The Washington herald., 1922-09-27
CrossingtheSea
Day by Day
By o. o. Me1ntyrs

ON THE ATLANTIC. sept ss.-I
Today ] experienced my frst storm
at sea. "A bit Of wind" the
purser called It. holding tightly to
his desk to keep his. feet, 1t was
about . o'clock that my optimistic
friend who has crossed ffty-eight
times called attention to a tiny
black cloud In the southwest. I
suddenly remembered important
things to do in my ststeroom.
After n half-hour there was a
lively scurry in the Railways and
the closing Of portfolios. My wife
suggested we go on deck and gaze
at the mountainous waves" The
look gave her Is nobody's busi-
ness.
well stay right neIe" said
but we fidn't, forg the ship decided
to sit down or something and
went under the wash basin and she
against a trunk. "Set 'em up In
the other alleyw l cried. determined
to be always merry and bright in
the very teeth of the gale.
Then the ship began to shiver and
plunge and roll over on one side.
The steward came with his Internal
"rat-de-tat-tat (pause) tat-tat." He
wanted to know IL there was any
thing he could do. l told him. he
might go up in the library and
bring me a prayer book.
And as he went away I called:
''If you can't get that. bring us an
other set of life preservers." Down
below i could hear the jangle of
many bells. And would you believe
1t. across the hall a group OF young
athletes on a world tour began to
sing: MANY brave hearts are
asleep in the deep!"
At one of the gigantic dips my
one plunged typewriter scooted off
the dressing table and struck me
in the back of the neck. 1t fell to
the floor with a whirr and swapping
of springs. But somehow l didn't
care. ! figured my writing days
were ended anyhow.
1t was all over as quickly as 1t
began. The ship began to steady.
Sun streamed through the portfolios
and when l reached the promenade
people were doing their turns as
II nothing had happened. Orches-
ira was playing for lunch. but I
noticed a decided paleness. And
most of the male passengers were
headed for the bar.
In deck chair on the port side
is a red-headed Apollo. He is big
IN Nrit
file the ladies adore. He wears
white fiannels and a rakish soft
hat Several young fappers are un-
able to keep away from his side of
the ship. This afternoon he was
down in the hold. He has a group
of trained monkeys that he is GO
ing to present in vaudeville. And
all the girls think he is duke of
some sort.
All the ladies are wearing their
new Partisan gowns. There is
reason. When the gowns are worn
II lessons the customs duty in New
York The short skirt is passe.
Nearly all skirts now barely miss
trailing the ground. The shoes are
low-heeled.
Each day the clock jumps back
forty minutes. At IL o'clock there
Is a short blast of a siren and this
Is notice for passengers to turn
back their watches. There Is
young lady on board with an ankler
watch and IL she is on deck when
the siren toots she discreetly re-
tires to the inner recesses.
The florist who coined the phrase
Say it With Flowers" is pas
senger. He has been over in Eu-
rope on a wild orchid hunt. If
you'd ask the ordinary man to go
on an orchid hunt he'd probably
feel like slapping you in the face
with a perfumed puff ball. As
matter of fact. he tells me that col
lectors have been lured into strange
unknown regions and faced death
at the hands of savages and wild
men in New Guinea and Madagas-
car. Trailing the orchid offerS al
most as many thrills as tracking
the tiger. There are scores of mar
tyrs to this botanical science. Bones
of orchid hunters are bleached on
many sun-scorched sands.
Copyright, 1922, by the McNaught Syndicate.
In