Putnam patriot., 1930-11-13
S. S. "Ile de France. !"

| the heat of the hottest Of summers he brings wave of cool air that l blows the gas fumes from the streets l of Manhattan and allows the voyagcr ! to drive down to the Chelsea docks m peace and comfort to board the flag i ship of the French Line with ample 1 time for unpacking, without fear or apoplexy and to be quite prepared when the long. deep note of the siren ] indicates the sailing hour of one and the great ship glides out of the slip and turns southward towards the Ambrose Channel and Europe. With i crowds on the pierhead waving, ] cheering and growing smaller, the He" turns in mid-stream, we go be- low to lunch in the great marble lin- ] ed dining saloon of this pioneer of ships "done" in the modern style. i This ia the way to sail No impedi- menta of jolly. kind-hearted, we'll i intentioned friends. No hurry or hustle or excitement. An orderly and pleasant commencement of the 1 journey.
 Luncheon finished. there is, high over the stern, little deck cafe that we know and there we have coffee and watch that colossal thing that is New York grow smaller and smaller, the shining steel cone of the Chrysler Building persisting, however, until we have passed the daylight phantasma- goria of Coney Island. until the lady with the long green veil, sea-going Isolde at noontide. waving to friends on the Staten Island shore finally gives 1t up as bad job. and goes be- low just as the pilot takes to his boat, the turbines begin to hum bit faster and the sharp prov of the "ile de France" begins to cut path that leads to Plymouth, Havre and the Continent.
 
 Voyagers on midsummer crossings, like mid-winter crossings, we find, are preferable to those later winter hordes of sun-seeking invalids. or the sightseeing mobs of the college com meneement season. Most of our com 1 pany are seasoned travellers. There is, first Of all. the foremost of the young CT school of American playwrights, if not the foremost of the whole school of American playwrights. He is fresh from Hollywood and the films and fil- led with the lore thereof. There are the dear old yespectables, too, going Co Scotland for the shooting season 1 opening on the twelfth, far be it from any of them to say August the twelfth when every good Britisher knows that in summer the ''twelfth" can only be one particular twelfth. l There is the moving picture group that includes the Prussian-headed i von Stroheim. lovely and charming Wilma Banky, the dramatic German actress Maria Corda. There Is the rather picturesque and suave director of the best-known of the modern art galleries of Paris. There is the charm ing lady from Scarsdale and the de- lightful person known to readers of The New Yorker as "Lipstick." There is Roland Hayes, great artist and great representative of the negro race There is the dear old couple, crossing for the first time who have been advised that on the French boats "crepes Suzette" are delicious and therefore order them twice a day to the digestive horror of their dining table neighbors. There is the young lady who resembles Miss Katherine Cornell and dresses the part. The sea is calm and the sun numerically hot.
 
 In the midst of the humid Gul. Stream on a Sunday night, three great haring, cone covered lights arc strung on the upper deck beneath the sky. Above them rise the gar. gantuan red tunnels. A piano is pro- duced and a dance floor is laid The orchestra appears and walters hurry hither and yon. A mid-ocean night club is created in half-aa-hour. Love ly ladies appear in filmy dresses ana Hopping hats. The men in black anc white, the swirling colors of ths gowns, the red glow of the tunnels the beating glare of the diagona light, ali makes a scene that Cavarub bias might picture we'll. Then calam ity. The heavens open without q hint of warning and down dash tor. rents of tropical rain and what was summer picture in color outlined in the nights blackness becomes merely hurrying, sodden mass of soaked humanity rushing to cover leaving the deck dark and bedrag- gled emptiness.
 
 This morning at the hour when 1 the passengers were taking their walk before early luncheon a patch of smoke appeared over the horizon of the stern. Meanwhile the "Olym- i pie" American-bound had passed on the starboard side and the Dutch "Statendam" followed going more slowly in the same direction. But meanwhile the patch of smoke behind us grew until the dim outline of ship was visible. kn hour passed. then, sliding swiftly through the seas the Bremen" crack North-German Lloyd liner. present Queen of the Sea-" was abreast us, her passengers plainly ! visible On the decks, her low-lying hull | and rakish tunnels making a beauti- l ful sea-picture The French officers and stewards eyed her wfvly. the pas- sengers eGrionsly. A year ago only ! the "Mauretania" could have outstrip- ped the He de France" GaIlantly the ''Ile" dipped her colors, blew blast of greeting from her deep-throafed siren. Then the Bremen" forged ahead, dipped over the horizon and disappeared
 
 We had never heard Roland Hayes