The Washington herald., 1914-05-24

ported to he in some Of the towns we
must pass through. Several Of us sat up
| until the danger zone was behind us:
| that meant midnight
Stars and Strips Again.
Six o'clock the next morning we reached
| the Port Of Mexico. truly thankful Tor
! our safety. Before 10 o'clock We were
all aboard the United States transport
Hancock. Officers and crew were untir-
ing in their attentions. They were es-
pecialy good 70 the ladies and children.
It was a comman sight to see sailor
walking along the deck. carrying a child
in his arms. The food was excellent and
abundant: nobody looked for Fifth ave-
nue. style. but everybody was delighted
| with the cordial efforts Of the sailors to
serve not only the children. but also
pop" mother" and ladies'. as they soon
began to call us. All this good cheer
and what we had left behind made 1t
easy when bedtime came to sleep on
benches. on the floor or on tables.
Early Friday morning We entered the
outer harbor Of Vera Cruz Our disap-
pointment was most keen to be then told
that we would not be allowed to land
all must go to New Orleans" Our en-
deavor to follow Instructions and estab-
lish temporary headquarters in Vera Cru1
was thwarted. The harbor was full of
warshipg and auxiliary craft. Such q
sight Ve had never witnessed before.
OF course. other nations were represented.
After our captain had conferred with
Admiral Fletcher he appointed a commit
tee Of fifteen gentlemen to go on shore
for two hours, for the purpose of ex-
changing money, shopping and transact
ing all other business which refugees
might have in the port The writer was
placed on the committee and assigned to
the department of exchange. Nearly 400
refugees gave us all the money they
wanted exchanged. in sums ranging from
four to hundreds Of dollars. In all we
received over $1,000 Mexican currency,
bills We were taken in an electric
launch to the dock under the caro- of
a naval oficer. who called the roll and
Informed US that We must be back on
time.
They Visit Banks.
We visited every bank in the city, sew
eral hotels and brokers' Offices The best
We could do was to pick up S,77.5O in
American money. in paper, silver and
gold OF all denominations. from 5 cents
up to 800 bills. For II we paid all
the way from $40 to s325: then came
the task Of dividing up this and the un-
converted money pro rata It took all
the forenoon Of the following day to
figure It out and most of the afternoon
to pay. We gave each depositor .0so55
IN gold and .74T2 in silver for every
Mexican peso We had received. It was
almost as interesting as a run on the
bank for some of the depositors failed
to understand why they should not re-
ceive United States currency for all they
had turned in. II human nature stands
out in travel II is especially SO when
finances are involved
We finally sailed from Vera Cruz Fri
day, just before sunset Here we had
picked up more refugees from Tampico
and other points. so that We are now
carry 6U on a boat which has accommo-
dations for only 222. Some Of the ladies
had cabins. but the men and the rest
Of the ladies spent the nights on deck
For our missionary party We were for
tunate enough to secure a small cabin,
with two berths and a sofa. Here three
of our ladies slept by turns, while the
other twelve used it as a dressing ROOM
Once in a while a gentleman would be
fortunate enough to find the room vacant
for few minutes.
ono Lone Wash Bowl.
The one wash bowl in the ships lava
tory was besieged every morning for
hours by a long line of good-natured
refugees, waiting for a chance. The
waiting line at the door of the dining
room was not always as good-natured
Here only about 100 could be accommo-
dated at a time, and it soon became
known that even the limited menu was
more limited still at the third and fourth
tables. Whatever provocation there
might be due to food or tired stewards
was, however, held pretty we'll In checl
by the knowledge that we were all
guests of Uncle Sam.
Sunday morning the saloon was filled
with worshippers, who, together with the
gooc-natured captain. gave respectful at
tention to a talk about our Father-the
Father Of every man. woman, and child
on the boat, missionaries and merchants.
mechanics and miners, railway managers
and clerks. school teachers and engineers