Evening star., 1939-07-23
being whirled about in English,
French and Spanish.

. ACAASAA oAAA APoAAoAA'
Amid all of the volatile bon voyage
greetings that arise from this mod
ern Babel of tongues, there is occa-
sionally something that recalls the
French truism, "Good-bys may be
heartbreaks that are little deaths" +"
You think of this in connection
with pretty, young American wife
with her husband and two children
as the Santa Rosa pulls away from
her moorings. her band playing and
the vivid colored ribbon confetti
streamers floating gayly against her
sides with the gap of intervening
water widening between the watch
ers on the dock and the ship her
self.
Quite calmly she sends her hus-
band below with the younger child,
a son. Then. for moment she
puts her head down upon the rail,
as if she were clutching her hat
against the stiffening breeze, her
shoulders convulsed. as she fairly
shakes the tears from her eyes,
then she raises her head again.
Dry-eyed this time, she gives a last
gallant wave to frail couple on
the shore, to whom it may very we'll
be final good-by. Meanwhile, the
wide-eyed little daughter at her
side says, Mummy. I believe you
were crying" To this there is the
quick reply. why should I, dear,
daddy's going out with us to his
great opportunity in Caracas A
Goth century pioneer woman has
conquered her fear of the unknown
for herself and her little family on
a liners deck.
Bilingual Instructions.
Menus, passageway directions,
instructions for fire drills and all
other ships notices, megaphoned
as we'll as written, are given in
Spanish as we'll as in English and
you hear almost as much of the for
mer spoken as you do of your moth
er tongue.
Every stateroom on the Santa
Rosa is equipped with twin beds in
stead of the one-time upper and
lower berth arrangement, but they
are as immovable as the ships STAN
chions. So if your husband loses his
collar button, don't think you can
move bed to look for it. Instead,
you tunnel for it on all fours, being
careful that you do not let your head
collide with the rack that carries
your life preserver.
Speaking of life preservers, once
week there is fire drill which re-
quires all passengers to don them at
the ringing of a fire alarm gong.
Thus accoutered, you pass in or
derly file to the deck opposite your
designated life boat and there re-
main until you are checked off by
one of the ships officers, the men
OF the crew meanwhile spraying
streams of water on the ships sides
from the great lengths of deck hose
as if a real emergency demanded
this procedure. This fire drill, we
learned. is now a routine regula-
ton upon all vessels flying the
American flag.
Seated at the captains table with
us were former Judge and Mrs.
John r. Davies of Forest Hills, New
York (the judge is now president of
the Republican Club of New York
City. and Mrs. H. Wilson. sister-in-
law OF Mrs Patrick j. Hurley. Pretty
little Mrs. Wilson with their two at
tractive little daughters Mary and
Nyna are going down to Caracas to
join Mr. Wilson who is a representa-
tive Of the Standard Oil Co. of New
Jersey in Venezuela. Their sojourn
will be for at least three years. On
board with her are their car and
their household possessions.
Capatin Likes Mountains.
Capt. Curt Zastrow, the COM
mander of the Santa Rosa, is a
doughty seaman, California reared,
whose own idea of a vacation is q
camping trip in the high Sierras, or
failing that, as an Eastern substi-
tute, a sojourn along the rockiest
part of the Maine coast.
Guests at the captains table are
expected to appear for meals exactly
on schedule and to sit as long as
the captain does. He, not the ladies
present, gives the signal to rise. II
is generally understood that one
dresses for dinner according to the
captains custom. He is never at
table, We have learned, during
stormy weather or when the ship is
entering or leaving port.
At night as the ceiling of the ship's
dining room rolls back, and you look
up at star-studded Southern skies,
while you enjoy your evening meal
or attend the ships movies after
ward. certain of the consultations
look so near it would seem as if YOU
might almost reach up and pluck
them from their appointed stations.
Although prevailing westerly
oreezes keep the mean temperature
down to between 10 and 80 degrees,
sun worshippers are specifically
warned against excessive sunburn
IN the tropics. and against irving
to put on, that perfect coat of tan"
IN one or two days. The ships
surgeon is even able to advise pas
sengers, so many have learned to
thelr sorrow. as to how much sun
their skins will absorb.
Watermelon at II.
Very refreshing at II in the
mornings are the juicy hunks of
watermelon which are served in lieu
OF the traditional broth and crack
ers, as is the iced tea which makes
It's appearance at the tea hour in
the afternoons.
The ships time continues to be
IN accord with New York's daylight
saving schedule until the midnight
before the first cruise stop at
curacao, over which the Dutch still
continue to hold suzerainty. Then
1t advances one-half hour.
Perhaps from nowhere in the
postal world does one measure the
written word more carefully than
when preparing to mail letters and
postals from Curacao. Postcards