Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1915-04-14
South America to New York.
To the Herald :

10 the herdlO -
We left Bueros Aires on Feb. Is
in the good old summer time, all
dressed in our Highest summer clothes,
and with more or less buoyant spirits
we slowly pulled away from the wharf
while the orchestra played familiar
Yankee ragtime.
Quite in contrast was this for me,
in comparison with the 18th of Dec.
1912, when l left New York to go to
a strange land, a strange people, and
a strange language. Then dressed
in the best IF winter clothing and
waiting with some anticipation as to
the move ty of ocean travel, we spent
the time until 80 p. m. As we
pulled away the orchestra played,
''ShouId auld acquaintance be for
got, :" and as we passed out by Sandy
Hook into the ocean we could see the
coast getting smaller and fiatter and
it made one think of the actuality
of the moment when he might
again be in his native country. |
have mentioned nothing of the friends
bidding goodbye, because that &C.
Cured at every sailing. Although
I did not experience it, it is neverthe-
less, impressive to see people as they
say goodbye and wave and beckOn
until they can be seen no more, wav-
ing their handkerchiefs until they ap-
pear to be mere specks; we leave
Ehem, conscious of the truth that
"Our hopes. our fears
Are all with Thee, are all with Thee"
In spite of the comparative safety
of ocean travel in these days, such a
long trip teaches US to have faith, to
realize that we are dependent, that
our destinies are unknown and not
regulated at will, placing us perhaps
in a thoughtful attitude more nearly
comparable to that when a friend
leaves US never to return.
Leaving Buenos Aires on February
18th, we arrived at Montevideo the
next a.. m. Here the American
minister to Uruguay. Mr.. Grevstad,
embarked with US. After days we
reached Rio de Janeiro, the capital of
Brazil and the most beautiful natural
harbor in the world, being surrounded
by high mountains. The night be-
fore arriving, however, at about s 80
p. N. we saw the lights from another
boat on the land side. As we coul :
not know what it was, our boat
turned seaward for about or 5
miles, and as the other vessel did not
near rs, we swung back into the old
course. l should explain, perhaps,
that we were travelling on an English
boat AMI there were two German
sea raiders along the South American
coast viz: the Grown Prince
Wilhelm and the Karlsruhe. "
Our boat was constantly on its guard
against these raiders. While in port /,
at Buenos Aires, the crew had paint
ed the funnel, masts, beams, life
boats and the sea sides of the vessel
a dark drab or sea blue color, so it
could not be so easily seen at sea.
There had been a basket placed high
on the front mast, called the
crows nest and a man was kept
there constantly, day and night, dur
ing the % days of the trip. One
man would remain 3 or 6 hours and
with powerful glasses he could in
stantiy warn if anything within a
radius of ID miles appeared. At
night time we travelled with all
lights down In the cabins the light
bulbs had been painted with black
paint until only a dim light showed
US to bed. More than this, the port
holes We're stopped with a sort of tin