Evening star., 1932-11-06
Flrst-Class Passage
By Mildred r. White
Carolyn Sails Tourist, " but Love
Took Her to the Upper Decks
Illustrated by Stirling Hill
Illustrated by Stirling Hill.

more elaborateness and the different colors of
the decorations. There were more people down.
stairs too. Here there was only an occasional
couple sauntering through, an elderly lady writ
ing with concentration at one Of the beautifully
carved desks. Where the crowd OF we'll
dressed cosmopolitan women who would throng
the boat? Where were the handsome sophisti-
Gated men who would vie with each other for
her attention? These people were not like the
pictures in the pamphlets Leidch had fur
nished-nor like the mental pictures Carolyn's
Imagination had drawn. when she had thought
Of her first night aboard.
She walked outside slowly than she
had hurried up the steps little while before.
Looked out at the busy dock the men shouting
orders, the cars drawing up. dispensing their
passengers engines running noisly, engines
Stilled
The dusky veil Of night was settling over the
horizon picking out the lights of the city, one
by one, until 1t seemed the surrounding world
was abaZe with huge masses of brilliance.
Against them the darkening sky produced her
tiny cleaning myriad of stars-her quiet as
sertion Of superiority. The outline of prom
Using round moon showed its mellow fullness
through a few fluffy white clouds. Carolyn
sighed. Such perfection! Moonlghts were not
made to enjoy alone.
CHE turned her back the slowly rising
= grandeur She couldn't stand around,
lifelessly like a wallfower, and hope for some
one to approach her. Better appear as If she
belonged. Stroling again through the luxurious
lounge Carolyn noticed many new faces.
TALL thin, middle-aged man explaining to
plump, middle e-aged woman that the bar would
not open until after the ship had sailed. And
her equal insistence to the contrary. An elderly
man, with cane, and his gray-haired wife;
two well-dressed girls and their nice-appearing
Where were the romantic heroes who were to
be magneticaly drawn to her on this first
night, who would attach themselves to her,
shower her with attentions inally-insist
on her sharing their class-one entertainment
the rest of the voyage?
For weeks she had pictured to herself the
slender, long climbed Carolyn Lee, poised on
the edge Of the greenfield swimming pool.
tanned, broad-shouldered youth leaning against
the glistening frog nearby. watching her grace
full dive in frank admiration. She had prac-
ticed ping pong by the hour, SO that her dexter
Gus playing would please any lover Of the game.
She knew that any attractive girl whose we'll
rounded slimness was set off by the bronze
silkily-knit outfit that contrasted so well with
her auburn hair could complement any group
of passengers-even frst-class.
She had done more than visualize these little
scenes-in which she was always the center OF
attraction-she had even rehearsed her speech.
dainty shrug an expressively-raised eyebrow,
as she weuld explain her tourist passage
oh write bit-magazines and the Sun
day newspaper articles, you know" she would
say indifferently. Its hard to get 'atmos-
phere' for a middle-class story unless you
travel right with them. you understand
And If slightly offended conscience pointed
a reproachful finger at Carolyn Lee. she re-
minded that young lady that several OF her
school essays had been printed in the Belle
vile High Sentinel, and that, two years ago.
the National kindergarten Association had
paid her IS for story for small children 1t
would have been easier to tell them the truth,
she had admitted to herself right from the
start. Easier to tell them that she had been
studying voice culture for five years and in
tended to continue in Vienna this Summer.