Page 269 - Neglected Arabia Vol 1 (2)

NEGLECTED ARABIA 5

There was no dressing for dinner, that meal being at the romantic
hour of 12:15; no band, no intricate menu cards, no electric bell I »
>uininon a cabin buy oltener than necessary. There were no "extras” in
the way of drinks (meaning, of course, lemonade, lime squashes, etc.)
Hut neither was there a surprisingly thick pile of little "chits" presented
at my cabin door just before arriving in port. (How tips and drinks
du count up when one travels like a regular person 1) it is different to
just give a few parting presents to some seafaring comrades.
1 missed seeing love-affairs develop and also having the kiddy kars
i of traveling children bark my shins when I sat in my deck chair. I
could have enjoyed life just as much without the rats and cockroaches.
: 1'U admit. But, oh! the quiet nights out under the stars! For a week
we had the Southern Cross in view and we had one whole moon and
two parts. One night the captain was explaining to me how they
marked our course by the stars and sun, and he remarked that every­
thing else connected with running a ship had changed from the old days,
hut that no device made by man could be substituted for the heavens. i
When you want absolute reliability and accuracy you have to go to
headquarters.
It was such a comfort to me to hear him say so. It confirmed my
faith. I had been so shocked when I knew there was masonry, made
hy human hands, on part of the rock of Gibraltar! I hope no mortal
mind will ever try to interfere with the "heavens declaring the Glory of
Ciud." You remember Job’s words when he said that "God alone
,|,readeth out the heavens and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.
Which maketh Arcturus, Orion and Pleiades and the chambers of the
,uuth. Which doetli great things past finding out; yea, and wonders
without number."
On leaving Basrah, the plan was made for me to send by wireless,
yiic word from Aden and Port Said and Gibraltar to let my family
knuw how I was faring. If sick or miserable the word was to be
"Ojw”; if fairly comfortable, "Middle"; but if I was 100 per cent, well
md happy, it was to be "High." Needless to say, all my messages were
-High.”
1 experienced a really, truly storm at sea, the minute particulars of
which are given in Psalms 107:23-30. And then—oh! then when "He
brought us to our desired haven," the landing in the good old U. S. A.
• as different from any other that ever was. When the representative
fur Uncle Sam boarded our ship in the Delaware River and approached
sc with the question "Are you the invalid lady passenger?" I replied,
• iih some indignation, "I hope I am a lady, but I am no invalid."
This was my first experience of being "the" passenger of any boat.
gut 1 hope it will not be the last.