To
Olivia Lewis Langdon
20 April 1878 • SS Holsatia en route from
New York, N.Y., to Hamburg, Germany
(MS, in pencil: CtHMTH, UCCL 01556)
[underscores inscribed in pencil by SLC on dinner menu written in ink:]
|
hamburg-amerikanische packetfahrt-actien-gesellschaft. speise-karte dampfschiff Holsatia —————————————————— Sonnabend, den 20. ten April 1878. ‸ Diner. ‸ Oxtail-Suppe mit ‸ Punsch-Romaine ‸ Omelettes au Sulpikon Roastbeef. Türkische-Erbsen & Carotten Lamm-Cotelettes mit [Champigons]-Sauce ‸ Kückenbraten, Compot & Salat ‸ Nuss-Torte. Dessert & Caffee. |
[on verso in pencil:]
At Sea, Apr. 20, 8 PM
Mother dear, having no other paper convenient, I use the bill of fare. You can see by the articles underlined, (Roman punch, roast chicken, jelly and salad,) what portion of it Livy & Clara partook of this evening. And even this little is a bigger meal than they have ventured upon before for several days. But I have had an inexhaustible appetite & have tried to make up for them. It has been all kinds of a voyage—calm, [smoothe] seas, then rough seas, then middling—& so on. On the 17th we had heavy seas, then easy ones, then rough again; then brilliant sunshine, then black skies, with thick driving storms of rain, hail, sleet & snow—sunshine again, followed by more snow, hail, rain & sleet—& so on, all day long; we sighted an ice-berg in the morning & a water-spout in the afternoon. To-day a lurch of the ship threw a passenger against an iron railing & they think he has a rib broken. The girls are worn out with the rolling & tumbling of the ship, & starved out too, since they eat nothing. But they’ll be all right, 2 days hence, when we reach Plymouth. C The children get along splendidly, though the Bay swears at the weather sometimes. [continued on the front, upside-down:] We like the vessel very much. She is a good v sea-boat, & has a delightful old Captain, who thinks Miss Clarence (as he calls Clara Spaulding) is my daughter. We have an unusually pleasant lot of passengers—mostly Germans. We send lots of love to you all.
Lovingly
Samℓ .
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