STEAMSHIPS AND SUBSIDIES 213 



wells. Mrs. Beecher was just past sixty while I 

 was not quite thirty and when she held out her 

 hand as I was leaving she said, "You have been 

 good to me and as I am old enough to be your 

 mother I can thank you this way," and she kissed 

 me. 



I left Havana in such haste that I neglected to 

 see that my trunk was aboard. My overcoat had 

 been stolen while there and I was poorly fitted 

 (in my summer garments and shoes) to make a 

 northern voyage, even over smooth seas, and the 

 trip was far from that. I had the Captain's 

 house on deck, a big apartment by itself. Dr. 

 Samson, Senator Stark, and two or three others 

 of my guests returned with me; the rest of the 

 passengers were strangers. From the first the 

 weather was stormy and after leaving Nassau we 

 ran into a gale. There had been several wrecks 

 in the Caribbean Sea and at Nassau we picked 

 up the captains of three wrecked craft. I spent 

 most of my time in the pilot house and the con- 

 versation of these captains was not cheering. 

 Their own craft had gone to Davy Jones's locker, 



