Page:Travel letters from New Zealand, Australia and Africa (1913).djvu/180

 *lowed the ship by rail from Sydney, and would have followed it to Albany, had there been a railroad to that place from Adelaide The weather has been chilly, but the latter part of this week we will run into warm weather, which will continue until we reach home. As a result of the raw, chilly weather, and no heat anywhere on the ship, I had a siege with neuralgia, an entirely new experience for me. The only thing to do was to go to bed and cover up well, with a hot-water bag to my jaw. Fortunately I have the best steward I have ever drawn on a ship, and he paid me a good deal of attention A young Englishman who sits at our table tells a terrible story of Business. He says that in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he lives, he is often compelled to take thirty drinks a day, or lose trade. I would like to tell him what I think of the statement, but do not care to start a row on board. Any man who says he is forced to drink intoxicants or lose trade, tells a silly falsehood. A drinking man usually admires a man who doesn't drink. The men who have been most successful in business have not been noted as boozers. But while I didn't tell the young man what I thought of his statement, an elderly Englishman did. "The Americans," the elderly Englishman said, "are the smartest business men in the world, and they do not drink as much as we do. And the drinking habit in America is becoming more unpopular every day, and will finally become disreputable." I have noticed that while most Englishmen "pick" at Americans, they really have a high opinion of them I have spent part of the day reading a book entitled, "Around Cape Horn." It is a com