IX 



A LOST FEBRUARY 



WE lost February and found August, for 

 Jamaica is a country cursed with perpetual 

 summer. In four days we steamed straight through 

 two seasons. When we left Philadelphia on the 30th 

 of January, 1902, the rigors of midwinter were 

 upon us, a typical northeast snowstorm was settling 

 down to its best work, the mercury was low in the 

 teens, the ship's decks were piled with snow, and the 

 friends that came to see us off shivered in their 

 warmest wraps. The steamer made her way slowly 

 through the drifting ice and sodden snow sheets that 

 covered the Delaware, and did not reach the clear 

 waters of the bay till night had fallen. 



The next day winter seemed far behind us. We 

 were in May; the day after we ran into June, and 

 the shade of the awnings began to be acceptable ; the 

 third day we were in July ; the captain blossomed 

 out in his white duck suit; we sought the shade of 

 the ship eagerly ; on the fourth day it was August, 

 and August it continued all the while that we were 

 in Jamaica. 



On the third day, in the July w^eather, as I came 



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