New Britain herald., 1916-08-09
NEW BRITAIN BOY
 SEEING THE WORLD
Frank Edwards Writes of His
 Travels in South


 wards of 205 Maple street from her nephew, Frank Edwards, formerly of this city, who is aboard the United States battleship Memphis, formerly the Tennessee. Edwards has been in the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent waters and saw parts of the world he never expected to visit. The letter demonstrates that the young seaman IS grasping opportunity every time it raps at his door, by studying the his- tories, peoples and customs of the countries he and his associates visit The letter follows :
 Dear Aunt:
 Just arrived here this morning rom Havana, Cuba, and now I find that l really have time enough to sit down and give you an account of my self during these two months of my absence. l intended to write when l received your last letter in Panama, put thought that as long as we were so near home that I had better wait and give you an account of the whole trip, and as I have been studying the
 
 purpose, I think that I had better write about the trip from beginning to end while it is still fresh in my memory, so here goes.
 After leaving Norfolk, our next stop was at Port au Prince, Haiti, and. although that country was by no means unfamiliar to me, I really never thought that you might like to know more about it than what I have formerly written, so while am dwelling on that particular place I will proceed to say something about it. Haiti itself has the merit of being thoroughly alive and. while not presenting an altogether pleasing pie ture is country worthy of serious study. The government though re- publican in form, has been described as a military miXup, for the presi- dent. who is supreme, and who en- forces the laws or ignores them, ac- cOrding to his own pleasure, general ly keeps the country bound up in revolutions. Very few rulers have ever completed their term of office Nearly all have either been assassi- mated or exiled. Port au Prince, the capital is situated at the extreme eastern end of Gulf of Gonavaives. The streets are carefully laid out, and are broad, but utterly neglected. Everyone throws their garbage out of the front door and heaps of broken bottles and crockery he75 decorate the front door yards. The city boasts of 6O,000 inhabitants, and possesses every natural advantage that a capital could require; but little use, however, is made of these advantages, and the place is unplea sant, owing to the lack of sanitation. The language of Haiti is French. which Is spoken in it's pur- ity by the educated, but the lower class of people speak a creole patois, which deserves to be a seperate lan- g-uage altogether. The most import ant product of Haiti is mahogany, which can be found to be of excellent quality.
 After leaving Haiti, our next port was Trinidad Port of Spain. and in other words, "the land of the hum ming bird" It is by far the most beautiful of all the Western Indian Islands, for it possesses magnificent scenery and has excellent roads and is in a climate which, while essential ly tropical, is not oppressive. Trini- dad was discovered by Columbus on
 
 it was so named by him in fulfllment of a VOW to dedicate the first land sighted to the Most Blessed Trinity. In 1797 Trinidad was sur rendered by the Spanish to Sir Ralph Abercromby, since when it has been a British colony. We coaled ship i'm mediately upon our arrival there, and sent men ashore to purchase Neptune a Ia were to visit before we crossed the equator, as Trinidad lies 10 degrees north of the line. Teddy Roosevelt came aboard shortly after our arrival and paid a hurried visit owing to the fact that he was leaving here that same hour and, being popular even away from his own country, he had a large crowd to see him off. Most of the snapshot Willies'' got good pictures of him.
 On Monday March 20, Longitude 40 degrees, 24 minutes, DOW, ship en- tered domain of Neptune Rex for the eleventh time since her commission. His Majesty, attended by his royal court, came aboard and expressed his delight at again having us with him, deploring the fact that a great many of his subjects were not present on the ships last visit to his reaml, put at the same time expressing his de- light at the number of new faces that met his gaze. The Ruler of the Mighty Deep, after his official calls and parade, at once proceeded to get busy with his prospectiN. subjects, and made things quite lively for awhile and left no stone unturned to make a thorough job of it. His
 
 and it would have taken more than a Sherlock Holmes to outW1t them. The two judges were tender hearted officials and on one or two occasions was seen to surreptitiously wipe away a tear when some particularly heinous offender was brought before him. but he remained true to his trust and the guilty party generally