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CROSSING THE ATLANTIC ON MODERN OCEAN LINER Somewhere on the Atlantic, July Let's taxi over t? pier &<">. North River, New York, ' where wo are iofiSg to ukt' tm a mo(l" crn lim.r^of average size beginning a journey that will take us through Fngland, into the farming districts of Holland, the dairying districts of Bel gium, the battlefields of France and thence over to the French capital whe?e wo will spend a few days studying the Frenchman's art. It has been just one year and throe days almost to the minute, since my taici drew" UP to the curbing at pier 50 on my last journey to Europe. A year docs not bring many changes in irn- daily life and customs of a people CVt?n in a city the size of New York. It seems that my taxi. stopped almost on the same spot. The same officer was pacing up and down in front of the pier entrance directing the move ments of the various cabs as they drew up and discharged their loads of human freight. The guard at the door was sitting at the same old place perched on the same old stool and the same baggageman took your luggage as you alighted at the pier. The same luggage elevator was groaning and creaking in the same old way as it moved around and j around carrying the baggage to the j second floor where it was lifted off by j the same old baggageman. The only j change I noted in the personnel of the | steamship's advance guard was a new | man in charge of the elevator that carries the passengers up to the sec ond floor. Last year this post was tilled by a young man; this year it is tilled by an elderly man. 1 would like to pause here and tell you something about the docks from which the business of this big ship ping concern is handled, but it would take too long to go into details. They ^ are huge steel structures fronting j live blocks on the street. It is from] here that huge steamships sail to all , parts of the world several times a week. As one liner is departing with | its cargo of human freight another may be coming in or perhaps another leviathan of the sea may be disgorge inn its family of happy human beings -happy in the extreme sense of the v, Hid because they have set foot again upon their native soil after weeks or months' of travel in foreign lands, where the people speak in strange tongues. You look forward with much pleasure to your trip abroad, hut you also look forward to retuin with a greater degree of pleasure. Last Minute Excitement. In previous articles I have give*.) a description of the sailing of a liner and if 1 were to attempt this again :? would be merely a repetition of words. The same rules and regula lions govern the sailing of all passen ger carrying ships. You must pass the custom officials who examine your passport. Next comes the steam ship officials who examine your t icket . You pass on to the gang plank where another steamship of ficial looks over your ticket and pass port and when these formalities ha\e h<'cn complied with you are allowed to hoard the ship where you aie .shown to your stateroom by a uni ?*oi med steward whose duties are sim ilar to those of a bell-hop in a first t lass hotel. As the hour of the ship s depar ture draws near the size of the crowd increases, excitement becomes more l. tense and the usual drone which .i companies big gatherings the . nice of the crowd ? becomes heavier .?nil louder. There is the usual snap ?tnd flash and a certain degree of ex citement among the ship's crew. Kvcry man has a duty to perform .?:nd a certain number of minutes in .vhi< h to perform it. Passengers are warming over the gangways, uni formed messenger boys bearing tele irr.mi- or pretty bouquets of flowers f VAANUtNC.TUVU.0 UY ACME CEMENT PLASTER CO. |l- ' ST. LOUIS .US A Your best answer to the question of Cement Plaster. ACME See that every sack, is branded Carolina Portland Cement Co. Charleston, SC. MACKEY MERCANTILE COMPANY Camden, tm: worming their way. through the throngs to reach the ship's decks, orders are being shouted through megaphones, huge chains like black boa-constrictors are slowly winding around winch-pulleys with a groan and rattle almost nerve-racking;; while the laughter und chatter ol" tho passengers grows louder and louder. A hoarse blast of the whistle 30 min utes before sailing time warns all persons not taking pa a age to clear the ship. Here you find comedy and dramu. It is the parting "between relatives and friends.1 Some are hap py, others are depressed, A ripple of laughter in one place drowns a heart rending sob in another; a flash of wit brings a smile to a tear-stained face; a group of pretty girls and handsome boys, their faces happy and radiant, chaperoned by a severe looking old dowager, hum a few lines of the na tional air. It is a curious mixture of humanity. It is a moment when human emotions are difficult to con ceal. As the ship moves away from the dock the usual silence falls upon the crowd, broken only by the shouta of relatives and friends on shore who wave a last farewell. The noisy, puffing, struggling, wasp-like little tugs warp the ship into the channel, turn her nose oceanward, cut loose their hawsers and the throbbing of her mighty engines informs you that you are under way. The trip down New York Bay is one of the interesting sights of a trans-Atlantic voyage. New York has one of the greatest harbors in the world. It is always thickly dotted with merchant vessels and on your way out you pass many pleasure craft and also incoming passenger steam ers from