Norwich bulletin., 1917-10-23
WuLIMAN1IC

the boat and I was obliged to sail 1 without it, the baggage-man promis- 1 ing to send it down on the next boat
 but l have not yet received 1t. The
 sharp and with the assistance of i several tug boats, we got out into the | stream. It was a pleasant day and | for few hours we had pleasant sail | ing. Lunch was served about one | oclock-every one being present at | that meal. About five o'clock the | wind came up and the sea became l very rough and only about one-half of those who were at lunch appeared l for dinner. The wind increased and
 heavy rain fell and the boat pitched
 and. tossed in the most alarming | manner.
 Very few cared to go on deck and
 most of the people took to their cabins.
 No Lights Permitted.
 The Coama belongs to the federal | reserve fleet and no lights were allow
 ed after o'clock because of the dan | ger from subma rines. In the saloon room all the port holes were closed l and covered with a dark cloth. 1 did | not know. of ttis regulation and the officer on the deck ordered me to put my light out. The first night out l made the acquaintance of my room mate, an American living in Porto i Rico. We got along famously, he stay-s ing up all night to play cards mad | HI HI IiiN AAiOiANAA' JNS~ cS - ''S going out. T slept fairly we'll the first night in | spite of the tossing and rolling of the boat. In the morning. however. l did not care much whether we stayed on top of the water or underneath it. had a genuine case of seasickness. My steward, an Englishman, came in and suggested that I have bit of toast and a cup of coffee. I did not feel | much like eating. but ate the toast and drank the coffee and felt much better. I managed to go down to lunch at noon. and from that time on l did not lose a meal. Teacher Passengers.
 There were about a dozen teachers on board going to teach in Porto Rico for the first time. Not one of them knew where she was going. Every one i who had been in Porto Rico before poor schoolma'ms what they were up ! against. They told them all they would get to eat was beans, rice and | coffee; beans at least three times | day.
 The meals on board the Ship were | fine and we all made the most of them | because we did not know what we would get in Porto Rico. The weather l number of the people were sick all l the time.
 Farewell Concert.
 The last night on board the ship an impromptu concert. was given in the saloon. We had number of very in | teresting people on board and they took part in this concert. One of them | was a medical missionary, Dr. Mary | Barker, who was going to Porto Rico l for five years. She gave an excellent description of the Indian sun dance as she had seen it in Oklahoma, Another who took part was Porto Rican. pr. l Dueno, brilliant pianist: Miss Mary i aria t:-da IiYh f,111 young people sang Three Blind Mice | in an amusing manner. A group of | Porto Ricans sang some Spanish songs | for us and the evening closed with the | singing of The Star Spangled Banner, | led by little Spanish girl. No one | knew that T. had any knowledge of l music, and so I. was not on the pro- l gram. '
 Reached San Juan.
 The next morning (Thursday) we were told at breakfast that we would |, be in San Juan at noon. We sighted San Juan about II o'clock and all went Porto on Rieo our sbin rs reached tbe dock number of small black boys swam out to our ship and dived for pennies. When we reached shore, with the commissioner of education. I saw fine looking policeman, at the en- trance and I Inquired the way. "Yo no entiendo'' q do not lsnow). he said, WlLn d SuEuR. It was a SHOCK to me to realize that even the policemen did rot speak English. We asked several people with the same result until final ly we struck one who could speak Eng fish. He told us the way and we ar rived without any more trouble.
 Given Assignment.
 Dr. Miller, tEe commissioner was very pleasant, and after few words assigned me to Mayaguez. He told me to take the $40 p.-In. train and to get 9 berth in advance. I went down to the station and bought a ticket Time is nothing here, and it took me 25 minutes to buy the ticket. I got my first view of the train about 8 o'clock, and it was all I could do to resist the temptation to pick. that train up and put it in my vest pocket. It was A dinky little train. drawn by a little dinky engine with a. most powerful voice. The sleeper was divided intoJ sections, each two persons having a compartment to themselves.
 Thermos Bottle Provided
 , Each compartment contained two berths, a chair, a wash bowl with run ring water and big mirror Beside the mirror was Thermos bottle full of ice water. There were two good sized windows which were supposed to. let in air, but all that came in was smoke and cinders in large quantities. My