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^[[March]]
[[line]]
^[[1922]]
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On board-- The America left Hoboken in a cold driving rain about three in the afternoon, March 11. It has been very rough, at least the steward and a cabin-mate who has crossed 27 times, say[[strikethrough]] s [[/strikethrough]], but stewardess says it isn't rough until the ship dips so that the smokestacks take water. The stewardess, from Oregon, is the handsomest thing I ever laid eyes on, tall, splendidly built, with a face and neck as if cut from marble. I would like to stand her in a room alone in the Corcoran Art Gallery with the wall draped with black velvet. Did I ever say that sickness did not interfere with my enjoyment of beauty--I have a sort of recollection of some such irony. That heaving water--wough, I can't see any beauty in it.. It is beginning to look less horrible today, though it is raining hard and the ship is alternately standing on its head and its tail, as^[[|]]it has been doing ever since we got out of Hudson river.  I am doing very well for me. I stayed in bed for two ,days, taking water only, then the nurse came in and gave me a dose that left me shakey, but I ate breakfast the next morning, and have been "taking nourishment" since. The things on the bill of fare are appalling. The waiter suggests kippered herring and things like that. He doesn't seem to think much of my choice of shredded wheat. A German Jewess at table asked him what it was I had. "Nichts," he said. Hark to this! There is a liquor list on the table and everybody but myself is drink [[insertion]] ^[[ing]] [[/insertion]] wine and beer. [[insertion]] ^[[ [ [[underline]] American [[/underline]] line in prohibition times.] [[/insertion]] ]] A steward has just gone by (here in the writing room) with zwei bier. Ships owned and managed by a government whose duty it is to enforce the 18th amendment load up with liquor in European ports and begin to sell it when the ship is three miles out from our shore. Here is another queer thing: Everyone belonging to the ship, nearly, doctor, purser, chief steward, dining and cabin stewards, are so Deutsch wie sauerkraut. The captain's name is Rind. Officers have

[[stamp]] HITCHCOCK AND CHASE LIBRARY
Smithsonian Institution [[/stamp]]