Europe, China, Japan, South America, freighters from coastwise cities, 'Frisco, the lakes and the Medi terranean. From a shipping point of view it is the world in panorama. But that is what makes New York the money centre of the worM. The value of the ship's cargoes brought in and carried out each day runs into mil lions of dollars and all this vast business is handled through New York banks. A shipment of cotton from the south or a cargo of grain from the west is financed hi the form of a draft or foreign bill of exchange which goes to -a New York bank where it is passed on by way of a fast mail steamer to a correspondent in some foreign port. . An Average Liner. Hut let's get back to our ship. She is a British vessel of 24,000 register ? a ship of average size in this clay of leviathans of the sea ? and carries 2,683 souls, which includes a crew of .'M5. She was launched in 1922 and is equipped with all modern conven iences, such as gymnasium for ladies and gentlemen, a gymnasium for the children, the walls of which are adorned with pretty pictures which appeal to the juvenile imagination. She has her smoking and lounging rooms for both ladies and gentlemen, cozy sitting rooms with grates in which glow home-like fires, a well stocked library, reading rooms and shower baths. She is equipped with a strong wireless outfit, which is in touch with every part of the globe and publishes every morning a news pa|ter carrying the markets, rates of exchange, important world news and baseball scores. I , Seven hundred and fifty feet long, and 7.H feet wide amidships, she meas ures nearly 150 feet from the tip of her smokestacks to her keel. This immense space provides ample room I for four decks designated as Decks j A, 1>. O. and I), in addition to the boat deck and a roomy steerage in which are housed about 1,600 pas sengers. In point of design she is similar to the American vessel on j which I crossed last summer, but F , have not failed to note a difference I in the ship's social atmosphere, so j to speak. Here one finds a quiet I home-like atmosphere which con trasts rather sharply with the rest less noisy atmosphere ^>f the Ameri can ship. Formalities are more rig idly observed among both passengers an(j crew. Dropping the Pilot. The sea is very smooth at this sea son of the year and there is no per ceptible change in the roll of the ship as she passes out of the harbor J into the ocean. The dropping of the pilot tells you that you are at sea. And by the way, this is one of the most hazardous railings of the sea. Piloting a ship in and out of a har bor is a custom that has come down through many centuries. As you approach the pilot ship far out from land, bobbing up and down like a cork, a small toy-like boat puts off and heads for your vessel. Ar lad der is lowered Alonjf the side of the liner, the pilot straps to hit should WRIGUYS After Every Meal It's the longest-lasting confection you can buy -and It's a help to di gestion and a cleanser lor the! mouth and teeth* Wrlfllcy's means benefit ai well as pleasure. ers a mail sack containing' the faro well letters to loved ones at home and descends, the ladder. After much skilful maneuvering the small row boat reaches the vessel's side, the pilot drops in, the boat shoves off and the mighty engines once more take up their ceaseless throb which does not end till your ship drops anchor on the other side. A pilot's duties are pleasant enough when the sea is calm, but are ex tremely hazardous in rough weather. Ships cannot pause in rough weather. It is safer to keep going and a pilot must be on hand when they reach the harbor entrance. Boarding a vessel from a cockleshell row boat in rough weather requires an extraordinary degree of skill and courage. Like- a Summer Resort: Now we are far out at sea and il you want to get a good mental pic ture of life aboard a liner imagine that you are a guest at an American summer resort. That is what it is, minus the trees, lakes and streams. There is the same restless spirit among the passengers. The decks are lined with easy reclining chairs and you also find chairs in cozy cor ners and plush sofas and deeply lined chairs in the lounge rooms, but the passengers do not use them much. There is the continual tramp, .tramp, tramp, around the decks, up and down the stairways, around and through the companionways, the us ual laughter and chattel and small talk. Kverybody seems to be. look ing for something they cannot finu. You take a chair in an inconspic uous place where you can see the throngs surging back and forth and begin to maka mental comments on the various passengers that (lit back and forth before your eyes. ^ ou be gin to "size up." so t<> speak. A sure way of judging men and women of many races is by their shoes. There is character in shoes. Physi ogomists tell us that character is written in the face, but men began using their feet Ion# before they begin to think and it is the thinking part of the brain that writes the character lines on the face. Here is the. well-dressed, portly man of swarthy skin ami regular features. His clothes have been well tailored and his collar and tie a e r.eatly ar ranged. IK' is evidently a man of intelligence, but there is something lacking in his general appearance. Hi* is ill-at-ease and is not surt* of himself. His eyes rove from place to place. He looks prosperous. ^ ou wonder who he is. \ our eyes drift to his feet and you size him up in a moment. The region of his ankles is inclined to obesity. His