Sunday, July 26, 2015

Diary of Laura M. Towne: Tuesday, April 8, 1862.

ON BOARD THE ORIENTAL.

The stewardess is a character. She is a very light mulatto, — tall, thin, very talkative, and frank in the expression of her face. She says that passengers get frightened at very slight rolling and ask the officers of the boat whether there is danger, “and you can't get them to give a straight answer to such questions — 't ain't in the nature of them. They goes in for excitement, so they tells the ladies that it's the worst time they ever knowed, don't know whether the boat will live through the night or not, — and then the ladies is scared.”

Rupert Sargent Holland, Editor, Letters and Diary of Laura M. Towne: Written from the Sea Islands of South Carolina 1862-1864, p. 3

No comments: