U EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



Our table arrangement is very simple About half- 

 past six in the morning each one of us steerage-passen- 

 gers gets two quarts of coffee; at twelve o'clock, dinner, 

 and at six in the evening, tea, about as much as coffee. At 

 present fresh bread and butter is given morning and 

 evening, which will later be substituted by so-called 

 " ship's zweiback" and butter, as much as we care to eat. 

 We agreed to take our turns, i. e., one person for every 

 two cabins undertakes to go after the supply for a week, 

 divides and distributes the portions and does the dish- 

 washing for the time being — one week. The steerage 

 cabins are really arranged for four persons, but have 

 hardly more than half the number of occupants this trip. 

 As previously mentioned, we left the Hamburg harbor at 

 about six o'clock last evening from the neighborhood of 

 the English Reformed Church, a large but very plain 

 edifice. A few friends— old and new — spent the evening 

 on board with us, and I assure you their visit will ever 

 be remembered, as a few kind wishes, a live hand-shake, 

 a "God be with you" on the eve of a long voyage to an 

 unknown land and an uncertain fate, go far to overcome 

 that awful feeling of loneliness which even the bravest 

 of us would otherwise have experienced. Bartsch, Kirsch- 

 stein, Diedrich and Fritz Griinhagen, I thank them for 

 this favor. 



You will probably have received my letter of the first, 

 which was wholly personal. Sister will be interested to 

 know how I fitted myself for the trip. Last Friday I went 

 to one of the many ship-chandlers where one can buy 

 from a. stick-pin to a complete sea-faring outfit, and 

 where I purchased the following goods for the price men- 

 tioned: One oil-cloth jacket and Southwester for five 

 Hamburg marks (about one dollar and a half) ; one plain 

 mattress with pillow, for four marks and eight shillings; 

 one double woollen blanket for nine marks. Further, but 

 do not laugh: Cooking-utensils, one soup plate, spoon, 

 butter dish, bottle and mug, together, one mark and eight 

 shillings. This completed my outfit. I now considered 

 myself in ''ship-shape" for the long voyage. 



