the
" Majestic, for in the dining saloon
were goodly company of people sur
rounding young minister who was
going as missionary to Africa, sing
ing the grand old hymn, When sur
vey the wOndrOus crOsS;' prayer also
was offered. and | thought this as
we'll as other things know protends
safe arrival at our destination" And,
to use scriptural expression, " 1t
came to pass"
4 Nine times out OF ten--not to say
ninety-nine times out OF hundred--a
passage across the Atlantic is more or
less marred by storms. The, old ocean
has an ugly temper; Sulky, angry, and
terrible by turns it seems to take but
few days rest out Of every year. This,
my eighth time of crossing, seemed to
Nj the time OF its holiday; still one
: afternoon and night we were all made
to feel as the man felt who said,
feel as if can'6 help it, f" for we were
tossed about considerable.
We left at three p. m. Wednesday,
August 18th, and dropping the pilot
at four forty-fve we still saw land till
after six O'clock The sunset was
the land we had just left, to the ship
Said San Francisco man to me, You
ought to see the sunsets we have at
the Golden Gate, we can beat that /"
/ questioned it.
We had a good tea in case some of
US would not appear at breakfast and
other meals. The atmosphere OF the
ocean Quickens ones appetite, If only
the ocean itself would enable hungry
mortals to keep within them what
they crave. But its mountainous
waves make the vessel rear and kick
and jump like a wild mustang. I'm
not surprised that the boy who de-
l ltermined to keep diary of his trip
: only got so far as First day, sick
!. Second day, sicker Third day, sick
est III" and then gave up his literary
work. Mr.. EDITOR, were you ever sea
sick? Ii not you've missed a great
deal; and say rejoice that you have.
To most all passengers trip is not
In the least wearisome. There are
: ship games to be played, ship shuttle
, board, ship quOitS and others; and
4 there are generally characters on
board who make it interesting for all.
!, Then too there is ship spirit that
! binds all into one big family and every
: body seems to desire to do something
for the pleasure of everybody else. !
found most everyone willing, when
(, proposed an evening service, TO attend
r it, and it was with great pleasure that
: / read the account of PauPs Sea-farine
/. experiences as recorded in Acts Xxx.
VII and gave them a SermOnette on
/, And So He bringeth them into theil
!. desired hayen.o The singing was
! hearty and the prayer OF an English
Wesleyan minister was certainly heard
and answered. We took big offering
i, for the Seamen'S Homes in New YORK
e and Southampton.
: The crew Of the vessel consisted Of
ginees, It's firemen and twenty oilers
These firemen have to work in lao de.
greeS of heat for four hours at time,
then they have eight off. About 36(
tons of coal are burned every day.
81 The bill of fare is excellent, fruit oil
: all kinds, ices and ice cream, and the
rest with the characteristic English
cooking. or course there was plum
pudding. / took little ice cream
each day as knew I'd miss it in Eng
land.
On Saturday at $50 stormy Petrels
appeared. The sailors call them
dirty birds because they presage a
: storm. 1T is wonderful where they
come from, we being 1880 miles from
2 land. On Sunday rain fell In the
evening and we got mountainous
waves and had to hold ourselves in ouI
, berths during the night; but the sun
! soon came out again next morning and
: the wonderful ocean appeared in it's
: beautiful green's and blues and puppies
till ones heart was gladdened at the
sight.
: We had many Marconigrams which
: came from vessels far out of sight. We
! heard of the forest fires, of " j. r., oil
Florence Nightingale's memorial ser
Vicesin st. Paul's Cathedral, and nu.
merOus other things, We we're photo
graphed by one Of the officers and we
had the pictures developed be ore we
left the ship. There was printer on
board. He prints the daily menus foI
the meals and other things.
We saw land at a. m.-Bishop &
; Rock OF the Sicily Islands. Lands end
; appeared az 10.40. At 800 we got to
Plymouth. 1t was here the Pilgrim
Fathers and Mothers took their rare
, we'll of England thus the name given
, to Plymouth Rock. At 8 p. NJ. we ar
rived at Cherbourg,f France. Leaving
here for Southampton, England, we
retired at 10 and on awaking at
found the vessel had long been at her
dock. kept my watch all the way
across at American time and on land
ing tl8a. mi l found it to be 5 a. m.
in the "good old U. S. A." with the
good friends there all ahed.l3 it has
rained every day since I've been here,
more or less, with the emphasis so far
on the g more" How glad am TO be
able TO tell them, as go about among
so many beautiful places, OF the beau
tiful town 1 live Id, inAAmerica, and
OF the fact that the people there in
goodness OF heart accord with their
place OF habitation. Yours, three
thousand miles away.
w. w. BARKER,