heavy-soled shoes are rough. ill-fitting and look cumbersome. He is a southern Lu ropean who probably came to Amer ica many years ago, entered some humble calling, prospered in the land of promise and is returning for th?' first time, with his American wife to visit relatives and friends. Let .us make a mental picture of another character that comes under our observation. He too is well tailored, but better groomed than the character just described in the preceding paragraph. His complex ion is pink and clear. He is a man of poise and his manner and hearing" indicate that he is quite sure of himself. Your eyes travel downward to his feet. His feet are long and $linder. His shoes fit snugly. His ankle? are clean-cut tike a race horse's. He carefully adjusts a pair of rimless eye-glasses and looks your way ,but although he sees you his eyes appear to travel into space be yond you. He is an American from the crown of his heart to the sole of his feet. The early part of his j ljfe, so it develops on better acquaint ance, was devoted to office work, but his later years have been devoted to travel. A Mixture of Races. In the general mixture of race* one finds on board ship there are many interesting figures. A won* the passengers is a lull, finely pro portioned. neatly <W*$ed< s\yjui.h\ skinned iiiojvo of Hindu. What his calling Ado not know. Ho 1na,\ be a wealthy Hindu merchant returning homo from a business trip to Ann i iv ,* ' o: ho may bo a representative of his j government. He is dressed in Amori* van clothe#, but tbo two ladies ac companying hint are dressed in native costumes. They do not minute wit a the other passenger.*. The ladies have heavy features but tho linos are roguhrr and not unattractive. Tho native costu mo is of a contrasting color that roaches over tho i-i?'ht shoulder and drops almost to tho horn of tho dross on tho front and -back. One day thoy will appear iw *4** uses of blue with a yellow wrap, tin- next day their drosses will bo yellow with a wide wrap or sash caught with a pin btuo wrap. The COlpfS chan^" every day. With the exception c*f the long sash just below the wai.st line, their drosses are without orna ment. Like tho other ladies aboard the ship thoy ehaugo to evening gowns for dinner, but even their evening gowns are built on the same general linos, tho only difference be ing in the quality of the material "of which the costumes are made. The social life of the ship roaches its climax at six o'clock? the dinner hour? when the ladies, after a re fresh ing afternoon nap, boRia tp swarm the decks and saloons, look ing particularly pretty and radiant in their evening costumes. A few of the gentlemen appear in dinner coats. Dinner lasts from six to eight and is always followed by a dance which continues until near the mid night hour. Those who do not dance gather in the lounge or smoking rooms, play bridge, checkers or domi noes, while others pass away the eve ning promenading tho de^ks and -making new acquaintances^ The younger girls are very handsomely Marking the Road to Success YOl lv deposits here are mile-stones that mark your Road to Riches. Loan & Savings Bank CAPITAL $100,000.00 4 Per Cent. Paid on Savings Deposits dressed but" the most gorgeous and expensive costumes one sees oi\ tin* ship are worn by the middle-aged and elderly ladies ? another striking char acteristic of the American summer resort. A person who ha* never made a journey across the sea would be sur prised to know that even the simplest of games furnish rollicking fun for serious-minded adults ? men and women who would not even glance at the same games if they saw them played at home. That is because of the relation that inevitably accom panies a sea journey. Deck golf, deck tennis, shuffle -board, pitching quoits and lings and* tossing a large rubber ball around a human circle arc pop ular games on board a ship. A spar row cannot leave its nest in the rig ging and alight upon the water with out attracting attention. A seabird flies over and passengers crowd the deck railings and crane their necks to get a glimpse of it. A school of porpoises disporting themselves in the waves is the signal for a demon stration. The mournful bellowing of the fog horn? a warning to other in visible ships? not only brings startled looks to the faces of timid passengers but is a subject of general comment wherever as many as two are gather#* ed together. The weather, the rough (Continued on another page) POETS have praised the wonders of the dawn, artists have caught the lights and shadows or high noon, a sentimental public lias raved of setting suns, but few and far between are the happy people who know the unknown hours between sunrise and breakfast. Wonderful hours for the motorist, whether lie be bent on business or pleasure. To the one they offer freedom from traffic, a quick trip to the city, an early start in the day's work. To the other, the strange charm of slipping swiftly through villages still sleeping in the pale sunshine. It's fun to watch the waking world stretch and yawn, to note the first wisps of smoke rising from cottage fires, to speed through a land without men. Explore the unknown hours. Whoever you areyou'f! find something worthwhile there, health, thrills, beauty, mystery. But don't forget one thing. Better slip around this evening to the nearest "Standard" pump and fill up on gas, oil, air and water. "Standard" is just the gas for starting sleepy motors on chilly mornings. T* / V> STANDARD OIL COMPANY (New Jersey) "STANDARD"