Page:Travel letters from New Zealand, Australia and Africa (1913).djvu/28

 sailors on the "Sonoma," almost without exception, wear blue overalls, and not the wide pantaloons you associate with sailor-men.

There is a wireless apparatus on board, and every day news of no importance is posted in the companionway. The night before Christmas, when we were twenty-four hundred miles out, a good many passengers sent messages to friends When you sit on your porches at home, on summer evenings, you hear locusts in the trees. Old-fashioned colored people call them jar-bugs. The wireless, when in operation, sounds exactly like a locust buzzing: a good many of the passengers have remarked the similarity. There are two operators, one of whom is always on duty. One of them is a tall young fellow who does great stunts in the swimming-pool, and the other looks and talks exactly as Lieutenant Rowan did when he carried that famous message to Garcia.

We had an enjoyable time at our New Year celebration. First there was an elaborate dinner, followed by a concert and dance, participated in by the second-cabin passengers. At the conclusion of the concert, we all joined hands and sang, "Should Old Acquaintance be Forgot?" When the dancing began, quadrilles soon became the fashion, and the affair reminded me of "a good time" among neighbors who had known each other many years. Most of the talent for the concert was furnished by the second cabin, although the best two numbers came from first-class passengers. Refreshments were passed around, and